It was the second time that day that Kai awoke confused. He moaned as sharp pain shot trough his head.
"Ah, you are awake," Kai head familiar voice and it took him half a second to recognize it as belonging to Tyson.
The Russian cracked his eyes open and looked around. He was lying on a bench with Tyson on the other side with Kai's feed propped on his knees.
Kai slowly sat up holding his head.
"Hey, take it easy captain," Tyson grinned, "Max went to fetch something to drink."
"Where are the others? " Kai asked.
"Mr. Dickinson is trying to manage everyone," Kai snapped his head towards the new voice and saw Mariah sitting on nearby bench, hugging apathetic looking Ian to her chest, "He send most of the teams back to the hotel. Robert, Lee and grandfather went to hospital though…"
"And Bryan? Where is Bryan?" Kai pressed, as he couldn't believe that Bryan wouldn't go to the hospital to see Tala.
"Police have taken him," answered Max, who returned back with arms full of bottles of mineral water and handed each one.
"W-what?" Kai stood up shocked.
"Two police officers came and took him somewhere to ask him some questions," Max said seriously, "We tried to tell them that they can't just take him, and they said that they only wanted to talk. Didn't arrest him or something…"
"They didn't," said Bryan as he appeared together with a woman in police uniform, "Just asked me my side of things."
"Mr. Hiwatari?" the female police officer looked at Kai, "Can you come with me for a moment?"
Kai nodded and walked to her.
"Bryan stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I… I am sorry Kai," he said in serious tone.
Kai wanted to ask what he was talking about, but Bryan shook his head and nodded towards the policewoman.
The female officer led him through the confused masses, that were attended by medics or on their phones, probably calling their relatives. Kai even saw some reporters trying to get a scoop. Fortunately the policewoman led him away, so they couldn't descend on him like harpies.
The woman stopped and looked at Kai seriously.
"So… what did you want?" Kai asked.
"Mr. Hiwatari," started the woman, "I am sorry inform you, but your grandfather, Voltaire Hiwatari, is deceased."
Kai's eyes widened.
"H-how…" he managed to ask.
"From what we seen from security footage, it seems that Mr. Ivanov was being threatened by his caregiver Boris Balkov who pulled out a gun, when Mr. Kuznetsov came to help him, and there was a short scuffle between both parties, which resulted in 2 shots being shot, the first one killing your grandfather and the second one injuring Mr. Ivanov, who was then led away by Mr. Kuznetsov," the officer quickly debriefed Kai.
Kai stared at nothing in front of him. He knew he should probably feel something, his last family relative was dead, yet he felt nothing. Not sadness, not even being relieved, nothing.
The woman put a hand on his shoulder.
"I know it's probably hard for you," she said softly, "But I will need you to come and identify the body."
Kai blinked, "No, it's fine. I'm fine. Because of him, my friends, my family were kidnapped, tortured, and almost killed. He had it coming."
The policewoman looked at him strangely, but then nodded.
She showed Kai to a body in a black body back and unzipped it, to show the teen the face of the victim. Kai quickly confirmed that it was indeed his grandfather. After that he was informed that the perpetrator, Boris, was caught and arrested for murder.
Kai saw him in the patrol car not far away, looking defeated, but he quickly thanked the policewoman and returned back to his friends.
- BB - BB - BB -
Bryan was glaring at nothing in particular. He was just pissed that the police had pulled him in for a questioning and he missed the trip to the hospital and now had to wait.
Suddenly a hand grabbed his own and gently squeezed it. He tried to yank his hand away, but the other hand didn't let go.
He looked down and to his surprise it was Mariah, who dared to invade his personal space.
She was looking intently at him.
"They will be okay, right?" the ping haired girl asked calmly.
Bryan tried to pull his hand away again, he didn't want to console some girly or anyone for that matter, but Mariah squeezed his hand harder and didn't let go.
"Tala, Rei and Spencer will be okay, right?" she asked again in that same calm voice.
Bryan stared at her for a few seconds, then he sighed, "Of course they will be fine."
Mariah smiled but Bryan looked away. The next few minute were silent.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Bryan when he couldn't take it anymore.
Mariah gently smiled, "I am not strong… but this is the only thing I can do."
"Just kiss already," Ian murmured.
Bryan glared, "You are awake, you squirt?"
Ian opened his eyes and sat up.
"You woke me up with your bickering," Ian said annoyed.
Bryan rolled his eyes, "We weren't bickering."
"Sure, sure." Ian waved him off.
At this moment Kai decided return to them.
"I have found us a ride to the hospital, if you are interested," he said, and everyone eagerly volunteered.
Even though the taxi was cramped, with Kai on passenger seat and Bryan, Ian, Mariah, Max and Tyson on the back seats of the microbus, nobody complained. Actually, nobody talked.
The first thing they noticed as they piled out of the taxi at the hospital were both Max' mom and Lee by the main entrance and both smoking. Well Mrs. Tate having a lit cigarette limp between her lips and Lee holding smoking cigarette in his fingers. Both silent and staring into the ground.
"M-mom?" Max asked confused, "I thought you quit smoking?"
"And since when are you smoking Lee?" Mariah was confused as well.
Mrs. Tate looked at her son, "I did…"
"Then why..?" Max tried to understand, "What happened?"
Mrs. Tate slumped forward again, "The good news is, that Tala was not hit in anything vital. He is in surgery now, Spencer is watching it, and he is expected to make full recovery, no lasting damage…"
"And the bad news?" Kai managed to ask, despite his throat feeling like he had a ball in there.
The cigarette fell from Mrs. Tate's lips and rolled away, "Rai had another seizure during the transport, then he slipped into coma. Right now, they can't even tell, if he will ever wake up…"
If there are any typos, please let me know. I'm doing my best, but I managed to fall and break pinkie on my right hand, and I have splint there, so it's kinda hard to type.