As Catalina got out of the elevator her phone suddenly rang. Her brows furrowed when Ash's name appeared on the screen. She answered it anyway, as she continued to walk.
"What? You already need something?" She demanded.
"Hey, listen," Ash replied in a hushed tone. "I'll tell you something but after that you shouldn't react. Act normal and don't panic." He spoke very quietly from the other line, like he was careful not to be heard by anyone.
"What? What are you saying?" Catalina mumbled, her voice sounded annoyed.
"Someone's following you." At that, Catalina almost stopped her heels, but Ash immediately fizzled at her from the other line. "No, continue walking. When I tell you stop, that's when you stop."
As if on that cue she got wary of her surrounding, she felt the paranoia that someone was watching further behind her back. Catalina suddenly felt the soft panic growing inside her chest as she fought the urge to turn around. She continued to walk and acted normal, her fingers gripped hardly on her phone, her eyes constantly searched for any sign of someone here in the parking lot. But, it's so quiet, no one's here.
"Continue to talk normally." Ash whispered, "You're holding your phone in your ear, wouldn't you look stupid if you won't talk?"
Catalina wanted to scowled at his remark but she just decided to speak instead, as casual as she could, "Where are you?"
"Just walk," Ash demanded.
Catalina already caught a glimpse of her car and just a few more steps, she will be able to reach it.
She's almost there, "Stop." Ash suddenly said. Catalina stopped faster than a bullet into steel, heart pounding, but she jolted when it suddenly blackout. As if all the lights in the parking area got switched off. Catalina stood still in the darkness that suddenly robbed her off her sense and was replaced by a paralyzing fear, her muscles cramped and unable to move. She breathed real slow, searching for any sign of someone in the claustrophobic darkness. She could hear nothing from Ash on the other line, yet, she still held on to her phone.
An instant later her stomach shifted uneasily when someone abruptly covered her mouth. Her attempt to struggle instantly faded when she got to sniff the familiar pleasant scent of Ash, followed by his cold, whispering voice. "Follow me."
Catalina felt something warm wrapped around her wrist. For some unknown reason, that hand gripping hers had a relaxed feeling, as if it was a heartbeat at rest. She followed Ash and they walked quietly in the dark. She couldn't see anything, she didn't know where they're moving to, all she could identify was Ash's faint silhouette ahead of her, walking like he can clearly see the pathway, like he knew where exactly they're going.
After a little while, they stopped. Catalina felt Ash moved beside her, only then she realized he had grabbed her phone from her hand. It may be a little unclear for her eyes to catch up but she was able to recognize that Ash had put her phone beside the wheel of a car.
"What are you doing?" Catalina whispered vigorously.
"Shh." Ash replied in a low voice, then gestured her to continue walking.
Catalina wanted to protest and yell at him, but, since she was aware that she was still in her right mind and shouting at him wouldn't do any good to the both of them, she irritably swallowed her complaints and all she could do was uttered a curse under her breath and followed Ash. Her eyes began to adjust in the dark as they continued to walk warily; she then recognized they're heading to the direction of the emergency exit. She quickly drifted her gaze to Ash, confused as to how he was able to know where exactly the emergency exit was.
Finally, they both stopped in front of the exit door. Ash pushed the door cautiously, careful not to make any creaking sound. When they got behind the door, there was a short gloomy hallway that led to the outside of the building. They made their way down the short corridor; as they got out, the serenade of the night engulfed them once again.
When Catalina caught sight of the road swarming with cars, the orange glow of street lamps, the buzzing voices of people, the wind, and the solace of the inky sky, she just realized she was holding her breath long enough that an adequate portion of her strength melted. It was as if this view was a relieving potion from a moment of terror. She slammed down the sidewalk, tightened her knees closer to each other and rested her elbows to them as she placed her chin on her palm, trying to calm her unstable pulse and processing what just happened.
"Is it safe now?" Catalina asked in a fainted voice.
"We're in a public place now and it's only a matter of time before your surveillance security will notice that the parking area had blackout." Ash replied, placing a hand at his waist.
"Someone was really there?" Catalina asked anxiously.
Ash nodded, "There are two of them. They acted sooner than I thought. But, for sure, they just wanted to scare you for the mean time." He shot Catalina a sharp gaze. "And where the hell are your hired chaperones, anyway? Why are you wandering around without them looking out for you?"
"I don't want them to be always tailing me. It isn't comfortable, you know."
"Tch. You're not even safe inside your own empire." Ash mumbled.
"And what the hell did you do to my phone, anyway?" Catalina complained as she remembered about her precious phone.
"They're tracing the signal of your phone. They can detect where exactly you are standing. I left it there as a decoy and to lure them." Ash replied, observing the street in front of him.
"Then what about yours?" she retorted.
Ash glanced at her once, "They can't easily track this. I've installed some kind of shield in preparation under this kind of circumstances."
Catalina stared rather strangely at him for a moment,
"You know, I've been wanting to ask you this," Catalina's voice became calm and low, "Why do you do this kind of stuffs, searching evidences for other people, helping them solve their crimes? The job I offered to you, you know it is going to be this risky, but why did you choose to indulge yourself to this?"
Ash gave her a sidelong glance. "Why not," he answered casually. "Aside from the fact that this is what I do for a living, I couldn't really help it. Unintentional or not, I couldn't help to notice inconsiderate and inhumane acts twisting and grasping control over others. I can't just sit back, listen to them and watch with ease, you know."
"I don't know if you're doing that out of the goodness of your heart or just out of sheer stupidity. You will be exposing yourself in high-risk job, there's no certainty for your safety."
"Why didn't you say that to me first thing when you offered me a risky job?" Ash pipe up.
Catalina didn't reply. She'll admit, what happened earlier just registered to her how risky could this become. She just started to grasp the real situation about saving her grandfather. That they might be really facing someone dangerous.
"It's fine. Besides, I got nothing to lose." Ash said earnestly.
Catalina frowned at that. "Are you telling me you don't care about others who care for you? Your family, your friends, you could put their lives at stake."
"My family's on vacation and I choose my friends wisely. I know they can handle themselves."
"Your family's on vacation?" Catalina asked in undisguised wonder. "So you're living alone, right now? It doesn't mean that they're not here momentarily, they could be safe, Ash."
Ash made a backward step to rest his back at the wall. "Well, they're somewhere far. No one can actually find them, at this rate. Only God knows where they are." The back of his head was leaning gently at the wall, eyes fixed in the night sky with the starlight that kept its familiar pattern. Stars lit the sky like snowflakes in the night, appearing like an old photograph.
Catalina was on the point of asking him more about them, but something in his manner showed her that the question would be no longer welcome.
"It seems to me that you're trying to tell me this is a chance for me to withdraw from the job you just hired me." Ash met her gaze, then one corner of his lips lifted in a subtle grin, "I'm sorry but I'm not running away, I had decided to run with you on this, not backwards but rather to face them forward."