The Hellman

Chapter 13

Alexander paced his office trying to calm his mind. It had been a whole three days since he began to suspect Michelle and so far the news had not been positive. He told Theodore the history she had given him but based on his brother’s searches, she didn’t exist here or in New York. The situation was deteriorating, and he wanted to bring his siblings in but he couldn’t do it just yet. How was it that she was lying to him, yet she pretended to be interested in him? It was the most infuriating part of their situation and he wanted desperately to ask her what was wrong and give her a chance explain herself.

Suddenly his door burst open and he spun around to see Dillon standing in front of him. He looked frantic and disheveled and Alexander wondered why the man was back in the states without notifying him.

“What’s going on?” he asked

“I know who triggered this” Dillon said, “the woman everyone is going crazy trying to find is your secretary.”

Alexander couldn’t be any more shocked even if he tried. Dillon walked over to him and handed him a sheet of paper with a picture of a younger Michelle on it

“Where did you get this?” Alexander asked

“I have a contact in the cartel.” He replied, “they’ve sent these pictures state-wide and there’s a bounty on her head.”

Alexander let the paper fall from his hand. Why would there be a bounty on her head and who was she?

“I need more than that,” he said

“She’s an old girlfriend of Julius Gomez” Dillon continued, “turns out she knows a lot about his operations and she’s a trained assassin.”

Alexander could have laughed but he didn’t; this was too serious. There was a disconnect between what Dillon was saying and the woman he held and kiss each day before letting her go.

“She’s dangerous Alex,” Dillon said, “you need to get to her and find out what she’s doing here before she takes you out. Who knows, maybe you’re the target.”

Alexander sat in his chair as all the blood rushed to his head. Things were dissolving in a way he could not control. He had let himself be tricked and now it was backfiring.

“We need to assemble a team.” He said thinking of the protocol in situations like these.

“I’ll call the others,” Dillon said.

With that, he was gone, and Alexander was left alone with his thoughts. For the next hour, he went through the motions of preparing an assault. He tracked the chip he had put on her phone and realized she wasn’t far from the office which once again confirmed his suspicion that she was hiding something. She had done everything in her power to avoid being followed even though she lived so close to work. She had lied to him and he couldn’t forgive that. By the times his siblings arrived, everything was in place.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Theodore asked as he suited up

“I’m the one who should do it.” He replied, “she’s my responsibility”

The others didn’t question him and soon they were out the door and heading to her home. When he got there, he felt an eerie sense of unease. The streets were much quieter than he expected in a community like this. It was a bit run down and he was surprised she had chosen to live here even though he had offered her somewhere to live in one of the company homes.

“Alright, follow procedure,” he said, “we want her alive.”

The others nodded understanding and they spread out to surround the house. If she tried to escape he would catch her. he walked up to the flimsy door and with a huff, he kicked it open. On the next side, he saw her. She was standing in the middle of the room with her hair tied up, dressed in all black and holding a gun towards him.

“Michelle,” he said

He looked just behind her and saw a man tied up to a chair.

“Don’t move?” he said

“Alexander?” she asked sounding surprised to see him,

“Yes, Alexander,” he said bitterly, “drop the gun and kneel on the floor.”

“It’s not what it looks like.” She said,

“Don’t talk” he replied

She looked around frantically but when her eyes landed on him again, he saw her resolve fade and she dropped the gun and fell to her knees. Together they rushed in and within minutes he had her in cuffs. He felt triumph that he had caught her but the sadness that followed was unmatched.

“Take her to the office,” he said as they carried her out in cuffs, “place her in one of our interrogation room and no-one question her until I get there”

By now the room was covered and cleared. He approached the man who sat on a rickety chair with his head covered and pulled off the blindfold.

“Clinton?” his sister gasped from behind him

“You know this man?” Alexander asked looking over at his sister,

“He’s the man I recently started dating.” She replied, “how do you know Michelle?”

Alexander ripped off the duct tape which caused the man to scream out.

“Who are you?” Alexander asked,

“You don’t know me?” he asked, “well, I thought it was weird when the sister didn’t know but the brother. The Hellman are really slacking off.”

Alexander cringed but he didn’t have time for this. Michelle was on her way back to the offices and he wanted to be there as soon as possible.

“Take him and place him in a cell until we figure out who he is.” He said, “Laura since you dated him, that’s your responsibility to figure out.”

His sister nodded and walked out.

