Chapter 22
865 Words
Chapter 22
“Why did you bring him here?” the young woman asked, pointing with the g*n vaguely at Billy’s feet. She was lean, pretty, in her thirties.
I put my hands up, and the woman leaned forward and pushed my arms down. “Are you nuts! Don’t raise your arms, there are cameras here.” She tugged her jersey hat even lower and adjusted her ponytail, keeping her face hidden from any camera. I realised then that she had barely shown the g*n, and that it was my startled imagination that made me think she had pointed it at me. In truth, she had merely shown us the g*n and had never threatened us directly.
Huh.
Talk about unreliable eye-witnesses.
Billy was about to raise his long arms and paused halfway, turning the gesture into a scratch and a yawn.
“I wasn’t gonna come meet a crazy sleazy guy by myself, would I?” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
She squinted. “What guy?”
“Prodromos. Aren’t you taking us to him?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah. Right. Get inside, we gotta go. Those guys might have lost you but they won’t be long now,” the woman said and went back into the driver’s seat.
Me and Billy stared at each other, and I shrugged at him.
“I thought you said it was a guy,” he whispered to me.
“It is a guy”, I replied, not getting it.
“How did you manage to get me into this mess?” he asked, but moved around the van and opened the car door for me.
The young woman lifted an eyebrow at that, but said nothing and fired up the engine. We all sat in a row, a van’s seat can accommodate three people, and we drove down, paid the parking fee with a paycard and drove out into the streets.
I glanced behind me. There was a thin divide with a hole at our backs. I raised myself and peeked inside. There was a ton of computer equipment in there, double monitors, racks of hardware, blinking lights, cables neatly arranged in copper guts and sinews. I was in no way an expert in computers, my knowledge was limited in selfie uploading, chatting and photofilter applications, but this looked non-standard for a tech-company’s van. It looked something that Deppy would drool over, and I mean that literally.
We drove in silence. Billy was silent, in observation mode. I could see the gears spinning in his head, processing all details, big or small.
The young woman was peeking at the mirrors constantly. She once muttered, “We are running out of time…”
After a while, we got away from the city centre and towards some warehouses, an industrial area. I wasn’t really sure where we were, my sense of direction is wobbly at its best. I doublechecked even the train direction at the platform, the very same one that I used daily. I had gotten on the wrong one a few times too many.
She parked us in a secluded space, finding some shade from the scorching sun. We got off the van and the slight breeze felt nice.
What a great place to get executed in, was the thought that came to my mind.
“So?” I asked, “Where is he?”
She snorted, taking off her jersey hat to cool off.
“Oh Mahi…” Billy said, presenting her with a gesture of his hand. “Meet Prodromos.”
I was stunned for a minute. I closed my mouth because my jaw was hanging like an i***t and then said, “But you look normal.”
“Thanks?” she said hesitantly, but then her expression changed into a stiff tone. “Give me your phone.”
I put my hand over my jeans pocket and said, “Ohi. No, I’m not giving it to you.”
Billy was about to say something but she raised a hand and he stopped.
“I know your father gave it to you. I need that phone,” she demanded, opening her palm, the other hand resting at the hilt of her holstered g*n.
“All this so you could rob us? Going the long way around, are we? Just find a dark alley and get over with it,” I said in challenge.
Billy interjected, “I think you should give it to her, Mahi.”
I blinked at him. “What?”
“There is something happening to you, those episodes, and it all began as soon as you got that phone. Right?” he said, and paused until he got a shrug of approval from me. “From what you told me, I can only conclude that Prodromos,” he said showing the young woman, “Is investigating this and needs your phone to test stuff.”
“But my father gave it to me! He would never do something to hurt me!” I protested, forcing back a tiny amount of tears.
“He wouldn’t!” Billy said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “He might not know, Mahi. He’s just in the marketing department, he doesn’t know what this is.”
Prodromos was softer this time. “I need it now, but I can give it back to you at some point.”
Billy said to her, “It’s best not to raise suspicion right? We don’t want her dad noticing that she lost it.”
Prodromos shrugged and said, “Yeah, a couple of days should do it. I’ll contact you and give it back then.
I straightened my spine and gave my phone to her. As I did, Billy asked, a frown on his face, “But why? What does this phone have to do with anything?”
Prodromos checked the time, pointed at my horrified face and said, “This.”
I saw the Erinyes climb out of the concrete and come straight at me.
- Writer
