Thanks for your reviews. This time there are two new chapters. Perhaps I
should tell you, that you're right, slowly but surely they're getting
there. But I think it can't happen too fast. Nevertheless I hope you'll
like it.
Chapter 14
On Sunday Helen visited Cole to ask him for a favor. When he returned on Friday night, she had missed him hardly. She had talked to a lot of people and tried to find out more about the corruption scandal. But either they didn't know anything, or they didn't want to talk about it. She didn't find out anything new. On Saturday she had called her informant Trisha Raymond again. But surprisingly Trisha had forgotten, who Helen was. She also didn't know anything about their appointment on Monday anymore.
Helen was desperate. But then she suddenly got a message of Trisha. They should meet this evening in an empty warehouse in the outskirts. Helen didn't know, what to think about it. But she decided that she'll have to go there. She had a funny feeling about it. Therefore she wanted to ask Kevin to come with her, because Peter wasn't fit again. Cole agreed to go with her.
In the evening they met in Helen's apartment. "Do you think it could be dangerous?" Cole asked.
"Nonsense, I only want to be sure that there is somebody waiting in front of the building. That's all." Helen explained.
"But I think you shouldn't go there." Peter interfered. "There's something fishy about it. Yesterday she didn't remember you and today she wants to meet you in such a wilderness. Please stay at home." But he couldn't talk her out of going there.
"If we won't be back in two hours, you can call the police. You know where we are. But I swear you, it isn't dangerous everything will go well, don't worry." She kissed Peter, who was still concerned and left together with Cole the apartment.
When they arrived at the warehouse, they didn't see another car or anybody else on the street. They parked in a side street. From this point they could watch the entrance of the building, but they didn't attract attention. They got off the car and went to the warehouse.
They were intentionally early, because they wanted to have time to check the house first. The building had seen better days. They went through the open door and entered a stairway. They went upstairs and passed a closed door to the warehouse. It was rusty and it seemed as if it wasn't used for years. When they arrived upstairs, they were standing on a corridor. At the left side was a closed door. Helen opened it and they were standing in a room. In former times it had probably been the office. Now it was empty except a rickety table and a lot of dust.
Helen walked to the window and looked at the street. "I can see, if somebody is coming." she told Cole. "It is absolutely not dangerous."
"But somebody could come through the rusty door." Cole pointed out.
"No, I think it's impossible to open it. You said it, it's too rusty. Don't worry. You can go back to your car. Probably she won't come, if I'm not alone." She looked at him begging. "Please Kevin, nothing can happen."
Cole wasn't absolutely convinced about it, but he left the building reluctantly. He went back to his car and got in. If somebody went through the door, he would follow him immediately, he swore to himself.
At the same time, Phoebe had a premonition, when she was sitting in the living room. She saw an empty room in an old warehouse. A woman was standing at a window, it seemed as if she was waiting for somebody. Then Quasta suddenly appeared behind her. The woman turned around in surprise and Phoebe recognized her. It was Cole's girlfriend Helen. Quasta wanted to touch her and to prick his long fingernails into her arm.
When Phoebe woke up, Paige and Piper sat beside her. They looked at her curiously. "Quasta?" Piper asked.
Phoebe nodded and said disgruntled. "We have to rescue this damn Helen."
"Whom?" Paige asked.
"Nobody, forget it. Okay, Quasta will attack a woman again. Luckily we have already finished his vanquishing potion."
"And where?"
"This time somewhere in the old industrial area. In an empty office, I could see a smoke stack with the label Erkon through the window ."
"I know where that is.Some youth gangs sometimes meet in this area." Paige explained them.
After that, Piper took the potion and Paige orbed them into the building, where they expected Quasta's attack. They appeared in the stairway and looked around.
"I hope this is the right warehouse." Piper said.
"We should go upstairs, then we'll find it out." They went upstairs and carefully entered the only room there. Quasta wasn't there, only Helen was standing at the window. Paige closed the door and Helen turned around. She looked at Phoebe surprised. "You?" she asked bewildered. "What are you doing here?"
"You know her?" Piper looked astonished at her sister.
"Not really." she answered.
