Always?

Chapter 17

Amber scowled into the distance. After signing the NDA’s, the man had turned on his heel and left them out in the cold, stating he would be back, but it had been ten minutes, and he had not returned.

Amber was tired; she knew it. No matter what the others said, she was exhausted. The only reason she appeared to be as awake as she was was that, well, she hadn’t slept yet, as weird as it was, she couldn’t sleep, no matter how hard she tried. She was too focused on Cai, the man had been fast asleep on the couch, and from where Amber had been lying on the ground, she had a perfect view of him.

She’d been tossing and turning, wondering if and when. She knew what she had done was a mistake; she realised it the second she had called the others over, when she helped Cai, when she had willingly put everyone she knew and loved in danger because of an impulse. An impulse to help someone rather than harm them.

Although what they had said was true, the members of that cartel had been dead when they got there, they had run into some members who had been out, the majority of whom they had killed, the mess the cleaners made getting muddled with their own, and then she heard the quiet whimpers. At first, she had thought it had been a child, someone who’d accidentally brought their kid with them when things went south, but then she had spotted him, and now she didn’t know anymore.

What would she have done if she realised that Cai was playing them all? The second they let their guard down, he would stab them in the back? Alice had said that Cai had been given multiple opportunities since their meeting to do so, and he hadn’t. He’d also had ample opportunities to run away, and he was still sticking with them; chances were, he was as desperate as they were.

The man finally returned, and he led them inside. There were shattered glass shards on the floor, but the deeper they went into the rusty building, the more the space seemed to have been cleaned up, until they reached a somewhat decorated space, where they assumed the man they would be meeting was waiting.

He knocked on the door, and a faint ‘come in’ was heard. They were transported into an office, the red brick walls turned into a feature wall, the other walls covered with shelves filled to the brim with books, and green clutter scattered the makeshift office. The sofas in the small seating area had sage-green pillows, a shade that felt too odd in this very industrial-esque space.

“Damian,” the man said, standing up and leaning over his desk to shake hands with him.

“Enma,” Damian repeated. “How kind of you to leave us out in the cold.”

Enma smiled, a dashing smile. He was a rather attractive gentleman with long blonde hair, nearly tied up in a high ponytail, his bangs framing his face, creating a softer look to his otherwise overbearing presence. He motioned to the small seating area, although Amber quickly realised that not all of them would be able to sit, so they ushered the girls to sit down, while the boys stood behind them, blank stares on their faces.

“Now, I’m sure you have many questions.”

“Yeah,” Oliver deadpanned. “What’s with the NDA. Usually, our clients trust us without a need for these.”

Enma had taken a seat across from them, spreading himself out on the couch, his left leg crossed over the ankle of his right, and his arms spread across the back. “Well, you see, call it a safety measure, I was in a bit of a situation where I was… tied up, you could say. Learned my lesson the hard way.”

“So,” Alice said, oddly calm considering she had been bouncing off the walls earlier. “What is it you want from us?”

“I need pictures.”

Amber hesitated, pictures? That seemed doable, considering some of the requests they got; pictures weren’t that hard.

“Of what?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard of them; they’ve been active quite recently, a pain in everyone’s backside. The Cleaners.”

Amber was sure her sleep deprivation was getting to her because she thought she just heard the man in front of her ask them to get pictures of one of the most elusive groups in the entire underworld.

Oliver snorted. “That’s impossible, you’re basically asking us to find you the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

“You came to me highly recommended. I was told if I wanted something done right, I should come to you. Don’t let me down now.”

“Yeah, if you want to kidnap someone, get someone six feet under, or have some drugs that have gone missing? Or need something stolen, we’re your people. But this, this is above our pay grade,” Alec deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest, a frown on his face.

They were right, this was something way above their pay grade. There was no way they could figure out who The Cleaners were, Amber frowned. What were the chances that some man came looking for information on that group, when they were currently harbouring the one person they hadn’t been able to kill? That is, if they were even aware of his existence.

“Well,” Enma said, a smile on his face as he leaned forward, leaning on his legs. “You’ve signed the NDA. And, I’m sure, as Damian has told you, you really don’t want to get on the bad side of me. Now, off you pop. That card has my assistant’s number. For this, all of my services are yours.”

They didn’t get a chance to rebuke this situation or decline because the man with the leather gloves reappeared as Enma made his way back over to his desk, a smile appearing on his face as his phone lit up, buzzing with a text message, and like a teenager in love, he picked it up, grinning as he answered. Who would ever fall in love with him? Sure, he was attractive, but god, from what they had seen, he just threw his power around. What an awful personality.

They were led away and returned to their car, which was being driven. The other man got out, threw Dawmin the keys, and leaned in to whisper something to him as he walked past. Damian groaned but nodded, and that was the end of the exchange. This time, however, Matt was the one who took the passenger seat, and before Oliver could even complain, Matt glared at him once and got inside.

Oliver said nothing as he got into the back. As everyone else climbed in, glad to be out of the cold, the car was silent as Damian began driving away. It seemed that they were all processing what had just been shoved onto them. Amber pulled out the hand sanitiser from her pocket and cleaned her hands as she looked out of the window. They were so screwed.

“Damian, what the f**k?” Matt yelled after almost ten minutes of horrible silence. That must have been the tipping point, because everyone else all chimed in too, yelling over one another to be heard. “What the f**k? How could you let us do that? We trusted you, and you just shot us in the back!”

“I didn’t know he would ask that of you!” Damian yelled as he parked up on the side of the road. A few lone cars would drive past every few minutes. He shifted in his seat to look at them all. “I’m sorry. He was being very vague, but I know him. He’s a cunt, and he was missing for a few months, but he’s back. And he’s a big-time player. His owing you guys a favour is huge.”

“How do you even know him?” Oliver muttered. “He seems way too much of a big league for a doctor such as yourself to know him. Is there a third secret life you’re living and not telling us about?”

“It’s not him I know. It was one of his friends. Bell mentioned needing some mercs, and I said I knew a few.”

“The Cleaners, though. Surely, you guys must be thinking the same thing I am,” Matt whispered, running a hand through his hair as he yawned into the crook of his elbow. “I mean, what are the chances of that?”

“Coincidence?” Alice asked, frowning.

“Don’t make me laugh,” Oliver snapped. “In this world, there are no coincidences.”

“So, then,” Ani said, frowning. “What do we do?”

Damina licked his lips, exhaling as he shifted in his seat and began to drive again. Amber had counted seven cars in the time they had been parked up. “We act like everything is fine and normal, we act like we’re still looking into The Cleaners, but this time, we put a lot of effort into it. Because, as Enma said, he is not somebody you guys want to piss off. And we figure this s**t out without tipping off Cai. Just in case.”

Just in case, Amer had screwed up, as she wondered if she had, in bringing Cai into their lives.

~*~