Toris stared at the ceiling, unable to fall back asleep.
After his interrogation the previous day, they had been courteous enough to give him a decent cell for the night. He didn't have to share with anyone, and the cot was better than nothing. Only the side and back walls were entirely closed off, the front wall consisted of bars that allowed him a view of everyone going by if he wanted to people-watch. There was also a clock on the wall across from his cell, which allowed him to keep track of how it was now 5:30 in the morning on October 16th. The solitude and fair treatment allowed Toris to contemplate on what the Commissioner had let slip, and what it meant for his situation.
Since he was young, Toris knew he had a detail-oriented mind, and a good ear for gossip, that's what made him such a good recon specialist and spy. As such, when Mathilda Jones-Kirkland originally made news by running away with her lover-boy researcher and loyal bodyguard, Toris looked through as many of the released details as possible. The Commissioner may have claimed the rest of the situation was classified, but there were enough details revealed for Toris to piece the rest of the story together.
To start, Ivan Simonov's real last name was Braginski. The mobster was hiding his past as the JCI researcher that fell in love with the married heiress.
Also, if Ivan Braginski was the one interrogating him, then Antonio Fernandez Carriedo and Mathilda Jones-Kirkland must have been the pair of associates who had been hiding behind that one-way mirror with the distortion filters on the microphones.
If that were also true, then that opportunity for Toris to work for the most dangerous trio in the world must have been offered by the JCI heiress herself.
This led to a more relevant question. How would Mathilda and her henchmen protect Toris, if the police had him in custody and planned to send him to prison for his previous crimes?
His thoughts were interrupted by approaching voices, and the sudden clinking of metal against the bars at the front of his cell. He sat up and saw the Lieutenant standing there with another officer, while a third was unlocking the cell.
"Ah good, you're awake," the Lieutenant remarked, "It's time to move, Toris, we're taking you to the county prison."
Toris stood from the cot and approached them as the door was pulled open by the younger officer with the keys. He was halted before he could step through, and the third officer brought out a pair of handcuffs to bind his wrists in front of him. Once secured, the longer-haired officer nodded at the Lieutenant.
"He's ready, Sadiq," the officer confirmed, "Lead the way."
Toris followed the Lieutenant down the hallway, with the other two officers taking up the rear. As they passed other cells, Toris was able to glance inside and see they were occupied. The first cells held the Monacan woman and the Portuguese bodyguard who worked for Romulus Vargas. They were both wearing nightclothes, as if they had been pulled out of their beds when arrested.
Toris nearly paused as he saw who was in the third cell, before one of the officers pushed him along. Emil had been huddled in a ball against the wall, not even bothering to use his cot. The boy had looked out at Toris, and it was obvious he had spent the night crying.
"What happened to Emil?" Toris asked the officers.
"We think he lost a family member," the officer who cuffed him replied, "One of the corpses at the Kohler base looked like it might have been his brother."
Toris nodded solemnly as he kept walking, understanding the implied report that Lukas had not survived the bust. Losing interest in looking at the cells, Toris stared at the ground, not noting who was in the next cell until the occupant started calling for him.
"Toris, wait!"
Toris looked over and saw Mikkel rushing over to the bars, only for the Lieutenant to come over and bang his baton on the bars.
"Back away from the bars, Kohler," the Lieutenant ordered.
"Toris, what happened with Ivan?" Mikkel pleaded, "Did he give you to the police?"
"He didn't have to," Toris replied, "It was my choice."
As Mikkel frowned in confusion, Toris turned to the Lieutenant, who was watching him with a raised eyebrow.
"Shouldn't we move along, Lieutenant?" Toris criticized.
The Lieutenant slowly nodded before leading the way again. As Toris followed Sadiq around the turn in the hallway without looking back, he could hear Mikkel beginning to yell out to him.
"Toris, what have you done? Get back here and tell me, you traitor!"
"I thought you didn't want him to know, Toris," the Lieutenant pointed out, "If he ends up in the same prison as you, he'll want vengeance."
