Elvictor:
gathering enough toxic.. op, you are there.

I am

enirock:
Now it's clear for Shelby. That's the man she's been seeing.
Nice one Op. We are grateful.

Thanks for reading

Herbiedeen:
Guess that's the indian man shelby has been seeing of recent

nice work

Thanks

Odoogu:
what a Chase
thanks op. more grace, ink and money

Thanks

Also, for those that like good music, you can check out the two songs listed in this chapter.

LSD-Audio
Rauf and Faik- Aetctbo (Might not understand the Lyrics but it's got good rhythm)

Nice One

Wow we are waiting for more

So, dmitri's mum and dad are a part of this.
case the waiter is the indian dude shelby have been seeing.
how did dmitri get the necklace from his mum. How did he get out of nigeria without querries.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Three weeks ago

I stood on the balcony of my hospital room, looking down at the city, a nurse had earlier told me when I asked, that my room was on the fifteenth floor of the skyscraper hospital building which consisted of about twenty floors that were very easily accessible. It was one of the floors that were reserved for VIPs, the other floors being the fourteenth and thirteenth floor, where Michael and Shalom were admitted. I was curious what the upper floors had then been reserved for, and I found out that they were mostly offices and fourth generation operating rooms. They contained very expensive machines and devices and they were stored there to reduce and prevent the risk of theft and damages. I had also discovered that the hospital was wired with CCTV along its corridor and was impressed when I found out that it was not only limited to the VIP wards, but also the regular wards too, improvement.

It was evening and the sun had already set far ahead of me, its pale brightness shining over roofs of buildings, cars and people that went on their various ways, trying to make ends meet in a world that only the fittest could survive in. The cold wind blew across my dry skin and it felt so refreshing, more so from the height I was standing. The serene environment, coupled with the breathtaking scene of the sea far ahead made me feel very much relaxed as I took in the beauty of nature and had a mental orgasm. My outlook on life had been altered ever since I had my near death experience, I suddenly felt at peace with most things and realized that life was too short to worry, worry about things that could be taken away from us in an instant, things that we were made to work so hard to get, only to easily loose it all in the end. In a way, I questioned the point of everything, the reason we were actually created, or the reason we actually existed, why we had to strive so hard from the beginning of our lives till the end and then seize to exist in a snap, our footprints wiped away by the ocean of time. There had to be a greater purpose for it all, if not, it was meaningless.

Shelby had finally gone home, her grandfather had requested that she rested a little instead of hanging around the hospital, since the worst was over. Mr. Elias, Shelby's grandfather was her guardian, and had been since she was just about two years old when her parents decided to separate. Her mom never looked back after that, not even after her father had died a few years later in a gory truck accident. The driver of the truck was never found and after years of investigation, the case was closed and declared inconclusive. She never showed up for the funeral or sent any condolence letter. She also never wrote back, even when Shelby had sent her countless letters, begging her that she needed the influence of a parent in her life and that she should at least come see her once in a while. One day, Shelby decided that she had had enough and travelled across the state to see her, that was when she received the last straw that broke the camel's back, her mom blatantly told her that she never wanted anything to do with her, and that she was a mistake she would always regret for the rest of her life. That was over seventeen years ago, but she was never the same after that event, and even though she always played strong hearted, she was just a little butterfly that sought after a flower to land on and relieve all its stress. I also noticed that whenever a subject that related to parenthood was brought up, she avoided it like a plague.

The door slid open and my mom walked into the room, slowly shutting the door behind her. She joined me in the balcony, dragging a chair with her and placing it just beside me, she took a deep breath and smiled at the universe.

"What a scene." She pointed out.

I nodded in agreement and there was a short silence.

"There is something we have to talk about." She started, dragging her chair to face me. "And I think this is the right time to discuss it."

She got my attention immediately, I had earlier decided to ask her outrightly about the necklace she was wearing and what she knew about the events unfolding, but she had been too busy to sit and talk so I decide to wait until she had time to finally sit and talk.

"Your dad and I had decided to wait until your twentieth birthday when we knew that you'd be mentally fit and ready to hear it. But with the recent developments and the fact that your twentieth birthday is just around the corner, I've decided to tell you the truth today." She pulled off the necklace and handed it to me. "This belonged to your real mother."

It took me a while to process that bit of information, and when I finally did, the shock and confusiom that followed was indescribable, I had never seen that coming from any direction.

"Nineteen years ago, four years after your dad and I had gotten married, things were going on fine, we were comfortable and making some extra incomes from our first jobs, but I found it hard to concieve. I had about three miscarriages within those years and we both decided to put conceiving on a hold till we found out what was wrong and adopt for the main time while we still tried to get our lives together. We contacted an adoption agency and were told that there was a woman that was urgently willing to hand over her four weeks old baby, so we met with her to discuss the formalities and prepare the paper work. On the day we met, she told us that she didn't need our money and only wanted us to promise to protect you no matter the cost. She also handed us this necklace and told us that it was a family heirloom that had to be given to you on your nineteenth birthday to prevent them from finding you. We didn't know what she meant by that till a few years later, when the first attempt was made on your life. I was in the kitchen and I heard a scream in the garden, I hurried out and found a man on the ground, screeching, you were only four years old and you stood above him. He begged for you to stop but nothing happened till he stopped screeching and laid lifeless. I pulled you in and tried to call the cops, but before I got back to the garden, he was gone."

I swallowed hard, I didn't have any memories of what she had just described and with the look on her face, there was no way she had decided to make up something like that. I stood up, and my chest felt tight, the breeze that blew no longer felt refreshing and I felt like I was suffocating. I hurried out of the balcony and out of the room, I needed to go outside to get some fresh air and I needed to do it fast.

*

Present

The girl in black paced around the living room, moving in a circular pattern that was beginning to make me nauseated. She had both hands placed on her waist and her long weaved hair beat against her back with every stride.

"I don't buy this idea, involving strangers in something this important. I know you've been seeing this guy in your visions and it definitely means something, but how do we know we can trust him? We can't let every single person you see in your visions get involved with what we are doing, it's just too dangerous. " She asked, still pacing.

"I don't know if he is trustworthy, but I know he would not be in my visions if he doesn't have a role to play in all of this and my gut tells me that he will play a major role in finding the Vynet." Shelby replied.

