Before The Beginning

Chapter 26: Hunting Olaf

Begin!

~Karen's POV

In a stroke of luck, news of Olaf came within a week of me asking for it. Jacqueline gave me his last known location personally, and within the same hour Quinten and I were on our way there in his car.

I guess Ernest couldn't protect him forever. And I was also warned that he had gained some hired help in the form of a large bald man with a very long nose to protect him. Wonderful. He must have asked Ernest for a bodyguard. It didn't matter, Quinten knows I'm good at taking people down.

"What do you think we'll find?"

"An empty husk of a man cowering in the corner begging for us to let him go," I replied.

Quinten smirked at my snide comment. "I meant in the place."

"So did I."

~...

It took a long time to reach it. But one thing I did know was that anywhere Olaf went was sure to be somewhere connected to our tunnel system. It was the fastest way to get around on foot, and he had to rely on it too if he was going to stay out of our reach. The hideout he had chosen was an abandoned factory outside the city. However, One quick check of our tunnel maps indicated that he had to have driven here; it wasn't on the map. It was evening when we arrived and we saw no sign of any danger in the area around the building. The place was deathly quiet. There was an empty long black car in the parking lot that I assumed belonged to our target.

Quinten looked around with his spyglass, "The building is falling apart. It'll be dangerous, love, you're sure you want to go in there anyway?"

"We don't have a choice, it's for the mission," I said. "We can get in through the back."

"He might already know we're here," Quinten said while following me out of the car. "It could be a trap."

"Then we have to tread carefully." I paused for a second. "Also, it's so obviously a trap, otherwise he would have covered his tracks better."

Quinten chuckled, "This is why I love you."

It was pitch black inside the building. The only sounds we heard were the occasional creaking of old equipment and the floorboards, along with wind blowing in from outside. That is until we heard Olaf start talking to us via the echo of the huge interior, unfortunately it was so dark we couldn't see where he was. All we could do was follow his voice. Thankfully, I've known him long enough to know he doesn't shut up once he starts talking. (Especially when it's about himself...)

"So they sent you of all people after me? How amusing. Ernest warned me that you were one to hold a grudge, Karen. How does it feel knowing your family betrayed you?"

"My family didn't betray me! Ernest did!"

"But he's still family? You can never stop being related to him you know."

"There's a difference between being family and being related..." I replied, bitterly.

Without warning, I heard Quinten get grabbed by Olaf's guard in the dark. I tried help at first, but Quinten insisted that I go after Olaf. He can handle himself.

I turned on my spyglass flashlight and ran towards the other end of the room where Olaf's voice had come from. I could hear Quinten and the man fighting behind me.

After minutes of wandering through the dark, I ended up at the office area of the factory. Still no sign of Olaf.

"Where the hell are you..." I muttered.

I pointed my flashlight around the room carefully. It looked like an ordinary office aside from the fact that the desks were overturned and it was a mess in every other way. He might have been here for a while to mess with these things so much. I noticed a switch on the wall that said it opened a trap-door to the basement below us. That could prove useful. I studied the room once more; there was still no sign of him. Perhaps he went the other way...