Blue-eyed girl

CHAPTER FIVE: THE MESSENGER OF BEOCRAFT

Gasping, the teenager came awake in an enclosed room with just a window, heart pounding, his frightened eyes quickly swept the room and he saw, sitting across the room and watching him, Steven and Derik.

            He jerked, but the chair he was sitting moved with him. That was when he noticed the thick ropes that were wrapped around his chest and arms, strapping him to the chair.

He struggled with all his might, but the ropes wouldn’t give. He turned to look around the room, his eyes darting in all direction. “This isn’t a prison,” Panic grew on his face as he turned to look at them. “Where am I?”

“No one is going to lock you up.” Derik’s voice echoed off the room. He picked up a gun from the table and walked towards him. “We are standing in an abandoned warehouse, a place far from any residential building, where nobody would hear you scream. I could even kill you right now and bury your body. No one would even notice that you are missing.”

The teenager began to shake in fear as he watched Derik approach. Derik took out a single bullet and loaded it into the Winchester M1887 shotgun. “I don’t know if you are going to live or not after this, but that will totally depend on the answers you give me right this moment.”

Pulling back the hammer and pressing the gun to his forehead, Derik turned to stare dead into his eyes, stabbing him with his gaze. “Who are you, and why have you been following me?”

“My name is James and I am just a photographer.” The teenager quivered, the sight of the gun making him Jittery. “You can check my ID, it’s in my wallet.”

“Why were you following me?”

“I swear to God, I wasn’t following you.” He answered, his body trembling.

“Bullshit!” Derik thundered, bashing his head with the back of the gun. It drew blood.

Derik moved to take the camera from Steven, scrolling through several picture, he raised the camera to James’ face. “I found dozens of my photograph in your little camera. Someone has been paying you to take pictures of me.”

Tossing the camera, Derik pinned the gun to his forehead. “I’m going to ask for the last time, why are you following me. Who hired you? I want their names.”

“I can’t tell you that.” James whimpered. His lips trembled as he spoke. “He warned me not to say anything.”

“Who is he?” Derik’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, someone is really paying you to take pictures of me?”

James realized he’d made a huge mistake. “No.” He stammered, breaking eye contact. “That is not what I said. Ummm…”

Derik pressed the gun against his forehead, pulling the harmer. “Don’t make me do this.” He glared with murderous eyes. “Who is paying you to follow me?”

James sniffled, biting his upper lips, not uttering a word.

“Tell me!!” Derik yelled, shifting his fingers to touch the trigger. “I need answers now!”

“They will kill me if I say anything…” James whimpered between his sobs.

Derik shot him a venomous glance. “And you think I won’t?”

            James’ cheeks were wet with tears as he sat with his arms tied behind the chair. “A couple of weeks ago, a man came to my studio.” He started off, “He said he needed my services, and I asked if it was for a wedding, birthday, or an anniversary. But he asked for something totally different. He offered me money -lots of them, then he gave me two photographs. One of them was a picture of you.” He paused, eyeing Derik.

Steven raised an eyebrow. “…and the other?”

“Some tall guy in a black jump suit.” James answered, “I didn’t catch his name.”

Derik quickly recognized who James was referring to. His hand slid into the deep pocket of his long coat, and he pulled out a wallet. Opening the wallet, he fished out a photograph of Kevin and held it up for him to see. “Is this the guy?”

James nodded. “That’s him. He told me to take photographs of everything you two do.”

“What was he doing with these photographs?” Steven cut in.

“Don’t know, I never asked, as long as he kept the money coming. Every week, I email every photograph I capture to him in exchange for a pay.”

“This guy, does he have a name?” Derik raised an eyebrow.

“He never mentioned his name. I know nothing about him. He dresses on a black suit and drives a gray car. He shows up at the studio once every weekend, that is when he delivers payment for the pictures.”

“You say you deliver these photographs through his email.” Steven cut in. “Give us the email address, maybe we could figure out something out of it.”

