Days Without Sun
Chapter Twenty Three: Distractions
Vasca drove up his former employer's driveway, revving the engine on his Montana in anger.
Who the fuck does Villinski think he is?
The former military man was pissed. You hire someone to look out for you and then fire him when he does his job?
Vasca silently fumed. He pulled up to the end of the stone drive and punched in the code for the heavy double gates. He lit a cigarette and blew his breath out harshly after taking his first drag, impatiently waiting for the slow swinging metal wings to open completely.
Now that his contract had been terminated with that arrogant foreign douche bag, he couldn't wait to get the hell away from the estate.
The money had been great but he'd seen too much creepy shit since he'd started working for Villinski six months ago to believe it was just drugs the man was involved in now, despite what he'd been told.
Not to mention one of the day shift crew had told him just a few days back about some boy who'd gotten onto the grounds a few weeks before that the dogs had mauled. Apparently his Villinski had just happened to be there and had carried the kid off. No one on the security team had seen the supposed thief or heard anything about him since. That whole scenario struck the ex-soldier as decidedly hinky
As Vasca headed out of the entry to the estate he noticed another car approaching, coming from the direction of the city. He frowned at this, noticing the car didn't have its lights on and slowed when the driver saw him pull forward. Vasca flashed his lights at the driver. One to let them know their lights were of and second to get a better look.
Few cars traveled down these semi-private roads this time of night and as his keen eyes noticed the make, he knew that whoever was driving that kind of economy car didn't belong running around in this wealthy part of Garopaba.
Despite the fact all his senses, honed from years of combat, were tingling, Vasca purposely didn't look inside the oncoming car as he passed it. "Not my problem anymore," he muttered to himself. Still he couldn't help but glance up in the rearview mirror. His eyes widened slightly in surprise as he watched the car make a sharp turn. He heard the squeal of the tires as the vehicle veered and sped forward through the narrowing space of the closing gates he himself had just passed through.
Vasca felt his foot automatically lift off the gas and his truck slow down. He let the Montana coast as he took another contemplative drag. "Fuck it!" he exhaled at last and punched the pedal shooting his car forward towards Garopaba. Villinski can deal with his own messes now. Whoever it was who had just decided to trespass onto his former employer's property, Vasca just hoped they would cause the prick a whole lot of trouble.
"Eri, what the fuck are you doing?" Santo Justino shouted when the woman had made a break for the gate. "We were going to find Usami's car and wait for the teams to arrive!"
Aikawa leveled her dark gaze at the detective. "We can't afford to wait, Augusto!" She pulled up the extensive drive further. "You have to find Usami-san before anything happens to him… or to Misaki!"
Santo Justino was stunned by the woman's actions, but Aikawa wasn't done yet. His expression shifted from angry to confused when she suddenly stopped the car. "What are you doing, Eri?"
"You have your gun?"
"Yes, but…"
"Get out…"
"Wha…" Santo Justino blanched at the woman's cool order.
"Get out!" Aikawa repeated. She reached overhead and turned off the car's interior lights, then she leaned over him and opened the passenger door. "And go find Usami."
The detective looked back at the now shut gates. It would only be a few minutes most likely before Korovin's team came rushing out to greet their intruders. Santo Justino felt the knot in his stomach immediately tied double. "And what are you going to do while I'm out scouting for Usami?" he demanded
Aikawa, who hadn't pulled back from opening the door moved her head in and kissed Santo Justino deeply. Then she pulled away, releasing his seatbelt as she straightened. "I'm going to create a diversion." In the dimly lit drive Santo Justino could still clearly read how serious Aikawa's expression was. "Now get the hell out, Augusto! You don't have much time."
"This is madness! You don't even have a weapon, Eri!" he challenged.
"You might be surprised, Augusto. I have been known to have a few tricks up my sleeve, publishing can be a brutal business," Aikawa words contained a trace of bitter humor but her expression was earnest.
"You're as crazy as Usami, you know that?" Augusto snorted.
