The Hitman and His Consort

XLV - Perspective

First Person P.O.V: INKA OHAKIM

[Back at the clinic 1 hour ago]

I’m not sure what I’m more concerned about, the fact Valentin is so persistent with this vague plan of his, or the fact that he’s acting like a junkie who got deprived of his meds. Then again, it’s his fixation with Arthur that’s keeping this team on getting closer to getting her back.

I know we all played a part in why she went missing anyways, but from the start, this man acted like he was scrubbed-down-clean innocent. It’s his fault she even left the clinic in the first place. Pointing fingers is not something I’d do normally, but he started this. We all care about Arthur but he acts like we wanted her gone and in this situation.

Now he’s out there getting explosives from another unknown character named ‘Javier’, I got to say, though, the Hacksaw siblings really pulled through with these previous missions, all three of them. I’m not sure what to make of Diana yet, but she does look like someone who’d be well associated with things like these.

Valentin, albeit psychologically disturbed and even if I haven’t gauged the extremes of that, seems like a tolerable guy if he just stopped and think like how he usually does. It seemed like more than half of a fraction of his brain stops working when even the mere idea of Arthur is involved.

“Ms. Inka?..” I heard August call out as I was checking my guns,

I spun to face her, “Yes?”

She glanced at Rodrigo, I’ve been hearing them chat faintly, it’s involved a lot of smart people jargon so I try to filter those out, I wouldn’t understand it either way. Rodrigo nodded to her before she turned to face me again.

“I…I’ll entrust this to you,” she said as she handed me the tablet-drugs that Valentin brought home the night Arthur went missing. The one they regarded as the bootleg version of project Herc.

These were the same. I thought she was told to water it down? I frowned at her, “They remain like this, he’s gonna take them as is?” I asked. I don’t know how bad the effects are going to be, but isn’t she the one who was so against him taking these in the first place?

She shook her head, “If you ask me… I prefer if he doesn’t take them, but if worse comes to worst please just cut it in halves—no, better, in quarters, I’ll leave it to you, it’ll be your call whether the situation really calls for it,” she explained,

‘Talk about pressure.’

I nodded as I shoved them into my pocket. I turned to Denis resting his chin on his knuckles while texting with someone on his phone. It doesn’t look like he’s even remotely worried about the drug thing at all, even though I’ve seen how protective he is of Valya in his own way,

“Denis?” I called out, and he raised a brow as he turned his face to me,

“Yes, ba—I mean, y-yes, Inka?” he answered,

“You okay with us drugging your baby brother?” I asked in a joking tone, I know he’s worried about Valya deep down—

“Yeah, he’s going to be fine, please, I suggest that you all collectively stop worrying about him, Valya’s not gonna go berserk with just a little drug,” he said, waving us off,

This, however, triggered August to worry more as she turned to him, “B-But this is just no ‘little drug’, the effects could really make you go feral,” she argued and Denis nodded,

“Yes, I heard the first time—“ he replied,

“Sorry, don’t mind him, this is just how he is he’s not trying to be rude, we’ll work on that,” Rodrigo intercepted. August minded it.

“But you see… That man’s a freak of nature,” Denis reasoned, continuing where Rodrigo cut him off.

‘he did not just say that’ I clasped a hand over my mouth to stop myself from snickering too loud,

“Denis!” Rodrigo scolded,

“What? It’s true~! When have you ever seen that guy drunk?” he began, arguing with Rod now. Look at this guy.

“Well… I haven’t even seen him drink,” Rodrigo noted, Denis made the most mature gesture he could at the moment and blew raspberries at Rod, before settling on a more focused posture,

“Let me tell you something, did you know that the only thing we can give him whenever he’s under the weather is hopes and prayers because no medicine’s strong enough for him and when we do find an alternative, it hardly works!” he ranted, big hand gestures and all,

“We became such good herbalists and organic healers because a six-foot drug repellant gets sick whenever the seasons change!” he finished, now looking visibly upset as if we put him on a hot seat,

I raised my hands to him and gestured for him to calm down, “Okay, okay… We get you,” I cooed, not really eager to have a very intense discussion about Valya. Before Denis could give a retort, though, his phone rang and it must’ve been someone important, because he dropped the discussion to answer the call.

I also got back with doing dry fires with my pistols, haven’t been using these as frequently as I used to. The doors opened and in came Madeline and Valya; the latter carrying this ominous green sack over his shoulder. I suppose this is his explosive that he’s so intent about.

The situation remained strict for us as Valya did all he could to make us have a firm grasp of the plan, no matter how vague and generalized it is, there are obvious gaps that needed to be filled but if I knew anything, that’s just how he makes his schemes, it’s a problem but he’d always managed to worm his way out of those. I can’t believe I still manage to learn how to trust this bastard to an extent, despite everything.

We settled everything, Rodrigo really gave me a shock that lasted until the car ride. There’s got to be a really disturbing reason why he has that amount of protection in his workplace and those are some expensive models too. Valentin and Denis didn’t seem too shaken, if anything, Valya was expecting him to really have and present about ten guns. I was also a bit suspicious of Valya because he didn’t ask for the drugs. Maybe he forgot.