            James shook his head, fear changed his face. “He specifically told me never to share his email address with anyone, else they would be consequences.”

Derik sighed, rubbing his forehead with sweaty fingers, his face grey with fatigue. “Are we really going to play this card? I hold up a gun to you head and you tell me what I want to hear.” He raised an eyebrow.

“crystallow@DHX.org” James mumbled, staring at his foot, hiding his worries behind a straight face.

“Crystallow,” Derik mouthed, turning to Steven. “The name means anything to you?”

Steven shook his head. “Nope, never heard the name before.”

“I know I have seen that name somewhere… but where?” Derik’s face twisted as he tried to remember. Something clicked in Derik’s memory and his whole face lit up.

“The letter!”

His eyes narrowed as his brain went over the letter he found few days ago in Lawrence’s office.

Lawrence Linus

In a bid to push through with the ritual as earlier scheduled, we have taken some decisive measure to eliminate the hindrances that stands in our way.

See the attached photographs of three police officers of the homicide department, fallout city. These officers know too much about this organization, and thus, pose a threat to what we are trying to accomplish.

Detective Murphy Hatfield and Leonard Narlor had earlier been obliterated, but the location of the last Individual, Sam McClain, still remains unknown to us. Find Him, and do what needs to be done to avoid any complications in the future. Close up every loose end and stay safe.

Crystallow

24th April.

“Of course.” Derik mouthed, sitting at the corner of the table and running his hands through his hair. “Crystallow was the guy that sent that letter to Lawrence.”

Steven turned to Derik, momentarily confused. “You know this guy?”

“It’s a really long story. It has something about an organization that goes by the name Beocraft. This Crystallow guy might be some kind of messenger in this organization. If we find where he is, maybe he might lead us straight to them.”

Steven’s shoulder slumped, looking perplexed at Derik as he went on blabbing meaningless words. “What are you on about?”

“I’ll explain everything later, for now we focus of finding Crystallow.” Derik said, picking up his gun and walking towards James.

Reaching where James sat, Derik raised the gun to his head. “You are going to pretend like nothing has happened while we wait in your place of work to ambush Crystallow when next he visits you to make payment; that is when we jump in to capture him.”

“Just take me to prison, please.” James pleaded, “I don’t want to get involved. He will kill me when he finds out I am the one that had betrayed him.”

“…and if you don’t take me to him, I will blow your brain across these walls.” Derik grunted, his hands trembling on the gun. “You are already involved in this.”

“Please, don’t make me do this.” James whimpered, his body trembling as the sweat formed on his forehead.

After a loud gunshot echoed off the room, James’ blood spluttered across the wall, and his head fell backward. Confusion transformed the faces of everyone in the room.

Steven’s eyes went wild at the sight of James leaning on the chair with his head thrown backward. “What the hell?” He slowly turned to Derik, a horror expression on his face. “What have you done?”

Derik stared with confused eyes at the lifeless body, the cold gun shaking in his trembling fingers, his heart throbbing within his chest. “I don’t understand. I never pulled this trigger,” He confessed, eyeing the blood that stained his hands.

“…someone else did.”

Derik turned around to gaze at Steven; a motion from the ceiling caught the corner of his eyes. He quickly glanced up at the ceiling, and his eyes grew wide at the sight of a creature with hideous face, crawling out of the room through the ceiling board.

Terror transformed Steven’s face. “What the hell is that?”

“My God, the creature,” Derik stared with wild eyes. “It shot James.”  He turned to look at the body.

His heart shot up when he heard the wailing of multiple police siren waiting outside.

“We have been set up.”

A knock sounded on the door. Kevin diverted his attention from the book he held in his hand, and turned to peek at the door, wondering who is standing behind.

“Who is there?” He asked, suspending his head in the air and eyeing the door. And when he heard no response, he returned to his lying position on the arm of the couch. His eyes returned to the novel he was reading.

Another knock sounded. Kevin grunted, feeling frustrated at whoever was knocking, cursing under his breath, he stormed to the door, abruptly sliding it open, ready to pounce on anyone standing outside.

