Double Crossed

Chapter 8~Drake

I don't know how long I spent driving around in the night air on my motorcycle. All I know was that I couldn't get far enough. Those people hadn't shown up for weeks, and I forgot about them. I can't believe that I did, but Aria did that to me. She could make me forget all of my worries and the numbness that's been my constant companion. For once I finally looked forward to the next day, and now it was all ruined.

I stumble in through my front door, half frozen from driving around all night. Martin jerks awake on the couch when I slam the door shut. It looks like he tried to wait up for me but fell asleep. Martin takes one look at me and immediately the fatigue in his eyes disappears.

"What happened mate? And whose blood is that?" he asks in shock.

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. Blood? I look down and frown at the red stains on my shirt. Damn, it was one of my favorites. I should've been more careful but I was a little preoccupied.

"Not my blood," I answer as I collapse tiredly on to the couch. "I was attacked again. I looked into it. The same real estate company popped up. Those two were just workers with menial jobs like the others."

"We seriously have to look into this. Something is going on," Martin says. He pulls out his laptop like he wants to start researching now.

I rub my eyes. I really need to get some sleep. "Yeah. You know the worst thing though?"

"Worse than almost dying again?" Martin asks incredulously.

"Aria was there. They came while we were at the food festival. I had her hide but she came after me when she heard the gun shots. There was a dead man behind me and I was about to kill the other one when she came. She looked so afraid of me."

I wanted to tell Aria not to be afraid. But how could I do that with everything around me? The thing that is killing me the most is that Aria caught a glimpse of the real me and she looked terrified. Because that was me. A seventeen year old boy who's scared and coldhearted. I killed those men and hardly felt a thing. That was my life.

Martin doesn't know what to say so he just gives me a regretful, sympathetic look. He pats me on the back. "We'll find them," he promises. I sure hope so I think as I bid him goodnight.

The next day I don't go to school. I'm afraid more people are going to try to attack me and then I'll have a hard time explaining. How do I break it to the principal lightly that I had a gun in my jacket for a very good reason? Besides I have a lot to figure out. So instead of school Martin and I go to the agency to research in the databases.

I don't even know where to start when I arrive. It'll be easier searching for a needle in a haystack. At least then I'd know what I'm looking for. However after hours of searching through filing cabinets and surfing through the online files, Martin comes across something.

"Hey Drake, this looks promising," Martin calls out. I stand up from the ground where I was surrounded by files. I walk over and look over Martin's shoulder. It was the same company, Imperial Real Estates.

"There's something weird about this company. They come up on the databases but as far as I can tell, there aren't any red flags coming up. But look at this," Martin says. He clicks on a chart to enlarge it. It was a graph of their profits. "They were making good money, nothing suspicious, but then in 2008 it suddenly shoots up. I've only seen increases like that in a boom, and the recession started that year. Prices crashed. There's no way they could've earned so much."

My mind instantly begins reeling for an explanation. "You think they're involved in something? Like smuggling drugs or weapons and that's how they got their money?"