THE WATCHMAN

A battle for Life

Susan sat in the backseat of the car and had the Orahas' head on her laps. Jose Reina sat in the front seat of the car glancing worryingly back at the unconscious Oraha.

They tried their best to stop the bleeding, but he had lost so much blood and all they could do right now is hope that they got to the hospital in time to save his life.

Ricardo Pereira quickly freshened up and then returned to Lord Murillos' hotel suite. The agents at the door checked him properly before letting him into the room.

As he stepped into the room, he took a seat and waited patiently as Lord Murillo made a phone call.

He could see that Lord Murillo was in a foul mood, probably due to the information he had just received from the person on the other end.

The conversation was hearing up, and he could see Lord Murillo getting even angrier.

"Who could this be, that would get Lord Murillo so worked up?" Ricardo thought to himself.

He tried his best to listen to Lord Murillos' responses, maybe those could help him deduce what was really going on.

"What do you mean you're not in Germany at the moment? Lord Murillo angrily asked over the phone. The last time we spoke, you said you were in Germany and now you're telling me you're not in Germany because you're on an important assignment?"

"What assignment could be more important than the one I have given you?" Lord Murillo screamed into the phone.

"Get your ass down here to Germany as soon as possible before things get out of hand?" He ordered and then he ended the call.

"Ricardo, Is that you? Meet me on the balcony". Lord Murillo called out to him.

Ricardo stepped into the balcony where Lord Murillo had been making his call.

"I didn't expect to see you again today, as I gave you the day off to rest. It was really a stressful trip down here".Lord Murillo said.

"I understand Sir", Ricardo replied but there's something I need to tell you immediately, and it cannot wait!"

"Really?" Lord Murillo asked. "And what could that be?"

"The Oraha and Susan Boyle are in Berlin... Ricardo replied.

The words that came out of Ricardo Pereira's lips caused the Baron General to turn in his chair.

"You said what?" Lord Murillo asked. Susan and the Oraha are here?"

"How did you come about this information so early after our arrival?"

"When we entered the lobby my eyes caught sight of the Oraha and another man sitting together and discussing.

"I chose not to bring this to your attention at the time to avoid an unnecessary fracas between our men and his own, due to the rules of this place.

"Also raising any dust so early after our arrival would immediately alert our other enemies about your arrival and then we will lose the element of surprise". Ricardo Pereira continued.

" Also, while we were about to enter the elevator, my eyes caught hold o Susan standing behind the manager of the hotel. She tried her best to hide but I had already seen her".

"Again, we were in the same elevator with an employee of this establishment and it would be foolhardy to start a fracas there".

"I had hoped he would exit early but unfortunately, he didn't so I had to let things be as they were".

" Why did you not tell me immediately we got to the room?" Lord Murillo screamed at Ricardo. "We would have taken them unawares".

"How would we do that Sir?" Ricardo asked.

"Susan had already seen both of us, remember? I wasn't sure if it was safe to do so, it could have been an ambush or even a trap and they were using themselves as bait!"

"That's true!" Lord Murillo said looking thoughtful. "I never thought about it that way".

"But now that we know they are in the same hotel with us, We have the upper hand and we can plan a stealthy attack". Lord Murillo said.

"Not really my Lord. They also know we are here. So we need to be very careful too!" Ricardo Pereira answered.

Ricardo deliberately left out any information concerning his encounter with The Oraha Susan Boyle and Jose Reyna.

If there was something Lord Murillo was hiding from him, he too would have something to bank upon if it came to that point.

*******************************************************

By the time they got to the hospital, The Oraha was unconscious and the doctors took him straight to the theater for an emergency operation. They needed to take out the bullet as soon as possible.

After a few hours, they came out of the theatre.

"Don't worry he will be fine". The doctor said. It was a very successful operation, and we got out the bullet before it affected any of his vital organs". The Doctor declared.

Susan was relieved to hear this news. She could not bear losing anyone at this point in time. She needed all the help she could so as to achieve success in her mission back on Earth.

She remained aware that she was living on borrowed time.

The Oraha remained unconscious for a long period of time. During this period, Susan Boyle stayed by his side praying for his well-being.

After a few hours, The Oraha regained consciousness.

