There's always an old warehouse involved

I was sitting in the backseat of a car driven by Aura’s mother, next to her sat Adam. This situation was undoubtedly connected with the words ‘Aura’s missing’.

Outside the car were rows of poorly lit warehouses. Piles of trash were decorating the sidewalks and there were so many holes in the road that instead of filling them up it would probably be easier to remove the hilly parts. This would look like a place that people were treating as a garbage dump if everything wasn’t covered with a thick layer of snow that had the propriety of changing even the trashy alley into a tranquil scene from a movie.

Roughly ten minutes after the message I had been taken by them. I had thought about resisting, but their grave expressions and the taser in Adam’s hand had changed my mind. Not that he had used it on me, but given a reason he probably would.

There was one question I had been avoiding during my last conversation with Adam. Maybe I was waiting for him to tell me on his own, maybe I was worried that I would not like the answer or maybe my brain simply wasn’t thinking straight after all that had happened that day. Probably it was the combination of all those factors, in the end, I had never asked about it.

Just what exactly do you want from me?! Why did I have to become her pet, couldn’t she get one from the store?! What did you want from Victor to the point of killing him?!

If being subtle didn’t work, it was time to put my foot down.

“Adam, expla-.”

“One more word and I will raise my knife stabbing skills using your flesh.”

The irritation in his voice was almost visible.

“...”

“Good.”

It wasn’t the first time I tried talking to him. The answers he gave me were mostly among those: ‘we don’t have time for that’, ‘don’t talk, move’, ‘shut up’, ‘I will shave the taser up your ass if you don’t shut up’.

Will it kill him to answer a question or two? The last few minutes we were driving in complete silence.

“We’re getting close.”

It was the first time Silvie said something since they had taken me.

“Good, I was worried TAT will try to take her out of the city.”

“No, it can’t be them. We’re following all their rules, so they have no reason to do anything.”

“Then who?”

“What about that guy who wanted a new ticket, but had no money to pay? Now that we’re closer I can tell that Aura’s in that old warehouse we dealt with him before.”

“I see… that makes sense. If it’s that bloody fucker I can kill him without holding anything back.”

“Send a message to the Checker and ask him about the number of kidnappers.”

It was hard to peek from the backseat, but it looked like Adam had taken out his phone and after a longer while there was the sound of an incoming message.

“This… bloody old goat.”

“What? There’s more than one of them?”

“No, no, don’t worry. It’s just that he wrote the answer with letters and not numbers.”

“One right?”

“Yeah, o-n-e. Triple the cost.”

The tense atmosphere in the car relaxed after those words as if the worst case scenario had just been avoided.

“Just make sure nothing happens to Aura.”

“That’s a given.”

Piece by piece, connecting hints from their conversation, my mental reconstruction of the ongoing event was progressing steadily. I changed my tactic of obtaining information to a more effective one.

“Aura’s been kidnapped? Is there anything I can help with?”

Even though I feel like the one being abducted here...

“Catch.”

Without a delay, Adam had tossed me the taser. Startler, I somehow managed to not drop it under the seat.

“You know how to use it?”

“Yeah, I had one before.”

Is he that confident that he can handle me with ease even if he gives me this?

“Good, just make sure to protect your own ass, I will take care of the rest.”

Well… Rora’s still inside me, they know where I live and I have this entire pet contract going on. Oh fuck it, if I can’t avoid getting involved, at least I will make sure that Aura’s safe.

“You trust him?”

Silvie apparently didn’t agree with Adam’s action.

“Ah, hahah- ekhm. Not really, but he’s harmless and, like it or not, but he’s a part of Rora’s network now.”

“I don’t understand her at all. Weren’t we going to give him a fake and forget about it? Those girls even lied to me about his age.”

The ‘him’ you’re talking about is sitting behind you, but whatever, please continue I want to know more.

“You know that Rora likes to pose herself as the mastermind who reveals her plans not through words but actions.”

“Isn’t she just basing everything on instinct alone?”

“... that’s possible.”

Alright, now that they seem to be more relaxed I may be able to ask a question or two.

“Ms. Toril ar-”

“That’s the place, let’s go.”

Before I could finish we’ve arrived.

The building we stood in front of had an old mesh fence, barely resisting the pull of gravitation. Instead of even looking for an entrance, Adam had kicked down one of the poles holding it together and the entire section fell loudly.

“Should we make so much noise?”

I asked worried about the consequences of his action. Rescuing Aura unhurt was something I actually wanted to achieve.

“Noise is exactly what I want mate, it’s easier and safer to deal with the hostage situation than surprising the guy.”

