Playing for Rya

14. Fire and Gasoline

Photo of Gio

Song: Burn by Ellie Goulding

'You are aware ma'am that this is a members only zone,' a tall, lean, muscular man with light brown hair questioned.

Both women were sequestered in a room on the ground floor, which seemed relatively bare compared to the rest of rooms they'd seen in the building.

It had an an expensive looking plush white centre rug, thrown over a hardwood floor which looked similar to the one in the den, a glass centre table and several comfortable black leather couches.

Even their holding room looked comfortable and very much above ordinary, Rya thought to herself, the moment they were ushered into the room.

The two goons who had brought them here had left, after letting them know that someone would be in shortly to speak with them. The brown-haired man had walked in several moments later, and so far, had gotten nowhere with Elsa, who seemed to be getting her rocks off by giving vague responses to the questions that had been posed to her so far.

'Is it really?' she asked, touching her hand to her chest and feigning a high airy tone of voice that had Rya stifling a smile.

The man shifted impatiently on his feet, 'it is,' he said insistently on a long sigh, 'as I'm sure was clearly stated in your non-disclosure agreement. We do not allow non-members in here for reasons that were clearly outlined in that document, we also do not condone the use of another members access card.'

Rya's head swivelled between the arguing individuals, it was news to her that Elsa had signed a non-disclosure agreement, if she'd known about the existence of the binding legal document, she would not have entertained the thought of coming here under Elsa's plan.

Elsa sighed as her expression grew serious, 'look, the access card in question belongs to my husband, we certainly didn't come here intending to cause any trouble, my friend here is simply considering becoming a member and I simply wanted to show her around.'

The man, who had his hands on his hips stared down at the both of them where they were seated and then gave a curt nod before turning to leave.

'Hold on,' Elsa called out to him, 'are we cleared to leave now because we've really got to get back to...'

'Not yet ma'am, Not until we are able to get in touch with the gentleman whose access card you used to gain entrance. If he corroborates your story, then this case this will be sorted fairly quickly, until then, sit tight.

~~~~~~~~

He returned several minutes later, just as a phone call came through to Elsa's phone.

'It's Gio,' she said to Rya, and turned pointedly to the man, 'excuse me,' she said, getting up and retreating to a corner of the room where she began to speak into the phone in hushed tones.

Rya turned back to the man, noticing the thin black folder her held in his hand as he took a seat in the sofa opposite her and fixed her with a purposeful stare.

'Mr Romano, agrees with everything his wife has told us, and seeing as he, in his position as a founding member, is well aware of the protocol we maintain here, especially since he helped create these rules which we enforce, we are fully convinced that he understands the stakes at hand.

Ordinarily, we would have you sign a non-disclosure form, or, if you refuse, report you to the authorities for trespassing on private property, but at his behest, we will let you go without following due process.'

Rya breathed a relieved sigh.

'However,' the man continued, 'this is a membership dossier,' he said, holding up the black folder in his hand, 'Mr Romano has asked that one be made available to you, assuming that you're still considering taking on a membership?' he paused to wait for her response.