Chapter 12

After being on the road for five hours, I thought we never stop for gas. Leon was pumping gas and I was in the mini store getting snacks and drinks for the road. We both knew we would be on the road for another five hours so, why not get food. Leon watched me while he was getting gas for the car. His phone started to ring and it disturbed his thoughts on how I look in my black skin tight jeans. Leon quickly got his cellphone out of his pocket. More like almost dropped it if you ask me.

"Claire, I was just about to call you. Anymore word about the case?"

"Leon, um, this is Ivan." Leon's smile turned into a frown. His thoughts were all in a mix of possibilities that Claire was hurt. "Have some bad news. Claire is under medical attention. She was attacked while doing research on the murders two years ago and about the subject."

"How bad is it?"

"A stabbed wound to the shoulder and a head injury."

"Do we know who attacked her.?"

"We're still trying to find who it was. Someone would've have to had access to her room."

"Or someone in betraying us who worked with Claire on this investigation."

"All possibilities are being thrown in the air right at the moment. In the meanwhile, I'm gonna take over Claire's job until she makes a full recovery."

"Okay, anything new on the information?"

"Looks like Claire got all the information including the murder from yesterday night. However, I need to read everything to see if she missed anything. I'll call you in two hours and give you a summary."

"Okay, oh, by the way, can you contact Anika and see how's the subject's father doing? Anya wants to know if he's safe at his brother's house."

"Sure, I'll do that along with the information that Claire gathered."

"One more thing, how's Boss handing this?"

"He seems to take it calmly, but he's not happy about Claire being attacked." Silence fell between the conversations. Leon knew that Claire's father was Boss, in charge of headquarters. His daughter was targeted a few years ago during a case about a killer who murdered her mother, brother and her husband. He remembered being part of the case. Claire never forgot her brother being killed right in front of her. She killed her killer a year later after her brother's death. "Were still waiting on the test from the medical facility."

"Okay, keep me posted on Claire and the information."

"Got it, I'll call Anika right now." Leon hung up and finished up pumping gas. His thoughts were racing in his mind. He didn't want to worry about Claire, but he can't help it. She lost many loved ones in her life. Leon always treated Claire like a sister that he never had. Now that she is under medical attention, he doesn't know to think.

"Hey, you okay?" He flinched at the sound of my voice. That's no like him.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing for you to worry about." I knew he was lying about something. He just doesn't want me to know. I looked down at my feet and just stood there in silence. He sighed out loud and punched the metal squares were the pump was. I flinched when I heard the sound of the metal crushing. He stood there full of anger and confusion. His body was all tensed up, something happened at headquarters and he couldn't do anything about it. He sighed out again. "Come on, we need to keep moving." He opened the door and slammed it closed. I finally moved my feet. I opened the back seat door, closed the door and put on my seat belt. Leon glanced in the review mirror and sighed. His eyes were upon me, but I dare not look at him. It scares me when Leon is frustrated. The car was turned on, started to move away from the gas station and we were back on the freeway. Silence was in the car and I started to feel awkward. I put my legs on the edge of the seat, crossed my arms, rested my head on them, turned on my itouch and played a song called "Sadness and Sorrow" from the anime show called Naruto. I rest my head on my arms and watched the world outside the window moving at a fast pace of the car. A tear slipped out of my eye running down my face. I didn't bother to wipe it because I didn't want to show fear while Leon was in the car. Just hearing the orchestras from this song made me think of sadness. Memories filled my head, projecting it like a homemade movie.

As the memories flow in my head and through my eyes, tears started to drip down my feet and I blinked the tears away. I admit, I'm afraid of talking about his feelings, he's quiet all the time and he doesn't show any emotions whatsoever. It was still silent in the car and I'm afraid to speak to him. I looked at my itouch and change the song to something a little happier I guess. So I changed it to a song called "Forbidden Friendship" from How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack. It release my imagination helps me relaxing from a stressful day. Plus, if I have an idea of a story or a scene, I would go to my notes in my itouch and type it down. For a story, I would get my notebook and write the scene down. Dad said I always had a unique mind and more creativity then anyone he knew. Just hearing his voice made me happy and lifted the sadness away. Before I knew it, I was smiling.

"Hey Gerard, do you want coffee?"

"Jenna you know I don't' drink coffee."

