The Enemy Beside Me + The Liar Beside Me (Book 1 and 2)

B2 Chapter 5

ALASDAIR DOESN'T ALLOW me to poke more questions and I hate it. He's sitting there, beside his driver, tapping his fingers on the dashboard. One may think it's a nervous tic but what I see is a redhead who's too excited to show whatever I have to see.

Next to me, Noritaka fiddles with his phone, its bright light illuminates his oval face. I'm about to tell him how it's bad for his eyes when I feel the car...descending. 'What's going on? Are we going down?'

'Yes,' Alasdair simply says as if that's the most normal thing to say. I know that Kaito Yamato is a billionaire, but if you'd told me seconds ago that he had a secret establishment underneath the surface of the Earth, I'd have laughed at you. Except this is happening. And I'm here, holding Noritaka's arm like a child begging his mum to protect him.

Too many scenarios play in my head. What if we get stuck in the middle of going down? What if this is a trap and Alasdair is really an evil redhead, and his plan all along is to bury us deep down? Never mind that he's also here with us. He might have another escape route.

'You're hurting me,' Noritaka says, wincing as my nails dig into his flesh. 'Are you scared? Don't be. We've been here before. I still don't like it. But it's also fun.'

Realising how ridiculous I've been acting, I yank my hand and apologise to Noritaka.

'Somehow though, this part has slipped off from my mind, Jaxon.' Alasdair gives me a small smile that means nothing to me. I'm too busy wishing we'd soon get out of this car.

As if on cue, I feel the car smoothly landing on solid ground. With one click, all the doors—except the driver's—open and bright lights flood my vision. I squint and rub my eyelids. Who the hell thought this was a good idea? They could've chosen a more relaxing colour. Say, dull orange or something.

'Please step out of the limousine.' I hear a woman voice say. Wondering why she sounded muffled, I turn my head, only to be greeted by a woman in full protective personal equipment. Her gloved hand gestures me to come outside. Although I can only see her pale brown eyes, I know that she's smiling at me.

Gingerly, I dig my heel to the slick black floor. As soon as my whole body is out from that vehicle, I see more staff who are also wearing the same suit. A total of five of them. Two of them are women—one is almost as tall as Noritaka. Thank God for her huge racks. If not for them, I wouldn't have known if she was a man or a woman—and of course, the one with kind eyes. The rest are men who are smaller than me, but their guns can't be hidden by their suits.

They all bow down to Alasdair who nods and tells them to show us the way. I'm surprised that they don't even ask who I am. Or maybe Alasdair has had told them about me beforehand. In hindsight, that is unfair and a breach of my privacy. But oh, who am I kidding? Ever since I came here in Zone 1, privacy is the last thing I can ever possess.

Declan's leather shoes are slapping against the flourished floor, leaving marks. Nobody comments about it, but I can feel that none of the staff leading us is pleased. If I didn't know Declan, I would've felt the same. Somehow, I can tell that this is his small way of rebelling even though he hasn't shown any resistance against this programme...whatever this is.

I look up to distract myself. I instantly regret that, should've known that the lights above would blind me for a second. At least I know now that the ceiling is also black except for a huge white 'Y' tailing from north to south. OK, we know this belongs to you. No need to gloat on it, Kaito.

We turn the corner. Noritaka struggles to follow behind as he's too distracted by the white lights. He keeps on commenting how he doesn't like them and that Alasdair should replace them with either blue or green. I agree. Alasdair says it's up to his father, not to him, so we have no choice but to endure them.