In His Arms

Chapter 28

Logging into my work email, I read and wrote a few emails to Mr King and the junior editors mostly to inform them that I am out of the country and will be back in two to three days and respond to any enquiries they had regarding some ongoing projects. On my personal email, I noted one encrypted email.

_______________________________________________________________

Wr Jv Abhduvq Xihvwud Rlrwulv Rrlwv, 

 Ohudphq, wkh frphvdufhv ri glvvrqwb oduf dv kdulv dv wkhdu odqgholvkxp. L lpsoruh brx wr uhfhlyhuvq brxu orbvwhwb ehvwphq exloglgqholvw.

Eokdg vplolj lv d vwdlq wkdw qlwkhu idghv qruq qrw iorjudvhv.Fkrxhv brxu sdwk zlslhb, iru wkh vklohrv kdyh hvlv, dqg wkh hfkduv lvwhqwoh qhyhu idghg. Brxu fdqfhvwqhv yhllq wrq wkhuv rqjyqhv qrw ghdukhqflolwb.

 Bvrwv wuxwb

 Fduwhu Ojhpdqv

________________________________________________________________ 

There is no sender or receiver, and the message is ciphered. Thinking the email came from Daniello, I set up to begin deciphering it. Manually deciphering this is going to be a pain in my behind, I think as I open up the text editor on the Macbook. I should start by using a shift of threes since he likes that number the most.

W' becomes 'T'

'r' becomes 'o'

'J' becomes 'G'

'v' becomes 's'

and the final message reads...

_______________________________________________________________

To My Dearest Alastora Ootori, 

 Remember, the consequences of disloyalty are as harsh as they are inevitable. I implore you to reconsider your loyalties before dire actions become unavoidable. Blood spilt is a stain that neither fades nor forgives.

Choose your path wisely, for the shadows have eyes, and the echoes of betrayal never fade. Your actions reflect not just on you but on those you hold dear. 

The consequences will not discriminate. 

 Yours truly 

Carter Logans

_______________________________________________________________

How did he get my personal email? My stomach gives a lurch and the half-digested chicken that I had earlier makes an acidic reappearance as an unwelcome guest in the recesses of my mouth, as I stare at the message on the text editor. Copying the cypher and sending it to Daniello's email, I scrub my email and the laptop before shutting it down.

Shit.

Sweat begins to trickle down my neck as I sit in my seat, staring at the closed laptop as though it were a time bomb. Knowing what I do of Logans, opening that email has essentially given him the ability to know where I am. That's what owning a satellite can do for you if you have enough money.

This flight is four hours from landing in Taiwan, if Logan takes a flight from Seattle to Taiwan in this instant, I should have at least a twenty-four-hour head start to find a pay phone to inform Daniello. I would be on my own for a while maybe two to three hours before Daniello can get eyes on me but I should be able to manage, I tell myself mentally as I bite on my lower lip, reopening the wound from take off. 

"You should stop doing that," Adam says as he takes a seat across me, painfully flicking my chin. "What are you thinking so deeply about?"

"Nothing," I lie, releasing my lower lip. "Are you guys done talking?"

"Not exactly," Adam replies, glancing back at the group still discussing in low tones. "My department's involvement has been settled. That's all."

"So, 3 million dollar acquisition," I stretch, hoping to steer the conversation into anything but my problems. "Sounds like a big project."

Adam's eyes light up at my words and he begins talking about the business they were planning to take over. The business seemed to be a profitable one when it started up, something about metal is all I understood before I started to feel sleepy, that is how boring I find business talks, they're like a lullaby to me. 

Adam continues to drone on as I drop in and out of sleep. I have no idea when I fell asleep fully but I do know what woke me up. Normally, my dreams are less gory and more tamed but the stress from the last two days has built up and the result is a nightmare of screaming porpotions. 

Right now, I'm watching as a helpless spectator of my past life as my mind cruelly plays out the horror movie of my early life over and over again like a broken record.

The kiss of the belt on my back...

The sight of my little hands drenched in blood as I kill off someone else in exchange for the lives of so many young ones...

My mouth is open in silent screams as I shout to my younger self warnings that fall on deaf ears as my younger self makes deals with boss after boss, freeing almost a few hundred children who cannot do what I do.

No, they were never lucky enough to have the chance to learn.

The thought comforts me in a way that they'll eventually leave the ring with only memories of what was done to them.

But not me. My mind will never let me forget. Neither will my body.

I watch as I turn from a scared, trembling little girl with pigtails who has barely any idea that she'd just taken a life to a little girl who is cold-hearted and ruthless in her jobs as she goes through 'traitors' and abusers like a hot knife through butter.

The light of life in her eyes disappears slowly as she goes on, the picture shifts and it turns to the night where the deal went wrong in the Sangue Nero mansion.

I see the faces of child slaves and the human trafficked women whom I couldn't save as I ran away like a coward in a getaway car, leaving them to pay for my choices.

Their faceless figures scream and pull at my arms as I flee to save my own life as the red-hot flames kiss their heads and lick at their flesh. Some of them curse me to hell for not saving them, others shout horrible names.

I am a coward.

The thought has me sitting up from where I lay, gasping for air as sweat pours down my face and neck.