“The man you both were looking for will be found by another
agent. Ghost has been assigned to that. We need to focus on this new
assignment. Violet put me on speaker; I need Burner to hear this.”
Becky puts it on
speaker as she checks around her for any unusual movement. “You are on
speaker.”
“Burner we just found the picture you were talking about. It
was uploaded by a woman called Sophia. She is a journalist by profession and
has placed a reward for anybody that can give her your location. She edited the
picture to remove the gun which makes us believe that she is not a threat. We
pulled some favors and had someone track her phone. She is currently on the
road that leads towards the Cinemas. I am sending her current location to you,
follow her and make sure you find out what she knows.”
“We will.” Becky says as she ends the call. She keys in the
destination into the GPRS and puts on her seat belt. Jake fires up the engine
and begins to drive.
_
The man opens the door to the restaurant for Sophia; she
enters before him without saying a word showing no sign of the pain on her leg,
thanks to the pain killers she probably overdosed on. The man begins to scan
the crowd for the girl that they came to see. There are many women in the
restaurant “This is a waste of time. What is her name again?” He asks Sophia.
“Alexia”
“Oh yes Alexia.” He says.
The man claps loudly twice and shouts “May I have your
attention Ladies.” The whole place goes quiet. “Thank You. Alexia if you are
here, can you please put up your hand.” A hand goes up in the corner of the
restaurant and waves them over. The man in the coat looks around the restaurant
and says “Thank you, you may all continue to eat.” He walks towards Alexia and
pulls a chair up for Sophia to sit. The man extends his hand to Alexia and then
looks at the man sitting beside her. “You must be the private investigator.
Good to have you here.”
Alexia says “Yes he is. I ordered your chicken and fries for
you. She pushes the plate over to him.”
The man looks at her “Who says there are no good people in
the world?” and takes a bite out of his chicken. “You have saved me.”
Alexia laughs and looks at Sophia wondering why she looks so
stiff. “Sophia, are you alright? You do not look so well.”
“It is about the man I talked to you over the phone. She is
afraid of him, she will get over it. She just needs a little space right now
that’s all.”
“We can do this another time if you want to be alone.” Alexia
says with a worried look on her face.
The man holds Sophia’s hand and says “That won’t be
necessary. Finding the man we are looking for is more important than her space
right now. She will be fine when this is all over. Isn’t that right Sophie?”
Sophia simply says “Yes.”
The man in the coat looks at Alexia and asks “Alexia, are
both you and Sophie related?”
“No.”
“Hmm, the both of you do look alike a little; but I have to
say that my Sophie is the better looking out of the two of you.” The man in the
coat says with a big smile on his face. “Alright enough with the small talk, on
to the main reason why we are all here which is to find this dear man that has
been kidnapped. Now over to you private investigator, tell us how we can find
this man. We can only imagine the dreadful situation he must be in right now
which is why the sooner we find him, the better.”
_
Jake pulls up some distance away from the restaurant and
kills the engine. He grabs a pair of binoculars from the backseat and tries to
spot any sign of the girl in the restaurant but the place is too crowded for
him to spot her. Some people are standing and blocking the others that are
sitting. “I have to go inside to find her. Her phone is somewhere here so she
has to be here.”
Becky removes her seatbelt and says “Let’s go.”
“No, you are not going in with me this time. I am going
alone.” Jake gets his bag pack from the backseat and opens the door.
Becky gets out of the car “Am going whether you like it or not.”
“Have it your way, but do not get in my way.” Jake says as he
heads for the entrance of the restaurant.
_
The man’s phone rings “Excuse me” he says as he picks up.
“Boss, the man we are looking for is heading towards the
restaurant.” The man pauses and looks outside the window and sees a male and a
female a long way off heading towards the restaurant. “Should we kill him?” the
person on the other line says.
“No, let him enter. Let him in. Come and get the girl.”He
says as he ends the call and puts the phone back into his coat. “This is about
to get very interesting. Alexia and Sophie I have just been informed that the
man we are looking for is about to enter the restaurant. Can you imagine?” he
laughs and looks at the private investigator. “So there is no need for you
anymore.” He brings out his gun with the silencer on it from his coat points it
directly at the private investigator and pulls the trigger. Blood splashes on
the window behind them and on Alexia. The investigator slumps down on the table
dead. “The shock on your face is priceless, I am so sorry for the blood.” The
man says to Alexia as he hands her a tissue, “Clean up. No one knows what
disease is in his blood, investigators go to places where no man should ever
go.” Alexia takes the tissue in shock not saying a word with Sophia looking
pale.
The man in the coat stands up, climbs the table and shouts “I
just killed a man!” Everyone in the restaurant keeps quiet and looks at him.
The man waves his gun and says “Run.”
People start running out of the restaurant saying “He has a
gun.” Someone in the crowd of people tries to attack the man in the coat but he
falls to the ground before he can get close.
The man in the coat looks at him and says “That is what you
get for trying to be a hero.” He pulls the trigger and ends another life.