She was sitting on a sofa, just across the room and had her legs crossed. She had barely said a word to me after we returned from the concert, and whenever she did, she either threw jibes or tried to shun me. It felt like she was had something to get off her chest but she remained adamant that she was fine even when I had politely asked her what was wrong. I wondered if it had anything to do with the usher from last night, but it felt like there was more, something she was hiding and it was eating her up and the usher had just happened to be the trigger to a ticking bomb.

The girl in black scorned. "So you want us to tell him everything and leave it to him to decide whether or not he'd help us or not? And if he decides not to and decides to spill everything, what happens to the whole mission?" She turned to me. "What do you think about this?" Her question caught me unaware.

With the little information I had been able to gather from the concert the night before, I could not say much about the Justin guy. He looked rather convincing and from what we could see, not possessed by a fallen, which was very important, he also seemed like someone that knew a lot about the country, and was also a tech guy that could come in handy. Shelby had also confirmed that he was the guy from her recent visions and even though she still couldn't figure out what the vision meant, I thought it was best to keep him on our side till we figured that out.

"Uhmmm." I muttered.

Shelby scoffed and gave a sarcastic laugh. "Not like he would know, he only reacts quickly when it comes to staring at the backsides of ushers and not when his input is required on important matters."

That was it for me, I had absorbed enough of the punches and jibes she had been throwing at me ever since we got back from the concert, all these for something she had refused to give me a reason for. I wasn't going to let it continue and if she had decided to keep mute about the reason for it, she might as well keep her jibes to herself.

"The question was directed to me and not you, and you should learn to restrain yourself from poke nosing into other people's life and maybe try to stick to yours for a change." Damn, I bit my lower lips as soon as those words came out and instantly, I knew that I had made a big mistake allowing my emotions get the best of me.

Shelby was speechless and stared at me in shock, I could see the pain in her eyes and although I felt bad for saying it, if it would make her lay off me for a second at least, I was going to take it. She picked up her phone and stormed out of house through the back door, shutting it loudly behind her. The girl in black turned to me and I could also see shock written all over her face.

"What was that about?" She asked and I realized she had stopped pacing around, the power of words.

I sighed and took my sit on the old sofa, I knew I had aim too low and needed to apologise to her, but I needed to allow her cool off first if I didn't want it turning into an all out war of words. The door bell rang and the girl in black shook her head.

"I'm still against this, but majority carries the vote." She unlocked the door and Justin walked into the living room all smiles. He was carrying a backpack and was wearing a thick cotton jacket.

"Wow, it was really hard to find this place and I must tell you, I looked through all the footprints and land images of this area, both current and old, and not a single one of it had a landmark for this place, not even classified footprints. This place is like a fortress, a safe house." He placed his backpack on a chair and took a slow look around the house. "I had to follow the directions Anastasia gave me to the letter and made sure I didn't miss a single turn to find this place." He turned back to us. "Where's she by the way."
I turned to look at the girl in black who frowned, her hands akimbo.

"You said you can help us get into the Chief of staff daughter's apartment without triggering any security systems and buy us the time we need to ask her some questions." I took the lead since the girl in black was still at a cross road.

"Yes, but first, before I do that, Anastasia had promised to tell me what this was all about and to let me know what I was getting myself into."

The girl in black rolled her eyes and walked over to Justin. "The less you know, the better for you and it would remain that way till we decide if you're trustworthy enough."

Justin smiled and walked away from her to his backpack. "You know, after the concert yesterday, I did a little digging and found out that the name Alexander Dmitri amd Anastasia Popova were just aliases. This made me kind of curious and I decide to do some more digging." He brought out his laptop and clicked into it. "It was a smart thing you guys did, travelling to a couple of countries before coming into Russia, but you need to learn that if you want to perfectly cover your tracks, never use the same device to book your flight tickets. All I needed was you IP address, and rest is history." He turned the screen to us and I could see mine and Shelby's profile. "So I guess your real names are Zeke Churchill and Shelby Elias."

"I knew this was all a mistake, there's no way I'm letting him walk away with all these information." The girl in black picked up her sword and I wondered if she was about to do what I thought she wanted to do.

"Woah, woah, I don't think that's smart. If I don't show up in three hours, everything I know, including the video clip would be sent out to different streaming websites and news companies and my dear, the whole world will know about you, 'The invincible girl'.

I thought the headline 'The girl in black' would be more capturing but I decided to keep my thoughts to myself. "What video clip?" I was becoming more curious.

Justin turned to Amy. "When I tried to look into you, you were a little like a ghost and I could not find a single digital footprint of you, not flight ticket, no ship ticket, no bus ticket, not even a single image of you on the net. But again, I thought, you had to come into the country through one way or the another and this further propelled my curiosity, so I decided to hack into the CCTV of Rostov airport, but I found nothing there, I tried the train station and all major routes that led in and out of the state within the past week, but I came up with nothing, it was almost as if I was searching for a ghost and at that moment, an idea struck me. I hacked into the feeds of Rostov musical theatre and replayed the clips from last night, you know, when we were having our little conversation and I had my answers. There were only three people in the clip and not a single image of you. At first, I thought I was losing it, I mean, I was certain I saw you at the concert, so I decided to tweak the clip a little and added some infrared filter, and voila, there you were."

I took a few steps towards Justin, shocked at his declaration. "You mean, you saw her using an inflared filter?".

"See for yourself." He turned his computer screen towards us.

It was a video clip from last night and for the first time, I saw the girl in black on a screen. Her image was not detailed, and was more of rays than an actual person, but I could see the perfect impression of her body shape on the screen and was left marvelled. I wondered what would happen if this got out, it was only a matter of time before physical weapons that could affect her and other fallen were developed and it would then become an all out war between humans and her kind.

"I see we now have an understanding." Justin cut in. "All I'm asking is for you to tell me what I'm getting myself in, and give me a chance to decide if I want to get involved or not."

The girl in black sighed. "I knew getting him involved was only going to complicate things. Get Shelby, she needs to be here."

I cringed at the thought of having to come face to face with Shelby again but we needed to put our differences aside and try to work out our new problem, one she had played a role in creating. I stepped out of the apartment through the back door and walked into the woods. I figured she could not have gone far to clear her head and should be around a mile radius at the least.

