Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Ocche leaned back in his chair, his fingers steepled. His eyelids fluttered as an eerie blue light flickered beneath them. It had taken forever for him to spread his Ethereal Eye across Florence. Each new eye had been taxing, but he could move them at will and position them wherever he needed. With his gaze everywhere, nothing escaped him. Including the drones that Amos Carter had checked on in his room just before Verde and Veloce had attacked. It was a good thing too, those things packed one hell of a punch. But that was exactly what they were looking for.

What else could he make with a little bit of percussive encouragement?

He grinned, “You didn’t kill him, did you?” He asked into the earpiece.

“Of course not!” Veloce snorted back, “I’ve been practicing. A few broken ribs at the most.”

“Good to hear it,” He said and tilted his head, “Verde, there’s a woman in the bathroom. She’s the fashion designer. Grab her too.”

“What’s the point?” Verde grunted over the channel. “She can’t make us anything.”

“She looked… close to the CEO of ASTA. Close enough for a ransom I bet,” He said and opened his eyes, the light fading. He reached for a drink on the desk in his darkened office. The room was devoid of any distractions or light sources. He needed total darkness to use his ethereal eye at his best, external light caused his eyes to reflexively open. He sipped his drink while Verde fell silent, “What’s the problem, Verde?”

“Nothin, I’m on it,” Verde groused. A bang rang out followed by a scream.

–

Amos curled over himself on the ground, doing his best to play dead. It hurt like hell, but it wasn’t bad enough to knock him out. This is why I say ‘always be prepared’. He thought to himself, while the bathrobe had been given to him by the hotel staff, the t-shirt was one of his own make. He coughed, unfortunately the thin fabric could only absorb so much shock. It could stop a bullet but it would definitely leave a bruise. This woman… practicing my ass, she would have killed me with that punch.

Now who are you talking to? He thought, concentrating on her earpiece. Oh good, you’re using cell towers, He forced himself not to grin. Now I just gotta figure out how to-

BANG!

Mikayla screamed.

Son of a bitch!

He reached out to his drones and took control, getting a full view of his surroundings through their cameras. Veloce was peering into one of the cameras, her blue eye filling the view. The other views gave him a clear image of Mikayla struggling against Verde’s grip. He grit his teeth, Damn it, I can’t just sit here. He willed the drones to spread out and open fire first on Veloce. A staccato of gunshots rang out, the woman cursing loudly as she darted backwards and towards the far wall, dodging the first salvo, her long brown hair fluttering about.

“He’s still conscious!” She snarled.

One of the drones pivoted towards Verde, the man frowned, his dark eyes glowing green beneath a mess of brown hair. The drone’s barrel turned and he pulled Mikayla to his chest, positioning her between him and the lethal machine. Shit! A green blade formed in his hand, extending to brush the skin of her throat. She let out a cry of alarm before falling very, very still, her teary eyes looking wildly around the room. Amos sighed audibly and pulled himself to his feet. He swayed a little, favoring his gut with his hand. “You piece of shit,” He snarled, “She’s a bystander.”

Veloce glared at him out of the corner of his eye, “Asshole, you almost shot me!”

“Yeah, shame I missed,” Amos spat back.

She clicked her tongue and opened her mouth just as Verde tightened his grip on Mikayla, his glowing eyes fixed dangerously on Amos. “Shut your toys off, now.”

Figures… Amos thought, “Fine.” His drones retreated before settling back into the case. “There, happy? Now let her go.”

“You must think we’re stupid,” Veloce barked out a laugh, “She’s coming with us.”

Amos frowned but kept his mouth shut, the situation was bad, but not unsalvageable. These guys didn’t know the full extent of his abilities. He concentrated on the phone in his pocket and sent out a text to Sonya before turning on the GPS tracker. Even if they took his phone, he’d just send a signal once they got to wherever they were planning on holding them. From the sounds of it they wanted him alive. You better fuckin’ find me Sonya, and I’m gonna give you a piece of my mind. Next time. Bodyguards.

Veloce darted towards him again, squaring up with him. “Thinking of a way out of this?” She asked, tilting her head.

“Obviously,” Amos said with a sneer, trying to sound braver than he felt. It was one thing to calculate a plan in his head and it was a completely different matter to be face to face with someone who could literally punch a hole through his head. Sweat began to bead on his forehead as she stared him down, was she deciding whether or not he was worth keeping? “What do you guys want anyway?” He tried to press.

She frowned and opened her mouth before going quiet, another signal hitting her earpiece, “Nice try, no delays. Let’s go.”

She grabbed him by the shirt and started to drag him along, he sighed, “Ease up! I’m not going to run,” He said, “You’re way faster than I am.”

She ignored him and pushed him towards the door as shouts rang out in the hallway. The sounds of a dozen pairs of feet. Amos paled a little, hotel security was here.

They don’t stand a chance! He opened his mouth to shout only to get a light punch in the gut from Veloce. He gagged and crumpled over as she stepped away. “Keep a hold on the girl,” Veloce said, “Don’t want him turning his toys back on. I’ll take care of them.”

“Got it,” Verde grunted.

Amos sank to his knees and squinted up at Verde and Mikayla. She was looking down at him, horror in her eyes. He forced himself to smile, Sonya wouldn’t want him looking like a chicken shit right now. “It’s gonna be okay Mik, promise, you’re gonna be just fine.”

