Twisted Complications by Nikita Parmenter
Chapter Fourteen
“Actually, I do.” Luc smirks.
“You do?” I ask, not hiding my surprise.
“Yeah, my father started hiding documents and information in a safe. I wanted to know what he was hiding, mostly because he started acting shady as fuck. It’s how I found out about all of the dodgy shit he had going on.” He shrugs, stepping up behind me as I turn back to face the safe, he wraps his arms around my waist and rests his chin on my head, studying the safe. “I don’t have any of the tools I need to open this one though.”
“You might not need it, look what I found.” Riot says handing him a piece of paper.
“This looks like it’s just be written.” I say as I read the numbers.
“So, the guy that led us down here, left it for us?” Jensen asks, frowning.
“That’s what I’d assume.” Riot shrugs.
Luc turns the dial to the numbers in the sequence and the door pops open.
Inside are piles of papers, a large leather-bound journal and a small locked box. The papers look like a mixture of blueprints for various buildings, and a range of other things. My gaze immediately lands on the book and I carefully pull it out. I flick through it, getting frustrated when all the pages appear to be blank but at the very back is the thing we’ve been looking for, it’s a list of names. There doesn’t seem to be that many of them, so I don’t know whether it’s a list of who the current members were at the time, or just the most important members, or maybe even pledges. I turn the page, my eyes scanning the neat handwritten names.
“A page has been ripped out of this.” I say holding it up for Atlas to have a look at.
“You think it was the guy that gave us the combination?” Rage asks.
“It doesn’t look freshly ripped; the edges have started to yellow.” Atlas replies looking closely at the torn edge.
“I think that’s enough for today, we’ve got to get back so there’s enough time to eat dinner and for Atlas and Jensen to get ready to go.” Trick says, “Grab everything that we’ve found and load it up into the bags. We can do some more research and look over everything properly when we get home.”
“I don’t like that this guy is so involved.” Rafe says, “What’s his end game?”
“Hopefully, we can figure that out too.” Atlas says.
We all gather everything that we’ve found, blowing out all of the sconces and candles, making sure we aren’t going to set the whole place alight when we leave. When we come out of the bunker, I get the strangest feeling that we’re being watched, but looking around, I can’t see any sign of movement. There’s not even any sign of someone else other than us being here. I shake it off as just left over from the horrific discoveries we’ve made in the bunker.
Whatever happened in there was incredibly violent. I’m willing to bet that it has something to do with the missing kids. Although I think it’s safe to assume, they’re dead now.
Murdered.
I don’t know what I was expecting to find, it’s not like we could find them alive after all of these years. I guess there was a small part of me that hoped that’s what was going to happen, but there’s fairly conclusive proof that they’re all dead. I want to know why. They were either pledges or members. Someone, somewhere, must know what happened down there. Hopefully, the names in the notebook we found will lead us to more information.
The walk back to the SUV goes quickly and I’m practically bouncing with excitement again. As soon as we get back to the house, we all head straight to the kitchen and lay everything out over the table. We were only down in the bunker for a couple of hours so there’s plenty of time to make dinner and for the guys to get ready to go on their job.
Cash jogs upstairs and comes back down with his laptop, “I’ll set it up so no one will be able to trace the search back to us. Just to be safe, I’m not willing to risk it at this point.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start doing something like that.” I say.
He grins, “It took me a while to learn. I’m by no means an expert, but I can do a few basic things that come in handy.”
“I figure if you search to see if you can find any media coverage of missing students from this school, we can see if we can match any names in the back if the book.” Trick suggests.
“Sounds good, give me a few minutes.”
I sit down next to Cash and watch curiously as he types in lines of code before he searches for something. The longer he searches, the deeper his frown gets.
“I found something, it was buried deep and looks like someone’s tried to delete it, but I got it,” Cash says his frown clearing.
The others gather around us to see what he’s found. I pull the book closer to me so I can start scanning the names.
“So, it’s really short, pretty much just tells us everything that Peter already said, but the names of the five missing students are, Thomas Blake, Dimitri Molicova.”
“That’s the last name of one of the men that Liam has business dealings with.” Atlas interrupts.
“That’s a pretty fucking big coincidence.” Riot mutters.
