The Complete Assassin Episode 23
written by kayemjay
James opened the gate as Stella drove inside the compound. It was James’ house. He had decided that it was safer and better for them to be at his place than to meet at the Fortress or Stella’s house. Stella stopped the car immediately she was inside the compound, leaving the car awkwardly parked. She did not get out of the car but rested her head on the steering using her hand as a cushion. James locked the gate, securing the lock and walked to the driver’s side of the car. He opened the door and rested his huge frame on the open door. He stayed like that for a few minutes, not knowing how to go about consoling her. She was sobbing gently. He didn’t want to get pushed away. So he leaned forward and touched her shoulder gently.
“Stella, please come inside.” James spoke softly.
Stella was quiet. She sniffed long and hard and then cleaned her face with the back of her hand. Her eyes were red and swollen. She kicked her shoes off her feet and then put her legs out of the car. As she made to get out of the car, she wobbled and almost fell but James caught her just in time. He rested her on his body for support while he grabbed her shoes from the car. He picked her hand bag from the back seat and slammed the door. Gently, they walked into the house where James lay her on the sofa.
“Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back. One hot chocolate coming up” James said.
Stella managed a weak smile. She neither had the strength nor the luxury of laughter. But she really did crave hot chocolate. It was the only thing that always got her out of a very foul mood. She hoped it would do the trick this time. As she adjusted herself on the sofa, she felt uncomfortable. She put her hands behind her back and unhooked her bra. Without taking off her top, she took out the bra and hid it behind her, lying on it.
James came into the living room with a glass of hot chocolate. The aroma got to Stella even before James reached her and her senses gave approval. She got up as James approached her, taking the cup from her filled with thick brown sweet smelling chocolate.
“Emmm . . . do you mind if I helped you keep that?” James said pointing to the bra behind Stella.
Stella seemed embarrassed but shrugged. She was enjoying her hot chocolate and for the moment seemed to have no care or worry in the world. James picked the bra and took it into the bedroom. He came out with his Probook Unlimited and Steven’s SilverBallers. He sat down beside Stella and began to press different keys on is Probook, linking up with the satellite images of the area where Stella had found the guns.
“What are you doing?” Stella asked James.
“I scanned the SilverBallers and one of them had tiny fragments of glass-sand. This means that there are huge deposits of glass-sand around the area that you found Steven’s gun. Steven may still be alive out there somewhere. This is my theory. Since the gun has this mineral on it, it is highly probable that he also has the minerals on his body. The blood around the gun is his and I’m sure the pool of blood you saw was also his. This means he must have lay around that spot for a period of time. Unless he scrubs his body with warm water and disinfectant, which is highly doubtful, the glass-sand is still traceable. So, I plan to use a special search algorithm to trace every tiny bit of sand-glass remnant in the south western district. Hopefully, I will get a hit on Steven.” James said.
“Let me see.” Stella said as she moved closer to James to get a look on the image on the computer screen.
As she moved closer, her shoulder hit James spilling the hot chocolate on her shirt.
“Sh1t.” Stella cussed as she placed the cup on the table.
James got up in a flash, heading towards the bathroom and brought out a wet towel for Stella to clean herself with. Stella dabbed her chest with the wet towel but still needed to get the towel underneath her blouse. She looked up at James and saw the way he was focused on her, his eyes following every swipe of her hands.
“You want to help?” Stella asked, handing out the towel towards James.
James was speechless as he swallowed saliva. He did not know how to react as he did not know if Stella was joking. He looked up into her face and saw that she was serious. She nudged the towel forwards again.
“Do you want to or not?” She asked.
James grudgingly collected the towel, moved closer and began to use the towel on her gently and delicately making sure that he avoided the sensitive areas. After a while he made to withdraw his hands but Stella held him back. She collected the towel from him, flinging it across the room. She took his hand and placed it on her body.
“Touch me.” She ordered.
James began to mutter incoherently but Stella came on to him and kissed him, her lips sucking his tongue, her body shaking from wild lust.
“This is.. not… right…” James managed to mutter as he kissed her back.
Stella ignored him and went to his ear, kissing and licking while her hands roamed his chest.
“Ahhhh…Damn..Oh god… Pls Stella… stop.” James stammered.
Stella moved backwards and stared at James. After a few seconds of a hard long stare, she said to him point blank.
“If you don’t oblige me, I will go out there and sleep with the first guy I see. You know I am not bluffing. What is it going to be? You decide.”