In this moment Quasta appeared. He wanted to catch Helen, but Phoebe kicked him away and Helen jumped aside. She screamed horrifed. "For heaven's sake, what is that?" Nobody cared about her, because Quasta focused his attention on Phoebe. He wanted to scratch her face with his long fingernails, but luckily he got caught in her necklace. Piper froze everything and Phoebe could free herself from Quasta. Unfortunately her necklace got broken, because it was stuck in his fingernails.
Phoebe got out of danger and she took a phial with vanquishing potion together with Paige. Piper unfroze him and both threw the elixir on Quasta. He staggered back and ignited. He started to scream and burnt totally, after a while only a small heap of ashes was remaining.
Helen fainted on the ground. And the sisters drew a deep breath.
"That was an easy job." Piper said satisfied.
"But who is this woman?" Paige asked her sister and looked at the unconscious woman on the ground.
"Helen .. Carter, I think." her sisters waited for another explanation. "She is Cole's girlfriend." Phoebe explained disgruntled.
"Cole has a girlfriend? But that is great." Paige said and looked pleased. "Well, I can't understand, why she wants to associate with him, but finally she has no idea, whom she got involved with. But at least he didn't run after you anymore."
Phoebe looked at Helen. Yes wonderful, if she was fat and ugly, she wouldn't have any problems with it, she thought, but didn't say it loud.
Suddenly they heard steps from the stairway. They looked at each other surprised.
"We have to take her away." Piper decided. "Do you know where she lives?" she asked her sister.
"How should I know that?"
"On the note, I gave you, was Cole's address." Paige remembered.
"Yes, of course. I'll deliver her to Cole, that is a really wonderful idea." Phoebe said angrily.
"But we have to vanish here." Piper stated, when the steps came closer.
Phoebe thought about a solution. "I think she is working for Cole's paper, too. We should take her there." She explained Paige, where Cole's office at the Daylight Express was and they orbed there together with Helen.
Meanwhile Cole was waiting in his car. He was bored to death, because nothing has happened. The woman didn't appear at the arranged time. Cole didn't wonder about it, because he had expected that she wouldn't come. To his relief nobody else entered the warehouse. But then suddenly a car parked in front of the building. Two men got off and entered the stairs. Cole jumped out off his car and followed them into the building. He hoped that they wouldn't bear arms, but he had his doubts about it. They looked like people who are used to carry arms. Cole looked around and searched for a qualified arm, but he only found a steel rod in the corner, better than nothing, he supposed. The men arrived in front of the office. Cole hurried to follow them, he didn't want to imagine, what they would do with Helen, and he had only a steel rod.
One of the men opened the door and they entered the room. But to Cole's surprise he didn't hear any noise. Did Helen find a hiding place, when she saw the men arriving? Cole wondered. It had been too late to escape. .
"Nobody here." he heard one of the men saying. Cole hid behind the open door.
"We had ordered him to stay here." the other man said. "If he failed again, he would be in for it."
"I told you, that we can't trust this demon. Up to now we always had complications with him. No matter if it was Adam Samuels, Debra White or Trisha Raymond, he never finished his job as requested. I always said, we should do it the usual way."
"But nobody wanted to attract attention. He could carry out the job unobtrusively."
"But what was the price? And you can't tell me, that the death of Samuels was unobtrusive. A little bit intimidation or blackmail, and if necessary the last expedient and we wouldn't have any problems today."
"But they could be dangerous in future. Now, they can't cause problems anymore, it was the perfect solution. But I tell you, if he messed it up again, he would regret it badly."
"If it isn't too late already. Look here, the trace of a fire on the ground."
"Things are going from bad to worse. Let's go, we should tell the boss about it."
Cole squeezed himself closer into the corner and hold his breath. But luckily the men didn't shut the door again and they didn't notice him. He heard their steps on the stairway and later on the street. Relieved Cole stepped out of his hiding place. He didn't know, what he should think about the things he had heard. But he knew, that it would be interesting for Helen. He entered the office and looked for her. But he couldn't see her. There wasn't any place in the room, where she could hide. Cole looked around and was irritated. Where was she? The only thing he saw were burn marks on the ground, the men had mentioned. He went closer and suddenly he also saw the strange green spots on the ground. And there was something else lying on the ground. He knelt down and picked it up. It was still warm, but only a little bit scorched. He recognized it immediately, it was Phoebe's necklace.