“Then there’s Trent Williams, Chase Woods, and Amelia Clydesain.” Cash finishes, frowning heavily.
“A girl?” I ask frowning, flipping through the pages of the book and double checking. “There’s no girl mentioned here, all the others are though. I thought this was always a school for boys.”
“It was. They never even tried to send a girl. You’re the first.” Rage says.
“So, who was she then?” I ask.
“A partner of one of the others maybe?” Rafe says.
“They don’t seem like the type of group that would include women in their midst.” Trick says.
“The last name sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t remember where I might’ve heard it.” Luc adds in, frowning heavily, his eyes unfocused.
“Anyone else think that this whole thing had something to do with her? That she was the catalyst to it all going so wrong?” I ask.
“Most likely.” Riot hums in agreement.
“There’s not much more that we can find out online. I had to dig pretty far to get that much information. We could start asking around about the other names, but I don’t want to raise suspicions.” Cash says.
“I can get my contact in the feds to look into them.” Atlas says, reaching over for the book.
“That would be great, they’d have access to things that we don’t and information that the media wouldn’t have known about too.” Trick agrees.
“Alright, leave it with me. I’ll let you guys know if I hear anything back from him.” Atlas says, typing on his phone, his eyes switching between the screen and the book.
I thought there were two A5 pages of names when I first looked at the book, but they are all double spaced taking up two lines each, so there’s fewer names in here than I first thought. It couldn’t have been all of the members. I know it was exclusive but in a school this size, with this many extremely powerful and influential people in it, they had to have more members than that.
Which makes me think that this is the list of initiates.
How a woman got involved and became one of the missing students is really bugging me.
“Let’s leave this for now. Jensen and Atlas need to start getting ready soon and we all need to have dinner before they go.” Trick orders.
My heart warms that they’ve taken my request seriously.
“Want to help me, Dragonfly?” Rafe asks, motioning towards the kitchen.
“Sure.” I grin.
Cash
Iread over the article again. There’s something bugging me about it, there’s very obvious holes in the story, key bits of information that no journalist would miss on purpose. It’s the basic stuff like the exact date that the kids went missing. It says that there was a blood trail found but doesn’t say where or whether the blood loss was of any significance. I repress a shudder at the thought of that blood-soaked room we found in the bunker. There is no way that the police found that and then just let the information drop. No one could get away with sweeping that under the rug unless the entire local police force at the time were on Phoenix payroll. That’s the other thing that doesn’t seem right, they mention the local police force but there’s no mention of the feds or anything like that.
In a case this big, it’s very unlikely that this would’ve been left to just the local cops. Not only that, but this is the only news article I’ve found and it’s from a local newspaper.
“Atlas,” I ask, he glances up at me, still reading over the list. “Can you ask your guy to look into a journalist, Rebecca Walsh? Something doesn’t add up with this article, and I think it might be a good idea to talk to her.”
“Sure man. Nice catch.” His gaze moves to Ever. “Princess, I just want to make sure that you definitely want to look into this. Sending this message could open a massive can of worms. He could also prohibit us from looking into it any further. We need this working relationship with him, so we’re going to have to listen to him if he does that. He wouldn’t ask us not to investigate this unless he really feels that it’s too dangerous. He knows what we’re capable of.”
Ever studies him as she thinks. I love that she doesn’t immediately jump on the defensive or try to argue. She thinks it over calculatedly weighing her options before she makes her decision. She’s lived a life where she is fully aware of the disastrous implications that can happen from making the wrong decision. While I hate that she’s been put in these sorts of positions, she’s come out the other side, stronger and able to make quick and calculated choices on a moment’s notice.
It’s fucking impressive.
“I get that. If your guy wants us to stop looking into it, then we will. I’m not putting your plans at risk and I’m also not going to make you go against someone that you clearly respect.” She pauses. “I am willing to take the risk that he asks us to stop though, I want to know what happened to them, that room was like something out of a horror movie. Someone is trying to get us to work it out and until it proves too dangerous or we get told not to, that’s what I want to do. So long as it’s alright with the rest of you?”
“I’m hooked on it.” I reply, truthfully. I have the same need to know what happened to them as she does.
