Alan Price and the Colossus of Rhodes

Chapters 23 and 24

Chapter 23

Present Day

Why are you even stressing over that? She was clearly crazy. Angels? Like flying angels with wings, really?

Alan shook his head and made an internal decision to stop thinking about the strange conversation that night. However, as he rode the smooth elevator to the top of the high-rise, his hand fell inside his jacket pocket. His fingers made contact with the phone Danielle left him. The lights to passing floors beeped by and with every second Alan could feel anxiety build. “One look won’t hurt,” Alan said to himself.

The phone was slender and compact. It was one of the newest models available on the market. Alan remembered seeing an advertisement for it just the other day, the commercial with the girl and the family with the pet smiling and laughing as they opened apps for music and videos.

The phone lit up under Alan’s touch. It had a plain white background with an icon marked “Messages” that jumped up and down on the screen. Alan swiped his thumb over the icon and a single message read, “Danielle”with a number that followed after.

Alan’s thumb bent towards the number more out of instinct than will. The only thing that stopped his thumb’s progress was the soft halt of the elevator and a dinging sound as the elevator doors slid open.

Alan stuffed the phone back into his pocket and shook the notion of calling the number out of his head. When he raised his eyes to look down the hall to his penthouse door, he stopped in his tracks.

He always left his door closed. Always. Living on the run at an early age and having to look over his shoulder on a daily basis instilled the habit of locking up after himself.

His door was cracked open. Alan made his way down the hall. He could hear music coming from his penthouse.

Carmina Burana: O Fortuna played in the background. Alan only recognized the song because he owned it. It was music that inspired him and one of the few things, along with reading and exercise, that helped when his depression was at its worst.

The inkling to run or report the break in to the police crossed his mind but only for the briefest of moments. Any contact with the police would be bad. Too many questions could arise. Although the less than upstanding citizen whom he bought them from assured him that his purchased identities were solid, he didn’t want to test the theory.

Alan wrapped his pea coat tighter around him and prepared himself to take off at a sprint in a moment’s notice.

Alan’s hand made contact with his thick wooden door. It swung open without a sound. He wasn’t sure what to expect, nothing happened. His penthouse looked normal. Everything was in place. No signs of break in; no items strewn across the floor or broken.

Aromas of cooked meat and the sounds of someone busy in the kitchen made Alan’s heart rate accelerate. Alan left the door wide open in case he needed to bolt down the hall. He quietly tiptoed through his family room, past his makeshift exercise and weight room and into the kitchen.

Adrenaline pumped to every inch of his body. Alan’s mouth was dry as he turned a corner and was met with the sight of a slender man with his back towards him. Whoever he was, he was busy at work. A towel draped over one shoulder; he was hunched over the stove.

“If I was going to hurt you, would I be cooking you dinner? Mmmmm… let’s think here. No, probably not.”

Alan stopped and almost ran just hearing the sound of the man’s voice. It sounded like a snake slithering and dripped past the man’s lips in a way that would put anyone on edge. Alan hadn’t made a sound coming in, he was sure of that.