Suddenly he remembered again, where he had heard the name Debra White, Helen's informant, before. It was the name of the woman, he had rescued together with Phoebe. How could he be so forgetful? This whole Cole story had diverted him that much, that he hadn't seen the connection between it. Phoebe must have been here, that was obvious.
He went downstairs and stopped at the door to the warehouse. It looked like before, still very rusty and closed. But somebody entered the stairs through this door, and it was probably Phoebe. He had watched the other entrance the whole time, nobody could have entered the house through it. And this person had taken Helen along. But why? To protect her of the men? Cole decided to drive home. He had to talk to Peter. Perhaps he has already heard something, hopefully that Helen was alright.
Paige looked around interested in Cole's office. "Well, he really has a lot of things on his desk. It's a near -miracle, if he finds again something ."
Piper looked at the corridor, it was empty. "We have no time for that, Paige. We have to find Helen's office. Paige you'll search on the left side and I'll search on the right. Hopefully it's on this floor. Phoebe you stay here, in case she should wake up. At least she knows you. Tell her something, or call Leo, that he'll take her memory."
"Strange, I thought we wanted to protect her from loosing her memory." Paige interrupted.
"Do you have another suggestion?" Piper asked her.
"No!" Paige had to admit.
"Well, then let's go." They left the office.
When they were gone, Phoebe sat down at Cole's chair. She saw countless notes, articles with underlined passages and other things on his desk. Carefully she opened a drawer and started to smile. She saw her paper opened at the page woth her column. "Well, you can't impress him that much." she told Helen, who was still sleeping. Phoebe looked around. "And I also can't find a photo of you." Helen started to move a little bit. It was high time to call Leo.
Some time later, the four had placed Helen into her chair in her office. She was sleeping again. Then they went home again.
On his way back home, Cole tried to sort out his thoughts. Phoebe and this stupid Cole story had claimed his full attention. He had been so inattentively, that he hadn't seen the things in context. He couldn't understand how that could have happened. Lost in thoughts, he took the wrong road more than once. Swearing he noticed, that he took twice as long for his way home as for the way to the warehouse. When he finally arrived, he hurried to Helen's apartment and started to ring. When Peter opened the door, Helen was already sitting in the living room. Cole couldn't believe it. "Helen, I'm so glad that you are here." he said relieved. "But how did you get home?"
Helen looked at him irritated. "Why? Peter picked me up at the paper, fifteen minutes ago."
"What?" What was she talking about? The paper? "But we were in the outskirts, you wanted to meet an informant in this warehouse office."
"Yes and I went to the Daylight Express because she didn't appear." She explained.
"Really? And how did you go there? I didn't take you there?"
"No? Well, I probably called a taxi." she told him absolutely convinced.
Cole didn't believe a word. "And why didn't I know anything about it? I haven't even seen you coming out of this building."
"Kevin are you crazy? I was in my office at the Daylight Express. It doesn't matter, how I got there. You probably dropped off for a while and didn't notice that." Helen seemed to be convinced about her explanation.
"You are really a wonderful lookout." Peter said teasing. "You should take care of my girlfriend and fell asleep. Even I with my hobble leg would have been a better one."
Cole couldn't explain the whole situation. It was too bizarre. He was sure, that he didn't fall asleep. But he also felt, that Helen had told him the truth, from her point of view. But it was a complete mystery to him, how that could be possible. He knew, what he had seen and what he had heard. It was impossible, that it was only a bad dream. Actually he wanted to tell Helen everything about it and about the things he knew. But now, he decided not to do it.
He stroked his hand through his hair and said little convinced. "You are right, I probably fell asleep. I should go now." He went to the door and turned around again. He looked at Helen and said. "But I'm glad, that you are alright."