I was about a thirty seconds in when my leg got caught under a root, I bent to pull it out and almost immediately, I heard a loud bang and something grazed my shoulder. I quickly took cover behind a tree as adrenaline pumped through my veins at the realization that I had been shot at and would have lost my life if not for the root. Trembling, I turned to my arm that had been grazed by the bullet and saw that it was bleeding a little. There was a loud scream and I recognized Shelby's voice. I tried to take a peak but another bullet hit the tree, forcing me to seek cover once again. I could hear a vehicle start and some rustle of leaves that were coming towards my direction and decide to make a run for it towards the apartment. With my heart in my mouth I ran as fast as I could, running in a zig zag manner as the girl in black had taught us, it was a survival skill i didn't know i would be using that soon. More bullets flew in my direction but i was able to make it to the back door and quickly shut it behind me.

The girl in black pulled me into the living room and placed a finger over my mouth, I turned and saw Justin lying on the ground his hands having some tremor.

"I think I was tailed." He whispered as he kept on typing into his PC.

"Shelby?" The girl in black asked me.

I shook my head. "They took her."

She sighed and grabbed her sword. "Were you able to get a look at them?" I shook my head. "Okay, go with him to his apartment, and make sure you destroy the evidences. I will handle them. Meet me at the tea shop downtown at dusk."

"Uhmm, I don't think that is a good idea." Justin spoke as he crawled towards us.

"I don't think anyone cares what you think." The girl in black shot back.

He turned his laptop screen to us and it was a video clip from the body cams of the men outside, and even in the middle of a life and death situation, I was impressed with his skills. He clicked continuously and there were more video clips coming from different body cams all around the cabin.

"We are surrounded." He concluded.

NOTE: There has been a change in the days scheduled for updates, and starting nextweek, I would be dropping an update on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only. Sorry for the inconveniences and thanks for your understanding.

YOUR COMMENTS ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED!

appreciate the gesture. Justin is a dam**n good asset.

Nice story.

They really need an asset such as justin in their quest.. Thanks alot op

Gan gan.
frankline461, i hope those times you decide to update you'd give us looooooooong updates o. Thanks for the update.

Khriztarl:
Gan gan.
frankline461, i hope those times you decide to update you'd give us looooooooong updates o. Thanks for the update.

We'd see about that. Thanks for following

Lakesc:
They really need an asset such as justin in their quest.. Thanks alot op

Thanks for reading

raptex:
Nice story.

Thanks

Odoogu:
appreciate the gesture.
Justin is a dam**n good asset.

Thank you for following

CHAPTER EIGHT


Three weeks ago

I sat on the bank of the sea, my hands locked above my bent legs. The sun was almost down people were beginning to return to their various houses, the only few left being photographers that tried to capture perfect moments from the fading horizon. My mind was clogged with thoughts, and I got resounding headaches as I tried to process them all at once, my head felt like it would burst open if I didn't stop prompting me to take a long breath and shut my eyes to clear my mind. It didn't work and rightly so, for somebody that had just found out that his whole life had been a lie and he was a misfit, a part of me wished I had remained unconscious and stayed in coma and that this turned out to just be one of those hallucinations people got when they went under, but the continuous self inflicted pinch marks on my arm was a clear proof that I was well and awake. I turned to my right side and saw a family of four, basking in euphoria of the beach as they chased themselves around a mould of sand they had built and the scene worsened my anger and frustration. Why now, why me, if they were not my biological parent, who was and why were they in such hurry to leave me?

"I knew you'd be down here." A voice came from above me and I knew who it was. I didn't spare her any look, I was frustrated and knew that I might have disrespected her, walking out on her while she spoke, even though I had every right.

She took some strides towards me and took a sit om the sand beside me. She joined me to stare at the horizon just as the strong ocean wind blew, her scarf wiggling to its effect. She remained silent for a while, and kept her gaze on something deep in the fading sunset.

"You know, when you were younger, whenever your dad and I had a free time from work, we would always bring you down here and we would build sand castles and name them after your favourite movie characters." She paused. "It feels like a long time now."

I tried to recall the memory she was speaking of, but the more I tried, the more I grew more frustrated at not being able to remember anything from my childhood. I sighed and gave up.

"Why?" I asked almost subconsciously. "Why now, why even bother telling me this? It would have been better for everyone if I had just remained oblivious to this fact."

There was a pale grin on her face as she finally digested whatever she had been craving for in the horizon.

"I also thought of keeping it a secret from you, and that is why we never gave you the necklace on your nineteenth birthday regardless of whatever consequences we had been warned of. I need you to listen to the whole story before you conclude and put a wall up between us and decide what you want to do next."

I heaved and stared at the beach sand in between my legs, trying to gather whatever resolve was left in me to completely hear the rest of the story.

"After that day in the kitchen, you dad and I became worried and even though there was no rational explanation for what I had witnessed, we still needed to know what was going on. So we contacted your birth mother again."

I turned to her. "Are you still in contact with her?"

"No. After we told her what had happened, she appeared at our doorstep the day after and although ww tried to convince her, she remained adamant and refused to see you."

I scoffed.

"No, you must understand that it is hard for any mother to let go of their child and whatever the circumstances was in her case, she still felt very guilty for not being able to remain in your life and teach you things you should know."

I nodded my head and returned my gaze to the sunset that had almost dissapeared now, only its edges could be seen. I wondered why my mom defended her, I was so filled with rage that I knew if I had come face to face with her in that moment, I wouldn't have been able to hold myself back from calling her the trash that she was.

"It was then she gave us a few insights to your gift, and also told us the reason you couldn't be woth her. She said that as long as you stayed with her, it was easy for them to track you down and take you away because of your gift. She then argued that it was best for everyone if your gift was suppressed and never allowed to come into its fullness."

"Suppressed, how?"

She sighed. "If there is one thing I've never been proud of doing in my entire life, it was the next thing we had to do to you to suppress your gifts. It was torture to watch you at such young age, go through the pain you went through."

"What do you mean?"

"There was an inscription on your back that kept on growing in every passing day and your mom claimed it was where your abilities came from, the more it grew, the more your gift grew and the easier it was for them to find you. All we had to do was cut out the inscriptions in order to prevent them from growing any further."

I turned to face her. "Like a skin graft?"

She swallowed hard. "Yes, but not medically. She claimed you had to feel every emotion from it, only then could the gift be weakened."

I shut my eyes. "So you peeled off the skin of a five year old without any anesthetic or painkiller."

