CHAPTER SIXTEEN - THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
- 48 Hours Previous -
The air this night was still and silent, and the smell of fish was prominent all around the air. The office space that overshadowd the fish packing plant on the docks had been vacant for a considerable amount of time now, and it provided perfect cover in the cover of night. Perfect for something to go down unobserved.
A pair of eyes glared out of the window, viewing the docks and the waters that lead out to the vast expanse of the sea and beyond. Although the full moon was clearly visible, just out to one side a short distance, heavy dark clouds were making their presence known with a low and deep growl of thunder. A pair of lips slowly curved into a long, thin smile. A storm? Perfect.
From the far end of the street a figure appeared, taking a couple of steps before stopping to take in the view. A calm set of eyes scanned the area, the abandoned structures and factories. Day or night she had a undescribable love of black clothing, and the outfit she had on at this moment in time kept with her consistency. A mixture of praticality and casual, she was there to make a statement, even if nobody else could see it. She took a breath before slowly walking forwards down between two large buildings.
She was there for a reason, and that reason, like her, had just appeared as if from thin air.
He too, was also out to make an appearance, but unlike the female, he wanted to keep his low profile. At least for the time being. Flanked eitherside by six large built men he moved purposefully from where the female appeared from.
Marcus Cox, from all outwardly appearances seemed just like a normal person, granted not so normal surrounded by a personal entourage, but there was a good reason for their presence, and a reason for why he was at that place at that time.
They carried on walking down towards the shadowed figure in the abandoned building, the leading female constantly looking to her left and right for any surprises. The air around them was silent, only broken by the occasional clap of thunder, but she knew something, that they was not alone.
"Good evening Rebecca," a low voice calmly stated.
The female stopped in her tracks, along with Marcus and the other men.
"Good evening to you too," Rebecca replied. "Keeping the world safe for society?"
"Naturally," the voice answered.
The person who owned the voice took a few steps forward until his face was visible in the moonlight.
Back in the building, the mysterious individual looked down at it's wrist where a small digital watch was situated showing the time twenty-two thirty. A distinctive male hand moved down smoothly towards an open case and pulled out a rifle. He stopped for a moment as he heard the conversation continue down in the street, before positioning the weapon and pointed it downwards, the tip barely resting on the edge of the open window.
Macrus smiled whistfully, not moving from his position from the middle of the men. "Hello Nathaniel, you look well."
"Marcus," Nathanuel replied. "How was the trip Rebecca?"
"Just fine," Rebecca answered not taking her gaze of him as he stood in front of her.
There was another pause of silence as the sky lit up brilliant white for a moment as a streak of lightning flashed overhead, and the first drops of rain splattered onto the ground.
"This is all well and good," Marcus commented as he looked up, "but now that I am here, might I suggest we continue this, hmm, pleasant banter in the warm confines of the constabulary's finest building?"
Before anybody could murmur a response the loud sound of a bullet rung through the air, and hit Marcus directly in his temple, and he died before his body hit the floor.
Suddenly everybody was in a state of panic looking around at the source of the attack.
The man in the building stared for a moment as he saw his target hit the floor and softly chuckled as he saw everybody else stared in disbelief. He turned back and placed his weapon into the case and got ready for a hasty retreat.
"Up there," he caught a voice booming, "that building there I thought I saw something."
"Time to leave," he muttered to himself as he stood up and made a dash to the nearest doorway.
The men who had up till then been standing around Marcus suddenly broke out into a fast run as they approached the nearest building where the man was in leaving Rebecca and Nathaniel on their own, the rain now coming down harder making their clothes and skin wet.
"So?" Nathaniel commented. "Where do we go from here?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Rebecca commented as she looked down at the dead body.
The rain poured heavily now, the blood from the gunshot would merging seeminglessly with the rain water as Nathaniel and Rebecca looked down helplessly. The men had searched the building from top to bottom, and besides a discarded cigarette carton, there was no sign of life at all.
- 36 Hours Previous -
You'd think with the total number of inhabitants in the world that the possibility that somebody having a vested interest in your life would be statistically low. That you'd be able to live a life with nobody taking notes of your everyday activities, or the people you make contact with. You'd think you would be able to take a stroll through the streets without nobody watchng where you go. You'd think people wouldn't care at all.
