The Vanguard Vixen

Sides (One)

Victoria Alba purposefully strode through the marble-floored halls, a phone clutched tightly in her left hand. She wanted to go faster, but the pulsing in her head had grown to a full-blown pounding when she dared to go any quicker. Finally, she got to Jose's door and barged right in.

Jose woke with a start, quickly pulling the sheets up to his shoulders."Mom, door, knock!"

"If I see anything I haven't seen before, I'll take a shot."

Victoria noticed Jose was alone. "Where is the girl?"

Jose brushed a hand over his face and patted the space beside him. Empty. Just to be sure, he peeped under the bed. Nothing.

"She's an early riser." Jose shrugged. "Usually leaves before dawn."

Victoria pressed a button on the phone. A loud beeping sound emanated from it, and she quickly turned it off.

"This is an SOS. The kind Vincent said he'd only use in extreme situations."

"He's the richest man on the planet," Jose said. "He'll always be in extreme situations."

Victoria tossed the phone to Jose. "Check the news."

Jose's eyes widened in shock at the headline. He gradually calmed down as he listened to the Mainstream Media reporter.

Victoria having started feeling dizzy sat at the edge of the bed. "He is not dead though. The SOS was sent way after they found the bomb site. I believe your woman did it. She tried to kill him."

"Vivian wouldn't."

"Well she isn't here, is she?"

"That doesn't mean-"

"That's exactly what that means," Victoria countered. "This is what I get for not forcing you to finish law school, and for letting you hang around Vincent."

"And what exactly is that?"

"You took on your father's bad taste in women."

Jose fell back onto the pillows, ignoring the irony of his mother's last words. "If it actually was Vivian, Dad would be dead."

Both mother and son were silent as they contemplated the truth in Jose's statement. If it had been her, Vincent Alba would surely be dead. Victoria sat at the foot of the bed once the dizziness started again.

"With your father missing, it won't be too long before-"

The door was kicked in by a burly soldier, who was followed by another two, both with rifles trained on Jose and Victoria.

"Jose Alba you are under arrest for the aid of a level five wanted criminal. You have the right..."

As the soldier, obviously well versed in the few remaining laws that governed Vanguard, droned on about lawyers and all that, Victoria Alba was thinking. Someone targeted her husband and an assassin conveniently had to go past Jose's place on her way to wherever she was going. It was almost as though...

The soldier was speaking to her now.
"Mrs Alba, you are free of all accusations. But you will have to answer some questions."

"I'm going to need a lawyer," she replied absentmindedly.

Jose, where he stood between the other two soldiers, noticed the words she had used. She would need a lawyer. As for him, any criminal connections to level five fugitives were not negotiable. There would be no trial, no chance to prove his innocence. Not that he was innocent anyway.

"You won't need a lawyer."

Two newcomers stood outside the door. Jose recognised both. Two Commanders, from the stripes along their shoulders, were both out in the field-hunting. Jose smiled to himself. Vivian would always be one step ahead of them.

Colonel Turana went in first, to speak to Victoria. "You do understand that with your husband missing and your son detained, Mainstream Enterprises falls into your hands now?"

Victoria nodded.

More like thrown into my hands.

Someone was pulling the strings here.

"You will be escorted to the Harbor for questioning and your safety. Effective immediately."

Victoria couldn't look into her son's eyes as she was led out by the one who had kicked down the door. She couldn't help him.

Commander Adrian then stepped in too, and a curt nod had the last two soldiers scrambling out. Turana sat on the bed, brushing the soft quilt with the palm of her hand. "She was here, wasn't she?"

It was more of a rhetorical question, but Jose answered nevertheless. "That's what she said."

Turana looked up at Jose sternly, and for a second he thought she would hit him. Her eyes flicked left, to Adrian, and her features melted back into indifference.

"You and Vivian have a connection I don't understand. With your money, you could have any woman you wanted. And she doesn't seem like the kind that gets intimate with others. What is it that clicks the two of you together?"

Jose turned his focus to the other person in the room. "You're her boss."

"Commander," Adrian corrected.

"Yeah, I don't care what you call yourself. She's told me things about you." Jose nodded sideways towards the bed ever so slightly. It was a lie of course, Vivian, if she ever got involved in any pillow talk with Jose, never told him anything. 

She asked all the questions, and he answered.

It was quick, a jab to the face and one to the gut, forcing Jose to his knees. Turana immediately stepped between the two men. Jose was laughing where he knelt, in between bouts of heavy coughing. Adrian's steely gaze was almost burning through Turana. She had taken some risk, placing herself in that position, for Adrian was well known throughout the Harbor as one of the heaviest hitters in the army. But Turana's main job was protection, putting herself in the way of harm to shield the President. Jose was no leader, but he was needed alive. He was the closest link available to Vivian. Without him, there was no family to go to, no close friends, nobody.

Turana snapped her fingers in front of Adrian's face. "Hey, you know he's just taunting you. Keep your head or I'll send you out."

"I'll go question the staff," Adrian said stiffly, giving Jose one last look, and then walking out. It was followed by the sound of glass shattering somewhere downstairs. She helped Jose to his feet, much to his surprise, and she passed him a box of tissues from the bedside table to clean his bleeding lips.

"Let's start over Joseph." Turana sat on the bed again and patted the space beside her. Jose cautiously settled as far away from her as he could. People in Vanguard didn't get titles like Colonel by being nice. Jose glanced at the doorway, but he knew he would never get there before she did. Even if he somehow made it past her, the house was probably swarming with soldiers.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything. Start from when you met the vixen."