"Yes. It was such an horrific experience for me, and I couldn't hold back hearing you scream through the process, so I begged them to stop but I was held back till the process was completed process and you laid there, unconscious. When you woke up, you had partial memory loss from the trauma a could not remember most things that had happened. You birth mom told us that you were safe till you were nineteen and that then, the only thing that could keep you safe was the necklace. That was the last time we ever saw her, or were able to contact her, she just vanished into thin air."

She paused a little as we both watched the final ray of the sunlight dissapear and the last of the photographers pick up their stuffs and headed out of the beach.

"Things went back to the way they were after that, and was so perfect that we got carried away and concluded that the worst was over. So we decided not to give you the necklace on your nineteenth birthday. It was not until your dad sent me the video clip from the car's deck that I realized it was all happening again and I needed to give you the necklace to keep you safe, but I was too late." She wiped her face and I realized that she had been crying.

I cringed and held my legs together, the weather was suddenly too cold for me to handle and I started regretting running out of the hospital room without my jacket.

"That's why I told you none of this was your fault, because sincerely, it was mine. If I had just done what I had been told, things might have ended up differently and your dad might still be here with us now."

She didn't have all the blame, I thought, if I had also listened and followed the girl in black, it might have turned out differently too. My mind quickly went to the last moment I saw him and I remembered the mark under his chin.

"When we had the accident, just before I drifted out, I saw a symbol underneath dad's chin. Do you know what it means?"

She turned to me, wiping her face. "What symbol?"

"I can't really remember what it looks like exactly, but I remember seeing a cross like symbol with hedges at its four angles and..."

"An inscription at its center?" Mom cut in, staring at me with shock in her eyes.

"You know what it means?" I asked anxiously.

She shook her head. "It's not possible. That's the same symbol we had to cut off you, it's the symbol that marked the root of you gift, the one we had to cut out of you."

*

Present

The girl in black took another peep through the glass window, repeating her actions some more times before walking back towards us. It had been unusually quiet for a while and the soldiers had all maintained a position and made no further advances towards us. Justin had been trying to hack into their com for us to be able to listen on conversations, or at least figure out what frequency they were transmitting on and somehow get us in it, but it was taking longer than he had expected as their firewall proved more secured than he had hoped for something he pointed as weird since he had done it multiple times before.

"We can't just sit here and remain duck, we are giving them enough time to strategise and coordinate a raid that we might stand no chance against. I would use my invincibility advantage to try to figure out a way to get you guys out of here. All I need is for you to be ready to move when I signal." The girl in black spoke.

"One more second." Justin said as he typed vigorously into his PC. "Yes, I'm in." He dragged his backpack and pulled out a walkie talkie and an electrical bracelet.

The girl in black and I exchanged an awkward stare.

"Do you always carry all these with you when you go visit people?" I whispered.

"My motto is to be always prepared because you never know when you might need to use them, and I'm glad I brought them along." He picked up the walkie talkie and kept on tuning untill we could hear some of the soldiers conversing in English. From the look on Jusin's face, I figured out something was wrong.

"That's weird." He spoke, returning to his PC and clicking on it to being back the clips from their body cams, he zoomed in on their clothes at logo. "They are dressed as Russian military but are conversing in English."

I shook my head confused. "And how is that weird, English is a very common language."

"That's the problem." He interrupted. "English is a very common language in the rest if the world, but not in Russia. Not up to five percent of the population speaks English, talk less of people in the army, something is off."

I sighed and again, turned to the girl in black who was getting seemingly impatient as time ticked away. Justin picked up the bracelet and connected it to his PC and an interface appeared on the screen, it clicked on back code and started modifying its algorithm.

"After I was able to see you using the infrared light, I spent most of the night analysing your image to figure out the reason you couldn't be seen in naked light and found out that it had to do with your body's molecules. Human's molecules are tightly fitted and exist in solid form but yours have more gaseous propensity hence your molecules are scattered in air. This made me wonder if your molecules would obey the gas law and at least liquify in a vacuum. I made a vacuum simulation to see how the same molecules would fare in it, and viola, they came together due to the absence of air and existed in solid form. So I came to the conclusion that wherever you were from, your atmosphere must be very unique, almost like a vacuum."

The girl in black and I stared at Justin trying to make sense of everything he had just said, but with the situation at hand, my brain had a hard time creating the acetylcholine needed to perfectly decode what he was talking about.

"Done." He unplugged the bracelet and stretched it to the girl in black. "I call her Morgan, you know, after the popular Nigerain reggae singer."

I rolled my eyes, how could he still try to make a joke in the situation we were in. Our heads were literally about to be blown off and that was not a time to be declaring your love for a country's musician.

"If no one has told you by now, I can't impact matter here. I can only use these swords to do my bidding because they have been consecrated for events like this. The only ones I can touch are vessels possessed by the fallen and house anomalies that can somehow see me."

"Well, that's all about to change now. It's a little project I had worked on during my time in college, I thought it would be revolutionary and maybe change the world, but I was turned down when I brought it up to the council of science. It brings scattered molecules together and solidifies it. I initially created it to be used in houses in cases of gas leaks, it work by preventing the volatile gas molecules from spreading around the room, clogging them into solid forms hence reducing the risk of a fire outbreak and it would perfectly work in your case too. It would bring together the molecule of any hand you wear it on, making it visible under naked light and able to impact matter."

I was mind blown and knew that we had gotten our hands on a gem, one with a revolutionary inclination. He unlocked the bracelet and asked the girl in black to stretch her hands, she did and he locked it around her wrist and it hung on it.

"Wow." I exclaimed. "That's amazing."

Justin smiled. "It's just something I do in my spare time, it's not really a big deal." He returned his laptop and clicked into it. "It's the only prototype I have and the battery power is very short, twenty minutes short, so you need to do whatever you want to in twenty minutes. My car is parked about three hundred metres southwest of here, if you plan on creating a route, the southwest route would be the best idea."

I turned to the girl in black and her gaze was still on the bracelet as she ran her fingers around it. She stretched to pick up an apple from the tray and to her surprise and mine, her hands held it. She lifted it up to her eyes level and gripped it tightly, surprised that she was able to finally touch something that was man made. She raised her head and turned to Justin.

"I only need ten minutes." She picked up her sword and strapped it behind her.

I sighed. "How do we know when to make a run for it?"

"You would know." She said before stepping out of the cabin.

I turned to Justin who had a smile on his face as he shook his head in awe. "I love the thrill, I'm definitely in."