"Maybe," Aikawa said with a sad smile.
Santo Justino put his phone which had been lying open in his lap the whole time to his ear. "Alvarez…"
"Heard it SJ, Silva's got the car on visual and we've just added two more rogues to the list…"
"Breaking contact now." Augusto clicked off his phone. His expression was grave.
Then the detective surprised Aikawa by leaning in quickly and placing another quick kiss on her lips before slipping out the open door. "For luck," he said as he ducked out.
"Christ knows we're both going to need it."
In the bowels of Korovin's lair, Akihiko was staring at the broken creature in his arms. He gently set Jadir on the floor and stepped back a pace. The poor boy's face was bruised, his lips swollen, but still the pure loveliness of the youth's countenance was clearly visible. This made the terror of Jadir's scarred flesh and pruned limbs all that much more exaggerated.
Akihiko was secretly relieved the boy had passed out so suddenly, as, even as skilled as he was at masking his emotions, he knew there was no way he could have hid his expression of horror at what he was seeing. The thought that he might find his beloved Misaki here in a similar condition flushed his veins with acid.
"Poor lamb," Akihiko breathed knowing even as he said this how lame he sounded. There were simply no other words that came to him.
He knew that to take the boy with him would only jeopardize them both, but despite this, he couldn't bear to leave him.
He bent and picked up the small devices he'd dropped in his rush to catch the teen, he was still holding his gun. He wondered if it was the fear of seeing the weapon that had caused the battered boy to faint. As he looked at Jadir's cast leg and his general condition, that the youth had been upright at all struck him as miraculous.
The author glanced at his gadgets and hoped to the gods they weren't broken. He put these in the pocket of the light black jacket he was wearing and dropped the duffel from his shoulder and grabbed a few things out of it which he also added to his pockets. It would be too cumbersome to manage both the boy and his bag.
Akihiko adjusted his grip on his gun and scooped the youth up in his arms. He hardly weighed anything. Akihiko looked down and saw Jadir's bloated belly. Malnutrition? Starvation? He wondered absently as he headed off down the corridor. He couldn't even begin to fathom what hell the teen had been put through.
His anger continued to boil with each step he took. "Fuck the cameras and the locks!" he snarled. Akihiko now wanted whoever might be watching to know what he'd found and that he was coming for them, with far less mercy than the sick fucks had visited on the devastated boy in his arms.
Misaki had been fitfully sleeping when like some dark demon Korovin appeared beside him. He turned his head trying to escape the sadist's mad grin and winced when he felt a sharp prick in his arm. Seconds after the jab, Misaki felt his mind speed up along with his heart rate.
Korovin grabbed him cruelly by the chin and turned his face towards him. Misaki felt the short hair on the nape of his neck rise up at the ghoulish flames dancing in the madman's eyes.
"Ah, good Taka-chan, you're awake!" Korovin hissed gleefully. "I thought that little shot would do the trick." Korovin ignored Misaki's pained yelp as he removed the catheter from the boy none too gently. The IV followed.
"I have a surprise for you my pet, and I want you fully present to enjoy it… You're just going to love it, I know!" Korovin chuckled as his surgical fingers skillfully undid Misaki's restraints.
The moment he was loosed Misaki curled himself into a tight ball: he was completely broken. The instant the doctor laid his hand him, Misaki burst into gasping sobs. Undeterred by this Korovin scooped Misaki up. He was so weak from his injuries and his long immobility that Misaki didn't even try to fight back.
But he did manage to at last find his voice. "Please," Misaki whispered into his captor's chest. "Please kill me… I can't bear anymore." He shuddered as he felt the man surrounding him laughed richly at his desperate plea.
"Ah, Takahashi, you have no idea how much you have to live for at the moment, but if death is what you truly want, I am sure that I can arrange that." Korovin shifted the fragile youth in his arms as he opened the door and exited the incubator leaving the rest of his wide-eyed captives behind him.
"Just not quite yet," he whispered into the trembling boy's ear as he headed down the hall to his playroom.
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