The Good Men™

Chapter 3

"Joshua, where's your phone?" Adam asked, having just opened the small 'parcel' that Reika had left them.

"Well, I did leave it at home this morning," Josh replied, leaning on the desk, "but from that tone, I'll take it that it's no longer there."

Adam took the small phone from the box, tossing it over to the teenager, who flipped it open to read its latest messages.

"Crap," he mumbled, shoving it in his pocket. "It's my friends. Massons has got them, I'll bet. At my place."

"Then you won't go." Roy stated, shoving on his coat. "I don't know why, but Reika wants you for something."

"Exactly," Drake added. "Christie, could Josh go with you?"

"Oh, yes, I wouldn't mind." Christie smiled at the teenage boy, patting his shoulder. "Come now, Josh, let's head back to my apartment."

"Are we sure this is a good-"

"Yes, Joshua." Adam cut him off, waving goodbye to Veronica. "Christie will keep you safe."

Josh gawked in annoyed disbelief as the group ran out of the front door, leaving him and Christie alone with Veronica in the lobby.

It was barely a second after the others had left that Christie broke down into tears, crumpling to her knees awkwardly as she tried to keep her stomach safe. Josh sat down beside her, rubbing circles on the woman's back as her tears flowed from her green eyes to the ground in small puddles.

"Is it true?" She choked quietly, looking up at the teenage boy. It struck her suddenly how similar him and Akane looked, when Akane had been a teenager. "First, dealing illegal bonding equipment and getting himself killed - don't tell me the bastard clawed his way out of hell just to kidnap children."

Josh felt a small tear force itself out of his own eye, but he pulled it back, sighing.

"I suppose he has." The boy smiled. "But don't worry. He's not getting anywhere near you or Katie, I swear. Hopefully, he won't have done anything to Jane.. Anyway, let's go. I'll help you back, if you need."

Christie wiped away her tears, scoffing. "Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm any less bad-ass than I was before. I can still through a right hook almost as good as before - I'm pretty sure I can walk in a straight line."

This remark was such a Christie thing to say that they both burst out laughing, Veronica the desk attendant even letting out a quiet chuckle from behind her computer. The two made their way out of the building together, stumbling down the street as they half-laughed and half-weeped.

Meanwhile, Jane Elis was tied up in her bestfriend's closet, recounting the events that had led to this moment.

She'd received a text from Josh, asking her and the others to come over after school. They did, which resulted in them being attacked and knocked out by a dainty woman who seemed ridiculously strong for her physique. The four of them had awoken, tied together in a closet. Through the door, she could hear the woman talking on the phone to someone. I've got the kids, the woman had said. You sure you know where the Davis boy is going to be, ma'am?

And that's where it had ended, almost. What happened next was a woman's scream and the sounds of doors slamming open.

The closet door burst open, and Mora screamed, leaning back against Stephen for support. But low and behold, it wasn't their captor who opened the door.

"Are you kids alright?" Roy asked, their friend's uncle helping them out of their binds.

"W-we're fine, thankyou, Roy," Jane replied, panting to calm herself down. "Who was that woman? How'd you know we were here? And - who are they?" She pointed behind Roy to Adam, Drake, and Josephine.