Chapter Three

Alice did not have the time to grab her things. After the five attempts to knock down her door it fell dramatically as six masked assailants entered carrying lethal weapons.
Hellboy was ready and fired two shots knocking two down for the count.
"Get what you can! Let's move!" Hellboy said charging. The largest of the remaining four shouted in their native tongue to attack, "Iat-o! S-o ucida!"
Hellboy shot but even in close quarters he missed. Three jumped on him but he swung them into walls with little effort. The fourth went around him to Alice which was a bad idea; she elegantly lifted her pot of boiling eggs and splashed it on his face. The assailant fled back as Hellboy knocked him over tripping over him and falling onto Alice's table.

By now the one of the wounded fellows in the doorway were whimpering away; the other had a satellite phone calling for backup.
"Let's go!" Hellboy yelled. Alice nodded and opened a kitchen cabinet. Here was a rucksack and a pistol. She took it, threw her bag over her shoulder and ran behind Hellboy who purposely stepped on the injured assailant's shoulder. Alice grabbed the satellite phone out of his hand hearing the gibberish voices speaking quickly in their native tongue. She put it to her mouth whispering in a deadly tone, "Lasa-ma in pace sau i se ia masuri serioase cu totii vor plati pretul cu viata ta."
Then she threw it against the wall; it shattered and they were off running down the street into the dark night.

Here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil the weather was warm and inviting. The streets were filled with the daily bustling buses, blaring horns of cars, pedestrians chattering in all sorts of Spanish with a blonde haired Caucasian woman in the center.

Alice stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the dark haired brown natives of this Latin country. Her golden blonde hair went past her shoulders now as she donned a pair of aqua sunshades that matched her loose chemise dress. She wore a large straw hat that bent at the rim to conceal her face but it did nothing for her in the crowd.

To the natives, hopefully, she was another lost tourist who had wandered into the slums of Rio. They secretly wished she'd find her way back and not on the news as another missing person. Alice moved with the flow of traffic until she arrived on the main street. The wristwatch she was wearing beeped loudly so she took a detour through a fruit market. Here the fruit flies were thick amongst the pineapples and mangos. Alice maneuvered her way until she came out the other end of the market. Then, to avoid conspicuity, she took another detour through a busy meat market.

Finally after a third detour she saw the horizon of a sandy beach then she heard her wristwatch beeping again.

"About damn time." She mumbled under her breathe seeing her destination, that bloody coffee shop she had been searching for.

Entering the tanned Latin pubescent boy behind the counter looked up and from his chore and greeted her with a flirtatious remark. Alice ignored him and sat in the farthest corner of the shop and waited. Ten excruciating minutes later Hellboy entered from the bathroom, relieved and smiling.

"Bout time you get here. My stomach was melting from eating that feijoda."
"Cry me a river will ya?" Alice said dryly turning the wristwatch off.

"You call the professor?"
"Yeah I left him a message; told him not to wait up." Hellboy said sitting down.

"Good now… let's get to work."

After Hellboy and Alice's little incident with her intruders they quickly chose to run for the border where their first lead was located anyway. They boarded a plane in New Jersey and flew to Brazil and entered Rio de Janeiro of foot to make sure they weren't detected. But Alice was positive someone somewhere knew who they were and why they were here; someone always knew. To make Alice feel better and secure Hellboy offered to scale and climb buildings to avoid being seen together in public (not that it helped that Alice was a 5'9, Caucasian blonde walking around the shantytowns Rio) and if he felt the need for her to take a detour he'd beep in on her wristwatch from his and if he thought he saw danger he'd beep in twice. This was a handy tracking device the professor had created for Hellboy because he was always getting lost in tundras or dense forests but Hellboy wasn't supposed to have the second one. Luckily, he had swiped it thinking in advance about his mission.

Now they were in Rio, at a local coffee shop planning their next move. In a way Hellboy felt like he and Alice were Bonnie and Clyde; two fugitives on the run but they weren't in love. This mission could have easily been done with the help of the B.P.R.D but Alice wanted them to have no part in this just some good ol' fashion detective work and her favorite red partner, Hellboy. It made him blush to think about it but it didn't matter; no one would see the flushing in his cheeks when Alice looked at him frowning.

