Fire On Fire

Chapter 9 - Wanted: It's Scary But Beautiful

The address Marco just sent me, does not look like the address of the Hotel I thought Dad was staying at, and honestly, after what happened yesterday, I'm nolonger comfortable with driving to strange places, lest i repeat the same incident as what happened yesterday.

My usual routes are the university, Riley's school, down town, and now here at the office....the last thing I want, is to have another episode like yesterday, so just to be safe, I text Carmen to come over after her classes, so that we can go together to pick up Dad.

As expected, she is more than eager to come to my work place, and happily accepts.

5pm on the dot, she texts me, telling me that she is already downstairs and asks whether she should come up, or wait from down there.

Another day and time, i will be more than happy to invite her up here, but today is my first day, and i don't want to be seen to be making too much of a fuss, when everyone else here seems so chilled.

So, i go down as quickly as i can, and find her waiting in the lobby, where I once sat, on my first day here in this building.....It seems so long ago, but funny how that day was only the day before yesterday.

Looking around at my surroundings, and all these professional looking people, I can't believe I actually work here.

"Hey" she waves at me, when she sees me coming, and pointing to herself, as if I need help identifying her.

"Hai" I respond, giving her a hug.

"Nice" she gestures to our surroundings.

"I know right..and what they do here is even more incredible" i murmur.

I mean, why am i even surprised, they had to be a reason Sofia wants to be here more than anywhere else...she has good taste, and high standards, and never settles for less than what she wants.

I shouldn't have expected this place to be anything but the best.

'So, Devin dropped me off, and will pick me up at your house later" she says, as we walk to the carpark.

"Cool, then you can drive" I say, tossing her the car keys, and walking to the passenger side.

She doesn't argue, because she is used to me asking her to drive, every time we have to go somewhere together.

"Tell me, EVERYTHING" she mumbles, as she pulls out of the car park.

*

Are you sure this is the right address ?" Carmen asks, when when drive away from the city area, to a more private residential area, where property boundaries span for days.

"Yep." I confirm, looking at the address that Marco gave me again.

I try calling dad again, to try to check with him, where he actually is, but since I last spoke with him this morning, he has not been picking up any of the last few calls i made.

We follow the quiet lane to the entrance of a large private property, with a sign on the side.

'El Paraiso'

Immediately our car comes to a stop, a side gate opens, and two security guys, in black suits, blue tooth devices and all, walk out, and towards us.

"What did you just land me into Ella?" Carmen mumbles, her eyes trained on the two guys as each walks to the drivers and passengers side window.

"Can we help you?" One guy asks.

"Actually, no..sorry, I think we took a wrong turn, and got lost....we will just back up and be on our way again" Carmen says, putting the car into reverse gear.