The Innocent (A 'Finder' Fanfiction)

Shadow of Pluto - 31 - Aaron

The car slowed down when the giant cast iron gate was hit by the headlights, and came to a final halt next to the intercom, which hung on a pole just like those American mailboxes did. With a quiet whirring, the window was opened, and the driver leaned out a bit to press the flat silver button.

After a moment, a voice asked who he was, and Alex announced himself.

'You really think they're gotta let you in again?', Aaron had asked him before, and his brother had nodded.

'I have not been fired or anything. If Richard had fired me, I'd be dead. Our deal is just done. I guess I'm still working for Maxim until he tosses me out ... or well ... at least ...'

After that, his voiced had trailed away, and Alex had fallen quiet for a long while in which he had stared off into some space beyond the dusky apartment and had pressed an ice cube against his swollen lip ... It was slowly melting and dissolving in his hand. The water dripped down his arm, yet he did not seem to mind. Aaron had given him a good beating, from which his brother would keep some reminders for a few days.

'I guess I can at least get my stuff, as long as I don't cross paths with Ryuichi or Mikhail or his ... girlfriend. But I'm pretty sure they're not gonna be a problem now ... so: I'll just say I want to clear out my room and then be gone', finally he had continued. It had been the beginning of their planning.

And indeed, the gate swung open now. Alex steered the black limousine with which he had left for the city the other day across the compound and into the large garage, whose doors opened for him automatically and closed right after he had entered. There was a van parked inside, another limousine and two classic cars – beautifully restored convertibles. But these were obviously only a part of the property's collection of vehicles.

From the back seat, where he tried to stay hidden from sight, Aaron had been able to make out some more vans and cars parked on an outside lot.

Silence fell, when Alex switched off the motor. Once again, he stared dead ahead, as if his gazed had fixed on something beyond anybody else's perception. Aaron was not sorry, that he did not know what his brother saw before his inner eye.

He was not really sure, what the other was after, at this point. He had been hired to do a job, he had been promised remuneration for it and if he had correctly recited the words of Richard Asami it seemed like he would indeed get exactly what he had been pledged from the beginning: payment for the men of Chernobog, including Aaron, and the old man's support to grasp any of Ryuichi Asami's old businesses and ventures in Japan that appeared valuable to him.

However, it seemed as if the profit he was supposed to be awarded with, was not what Alex wanted anymore.

Aaron could guess why: His brother was an agent to chaos. Yes, he needed wealth, connections and power to keep himself in the world he wanted to move in. But they were only the means by which he existed, not the reason. The reason why he did anything – his final motivation – were mayhem and havoc.

It had been Alex' plan to come back here, claiming that he just wanted to get his belongings before he 'resigned' or got kicked out. It had been him who had talked about getting the boy– Arata, Akihito – for Aaron. But why? And even more so, how?!

If they were noticed, they would have to shoot their way in and out. Richard would never allow his hostage to be snatched away. It would indeed not matter if he actually hadn't any plans with him at all. The point was, he had been asked for Arata by Alex, and had declined. So, if now Alex took the boy, nonetheless, Richard would perceive that as an affront. And he killed people who were as dashing as to dare anything like that.

For a brief moment, Aaron had mused whether his brother was planning to kill Richard because of some strange urge for revenge. Yet if the man died, that was the end of anything Alex had once been promised to be awarded with. There would be no payment for Chernobog; there would be no money and properties and connections in Japan.

Then again, of course the same was true if the old man Asami found out what they were doing here – or even only if he got a whiff of what they were planning to do.

So, in the end, it had to seem like Alex had settled on biting the hand that had fed him. But why? Maybe just to give his twin what he had asked for? The mere thought almost made Aaron laugh out loud. No! Definitely not. He was certain – in fact, absolutely positive – that his request in the end had nothing to do with it. It was just a coincidence: Aaron wanted Arata – Arata was Akihito – Akihito was the love of Ryuichi Asami.

And that very likely was the last piece of the puzzle: Alex wanted to see the Japanese bastard broken. That was what he had expected to witness at some point throughout his work, but in the end, when the plan had come to fruition, he had missed the moment if ever it had occurred. Therefore, he wanted to recreate it. He wanted to see the man suffering and destroyed. He needed to take Akihito for that. And if he did that, Richard better got a bullet in the head on the way.

"Fuck!", Alex hissed all of a sudden. "Get down!"

Aaron hadn't even raised his head. He lay in the dark foot room in front of the back seats, dressed in black and beneath a black jacket that he simply pulled over his face.

The whirring of the window could be heard again.

"Hey!", someone approached the car. His voice was getting loader while the short word was dragged very long.

"Hi!", Alex answered, his own voice sounding nonchalantly and joyous as usually.

"Lot's going on here!", the other said, speaking English with a thick Slavic accent. "Boss' men are here. Looking unfriendly as ever, and have not brought as much booze as they promised." The guy chuckled in a low gurgle.

"Selfish bastards!", Alex trilled back. "They get around the world, and then they always forget about us!"

"Yes! Yes! I told 'em to better think of us next time they come 'round, or we're gonna shit in their sheets!"

"Maybe that's what they're going for?"

"Hehehe!", the other guy laughed for a short while, then he slapped the roof of the car with his flat hand.

"I'm back to work, now: Guard the garage and stables tonight. See you, Alex ... A yes! The other day, Maxim wanted to speak to you. Think that's maybe not important anymore. Just so you know."

"Yeah, thanks. I'll be seeing him tomorrow morning. I'm sure he's asleep already."

"Probably is. Little baby!"

Another slap, then the window was whirring upwards again, and Alex exhaled sharply.

"Friend of yours?", Aaron snarled, when he ripped the jacket off from his face.

"As if!"

In the front seat, Alex reached for his belt. His gun and silencer gleamed in the bit of light permeating through the car's toned windows.

"Get ready. I'm getting rid of him."

With that, he stepped outside and shoved the door shut behind him.

Aaron climbed out from the cavern between the seats, took a last look through the windows to make sure there were no surprises, then checked his own gear one last time.

It was forty minutes to midnight, and Alex knew where the guards would usually be positioned at this hour. He knew how many men there were: how many had come with Richard, and how many had been stationed here before. He also knew that they had probably only this one night. On the next morning Richard would leave, and whether he planned to take Arata with him, Alex had not been able to find out.

"Coming ...", Aaron whispered to the emptiness of the car. For a second, he found himself closing his eyes and sending a thought – maybe almost something like a prayer – that Arata was still there. That Akihito still wasn't. Though in the end, he would not care, he promised himself. He would take the boy with him, either way.