Immediately he opened his eyes, he turned to see Susan and Jose Reyna beside him.

He smiled weakly at them and asked. "What happened and where are we?"

Oh! Do not stress yourself, Bernardo. We are in a hospital because you were shot by that bastard, even after we had a deal with him". Jose Reina replied angrily.

" Ricardo Pereira has got his own coming to him I promise you that"! He said stop

The Oraha tried to sit up but couldn't as he felt a sharp pain in his lower left abdomen where Ricardo had shot him.

"No!" exclaimed Susan. Don't try to sit up just yet, you were shot".

" Shot?" The last thing I remember was Ricardo pushing me towards you guys and then nothing afterward".The Oraha replied looking perplexed.

"That is because you lost consciousness immediately wear shot by that coward called Ricardo Pereira!" Jose Reyna replied.

"Just try to get enough rest very soon you will be out of here". Jose Reyna said.

"I and Camila will go out and do a little digging, so we can set off on our plans. In the meantime, Susan will be here with you. We will report back the status of things to you Okay?"

"But I would love to ask you something about the things Ricardo said in your room".

"He seemed to be manipulating you because of something he knew about you that we don't know".

"Please tell me, what is it that making us accept this crazy demand he's making?" Susan asked the Oraha.

"It's nothing, please don't bother yourself about it". The Oraha replied. Trying to avoid the question.

"I won't let you do that at this time!" Susan replied harshly.

"Ricardo clearly has you by your balls! And I can't sit here and watch him, manipulate you as he pleases, so please tell me what you're hiding!"

"Have you done anything?" Susan inquired.

"No, I've not, my dear. But it's a long story! And I wouldn't want to burden you with my problems".

"How can you say that?" Susan replied clearly angry at The Orahas statement.

"Why would you call, your problems a burden to me?"

"Now start talking, we obviously are not going anywhere, anytime soon".She sternly said to him.

"Okay", the Oraha replied. It began so many years ago. I was a young Watchman, who fell in love with a beautiful timekeeper".

"You don't mean it! Susan exclaimed. "So you were once in Love? Who would have imagined that The Great Oraha would fall in love with mere humans like us". She said jokingly.

The Oraha let out a weak smile and said... "Will you allow me to tell my story?"

"Okay! Okay!! I'm sorry...Susan said, putting both hands in the air. "I will let you talk freely from now on".

"Ok as I was saying she and I were deeply in love and soon enough we got married.

"It was a beautiful time and we had several plans together".

"A few years after we got married and were blessed with a beautiful baby boy".

"He was our sunshine, he was everything to us".

"Everything was perfect until a prophecy came out about a young child who was going to change everything and all indications pointed to our baby".

"The Baron was threatened by the prospect of a new power taking over, so he sought to destroy my family".

"He made several attempts to assassinate me just to get me out of the way so that he could have my wife. I had to escape for my dear life and do reconstructive surgery on my face to change my identity because nowhere in this world was safe from me as long as I still had that face".

" He even attempted to kill my boy after he had successfully taken my wife but unknown to him I still had friends within the league who helped protect my boy".

"One of them was Jose Reyna, and that is what made Jose leave the League till this day". And he has been after his life ever since.

"Do you remember the first words you ordered immediately you came back from the dead?" The Oraha asked Susan.

"Yes, I do, and it has puzzled me why you have not asked me what I meant all this while". She replied.

"While in the land of the Dead I met a delightful and familiar old lady, but I couldn't really place where I knew her from".

"We shared our life experiences as we waited to be judged, and funny enough her story feels almost the same as yours!"

" I didn't you about it because I know exactly who you were talking about!" The Oraha replied.

Susan's went eyes open wide in bewilderment, as her brain finally connected all the dots for the story to make sense.

"Impossible! It cannot be!" Susan said, still trying to bring herself to the reality of what her mind just reasoned out.

"Wait! Who is this powerful Baron that you talked about?" She asked him, just to be clear on the matter.

"The one who is still after Antonio's life till this very moment!" He replied with a straight expression on his face.

Susan sank into her chair as she finally got to grasp with what was happening.

"So all this while, you have been watched over us, you knew that Antonio was your son and Duchess Murillo was his mother? Susan asked the Oraha in shock.