When I arrived at my apartment dread washed over me as I got out of the cab. There, parked right in front of my apartment building was a black SUV. I slowly approached it to see if anyone was inside. I peeked at the dark tinted window and saw no one was inside.
I hurriedly got inside the building and ran towards the lift and got in. I swiped my identification card and pressed the floor number. When I got out of the lift, I got a view of my apartment door and wasn't surprised to see it slightly open. I slowly walked towards it, my back pressed closely to the wall. I took out my pepper spray and Swiss army knife from my bag in each hand. I slowly opened my door wider and peered inside to see a man different from the one I met earlier at the cafe, standing in the middle of my living room. I was startled to see him staring back at me with close watching eyes.
"Who are you and what are you doing here? How did you even get in? I could have sworn I locked the door." I walked inside slowly, still highly on alert. This man was different from the guy I met earlier. Instead of black curly hair, he was completely bald. He had small brown eyes and a flat nose, probably Chinese. He wore a black business suit and brown leather shoes.
"Your doors mechanism isn't that hard to crack. We need to have a little conversation, so please have a seat." then he slowly took out a gun from under his suit jacket that made my eyes pop out from their sockets. "Please take a seat." he motioned towards my single cushioned chair and since he was the one with the gun I hesitantly walked towards the chair and slowly sat down. "I'm just a messenger you see. I'm here because you have something that belongs to the people I work for and you need to give it back. After that I'll be out of your way and you can forget all that happened." he was definitely Chinese. The accent gave him away.
I shook my head from left to right and said "I don't know what you're talking about I swear." It doesn't take a genius to understand that he's an epitome of a bad guy. I don't care if I knew that doctor or not but based from how he protected it with his life, I'm not giving in that easily. "Please just let me go, I swear I don't know what you mean."
He laughed bitterly and pointed the gun at me "The people I work for are not very patient people so give it now or I'll kill you." he was losing his patience I could tell but before I knew it, the Chinese man was already lying on the floor unconscious. I gave out a yelp and looked back up. It was the guy from the cafe. He looked out of breath and he had a bruise on his lip and left cheek.
"It's you! You were the guy from earlier! What the hell is going on?! Who are you?!" I shot out question after question. I was panicking and hysterical. A moment ago some Chinese man I've never met wanted to kill me and now another person shows up looking all beaten up-- "Are you okay? That looks like it hurts." he gave no attention to me and instead got down on his knees and patted the Chinese man's body.
"First of all you talk way too much and ask too many questions. And secondly, if you just considered talking to me earlier none of this would've happened and they never would've found you." he said all this whilst keeping a straight face and continued looking for something on the Chinese man's body. "Did you tell him anything?" he took out a cellphone and a small black box that looked like a tiny walkie-talkie.
I shook my head even though he couldn't see, "Of course not. I might not know what the hell is going on or what he wants but I won't give him crap. You still haven't answered any of my questions." I stood there in front of him and had my hands over my hips looking like a nagging wife. He stood up and faced me, still has that stoic expression.
"Fine, if you must know my name is Arden Harrows. You were just threatened by a bad man who work for very bad people, and was saved by me." he explained with complete lack of interest and speaking slowly as if explaining to a child what a tree is. I'm offended. He pointed to his face "It doesn't hurt. I beat up more men like him," he pointed to the Chinese man on the floor "right before coming here and there's plenty more where they came from. This," he held his hand up showing me the black box that looked like a walkie-talkie "is a transmitter. This object is currently sending out signals to his buddies of our whereabouts." he said pointing out to the Chinese man still unconscious on the floor.
"I'm giving you exactly ten minutes to get everything you need including the package―the brown leather bag―from doctor Harrington Gray that you met last night." at this I was taken aback. Hold on what? Get everything I need? Package?
I held up my arms and said "Wait just one moment, you are the person I'm supposed to meet right? He said I'll know when to trust you, but I don't trust you at all." I said accusingly pointing my finger at him.
"I said,"he said roughly, his voice slightly louder "I'll give you ten minutes to grab everything you need before we leave or else I'll forcibly ransack this place to look for the package and leave you here for dead. Am I clear?" he said with finality while repetitively brushing his hair back impatiently. "And if I wanted to kill you, you would have been dead by now."
"Alright fine," I said in surrender "but you will answer all my questions once we get out of here." and I immediately ran towards my room and took out my duffel bag including the envelope bag from my closet. I put it on top of my bed and shoved random clothes, underwear and bathroom necessities like my toothbrush, towel, soap and shampoo. I took one of my favorite books and shoved it inside too. I changed into more comfortable clothes, because if I am going to be on the run then I have to look the part.
"You done yet? Don't even try to take your whole closet with you because if you did, I'll throw everything out." I heard Charles from outside. I can imagine him tapping his foot impatiently on the carpeted floor.
"I'm almost done." I yelled back, putting on some black jeans, gray hoodie, black coat and some black converse. I grabbed my extremely heavy duffel bag and got outside. I saw Charles tying the Chinese man on one of my chairs. "How long is he gonna be passed out?" I asked and Charles turned to look towards me assessing my appearance.