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting. Sorry" she said with a cheerful voice. She had black hair like a raven's feather, pale peachy skin, she had a stomach, but she's pregnant maybe two months pregnant, she had long legs, her face was heart-shaped, had some muscle in her arms and had dark violet eyes and a smile that cheers up everyone's day. "Here is your hot coco." She handed the cup to Gerard and felt the hotness from the coco in his hand. He smelled the steam and sighed.

"Thank you Jenna."

"Your welcome."

"Where's Anika?"

"I think she's on the phone with someone at headquarters."

"Is something wrong?"

"I don't know, she didn't say."

"I hope everything is okay and I hope Anya made it there okay."

"I'm sure she made it there okay and unharmed. Besides, she has that guy named Leon. She'll be perfectly fine."

"Yeah, but if they get attacked while on the road or they get shot at while driving or while they sleep." Jenna raised her eyebrow at Gerard's father instinct.

"She has two glock 17's and she has a custom glock 23, 22 dozen shirguns and a custom dragon style samurai swords. I think she can handle anything that throws in her face and mostly her life."

"Yeah, who gave her a custom glock 23? Cause I don't remember buying her that."

"I did."

"Why? She's only allowed to have two."

"Well, it used to be mine, I got a new one from Mikey and I gave her my custom glock 23."

"But why?"

"Because it was my first firearm that was given by my father and I thought it would be nice for her to have. It was passed on by my grandfather, he passed it onto my dad, he passed it on to me and I passed it onto Anya. It's a family tradition and were family."
"You really love Anya, don't you?"

"She's like a sister I never had. So yeah, I do love her, plus, she can kick some ass!"

"You mean she DOES kick ass." They both laughed and talked about the happy visits, joyful family reunions, and awesome vacations and the brilliant times they had with Anya. Mikey was at the store getting food and Anika finally got off the phone and walked inside the house. She walked in the kitchen with Jenna and Gerard. Gerard looked at her and saw she had a stern face on, something happened, something big.

"Anika, what's wrong?" Gerard said with a calm voice. Anika looked up and sighed before speaking.

"There was an incident at headquarters last night." Jenna spoke.

"What kind of incident?"

"Someone attacked one of our agents during the night. She was doing some research on the Myers Massacre and the member's murders of the Crimson Rose Elite Squad. Along with that a murder was reported in Portsmouth during that night."

"Who was it?" Gerard said with a calm voice. He was glad it wasn't Anya. He would've had a heart attack.

"He was a minor, so we don't have the name of the boy. The mother wouldn't release his son's name."

"How was he killed?"

"He was brutally murdered in his own bed."

"Did he leave a mark or something?"

"He was murdered exactly the same way the blonde girl was murdered."

"That's the one. Slashes and bruising all over the boy's body."

"Jesus Christ." Jenna whispered to herself. Anika spoke again.

"However, before he was murdered, the mother reported saying that her son was in a hospital getting treatment for a gunshot wound."

"Where did he get the gunshot wound from?" Gerard said with a confusing face on.

"No one knows. It was never reported, no records, no nothing." Both Jenna and Gerard were confused about the gunshot wound and the boy.

"You said the boy was murdered exactly the same way the blonde girl was murdered too right?"

"Yeah."

"He was murdered four days after the blonde girl's death. Also two days after Anya left for headquarters." Jenna, Anika and Gerard were all thinking on how this murder is linked to the girl's murder. "How is this linked to all the other murders that happened two years ago?"

"One of our associates Claire Redfield was doing some research and going through Anya's profile to see if we could find anything about the murder so we could brief Leon on what he's getting into."

"Do you think it's a copy cat or the same murderer who killed the squad a year ago?"

"I don't know, but if it is, we need to move."

"My thoughts exactly. If it is the murderer from a year ago then we all need to leave."

"Why would we have to leave?"

"It it is the same murderer who killed the squad, then he knows you Gerard. We have to move!"

"Jenna's right Gerard." All three of them looked at the kitchen entrance, Mikey was standing there.

"How long have you've been standing there?" Gerard said with a hesitated voice.

"Long enough to catch up on what I missed, but this isn't about me, it's about all of us. We all need to leave. The murderer knows us, he will kill us slowly and painfully and Anya will have to watch if he ever finds her." Silence was in the room. Mikey was right. He didn't want Anya to be in pain anymore. They had to move. Gerard nodded in agreement. So did Jenna and Anika understand what Mikey was said.

"When do we leave?" Gerard said with a calm and firm voice. Mikey sighed out before answering Gerard's question.
"We leave in one hour."