"What's our next move HB?" Alice asked.
Hellboy blinked then relaxed the arch in his back trying to act cool, "We go to the time-share home Sweeney had bought."
Alice shook her head slightly, "are you serious? Go there? It's a timeshare home for crying out loud HB! I'm pretty sure a hundred families have been in it since Sweeney died."
"But think… we're dealing with a man of secrecy." Hellboy said digging in his jacket. Something rattled as he dug deeper and pulled out neatly folded documents in plastic covers. These were some of the papers Hellboy had read from earlier about Sweeney's death; articles, stories, written witness forms… all sorts of information that would be pieced together if they could find one more thing.

"Sweeney didn't have the cleanest record or the best morals. You know that." Hellboy said, "And he knew damn well he was being hunted by these maniacs so would you really be surprised if he had hidden something in that timeshare home."
"Like what?"
"Codes."

Hellboy handed Alice a sheet of weathered paper. The blue printing was damp from years of hiding and the corners were folded and lined with odd signs all draw precisely small so someone couldn't see them unless the paper was up close to their face.

"We found it at Sweeney's old Pennsylvania home before the Black Hand could ransack it. Had it hidden in a secret compartment behind his writing desk with a gun and over a thousands dollars in cash. The paper was cursed;—no one could lift it out of the box without being shocked to death. Finally they called in a psychic who kicked and screamed evil (Hellboy rolled his eyes) and finally condemned whatever bad magic was on it so we could read it. But we couldn't… its all coded."

Alice took the paper and scanned it left from right. Her eyes began to burn a bit seeing each third letter was written in red, some were in green and others written upside down or backwards and didn't even make sense.
"First of all this isn't English."
"Really?" Hellboy asked sardonically.

"Yeah." Alice answered, "He's switching in between Romanian… French-Russian?"
"And it's all written backwards."
"And in a fourth language." Alice said rolling it up, "Latin."
"Well some of our experts understood a little but this is only half. Sweeney hid his second code."
"Where?"
"That's what we're going to find out."
Alice sighed, "This all too confusing."
"Listen Alice." Hellboy said, "We can do this. We just have to connect the dots."
"I suppose." Alice said as the Latin boy came to their table. He grinned at Alice and asked her in Spanish what she wanted. Alice said nothing and looked at Hellboy who answered in Spanish.

"Well what if there are more codes written somewhere and the Black Hand has them? What if they're searching for this one?" Alice asked.
"And you."
"And I have the code."
"Which means double the jackpot."
Alice ran her fingers through her hair, "Look HB I don't know what these guys are capable of. They have to be pretty dangerous if Sweeney cursed a piece of paper to keep it away from them."
"Ain't anything we can't handle." Hellboy said proudly.

"You sure big guy?" Alice asked.
Hellboy nodded, "Promise."
"Now where are we off too?"
"Sweeney's timeshare home…" Hellboy whispered hearing his stomach howling to go back to the restroom.

The building in which Sweeney's timeshare home was very nice. The loft itself would be nicer. The structure was white with 30 stories and with innovative architectural designs. Tall palm trees surrounded the place as front sat on the beach where unnaturally green grass merged with racked white sands and volleyball courts everywhere. Tourists, mostly Caucasian, strolled in and out sipping fruity alcoholic drinks in coconut shells as large as ostrich eggs.

Hellboy and Alice walked in without being stopped by security. Immediately Hellboy took out his badge and the paperwork to find out which floor and room number.

The receptionist was watching a small white and black TV behind her desk and of course was startled by Hellboy's appearance.
"We need the key to room 1452, please." Hellboy said.