"A while. You got everything?" he asked pointing to my huge duffel bag that I can barely hold on to from the weight. I nodded in response then he walked towards me and took it from my hands. "Let's go then." and we walked out my apartment. I took my keys and locked the door, I was about to turn right towards the lift when he walked left.
"Where are you going? The lifts this way." I said pointing towards the elevator. He stopped and gave me an incredulous look.
Raising an eyebrow he said "Do you really want to exit that way where an army of armed men are possibly waiting for the chance to kill us?" alright, point taken. I shook my head in response,now I feel like an idiot. "I didn't think so. We're taking the emergency fire exit, my car is parked right below." so I followed him as we got down the stairs of the fire exit while he carried my bag effortlessly.
"Where are we going exactly?" I asked as we reached the final flight of stairs. He dropped my bag and used his body weight to create a momentum and swung forward, pulling the ladder with him. He landed on the ground right below and it took me a great amount of will to not clap my hands in awe.
He raised his arms "Throw me the bag then climb the ladder down." so I did and as I was throwing it towards him I heard shouts of men running towards his direction. I heard Charles curse "Well I'll be a bitch. Hurry up!" and I did. I threw him the bag and it collided with his body with an "oomph", he unlocked the car and put my bag inside. I climbed down the ladder and Charles caught me just as I let go. "You're lighter than you look." and he still took this chance to give an insult, he's a work of art. I glared at him as he put me down on my feet.
The men started shooting at us and it hit the car but the glass on the car must've been bullet-proof because only scratches were evident. I got inside the passenger seat but what when I got in, I was surprised to see the steering wheel and Charles "Uhm, what the hell?" I didn't have time to go back to the other side of the car because they started shooting at me and so Charles did the next big thing and pulled me to his lap and closed the door. "Bloody hell." I yelped and before I knew it, he was driving out of there.
"Indeed." he said as he accelerated. "Hang on tightly and don't block the view." and so I did. It was a very awkward position but I had no choice. I looked behind his head to see that there were five other cars chasing us.
"There are five cars chasing us." I said stating the obvious. He was evading one car after another, we almost hit a few and basically ran straight during red lights. "Are you gonna get us killed?!" I was hysterical, especially if our position was as compromising as me straddling him while he drove.
"Just shut up and let me drive. It's your fault for climbing on the drivers side in the first place." he said and accelerated once more. So he's blaming me now for his lack of driving skills?
"How would I know that the car you are supposedly driving is European? Slow down a bit so I can scoot over the passengers side." amidst having bad people chase and shoot us, we're arguing about such trivial matters. What a team.
"Can't. They're already gaining on us, if I slow down now they're going to corner us and box us in then we'll never escape." he was still passing one car after another then one of our chasers finally caught up, shooting the windshield but it's not working. "Don't worry, the whole car is bullet-proof." he said, assuring me the bullets won't pass through.
I looked through the streets we passed. We turned one corner after another and our chasers did too. We weren't going to lose them anytime soon so I said "How are we going to escape them? We can't exactly drive around and around now can we?"
"Who says I'm driving randomly? I'm following a GPS route." and he was. On the dashboard was a screen with a map that showed directions on where to turn and where there's traffic. "We're going to a safe house right outside the city and we can't have them follow us. Take out the transmitter from my pocket." he still has it? Is this guy really asking me to roam my hands in his pants to grab a transmitter he should've destroyed earlier?
"Why didn't you destroy it while we were still in my apartment?" I asked, slightly blushing. I hesitantly patted around for the transmitter, being careful not to pat the wrong thing. "Which pocket is it?"
"The right back pocket. Hurry up, we're almost at the tunnel." I took a deep breath and moved my hands towards his back. I glided my hands over his waste and down towards his pocket and I felt the transmitter--finally.
"Now what?" I held the transmitter in my hand, there was a wire attached to it like a radio and there was a green light blinking, making beeping noises.
He took the transmitter "Open the window." he said so I pressed the button on the door and rolled down the windows slightly. When the window was opened, Charles took out his hand with the transmitter and threw it on the road. "Now, they won't be able to follow us." then, he pushed the gas and sped away. "Hold on tightly, this is going to be bumpy." and even though it was against my will, I held onto him.
We entered a tunnel and it was dark, then he pressed the button on top of the shift gear. I didn't know what that did but then Charles took a sharp right turn. I thought we were going to crash into a wall so I braced for impact but the impact never came, instead was actually an entrance. He pressed the button again and the door automatically closed behind us, I even saw the cars chasing us pass the entrance before closing completely. "You can open your eyes now." I heard Charles say right next to my ear, which gave me goosebumps from his breath that passed my neck. I let go of him immediately.
"Uhhh," I hesitated "can you slow down so I can transfer towards the passengers side now?" I asked, slightly blushing and noticing once more our compromising position.
He gave a slight chuckle but he didn't slow down and said "Just hang on a little while, besides, we're almost there." he's enjoying this isn't he? And for the first time, I heard his chuckle. It might have been annoying but it was actually pleasant to the ears. It was deep and fruity that reverberated on his chest. I looked outside and it was actually a forest. We were driving on a trail within thickets of trees, it was kind of magical.