The streets were poorly lit at night. Not because there were not enough lampposts, but because the maintenance was largely ignored, so some of the lampposts were turned off or had its lights lamps broken. Some of the remaining lampposts were not aligned, leaving some parts of the streets with more light than the necessary and some parts of the street in the dark. The colorful signs of the nearby stores didn´t help the aesthetics of the place.
But they helped two men, who had just parked the car in a dark alley. They left the car in a hurry, avoiding being seen. The black suits they used helped them to blend with the darkest corners of the streets. One of the men, the shortest one, seemed to be the leader, as he directed their movements by hand gestures. The pair moved carefully through the dark alleys, trying to not be noticed. The tallest one, who had a very fair complexion and blond hair, usually took the first steps, always directed by the shortest one, whose hair was black and his complexion was darker. They stopped by the corner of a dark alley who led to a lighted street.
"Damn! You shouldn´t have parked the car so far! What will we do now?" The tallest man showed some irritation.
"Shhhh! Shut up!" The black haired man motioned the other to keep quiet and continued with a light whisper of his bass voice. "You know we couldn´t have parked the car nearer without attracting the attention of the passersby. The official car has those damned big stickers; everybody would recognize us."
"Yeah, but how will we be able to do it now? I mean, we can cross these lighted streets as if nothing was happening, but how will we be able to cross them back with our load without attracting the attention of everybody?" The man gestures indicated he was pessimistic about the outcome of their plan.
"We have to do it. And we have to do it in a way no one suspects of anything." The short man´s expression was very assured.
"But we will never be able to bring our load without attracting the attention of these people. She will be kicking and yelling at us! This plan is insane!" The blond man implied that they had become crazy.
"Insane or not, we must do it. Or be fired. Do you want to lose your job? You know our boss will not give us a second chance in case we fail."
"Oh yeah." The blond man rolled his eyes. "What do you suggest so?"
"Do you see that small alley over there?" The dark haired man pointed to a small and dark alley between two large buildings, whose walls are decaying and dirty with graffiti. "We must cross this street and enter that alley. But be sure to act normally, as if we were just taking a routine walk."
The two men in black suits left the dark alley and started crossing the lighted street trying to pretend they were just taking a common walk. Many people were passing by. At the end of the block, there was a small plaza with a water fountain in the middle of it. Some people were returning home from work, some people were looking for entertainment, which could be found in the nearby streets, some people were just taking a walk. The two men tried to act as if they were two executives returning from a busy day at their company, but their faces betrayed some hints of tension, their movements were not natural and their speech was not spontaneous.
"Hey, Carl, how about that poker game? When will the boys play again?" The dark haired man tried to look natural.
"Well..." The blond man was not so comfortable and his movements were somewhat mechanical. "I think... Saturday, maybe."
"Don´t forget to invite me."
"Well..." The blond man could not stop checking the surroundings. "I will... ouch!" He released a sigh when he felt an elbow on his ribs.
"Idiot!" The dark haired man whispered angrily at him. "Stop looking around, you will attract their attention!"
"Ouch, you shouldn´t have done that." The blond man rubbed his hand over the ribs that had just been hit. "I can´t feel myself at easy..."
"If you can´t pretend you are just crossing the street with nothing else in your mind, how will you perform when we have our load with us?" The dark haired man was clearly irritated.
"This will not work, I´m sure..."
The two men finished crossing the street and entered the dark alley. Luckily for them, no one was paying attention, otherwise their odd behaviour would surely be noticed. The blond man released a sigh of relief as they were hidden by the blackness of the dark alley. They advanced a bit through the dark alley till they found a man lying on the floor. The dark haired man got irritated.
"Damn! We have to clear off our path! This guy can´t stay here!"
"What do you think this guy is up to? He looks like a beggar." The blond man shrugged. He looked confused.
"He is a dopey, that is what he is." The dark haired man was irritated and pulled the man lying on the floor by the arm. "Hey, dopey, get out of here, else you will end badly hurt!"
The dark haired man produced one pistol from inside his dark suit and shook it in the face of the dopey. "Take your crack with you and get out of here or things will become too dangerous for you, do you understand?"
