When She's Gone (Sequel to Catching The Girl)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Eric turned around and had to pinch himself when the memories of October 1st came rushing back. He had to be strong. For her. For Nicole. It was an empty lobby, not very welcoming. Only 9 feet in every direction, the whole thing made of marble. The glass was transparent only from inside, a mirror on the outside. Bulletproof glass, he knew. The only thing you saw when you walked in was the elevator which was straight ahead.

Eric slashed his card through the slot and stepped into the elevator. There were 16 floors. Each floor had 2 rooms, offices, Junior had informed him. Eric would be working on the 16th floor, in the office next to his. He guessed it was Junior’s old office. The higher the floor you were on, the higher your importance.

The office doors were not marked. Everyone knew their place and that was enough. Each floor was identical. There were two doors spaced with a four feet distance between them and from the lift. Only the 15th floor wasn’t for offices. It had three rooms. One was for the guns and other defense mechanisms, two was a training room with a gym and space for brawls and the third for meetings.

Every card gave you access to your floor, the 15th floor and every floor below yours. There was no way up and down except the elevator.

All very organized, just the way Senior liked it. There were no cameras anywhere except the elevator and lobby and facing the front entrance. It was simple and impenetrable.

It was a common misconception that gangs lived on the streets and run down places. Also, people thought that their sole purpose was just killing. Truth was, the King gang had been established to help people. There was a time where the upper class dominated. They took all the money and the original King family was reduced to poverty.

Much like Nicole said, the gang was established to be like a ‘Robin Hood service’. Take the money from the cheating rich and give it to the thriving poor. But that changed a long time ago.

“Now, it’s all about power.” Eric said, soft enough not to be heard by the camera mike.

Instead of stopping on each floor to get ‘reacquainted’ with people, he swiped his card and hit ‘16’. Before reaching his destination, he felt the lift slowing down at the 14th floor. Someone who worked right below him and Junior, right? He wondered who he was going to see. Someone from his childhood, probably. Eric braced himself as the lift door opened.

*****

“What. The. He-”

“Nice to see you too, Eric. Surprised?” Mike grinned.

“Y-y-you! Mike!” Eric yelled.

“Michael King. At your service!” Mike was laughing now. Eric needed to be careful. His reaction could blow his cover.

“Come here, man!” He embraced Mike and caught sight of the camera on the top corner of the elevator. “You should have told me!”

“You were going through your whole rebellion thing and your parents had poisoned you pretty bad. So, that wasn’t really an option. I wanted to tell you but if that screwed things up, there would be no one to keep tabs on you throughout. And what is a better cover than the best friend? The most awesome part was that I got a high school life in the process. The chicks were also not too bad.” He smirked.

Eric wanted to punch him so hard that he forgot his name but he decided that it could wait. They had someone with him all this time? What about elementary? Middle school? He didn’t even want to think about it. They had so broken the deal and they were going to pay. But first, Nicole.

“Hahahaha! So good to know, now. Hope we’ll be seeing a lot of eachother.” Eric said, he wanted to laugh, he had lied that day more than he had in his whole life.

“Oh, you will. I’m in charge of the Salvatore case.” He said. Eric heart skipped a beat.

Oh my god! Mike had been part of Nicole’s class, right? So why hadn’t he caught her? Wait, he did. That day, when he picked her up. It was a set-up to make sure he didn’t see Kevin meet Nicole. He had always wondered how Mike called him right when he needed help. Eric’s thoughts were going haywire.

“Ah, cool.” Eric sounded normal to Mike but inside, it came out like a squeak.

“I’m going to come up with you. We can sit and talk.” They had already travelled one floor up in the elevator and were sitting in his office. He was behind the desk and Mike sat across.

“Yeah, I never got the opportunity to catch her. I saw her every single day but she was too good for me. Too guarded. Never alone. And there was too high a possibility that she was stronger than me.” Mike winced.

“Really?” Eric laughed, a proud laugh.

“Whatever. The mafia has mad skills. Anyway, I think she caught onto me somewhere in the middle. You know that day the three of us went out?” Eric nodded in response.

“That was actually the first time she ever spoke to me unrelated to class. She knew if I invited her, you would come too. And I couldn’t blow my cover in front of you. Too risky. You could have still had your mad skills!” Mike smiled and Eric mirrored it.

“What about when you and Kevin were together with her. Why didn’t you bring her then? It was the perfect opportunity!” And it was, Eric thought. Junior could have sent the cab to headquarters and she would have been too busy asking Mike why she claimed to be her boyfriend. But why not?

“That was the plan. But everything got messed up when we spotted Adone.” He spat the name out like it was the worst thing he’d ever said. It could have been.

Stay calm, it’s okay. Eric took a few deep breaths. Man up!

“Seriously?” He managed to say.

“We thought the guy was back in Italy but apparently not. When the cab passed by a street corner, he smiled at me. Cree-py.” Mike shuddered.

“He was.” Eric responded.

“What the hell is up with him? Who falls in love with their granddaughter, man? That’s just sick. He has such a weird obsession with her.” Mike said, shaking his head.

“I know, right?” Eric responded. It was so weird. For once in his life, he was not completely angry about Adone’s presence somewhere.

If Nicole had been taken away by the gang, it would have been bad! Even thinking about it killed Eric. The kind of men there were in the gang made him certain that Nicole wouldn’t have been spared of the worst sort of treatment. They were just brutal. The only reason they remained Kings was because of their parents and history. Otherwise, they’d have been killed.

“But how did she bump into Junior? How could you have planned that?” Eric asked. That was the one missing piece of the puzzle.

“My favorite part.” Mike smiled. He stood up and bent over the desk, clicking a small red button on Eric’s side which wasn’t visible unless you knew it was there. There was a slight buzz and the door opened.

“Hello, darlings.” Eric looked up at the woman with the overbearing British accent.

He gasped and hadn’t realized that he had said her name out loud.

“Alana.”