RECLAIM

Chapter 13. Time to Collect

~Arden~

Arden watched as Laith reached to turn on her neck insignia. She looked ready to take down an army, well prepared and all. They take off in silence later that day. To do what, he can only guess. Hell, he'd figure it out without even being told. Somebody's organ reaches its due date. It's time to collect.

Is just, they weren't as many opportunities to watch Reclaimers in action. They were notorious private beings, understandable, given the nature of their jobs. Still, this time he can tag along thanks to his ongoing temporary partnership with her. Although, if he can be honest with himself, there's another reason why he insist to come with her. He wonder what's the reason they choose to send her is even when she's wounded. You say he's worried, he calls it curiosity.

Arden sits patently, staring at her and then at the establishment he assumed her target is in. From the surface, it looked like an abandon factory with sealed windows, shadow covered areas and paint stripped walls. Of course, as Enforcer, he knew better. This kind of nest is, as always, a perfect place to conduct various extracurricular activities.

"You have to turn that on?"

"Yeah." She pulled her coat up, half covering the insignia. "The only code of conduct a Reclaimer can't break. If for some reason something gone wrong, the insignia will guarantee the Hive can't be accounted responsible."

"Not because it give you some kind of authority and as an id? You know, the usual insignia function."

"Sure. But for us, there's existed an added rule."

"What kind of half ass rule is that?"

"The price of freedom we Reclaimers have to pay."

"Doesn't change the fact that it sucks. Who's your target this time?"

"The owner of this enterprise." Laith points at the entrance hole with her chin. "Some guy named Mark Smith."

"A lame fake name."

"Does it matter? I just need to assess the situation and report some findings." She point towards a small alley and then at the darkening sky. "At the very least, maybe we can take a shelter when the first snow of the year finally falls." Laith exits the vehicle and begin to walk straight into the alley.

Arden exits and moves with her. "So, this is not a bag and tag kind of assignment?" He waits patiently when she paused to take a long look at him.

"Let's hope not. The necessary permission needed to authorize that kind of act will drown me. But then again, won't be a problem if it'll come to that though. I'm sure we can make up some believable excuse." Laith shrugged before moving again.

Arden sighed. He can tell that she let him tag along and ask all of these questions simply because an argument among them will be troublesome. That's fine with him. They fell into silence when the brief checks revealed that, as they expected, somebody is home. OK, more like the whole place was packed with bodies.

He glanced at her and nod when she gave signs that translate roughly as let's sneak inside. Arden lowers his body and then tossed her as she steps into his linked hands. She hoisted herself up one of the first floor smashed windows flawlessly. Receiving her hand signal, he proceeds to climb a sturdy looking pipe with fast yet silent movement.

Arden immediately noted his surroundings. What do you know, the interior improves so much, and he was stunned speechless for the third time this week. He must say what an out of the box style this place has. The presence of various LED-holo lights, loud noises called music, dark room jam packed with writhing bodies doing more than just dancing or drinking and others suspicious activities told him that they landed inside an unlicensed club.

He and Laith decided to split and blend with the crowds to elude quite a few fully armed men. Arden swims through the sea of people as he keeps track of Laith in his peripheral vision. Soon after, his e-Link receives a text that said 'nothing to report here, aside from the presence of the usual thugs and mobs. I'm going to the second floor,' from her. Miraculously, they clear the first floor without any hitch whatsoever.

Arden trailed after her towards the second floor, using one of the back stairs. They arrived and proceed to move. After wondering for a while, the absence of any living being begun to warn him. And from the look he keeps getting, he's not the only one.

"Should we proceed?" he approached her and whispered.

"And fall into a trap? Absolutely," she whispered back.

"You're 100% serious, aren't you? Wait, don't bother. Let me guess, occupational hazard?" Arden sighed.

Laith nodded at him with all seriousness in the world. "Those phrases are Reclaimers tagline."

They move again, even more slowly and carefully this time. Too slow inside a completely empty hallway in fact, Arden believes he will start to feel like a fool any second now. Fortunately, today's turn out to be one of his not so lucky day. Three big shadows jump at them.

Arden shifted to block a punch directed to his face. Another punch is coming. He blocked this one too before delivering a fist to his opponent solar plexus. The assailant doubled over. Arden immediately grab and slam his head to the wall. An audible crack was heard and the other man is down.

Arden turned, ready to over help. What welcomes him was a sight of two unconscious bodies lying on the ground. Arden raised his eyes to met Laith's. She stares at him with 'what took you so long' look. He sighed and shook his head.

"Please don't kill them," a mechanical voice suddenly echoes through the space. Both Arden and Laith spontaneously palmed their gun. Back to back, they scanned the area. Still empty, but this time, they knew somebody's watching.

"Welcome. No need to be alarmed. I've been expecting the two of you," the voice continues. "Especially you, Enforcer Arden Rush."

They glanced at each other for a split second. Arden with confusion and Laith with question. Your acquaintance? Think hard, her eyes seemed to be telling him. He did just that and came up empty. No idea. Too mechanized, he mouthed to her.

"Come. Just follow the hallway. No more surprises. Promise." The voice giggles as if it isn't creepy enough.

Arden stands his ground. "What should we do?"

"Let's go. We're busted anyway. And I still got a job to do," Laith stated calmly as if they're discussing the weather.

He eyed the hallway suspiciously. Like she said, it's bloody likely whoever invites them won't take a no as an answer. So, what choice do they have? Arden nodded at her and moves forward. She trudged beside him, as silent as he was, looking bored now as he made a path. Half turning, he watched the artificial lights keep changing as their shadows quickly follows them. It was dark out and forecasters were expecting the snow to go on throughout the night. What a perfect time to be in a madhouse.

Thankfully, as promised, they make their way without much problem. A couple of minutes later, a normal looking antique door enter their visions. They approach and inspect it. Nothing looked amiss.

"Just in case everything goes south, let me say this first." She turned to face him as her hand circled the door handle. "I'm sorry to drag you into this mess."

"No hard feeling, partner."

"Right. All this mushy stuff makes me itch."

"You call this mushy?"

"Kinda. Let's cut this short, shall we? Since we're about to jump into the abyss and all." She smiled. "OK. Here we go nothing." She turns the knob, opened it carefully and then stepped inside.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A blast from the past. Little by little, I will try to reveal  more of  the character's background.

Thank you so much for giving this book a chance. I would love to hear your feedback, so feel free to comments. If you like this book, please do vote and add it to your library. Thanks again and read on!

Video : P!nk - Funhouse