The dopey guy was really scared by the rough demonstration of violence by the part of the man, so he started running away. He was hallucinating a bit, but he could realize the real threat that a pistol being shoved on his face meant, so he didn´t stop to ask or look back before he disappeared in the lighted street.
"Hey!" The blond man was furious. "Is this what you call a stealthy approach?" He crossed his arms in displeasure.
"That guy is a dopey! He won´t risk our venture." The dark haired man dismissed the subject as a trivial thing.
"Oh yeah, if he went into the main street screaming, it surely will not risk our venture." The blond man rolled his eyes. "I´m having a bad feeling about this affair..."
"I don´t want to listen to your whining anymore, coward! Keep moving on!"
The two men walked to the end of the alley. The dark alley was crowded with garbage cans, containers and bags, many of them ripped open. There were some cats lurking around, looking for food among the piles of trash. The smell was very bad, but the two men tried to ignore the unpleasant smell and kept advancing. At the end of the dark alley, there was a left turn. The alley to the left led to another lighted street.
"Look there. Our goal must lay at the end of this alley. All I ask you is to cross it silently and wait me near its end. And the most important thing is to hide yourself. No one can see us." The dark haired man gave the directions harshly.
"OK. How will I know which is our objective?" The blond man had an uneasy countenance.
"It is the one in pink. But don´t do anything stupid. Wait for me. Do you understand?" The dark haired man tone was the most serious.
"Yeah... alright..." The blond man hesitated.
"Go at once!" The dark haired man pushed the blond man, who almost lost his balance.
As soon as the blond man regained his balance, he started crossing the dark alley, carelessly. He was much more interested in catching a glimpse of his objective in the mission, as he had never seen her. As he lost his concentration, he traveled over a trash can which was left in the middle of the dark alley. Both the man and the trash can were sent rolling on the ground, causing a great noise. The dark haired man, who was watching the scene, shook his head negatively, while putting the palm of his hand on his face.
On the lighted street, a brown haired woman in a pink dress, who was standing up near the exit of the alley, was scared by the noise. She felt a chill down her spine, her heart started beating faster. She hurried to the middle of the street, afraid of what could have been coming from the dark alley. She forgot about her flower-selling business for some minutes and tried to mix herself with the other passersby, always looking back to the alley. She had left some of her things by the wall of the building that was in by the intersection of the lighted street and the dark alley, but she currently valued more her safety than her belongings.
After some minutes of silence, the woman dismissed the noise and resumed her flower-selling job. Inside the dark alley, the blond man was still lying on the floor, ashamed of his silly mistake. The dark haired man walked slowly towards him and scolded him in whispers.
"Idiot! Look what you have done! Now she may have run away scared of your bombastic percussive performance! The boss told us we should not return without our load. What will I say to him now? That an idiot made too much noise and scared our bird away? Do you think you will be able to retain your job after this failure?"
"Sorry..." The blond man was feeling bad. "I didn´t mean..."
"Shut up!" The dark haired man hit the blond man in the back of his head. "No one will care for your excuses."
"Ouch!" The blond man started rubbing the back of his head. "That hurts." Then, he stood up again. "We have nothing better to do, so I think we should check if she is still there."
"Alright. But this time, try to not do anything stupid, you moron!"
The blond man walked carefully, close to the wall which the shade of the buildings made darker. The dark haired man followed suit. When they had reached the end of the alley, they stopped, as the light from the lighted street would reveal their presence if they took just one step further. Both men were anxious, trying to breath silently, but they knew that their objective would listen to their breath if she was standing too close to the wall.
"What will we do now?" The blond man whispered inside the dark haired man's ear.
"Take a look, see if you can find her. But, please, be careful." The dark haired man's voice betrayed a feeling of hopelessness.
The blond man carefully moved his head towards the light. He caught the glimpse of a lady in a pink dress and retreated his head back. "Wow, she looks pretty! I wonder what our boss wants with her..." Then, he turned to his companion.
"She is just there! What are we supposed to do?" The blond man was excited.