The woman couldn't speak at first but managed to release her squeaky voice, "I'm sorry sir I cannot give you a key to a room in this building."
"What?"
"I'm sorry sir but I cannot give you a key to a room in this building."
"Look lady I'm working here." Hellboy said leaning in as the woman gasped drawing attention to the front. Alice looked around seeing a group of teens staring at them. Across from them was a shaven headed man wearing black sunshades, pretending to read a magazine. He had a tiny black hand tattooed on his skull right above his ear. Alice's eyes widened as she leaned in with the irritated Hellboy who was now flashing his badge in the woman's face. She would not budge, "I'm sorry sir but you can't have a key to that room! Please leave before I am forced to call security."
"Security?" Hellboy asked raising his arms in disbelief.
"Hellboy we don't have time for this." Alice whispered shaking his arm, "We—we gotta go."
Hellboy looked at her, "What do you mean?"
"Let's just go. NOW." Alice insisted pushing him towards the front doors. Hellboy griped as they passed the man.

Instinctively their eyes locked. The shaven headed man stared at her with such intensity that Alice knew it was them. The Black Hand. They were here. They had found them. They knew that something was in that timeshare home.

When they were outside the entrance doors, Alice pulled Hellboy behind parked buses shushing him when he asked why she was spooked.
"They're here. I saw them. We gotta get in that room now."
"What do you mean you saw them?"
"A man with a black hand tattooed on his head-it's not a coincidence. It's them."
Hellboy blankly stared seeing how pale Alice had turned.
"Alice…" he said breathlessly, "Are you…scared?"
Alice blinked looking him in his eyes as her nose scrunched up, "No! No I'm not but if we want to search that home we gotta break in without a key."
"Hmmm," Hellboy said rubbing his chin, "Breaking into a home without a warrant on foreign soil without the permission of neither the U.S. nor Brazil…" He smirked, "Sounds like my kinda work."
Alice rolled her eyes, "Then let's go. This place goes right on the beach… we'll just take the outside staircase."

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier, weirdo?" Hellboy asked, "We could've used that first!"

They ran up fourteen flights of stairs to get to the floor where Sweeney's room was located. As they stood in front of the blue wooden door on the fourteen floor, Alice and Hellboy turned to each other unsure.
"We both know what we're risking here?"
"Yeah. An international awful affair."
"You know once the world did not have such borders."
"Was this after the Roman Empire took over?"
"I have never been to South America before this… or at least I don't remember. Many things change."
"Let's get back on topic here time traveler."
"Right…" Alice said zoning back in, "What will we do if people are in here?"
"Tell them to get out."
"And the Black Hand?"
Hellboy paused before he answered, "Shoot them."
Alice nodded as she placed her knuckles to the door then thought about it.
"Ah, what the hell." She murmured before slamming her left shoulder into the door. It fell inward without another punch.
Hellboy stared amazed before clearing his throat, "Nice work Agent Babik."
"Any day." Alice said reaching into her knapsack for her gun.
The loft had whitewashed walls, fine leather couches and pillows everywhere in the living room along with a new Sony TV. The kitchen was spacious and led into a long hallway with three doors on both sides. Hellboy didn't bother to pull out his gun- they had to see if any civilians were here first and he didn't want to scare the shit out of them. Not like he appearance didn't do that already.

Alice tiptoed silently into the hall opening every door fearlessly. Hellboy admired her from afar as he kept a watch on the front door.
Alice came back with her gun down calmly taking in the interior decoration of the room, "Nice vase."
"I've seen better." Hellboy said picking up the front door. He placed it back on its hinges, "So it won't bring so much attention to this room."
"Yeah, sure…" Alice said feeling on the couches.

"There are suitcases on the beds, Johnson and Johnson baby wipes in the restroom and toys everywhere… I'm assuming a husband and wife with 2.5 children."
"You can't half a child Alice."
"Whatever."
"Now where are you my little coded piece of paper?" Hellboy said easing into the kitchen. He opened the fridge peeking in, "Ain't in there."
"Be serious HB, we're on borrow time." Alice hissed bending down. She rubbed her hands against the wooden floors looking for any loose boards or odd nicks. As she did this, Hellboy continued to search through the kitchen for secret compartments and food.

An hour pasted as they moved from the living room and kitchen to the dining room and bedrooms.

Another hour pasted and the loft had been torn apart literally.

