The Clock Was Ringing

The recoil (part1)

"Why didn't you tell me before? What were you afraid of?"

"I didn't want to put you in danger at a young age and in a city where you know no one. I thought it best to wait, get a name for yourself around the city and then tell you."

"That's it? That was the only thing stopping you from telling me?!" Her voice was raised again.

"Yes" He squealed

She sighed again, burring her face in her palm.

"I would really love to punch you right now Ben."

"I'm sorry I didn't-"

"Shut up"

"Ok" He said failingly

She stood still for a moment. Contemplating at Ben's stupidity as he sits there covering his shirt with sweat and regret while he clenched his hands tightly to one another.

"Ok Ben" She said "Tell me what you know about my father"

"Alright, I have it all here." He said while walking over to a laptop at the far end of the room. Karli tagged behind him as they stood there waiting for the laptop to start up. The electric ticking of the laptop was the only barrier that broke the silence of the room. Once the user icon appeared Ben quickly typed the password in and moved the cursor to a file in the corner of the desktop. After a few momentary clicks a picture showed up. Karli was then absorbed in it, she sat down and stared at it.

"Four?" She said "There are four of them?"

"Yes, the one you have was for your dad and the one I have is stolen."

"But how did you get it"

"Judging that you know there importance. I researched the names and what happened at the scene of that day. Luckily they didn't find any finger prints of me so I wasn't taken into questioning and they couldn't track me down since I wasn't a fan of laptops or gadgets at the time and I was constantly on the move. So I dwelled at finding out who were these people. I did find a lot of information about this group but nothing about what the statues mean"

He walked by the room and pointed his finger Karli's father.

"But I did find out where your father is and what he is doing now."

Karli stood up and came closer to him.

"So what is he doing now?"

"He is still part of this group or gang and is actively helping them in their agenda."

"Do you know what is in their agenda?"

"No unfortunately, all I know are the higher ups and other people related to them." He said as moved his finger across the walls. "All of these people are involved, all of them are either high ranked government officials or wealthy businessmen" He looked back at her "And women... businesswomen" She slightly smiled at his remark but it toned down again to a serious frown. She approached the gallery of pictures, not only because of their somewhat small size but also since...

"You might know some of these people"

"Yes...Yes I do. Isn't that umm... What was his name again?"

"David Diapint was his name, owner of many fast food chain restaurants across the country"

"You can tell by all that extra meat on his face. Its like a displaced turd."

Ben couldn't help but laugh at her remark. He immediately stopped soon after.

"This woman is Sherly Ulun. She owns a fair amount of perfume stores across the country. Including one fashion line."

"Her taste in clothes and smells is like David's armpit." She rolled her eyes. "I can't believe people actually buy her crap."

"As a man I can agree with you on that."

"Like a man would know Ben."

"We men can know a lot of things." He said trying to defend himself.

"Just move on with it before I get angry again."

Ben then explained the rest of the important individuals. Thrity of them in total. Eight are women only. All linked together in a web of corporations with the head being a Man called Max Yeste. Who is one of the top billionaries of the country, along with one of the most controversial.

"So who should we go to first?"

"Well, as the simple strategist that I am, we should go with the easiest one of them and see what info we can get."

"You mean me that is."

"...and anyone who can kick ass like you can. If you do know anyone."

Damn it. I wish there was someone that I did know like that.

She was the only one amongst her friends that knew how to fight back or had some or any type of black belt. She can always call them again, but they will most likely not risk their lives just to save her father. They would most likely laugh at her face for her request. Jamie perhaps... no no no, he's too innocent for that kind of stuff.

Karli let out an annoyed sigh.

"So do you know anyone?" She said.

"Um..." Ben scratched his beard. Someone like him was bound to know at least one person who likes to cause trouble.

"There is one person in mind... but he isn't on my friendliest terms either."

"What's his name though, we should at least try."

"I think that it starts with the letter..." Ben began to scratch his head, trying to remember who this friend of his was called.

"Don't try to stall. Please. I know what you're doing."

He let out a sigh after that and a face of eventual regret.

"Now his name is Yarel Garhal."

"Strange name there." Yarel Garhal. Sounds more like a knights name to me.

"So you sure this person is real."

"Yes... unfortunately. I even have a picture..." He went through his files to find a picture of him, or more like hoping to find it in his maze of paper files.

"I hope you're not stalling on this either."

"No, no, no! I just need to find the picture that's all."

Karli was getting suspisicious about this Yarel person he was talking about. He seemed too good to be true. Wouldn't some trust in your friend be good also?

She thought about that and decided to lay off the poor guy. She regreted going all ape like on him before.

"Found it!" He exclaimed in joy. The same joy one has when they find their lost change or a pizza crust under the bed. But not the joy of finding an old memory lying in the enclaves of your cabinets. He hurridly went toward Karli and presented the photograph.

She looked at it and forced her to burst out of laughter. Ben just looked at her in silence.

"I know that you would laugh either way..." He continued staring at her. Feeling destroyed on the inside from her high pitched laugh.

"I'm... sorry... but..." She said throughout her ridicule. "but... this... is too much to handle."

It eventually toned down. The photograph consisted of measly him and his friend Yeral wearing the strangest of cloths at a birthday party. All kinds of weird and creepy could be explained in that picture she was holding.