Roland thought about what would be the best choice in this situation. He looked at the telephone, then back at Mr. Xi putting down his tea and wearing that sly smile while waiting for him to make a call or decline…
Roland decided to pick up the phone, and dialed a number. He waited anxiously for it to ring, and then—
A loud sound came, blaring at his ears and shocking him!
"UGH!" He exclaimed, and ended up throwing the phone.
It landed on Mr. Xi's tea set and spilled his tea everywhere. The man looked at the mess, and saw that it had reached his clothes and even his gloves. He doesn't seem to mind the heat at all, only frowning slightly about the stain.
"I'm really sorry, Mr. Xi!" Rolan said. "I don't know where that sound came from…. I think it was a siren? I must have dialed the wrong number…."
Mr. Xi took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped himself. "It's alright. Ah, but my telephone cable has been splashed too…. We better leave this room as we might get electrocuted or something will explode."
They left this section of the rooftop, and headed for the seating area near the infinity pool. Mr. Xi's bodyguards rushed to call for a technician and a cleaner to handle this mess. Roland watched carefully as Mr. Xi moved faster than light to change his gloves and put on new ones.
He threw the old ones at a nearby bin.
"That's really unfortunate. Do you think Harker was near a siren? It sounds familiar, almost like the fire trucks's siren." He said.
Roland shrugged. "I don't know….. I just dialed the number for our school's Biochemistry lab."
"Oh, it was his school's telephone number in New York?" Mr. Xi raised his eyebrows. "I see. I wonder why your school would have siren sounds, then. I hope there's nothing burning there."
The truth was, Roland dialed the number of the restaurant that he saw in the news this morning. It was very fortunate that he had seen the news of this certain resto suddenly dealing with fire on the east side. The sirens were from the Las Vegas fire department taking care of it, and there's no one to answer the call since everyone was busy dealing with the fire.
Through luck and quick thinking, Roland managed to avoid the trap Mr. Xi had set for him….
And also had a chance to get his DNA.
If snake demons have scales and shed skin, some of those dead scales or skin cells can cling onto the gloves he wear. Roland went to retrieve it after apologizing once more to Mr. Xi and excusing himself.
"It's time for me to check in with my father. He always asks his assistant to give me a call with this Japanese 'cellular phone'." Roland said.
Mr. Xi nodded. "I see. You also have a Nogia, eh? I also have the latest model without an antenna, but it's still taking me a while to understand how it operates. I can't get it to work when I'm inside my factory for some reason."
"Perhaps it's electromagnetic interference. EMI can affect all kinds of radio transmissions." Roland said.
"I see. Yes, that's most likely the reason." Mr. Xi thought. "There are certain devices in my factory that can cause major EMI…."
Roland remembered that Harker still has that electroshock device in his stomach. He gritted his teeth, and thought about how he could take that device out of his friend. It has to be an expert to take it out, and the operation might be dangerous.
Yet the longer it stays in his abdomen, the more dangerous it could be for their whole plan. They could use it against him at the last minute to shock him.
Although if they could do that in long distances, they would have done so. They couldn't, so now Roland has an estimate on how much distance the electroshock device could work. It only has the range of that one room Harker was imprisoned in.
"Thank you for the tea, Mr. Xi. And sorry for the trouble. I will have to go now." Roland excused himself, and had his bodyguards and assistant come to the rooftop to give more pressure for Mr. Xi to let him go.
The snake man nodded. "Of course. You said your father was in Italy, right? Tell your father I said 'Ciao', and give me a call about how he's doing."
"I will."
Roland briskly walked towards his associates, but Mr. Xi suddenly put a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, and Roland. If you ever receive any news from Harker, you'd tell me, right? You also worry about his future. I just want to talk with him and extend my help. Just like all the things I'd done for you so far."
Roland's jaws tensed, but he still spoke warmly. "Of course, Mr. Xi. I'd tell him that."
"Hmm… Well, thank you for accompanying this old man as well. I always enjoy your visits."
Roland may not see Mr. Xi's eyes, but he knew that he was clear of suspicion. Roland just knows people that well. It's not just the face that you could rely on reading, there's also the overall body language. Even the position of the feet could tell you something.
"Can I have a hug before you go? Mr. Xi smiled. "You know our family usually does that. Since we treat everyone that we help out as family as well."
"Of course, Mr. Xi…"
Roland steeled himself, and gave the snake demon a hug. While he was doing this, he had sent out hand gestures at his associates.
These people had long understood their boss' hand gestures that it was almost like their personal sign language. They know it meant "T-R-A-S-H G-E-T G-L-O-V-E-S"
They quickly went into position, so that one of them would retrieve the gloves while the others would cover for him. They did this as swiftly and naturally as possible.
The hug was over, and so too was the retrieval of those gloves. Mr. Xi patted Roland's shoulder. "You could always come to China if you want. Uncle Jiaoshe would take care of the matters for you. I have a lot of places for you to stay in, even islands…"
Roland knows he doesn't mean to visit. He's inviting him to run away to China from his father and his arranged marriage.
"Thank you for the offer, Mr. Xi. I'll be seeing you at the party." He responded dryly to this.
In great distaste, he finally left the villa. He was successful in achieving his mission and clearing himself of suspicion. Mr. Xi doesn't think he's involved with Harker's actions for now. He believes Roland knows nothing about Harker's involvement with the world of monsters.
He took that glove from his secretary, and took a taxi back to the hotel where his friend was. He looked up at the villa one last time by the window….
And saw Mr. Xi just standing at the edge of the rooftop, his green eyes watching him.