When he entered his apartment, he went on the balcony. He sat down and watched the moon. He took Phoebe's necklace out of his pocket and looked at it. It was reality, it wasn't a dream and he would find out, what it was all about.
Chapter 14
On Sunday Helen visited Cole to ask him for a favor. When he returned on Friday night, she had missed him hardly. She had talked to a lot of people and tried to find out more about the corruption scandal. But either they didn't know anything, or they didn't want to talk about it. She didn't find out anything new. On Saturday she had called her informant Trisha Raymond again. But surprisingly Trisha had forgotten, who Helen was. She also didn't know anything about their appointment on Monday anymore.
Helen was desperate. But then she suddenly got a message of Trisha. They should meet this evening in an empty warehouse in the outskirts. Helen didn't know, what to think about it. But she decided that she'll have to go there. She had a funny feeling about it. Therefore she wanted to ask Kevin to come with her, because Peter wasn't fit again. Cole agreed to go with her.
In the evening they met in Helen's apartment. "Do you think it could be dangerous?" Cole asked.
"Nonsense, I only want to be sure that there is somebody waiting in front of the building. That's all." Helen explained.
"But I think you shouldn't go there." Peter interfered. "There's something fishy about it. Yesterday she didn't remember you and today she wants to meet you in such a wilderness. Please stay at home." But he couldn't talk her out of going there.
"If we won't be back in two hours, you can call the police. You know where we are. But I swear you, it isn't dangerous everything will go well, don't worry." She kissed Peter, who was still concerned and left together with Cole the apartment.
When they arrived at the warehouse, they didn't see another car or anybody else on the street. They parked in a side street. From this point they could watch the entrance of the building, but they didn't attract attention. They got off the car and went to the warehouse.
They were intentionally early, because they wanted to have time to check the house first. The building had seen better days. They went through the open door and entered a stairway. They went upstairs and passed a closed door to the warehouse. It was rusty and it seemed as if it wasn't used for years. When they arrived upstairs, they were standing on a corridor. At the left side was a closed door. Helen opened it and they were standing in a room. In former times it had probably been the office. Now it was empty except a rickety table and a lot of dust.
Helen walked to the window and looked at the street. "I can see, if somebody is coming." she told Cole. "It is absolutely not dangerous."
"But somebody could come through the rusty door." Cole pointed out.
"No, I think it's impossible to open it. You said it, it's too rusty. Don't worry. You can go back to your car. Probably she won't come, if I'm not alone." She looked at him begging. "Please Kevin, nothing can happen."
Cole wasn't absolutely convinced about it, but he left the building reluctantly. He went back to his car and got in. If somebody went through the door, he would follow him immediately, he swore to himself.
At the same time, Phoebe had a premonition, when she was sitting in the living room. She saw an empty room in an old warehouse. A woman was standing at a window, it seemed as if she was waiting for somebody. Then Quasta suddenly appeared behind her. The woman turned around in surprise and Phoebe recognized her. It was Cole's girlfriend Helen. Quasta wanted to touch her and to prick his long fingernails into her arm.
When Phoebe woke up, Paige and Piper sat beside her. They looked at her curiously. "Quasta?" Piper asked.
Phoebe nodded and said disgruntled. "We have to rescue this damn Helen."
"Whom?" Paige asked.
"Nobody, forget it. Okay, Quasta will attack a woman again. Luckily we have already finished his vanquishing potion."
"And where?"
"This time somewhere in the old industrial area. In an empty office, I could see a smoke stack with the label Erkon through the window ."
"I know where that is.Some youth gangs sometimes meet in this area." Paige explained them.
After that, Piper took the potion and Paige orbed them into the building, where they expected Quasta's attack. They appeared in the stairway and looked around.
"I hope this is the right warehouse." Piper said.
"We should go upstairs, then we'll find it out." They went upstairs and carefully entered the only room there. Quasta wasn't there, only Helen was standing at the window. Paige closed the door and Helen turned around. She looked at Phoebe surprised. "You?" she asked bewildered. "What are you doing here?"
"You know her?" Piper looked astonished at her sister.
"Not really." she answered.