"You shall go there, grab her from her back and drag her here. Try to do it as fast as you can, so you may not be noticed."
"How will I be able to do that and go unnoticed?" The blond man was baffled by his companion orders.
"That is your problem! Now go!" The dark haired man pushed the blond man into the lighted street, but the blond man resisted.
"Wait! Let me study the environment."
The blond man carefully tried to peek into the lighted street again, to calculate his next moves. He slowly moved his head in the direction of the light. He caught the glimpse of the beautiful woman in a pink dress again. She was holding a wooden bucket with some flowers inside. She was offering her flowers to a couple, who didn't look interested. "Wow! She really looks pretty! Very pretty, indeed! I wonder what kind of business our boss has with her, as he doesn't look like the kind of man interested in that..." He retracted his head into the darkness again and turned to his companion.
"She is there! She is pretty..." The blond man couldn't hide his excitation.
"Shut up! Move your fat butt and bring her here!"
The dark-haired man pushed the blond man into the lighted street, this time with a greater strength. Surprised, the blond man hesitated a bit. He was not comfortable with the idea of dragging the girl to the alley. He knew he would attract the attention of the passersby. Besides, his actions would look like he was trying to sexually assault her, but that was not the case. All he wanted was to take her to his boss and receive his paycheck.
The blond man took a short run towards the girl, who was with her back to him. Instead of holding the woman the way his companion had instructed him, he violently grabbed her left arm, scaring her. She tried to pull herself from the sudden hold and let out a scream.
"Hey? Release me!" The girl tried to pull herself from his grab, but to no avail. "Help me! Someone help me!"
The black haired man, who was observing all the scene from the dark alley, was frustrated by the situation going out of control, but not entirely surprised. He ran after the girl and grabbed her right arm, violently. The girl was scared by the sudden grab and let her bucket fall on the street. She tried to jerk her body, but the grab was too strong and hurt her. She was really afraid of the mysterious men and kept screaming for help.
Both men dragged her through the sidewalk, taking her to the dark alley. She was kicking the air with her legs, trying to stop the men, but they eventually took her to the dark alley. Her screams succeeded in attracting the attention of people which were walking in the lighted street, but the results were not what she was expecting. No one came to help her. Some people ran away, scared; some people stayed watching the scene. But, as the theory says, if there are too much people seeing an emergency, no one helps. So, the girl was helplessly dragged to the dark alley.
After the men had dragged her some yards into the dark alley, the dark haired man started scolding the blond man again.
"Your idiot! You almost ruined everything! Was it the way I've told you to get her?"
"Sorry, I just couldn't..."
"You can´t do anything properly! If it was to sign your name on the paper, I´m sure you would do something wrong!"
"Help me! Help me!" The girl kept screaming for help.
"We will not harm you! Stop screaming, please." The blond man tried to reason with the girl.
"Enough!" The dark haired man changed his hold on the girl, passing his right arm around her right shoulder and did the same with her left shoulder. He tightened the grip on the girl, making sure she would not be able to escape. Then, he elbowed his companion´s arm.
"Release her arm, I have her held tightly. Grab her legs, so we can take her out of here faster."
"Alright!" The blond man hesitantly released his grab on the girl´s arm.
"Where are you taking me? Release me, scoundrels! Someone help me please!" The girl was desperate, screaming and shaking her legs.
The blond man walked around the girl, while the dark haired men dragged her through the dark alley. The dark haired man knew he was not in a good position, as he could not see the way. He didn't want to risk tumbling over the trash cans and falling on the ground, so he directed his companion to change his position, so he could direct the way. What he wasn't expecting was that his companion was so clumsy.
The blond man tried to hold the girl's legs, but he hesitated. He was not comfortable with the idea of holding her legs. As he hesitated, the girl managed to kick him in the face with her hard brown leather boots. The blond man released a yell of pain and staggered.
"Take that, your scoundrel! Release me now!"
The dark haired man lost his temper. He briefly released the grip on the girl´s left shoulder while pulling her strongly with his right arm, making her lose her balance. He took the gun from inside his suit and pointed it to the girl´s temple.
