Dark Sun Rising

Chapter 6

The cab dropped Zari off in front of a tall building. Though she was exhausted from the long journey and the ambush that had caught her off guard, she felt a childlike excitement to meet her father.

"Oh, man. I should have dressed more appropriately," Zari sighed as she glanced at the shiny building and then at her clothes. Her skinny jeans, relaxed-fit T-shirt, and Converse shoes didn't go well with the setting that she was about to step into.

"It's okay. He won't notice. I mean, I'm here in the flesh, aren't I? Who cares about my clothes?" Zari was talking to herself quietly, trying to calm herself while making her way toward the entrance. The street outside the building was silent. It would have thrown Zari off had she been tuned into her surroundings or anything other than the scenarios in her head. She was seeing her father after a long time. Too long to even remember.

She walked through the glass door and into an empty hallway, trying to formulate the perfect words to greet her father. As she entered the building, she saw an oak table right across from the door, vacant. Zari spotted an elevator adjacent to it and made a beeline for it.

"9th floor," she muttered to herself. As she pressed the silver button on the elevator, a voice alerted her.

"Ma'am? Ma'am?"

Zari turned around and saw a tall, well-built man approaching her. He was wearing khaki pants and a black T-shirt that stuck to his dark skin like glue.

"Can I help you?" he asked in his commanding voice.

"Um. I'm here to see my father. He works here on the 9th floor," Zari answered. She looked at the tall, handsome man and couldn't help but question why he was there in the first place. He certainly wasn't dressed like a security guard, nor did he look like an employee that his father would recruit.

"Your al'Reda's daughter?" the man was startled. He stammered, taking another look at Zari as if he never expected the man to have a child.

"Yes. I'm Zari, and you are?" Zari extended her hand toward the man, expecting to hear his name but nothing came out of his mouth. He turned around and started walking out of the building.

"I'm afraid you can't find your father here. You should head back from where you came," the man said as he walked away. He took out his phone and started dialing when Zari stepped in front of him. She didn't like how the man was treating her, like a child, and her newfound powers were making her feel bold.

"Listen. I need to see my father. It's very important. If you know he isn't here then you must know where I can find him. Just tell me and I will be on my way," she demanded, crossing her arms and fixing her eyes on the tall man.

He let out a sigh and looked around as if making sure nobody had seen them. "Follow me then," he said, walking toward the parking side of the building. As they walked down the ramp spiraling down into the underground parking, Zari heard a strange voice echo.

When she took a few steps more into the dark area, she spotted a black car, and it finally dawned on her how stupid it was to follow a stranger into an empty parking lot. "On second thought. I think I'll figure it out on my own," Zari said, stopping in her tracks. She began to retreat when the man opened the door of his car and took out a few files.

"Macklin Jones," Zari read the word out loud. The picture under the name was of a black human man, dressed more or less like the man standing in front of her.

"He was my partner. I'm Alvin Holt, Lyndon Detective Agency. Macklin and I were working on a case together about the Red Dragon Syndicate and your father's link to the group," Alvin explained.