Red INK
EP 14: The beast without
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Fred looked at Diana, Lorin walking to his side. Diana stared straight at him, her eyes not fumbling one bit.
"You are here." Lorin stated. "I must have taken too long."
"Boss wanted to come get you himself." He stopped looking at Diana and focused on her. "Are you alright?"
Lorin smiled, raising her hand to her hair, fixing a strand at the back of her ear which made her appear charming without trying. "Feels good to hear that." She grinned and turned to looked at Diana who scoffed at her. If she looked like anything at all, she really slightly resembled a pissed off cat. She turned back to Fred. "Shall we?"
Fred gestured to her, indicating the "ladies first" charismatic effort.
Lorin smiled and picked up pace, walking away from the unnecessary drama she did not foresee tonight, while Fred followed closely behind.
•
•
The vehicle was on light speed as they sped off from the Ford mansion, Lorin and Dillion at the cabin, Fred and the Driver at the passenger's seat and driver's seat respectively. The space between the interior of the cabin and where the driver sat was demarcated with an acoustic foam on both sides which was implanted on a copper which stood vertically from flooring of the cabin to the top of it. It looked customized the with a tiny sliding window which was the length and width of an ipad.
Fred slid the window open. "Boss." He called to Dillion, sliding a phone through the space.
Dillion was sitting close to it so he collected it from him, watching him close the window. He put on the screen light, the message he saw was from Clara. SHE IS AWAKE SIR.
The phone didn't have a password so he opened the screen and dialed the number. It was picked on the first ring. "Hm...I see. Tomorrow..." He raised his head, Lorin was staring at him. "Hm... Alright. Tomorrow." He cut the call and switched off the phone, going back to operating his ipad.
Lorin sat, crouched in her corner, a bit tipsy from the wine she had drunk earlier on before finally leaving the gala. Dillion seemed not to be bothered by the cold, seeing as she was still in his coat shivering from the coldness of the cabin.
"Aren't you quite the endearing type?" He asked.
She looked up at Dillion who asked the question, he wasn't looking at her. He was concentrated on his ipad.
"The type who succumbs to suffering in silence..."He now looked at her. "...that type."
Lorin faked a smile. Her head was pounding, "Suffering in silence is good sometimes." she said as she rested her head backwards on the edge of the cabin seat, using his coat as a blanket.
Dillion picked up the remote that controlled the air conditioner in the cabin and reduced increased the temperature to become warmer. He then looked at her, she had closed her eyes but her brows were furrowed. "Do you need water—"
"—I just need to rest a bit. My head throbs like I've been on the wheel." Her eyes squeezed tighter.
Dillion nodded and went back to operating his ipad.
Thirty minutes later, the limousine came at a halt in front of her compound. Dillion checked the time, it was now 10:38pm.
Fred opened the limousine door and looked around.
"She's drunk." Dillion told him, legs crossed. A habit he was fond of doing. "You will need to lift her."
Fred bowed and walked in. He removed the coat on her body, supported the back of her knees with his one hand and put her arm around his shoulder, supporting her back with the other hand. He lifted her up with one swoop, adjusting her weight to his body and walked out of the limousine.
The climbing up the stairs was nothing for him as he had military experience and had endured much worse than this.
He arrived at the door, it had an electric bell close to it's hinges. He pushed forward with Lorin in his arms and pressed the doorbell...twice.
He knew that she stayed with someone in the same house but he had never met her. Today was the first day.
Aurora walked to the door and had to peep through the door hole because Lorin would have entered the house with her own keys. The first thing she saw was the chin of a man, then he moved backwards, she then saw Lorin in his arms, sleeping. He was about to ring the doorbell again when she opened the door.
The man was tall. Six ft two inches, cladded in a black suit, black shoe, black undershirt, very dark eyes, thick brows and of anything else, she found his long lashes attractive. Was this her boss? If he was then she totally understood why Lorin was excited when he asked her to the ball. He was a good-looking man.
She blinked twice realizing she'd been staring at him without saying anything. "You are...?"
"Fred."
"Ahhh." She said, studying him again. "Fred. Fred from...?"
Fred raised a brow. "Fred, Lorin's Boss' PA... from the gala."
"Ahh.." So he was not the boss? She grinned.
"Can I come in? She has a bit of weight."
Aurora smiled, motioning for him to come in by nodding her head and pointing to the living room.
Fred walked in and went straight to the couch, he laid her on it and straightened his suit. Aurora was still at the door. "I will be on my way then."
She nodded. "Thank you...for bringing her back...safely."
Fred looked at her, her red hair was shiny but scattered. Seems he woke her up from sleep. He bowed slightly and set to go. When he passed the door, he saw Dillion standing there. "Boss?"
Aurora looked at him, "Woah." Her eyes widened. He was taller, darker, bright eyes, thick lips, hair pulled back with such exquisite appearance, straightened suit, a dazzling earring on his ear, enigmatic gazes...He smiled. "When you see something you like, just compliment it."
She blinked, rapidly. "Oh..I, I um..." She stuttered.
He chuckled.
She melted because she was used to men having aloof expressions and keeping serious faces that his smile and little laughter brightened her heart.
"I was just patronizing you." He told her.
"Oh." She blinked again, realizing for the second time tonight that she was staring. "Pardon my manners. You must be..."
"Mr Shaft." He stretched his hand to her, which she took. "Lorin's boss."