After searching the house, they left and made their way back to the offices. He found Michelle cuffed in an interrogation room with her head on the table. Before he went in, Dillon walked over to him with the pictures of the dead doctors that he had been trying to get his hands on for weeks.

“I found a source,” Dillon said handing it to him, “maybe she knows what happened to them.”

The thought that she had killed these people his father had known didn’t sit so well in his stomach.

Taking a deep breath, he walked into the room. Michelle didn’t raise her head, but he was unfazed.

“I know you’re not sleeping,” he said

She didn’t respond.

“What’s your real name?” he asked,

Slowly she raised her head and he saw bruises all over her face that hadn’t been there when she left work earlier. He had been filled with so much anger earlier that he hadn’t seen it.

“It’s Elaine,” she said,

“What are you doing here?” he asked

“I wanted a job,” she replied, “I found one here.”

She was putting on a brave face but the look in her eyes told him that she was scared. He wanted to reach out to her, but he knew he had been fooled by those eyes before and he didn’t need to be fooled again.

“Who are you?” he asked

“I think I’ll need a lawyer” she replied, “that is what’s supposed to happen in the United States right?”

“You’ll be deported back to Mexico the moment I call the police” he replied, “or do you forget.”

She smiled a simple smile, but it irritated him that she knew things he didn’t.

“Why are you here in my company?” he asked,

“I don’t have to answer your questions.” She replied, “and you can’t keep me here, so I suggest you release me to the relevant authorities.”

He was becoming irritated and he couldn’t believe this was the same woman. It was killing him that she was shutting him out.

“Elaine,” he said taking the seat across from her, “who placed you here?”

“Your company hired me” she replied, “or do you forget.”

“I know who you are,” he said,

Her eyes widened but then she shook her head.

“You think you do but I guarantee you don’t.” she replied, “if you knew me I wouldn’t be here.”

Her eyes were sincere, but he didn’t want to take her word for it. Something was going on around him and he had no control over it. The only connection was this woman who was sitting across from him. She looked as if she had been battered in a fight and he knew she would need some medical help, but he wouldn’t give it to her; not until she told him what he wanted to know. Suddenly he began to wonder how much he was willing to accept before he forgave her. He banished the thought as soon as it came to his mind. She was the enemy who had infiltrated his company and now he had to make her pay.

“I know you did this,” he said

He placed the folder on the table and slowly opened it. The gruesome pictures he had shielded her from a few weeks ago were now out in the open for her to see. She looked at it, then up at him and then down at it all over again. He saw the tears falling down her eyes before he heard the cries. She began convulsing and he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t understand why she was reacting like this at the sight of the pictures.

Keeping true to himself he stood.

“So, here’s what happened,” he said turning away from her as she cried, “you killed these people, ran away from the cartel and now they’re chasing you to get you back.”

She didn’t say anything, in fact when he looked back, she was holding the pictures and sobbing.

“And you somehow forgot to tell me that your boyfriend was a cartel don.” He said refusing to let her tears get the better of him, “was that the plan all along? You would come here to get the better of me and then when all was said and done, you’d go back to him?.”

He stood watching her, waiting for her to answer but she continued to sob. It was painful to watch but it had been more painful for him to think she had been using him. his mind became frenzied as he thought about her going back to another man who wasn’t him. How could she have used him so poorly and why wouldn’t she confess now that she was caught.

Reaching out. He tried to take the picture from her, but she clutched it. She looked up at him and he saw her tear stained face contorted with pain and he stepped back.

In that instant, the door swung open and he father stepped in. He was so shocked to see the old man that he stepped back. Maud looked from him to Elaine and then back.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” his father shouted

It was the first time he had ever heard his father shout so loudly and the old man was a formidable sight to behold.

“Have you lost your damn mind?” Maud said walking around to where Elaine sat, his father produced a set of keys and undid her cuffs.

“I told you to stay out of this Alexander,” he said, “you just wouldn’t listen and now look at this s**t!”

This father pulled Elaine to her feet and wrapped her in a hug.

Alexander still had no idea what to say.

“You just showed the only child of these people their dead mangled bodies.” His father said, “she’s on the run you fool from people who’ve been trying to kill her since she was born.”

Of all the things Alexander could have expected, this was not one of them. She was the daughter that had never been seen and the one who had been kept hostage for years by Julius Gomez. He watched her crumble to the floor and wondered how he could have been so self-concerned when the facts had all been there.