“Did you think I didn’t hear you knock the firs…” His eyes widened at the sight of Natasha standing outside. His whole face lit up, and he cracked a freakish smile at her. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Natasha replied, smiling nervously at him. “Is everything ok?”

“Y-yeah. Yeah, everything is fine.” He smiled, suddenly realizing her clothes were damp. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize it’s drizzling outside. Come on in, I’ll make you coffee.” He opened the door just enough for her to walk through.

Natasha smiled, looking down at her feet as she walked into the room, and Kevin shut the door.”

“Should I make you a warm cup of coffee, or you would prefer a pitcher of lemonade instead.” Kevin suggested, rubbing his arm.

“I think I’ll manage, thank you.” Natasha cracked a smile. “I don’t intend to stay long.” She turned, glancing around the room. “Is Derik in? I really need to talk to him.”

“He left few hours ago after a police officer showed up with a teenager, said he caught the kid spying on us.” Kevin shot a glance at her. “Why do you need to see Derik anyway?”

Natasha sat at the edge of the couch beside her, folding her arms. “I need his help. I tried calling his phone earlier and it keeps redirecting me to his voicemail.”

“Madelia has been kidn*pped and I need his help finding her. Alex told me Derik figured out where we were when T-Rex kidn*pped us and almost tortured me to death. Maybe he could figure this one too.”

Kevin smiled, “I’m glad Derik came in right on time to rescue us back then, otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting here, talking to each other.”

“Yeah, right.” she smiled, avoiding his gaze.

Silence fell.

“About that note I left in your pillow, I just want to…”

Her smile faltered. “Kevin, can we please not talk about that.”

Kevin nodded. His mouth set in a hard line.

“Thank you.” Her smile returned. “I want to take this time out to formally wish you a happy birthday. I didn’t get the chance before because of the wired stuffs that has been happening.”

Her eyes were drawn to the book sitting beside Kevin. “Were you reading a book?”

“Actually, it’s a novel.” He said, picking the book from the couch. “Frank gave it to me before I was discharged.”

“Can I have a look?” she said, stretching her arm to collect the book.

Kevin handed it to her.

Natasha glanced through the cover, searching for a title. “Faceless Men.” She read, turning to look at him. “What is it about?”

“It is a dark and twisted story of a tormented young man who meets his end trying to stop a ghoul.” Kevin hinted. “It’s an intriguing read.”

“Sounds scary,” She lifted an eyebrow. “I never knew you are such a big fan of dark novels? I’ve always hated those kinds of novels, especially the horror genre. It always leaves me feeling scared. I get horrifying nightmares after reading books like this, and sometimes hallucination too may follow.”

Kevin smiled as he listened. “You are a weak one.”

Natasha punched his arm and Kevin stifled a groan, rubbing his arm. “For a lady, you’ve got such hard fist.”

A corner of her mouth lifted. “Who is the weak one now?”

“I better get going.” Natasha turned to gather her things. “When Derik gets back home, please tell him to call me, will you?”

Kevin forced a smile. “Sure.”

Grabbing her bag, she stood up and walked to the door, Kevin closely following on her heels. He unfastened the locks. The cold breeze from the unforgiving, heavy rain slashed his face as he pushed the door to open.

“The rain has gotten pretty serious.” Kevin observed, shutting the door and turning to Natasha. “I guess you’ll have to wait out the storm here.”

Natasha stood stranded, staring at the door with defeated eyes, frustration making her face red.

            William sat on a stool, rubbing his eyes, staring long into space, he sighed in exhaustion. He returned his gaze to Derik who stood behind metal bar. “Exactly how did this happen?”

            Derik clutched the bar, leaning his forehead on cold rods. “We were set up.” He answered, eyeing William who wore a look of disappointment.

“What do you mean you were set up?” William leered, “The police caught you two trying to escape, leaving behind a dead boy strapped to a chair. How is that a set up?”