It was seven o'clock the in the evening, twelve hours after the shooting of Marcus Cox took place, but the world kept on turning. Nobody really took any notice of the event, and the people knew knew didn't really care much at all.
A lonesome figure sat in a booth at his regular haunt, a bar. He had a slightly rounded face with eyes that seemed aware of everything that was going on around him. He had a fair complexion topped off with dark curly hair. Clothes wise, he made sure not to stand out in a crowd, opting for a black ensemble of jeans and shirt. The bar was crowded as per usual and he was taking notice of the hustle and bustle of the people near and around him.
He looked down to a glass the was in front of him, half filled with alcohol that he'd been gently nursing for the past twenty minutes. Not a fast drinker by any means, he just liked to savour the taste of it.
"Looking for answers at the bottom of that glass?" a voice suddenly spoke to him from nearby.
"You go looking for answers, you'll only get questions you don't want asked," he replied not taking his eyes from the glass.
"Good evening Paul," the person greeted as a body sat down opposite him.
Looking up, he was greeted by the sight of a young and attractive woman smiling back at him. In her mid-twenties with grey eyes, a light tanned skin topped off with long flowing locks of brown hair, she had a sternness in her eye they meant nothng but business.
She looked at Paul for a few moments, taking in his intanse gaze as he continued to look at the glass. She sighed softly as she brushed her hand against her cheek. "You know, you look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders."
Paul looked up slightly, acknowledging her comment and smiled briefly. "Only my world Jeri, only mine."
"Do you believe in coincidence?" Jeri asked taking a carton of cigarettes out of her top pocket and opening them up taking one out.
"I guess it depends on the situation at the time," Paul replied as he pulled out a lighter from his pocket and lit her cigarette for her.
"Thank you," she smiled. She reached for her bag and pulled out a small disc, no larger than three centimetres and see through. Paul took the disc and slipped it into a small hand-held device which blinked into life displaying a batch of information. "Events are taking place, even now, and your role is critical for the outcome to turn out in, well, your favour."
"Why now?" Paul asked looking at the data on the disc.
"Because of events taking place, significant ones at that. The convergence of players at the right place and right time. It's like, fate, for lack of a better word."
"So," Paul commented softly taking in this news. "Are you going to comment on this person?" He held the device outward and showed Jeri the image of the person that was currently on the display.
"Yes," she replied as she inhaled the acrid smoke of her cigarette. "What if I were to say that this person was the opposite to what you are?"
"You mean, for every one thing I do for good he does for evil?" Paul replied.
"More or less, yes." Jeri commented. "He is the result of an erratic equation trying desperately to balance itself out."
"Didn't you once say that his presence was as a direct result of my appearance here in the first place?"
"No," Jeri answered quickly. "He was always here, all I mentioned was that he only came prominent after your appearance here. That is all. But now the time has come to close matters with this person before events pass and the future destabilises."
"What does that mean?" Paul asked looking inquisitively at Jeri.
She took a deep breath before replying, her gaze not leaving his. "Everything that has a beginning has an end, and we see the end coming. The darkness is beginning to spread like a cancer across the land. We see death and torment, and you are all that stands in the way of his master plan."
Paul threw his gaze away from Jeri and back at the picture that was still on the hand-held device. It had been a long time coming, from his point of view it has been over twelve months. "When do I leave?"
The sleek black lines of a Plymouth Belvedere Convertible slid effortlessly along the empty roads. Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, Paul couldn't help but to let his mind slip once again and reminisce over the previous year of his turbulent life. For a lot of people they can generally say things like 'I remember when I was little', or 'When I was your age I was into this'. Paul however, can only say 'It started this day'. There's not a hell of Paul's life that he can actually remember, but he don't know why. He had no purpose, no direction, so he took the initiative and made the choice.
He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the small disc that Jeri had given him earlier on that evening and placed it into a small device that was mounted on the dashboard of his car. There was a couple seconds silence before a male voice emanated through the speaker system.
"Good evening Paul, I hope that you are okay and that everything is satisfactory in your world."
"Well I wouldn't go that far," Paul muttered to himself. He reached into his shirt pocket again and pulled out a box of cigarettes, taking one out and lighting it as the voice continuted talking.
"Well," the voice continued. "I am going to assume that you know as much as you need to about the preliminary target, so let's take a time out to walk you through the secondary characters."
