The Girl Behind The Bullets

T W E N T Y F I V E

A small but noticeable smile finds its way onto Grant's face as he swipes through the most recent pictures on his phone. Abigail's eyes have the power to light up any room, she's energetic and confident yet she has a air of strong understanding despite her young age. Daniel on the other hand appears the opposite of his younger sister, he is quiet and independent but highly intelligent and kind. When he see's their young, naive and small faces he is taken back to a day last summer when Michelle was alive. They all went to the beach, a long drive but worth it. They played game after game and ate ice cream after ice cream. Grant still see's the look on Michelle's face as he lay down on the soft sand beside her as their children made sandcastles at their feet.

A look of gratefulness, a look of love.

Now in the pictures he looks at, he see's only the two of the three people he loves and even then, they are thousands of miles away and without their father. The smile soon fades and is replaced by resentment. Resentment for me, the person who killed his first love.

The sound of a whistle knocks Grant from his day-dream and he looks up, blinking multiple times to clear the images of Michelle's corpse that haunt him, he scans the crowd and see's the familiar face of Derosa as he takes a seat opposite him. He has a look of anger on his face, probably the reason why he called to meet Grant in the busy cafe on a high street.

"What's wrong?" Grant question just as he takes a seat, Derosa's hands are in the shape of fists and there's a look of frustration in his eyes.

"They're gone" He states as he searches Grant's emotionless eyes.

"Who's gone?" Grant quickly repeats the question, he also searches Derosa's eyes for an answer.

"Becker and Jackson, they're gone" Derosa partially informs Grant.

"Gone where Derosa? Kidnapped?" Grant continues to question as Derosa seems skittish as he looks left and right frequently as if on the lookout for something. 

"Worse, we aren't one hundred percent sure but it looks like Sophia is involved. Look Hartle is waiting back at the hotel and he has more details, let's go" Derosa doesn't give a puzzled Grant much of a choice because he is half way out the door before Grant has a chance to say anything. He leaves a few crumpled notes on the table for his coffee and races off to catch Derosa who is in the car already.

- - -

Derosa drives like a mad man as he speeds through the streets of the city like a local and reaches the base hotel in no time. Both men quickly leap from the car and run across the road to the entrance of their hotel. The pair race up the stairs to the top floor of the hotel where they have the entire level on lock down, no guests allowed. They are taking extra measures.

"Hartle what's going on?" Grant demands to know as he enters the brain of the hotel floor where Hartle sits surrounded by his many computers. He still looks the same, your stereotypical computer nerd, his floppy dirty blonde hair hanging over his glasses.

"I'm not really sure...it makes no sense" Hartle replies shakily as he clicks away at speed on his keyboard. Derosa piles into the room behind Grant bringing the grand total of people in the room to three.

"Hartle, what the fuck is happening?" Grant raises his voice, shocking Hartle a little bit. He stares at Grant for a moment as he swallows the lump in his throat. He diverts his eyes to his screen briefly before looking back up to a concerned Grant.

"It's not clear, but I think Sophia has been in contact with Jackson and Becker" He forces the words out his mouth, they sound foreign, like he shouldn't be saying them. Grant, once again, blinks a few times before muttering out a lone single word.

"Explain" he demands in a deathly silent voice.

"Erm, I got a match to her face twice, once when she arrived at Becker's hotel and once when she left Jackson's hotel. At first I thought she was going to kill them or at least scare them but there was no noise complaints at all, so then I decided to keep an eye on the hotels. Both Becker and Jackson left their respected hotels within five minutes of each other the next day and neither have been seen since. Both checked out of their hotels and that's all I know" Hartle explains all the information he has to both the men who stand to his side. There is a moment of silence before Derosa speaks up.

"Neither have made contact with us or turned up to work and both have been in recent contact with her, why would they leave?" Derosa states in the open, Grant adds that to the scenario compiling in his head.

"Why didn't she go to you two?" Hartle asks Derosa primarily and Derosa bites his bottom lip as he tries to come up with a conclusion, however, Grant beats him to the line.

"If she is doing what I think she is doing, then we are fucked" He states aloud as he looks to the soft cream carpet before looking at Hartle then Derosa.

"What's the difference between you and me and then Jackson and Becker? What's the one thing that has been a thing since day one with Sophia?" He directs at Derosa but he receives a shake of the head from him.

"We never got on with her, never. Now Becker got on with her and was even defensive of her at times and Jackson was sometimes on the fence between her and us. Don't you see what she's doing?" Grant simplifies the situation and it's obvious it worked because the expressions on both men's faces change drastically.

"No, the guys wouldn't do that to us" Derosa defensively states as he soon realises whats going on. Hartle shakes his head in confusion.

"Wait, what is she doing?" He questions as he whips his hair from his face. Grant turns his whole body to Derosa and the pair share a deep, heart felt look. The same kind of anger coats their faces, betrayal.

"She's turned them against us".

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