The Ex-Celeb

Mission 3: Brandon Carrillo

Luckily Malkovich was exactly as I thought. With a few persuasive words we got ourselves locked up in a musty basement with dim, flickering lights.

Andrew looked at me. "Explain, how is this a plan?"

I winced as I looked over. "We wouldn't have gotten out of there alive."

He was clearly cynical, but he couldn't argue. I leaned against the wall, the bullet had gone all the way through, which was a huge relief. I didn't need to waste time trying to dig it out, I wouldn't be able to heal if it was still in there. It still hurt though.

"Besides, we won't be here for long." I sighed. "So, could you explain your story? I'm still confused over the dentist thing."

Andrew leaned forward and put his head in his hands. "I guess it doesn't matter anyway. My real name is Brandon Carrillo."

For the next hour, Andrew-Brandon, told me everything. How after Malkovich had killed his fiancée, he had begun his path to revenge. Through months of research and hard work, he had discovered that Antonio Malkovich had a weird hygiene issue and had regular dental appointments. After that he had opened his own clinic. Since he he'd already been planning on becoming a doctor anyway before switching careers midway.

Kinda of a cliche if you asked me. But who am I to judge?

That concluded how he had ended up in the dark world. There were a few things I had trouble understanding, but we quickly ended the conversation. 

"It's your turn now." Andr-Brandon looked at me. "Who are you?"

I twisted around until I could reach my pockets. I didn't normally carry my real ID, though for cases that I wasn't sure about, it worked wonders. "To be honest, I wasn't trying to save your life at first. I was just trying to find out who was behind the Malkovich family." I held my ID up. "I think one of my family members might be linked to them."

Brandon looked at me, still suspicious. "Ioan Hedaya? The name sounds familiar."

"You might know my father better, Henry Hedaya. Chairman of H Corp."

Brandons eyes narrowed. "H Corp? I do know them."

I hoped that he didn't know much more, but I supposed it wouldn't matter soon anyway. "I happened to run into you while doing my own thing. At first, I really thought you were a part of them."

He didn't have a response, although I was certain he had something to say on the matter. "So, what now?" He finally asked. 

"We wait." I didn't like my plan, unfortunately though, there weren't any good options available. 

If I'd been by myself, I wouldn't have been in position to begin with. But I couldn't let an innocent man be killed because of me. Now that I knew his story, I would do anything to protect him.

We stayed in the basement for a couple more hours. By the time I heard footsteps approaching, my shoulder was nearly healed. 

I kept myself relaxed, but one leg was positioned to launch me at anyone who might come down.

Brandon was extremely on edge. Fidgeting and glancing around at every sound. "How much longer?"

"Not long." I answered quietly.

The door at the top of the stairs opened and a bright light shone in, nearly blinding me despite my eyes being closed. Two sets of footsteps came down the steps and stopped in front of us. 

"Wake up." Someone kicked my leg.

I slowly opened my eyes. "Where's Malkovich? Does he think I'm not important anymore?"