James weighed his options. What had he got to lose? One thing was sure. He was not letting her out of the house. That only meant one thing. James kissed her and ran his hand through her hair. Their lips locked for seconds, licking each other’s tongue, with hands roaming each other’s body. James hand came to her neck. He planned to tweak her carotid artery just as she had done him. Her eyes was closed, she was in a lot of pleasure. If he failed, she might kill him. She was on emotional edge and could flip within seconds. He was not sure he could take the risk. He changed his mind. He replaced his finger with his mouth, kissing her neck softly and biting very delicately. He went to her ear and whispered.
“Let me take you to heaven.”
*********
Detective Samson threw the phone away immediately not giving any thought to where it landed as he dashed towards the stairs. His wife was not too far behind as she instinctively followed suit. The detective took three steps with each stride scaling the staircase at amazing speed. In seconds he was on the corridor where his daughter’s room was. He got to the door and tried to open it but it was locked. The doors to their children’s bedrooms were never locked. He banged the door repeatedly calling his daughter’s name.
“Cara! Cara!! Cara!!!” The detective called out slightly raising his voice.
There was no response.
Panicking, his wife rushed forwards standing in front of the detective. She began screaming loudly.
“Caroline! Open the door. Caroline!” She screamed but her husband caught her quickly, putting a palm over her mouth.
“Don’t draw attention to us. Besides, you don’t want to wake Vincent. Be quiet.” The detective whispered.
He released his palm from her mouth and signaled for her to move a few meters away from him. Shifting back a little, he rammed his right shoulder into the door. The door moved but stayed locked, and intact. He repeated the move again, this time adding more power. The door moved again, but this time there was a little crack at the top right edge. He rammed into the door a third time, delivering all the power he could muster and the door budged, opening slightly inwards. He applied his foot to the door and it opened completely. He dashed into the room to find his daughter lying lifeless on her bed. He rushed to her side and felt her pulse. It was very weak. He carried her from the bed and flung her over his shoulder. He was taking her to the hospital. Just then his eye caught a small piece of paper that was under her body. He picked it up.
“Your daughter is okay. We have injected her with a rare serum that
bonds with her red blood cells, rendering them inactive. In 52 hours,
she will be dead. However that depends on you. If you comply with instructions,
you will be sent the antidote. If you take her to the hospital she will die in minutes.
Choose Carefully.”
The detective felt weak to his knees. He suddenly became confused. He looked at his wife, shook his head and carefully laid his daughter back on the bed.
“Samson? What are you doing? We need to get her out of here and to the hospital at once.” His wife said raising her voice.
“There won’t be any need for that. Read this.” He said, handing her the note he found.
She read it over and over and could not believe her eyes. Her first instinct was to yell and scream and shout at him but she knew that it would bring no result. He needed her more than ever. Walking to where he sat, she put a hand on his shoulder.
“Honey, whatever is going on, we will see this through together. As a couple. As a team. As one. Whatever you decide to do, I am a hundred percent behind you.” She finished, squeezing his shoulders gently.
He put his hand on hers and squeezed them lovingly, not taking eyes off Caroline. He would do whatever they wanted, but eventually he would make them pay. He silently swore. They would pay.
***************
Cold water from a small paint bucket was forcefully splashed on his face. He woke with a start, opening his eyes slowly. The room was brightly lit and he squinted, his pupils adjusting to the sudden illumination in the room. Seconds after adjusting to his new surroundings, he noticed a figure standing in front of him. He was still quite disoriented and could not immediately recognize who it was.
“Wakey, wakey sleepy head. It’s a bright new morning.” The person said.
It was the voice of a woman. It sounded distant yet strangely familiar. His face was covered with bruises, a swollen upper lip, his right eye was half closed and reddish. He had a cut on his cheek that had dried blood on it.
“Where. . . . am . . . . I?” Steven asked slowly, his voice slightly audible.
“You are here, Shadow Prime. And I have been your humble host. It is day two of your . . . . stubbornness. If you oblige us with the information we require, then we can end this quickly. I am well versed in the art of torture.” She replied.
Steven could now put a face to the voice. Some of his memories were coming back fast and hard. He recalled how he had been carried away from the accident scene and into an empty room. He was made to sit on a wooden chair with an 80 watt bulb to keep him company. A certain man had come in hours later, talking tough and ask him for specific details about what plans he had made to take down ShadowCorp. He was quite good, aggressive and scary but he could not get Steven to talk. After thirty minutes of fruitless probing he had stormed out of the room, threatening to rain down fire and brimstone. Steven only laughed.