"He's the one who sent me to spy on one of our own," Toris justified, "I warned him it would be his fault if something happened to me."
"I wasn't aware that criminals would respect ethical boundaries," the officer who unlocked the cell commented.
"Criminals can still have morals, Tomas," the officer who cuffed Toris countered, "The laws they break just show where their morals may be a bit below society's standards."
"Heracles, please don't turn this into another philosophy debate," the Lieutenant groaned, "We've already been up all night, and you'll put me to sleep behind the wheel."
The Lieutenant halted at the end of the hallway and grabbed some paperwork from a waiting officer, before opening the door and leading them on. They turned and went down a set of stairs, before entering a parkade with several police vehicles waiting for use. The Lieutenant led them to a prisoner transport van that was being prepped for use by other officers.
"Tomas, you will sit in the back with Toris," the Lieutenant demanded, "Heracles, you can be my passenger."
"Are you sure you should be driving, Sadiq?" Heracles inquired, "You did just say you might fall asleep at the wheel."
"At this point, you're more likely to than me," Sadiq assured, "Once we get back, Roderich will give us the time off to go get some rest."
Toris was led to the back of the van, and given a push as he crawled in. He went to sit on the bench on the passenger side towards the front corner, while the officer named Tomas sat across from him in the middle of his bench.
The door was shut on the pair and locked tight, and the engine started up a few seconds later. Within a few more minutes, Toris could feel the van shift gears and start moving. The sides of the van were made of steel with no windows, so Toris zoned out as he stared at the blank space in front of him. The movements of the van were very steady, although Toris could feel a few turns along with the changes in speed. Through the front panel, he could hear a murmur of the heated discussion Sadiq and Heracles were having in the front seats. Within what was likely a few minutes, the van seemed to have picked up speed, and Toris assumed they had made it onto the highway.
Out of nowhere, an unknown force suddenly hit Toris in the back. His body flew across the van, and his head banged against the opposite side before he could stop himself. Toris slumped down against the bench beside Tomas, his head dizzy and the back of his neck throbbing in pain. As the dizziness subsided momentarily, he was able to look over and see Tomas looking at him in concern.
"Toris, are you okay?" Toris could barely hear the officer say, "Are you hurt?"
"My head is dizzy, and my neck is in pain," Toris grumbled, "What the hell was that?"
"Okay, Toris, I need you to stay awake for me," Tomas instructed, "You might have a concussion, and it would get worse if you lose consciousness. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, I'll try to stay conscious," Toris promised, before a pounding against the wall beside him made his head throb again.
"Tomas, are you okay back there?" the Lieutenant shouted from the front, "Are either of you hurt?"
Tomas excused himself as he crawled past Toris, allowing the Lithuanian to see the bench where he had been sitting. The passenger side was dented and significantly caved in by the powerful force that had sent him flying.
"I'm okay, Lieutenant, but Toris might have a concussion," Tomas shouted back through the panel, "What happened?"
"We just got rammed into, the van is pinned against the highway barrier," the Lieutenant explained, "Heracles is unconscious and a bloody mess, I'm paging dispatch right now."
"Sounds like we'll be here for a few minutes, Toris," Tomas elaborated as he turned back to him, "If we're pinned against the highway barrier, then Sadiq will likely have trouble getting out his door to unlock ours."
They heard the Lieutenant say something at the front, but couldn't make out the words. They suddenly heard four crisp bangs, loud enough to make Toris's head throb again. Before he could recover, Tomas was banging against the panel blocking them from the front seats.
"Lieutenant, is everything alright?" Tomas shouted, "What were those bangs?"
After waiting for a few seconds without hearing no reply, Tomas pounded against the panel again.
"Sadiq, can you hear me?"
After a few more moments, they finally heard another sound, but from the other end of the van. Someone was trying to open the back door.
"Toris, back yourself into the corner," Tomas warned as he faced the door, "I don't think that's Sadiq opening the door."
"What makes you say that?" Toris questioned, shuffling over as he was told while Tomas positioned himself between the prisoner and the door.