*

The drive to Justin's house was a rather short one, since he had decided to go with full speed in order to prevent the soldiers from catching up on us. Amy had successfully created a route to escape and the bodies we saw on our way to Justin's car was proff that the bracelet had given her the extra edge she needed. She only had a hand that was visible and could now use it to do things to humans since they could not see the rest of her body, preventing just a hand from getting shot at was much more easier than preventing the rest of the body from getting into crossfire. We had agreed to meet downtown at dusk while she tried to figure out who they were.
Justin suddenly brought the car to a stop and I almost hit my head on the car's deck, seatbelt to the rescue. He lowered his head and told me to do so too. Up ahead were some soldiers dressed in the same way as those we had encountered in the cabin, they were standing in front of a building and I knew that some must have gone in.

"I would take it that is your house." I whispered as he parked the car behind another parked car.

"Yes." He pulled out his laptop. "I think we are within a hundred feet and should be able to get into my server to delete the files." He clicked into his PC some more and his countenance changed immediately. "No, no, no." He exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, everything seemed to be taking a bad turn.

"The files, I can't find them anymore. They are gone."

Wow am in love with this.....
Finally am now comfortably sitted waiting for the popcorn seller.
Kudos my name sake Frankline

Wow

Azurevermillion:
Wow

Thanks for following

TroubleIsland:
Wow am in love with this..... Finally am now comfortably sitted waiting for the popcorn seller. Kudos my name sake Frankline

Thanks

Now the soldiers knows about the girl in black also, the should be move careful. Seems like the "black eyed" are in league with some human.. Thanks op

The secret of the 'lady in black', is now in the hands of the government... Thanks for the updates.

Secret about to be spilled. Enirock watsup.

Khriztarl:
Secret about to be spilled. Enirock watsup.

My dear the sky's up oh. What I was saying is that she stole momma phone in the mid night not midpm as stated.
How have you been??
Good evening

enirock:


My dear the sky's up oh. What I was say is that she stole momma phone in the mid night not midpm as stated.
How have you been??
Good evening

Midnight is around 11pm to 11:59pm ba? So when is ur own midpm? And when is midam cause ion think i've ever heard that.
Goodevening, i've been great. You're still up. Why? if you don't mind.

Khriztarl:
Midnight is around 11pm to 11:59pm ba? So when is ur own midpm? And when is midam cause ion think i've ever heard that.
Goodevening, i've been great. You're still up. Why? if you don't mind.

I seldom sleep at night. I mostly post at night, seeing that most night I am awake till maybe 5am to 6 ( and that's when the night chooses to be friendly) . I don't know what to call it oh, hence I said mid am. I just think that's what 12am should be.

enirock:


I seldom sleep at night. I mostly post at night, seeing that most night I am awake till maybe 5am to 6 ( and that's when the night chooses to be friendly) . I don't know what to call it oh, hence I said mid am. I just think that's what 12am should be.

Are you a flying fox? When then do you sleep?
sleep at the appropriate time. It would help alot.
12am is the dawn of a new day.
let me tell you something.
12am-5:59am is dawn.
6:00-11:59am is morning.
12pm-12:59pm is midday.
1pm-3:59pm is afternoon.
4pm-7:59pm is dusk (evening).
8pm-11:59pm is night.
but, we most times don't have strength for analysis (average nigerians) so we just say morning afternoon and night. Lol. And, there is no midam. Afternoon and night are classified as pm. That was why i said midpm.

Khriztarl thanks for the breakdown. Guess we learn everyday.

As regards the "flying fox", I just know when I was born, I was told I am human. I may sleep during the day(2hrs maximum). It's what I have learnt to live with.

CHAPTER NINE.

We all sat in silence around a table in the tea shop, from where we sat, I could hear sirens from afar off and also the constant bell rings from the top of the door of the cafe as people came in and went out of the cafe in ones and twos. The girl in black and Justin were sharing the same chair and I was sitting alone on mine, I wondered what had gone wrong and how our plans had been neutralized in just one moment of surprise. Justin, as usual had his head buried in his laptop, clicking endlessly and I couldn't help but wonder if he actually ever spent anytime away from his gadget, the girl in black on the other hand seemed to be in a deep thought, as she ran her thumb over her middle finger over and over again in a circular pattern. I turned to look outside the cafe through the glass walls and the whole area looked very peaceful, not like one that had been run through by multiple soldiers and endless coenvoys and had bodies laying just a few metres into the forest. A lady walked up to us smiling pleasantly and holding a tray in her hand, with the way she was dressed, I figured she worked at the cafe.

"Gotovy li vy zakazat' seychas? (Are you ready to order now)." She asked with her smile still on.
I turned to Justin who seemed distracted but still raised his hand to speak.

"Da, kofe podoydet, a takzhe odin chizburger. YA ne uspela poyest' (Yes, a cup of coffee would do, and also one cheeseburger. I've not had time to eat today)." He replied, not taking his eyes off the screen of his PC.

She turned to me and I told her to get two of whatever he was having. She turned and walked away to the couple sitting two tables away, they had just walked in and were giggling at an inside joke as they gave their responses. I sighed and shut my eyes, it was already night and we had no idea where Shelby was and also had no single clue to how to find her or whoever took her. I prayed that wherever she was, she was doing fine and hanging in the while we figured out a way to get her back.

"This doesnt make any sense." Justin spoke, raising his voice a little and getting the attention of most people in the cafe, including the smiling waitress. He turned around immediately, giving a fake smile and bowing his heads continuously to apologise. They all went back to what they were doing.

"The uniform the soldiers were wearing are all fake, and I tried tracing them through CCTV footage of in the area, but I lost them as they approached Grushevskaya, their tail just went cold and every other footage from there has been erased. I tried recovering it, but the backup access has been revoked and damaged too, something is not right here."

I rolled my eyes and rested my back on the chair I was sitting on, if only I understood anything he had just said, when it came to government, I knew they would do all they could to hide their secrets and this would not be any different. I turned to the girl in black again, and she was still lost in thought, her hands repeating the same action. The waitress came back to our table and from her expression, I could tell that she was no longer as happy as she initially was to return to our table. She placed our orders on the table and hurried away as fast as she came. Justin picked up his cheeseburger and buried his teeth into it, biting off a large chunk.

