Frank rang the doorbell twice. It was an early Saturday morning and the air was chilly. Birds were just starting to sing in the tree tops and somewhere far a crow cawed.
He adjusted the muffler on his neck and rubbed his hands together. He was wearing a heavy woolen jacket but he could still feel the biting cold.
He rang the doorbell again and surveyed Luke's house.
It was a modern Victorian style house complete with a white washed fence and a neatly trimmed lawn which had an automatic sprinkler.
After a few seconds and Frank got no reply he switched tactics and pounded the door forcefully.
Where the heck was Luke?
"I'm coming, do you wanna break my door" Frank heard Luke shout
from inside.
The door opened and Luke poked his head out.
"Oh Frank, you're here already."
"Of course I'm here, your phone call dragged me out of bed twenty minutes ago and now I'm here you keep me waiting outside in this cold." Frank said a grimace on his face.
"Terribly sorry Frank come right in. As you can see I was having my morning routine" Luke waved at his face which was heavily coated in shaving cream.
Luke opened the door and Frank entered terribly relieved to be out of the morning cold"You make yourself comfortable I'll be right back" Luke said hurrying upstairs.
Frank took off his muffler and exhaled. The living room was moderately huge and had a splash of red to it. Paintings littered the walls of the living room and a long fluffy rug lay in the center of the room.
A little glass table lay on top of the rug and on top of the table stood three of the most beautiful flowers frank had ever seen.
It looked as though Luke was really big into aesthetics.
Frank moved over to the paintings on the wall and looked at them.
They were abstract paintings and Frank lost interest immediately. He wasn't really that fascinated with paintings.
A huge fireplace that took most of the space in the den stood on the east side. On the mantle piece of the fire place there was a framed picture there.
Frank ambled over to the fireplace and inspected the picture. It was of Luke and an extremely pretty blonde.
"Whew, these routines take quite some time" Luke said descending from the stairs.
"This the woman that broke up with you" Frank said pointing at the picture
"Unfortunately yes. She's pretty hot right."
"Damn right she is" frank grinned foolishly.
"Well nothing I can do now" Luke said dejection creeping into his voice.
"You mentioned something about a society" Frank said moving away from the fireplace and settling on one of the sofas. "Uh-huh" Luke nodded heading over to the bar, pulling a drink and two bottles.
He sat down on the sofa with frank and poured them both a drink.
"That's the reason why I called you frank."
"What reason? The society?"
Luke passed a drink to frank who accepted it and took a sip.
"To single life" Luke toasted.
Frank nodded as their glasses clinked together. He took a sip of his drink and watched Luke closely.
Luke downed his drink in one gulp and sighed.
"What I'm about to tell you might sound absurd but I want you to trust
me" Luke said his face carrying a serious expression.
Frank didn't like where this was going.
"What is it Luke."
"Remember I told you I was investigating on the society."
"Yeah hard to forget."
"Well I think I might have found out where they are staying.''
Frank shook his head and poured himself another drink.
"How does this have to do with me Luke?"
"Correct question. I need a wingman, someone that can have my back "Luke said mischief in his eyes.
Frank knew that Luke needed no wingman. Luke wanted something big of him.
"Get straight to the point Luke."
"All right, all right" Luke said raising his hands up in surrender. "I want you to help me check the place out".
Frank scoffed. What the fuck did Luke take him for? An errand boy.
"Come on Luke, just because your wife broke up with you doesn't mean that there is someone orchestrating it."
"You weren't there Frank, the whole thing looked planned to me."
"Cut the crap Luke, you are a grown man now."
Luke rubbed his hands and pursed his lips.
"Look Frank I know it sounds kind of unbelievable that there is a society that made me and my wife to break up but it's there, I know it is. That's why I need your help partner, its important you help me."
Frank took a sip of his drink and sighed. The look on Luke's face was good enough to actually convince someone to put his leg in a fire.
But what if Luke wasn't lying. It wouldn't hurt to try and find out if it was true. Besides he wasn't doing anything today, it's not like he wanted to go back to the office and face Harris.
"Are you with me partner" Luke pleaded.
A little adventure wouldn't hurt.
"All right I'm in" Frank sighed.
"Thank you partner. It means a lot to me than you would know" Lukegrinned finishing his drink.
"I'm only in to prove you wrong" Frank said.
"That would be the opposite by the end of today partner" Luke smiled."Whatever" Frank shrugged.
He wasn't yet ready to buy into Luke's bullshit.