“As long as we get paid,” Verde said cooly while Veloce darted past him. Another shout rang out followed by a hail of gunfire and then screams. The sound of crunching bone, agonized wails, and the heart wrenching gasps of men dying. “Now get up and walk.”

–

They left the hotel through one of the rear exits and proceeded down a series of alleys and side roads that seemed completely random to Amos. One thing he did notice was that no matter what they seemed to step out onto empty streets and just out of view of security cameras. Do they have a technopath like me? Amos wondered, No, if they did then we wouldn’t be avoiding cameras. Eventually they arrived at a van that had clearly been left there for them to get away in.

When they were thrown in the back, Verde finally released Mikayla. The poor thing was trembling, tears covering her face. Amos hurried to her side and wrapped his arms around her. He wasn’t great at comforting people, frankly he hated people, but she didn’t deserve what she was going through. He whipped his head towards Verde, “You bastard,” He snarled. The man just shrugged and held out his hand.

“Your phones, now,” He barked.

Amos considered playing dumb but sighed, he took Mikayla’s phone from her pocket gingerly before grabbing his own and handing them over. Mikayla was in no state to respond to any commands. Verde crushed them in his hand and tossed them to the ground. There goes plan A. Amos groused as Verde shut the rear doors and hopped into the passenger seat. There was a steel barrier between them and the front, with only a small glass window offering vision into the driver area.

I could try to take control of the car… Amos considered, but it’d be better to stick to his original plan. But can Marta take these guys? As thoughts swirled in his head, the vehicle began to move. I’ll adapt if I have to, for now, let’s wait.

–

They drove for almost two hours and from the feeling of the road, they had arrived in the countryside outside of Florence. Not ideal, but at least he could still sense the signal towers. Mikayla had fallen asleep in his arms, the shock had been too much for her. The vehicle came to a stop and he looked up to watch the doors. Verde opened them and gestured for them to get out, “She’s asleep, can’t you be a little delicate?” Amos demanded.

Verde frowned, “Wake her up, let’s go.”

“Dick,” Amos snarled before relenting, he jostled Mikayla awake and did his best to urge her to remain calm. Verde waited impatiently until the two dragged themselves out onto the cobblestone driveway of a spacious florentine manor, the elegant building was practically one with the trees and greenery around it, giving it a refined but rustic feel. Amos focused, feeling for anything that could send a signal to the nearby towers. He caught hold of Verde’s phone. Looks like they still haven’t figured it out yet, good, stay stupid.

He sent out the GPS signal and a fresh text message, Now we just have to survive.

“Nice place,” Amos grunted.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Shut up,” Verde growled while Veloce zipped past them, going up to the door and opening it. She reached into a satchel slung across her shoulder and pulled out a gun, pointing it at the two of them and gesturing for them to proceed inside.

Mikayla trembled next to him, utterly silent, and Amos forced himself to move, taking her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. He had no way of telling her that help was on its way. He sighed and stepped into the building, it was so dark. He looked up and could barely make out that the light bulbs had been stripped from everything. A quick mental scan revealed that besides the phones in their captor’s pockets and another signal coming from nearby, this place was devoid of electronics.

“The CEO arrived at the hotel a little over an hour ago.”

Amos whipped his head in the direction of the voice. A man stepped out of the darkness, his eyes closed as a faint glow burned beneath them. His dark hair was slicked back tightly and he had a thin frame and face, “Amos Carter, finally.”

Amos frowned, “You got us here, now what?”

“Now, you work for me,” The man said and gestured to himself, “I am Ocche, the all seeing eye,” The man said confidently as Veloce arrived at his side, “You’ve already met Veloce and Verde.”

Amos snorted, “Work for you? Why the hell would I do that?”

“Because we need weapons and you want to live,” Ocche said, “Your boss wasn’t exactly shy about crediting you with ASTA’s breakthroughs. I’ve been keeping an eye on your company ever since it was formed, I’ve been looking forward to meeting a genius like yourself in the flesh.”

Amos swallowed at the threat, “And if I refuse?”

“Then we’ll kill the girl, she’s worth a ransom I assume, but money isn’t exactly an issue,” Ocche said with a shrug. Next to Amos, Mikayla winced and tried to shrink even more, fresh tears running down her cheeks.

“You touch a fuckin’ hair on her head and-” Amos snarled only to get a fresh punch to the gut from Veloce who had crossed the distance between them in an instant. He gagged and fell to his knees again, “Son of a… you’re not making it easy to want to work for you.”

Ocche chuckled and opened his eyes, “You’re right, I apologize, why don’t we have a seat and talk instead?” Ocche said, gesturing to a couch in the darkened room.

Amos ground his teeth but the sight of Verde grabbing at Mikayla forced him to move. As he stepped towards the couch a jolt went through his mind immediately before Verde reached into his pocket, letting go of Mikayla for a moment. He pulled out his phone and frowned. “The hell?”

“What is it?” Ocche asked.

“Text from an unknown number, just says ‘duck’,” Verde grunted.

Amos’ eyes widened and he lunged for Mikayla. She gasped as he grabbed her and pulled her to the ground. Just as he did, the world around him exploded.

BOOM!