"Because he didn't answer me, and those bangs sounded like gunshots," Tomas explained, allowing Toris a view of his hand poised by the gun on his own belt.
The door finally clicked and opened, and although Toris couldn't see who it was, he knew it was trouble when Tomas swore aloud and tried to grab his gun. Before the officer could aim, a gunshot was fired, and the deafening sound made Toris dizzy again. Once he was able to see clearly again, Tomas's body had fallen limp, and was hitting the floor of the van face-first. Toris looked past the newly-deceased officer at the open door of the van. A very familiar woman was standing there with a gun in her hand.
"You okay there, honey?" she asked.
"What are you doing here?" Toris demanded in return.
"I do believe I offered you my protection as an employment perk," she defended, "After all, you did pass my audition with flying colours."
Despite the pain in his head and neck, Toris understood exactly what she was implying, and he knew exactly what to ask next.
"You're Mathilda Jones, aren't you?"
The woman chuckled as she flashed him a devilish smirk.
"I see you figured out my secret," she confirmed, "I didn't expect the police to tell you anything."
"The Commissioner dropped a few hints," Toris clarified, "I put the rest together."
"Well, smartass, you have a choice," Mathilda threatened, pointing the gun at him, "You can die in this van right now, or you can accept my job offer."
"And work for the most dangerous woman in the world?" Toris amended with a smirk, "There's no way in hell I could refuse that offer."
"That's a good boy, Toris," Mathilda accepted, putting away the gun while looking at him in concern, "Now, are you hurt at all?"
"I banged my head, some whiplash and dizziness for sure," Toris relayed, "Tomas here thought I might have a concussion."
"Okay, we'll have to watch you carefully then," Mathilda noted, "Will you be able to crawl over, or do I need to climb in there to pull you out?"
Pulling on the edge of the bench, Toris moved himself along towards Mathilda, pushing Tomas's body out of the way. The movement made his head and neck hurt even more, but Toris managed to keep himself far enough to reach Mathilda.
"Here we go, darling," she encouraged, pulling him slowly out of the van and onto his feet, "You just lean on me, Toris, I'll guide you to our car."
Toris attempted to keep his vision clear and his feet moving, in order to help Mathilda move him to the passenger side of the black car parked nearby. When his dizziness subsided for a moment, Toris glanced over and saw a familiar Spaniard shut the back door on the driver side, before climbing into the driver seat. Mathilda pulled open the back passenger door and helped Toris sit down in the seat.
Toris looked around inside the car, grateful that Mathilda shut his door gently to avoid irritating his sore head. Mathilda was entering the front passenger seat in front of him while Antonio started up the car, and there was a first aid kit in the middle beside him. There was an open cooler on the floor between the two seats, and there was a hand pulling an ice pack out. Toris watched as the hand returned to its master sitting to the left.
"Help yourself, Toris," Ivan approved, placing the ice against his nose, "We've got more first aid supplies at the base."
"How did you get hurt?" Toris asked, reaching for an ice pack.
"I drove that garbage truck into the police van," Ivan explained, gesturing to something out the window that Toris couldn't turn his head to look at, "The airbag was slightly delayed, so I hit the wheel hard."
Toris placed the ice pack against the back of his neck, immediately relaxing at the cool touch numbing the pain. As his mind became more alert, another question came forwardd.
"Ivan, your real last name is Braginski, isn't it?"
"You already knew that?" Antonio chuckled from the driver seat, "How so?"
"It would appear that Roderich dropped enough hints for Toris to put together the rest of the story," Mathilda repeated for him, "The clever boy figured it out on his own, and still accepted the job offer."
"If he's this good in his audition, just wait until he really starts working for us," Ivan commended, "I told you two he'd be a worthwhile addition to our group."
As the others continued muttering, Toris leaned back in his seat, keeping the ice pack against his neck as he realized two things.
First, he was in a truck with the police's top three most wanted criminals.
Second, he just climbed the rankings to fourth place.