One of his men enters into the restaurant. The man in the
coat turns to Alexia and stretches his hand to her “Can you be so kind as to
follow this man out of this place dear. This is no place for a woman like you.”
He tells the man “Get her out of here.” Alexia follows the man out of the
restaurant.
The man in the coat looks at Sophia “Is this not
entertaining?” he laughs and picks Sophia up. “Let’s take a walk dear.” He
starts walking towards the door of the restaurant, looks out of the window and
sees Jake and the other woman trying to fight their way through the crowd. The
man in the coat and Sophia exit the restaurant through the side door with a car
waiting for them. He looks at Sophia “it has been fun hanging with you but we
have to part ways now. Go on and run to your Jake, he probably came here for
you. Just do this favor for me.” He reaches into the car, brings out a phone
with an envelope and gives them to her. “Give this to him for me. Tell him it
is from Les Papers.” He gives her a
kiss on the check and says “Good bye Sophie.”
The man gets into the car and the car drives off leaving
Sophia standing by herself beside the restaurant. Sophia begins to run towards
the front of the restaurant shouting “Jake!! Jake!!”
The man in the coat brings out his gun and says “Turn the car
around.”
_
Jake hears his name and looks around to see who is shouting.
He notices a woman running towards his direction. He starts to run towards her,
with Becky shouting behind him. They both are running towards this woman who is
shouting Jake’s name. Becky notices a car coming up behind the woman and stops
running. She brings out her gun and aims for the car but it was too late.
Sophia keeps screaming “Jake! Jake!” as she sees Jake running
towards her. It’s over It’s over she
says to herself. Something hits her in the back; she jerks forward and falls
straight to the ground with someone catching her before she hit the ground. Two
shots were fired and she heard a car driving off. She stares up at a face and
recognizes Jake, her eyes were closing and she feels the blood draining out of
her body.
_
Becky saw the bullet hit Sophia and she immediately fired off
twice at the car shattering the front glass and the second shot hitting someone
in the front passenger seat. The car sped off away from the restaurant with a
man laughing inside the car.
Jake holds Sophia’s head and says “Breathe just Breathe.” He
focuses on her and tries to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. She just tries
to smile at him, and mouths off “Am sorry for sending you and Kevin that day.”
“Do not say anything, just try and focus. Help is on the
way.” Jake says as he tells someone around him to call for an ambulance.
She raises her hand and touches him, putting her blood on his
face. “He has Alexia.”
“Do not say anything.” Jake says as Becky kneels beside him.
Sophia holds his head steady and looks into his eyes for the
last time. “Jake, Am so sorry.” With that she breathes her last.
Jake holds her lifeless body in his hands and strokes her
hair. He gets up slowly, picks up the phone and envelope beside Sophia. He then
turns and heads towards the car. Becky follows him and enters the car with him,
“Jake, the police are on their way.” From the sound of the sirens, it was obvious
the police were not far away.
Jake puts the car in drive and takes off, staring at the body
of a friend he was leaving behind in the rear view mirror. It was not until the
moment he held her in his hands that he remembered her. It was her from his
past life, the one who sent him on that mission that landed him in prison. She
was dead because of him and he knew what he had to do. A life for a life was
required.
Becky’s phone rang and she picked up on the second ring
“Yes.” She put the phone on speaker.
“Ghost has acquired the target and is headed back home. Your
mission is over, get to the extraction point we agreed on. You will have your
contact waiting for you with your tickets. The reports coming from the police
are shots fired between a car and a woman that matches the description of
Violet outside the restaurant. Violet, they will be looking for you.”
“We are headed towards the extraction point.” Becky says. She
ends the call and picks up the next incoming call. She removes it from speaker.
“Becky, I just heard what happened. Are you alright?”
“I am good Ghost.” Becky replies
“How is Burner?” the caller asks.
Becky looks at Jake with concern and says “Am not sure. She
died in his arms, it all happened so fast. There was nothing either of us could
do. We are headed to the extraction point now.”
“The man you were looking for is in my custody. I am headed
home with him right now. See you when you get there.” Ghost says.
“Okay Ghost, meet you at home.” Becky responds as she ends
the call and looks at Jake as he drives with a set jaw. She could sense the
anger in him. “That was Kevin. He is headed home. What are you going to do now
Jake?”
He points towards the envelope he picked up from Sophia.
Becky picks it up and reads what is written on the cover of the envelope “From Les Papers”.
“I will find him and then for Sophia sake, I will return the
favor.” Jake says.
Becky says nothing for a while and then reaches out to Jake,
rolls up his sleeve and looks at the inscription ‘A life for a life’ inked on his arm. She nods and quietly says “A
life for a life.”
Jake hears her and repeats the same thing “A life for a
life.”
They both look straight on, driving towards the extraction
point knowing that their contact will be waiting for them there. Home was not
on their mind though; the only thing that was on their mind was finding Les Papers and returning the favor.