The King of City

27 THE CONNECTION

"Did you like dinner Mary?". Lionel asked.

"It was delicious Larson; you have learned to cook very well".

"I’ve improved a lot, I also wanted to apologize to you for having been so far these last days, rather tell me how is the repair of your apartment going?". Lionel was trying to get information out of Corrine.

"Quite well, in a couple of weeks, I’ll be able to return". Corrine said, not realizing that she had never been there and that was what she had said to Lionel at first.

"To return? I thought you were just going to move there?”.

"Sorry, I was confused, is that this week I spent the whole day supervising the repairs and I assimilated that I was already living there". Corrine replied trying not to discover the inconsistency in her story.

Lionel didn’t believe any of that story, he was sure that no house was being repaired, so he should start investigating everything about Mary well.

"Well Mary, I'm a little tired, I'm going to sleep".

"Good night, Larson". Corrine was hoping to keep an eye on Lionel through cameras throughout the house, so she also quickly went up to her room to observe what the man was doing. Lionel wasn’t going to do anything suspicious because he knew of the existence of all the cameras, he decided then, to wait a few hours for the girl to fall asleep to analyze the artifacts without fear of being discovered by her.

From his room, Corrine only observed that Lionel took a shower, read a few minutes, and immediately fell asleep.

"This i***t doesn't do anything that interests me". Corrine grumbled.

After a while, without seeing any suspicious activity from Lionel to Corrine, fatigue overcame her and she fell asleep, after a few hours, Lionel got up slowly from his bed, left the room, and made sure that Corrine was asleep, later, he returned to his room and looked at the photograph of the place where the small device was on his cell phone. He took it very carefully and immediately sent a photograph to Beau so that he could help him investigate the functionalities of the small artifact, meanwhile, he would also investigate on his side, after a few minutes of investigation Lionel was capable to discover how to delete the recording so that Corrine didn’t realize what he was doing when he checked the small camera the next morning, at that moment his cell phone rang, it was a call from Beau:

"Cheetah, do you know that I am staying up for you and I have a mission tomorrow?". was Beau's greeting.

"You can't refuse to help a friend". Said Lionel, smiling and speaking softly so that Corrine wouldn't wake up to the noise.

"You have to listen to this: that little toy in your hands has a whole story".

"Interesting, tell me what you know". Lionel answered intrigued.

"The company that manufactured them a few years ago was intervened by the Lucien Government, they thought that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to invest in that company in order for them to manufacture all their security devices and not have to export them, those who have most of these devices are part of the Lucien International Crime Bureau”. said Beau.

"Interesting" said Lionel.

“Who did you take that Cheetah camera from? You won’t be escorting someone from that organization”. Said Beau.

"What I’m going to tell you is the most interesting thing of all, that little camera was being installed by the girl who lives with me, I don't know if there is more in the whole house".

"Oh, really? The girl must be up to something”. Beau was surprised to hear what Lionel told him.

"That girl must be related in some way to the Lucien International Crime Bureau and that’s what I must find out as soon as I can".

"Of course, Cheetah, from here I’ll try to help you".

"Thanks Beau, I’ll erase tonight's recording and put it in the same place the girl installed it".

As he mentioned to Beau, Lionel hid the camera again doing all those tasks they gave him 5:00 a.m., so he decided to get ready to go with Elsa since he had to accompany her to her new university. Corrine felt Lionel leave and immediately ran to check the recordings.

"s**t, I think I left something loose". She said, noting that the video of Lionel's room had stopped, so she spent the rest of the day trying to repair the camera to have it ready by the time Lionel returned. at night.

Lionel considered the idea of contacting Frederic's Special Operations Unit to give notice that he was being spied on by that girl Mary, however, he thought that the Unit had already turned his back on him, therefore, he would continue to act as if he had found nothing until he could find evidence of his housemate's relationship with the Lucien crime office and the reason why he was being spied on by them.

In the evening, Lionel returned early and found that Corrine was working in the room, which would allow him to inquire. Despite this, the girl was very skillful and immediately opened a platform to watch movies online.

"Mary, what a surprise to find you working in this place, you are always in your room".

"Hi Larson, I'm not working. I came here to see a movie. I wanted to change a bit of the atmosphere. I didn't expect you to arrive early today, too. Why is that?". Corrine asked trying to divert Lionel's attention.

"I feel a little sick, it must be cold". Lionel lied, not giving too many details.

"Can I get you some medicine in the medicine cabinet?". Corrine asked a little concerned.

"Yes, I would really appreciate it".

While Corrine went to the medicine cabinet, Lionel was going to try to look at the information on her computer, to his surprise, the team had a password, so he couldn’t see more than the wallpaper.

"Here is the pill".

Lionel received the medicine but went to the kitchen to capable to throw it away, he preferred not to consume anything prepared or delivered by that girl, since he was easy prey for espionage. After Lionel returned from the kitchen, Corrine in an attempt to take care of Lionel from his cold offered to cook that night.

"I'll take care of dinner, go and rest Larson, that might help you get better".

"Thanks Mary, I’ll make my dinner today". said Lionel a little serious.

Corrine found Lionel's attitude that night quite strange, which she attributed to how badly the boy felt about his illness, despite which she didn’t want to remain in doubt.

"Is there something wrong with you, Larson, aside from your illness?". Corrine asked.

"No Mary, I already told you that it is only a cold". Lionel replied exalted, he didn’t feel so comfortable with her questioning, he felt that anything he mentioned could serve that damn spy for the purposes she had with him.

"Hey, quiet friend, don't yell at me, I already understood that you're sick". Corrine said a little angrily, Lionel's behavior had her a little confused.

"Sorry Mary, I'm not used to anyone asking me so much about me". Said Lionel trying not to ruin his relationship with the girl because if he put her on the defensive it would be much more difficult to find out her intentions and extract information.

“I accept your apology, and will do my best not to be so pushy with more questions. It’s a promise”. Said Corrine.

"Deal Mary, I assure you that tomorrow I’ll be better".

"I hope so if you don't want me to prepare dinner let us order some food then, so I won't poison you with my preparations". Corrine said laughing.

"Of course, I do". Replied Lionel, who deep down felt great relief because he felt safer eating something prepared from the outside than for that girl who was perhaps an enemy disguised as an innocent local woman. "Let me order, it will be a surprise". with that Lionel made sure he knew the origin of the food that night.

“Okay, today you will be the one to choose, but only because you are sick. Don't get too used to it”. Said Corrine laughing, who kept thinking about Lionel's strange behavior that night. After a while of thinking about the reason, he concluded that it could be something related to his work as a bodyguard in Grey Umbrella, so he thought of communicating with Judith the other day in order for her to indicate if during the mission something strange or suspicious had happened to him.