"Stop! Stop!" The dark haired man screamed out loud, making clear his irritation. "Girl... Aerith, isn´t it? If you don´t shut your damned mouth now and stop shaking your body, I´ll blow your brains out!"
The girl immediately stopped screaming and moving. She panicked. Her fear of being murdered was real. There was no arguing against a gun pointed to her head. He felt the dark haired man´s hand shaking, so out of control he was. She started sobbing. The blond man saw the opportunity and grabbed her legs. She didn´t protest this time. The dark haired man tucked his gun in his belt and grabbed her left shoulder again.
"Why? Why?" The girl was sobbing.
"Aerith? Is that her name? Do you know her?" The blond man asked his companion, surprised.
"No, but the boss told me some things about her."
"Who are you? What do you want from me?" The girl was paralyzed with fear, tears falling from her green eyes.
"Shut up or you will end hurt!" The dark haired man was not with patience to talk to the girl.
"Sorry, Aerith..." The blond man was feeling uncomfortable, specially with the view of the girl he had by holding her legs. "Luckily she is wearing a long dress, otherwise..."
"Stop talking to her like that!"
"Please, it must be a mistake... I´m poor... I´m a harmless girl... I have nothing to offer..." The girl was confused and desperate.
"Aren´t you Aerith Gainsborough? You are exactly the one we were looking for. Now stop talking or else..."
The man´s tone was enough to make her go silent. "What do they want from me? What have I done? Can´t I be left alone? There are always people after me, demanding me things... can´t I live in peace? What have I done to deserve that?"
The men advanced through the alleys, carrying the girl. She was now silent and felt fear, so they didn´t have problems in advancing. The blond man directed the steps of the dark haired man, so he didn´t travel over the trash cans and bags. After some minutes, they had crossed the dark alleys and were about to return to the lighted street they had crossed on their way to find the girl. The blond man´s face betrayed fear.
"What will we do now? Surely there will be people on the street. How can we go through it unnoticed?" His voice showed his despair.
"Don´t worry. Just move fast, I´ll do the rest." The dark haired man grinned in a way that made the blond man feel scared.
As soon as the dark haired man stepped outside the dark alley, into the light, the girl noticed that the street was crowded, so she risked screaming for help again, "Someone help me! Please! Help me! They will kill me!". People were shocked by the scene, but they were somewhat afraid of meddling with the dark suited men. Some people yelled at the two men and two or three courageous men walked towards them. The dark haired man let the girl´s left shoulder loose again and grabbed his pistol. He pointed the gun to the sky.
"Everyone step back! Don´t meddle with us!" The dark haired man yelled at the crowd "Bang! Bang!" The dark haired man fired two rounds of his pistol to the air. General panic ensued, with people crying in despair and running away. No one dared to step closer to the group, who advanced fast toward the dark alley on the other side of the street. The dark haired man pointed the gun to the girls temple again. She could feel the warmth of it.
"One more scream and your brain will be splattered all over the street! I will not give you another chance!" The dark haired man was infuriated.
"Don´t kill me... please... I´ll do whatever you want... just don´t kill me..." The girl´s eyes betrayed a strong fear.
The blond man felt compassion for the girl. He could feel her trembling in his hands. He could feel her heartbeat as well and her heart was racing like mad. He didn´t know her, but he felt she didn´t deserve to be treated so harshly.
"Stop threatening her. The boss didn´t say anything about having her killed."
"Damn! Are you trying to protect her?" The dark haired man´s eyes were on fire.
"No, I´m just trying to accomplish the task we were assigned to." The blond man had an defiant air.
"Damn! Let´s get out of here immediately!"
"And you wanted to go unnoticed..." The blond man rolled his eyes.
The group finally crossed the street and disappeared into the dark alley. No one was courageous enough to follow the group into the dark alleys, so the group reduced their pace. The dark haired man was visibly tired of walking and holding the girl. He was panting and breathing deeply. Even so, he didn´t loosen his grip on the girl. The blond man somewhat loosened his grip on the girl, in order to not hurt her ankles. He was sure the girl would not react.