Aurora bowed a bit. "Mr Shaft is very straightforward in a daring kind-of-way."
"I get that a lot."
"I suppose." They stopped shaking hands. "I was carried away just now. Pardon my manners."
"There is nothing wrong in admiring something. I do so myself once in a while and I make sure I get it."
Aurora smiled. Very charismatic... and threatening at the same time.
Dillion raised the purse to her, "She left this behind."
"You didn't have to boss." Fred said.
Dillion looked at him. "I decided to save us some time."
Aurora collected it. "Thank you, Mr Shaft."
"What is your name?" He asked.
"Aurora."
"Pleased to meet you again Aurora. We will be on our way." He turned and began walking away, Fred following behind him.
"Thank you!" She yelled behind them but they didn't turn back.
She closed the door to the apartment, locking all the locks. After ensuring that they were locked porperly, she went straight to the living room where Lorin laid.
She looked at her, her hair was disheveled, her breasts falling and rising under her gown as she adjusted her posture, turning to the other side of the couch, tasting her mouth.
Aurora spanked her butt, which she didn't react to. "Young lady, you've gone enjoying too much tonight. Wait until tomorrow when I tease you." She spanked her again. She began undressing her by removing her shoes first and then her jewelries. Then she zipped down her gown.
She went into her Lorin's room and got a white robe and a silk bum short from her closet. She put it on her and migrated her other accessories to her room. After making sure she was comfortable on the couch, she switched off the living room light and went back to her own room, picking her book to continue studying.
•
•
"Your report."
"Success. I got them all in one go."
"And the man, where is he?" Dillion asked, legs crossed at the back of the cabin.
Fred sat across from him, a tablet in his hand. "In the booth of the Sudan. By Ford's mansion."
"Tell Arnold to take us there before he dies of suffocation."
Fred nodded and shifted to the small window, sliding it open. "Back to the Ford's mansion, Arnold."
Arnold, the driver of the limousine nodded and picked up speed.
The darkness of the night was thicker as the limousine drove through the roads, riding against mirage and mirage caused by the reflection of it's headlight.
When they got close to the Ford's mansion, Dillion and Fred highlighted, signaling for Arnold to take back the limousine.
They walked to where the Sudan was parked. They both entered, Dillion at the back and Fred taking the wheel.
Dillion looked at the bustling of the Ford's mansion through its gates, indicating that some people were still at the party... including Hugo. He smirked as Fred zoomed off into the night.
•
•
He felt pain in his abdomen as he opened his eyes. His head was laid back and he felt something supporting it, it was hard like...like wood. His vision was blurring. He blinked continuously for a while till he got a clearer result. The place was empty. Just walls. And it smelled of dampness and humidity.
He coughed, bringing his head forward towards his chest, he couldn't move. His hands were tied behind his back to the chair he sat on. He tried moving his feet, they were tied too. He started panicking, furiously trying to free himself.
"You are wasting your time." A voice said.
He paused, slowly raising his head to look ahead. There was a man, seated in a single chair few feet away from him, a pistol in his hand, using the grip hold to arrange his hair. He looked bored.
Standing beside him was another man who was looking straight at him into his soul with a serious expression. They were both dressed in Suits and they both had their own different dangerous-man look, the one seated likely to be the head of the other. He then wondered who spoke first.
"It's good to see you are awake." The one seated looked at him with that bored expression on his face. "It was about damn time! You could have saved us some_ thirty minutes or an hour, but you chose to take more. How disappointing."
He coughed and tried moving his hands again, futile attempt.
"Oh..." The man seated scratched his head with the pistol again. "You can talk to me and save yourself the burden.".
The seated man drew hos chair closer to him, giving him a clearer view of his appearance. "Who are you? What do you want?!"
"Shhhhh."The man hushed. "One question at a time. First," he dropped the gun on the floor between his legs and sat up straight. "I will be the one to ask you questions, after which you will then ask yours." He unbuttoned his suit, resting both hands on his knee. "Where is he?"
He grimaced, "Who are you talking about?"
"You know who. The man you all call Diggy...Diggy Jones...Matrix...whatever the name you wish to address him with."
The man grinned, his teeth covered in blood. He swallowed at looked at the bored man. "I do not know what you are talking about."
The seated man smiled and rested back in the chair. "Fred." He called to the other man. "The pictures."
Fred walked to him, removed a pile of pictures from inside of his suit and handed it to the seated man.
The seated man collected it and looked at it. "Beautiful!" He praised. He raised the picture up and showed it to him.
His eyes broadened. It was a picture of one of his brothers, Saturn. His face was pale, his eyes open, his forehead had a hole made from gunshot on it, his mouth half opened and his body covered in blood. He looked up at the seated man who was grinning.
He raised up another one, and another one, showing him one by one the pictures of his dead brothers. He handed them back to Fred. "You see, Durin." The man called to him.
He knew his name?
"I am a very complicated character." He continued saying. "Even I do not understand myself. You could call me a chameleon because I do not stick to one pattern. One minute I can be good, and another minute, I am bad. "The Devil. The saint." He chuckled. "It all depends on your response to me and that which you push me to be. We could do this the simplest of ways or we could pass through the most difficult one. I do not care. I can grant you both. I even wish to pass through the aforementioned...the turbulent one. But I do have the sole courtesy of letting people choose which it is that they want." He crouched forward to him, bringing his face closer to his. "We could do this the easy way...or we could this the hard way. You choose."