"In the meantime you want to see my paintings" Luke said getting up from the sofa.
Frank suddenly felt tired. If it was Luke who had painted those abstracts on the wall then frank never wanted to see any of them.
Frank forced a smile on his face.
"Lead the way" he said hesitantly
"Great you're gonna love them" Luke chuckled.
Frank knew it was going to be some of the most excruciating hours of his life.
************************************
"All right we are here" Luke said switching off the ignition of the car.
After one maddening hour of viewing Luke's paintings they had left the house to where Luke had suggested that the society's building was located.
As Frank looked out the window to the building ahead he wasn't so sure why he had followed Luke anymore.
The area Luke had driven him to was an abandoned street. It had been like that since after the war. Not much construction or renovation had taken place in the area for a while and it still had a lot of crumbling buildings.
"Where did you bring me to Luke" Frank groaned"I believe this is where the society bases." Luke said looking at the building up ahead.
"You are not entirely sure" Frank said at Luke disbelievingly putting his head back inside the car.
"I am sure Frank but I've not really gone inside before."
"What, why" Frank asked.
Luke rubbed his hands together and stared guiltily out the car window.
"I have a thing with dark, crumbling down buildings."
Frank stared incredulously at Luke.
"You have got to be kidding me."
"I'm serious partner"
Frank watched Luke's forehead and saw beads of perspiration poolingat them.
"You owe me Luke" he said getting out of the car.
"Wait Frank" Luke called out.
Frank turned to look at Luke.
"Thank you partner."
Frank nodded, closed the car and proceeded to the building. From what he could tell the building looked like a ware house.
It was huge and most of the windows had been smashed inside. The door of the warehouse was wide open and the hinges were falling apart giving the door a sideways look.
He entered inside and looked around. It wasn't exactly dark but there wasn't much light inside it either.Frank took out his torchlight and swung the beam around. Aside from a few planks of wood that were stacked at one side of the ware house and some rusted metal chairs it was virtually empty.
He swung his beam one more Tim e around and almost went back outside when his eyes caught something.
Nestled high on one side of the wall frank spotted a black circular shape on the wall and he knew enough to know that he was looking at a camera.
He didn't have a way to know if the camera was functional or not.He noticed one more thing the wall on which the camera was positioned it was…different.
Frank took a step back and examined the wall. It looked totally different. The other walls in the warehouse all looked old with cracks running through them but this one had a new look, like a new coat of plaster had been done over it.
As frank peered closer at the wall he noticed a…latch. It was well hidden. He pulled it and heard a clicking and whirring sound behind him. He traced the source of the noise to the planks that were by the side of the wall.
The plank weren't heavy and Frank knew he could easily move them. He quickly began shifting them until he saw a trapdoor underneath.
He couldn't conclude now. He knew he had to approach with caution. He grabbed the metal handle of the trap door and pulled it open.
The beam of his torch showed him a tunnel like passageway inside of the trap door.
His phone suddenly rang."You seen anything yet?" Luke asked.
"I'm looking into a trap door now and it looks like a passage to somewhere."
"Explore it then"
"I'm on it"
"Frank approach with caution. We don't know what might be down here."
"Beautiful women in bikinis" Frank joked.
"Caution Frank" Luke warned.
"I hear you" Frank said cutting the call.
The distance from the trap door to the tunnel like entrance wasn't much and frank jumped in easily.
The tunnel was pitch dark and smelled surprisingly clean. No weird odors wafted up to his nose.
The tunnel stretched on for quite a while. He switched off his flashlight not wanting to attract attention to himself and moved forwards using the walls as guidance.
After what felt like several minutes of walking Frank spotted a light in the distance but it was fleeting. One second it was there and suddenlyit was gone.
He hurried on. He was acutely alert now.
Suddenly he bumped into something and he crashed to the ground.As he was trying to make out what had hit him he was aware of three green dots dancing on his chest.
"Don't move or I blow your heart out" a feminine voice said softlyFranks phone chose that moment to ring.
"Katy take his cellphone" the voice said to someone who reached into his pocket and took his phone.
"Get up from the ground and don't do anything funny." The voice continued.
Frank obeyed getting up and putting his hands in the air. A sack bag wassuddenly thrown over his face and he was enveloped in darkness.
He felt cold metal touch his skin, a clicking noise and he was aware that he had been handcuffed.
"Katy bring him to see mother Kaline"
Frank was dragged roughly by the arm forward.