In this moment Quasta appeared. He wanted to catch Helen, but Phoebe kicked him away and Helen jumped aside. She screamed horrifed. "For heaven's sake, what is that?" Nobody cared about her, because Quasta focused his attention on Phoebe. He wanted to scratch her face with his long fingernails, but luckily he got caught in her necklace. Piper froze everything and Phoebe could free herself from Quasta. Unfortunately her necklace got broken, because it was stuck in his fingernails.
Phoebe got out of danger and she took a phial with vanquishing potion together with Paige. Piper unfroze him and both threw the elixir on Quasta. He staggered back and ignited. He started to scream and burnt totally, after a while only a small heap of ashes was remaining.
Helen fainted on the ground. And the sisters drew a deep breath.
"That was an easy job." Piper said satisfied.
"But who is this woman?" Paige asked her sister and looked at the unconscious woman on the ground.
"Helen .. Carter, I think." her sisters waited for another explanation. "She is Cole's girlfriend." Phoebe explained disgruntled.
"Cole has a girlfriend? But that is great." Paige said and looked pleased. "Well, I can't understand, why she wants to associate with him, but finally she has no idea, whom she got involved with. But at least he didn't run after you anymore."
Phoebe looked at Helen. Yes wonderful, if she was fat and ugly, she wouldn't have any problems with it, she thought, but didn't say it loud.
Suddenly they heard steps from the stairway. They looked at each other surprised.
"We have to take her away." Piper decided. "Do you know where she lives?" she asked her sister.
"How should I know that?"
"On the note, I gave you, was Cole's address." Paige remembered.
"Yes, of course. I'll deliver her to Cole, that is a really wonderful idea." Phoebe said angrily.
"But we have to vanish here." Piper stated, when the steps came closer.
Phoebe thought about a solution. "I think she is working for Cole's paper, too. We should take her there." She explained Paige, where Cole's office at the Daylight Express was and they orbed there together with Helen.
Meanwhile Cole was waiting in his car. He was bored to death, because nothing has happened. The woman didn't appear at the arranged time. Cole didn't wonder about it, because he had expected that she wouldn't come. To his relief nobody else entered the warehouse. But then suddenly a car parked in front of the building. Two men got off and entered the stairs. Cole jumped out off his car and followed them into the building. He hoped that they wouldn't bear arms, but he had his doubts about it. They looked like people who are used to carry arms. Cole looked around and searched for a qualified arm, but he only found a steel rod in the corner, better than nothing, he supposed. The men arrived in front of the office. Cole hurried to follow them, he didn't want to imagine, what they would do with Helen, and he had only a steel rod.
One of the men opened the door and they entered the room. But to Cole's surprise he didn't hear any noise. Did Helen find a hiding place, when she saw the men arriving? Cole wondered. It had been too late to escape. .
"Nobody here." he heard one of the men saying. Cole hid behind the open door.
"We had ordered him to stay here." the other man said. "If he failed again, he would be in for it."
"I told you, that we can't trust this demon. Up to now we always had complications with him. No matter if it was Adam Samuels, Debra White or Trisha Raymond, he never finished his job as requested. I always said, we should do it the usual way."
"But nobody wanted to attract attention. He could carry out the job unobtrusively."
"But what was the price? And you can't tell me, that the death of Samuels was unobtrusive. A little bit intimidation or blackmail, and if necessary the last expedient and we wouldn't have any problems today."
"But they could be dangerous in future. Now, they can't cause problems anymore, it was the perfect solution. But I tell you, if he messed it up again, he would regret it badly."
"If it isn't too late already. Look here, the trace of a fire on the ground."
"Things are going from bad to worse. Let's go, we should tell the boss about it."
Cole squeezed himself closer into the corner and hold his breath. But luckily the men didn't shut the door again and they didn't notice him. He heard their steps on the stairway and later on the street. Relieved Cole stepped out of his hiding place. He didn't know, what he should think about the things he had heard. But he knew, that it would be interesting for Helen. He entered the office and looked for her. But he couldn't see her. There wasn't any place in the room, where she could hide. Cole looked around and was irritated. Where was she? The only thing he saw were burn marks on the ground, the men had mentioned. He went closer and suddenly he also saw the strange green spots on the ground. And there was something else lying on the ground. He knelt down and picked it up. It was still warm, but only a little bit scorched. He recognized it immediately, it was Phoebe's necklace.
