The Godmother

Chapter 20: The Great Escapade

"It all started when I found this secured and encrypted .url program at a cyber cafe. It allowed me to speak to one anonymous user, who seemed to know everything about me. And I mean, Everything.

I thought he was just a mere hacker until he talked about my brother and how he died. Considering that all he had told me so far about my life was true, he told me he knew the killer.

The name? Giovanni Romano

I blindly believed him and got you to chase me till we were alone and I could take you down. The whole "daughter should pay for the sins of her father" shit. That wasn't the case however, because you didn't know a thing about your father. I decided to wait for a while and research it a bit more before striking.

Turns out, your father died the same day he did. There was no way in hell he could've killed him. We never found the body of my brother. It's possible that the same people who killed your father, killed my brother. They were at near premises during that time", he explained.

"The Gambino Mafia", I fawned. "Yes", he agreed. "Well, I can help you find your actual Chinese hacker guy, if you help me find the murderer of my brother. Just don't let me go with them or I'll be as good as dead with their torture", he whispered.

"Torture? There are laws that protect you from torture, if they do anything to you, it would be illegal", I said to calm him down.

"There are laws to protect me in 'this country'. The CIA doesn't do that here, they'll transfer me to an ally country who's friends with the government and torture me in their lock ups. And obviously they keep it a secret from everyone cause 'MaNiFeSt DeStiNy'. No suspect comes out of there alive which is how they keep this under the covers", he smirked hopelessly.

The CIA was always known to be shady. Keeping their jobs a secret was understandable. Blaming the Soviets for everything, a little on the edge with that. But torturing people into admitting something they didn't do? Now that's way off the line.

"Alright we have barely any time, I'll unlock your handcuffs. Discard them only once you're outside. Climb off that window, I can remove the grills and grates", I said quickly unlocking the cuffs and using a small blade attached to my Swiss knife key chain to pry open the grates of the window.

Before he got out I said, "Punch me"

"What?"

"Punch me damn it!"

He punched my head without any hesitation. I held my head that was now suffering a concussion. "Call.. me ..", I managed to before he jumped out the window and down the pipe.

The door bust open.

"Roch, the cameras don't work. We should postpone it- What the fuck? ROCHELLE!", Ben screamed as he ran to my side on the ground as I held my bruised forehead. "What is the meaning of this, I-", Mr Fox started but I couldn't hear the rest of it as my mind decided to fade to black.

***
Beep beep beep

Was it my alarm? I jerked awake. Van and Ben on either side. Flint was at the door with a troubled expression. Dunce and Harrison were interrupted from their talk.

"Hey, are you fine?", Flint immediately rushed to my side and asked with genuine concern. "Yeah, I'm good", I said and began sitting up. He helped me place my pillow behind my back and raise the bed.

I'd never seen him so panicked or shook by anything. I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel a little flattered that I was a matter of importance to him. Van handed me a glass of water and Ben gave me a pill of sorts.

"Painkiller, doctor's orders",he smiled and said. I nodded, ingested the pill with a gulp of water and sighed.

"What happened?", Dunce asked with worry etched in his forehead. "Is Fox Freak here?", I asked in reply. "Not yet, he's busy with someone else right now and we shooed him off saying you needed rest", he said like he was proud of their accomplishment.

"Good. I helped him escape"
...

"WHAT"

"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?"

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST"

"ROCHELLE WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU EVEN DO THAT?"

"EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP"

"Pun intended?"

Everyone stared at Ben with a serious face. "Ok sorry, geez", he held his hands up in retreat. Flint who told everyone to shut up, began his question, "Why?"

"I told you he isn't the Chinese hacker. Nah Tan Mi was a temporary alias for him to get the attention of the authorities so he could get me to find him. The real dude is someone else, he's gonna help me find him", I said calmly taking another sip of water.

"Why can't he just stay under CIA custody? That way even we can keep an eye on him", Ben asked. "They'll torture him to death", I replied. No one dared to comment on that.

"But how can you trust him?", Flint asked to break the awkward silence. "The situation has become so dire that I have to trust criminals because they're honest when they need something", I concluded.

"What does he need?", Flint countered. "The person who killed his brother", I replied. We all paused for a while to get our head straight. "Ok, if he helps we'll help. Now let's get you home", Dunce said.

I tried to get up but got taken aback by the lack of movement I've had all this while and almost fell. Flint managed to catch me in time. He took my arm, placed it around his shoulder and began supporting me as I walked. Sweet? Yeah, maybe. I still didn't know why he even bothered to help.

Harrison and Van were busy whispering behind me and giggling. Ben and Dunce kept looking back and forth in deep conversation. Flint on the other hand was confused like me... But what was that I saw? A tinge of pink rooting from his neck to his cheeks. It was faint but it was not impossible to catch.

We walked to the car and drove back to the Den. Where trouble lay awaiting us.

"Rochelle Romano, S.T.F.U Agent 106, CID. How dare you let a national criminal escape like that!"

I guess Fox McFuck Face was back. "I'm sorry that I suffered a concussion, Mr Fox", I said sarcastically. "You better be. You just cost us an entire 3 months of searching", He scolded, a finger that accused me right in front of my face.

"Step away from her. She's as much of a victim of this as all of us if not more. Just because you couldn't find a fucking criminal, you asked for our assistance. We work as a team only if you respect us like we respect you", Flint seethed and came in between Fox' finger and me.

Mr Fox was dumbfounded, his mouth agape. I squeezed Flint's palm so as to say thank you and he squeezed back in reassurance. "Give us more time and we'll find the actual Chinese hacker", Dunce reasoned. "He IS the damned Chinese Hacker", Fox scorned.

"Does he fucking look Chinese to you?", Ben said in frustration. "Blonde hair, brown eyes, caucasian. Hm yes, very Chinese, is it not?", Harrison continued.

"You dare to mock the authorities?-"

"We are the authorities, just as much as you are, Mr Fox. You may handle international crime but if you want our help, you've got to do things our way and give us freedom, got that?", Van said in a dangerous voice. Van and Veronica had this common didn't they? They're all rainbows and sprinkles until you piss them off.

Mr Fox stared at all of our poker faces. That's when he knew we were serious. "M-martha book a jet to DC. We leave as soon as possible", he managed to say and almost ran out the door. Martha and his bodyguards followed him.

We all looked at eachother for a few minutes and burst out laughing. "The look on his face! Man, we should intimidate people more often", Ben wheezed.

"And get screwed by Boss sure. There's no doubt we'll be recieving a good earful from him tomorrow", Dunce rolled his eyes but still laughed. "It was fun though", Van reasoned. "Jesus Christ I just got out of the hospital with a fucked up head, the laughing makes it worse. Lets just rest", I laughed and headed to my room.

We all dispersed into each of our seperate rooms and had a blissful night of sleep.