 “As much as I want to admit to my guilt, I can’t, I did not kill the kid. Something else was in that room and it shot James.” Derik drew his breath and continued.

 “Remember back then, after C-Rex kidn*pped your daughter and we were interrogating Jeffrey to get information out of him, before an ugly creature showed up on the ceiling and blew his brain out.”

William raised an eyebrow. “You’re saying the same creature killed James parker?”

Derik nodded.

William watched in silence as he continued. “Steven caught the little kid snooping around my apartment; turns out he was hired by a guy named Crystallow.”

William batted his lashes. “Crystallow?”

“Crystallow is the name I found at the bottom of that letter sent to Lawrence. I think he is some kind of messenger to the organization.” Derik second guessed, “During the interrogating, I asked the kid to help us set up an ambush to capture Crystallow, but he was too afraid to go against him.”

“I don’t know what Crystallow might have said to dissuade James from spilling everything he knew.” Derik continued, “James was willing to go to jail, rather than help us set up an ambush for Crystallow.”

Derik turned to look down and away. “When I decided to use my gun to threaten him into helping me to set up an ambush, his brain went splat, and his head fell behind, that’s when I saw the creature leaving through the ceiling. The creature killed him –just as it killed Jeffrey.”

William scoffed, “Anyone listening to you would think you made that up. No court would believe what you just told me.”

William edged towards the bars, lowering his voice. “The boy was found tied to a chair, in a small room far from where anyone else is living. The murder weapon was found in your possession. Believe me; it doesn’t look like a set up to me.”

William peered into the dark corner to gaze at Steven who sat in silence on the cold floor. “You should have brought him in the moment he was arrested.”

“It is my fault officer Steven is caught in the middle of all these. He insisted that the kid be brought to the police headquarter, but It was my persuasion that led him to act otherwise.” Derik revealed.

William returned his gaze to Derik. “What informed your decision to tie the kid to a chair, in a little room far from any residential building?”

“The reason I did this is so I could threaten him into telling me why he was following me. I knew he was going to lie his way out if he was to be interrogated by a detective in the police headquarters.”

“So, you took it upon yourself to interrogate the kid instead.” William stared, his eyes burned with disappointment.

             “I only wanted to scare him into telling me everything about the people that had hired him to follow me.” His tears threatened to drop. “I held the gun to his head, but it never crossed my mind to put a bullet in him.”

            “I believe you.” William looked away and down at his feet. “As much as I want to help you get out of this, I can’t; everything is so messed up right now. There are going to charge you two with k********g and murder of James parker.”

William turned away. “I’m sorry.” He left without a backward glance.

Soon after William disappeared through the exit, the door burst open and Alex walked in, accompanied by two officers. He held a piece of paper in his hands, inching towards the cell where Derik and Steven were locked in.

“This is the report from the forensic lab after thorough investigation of the death of James parker.” Alex prompted, turning to Derik. “…and you are free to go.”

Silence fell.

Derik blinked in surprise. He watched in silence as two officers came forward and unfastened the locks. The prison bar opened and they yanked him out.

“Your gun and badge would be given to you on your way out.” Alex said.

Derik reeled towards the exit, his eye held a skeptical gleam, momentary confused, he turned to gaze at Steven still sitting at the corner of the cell block.

If there is anyone that should be released, it’s him and not me. What the hell is going on?

Steven sat with hunched back against the wall, and folded his arms wrapped around his knees. He recoiled in shock when he saw them pulling Derik and locking the prison bars. He ran to the prison which slammed in his face, locking him inside.

“What the hell is going on?” he asked, gripping the metal bar. “Why are you freeing only him? I’m innocent too.”

“I believe Mr. Derik was at the wrong place and at the wrong time when the arrest was made.” Alex leaned forwards, glancing at the report. “All evidences point to you as the killer. Your fingerprint was found all over the gun used to kill Mr. James Parker… and Mayor Collins Henningsen.”

Steven’s eyes widened.