"Hmm." He muttered. "This is best I've eaten yet." He turned to the girl in the black as I picked up mine and grabbed my cup of coffee. "Uhmm, how do you eat?"

"What's in Grushevskaya?" She finally spoke, her gaze still looking lost in thoughts.

Justin adjusted on his chair and placed his cheeseburger back in its wrapper, he clicked into his laptop again. "Just residential buildings, some hotels and the Platov international airport." He announced, picking up his cheeseburger and taking another bite.

There was a short silence before the girl in black spoke again. "Get all the CCTV footage from the airport." She stood up and grabbed her sword and the bracelet and turned to Justin. "There's an hotel down the street, book a room there and gather as much information about everything that happened in the airport today, we will be needing the key to you car."

Justin turned to look at me and his expression was as shocked as mine, it was already late and we should all be retiring to bed to rest for the day, but that didn't look like what was happening and although I was also wearing out, I knew that we still had to find Shelby and getting rest should not be on the table for now, lucky Justin.

"The key to my car, why?" Justin replied mouthful.

"We need to pay the chief of staff's daughter a visit tonight." She replied, turning to me.

*

Two weeks ago

I sat on my hospital bed, my gaze fixed on my phone looking at nothing in particular, I was lost in the thoughts of my next step. I had to make a big decision, one that involved walking away from my entire life and going onto a new path that consisted of unknowns, or deciding to stay put and fight to protect the ones I loved the most. I was going to be discharged tomorrow, and Shelby had already booked a flight for myself and her to Russia the day after. She claimed to have promised the girl in black that we would be arriving on that day and that she should be at the airport when we did to take us to her rendezvous point. After our twisted conversation, my mum and I had barely spoken again and although I knew I needed to get her input on the decision I was about to make, my strong headedness and stubbornness prevented me from seeking it.

The door to my room opened and Shelby walked through, carrying a nylon bag. She had initially stepped out to get us something for us to eat, and although the restaurant was only a few blocks away, I wasn't expecting her to come back that quickly. She dragged a table to me and placed what she had gotten in it and from the looks of things, she had opted out for fried chicken, chips and drinks instead of the usual fried rice and chicken. She dragged a chair and sat beside me as soon as she emptied the nylon, dragging one of the mini cartons and exposing several fried chicken. She picked up one stick and chewed off some part, catching my gaze as she did.

"What?" She said smiling, retrieving the chewy chicken from her lips and placing it back on the carton. She picked up a cup and poured some drink into it, she handed it to me and poured another for herself. "You know, we would be going to a foreign country, and trust me, the first thing you would get frustrated about is their food. So, it's best to eat as much as you can now and try not to miss it too much."

I smiled and picked up a wing. "I think chicken would not be a rare commodity in foreign countries." I took a bite and it dissolved in my mouth. Well garnished.

Shelby smiled and took a sip of her drink, she placed the cup back on the table and picked up her chicken, her gaze fixed on me. It was my time to question her.

"What?" I asked, trying to restrict the urge to smile.

She smiled and took a bite of her chicken. "You know, it's thrilling, having to do something this special with you, travelling far across the world and saving humanity with the one you love is not something you get to witness everyday."

My countenance dropped and I sighed, taking my first sip of the drink she got. We had been over this several times, and no matter how hard I tried to tell her that it was over between us, she seemed to always turn a deaf ear to it, talking about we taking a break and getting our heads back before making such major decision, and no matter how many times I told her that it was over, she simply turned a deaf ear to it prompting me to stop trying altogether. I cleared my throat and took another bite of the chicken and she raised her head, as realization hit her.

"I know you said it's over between us, and I know that I've been quite adamant but I think I just need more time to get my head around it, I'm so used to losing things that I'm fund of clinging on to things I cherish. Who knows, maybe this trip would be what I need to finally get over you." She smiled and picked up another chicken.

The door to my room opened and my mom walked in, her expression questioning. "What trip are you talking about?"

*

Present

I rang the door bell again and turned to look around. The streets was almost empty and the cold breeze that blew might have been one of the major reasons for it. I sighed and turned to the girl in black who had said almost literally nothing on our way here, I knew how it felt to blamw yourself for something bad that had happened and I knew that she might have felt responsible for Shelby's disappearance since she had brought us into it and was looking for ways to make things right as soon as she could. I wondered it she could feel the chilling effect of the cold breeze that blew. The address Justin had sent us on our way here was that for an apartment in one of the numerous estates in this part of town, from the look of things, it was a very private estate that was not as secured as I thought it would be. I rang the bell again and did not still get a response.

"Maybe no one is home." I said, pressing the bell twice again.

I heard some rustle behind the gate and my heart tripled its beat.

"Remember the drill, make sure you sound convincing if she is not possessed, and if she is, take a step back and let me handle it." The girl in black said, her voice and expression, ice cold.

There was a loud metallic sound behind the gate and the gate was unlocked. The woman we had seen earlier at the concert stood there, and although most of her costumes and make up were gone, she still looked as stunning as she did in the concert. I could not get a clear look at her eyeballs because she was wearing a black shade again, and this made her even more suspicious. The girl in black took a step forward and pulled her sword, but from the reaction of the woman, I wasn't sure if she could see her. The girl in black turned to me and took a step into the compound just beside her and I was certain that she couldn't see her.

"chem ya mogu tebe pomoch'? (How may I help you?)." She asked, her gaze and stance distant.
"Do you speak English?" I asked, trying as much as possible to sound decent.

She took a step forward and peeped out of her gate, looking left and right. "Are you lost?" She asked again and I sighed as I realized that I didn't have to crack my head to speak Russian, Shelby had been the expert in that and would have been more convincing in a situation like this.

"Good." I spoke. "Can I come in?"

She scoffed and stared at me like I had asked her to hand over her entire wealth to me, she adjusted her shade and spoke. "Sorry, but I don't know you and you would forgive me if I refuse to let a stranger into my house in the middle of the night. If you're lost, you can call one of the help lines, I'm sure government officials will be more than happy to help you."

I couldn't help but notice the accent she spoke in as I sighed. "I'm a foreigner and my friend was just kidnapped by some russian soldiers, but the thing is that this Russian soldiers are not actually russian soldiers and my friend is nowhere to be found now. So if you can spare a minute as the chief of staff's daughter, I would really appreciate the gesture."

