Copyright © All Rights Reserved.
Chris Parker
Chapter one
I lay on the stone-cold floor of the attic in a random building, across from an apartment block. Inside one of the apartment rooms was the head of a drug dealing company who had murdered many innocent people. He had escaped from jail a few months back and had dropped off the map. After he was spotted leaving the apartment building, the team got to work and I was sent here. I'd been sitting up here for nearly eight hours waiting for his return.
I looked through the scope of my sniper rifle.
The man was now pacing around his apartment, obviously irritated by something or someone. Being the head of an illegal drug dealing company, though, I could understand that he would come across a lot of problems. There's no doubt he wouldn't mind killing anybody to stay clear of them.
I could no longer see the man pacing the room and groaned in frustration.
"Parker!" Sergeant White's harsh tone of voice could be heard through the earpiece in my right ear. "Have you got a clear shot?"
"No, sir, I can't see him. I need him to come nearer to the window."
It had felt like an hour of waiting, lying on the cold wooden planks of the attic floor, until the Heavens opened up and the downpour began. It was raining heavily and every few seconds, a drop of water would land on my head from a leak in the roof. I didn't let my concentration waver as I noticed movement from the apartment. The man had approached the window to watch the storm.
I didn't waste a second. I grabbed a hold of my gun and through the scope I lined it up and aimed. With one pull of the trigger, the bullet flew silently and pierced straight through the man's forehead. He fell lifelessly to the ground.
"Good job, Parker," congratulated Sgt White.
(Alyssa's POV)
I jumped, hearing something fall to the floor heavily. I peered - the best I could - through the gap between the two doors to reveal Jonah's body lying on the floor. I gasped as I saw the hole that remained in his forehead. I wondered who could have shot him. Not that it really mattered. Lucas would have shot him after they made this deal anyway.
The door barged open, pulling me out of my thoughts. I sat as still as physically possible, hoping that the intruder wouldn't hear me.
Two big black boots walked over to where Jonah's lifeless body remained. They gave his face a shove with their foot and left the room. They returned only seconds later and I heard more footsteps enter the room. Both stood next to Jonah's still body on the floor. One of the pair crouched down towards Jonah and I craned my neck to get a better look at them. I regretted doing so instantly as I lost my footing and fell into the doors. I didn't have much room to fall and I was locked inside, but I made a loud enough bang to disturb the two intruders.
"What was that?" I heard a man ask in a hushed tone.
The other did not reply and instead slowly walked towards me.
I held my breath, scared for my life.
This is it. They're going to kill me. They killed Jonah and now they're coming for me too, I thought, panicking.
The doors rattled but did not budge.
"It came from the wardrobe?" the same man asked. I heard his footsteps come towards me, also.
Knock, knock.
I flinched.
"Who's in there?"
I gulped. This was it. If I didn't reply, I'm sure they would break down the doors anyway. They were going to kill me.
Knock, knock.
"Anybody there? Are you locked inside?" a new voice asked. The other person was obviously a woman as their voice was much more feminine than the man's.
"Maybe it was nothing," the man suggested.
"You and I both heard it, Paul, there's someone in there."
"Or it was a ghost coming to haunt us?"
I almost laughed at how ridiculous the man sounded.
"Hmm, maybe it was Jonah Lawrence's spirit coming after you," she replied sarcastically.
I flinched. They were definitely the killers.
"C'mon. Who's in there?"
I stayed silent. Maybe they would leave if I kept quiet.
"Break down the door, Paul," she ordered.
The man - who I assumed was Paul - replied, "What?"
"As much as I'd hate to admit this, you're a lot stronger than I am and I'm sure if you kick it enough it will break."
"Can't we just-"
"I don't see any keys lying around here, Paul. Do you? No. So break down the door."
There were keys in the desk drawer, but I wasn't about to tell them that.
After a few heavy blows to the door, it broke off its hinges and fell. The other door was still in tact and I tried my best to hide behind it. This was no use, of course, as both of the intruders could still see me. I brought my knees up to my chest and hugged them the best I could as I watched them both approach with their guns aimed at me.