And the girl didn´t. She was so frightened that she didn´t think in running away anymore. She was silently praying for help. "How I wished it were just a bad nightmare. But I know it isn´t. I don´t know why all these things keep happening to me. What have I done to deserve it? I´m just a poor girl, trying to overcome the hardships of living in those hateful slums? Oh, Lord, isn´t it a way to attain peace? To be safe from all this harassing? To live a calm and peaceful life?"
The group kept advancing, uninterrupted, through the dark alleys. After some minutes, the dark haired man felt they were reaching their car.
"Did you set up the protection? I don´t want her knocking me unconscious by hitting my head while I´m driving."
"Don´t worry, I´ve already set up everything."
"Where are you taking me?" The girl asked with a faint voice, her throat hurting after crying for so long.
"To our boss."
"Why?"
"Because he demanded us to take you to him, Aerith. Now, shut up your mouth if you wish to arrive there safe and sound." The dark haired man was less irritated, but he tried to keep the girl scared, so she would not try to run away or fight them.
The group walked for some yards more and they finally reached the car. The dark haired man loosened his grip on the girl´s left shoulder. He searched for the car key in his pocket. He took a long time to finally find it and there was a moment of tension. He was afraid the girl would try to escape and that his companion would let her escape, but she didn´t. The girl caught the glimpse of the stickers in the car and recognized them. She became mad.
"What are those stickers? Shinra? Are your from Shinra?" The girl´s mood switched from sadness to anger. She knew Shinra very well, as she was constantly harassed by its members, who tried to convince her to join the company.
"Well..." The blond man seemed embarrassed.
"Why are you saying that? From where did this idea come?" The dark haired man tone was angry, but betrayed a bit of embarrassment and a lot of anxiety.
"Don´t fool with me! Look at those big stickers in your car! You are from Shinra! You must be Turks!" The girl was getting angrier with their evasive answers.
"No... no..." The dark haired man was clearly embarrassed.
"Come on, do you think I am such a fool? I know who you are! Why did you do that to me? Why didn´t you just ask me to go with you? You've done that many times before, but you have never dragged me through the streets, neither have you pointed a gun to my head before." The girl was really angry.
"Oh... the boss..." The dark haired man was stuttering.
"Shut up! These stickers are just to disguise. Do you think we´d be such fools to come here with those shining stickers if we were really from Shinra?" The blond man spoke calmly. He also released the girl´s feet and ordered his companion to release her, in order to show her confidence and control of the situation. "So, please, get inside the car and you will not end hurt. We don't want to harm you."
The girl was surprised and scared by the blond man´s tone. She had realized that the dark haired man acted in a way to scare her, but she was a bit unsure about the blond man. So, she thought, when he showed confidence, he really meant what he was saying. Besides, he treated her with some respect. Though he was abducting her, she trusted him more than his companion because the blond man treated her like a woman, not like a load. She decided to comply with his orders and, as soon as the dark haired man unlocked the car doors, she got inside. The dark haired man locked the back doors as soon as she entered. She noticed that the car was modified, so there was a steel plate separating the back seats from the front seats. She was unable to see or hear what was going on in the front seats. She laid down on the back seat, cringed in fear and started sobbing again.
"What do these guys want from me? Are them from Shinra or not? Will they harm me or not? Oh, my Lord, what have I done to deserve that? Won´t you talk to me when I most need you? Planet, why can´t I hear your voice now?"
Outside the car, the dark haired man released a sigh of relief.
"You saved the day."
"Well, let´s get out from here." The blond man seemed more calm than the dark haired man and walked around the car to get inside.
"Yes. By this time, someone must have already called the police. Let´s move on, the boss waits us. Let me call him telling the news"
The dark haired man took his cellphone from his pocket and made a call. The call was very brief and they talked using codes. He felt a great relief when he heard the pleased voice of his boss.
"Well, let´s hurry. The boss is anxiously waiting her." The dark-haired man started the car. It started rolling slowly through the city streets.
"I wonder what the boss wants with this girl..." The blond man´s countenance showed curiosity and worry. He had sympathized with the unknown girl. "I wonder if we are doing the right thing..."