There was another awkward silence and she finally stepped away from the entrance to let me into the compound. As we approached her condo, the scent of lilies and Rose's hit me and I could see the beautiful garden she had far right to my position. This made me wonder why most prominent people loved to have a garden, were they that lonely and in search of something to do? We stepped into her apartment and I saw the girl in black down the living, slowly going through the files that had been placed on a desk, trying to figure out if she could find anything that would point us in the right direction.

"I think Justin left out an important detail about her." The girl in black announced as we stepped in. "She is a professor in nanotechnology and bioinformatics." She said, running through other files.

The chief of staff daughter motioned me to sit and stepped to her fridge to bring out a drink and two glasses. She walked back to me and placed the glasses on a stood, pouring some for me and some for herself. She pulled her glasses and placed them the stood, she turned to look at me and I had a clear glimpse of her eyes and they were clear. I sghed and collected the drink she had stretched out to me and placed it by side, I really needed to find put what she knew about what was happening since she was the closest link to the Chief of staff.

She cleared her throat and dropped the glass on the minitable turning to look at me. "So I assume you are Zeke Churchill and the girl that is missing is Shelby Elias."

I was shocked at what she had just said and turned to look at the girl in black who had also stopped whatever she was doing and turned to look at us, also shocked at the sudden declaration. The chief of staff's daughter turned to look around.

"And I also think that the invisible girl is somewhere in this house too, nice to meet you." She spoke turning back to me, her expression indifferent. She stretched her hands to me. "I'm Nikita Molotov and I've heard a lot about you. We have a lot to discuss."

enirock:
Khriztarl thanks for the breakdown. Guess we learn everyday.

As regards the "flying fox", I just know when I was born, I was told I am human. I may sleep during the day(2hrs maximum). It's what I have learnt to live with.

2hrs? Every human is expected to sleep at least 8hrs. Anyway, its your choice.

I've really tried my best to put up an update and each time I'm banned for days even after messaging the mods. I've read through the chapter, made word modifications, deleted paragraphs and rewritten them but still I get banned again. It's really frustrating and the mods are not doing anything about it.

I will try to post the update again now, and if nothing shows, that means I've been banned again and this might be all for some time if the mods continue to keep quite about it

CHAPTER NINE.


We all sat in silence around a table in the tea shop, from where we sat, I could hear sirens from afar off and also the constant bell rings from the top of the door of the cafe as people came in and went out of the cafe in ones and twos. The girl in black and Justin were sharing the same chair and I was sitting alone on mine, I wondered what had gone wrong and how our plans had been neutralized in just one moment of surprise. Justin, as usual had his head buried in his laptop, clicking endlessly and I couldn't help but wonder if he actually ever spent anytime away from his gadget, the girl in black on the other hand seemed to be in a deep thought, as she ran her thumb over her middle finger over and over again in a circular pattern. I turned to look outside the cafe through the glass walls and the whole area looked very peaceful, not like one that had been run through by multiple soldiers and endless coenvoys and had bodies laying just a few metres into the forest. A lady walked up to us smiling pleasantly and holding a tray in her hand, with the way she was dressed, I figured she worked at the cafe.

"Gotovy li vy zakazat' seychas? (Are you ready to order now)." She asked with her smile still on.
I turned to Justin who seemed distracted but still raised his hand to speak.

"Da, kofe podoydet, a takzhe odin chizburger. YA ne uspela poyest' (Yes, a cup of coffee would do, and also one cheeseburger. I've not had time to eat today)." He replied, not taking his eyes off the screen of his PC.

She turned to me and I told her to get two of whatever he was having. She turned and walked away to the couple sitting two tables away, they had just walked in and were giggling at an inside joke as they gave their responses. I sighed and shut my eyes, it was already night and we had no idea where Shelby was and also had no single clue to how to find her or whoever took her. I prayed that wherever she was, she was doing fine and hanging in the while we figured out a way to get her back.

"This doesnt make any sense." Justin spoke, raising his voice a little and getting the attention of most people in the cafe, including the smiling waitress. He turned around immediately, giving a fake smile and bowing his heads continuously to apologise. They all went back to what they were doing.

"The uniform the soldiers were wearing are all fake, and I tried tracing them through CCTV footage of in the area, but I lost them as they approached Grushevskaya, their tail just went cold and every other footage from there has been erased. I tried recovering it, but the backup access has been revoked and damaged too, something is not right here."

I rolled my eyes and rested my back on the chair I was sitting on, if only I understood anything he had just said, when it came to government, I knew they would do all they could to hide their secrets and this would not be any different. I turned to the girl in black again, and she was still lost in thought, her hands repeating the same action. The waitress came back to our table and from her expression, I could tell that she was no longer as happy as she initially was to return to our table. She placed our orders on the table and hurried away as fast as she came. Justin picked up his cheeseburger and buried his teeth into it, biting off a large chunk.

"Hmm." He muttered. "This is best I've eaten yet." He turned to the girl in the black as I picked up mine and grabbed my cup of coffee. "Uhmm, how do you eat?"

"What's in Grushevskaya?" She finally spoke, her gaze still looking lost in thoughts.

Justin adjusted on his chair and placed his cheeseburger back in its wrapper, he clicked into his laptop again. "Just residential buildings, some hotels and the Platov international airport." He announced, picking up his cheeseburger and taking another bite.

There was a short silence before the girl in black spoke again. "Get all the CCTV footage from the airport." She stood up and grabbed her sword and the bracelet and turned to Justin. "There's an hotel down the street, book a room there and gather as much information about everything that happened in the airport today, we will be needing the key to you car."

Justin turned to look at me and his expression was as shocked as mine, it was already late and we should all be retiring to bed to rest for the day, but that didn't look like what was happening and although I was also wearing out, I knew that we still had to find Shelby and getting rest should not be on the table for now, lucky Justin.

"The key to my car, why?" Justin replied mouthful.

"We need to pay the chief of staff's daughter a visit tonight." She replied, turning to me.

*

Two weeks ago

I sat on my hospital bed, my gaze fixed on my phone looking at nothing in particular, I was lost in the thoughts of my next step. I had to make a big decision, one that involved walking away from my entire life and going onto a new path that consisted of unknowns, or deciding to stay put and fight to protect the ones I loved the most. I was going to be discharged tomorrow, and Shelby had already booked a flight for myself and her to Russia the day after. She claimed to have promised the girl in black that we would be arriving on that day and that she should be at the airport when we did to take us to her rendezvous point. After our twisted conversation, my mum and I had barely spoken again and although I knew I needed to get her input on the decision I was about to make, my strong headedness and stubbornness prevented me from seeking it.