I'm going to die, I thought over and over in my head. I was shaking furiously and the wardrobe began to rattle.
The man reached out towards me and I flinched away from his touch. When he noticed that I wasn't moving anywhere, he held out his hand for me to take. I glanced at it for a few moments. He had black fingerless gloves on. I never really saw the point in them. It wasn't worth wearing them out in the cold because your fingers would freeze and they weren't very good at hiding fingerprints, for obvious reasons.
I hesitantly took the man's hand and he helped me out of the wardrobe.
"The sick bastard," I heard the woman mutter.
The man looked over six foot. He bent down so he was at eye-level with me. I backed away, falling into the wardrobe in the process
"Hey," he said, softly. "We're not gonna hurt you." He put his gun down on the floor. The woman didn't copy his movement but she had lowered her gun so it wasn't pointed at me.
Both were dressed in mainly black and looked as though they were part of some SWAT team. The woman had her brown hair pulled back into a bun and her face was free of any makeup while the man had short brown hair that was wasn't long enough to style.
He crouched down slowly. "What's your name?"
I didn't respond.
"I'm Paul," he said. "...How long were you in there?"
I stayed silent, staring at the man.
He sighed and stood up, grabbing his walkie-talkie. "Sir."
"Yes, Andrews?" the voice replied from the walkie-talkie.
"There's a girl here," he said nervously.
"A girl?"
"Yes, Sergeant. We found her locked in the closet."
I breathed a sigh of relief. Surely they weren't going to kill me if they were working for a sergeant. Maybe they were into some secret military business.
The man took a while to reply.
"Just... Bring her to the grounds. We'll sort things out from there."
"Yes, sir."
The woman had gone over to Jonah and was putting him into a body bag.
"Di-did you kill him?" I squeaked.
The man - Paul - looked startled, obviously not expecting a word from me. He slowly made his way over and crouched down again.
He shook his head. "No, we didn't kill him."
I shrunk further into the wardrobe. If they didn't kill him then who did?
"We're just here to clean up the mess," said the woman. Paul frowned at her.
"Well it's true. But I don't see you over here cleaning it up."
She had multiple disposable cloths and bottles of cleaning substances and bleach. She scrubbed at the puddle of blood that had formed on the wooden floor.
I shivered.
"Are you cold?" asked Paul.
I shook my head.
After the woman had finished cleaning, she picked up the bag with Jonah in and slung it over her shoulder, pulling on the strap. It was almost as if he weighed nothing, and although he wasn't the tallest guy around he couldn't have been easy to carry.
"Come on. We need to leave."
Paul turned to me and held out his hand for me again. I shook my head nervously. I couldn't leave. Lucas would be furious.
He looked puzzled.
"You need to come with us," he said slowly.
I shook my head again. I couldn't.
He tried to reason with me. "Jonah is dead. You're free to go."
They had no idea how much trouble this was going to cause. Shaking my head, I moved further into the wardrobe, behind the door that was still attached. "Never free," I mumbled, hugging my knees.
The clock struck ten.
My eyes widened in shock. "You need to go," I warned. "It's not safe here." Paul's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I knew he was about to question it but I cut him off. "There's no time to explain. You need to go - and fast!"
He was probably already on his way here. He could be in the elevator or anything.
Paul held his hand out to me. "And you need to come with us."
I wanted to say no - I really did, but now wasn't the time. If they weren't going to leave without me, then I had no choice but to go with them. I couldn't be responsible for their deaths.
I took his hand quickly and he pulled me out of the wardrobe. We ditched the elevator and took the stairs instead. Good idea.
We made it out of the apartment block without bumping into Lucas, which was a huge relief.
We arrived at a black Range Rover with tinted windows.
"Climb in the back," said Paul, and once I had he climbed in after me. The woman climbed in the drivers seat and we were off.
I had no idea where they were taking me but I didn't feel like they were kidnapping me. I guess they were kind of rescuing me, but it didn't feel like that either.