Suddenly he remembered again, where he had heard the name Debra White, Helen's informant, before. It was the name of the woman, he had rescued together with Phoebe. How could he be so forgetful? This whole Cole story had diverted him that much, that he hadn't seen the connection between it. Phoebe must have been here, that was obvious.
He went downstairs and stopped at the door to the warehouse. It looked like before, still very rusty and closed. But somebody entered the stairs through this door, and it was probably Phoebe. He had watched the other entrance the whole time, nobody could have entered the house through it. And this person had taken Helen along. But why? To protect her of the men? Cole decided to drive home. He had to talk to Peter. Perhaps he has already heard something, hopefully that Helen was alright.
Paige looked around interested in Cole's office. "Well, he really has a lot of things on his desk. It's a near -miracle, if he finds again something ."
Piper looked at the corridor, it was empty. "We have no time for that, Paige. We have to find Helen's office. Paige you'll search on the left side and I'll search on the right. Hopefully it's on this floor. Phoebe you stay here, in case she should wake up. At least she knows you. Tell her something, or call Leo, that he'll take her memory."
"Strange, I thought we wanted to protect her from loosing her memory." Paige interrupted.
"Do you have another suggestion?" Piper asked her.
"No!" Paige had to admit.
"Well, then let's go." They left the office.
When they were gone, Phoebe sat down at Cole's chair. She saw countless notes, articles with underlined passages and other things on his desk. Carefully she opened a drawer and started to smile. She saw her paper opened at the page woth her column. "Well, you can't impress him that much." she told Helen, who was still sleeping. Phoebe looked around. "And I also can't find a photo of you." Helen started to move a little bit. It was high time to call Leo.
Some time later, the four had placed Helen into her chair in her office. She was sleeping again. Then they went home again.
On his way back home, Cole tried to sort out his thoughts. Phoebe and this stupid Cole story had claimed his full attention. He had been so inattentively, that he hadn't seen the things in context. He couldn't understand how that could have happened. Lost in thoughts, he took the wrong road more than once. Swearing he noticed, that he took twice as long for his way home as for the way to the warehouse. When he finally arrived, he hurried to Helen's apartment and started to ring. When Peter opened the door, Helen was already sitting in the living room. Cole couldn't believe it. "Helen, I'm so glad that you are here." he said relieved. "But how did you get home?"
Helen looked at him irritated. "Why? Peter picked me up at the paper, fifteen minutes ago."
"What?" What was she talking about? The paper? "But we were in the outskirts, you wanted to meet an informant in this warehouse office."
"Yes and I went to the Daylight Express because she didn't appear." She explained.
"Really? And how did you go there? I didn't take you there?"
"No? Well, I probably called a taxi." she told him absolutely convinced.
Cole didn't believe a word. "And why didn't I know anything about it? I haven't even seen you coming out of this building."
"Kevin are you crazy? I was in my office at the Daylight Express. It doesn't matter, how I got there. You probably dropped off for a while and didn't notice that." Helen seemed to be convinced about her explanation.
"You are really a wonderful lookout." Peter said teasing. "You should take care of my girlfriend and fell asleep. Even I with my hobble leg would have been a better one."
Cole couldn't explain the whole situation. It was too bizarre. He was sure, that he didn't fall asleep. But he also felt, that Helen had told him the truth, from her point of view. But it was a complete mystery to him, how that could be possible. He knew, what he had seen and what he had heard. It was impossible, that it was only a bad dream. Actually he wanted to tell Helen everything about it and about the things he knew. But now, he decided not to do it.
He stroked his hand through his hair and said little convinced. "You are right, I probably fell asleep. I should go now." He went to the door and turned around again. He looked at Helen and said. "But I'm glad, that you are alright."
When he entered his apartment, he went on the balcony. He sat down and watched the moon. He took Phoebe's necklace out of his pocket and looked at it. It was reality, it wasn't a dream and he would find out, what it was all about.