It this guy nuts? What about Aura? Shouldn’t we try to sneak our way in? I also don’t see any car other than ours, how did the kidnapper got here, it’s not as if he had carrier her on foot, right?

“There are three of us and if it’s true that this guy is alone we can easily…”

“Don’t think and just follow.”

My advice was effortlessly brushed aside.

Adam led us without hesitation, he probably knew this area well. The dim light from the streetlights and cloudless night were more than enough to substitute for our lack of flashlights.

I walked a step behind Adam and Silvie. With a taser in one hand, I was looking around for some other weapon, like a metal pipe or at least a thick stick. Their attempt at rescuing Aura was ridiculous, but they were so full of confidence that my worries started to be influenced and almost seemed silly.

“Aura started moving.”

“Is he taking her away?”

“No, she only moved a little, he will probably try negotiating with us.”

“Perfect.”

A rusty half-open door was the last obstacle before we could get inside. I was preparing myself for anything, even for the situation where I would have to hurt or maybe even kill someone. Of course, only as a last resort. If possible I would love it if they actually had some kind of a plan.

Adam had a relaxed look as if he got tired of tensing his face muscles, while Silvie stayed vigilant. Except for the knife Adam had tucked behind his belt, I was the only one armed with a taser and a small old hammer, which I found lying around.

Just in case I was also trying to recall everything I knew about the art of negotiation.

I looked at Adam, who was about to force open the door, and wanted to ask if there was something I should be careful about to not ruin his plan, but when he saw my face he quickly looked away. Silvie shook her head slightly.

“Amateur… Ando, make sure the kidnapper knows where we’re coming from, don’t try to hide or fight him. We don’t want to force that guy to do something unpredictable. Go in after Adam, I will go last.”

I nodded. Opening the door was accompanied by an incredibly loud noise of metal scraping against metal. If there were any other kidnappers in the nearby warehouses, they would probably all come here curious.

I took one last deep breath and went inside, tightly holding my weapons.

The hall was illuminated only by the moonlight coming through big glassless windows, but even that was more than enough to conclude that... there was no one inside. Worried that the kidnapper may be hiding somewhere I carefully looked around, but there was literally nowhere to hide. It was just one big empty space without even a box, crate or anything like that. I turned back to look at Silvie and said:

“Are you sure this is the right place? There’s nothing here. How did you even knew where to look in the first place? Maybe there was some kind of mistake, anyway, we shoul-”

“A, haha, hahaha, hahaha, haha, I can’t, can’t keep it any longer haha, ha, hahah, ha. Silvie, explain, I can’t. Ha, hahaha, ha, hah need to breathe.”

Adam burst out laughing and before I could understand the situation Aura’s mother took the taser and hammer from my hands. She had an amused look and a smile that was entirely different to the one I saw when dealing with her last time.

“Adam, this guy is good. Obedient, didn’t try to run and was even preparing to fight. Rora’s instincts may have been right after all.”

“A, hahah, ha, hah yeah ha, hah I’m starting to think, haha, ha, hah so as well.”

Adam couldn’t stop laughing and leaned against the wall, trying to collect himself. I followed his example and sat down on the spot exhausted. Freed from tension and fighting against the rising anger I finally realized what they were trying to do.

In comparison to the Violet's situation, this time it was me, who was at someone's mercy. I lacked the information to distinguish the truth from lie and could only follow blindly.

As the idiot was still in the happy-go-lucky land I placed my bet on Silvie.

“This was a test? The whole ‘Aura’s been kidnapped’ was a lie?”

“Call it training instead, as for Aura she’s soundly sleeping back home. I know you’re angry, but allow me to explain first. We have our reasons to do it that way.”

I pointed at the giggling idiot.

“Is having as much fun as possible your reason?!”

The volume of my voice increased with each word I spouted.

“Please ignore the idiot. The doctor said that just the fact that he doesn’t choke on his own saliva was already a miracle and forcing him to think on top of that could endanger his life.”

Adam just shrugged his shoulders, as if listening to stuff like this was a daily occurrence for him.

Is she trying to appease me by saying that or bullshit her way through? I won’t move from this place till they explain everything properly.

“What do you even want from me?”

“Relax, I will explain everything, but let’s go to my car first. It’s a long story and sitting here, on the cold concrete, is not good for your health.”

Her words made me realize that it was indeed cold, a fact that my brain had been trying to tell me from the moment I stepped outside the car, but busy with turning the mind gears I had to put it aside.

Well, it’s not as if I can’t refuse to move from the car.