Dark Star

16. Trouble

She knew he had seen her questioning look. He began to speak, but only got out a few words out before Josef roughly cut him off with a direct punch to his stomach. It effectively knocked the wind out of him and surprised him enough that he was instantly silenced. Josef quickly threw him in the room where Vesper had spent the last hour. He grabbed Vesper by the hand and pulled her out of the room, and proceeded to quickly shut and lock the door.

"What's going on?" She asked, quietly.

"Someone is coming here to see you," He answered briefly. When he saw she was going to have more questions, he quickly cut her off, "I'm not going to tell you who. Just behave and do what he says, and you'll be fine. I promise he won't hurt you."

"Okay."

They walked along the corridor in silence, when suddenly Josef stopped and turned her to face himself, still holding her hand. "I meant the promise I made to you."

"That this mysterious person won't hurt me?" She asked, confused.

"No, not that one," He said. "Not that I didn't mean that one, only that, that wasn't the promise I was referring to." He continued, seeming to try to be vague, "I meant the one I made to you, in the bathroom at the hotel. Have you forgotten it?"

She blushed at the memory. "No, I haven't forgotten it. Did you forget? Your recent actions seem to be proof that you have."

"Well, that's just it, I want to apologize," He replied. "I didn't want to do what I did, believe me. We had meant to intercept the detective before he reached you, but we failed to. I didn't want you to get hurt when we did grab him, so I had to keep you away from him. I had to keep you quiet, though, so you couldn't warn him. I was just making an empty threat, if you had spoken I would not have hurt you."

Vesper couldn't seem to find her full voice, so her reply came in a quiet whisper. "Well, you did hurt me. Maybe not physically, but emotionally."

He paused for a long time. "I was sincere when I made you that promise, and I'm sorry I failed to keep it. I know that doesn't make it right, but it's the only thing I can do."

After having said this, Josef continued walking, and Vesper followed him. They reached the main room of the warehouse, and down by the other end of the building by the door, a small group had formed. The five other thieves were there, and from what she could see, there were four newcomers.

Two of the men were tall, bulky, and very muscular. Well armed, too. They were famaliar looking, she could have sworn she had seen them before somewhere, and when she saw the third man she realized where she knew them from. The third man was the stranger who had appeared at the hotel. The fourth person was just a boy, somewhere in his mid-teens. He had messy brown hair, and a young, but attractive face. He was lean, but even so you could tell that he had a muscular build to his body. He looked between her and Josef as they approached, his eyes were a dark brown color, and piercing in their look. Although he looked a little bruised and tired, he otherwise looked alright.

"Josef?" The teenager said, trying to go to him. However, he was stopped by the mysterious man from the hotel.

"Hello, Josef," greeted the stranger, keeping his hand on the boy.

"Damien." He nodded curtly.

"Is that anyway to greet a friend?"

"Let's just get this over with, Damien," Josef said, through clenched teeth. "You can drop the act."w

"As you wish," Damien replied, with a mocking smile on his face. "Tell me, where is my money?"

Josef gestured to Varick, who in turn went and opened one of the large containers that were spread throughout the warehouse. From inside, Varick and the other thieves brought out the duffel bags that had been used during the bank robbery. They placed the bags on the floor in front of Damien and his men. Upon inspection by Damien himself, Vesper saw him pull out a few stacks of hundred dollar bills. Counting the number of bags, Vesper realized it was all the money taken from the robbery.

Why would the thieves go through the trouble of stealing the money, only to hand it over to this guy? Vesper knew she was missing something big, but she couldn't seem to place her finger on it. What was going on here?

"You got the money, okay?" Josef sounded angry. "We had a deal. I've given you all of the money, now it's time for you to hold up your end of the deal. Just let my brother go."

"Your... brother?" Vesper knew she was supposed to be quiet, but she had been taken by surprise.

Now, everything was becoming very clear. Everything that had seemed wrong since the beginning of the day. All of those little cryptic comments Josef had made all day long, suddenly made a lot more sense. The boy, the teenager, was Josef's brother. Damien, whoever he was, had taken Josef's brother.

"So, this is the girl from the bank," Damien said, looking Vesper up and down. "Come a little closer, I want to see you better."

"What?" Vesper asked, confused. "Why?"

"Just do it," Josef told in, in a hushed voice.

She took a few steps closer toward the strange, that she felt she should probably be running away from. She didn't like him, even though she didn't know him. Some people were just like that, you can tell right away they have a black heart.

"Okay, take her." Damien ordered one of his men.

"What?" Josef was now the confused one. He step forward, in front of Vesper in a protective manner. "This wasn't part of the deal. You just said you wanted to see her, you never said anything about taking her with you. You have your money, just go."

"Oh, I will go, when I want to leave," He replied. "But I want her to come with me. She's now a part of the deal. Her and the money, for dear, little Alec here. Or do I need to remind you of what is at stake?"

With those words, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at Alec. Josef started to run to his aid, but one of Damien's men pointed a gun at him, stopping him in his tracks. He put his hands up in defeat.

"At least tell me why you want her?" Josef asked, the loathing evident in his voice.

"I told you, didn't I? She's cute, I figure why not have a little fun," Damien replied, a smile on his face. "Also, someone has to get rid of her now. She knows too much. She could put me in jail if she talked to the police. And I don't trust you to kill her."

Vesper gasped. She had known this was the way her day would probably end, but to have someone actually say it now came as a shock. Hope had kept her going, that somehow she would be saved, or she would save herself. Somehow she would get a happy ending, after all the horrible things that have happened to her. Now her final shred of hope was smashed too pieces, leaving nothing but despare in its place.

"So what is it going to be Josef? A girl you just met, or your baby brother. Only one can live, it's your choice."

Josef turned to her, his face that had always been a perfect mask, now betrayed everything he was feeling. Fear, sorrow, and another emotion under the surface; regret, that was it. He reached out toward her face and stroked a piece of hair out of her face.

"I'm sorry," He whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Vesper knew she should play the guilt card. Scream in his face that it was all his fault that she was there in the first place. Remind him that he had promised her, promised he wouldn't hurt her. She couldn't blame him though, even if she should. She couldn't blame him for trying to save his brother.

"It's okay." Her whispered reply.

He grabbed her hand for a moment, then let go. It wasn't until he let go that she realized he had pressed something into her hand. Something small and plastic feeling. She glanced down quickly and saw it was Carsten's cell phone. Raising a questioning look to Josef, he made a sign to her to hide it. Aware of what he meant, she subtly dropped it in her pocket.

"Alright then," Damien began, as one of his men grabbed Vesper, and released Alec. "It was a pleaure doing business with you Josef. You must write me from jail. I'll be sure to keep you up-to-date on all the fun I have spending my money."

For the second time in one day, Vesper found herself being kidnapped. She was thrown in a van along with Damien and his men. This morning she had, had hope she would make it home again. That she would see her family again. Only this time she knew how it would end. Cell phone or not, she had lost hope. She saw what she knew she should've seen from the beginning.

Today was going to be the day she died.