With a lot of things in his mind? I wouldn’t be surprised. He looks like he has a thousand thoughts in his head. Let me add to that,

“What about our exit? Once we finish the job there, what’s next?” I asked as we did our final preparation in the car, getting closer to our stop,

“I don’t know, we’ll just wing it,” he replied.

I didn’t expect him to tell me a meticulous step-by-step plan on it but I didn’t expect him to give me something that is just beyond vague, he made it look like we were casually discussing dinner preparations.

Once we arrived at the building, he fired the first shot at the guard. Madeline and I are already on our feet blocking the entrance and I emptied a few shells to the ceiling just to get the mood going, an appetizer for the lack of better term.

Valentin did the most of the crowd engagement and managed to have someone lead me to Pierre. I nodded to both of them before following this guy. He led me through the hallways and we even got into elevators, the people dispersed when they saw me walking around. Maybe it’s the gun, maybe it’s my face. I bet looked really determined and excited to have Pierre choking under me.

Too bad that I have to follow Valya’s advice on this one, I don’t know what he’s scheming and why he wants to keep Pierre alive. All I’m sure of is the people involved on the opposing side of us will not rest in peace. As expected, though guards were roaming around this place, not as intense as when August was here, that’s for sure.

When he got off the lift, there was just enough time for me to run behind a wall and not get ambushed inside the elevator. I doubt this single staff would be enough as a hostage to keep them from shooting at me. A shower of gunshots sounded from behind the wall I hid on,

Good thing Valya made sure grenades were evenly distributed to us. Not even gonna hide it, I had a smile the whole moment I pulled the pin off and threw it at that group, the loud bang probably alerted everyone on the floor and the hectic crowd trying to rush to the stairs and the elevators added to my favor. I’ve lost the guy. He must’ve been either caught in the crossfire or just joined in when the people started running.

This building has a lot of people. To think that Valya doesn’t give a f**k about a single one of them just started to churn my stomach now.

I pushed through and found some of these people crouching on the ground. I can’t believe they’re having jitters now of all times. I approached one, “Hey, where’s Pierre’s office?” I asked. This man slowly looked up to me, his lips trembling as he gulped,

“I…I-“

“Out with it, boy!” I yelled, for some encouragement,

“H-He’s in his office! That way…h-his name is on the door,” he replied, with a stutter but at least he spoke,

“Find a way out of here while you still can, we’re blowing this whole building up,” I instructed as I walked in the direction he pointed to, and there it is, after a long hallway with rooms on both sides I reach the one who was considerably better decorated and more elegant than the rest with Lovanné written in all caps.

I kicked the door open and quickly stepped to the side against the wall to have some cover.

“s**t! They’re here!” I heard Pierre's voice yell, followed by another shower of gunshots. I’m not sure if it’s pitiful that he really got a lot of guards to protect him here or if it’s kind of smart that he called people over because he knows he can’t defend himself.

‘Will I kill him if I used a grenade now?’

Well… I could warn him. I mean, if I were Pierre I would also prefer to die a quick death than spend the remainder of my life under Valentin's hands.

“Fire in the hole!” I yelled before throwing another grenade in his office, I did hear yelling and screaming but the explosion drowned it out, I then peeked inside with my gun ready and aimed, some survived but a few shots fixed that until I saw Pierre’s slumped figure on the floor in the corner of the room, I crouched down to his level and thanks to some weird luck that this bastard has, he’s still alive.

Injured, but alive nonetheless. His head was bleeding lightly, and the explosion made him somewhat messy-looking.

“Hi there, Pierre,” I greeted, waving my hands in front of his eyes,

“Who are you?” he croaked out as he squinted at me,

“I’m here to get you of this place,” I replied as I set my gun on the side and cracked my knuckles,

“A-Are you not with the terrorists?” He asked,

“Oh, no…I am, I’m just the one who gets you out of here, your life will progressively get more painful and miserable from here on out,” I informed before giving him a left hook,

“That’s for kidnapping Arthur,” I said before standing up and repeatedly kicking him until he’s lying on the ground clutching his gut and coughing up like a little b***h,

“And that… is for being a terrible f*cking person, seriously man, you suck balls,” I said before picking him up and carrying him over my shoulder, my gun still in my right hand. I just realized Valentin really didn’t say anything about personally killing Montreal, but if he’s still in this building, then I guess he’ll just die in it.

This is a really hectic plan, it's like a dance choreography minus the practices.

“Arthur’s with me,” the radio sounded, that was Valya! A wave of relief washed over me that it almost made my knees buckle. Our choreography worked!

I pulled the radio out to speak but Madeline managed to go first “F*ck yes! Also, I just threw a grenade at the cops, you didn’t tell me thing was THAT strong!” he announced and I felt so happy and relieved. I chuckled as I heard the change in his tone, too.

“That’s great! I also got Pierre, we need to think of an escape plan, Valya!” I relayed over, just ecstatic to get the important parts out of the way and get out of this place immediately. I think I’m hearing sirens too.

“Yeah, Madeline, how many bombs do you still have there?” he asked,

As things started calming down on my end, I’m starting to hear and feel other explosions within the building, “Plenty,” Madeline replied just after one shook the ground.

A long silence passed before we heard Valya speak again, “Alright… I got an idea,”