RECLAIM

Chapter 14. Catching Up

~Arden~

"Queen?" Arden stares at the young woman from across the room. But what gives him a real pause is the bolt of recognition.

"The one and only. Long time no see, Rush. I see you make the most of your life, so far."

Arden gaped and that's about the only thing he can do. The woman who sits regally in the middle of the room looked to be in her early twenties. Her familiar icy jade eyes, slender build and deep red hair blends perfectly with the blood red of her very revealing dress and the colors that surround them. All around them, five men stand and stared broodingly. Oh, it's her all right. The same Claire Queen from that alley, except this time, he's the one who step inside her domain.

"Welcome to my humble abode. Please, take a seat," Queen said as she smiled. "Can I offer the two of you whisky? Beer? Water? Anything?" 

"I'll take the water, thanks." Laith states as she moves past him, unfazed.

Arden can only watch in silence as Queen sends one of her goons to hand over a glass of water. Laith calm demeanor as she received the glass before taking a seat told him that her target really is Queen. Talk about double jeopardy. He moved to take a seat right next to her.

"Come on. Don't be so tense." Queen beckoned them with her hand. "We got a lot of history together, after all." Her smile became bigger. The more her smile looked so welcoming, the more alert he becomes. He knows that smile and the familiar glint in her eyes so well. She's planning something.

"Oh? Old flame?" He can see Laith puts the glass on her lips, feign an interest and lower it without even taking a single sip. She's good. Maybe they got a shot of getting out alive after all.

"Pfft. Please dear. With this boy? No, no. More like underling and employer." Queen clapped her hand gently. "Now, enough of this boring introduction. Let's talk about something more interesting. Like, the reason why the two of you decided to sneak into this property."

Before he can come up with some lame excuse, Laith put both her hands up and shrugged. "You got us. We came to see you, of course. More precisely, I came to see you."

Queen taps her index finger on the hand rest. "Let me guess, it's about my left lung?"

"Well, yeah. Since I'm obviously a Reclaimer." Laith twirl her glass and look straight at Queen. "I came to collect it."

Before anybody had a chance to react, Queen raised her right hand. "Chill, children. It's not like she will tear it right from my body, even though I know for a fact that she's more than capable to do that." She puts her hand down and giggled.

Laith smirk. "True enough."

"Isn't there something that I can offer you to expand the due date?" Queen expression turned serious. "How about some juicy info?"

"Like what?" Arden interjects.

"Let's just say, I still keep that old informant club close to my heart." Now, that glint is back on Queen eyes. "I know that the two of you were assigned to investigate a string of bizarre missing person cases."

"Yeah, so?"

"What did I teach you in the past? It's all in the details, Rush." Now, even her smile is back in full force. "Let me tell you guys some of the things I learn so far." Queen then lunch her narrative, explaining some details in amazing clearness. "So? Convince yet? Rush, you of all the people know how good I am at this information gathering gigs. I can offer you, at the very least, some credible hints." She ended her story.

Arden wipes his hand over his face as he tried to pull together the fragments of information they had. There wasn't much. Any kind of information at this point will aid them greatly. On the other hand, all of this vague style does smell like her old scheme. That speech pattern, he recognized it from some distant memory. There's no guarantee that she won't try to trick them.

There was something amiss, though. He's quite sure Queen's was hiding something. She knows more than she's let out. It's looks like she have some piece of information that he knew would assist them somehow yet, Queen chose to hide it from them. Until he had it, they were walking blind. Even though he knew Laith seems perfectly fine with that, it still doesn't sit well with him. Because if there's one thing he knows for sure, Queen is the kind of people that personifies ruthlessness down to the bone. One very dangerous, yet incredibly resourceful being.

That is why he had to make certain no matter what. Which mean they would have to take a chance sooner than later. Moving to his feet, Arden laid out everything they know so far, except a few key details, before quickly stating some suspicion. Then he sums them up, sits back down, waiting patiently as Queen contemplates it, whispered and nodded along with her goons.

Arden takes his time to watch the only other girl in attendance. Laith played with the glass, assessing the situation in silence. Her head tilted and he swore he could see her quick mind working in those wide blue eyes. The moment she put the glass down, he knew. He knew that she's finally realized his plan and more than ready to scheme and bluff alongside him to buy the information he believe in Queen's possession.

Arden hid his grimace. She was getting mad though. He could see it in her face, feel it in the air around her. She didn't confront him with Queen watching them, though. She was careful to give every person in the room the perfect cold, calculated façade but she was willing to work with him. Willing to do whatever it took. His respect grew for her. She was a damned strong and smart girl. Not many people, male or female, could hold their tempers around when trust in this kind of situation.

He watched her sits, wondering how long she would wait before she blew up and confronted him over the decisions he was making. Decisions that hadn't been discussed with her first. In his defense, it's like they have the time to. He can only pray that it won't come back to bite them in the ass later.

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Scheming time. It's more fun this way. Thoughts anyone?

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