No Blessed ✓

A Debt Owed

She’d forwarded the address she’d gotten from Koenig to Tyler hours ago, and as the seconds ticked by with no news from him, the stronger her anxiety grew. The only thing that had been kept her from going with him was the possibility Sean might be keeping tabs on her but now a sing song voice chirped in her head, taunting her with the possibility Zoe and Aaron had been killed the moment Sean had taken them hostage.

Desperate for some fresh air, she left her room, skipping the stairs two at a time to get downstairs. She was not quite sure what to do with herself except wait and hope the address she had gotten was the right one. They had been apart for barely two days but she missed her children.

As she mindlessly paced in the living room, her hand pressed to her forehead, her phone buzzed in her pocket and Praise unlocked it, curious when she saw a notification from Nuroh’s security system. Koenig had informed her that upgrading her access card also meant she would get infrequent notifications if certain parts of Nuroh were entered.

She enlarged the notification, reading its contents quizzically. Koenig’s access card had been used to enter the programming department in charge of No Blessed? Why would he though, when he’d specifically ordered the programmers were to delay any work on the game for the time being?

Praise removed the message app, placing a call to her boss’s mobile. Since he’d been hospitalized, he’d done nothing without informing her so why access the company security system so suddenly?

“What is it Praise? Mr. Ark has made another move?”

“Not at the moment sir. May I ask what you’re doing at the company?”

“I’m at the hospital Praise, what are you talking about?”

“I just got a notification saying your access card was used in bypassing the company system.” As she spoke, Praise forwarded the text to him. “Have you seen it?”

There was a brief silence from the other line, and in that moment of calm, both parties realized what was going on. 

“It’s Sean,” Koenig spat out, “what’s he doing in the programming department?”

Praise bit back the rude retort she’d almost blurted, cutting off the call as she rushed up the stairs. “I’ll talk to you later sir.”

She ran into her room, grabbing her bag from a chair and slipping on her flats. Idly, it occurred to her to change from the  worn trousers and skirt she worn but she buried the thought away, scolding herself for thinking of her clothes at the time like this. If Sean was in the programming department, that meant he was most likely there to restart the game. Any second she wasted could decide Mikel’s life.

As she made to dash out of the room, she paused, her eyes falling on the little shoe box she’d managed to salvage from her home, tucked halfway under her bed. After a moment of hesitation, she went to it, pulling it out from under her bed.

Inside lay a black pistol, a keepsake from her father. She had not used it in months. Quickly, she placed inside her bag before leaving the room, a sense of urgency in her steps.

*

This was the fourth building they were searching, and as Tyler walked a few feet away from the armed men he’d loaned from a security company, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of despondency. The other three buildings had shown no signs of life and no matter how thoroughly he and his men had searched, no clue as to where Zoe and Aaron could be had popped up.

Even when they’d managed to find footage of the car that had been used in the kidnapping, tracing its license plate had only led to the discovery it had been stolen months before. Sean covered his tracks well, and the further Tyler fell into the rabbit hole, he could finally appreciate Praise’s cautiousness with the older man. He was dangerous.