The man left and Steven got up from the chair, pacing the room. It was a small room. He stood in the center of the room and stretched both hands sideways. His hands conveniently touched both walls. He memorized the dimensions of the room. The chair he sat on earlier was made entirely of food. It had very short legs, he guessed about one and a half feet. He could break off one of them conveniently for use as a weapon. But even if he managed to get out of the enclosure he was currently imprisoned in, he did not know how he got into the building hence, he had no idea what he would face once outside. He decided to wait it out till he had gotten enough information. He reasoned that they would only bark and threaten him to get information out of him. He had no family or friends they could use as leverage to get to him. Stella was a big girl. He was not the least bit worried about her. He walked to the door and bent to look through the keyhole. He could see nothing on the other side. Just then he heard footsteps approaching. He retreated, sinking back in his seat and pretending to be deep in sleep.
The door opened and another man came in different from the first. He was followed by someone else.
“Set it down over there.” The man ordered. In less than a minute, Steven heard the door close. He still felt presence in the room. The second person had left.
“Hey. Wake up lady.” The man said, slapping Steven firmly on the cheek.
Steven raised his head, faked a yawn and feigned drowsiness.
“Can you hear me?” The man had asked.
Steven nodded slowly.
“Good. My name is Oscar. Friends call me Os. You should call me Os. I got you a little something.” The man said and walked to the tray that had been set down earlier. He removed the hand towel covering the tray and revealed very cold water in a plastic bottle and Chinese rice is a white transparent pack. Steven’s appetite watered immediately, He tried to hide his longing for the food but it was too late, Oscar had noticed.
“Ah. I see you like what you see. I am your friend Steven. I would leave you to finish your meal and when I return we will have a little chit chat. And you could probably be on your way home in less than two hours, I promise you.”
He walked back towards Steven and tapped him gently on the shoulder twice.
“Everything will be fine, trust me. Will be back in ninety minutes.” Oscar finished, beaming a very sweet smile.
Steven smiled back. Oscar nodded and left the room without a backward glance. After waiting several minutes, Steven got up and went to the door. He put his ear by the keyhole trying to listen for footsteps or any indication that there was someone just by the door. He heard nothing. Satisfied, he went back and sat on the chair. He looked at the plate and the ice cold bottle of water. The bottle was literally sweating and inviting Steven to come take a gulp. But Steven knew better. He just sat on the chair, his hands on his knees. He looked round and round, searching the ceiling and the edges of the wall. As he was about to take his gaze off the right wall, his eyes caught something. It was about the shape of a small jacket button. It was small enough to be negligible to the ordinary eye but to a trained eye like his, he knew that it was not just ordinary. He got up from his chair and went to the left wall. He slowly but carefully began rubbing his palm on the wall in a wiping motion. He knew that if he headed straight for the button-like shape on the wall, he would be made. So he began from the left and gradually moved to the right wall. As he rubbed, he brushed his hand against the button but continued the wiping motion till he did the four corners of the room. Having confirmed that he was being watched, he faked satisfaction that there was no bug in the room and carried the food and drink from the tray. He drank some water first, finished the food and drained the rest of the water.
He let out a very audible belch and waited for Oscar. He smiled. They were using the oldest trick in the book to get him to talk. The good cop, bad cop routine. The bad and scary interrogator comes first and harasses the suspect to talk. If that did not walk, they bring in a friendly, compassionate interrogator who appeals to the emotional side of the suspect and get him to talk. It had a 70% success rate so it had survived through the years. They knew brute force would not work with him. He had been trained to withstand pain of tremendous magnitude. He shook his head and laughed silently.
Soon after Oscar came back and tried to talk with him. He avoided the subject and went into politics. Then later they chatted about football and about Manchester United. Steven played along, talking animatedly and arguing that Manchester United’s striker Kevin Kayemjay would be crowned Ballon d ‘or winner for the fifth consecutive year. After 45 minutes of chit chat, Oscar got to the main reason he was there. He coaxed and cajoled, appealing to Steven’s emotional side, but Steven did not say anything. He was actually beginning to like Oscar and was considering not killing him when he eventually got out. Realizing that Steven would not give him any information about his plans, Oscar knew it was time to leave.
“I will be back in a few hours Steve. Maybe you would have reconsidered.” He said as he walked towards the door.
“Oscar . . .” Steven called out as he was about to shut the door behind him.
“Yep?” Oscar answered expectantly.
“Don’t hold your breath.” Steven said and smiled.
That was the last time he saw Oscar. Now he had bruises on his face, his lips were swollen, and he felt pain all over his body. He tried to recall what happened but it was not coming to him. Then he looked up and stared hard at the woman talking to him. He suddenly remembered who it was,
“Sheila?”
“Welcome dearie. Brace yourself for today’s lesson your eminence.” Sheila said and smiled wickedly.
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