Knight in Sneakers

Chapter 17 'Smiley.'

If a man can fly, a woman can be a musketeer- The Barbie and the Musketeers.
-X-

Clarke Augustan

My hand gripped the phone tightly as I read the text contents all over again,

' :) '

It was just a smiley from a private number. I assumed it was a random text or just an accidental text but I didn't want to take it lightly too at the same time. Track the number? It was a private number which does not allow us to know the digits present in the number combination. Just when I made the decision to forget it, I received another message.

'Let the fun begin. :) '

I was pretty sure all the people associated in the pub were locked up in the prison by now, which just basically confirms that they were associated with another gang.

And then I joined few more dots together,

Slate's see through lie and the camouflaging camera. Somebody else was keeping an eye on them.

But why?

Because they wanted their work done without any mishaps. Which brings me back to my previous conclusion, they were paid to do this. I quickly got out of the car and walked towards the main house door. The uneasy feeling settled in me again, like somebody was watching me.

I looked all around me but found nothing suspicious. I rang the door bell and waited until Mike opened the door.

"Where were you?" He asked me as I walked into the kitchen with my boots on.

"Mission." I replied curtly.

"So I heard. What mission?"

"It's exclusive." I replied as I sat down on the stool after getting one of the Nutella jars and a spoon.

"Fair enough." He replied shrugging off and walking away. He must have figured out what I was trying to do and it was simple, I wasn't going to give him answers until he does. I started examining Aaron's picture, it irritated me how flawless he looked even in this enlargened ID card picture. I was lost busy staring at Aaron's picture to even realise my brother had walked in again. I quickly tried to hide it but failed miserably. Mike just gave me a skeptical look and spoke,

"You know if you are trying to hide things from me, it's not going to work." He said with smugness filled in his voice.

"Are you done?" I asked feigning boredom.

"Why are you holding a picture which has a smiley on the back?"

I raised an eyebrow at his question.

Smiley?

I quickly turned the picture around to find a huge red smiley staring back at me.

What was I missing? Who was behind this? Why are they targeting Aaron? What does this smiley imply? Is it their signature? 

I shakily stood up and walked to my room silently, ignoring the confused looks my brother was shooting at my head. How could I answer his question when all of my questions were still left unanswered.

Entry 9

19th September, 2016.
Monday
5:45 a.m

Clarke Augustan

I woke up the next day with bags underneath my eyes because of the lack of sleep I had the previous night. I had a hard time falling asleep but when I finally did with the help of music, it felt like the alarm woke me up within an hour. I was dead tired and had to drag myself from the bed for training. I let out a tired yawn when I had finally managed to exit the front door. My yawn stopped midway and my eyes widened instead when I realised that Lucky sat in the large empty place where my car was supposed to be parked. I quickly looked around frantically in search of my car or even Mike's but found none except that cat licking its paw.