The door to my room opened and Shelby walked through, carrying a nylon bag. She had initially stepped out to get us something for us to eat, and although the restaurant was only a few blocks away, I wasn't expecting her to come back that quickly. She dragged a table to me and placed what she had gotten in it and from the looks of things, she had opted out for fried chicken, chips and drinks instead of the usual fried rice and chicken. She dragged a chair and sat beside me as soon as she emptied the nylon, dragging one of the mini cartons and exposing several fried chicken. She picked up one stick and chewed off some part, catching my gaze as she did.

"What?" She said smiling, retrieving the chewy chicken from her lips and placing it back on the carton. She picked up a cup and poured some drink into it, she handed it to me and poured another for herself. "You know, we would be going to a foreign country, and trust me, the first thing you would get frustrated about is their food. So, it's best to eat as much as you can now and try not to miss it too much."

I smiled and picked up a wing. "I think chicken would not be a rare commodity in foreign countries." I took a bite and it dissolved in my mouth. Well garnished.

Shelby smiled and took a sip of her drink, she placed the cup back on the table and picked up her chicken, her gaze fixed on me. It was my time to question her.

"What?" I asked, trying to restrict the urge to smile.

She smiled and took a bite of her chicken. "You know, it's thrilling, having to do something this special with you, travelling far across the world and saving humanity with the one you love is not something you get to witness everyday."

My countenance dropped and I sighed, taking my first sip of the drink she got. We had been over this several times, and no matter how hard I tried to tell her that it was over between us, she seemed to always turn a deaf ear to it, talking about we taking a break and getting our heads back before making such major decision, and no matter how many times I told her that it was over, she simply turned a deaf ear to it prompting me to stop trying altogether. I cleared my throat and took another bite of the chicken and she raised her head, as realization hit her.

"I know you said it's over between us, and I know that I've been quite adamant but I think I just need more time to get my head around it, I'm so used to losing things that I'm fund of clinging on to things I cherish. Who knows, maybe this trip would be what I need to finally get over you." She smiled and picked up another chicken.

The door to my room opened and my mom walked in, her expression questioning. "What trip are you talking about?"

*

Present

I rang the door bell again and turned to look around. The streets was almost empty and the cold breeze that blew might have been one of the major reasons for it. I sighed and turned to the girl in black who had said almost literally nothing on our way here, I knew how it felt to blame yourself for something bad that had happened and I knew that she might have felt responsible for Shelby's disappearance since she had brought us into it and was looking for ways to make things right as soon as she could. I wondered it she could feel the chilling effect of the cold breeze that blew. The address Justin had sent us on our way here was that for an apartment in one of the numerous estates in this part of town, from the look of things, it was a very private estate that was not as secured as I thought it would be. I rang the bell again and did not still get a response.

"Maybe no one is home." I said, pressing the bell twice again.

I heard some rustle behind the gate and my heart tripled its beat.

"Remember the drill, make sure you sound convincing if she is not possessed, and if she is, take a step back and let me handle it." The girl in black said, her voice and expression, ice cold.

There was a loud metallic sound behind the gate and the gate was unlocked. The woman we had seen earlier at the concert stood there, and although most of her costumes and make up were gone, she still looked as stunning as she did in the concert. I could not get a clear look at her eyeballs because she was wearing a black shade again, and this made her even more suspicious. The girl in black took a step forward and pulled her sword, but from the reaction of the woman, I wasn't sure if she could see her. The girl in black turned to me and took a step into the compound just beside her and I was certain that she couldn't see her.

"chem ya mogu tebe pomoch'? (How may I help you?)." She asked, her gaze and stance distant.

"Do you speak English?" I asked, trying as much as possible to sound decent.

She took a step forward and peeped out of her gate, looking left and right. "Are you lost?" She asked again and I sighed as I realized that I didn't have to crack my head to speak Russian, Shelby had been the expert in that and would have been more convincing in a situation like this.

"Good." I spoke. "Can I come in?"

She scoffed and stared at me like I had asked her to hand over her entire wealth to me, she adjusted her shade and spoke. "Sorry, but I don't know you and you would forgive me if I refuse to let a stranger into my house in the middle of the night. If you're lost, you can call one of the help lines, I'm sure government officials will be more than happy to help you."

I couldn't help but notice the accent she spoke in as I sighed. "I'm a foreigner and my friend was just kidnapped by some russian soldiers, but the thing is that this Russian soldiers are not actually russian soldiers and my friend is nowhere to be found now. So if you can spare a minute as the chief of staff's daughter, I would really appreciate the gesture."

There was another awkward silence and she finally stepped away from the entrance to let me into the compound. As we approached her condo, the scent of lilies and Rose's hit me and I could see the beautiful garden she had far right to my position. This made me wonder why most prominent people loved to have a garden, were they that lonely and in search of something to do? We stepped into her apartment and I saw the girl in black down the living, slowly going through the files that had been placed on a desk, trying to figure out if she could find anything that would point us in the right direction.

"I think Justin left out an important detail about her." The girl in black announced as we stepped in. "She is a professor in nanotechnology and bioinformatics." She said, running through other files.

The chief of staff daughter motioned me to sit and stepped to her fridge to bring out a drink and two glasses. She walked back to me and placed the glasses on a stood, pouring some for me and some for herself. She pulled her glasses and placed them the stood, she turned to look at me and I had a clear glimpse of her eyes and they were clear. I sghed and collected the drink she had stretched out to me and placed it by side, I really needed to find put what she knew about what was happening since she was the closest link to the Chief of staff.

She cleared her throat and dropped the glass on the minitable turning to look at me. "So I assume you are Zeke Churchill and the girl that is missing is Shelby Elias."

I was shocked at what she had just said and turned to look at the girl in black who had also stopped whatever she was doing and turned to look at us, also shocked at the sudden declaration. The chief of staff's daughter turned to look around.

"And I also think that the invisible girl is somewhere in this house too, nice to meet you." She spoke turning back to me, her expression indifferent. She stretched her hands to me. "I'm Nikita Molotov and I've heard a lot about you. We have a lot to discuss."

Frankline461 we got the update. Thanks for that.

Khriztarl:
Frankline461 we got the update. Thanks for that.

At last. Let's move on now

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