Predator and Prey

Adams POV

“DING! The train will arrive at the Karatakan station in exactly 2 hours. We are on schedule,” The train hostesses announced via the announcing systems.

“Rikter wake up we have almost arrived in Karatakan Station,” I shoved Rikter while still being sleepy myself.

I was quiet drunk ever since the train started moving. There was no way I would refuse any free quality drinks and so eventually fell asleep. As for Rikter, he has long been sleeping like a log throughout the entire ride.

“What time is it?” Rikter asks while opening one of his eyes.

“Don’t know, but it’s probably morning outside.”

“I see,” he says while twitching with the blanket on him, “Well then wake me up when we arrive.”

“No you can’t. We have work to do, so get up at once. This is not a pleasure trip.” I retort to him.

He agrees and very reluctantly gets up from the bed while yawning and brushing his eyes lightly.

“Well then, I will go and wash up,”

“O right” I call him, “Please bring a cup of coffee from the lounge, I am extremely hung over from last light.

He nods while grinning like a fox crafting up some sort of mischief and then leaves.

Well then the train will be arriving in the station in around 2 hours and it will take 2 more hours for us to reach Kalidrag fort. According to my friend, Cavil, Rodriguez was a general who was transferred to the fort due to the prospective danger of an invasion. Even though Cavil helped me find out Rodriguez’s location; in the end it still depends on Rodriguez alone whether he would cooperate with us or not. The only to make him cooperate was to act as someone from the military intelligence. I had already forged an ID for myself. Rikter did not have one since I intended to keep his false identity as a temporary assistant.

There was yet another problem still under consideration. The problem was of transportation. Since we are going to a military occupied fort, I don’t think most public taxis would take us there. I wonder if they rent small cars or bikes. Heck even a horse would do.

“Knock knock.”

While I was sitting on one corner of my bed and thinking of all the necessary problems, someone knocks on the cabin door. That brat Rikter is probably playing some sort of joke on me. I will have to teach him not to mess with.

While thinking like that, I make way towards the door with large strides and do not make a single sound.

“Who is it?” I ask with high anticipation.

“This is the train hostess sir,” a womanly voice calls out from behind the doors, “The other occupant of this cabin asked me to deliver the food to this room.”

Okay I probably misunderstood Rikter. I am his superior; there is no way he would prank on me. As such I open the door without any hesitation.

A woman in a white maid uniform covering her entire body enters while pushing a cart. From an outer perspective she would appear to be one of the most beautiful women that you could lay your eyes on. But working as a detective has honed my intitution beyond what an ordinary person would have. Nope, that was all my paranoia. Almost every woman in the service industry tended to look attractive. This is nothing out of the ordinary.

The hostess puts everything from the cart into the table. She slowly organizes all the food on the table and ends it with a wine bottle.

Wait wine? I remember asking Rikter to send for a cup of coffee not wine. My head was way too sore to even drink anymore wine. This could not be his idea of joke could it?

I look down at the hostess’s feet and sure enough against all odds; I am caught up in a very movie like scenario. Unlike the movies however, I do not raise any panic and keep my calm.

The hostess- no I should be calling her an imposter leaves. I check on her face and make sure to remember that face for further investigation.

She leaves quiet peacefully. I even thought that, just like the movie, she would brandish a knife or a gun. Luckily she did not.

I tiptoe and lock the doors. Of course I am feeling worried about Rikter, but based on my current situation either he has been drugged or locked somewhere. He being killed however is also possible. But I need to assess my own situation first before going on his rescue, considering that he survived.

I pick up the wine bottle and sure enough, the seal has a defect. Although it was resealed, the wax sealing it was too hot. Therefore it seeped out of the seal. This is a thing only amateurs would mistake in. Since sealing the wax is one of the most important jobs; it is obvious that this wine has been drugged. The other foods must also be in the same case.

Well then looks like I am part of a hunt. A hunt where I am the prey and the imposter and his companions, if any, is the hunter. With no weapons other than a table knife; a wit, honed from years of being a detective as well as a mediocre talent in hand-to-hand combat- I need to turn the tables on the predator. I will show him no matter what that I am not his prey.