Alice had removed about forty wooden boards, the bathrooms were taken apart, the beds moved and flipped over, and the walls closely inspected.

By now Alice was sitting on the couch looking hopeless as Hellboy returned from the third bedroom, "Didn't find a thing."

"It's not here." Alice said defeated, "He didn't leave anything here."
"Maybe. Maybe not." Hellboy said lightly searching for a cigarette in his pocket.

"Maybe we need to leave before the family gets home."
"Thirty more minutes." Hellboy pleaded, "Let me smoke this on the balcony and we'll give it one more search."
Hellboy excused himself to the balcony that was connected to the master suite.

Alice sighed and waited. Her mind was running full speed with thoughts: maybe Sweeney hadn't left anything here, maybe he had burned all his codes, maybe he had dropped the stone in the deepest part of the sea or tried burning it or buried it somewhere safe that no one would guess the location…
Sweeney…
Her mind wandered as far back as it could… to the time she lived in the height of the Roman Empire and saw what the archeologist of today could only imagine. When she chatted with the woman who would one day be remembered as the Mona Lisa… when she ran along with the crowd taking Marie Antoinette to the guillotine to get her head chopped off…
She would have easily given that all up to see him again to feel his touch. If only time was not man's enemy. They could have all the time in the world… if only she would have listened.
The sound of the front door falling to the floor interrupted her thoughts. She turned around, ready to explain to the soon-to-be shocked family what had happened but instead of finding them, she found the same man she had seen in the lobby.

Up close his face was very narrow with a long nose and an unkempt blonde mustache. In his right hand he had a pistol and in his left, a piece of paper.

"Looking for this?" he said in a thick Romanian accent. He held up the paper with an evil smirk as the sunshades slid down his nose bridge revealing green eyes. Alice frowned easing up as she stood in a defensive posture.

"You bastards!" She whispered in a hateful tone, "You killed him…"
"Give me the stone." He managed to say waving the paper, "And you can have this."
"I'm not interested in giving you shit."
"Give me the stone." He repeated.

"I'll kill you! I'll rip your throat out and do so to the rest of your lot!"
"Give me the STONE!"
Alice suddenly charged letting out a battle scream so alarming it caught the assailant off guard. Alice knocked the gun out of his hand throwing punches in certain formation. She knocked him into the wall; he released the paper seeming unconscious only for a split second before bouncing up ready to fight.

"You dirty son of a bitch." Alice swore kicking at him. The assailant blocked it, catching Alice off guard; she turned around sending another lethal combo his way.

Hellboy ran in with his gun aimed directly at the man's head. He shot but missed him by millimeters. The man saw him and looked a bit stunned at Hellboy's size. Then Alice kicked him pushing him out of the door.

He lost his balance as Alice delivered one last fatal blow sending him over the rail.
"Alice! No!" Hellboy screamed racing to the man but his feet were already over. He fell head first; Hellboy closed his eyes hearing the sound of skull cracking against the concrete fourteen stories below.

He turned to Alice both angry and disturbed, "What did you do that for! We could've interrogated him for answers!"
Alice was breathing at an accelerated rate. Her eyes were blood shot, her pupils large as marbles. Her cheeks had become rosy with hatred as her fists shook with rage, "I hate them! I hate them! They killed Sweeney! He was a murderer!"
"You just blew our cover!" Hellboy complained peeking over the rail again to see a small crowd of people running towards the speck of flesh.

"They will pay! By my hands they will pay!" Alice swore. Hellboy picked up the front door again slamming it into submission.

He picked up the second piece of paper the man had been carrying and it was indeed what they had been looking for.

"How long do you think it will take you to translate this?"

Alice did not respond.
"Alice… Alice!" Hellboy shouted. She looked up at him; her chest was heaving up and down mechanically, "Answer me!"
"I don't know!" She said then gradually her face changed from hatred to fear.
"They're really going to come after us now." Alice stated.

"How hard do you think?"
"No. How fast."
"Then let's go," Hellboy replied, "We're already on borrowed time."

Author's Note: So sorry its been almost two weeks since I last posted. Fourth chapter will be up by Wednesday afternoon.