Chapter 104 Eavesdropping on the Reaper
\[Lilia\]
She let me rest for a moment. I went to the benches where I placed my water jug when I noticed that Val was gone. I turned around and looked at Sasha to see if she noticed it too, but she was minding her own business as she continued with her drill.
Curious, I scanned around the gym and moved outside the door, hoping to see him, but he was already gone. I was about to head back inside, but I halted on my steps when I heard a voice not too far away from where I stood. My spirit of inquisitiveness kicked in, and a bigger part of my brain told me to follow the voice.
I contemplated it for a while, thinking about the possible repercussions I would get if I gave in to the natural inclination of satisfying my curiosity. I bit my lips hard, watching Sasha in the middle of the gym, on top of the boxing ring, doing her usual self-dance and invincible sparring partner. She was too infused with her little world that she didn’t even notice that Val and I were gone.
I listened to the voice for a moment, trying to decipher what it was saying, but the longer I concentrated on it, the more it sounded mad.
Was it Val?
Finally, my inquisitiveness won, and my body obeyed without hesitation.
I gingerly followed where the voice was coming from, and it led me to the side of the gym, facing the untamed forest behind. I slowly peeked through the wall, pressing my body and silencing my heavy breathing while I look at the familiar back of the man that was having a conversation through the phone.
I was right, it was Val, and he indeed sounded upset.
“Where is he?... What do you mean by gone?... You fucking assholes, find him, or else the boss will have your heads. He knows what the De Luca were hiding, and I am sure, not long enough, they’ll be on our noses before we even realize it…Damn move!”
I could not hear what the other line was telling him since it wasn’t in a loudspeaker mode, but the way Val barked out an order to his phone, I knew that this was a serious matter, and this is what made him off the loop this morning. I also don’t know what he was talking about, but one thing caught my attention.
De Luca. How can I ever forget that?
I know I heard that name before, but I am not so sure where. I rake my brain for a moment, fishing out bits and pieces of information I could dig out from my memory of where I have heard the name before it hits me.
De Luca. I am sure it was the same man that showed up in the hospital before the ambush and that nightmare I had after my near-death experience back in Italy.
That man haunting my dreams. I ought to ask Kael about him when he returns, but things have gone sideways now, and there’s no way I am talking to him first.
Nope. Na dah!
“Fuck!”
My attention immediately went back to Val. The phone call had already ended, but he was still violently punching the screen of his mobile phone and put the device back to his ear while he paced back and forth. I quickly hid into the wall and listened carefully as the call picked up.
“Hello, Boss…Ronan De Luca, he’s here,” Val announced sternly with full distaste as he mentioned the name.
Ronan De Luca? Was that the name of the man that was in my dreams?
My tongue itches to ask Val that very question, but I held myself still on the spot I was hiding and listened more to their conversation.
“My men were on his tail, but they lost him…They spotted him just this morning a hundred yards from the fence…No, we don’t know yet, but whatever they want from us, it’s serious….And one more thing, we lost another shipment this morning, bound to Indonesia...You know?... Fucking Salvatore…They jammed our transactions…Yes, I know, De Luca were involved in this… I’m on it….”
More names were coming, but it is always connected to the De Luca. Who were they exactly? Why Val and Kael were so mad at them? Were they business rivals? Was someone brave enough to oppose Kael?
Val paused for a moment, and I thought he finally sensed my presence. My heart thundered in my chest, and I tried to even out my breathing as the pain started to jab at my chest. But then, I only heard Val draw a long sigh and continue talking.
“Yeah, she’s training with one of the reapers, Sasha….”
The subject suddenly changes, and I am quite sure it was directed to me. It instantly piqued my interest, but one thing that rang in my ear was how Sasha was addressed as a reaper. What was that mean? Grim reaper? As in death?
Then it came to my realization as I pondered over the term.
Reaper. Grim Reaper. Death… Shit!
Assassin.
Sasha is an assassin.
Holy… I wanted to curse aloud, but then I remembered being an undercover eavesdropper.
The revelation was mind-boggling in and of itself, and I have no idea whether or not I should feel flattered by it. I mean, those types of people have had extensive training in the art of murder. Developed to be the most efficient killing machine possible, and Kael was their master.
And I have been trained by one!
The fine hairs on my body rose as sheer terror started to grapple me, but I quickly calmed myself and listened more when Val spoke.
“She’s fine. She’s doing great with her skills. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll take her to the firing range….”
Firing range? I will finally hold a gun? Oh, surely they were talking about me.
Excitement suddenly filled me, replacing all the terror that had once braced me.
“Yes, copy that…Bye.”
Val finally ended the call, and the sound of his ascending footsteps on the gravel dumped ice-cold water into my head, yanking me back to the reality that I would be good as dead if he finds me eavesdropping on his conversation. My feet moved according to their own accord without telling them so. I bolted back inside the gym, panting as my body ached so much.
“Where the hell have you been?” Sasha groused soon as she saw me walking toward the bench. She looked like an angry hen. I drag my eyes to the length of her body. A physique quite similar to mine, and my brain refused to comprehend that she’s one of the people they called reapers.
A very lethal person.
She jumps from the ring and walks closer to me. I wanted to move away from her, but I was still worried about everything I had learned.
“Hello? Earth to Lilia? Are you even listening?” She snaps her fingers in front of my face. Funny, that was my specialty: To listen to some conversation I wasn’t supposed to be hearing.
I immediately flinch at her snapping fingers, thinking those hands were tainted with human life.
How many had she killed? Were those all bad people? Did she kill the innocents? We were both the same age. How long had she been training? I honestly admired her for being a strong woman, and I thought she was only a guard in training. Never in my wildest imagination, she would be an assassin.
My tongue was stuck in the back of my mouth, and I couldn't seem to find the exact word I wanted to begin with. There were so many questions that I wanted to ask, but I just couldn't.
I did nothing except stare at her while my mouth gaped, opened, and closed without uttering a word. Suddenly, a voice came from just behind me, which caused my spirit to rocket out of my body.
“Eavesdropping.”
Val…
Oh, fuck! He knows!