Part 3 Ch.22-1

I wake up from my sleep and glance at the alarm clock. It's four am. A new day. Carson is still out on his job, helping the others to look for me. My thoughts wander to Paxton. Whatever Paxton seems to be doing is working because so far there hasn't been any news of a shootout among the gangs.From the silence, it seems his control over the Yellow Thorns is complete. But then again, we also kept revolution silent, I know better than most that the media doesn't know anything. When I stand up again, it's easier. The ground still rolls around me but I can move more now, at least I'm not so stiff. For the first time in the light of day, I take in Carson's room. He has several photos hanging in frames on the wall. There's one where I recognize his mother, it's the day of his high school graduation. Another one with some of other people I don't recognize around his age, they're posing seriously outside the Police Academy. There's more pictures on the hallway. I slowly walk around his apartment. The kitchen is clean, in fact, the whole place seems to be clean. I would have thought that a single man would have his house a bit more messy but apparently not him. A thought stop me. Is he single? He's handsome enough to easily get someone, but if he has, there's so sign of her in the pictures I've seen. When I get tired, I sit on the couch and think for a long while. I've been gone for eight days, I need maybe two more to be able to actually run without passing out. Ten days. Is that too long? Is it enough? I make a decision and open a portal to Paxton's house. I step through, the house is dark, he could be meeting with the rest. I open another portal and pull it to me. Their response is immediate True to their training, they tense to attack. Valentina's hands ignite and she stops at the last second. "Amara?" Paxton is the first to recover. "You're alive." He bolts up and pulls me into a hug. I wince and he notices and steps away. "Goddamn, it's so good to see you." He grins. "We thought that the Ravagers had you. When they didn't make a ransom, we assumed the worst." Nathaniel tell me. I feel myself grinning. "I'm not dead yet, my friends." "What happened?" Andrea demands. For a brief moment, I'm even glad to see her. "I couldn't find any mention of you on the police database." Cosmo informs me. "Their expert must have deleted it." I sit down, the room is already starting to get blurry. They expectant faces stare back at me and I tell them what happened, careful to leave out the parts about Carson and some things about my stay with the OCIU. As much as I've worked with them, I can't show any weakness. It's the first rule of this. I go into detail about the OCIU's layout, figuring that it could be useful information if we plan to attack them later on. They ask questions--some which I do my best to answer and others which I avoid. When I'm done talking, they stay silent. "So Romero is dead?" Paxton asks.  "He's gone?" There's something off about his voice, when I study him, his expression says later. "Yes. But I couldn't get to his second in command." The others start talking among themselves until Paxton interrupts hem a few minutes later. "The meeting is officially over. Amara--Elenora now. I guess you all know her real name." He gives them a grim smile, some smile back.  "She and I will discuss this further, we'll hold another meeting tomorrow at the same time." I'm impressed by how easily they listen to him. He's a great leader, I've just never truly realized it until now. When the last one leaves, Paxton turns to me, his expression is serious. "What happened with the OCIU? You didn't tell us everything." He tells me. I'm about to ask how he knew but I realize it's pointless, he knows when I'm lying. "I don't want to talk about it." "Elenora-" "Please." I look at him seriously. "Just don't ask about it." He hesitates but thankfully lets the subject drop. There's is a seriousness in his eyes that wasn't there before and I know that he doesn't have good news. "Can you open a portal to my house?" He asks. I do and we arrive there. "What's wrong?" I tell him. I sit down on a kitchen chair as he brings out something from his room. He stands in front of me. "There's something for you. It's....well, you'll see." He says, handing a camera to me. It's a small and cheap but the image is clear. "It's from the Ravagers." I click play and I swear that my heart almost stops. Romero is standing, fully alive, staring at the camera. I try to look for any obvious computer editing but it seems to be him. Real, in the flesh....alive. The scene is a warehouse, one that looks familiar. Behind him are two of his men, looking not at all surprised that their leader has come from the dead. Next to him... Next to him, my brother is tied to a chair. His head is slumped down and I can see a his shirt wet with blood in some places. I grip the camera tightly, not daring to even blink. His breath moves ever so slightly--the only sign that he's alive. Mateo. "Elenora." Romero says. That's what makes all of this suddenly real, his voice. Romero is still alive. "I have your brother. And it's very possible that he will die, I can't see him lasting much longer." He glances distastefully at Mateo. "Unless you turn yourself in to me. A life for a life. I'm not going to forgive the knife in my throat, but I consider myself merciful, your death will be swift. There's no need for Mateo to suffer more for your crimes." He pauses and looks at the camera distastefully. "On the fifth of this month, Mateo and I will be in the place you and I first met. If you don't show up by eleven in the morning, I won't hesitate to put a bullet through his brain." He smiles slowly. "I may be able to cheat death but I can assure you that Mateo isn't." The video stops, freezing with the cold smile on Romero's face. "What time is it?" I demand. "It's five thirty-four. Today is the fifth. Are you going to go?" I don't say anything. "He'll kill you!" My mind searches for possibilities. "If he's holding a gun to his head, I can appear behind them- and rip the gun away- and take us away from there."