After driving for an hour or so, we finally pulled up to some very large gates that seemed to go on forever. I assumed this was the "grounds" their sergeant was talking about. There was huge fencing around the whole area and the place looked extremely secured. A security guard came up to the vehicle and the woman wound her window down. She rested her arm on the door and leaned out of the open window.
"Hey, Bill. Working the night shift again?"
"Hey Sarah. Yeah," replied the security guard, Bill. "Just need to check the car, hun."
"Sure."
Bill opened the door to my left, which made me jump. His eyes widened a little at the sight of me and he then nodded at Paul. He didn't say anything, though, and carried on searching the car.
Once he was finished he said, "Okay. I'll let you guys in."
The gates opened and we entered the grounds. We drove into a small car parking area and stopped the vehicle. I could feel the nerves building up in my stomach and I felt a little queasy. Paul climbed out of the door and held his hand out for me again. I took it and he helped me out of the car. He didn't let go of my hand the whole walk to the building, which I silently thanked him for.
We arrived at a room that looked similar to just an ordinary office. Sarah knocked twice before opening the door and walking straight to the desk at the back of the room. Sitting behind the desk was a man in his early thirties. I could tell instantly from his appearance that he was the sergeant they contacted on the walkie-talkies. He had a very muscular build and was dressed in army gear.
The sergeant's gaze landed on me as soon as I set foot inside the office. He didn't bother with any formalities as he stood up from his chair and made his way over to Paul and I. He studied me for a few seconds.
"Sit down - we could be here a while." He closed the door behind us and sat back down behind his desk.
The sergeant wasted no time and dived straight into the questions. "What is your business with Jonah Lawrence?"
I blinked.
It felt like minutes had gone by while they were waiting for a response they weren't going to receive. The sergeant glanced at Paul and Sarah and then back to me.
"What is your name?"
I stared blankly at the sergeant who was awaiting my answer to his questions. After he realised I wasn't going to reply, he sighed in aggravation and turned to Paul.
"Has she said anything to you at all?"
Paul replied, "Nothing of any importance. She was a little shocked and didn't answer any of my questions. We don't even know her name."
The sergeant pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are you going to answer any of my questions or are you just going to sit there like the inconvenience you are being?"
I narrowed my eyes at his rudeness. Ignoring his question, I said, "I have a question for you, actually."
To say he was shocked would be an understatement. His eyebrows had risen and practically hit the ceiling. He quickly composed himself and replied, "What is it you would like to ask?"
"Who killed him?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, that information is confidential."
I smiled slightly. "Then I refuse to answer your questions. I'll speak only to the person who killed Jonah."
The sergeant didn't think I was being serious and had continued to ask me questions that had been left unanswered.
"You're wasting your time, Sergeant."
He nodded and stood up once again. "Excuse me," he said. "I have to make a phone call."
After the sergeant left the room, Paul turned to me. "What is your concern over the man who shot Jonah Lawrence? Was Jonah a friend of yours?"
I stared blankly at the wall in front of me.
Sarah seemed to be angry at my nonexistent responses and came right up to me. She angrily said, "What is your problem? Surely you should be grateful that we saved your life back there. We didn't have to. We could have killed you right then and there. No one would have known."
I fired back at her, "Surely you should be treating me a little nicer and stop being so rude. Aren't I the person you want - maybe even need - answers from? Killing me wouldn't be such a smart idea. So maybe you should shut your trap and get out of my face."
Paul looked shocked at the whole ordeal but chose not to say anything. It was a wise decision as he probably thought either of us would snap at him too. He'd probably be right.
Sarah was outraged. "If anyone is being rude, it's you! I don't see your problem in answering some simple questions. You're making this more difficult than it has to be."
"Why is it any of your concern? You don't get to ask the questions. You're just here to clean up the mess."
Sarah looked ready to kill me and was about to retort when the sergeant came back into the room and she sat back down, disappointed that she had lost the argument.
I smiled smugly at her.
"Alright," the sergeant said to me. "You may see him."