And thanks to all reviewers! Love you too!
Together we stand…It was a rainy night. The barely visible crescent moon didn't give enough light to see other people on the streets and if at all, than without any detail. But exactly this worked for the Turks, each of them working in the dead of night relying mostly on sounds to coordinate themselves (and their targets). It would seem the rain hindered them, but the opposite was the case, the water covered ground increased the noise of each water soaked footstep along the streets.
Reno stood behind a corner, pressed tightly against the wall, almost blending in with the rough stone surface. The mass of drops made his hair fall wet into his face, the usually vibrant red colour dulled by the grey curtain the pouring rain provided. A smile on his lips he slowly turned his head around the corner, just seeing two men enter an old house. The colour had faded from the walls years ago. But Reno noticed something else about that abandoned structure, given the fact that it was just high enough to let a men of normal size stand inside, and that it's usual occupants rarely worked in sunlight nor, in fact, compliance with the law; suggested the fair possibility, that the house would have more than one floor below ground level.
It wouldn't be as easy a tracking as it had been for the previous hours, now that he had to follow the three men through a closed door and into unknown territory, and this increased the grin on Reno's face even more. He had stalked them for quite a while now, mindful of not being noticed, but he was hoping for a real challenge that would push his adrenalin and heartbeat to the maximum. The Turk turned back again, leaning back against the wet walls of the tenement, his black standard jacket already as soaked as his white shirt was, in short: he was soaked to the skin.
"Yo, they went into this so called warehouse. I'll follow!!" With that he turned and walked straight towards the house.
"No! Reno, do you listen? Don't go!" Immediately the Turk stopped, rolling his eyes.
"Why not?", he whispered not even trying to hide his disappointment. He kept on walking slowly, so as not to appear suspicious, but stayed in the street to watch if anything wrong was going on that could have been a reason for his commander's decision to hold him back.
"Damn, because I said so! You don't know-"
Suddenly Reno heard a sound, he turned towards the corresponding direction and just saw two people enter the house that he was still intend on entering, but what he saw let his eyes widen in shock, as he realized that the third person, who was unkindly manhandled into the building was a woman - Elena!
At that moment the redhead stopped thinking, he ripped the headset off of his ear. And without any other delay he stormed towards the entrance, pulling his weapon midst ride and readying it for whatever might await him behind those doors.
Tseng allowed his eyes to close in frustration. Why didn't Reno ever listen to a single word someone told him? But as fast as his anger rose, as fast was it turned into dread. Sure, the younger Turk interpreted the instructions in his own ways, but what could have happened that he disregarded such a clear order? Tseng had heard Reno's footsteps on the watery ground, running down the street, away from the headset he had dropped; he must have entered that mysterious house. Tseng didn't loose a second and began running.
Reno looked around. He felt neither nervous nor fearful. He knew that these guys must have had some sort of trick to get Elena captive; he had followed and watched them for quite a while, they were brutal, very brutal even, but not strong or intelligent enough to take on a Turk. But nevertheless a rush of adrenalin pulsated through his body- he was anxious about 'Lena!
It seemed like nobody had heard him entering the old house, and noone had remained in the big lobby that stretched behind the front doors. Though, Reno noted that 'lobby' was being a very vague term in this case.
The redhead found himself in a giant dark room, all the windows had been darkened with some sort of black paint. The room covered the whole floor, no doors were leading off to adjoining rooms or the outside, but the Turk could spot stairs in the left corner, small stairs leading down. He just realized the headset still in his hands and dropped it together with the phone on the stone-ground.
All in all it wasn't a very welcoming place, with the colour flaking off the walls, and dust covering the ground, inches thick in places that had been undisturbed for a while now. There was no chattel, apart from the huge chandelier in the middle of the room. Just then he heard a door shut, carefully but determined he walked up to where the noise had come from- the stairs. He concentrated hard to make as little noise as possible and to not walk into possible traps. Without problems he crossed the lobby, reaching the stairs he tried to look down their darkened length, but all he saw was another room, shrouded in darkness.
'Congratulations, you found the way to the netherworld!' he thought to himself. To hide the soft mako glow of his eyes he took his glasses off his forehead and placed them onto his eyes, cringing as wet strands of hair came loose and splashed in his face. Tucking them behind his ears he knelt down, and stuck his head down the trapdoor, from the opposite side of where the stairs made their descent. Seeing the room below him upside-down, he noticed that it was even darker than this one, but not a quarter as huge. It was moor like a small corridor, no more than two meters wide. Reno saw nothing to provide any light in there, 'seems like someone didn't want anybody to sniff around'. But there was no movement or sound, so Reno stood up and with a final glare he gripped the edge of the trapdoor, turned and softly let himself down, releasing his hold to land with feline grace on the floor below. He figured that the old wooden steps would not have taken kindly, or at least not silently to be walked upon.
On nearer inspection the Turk realized that this room looked a lot better than the last one, not only was the colour neat (even if it was the same lame beige), there were old frets above the doors. In the middle of the room Reno stopped and closed his eyes concentrating on each sound. But there was nothing, absolutely nothing except his own heartbeat. Sighing inwardly he walked towards the door up ahead. He turned the knob and opened the door.
Drops of sweat ran down Rude's dark forehead as he ran down the much too long streets of Edge. He had heard the conversation between his best friend and his boss through his headset, and now he tried everything possible to get to them. He knew Reno better than anyone else and good enough to know that something bad must have happened.
He reached the end of the street, rushed around the corner- not noticing the young lady who had planned the same. Rude jumped back up, turning around to throw the woman a cursory glance, to make sure that she was neither in peril nor a threat, when he noticed two things: one, she was pregnant and two, she was hanging onto his arm and refused to let go.
She insisted that he take her to the hospital immediately and refused to let him leave, thinking about valid reasons not to kill her, Rude figured it would probably be easier (and far less messy) to just comply. He commandeered her cabriolet and drove as far as the car would allow towards the nearest hospital. The screeches of the abused motor drowning out the terrified woman beside him, who just realised that it hadn't been much of a great idea to ask the large Turk for help.
Rude focused on keeping the speeding vehicle on the street, trying not to worry too much, he knew for a fact that Reno was good and well capable of taking care of himself, and Elena and Tseng had to be near, who would also react on the redhead's foolish action. Still ignoring the protesting woman next to him, who threatened him bodily harm he tried to find a way to turn this little detour to his advantage.
Stopping the car at the front door of the hospital, Rude didn't wait one second after the woman had left the car, when he already drove on. With the same speed he had come he finally headed in the direction he actually intended to go, towards where Reno would be.
TBC