“Me too. I think there’s too many things that are dragging us to look into this case. Even the fact that one of the victims has the same last name as someone who does business with Liam. It’s all too coincidental.” Trick agrees as well.
The others all call out their agreement from the sitting room where they’re playing on one of the game consoles.
“Fair enough.” Atlas grins as he sends the text.
Dinner is delicious as always when Rafe and Ever cook. The closer it gets to Jensen having to get ready, the more excited and fidgety he gets. I understand his excitement and I’m sort of a bit disappointed that I don’t get to go. Trick made the right decision though, Jensen needs this. It’s better that he goes on a sanctioned and specific job than he takes it out on some kid that’s doing something dodgy here. It’s always justified, and they always deserve it, but Jensen sometimes doesn’t think past that to the consequences. Which can sometimes lead to other issues.
“You ready to gear up?” Atlas asks Jensen grinning.
“Fuck yeah, we get gear?” He replies excitedly and I chuckle.
“Of course.”
We all follow Atlas as he makes his way out of the kitchen and down the long hallway of doors that we still haven’t properly explored, maybe that’s what we can do while they’re gone, because I know for a fact that none of us are going to be able to sleep until they’re back safe. Especially after Rage got ambushed, he said it was for his informant not him, but I still want to be cautious.
“This is insane.” Riot exclaims.
The room Atlas has led us to is huge. It’s a bit like the weapon/safe room that we have at the cabin, just bigger. Which actually makes a lot more sense now that we know who his father is. Along with the multitude of weapons, there’s also various other tech like earpieces and wires. They’ve even got protective gear that includes bullet proof vests and helmets. I spot some suits of full leathers for riding bikes as well.
“Are you guys taking the bikes?” Rage asks, eyeing Jensen somewhat warily as he lovingly strokes a blade.
“Yeah, that’s the plan. We need to be in and out as quickly as possible. While we’re gone, get the guys to help you move in.” Atlas orders and Rage nods.
“Where is the location?” Trick asks, folding his arms over his chest.
It’s driving him crazy that he doesn’t have all the information, I hope Atlas makes good on his word and fills him in on how this whole thing operates, because Trick is the best operations manager that they could hope for. He’ll make sure that we’re all safe, and that the job gets done.
“It’s a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, about an hour’s ride away. I’ll give you the coordinates and we’ll each put a tracker in our boots. Just in case anything goes wrong. My guy knows that we’re heading out there tonight and will be on standby in case something doesn’t go to plan and we need police involvement. We’ll be long gone before they actually show up.” Atlas says. He pulls out a file and hands it to Trick. “This is all of the details on the guy and the warehouse.”
Trick grins, relived that he’s got something he can look over and make sure that they’ve got the best shot of succeeding. While Jensen and Atlas finish getting ready, the rest of us explore the room and Trick studies the file intently.
“What entrance are we using?” He asks.
“The west side.” Atlas replies immediately.
“And exit?”
“I was planning to use the same one.” Atlas says, rising his eyebrow curiously as he walks over to where Trick is still sat reading over the folder.
On his back is strapped a massive machete.
I can’t help my grin. That looks fun.
“If something doesn’t go to plan, then it’s a good idea to have a second exit just in case you can’t use the first. Look here,” He says pointing to something on a map of the building and the surrounding area that was included in the folder. “Right there, you should be able to get the bikes through and circle back around to make it back out onto the main road.”
“Good call.” Atlas grins, “Jensen come and study the second exit. If we get separated, use this one and head home.”
“Got it.” Jensen grins, “You ready?”
“Yep, here.” Atlas says throwing him a leather bike jacket and pulling on his own, which hides the machete strapped to his back.
Jensen has a few knives in view, but I have no doubt that he’s got more hidden elsewhere. They’re also both armed with guns.
We say goodbye, leaving Ever with them to say goodbye more privately. She’s grinning as she waves goodbye at the door, but I can see the worry in her eyes. She knows the guys are capable, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re still going to be in danger.
“Let’s go get Rage’s stuff. We’ll set him up and then explore the rest of the rooms, while we wait for them to get back.” Trick suggests.
“Sounds good to me. My housemates are out for the rest of the night anyway, so now’s a good time to go.” Rage replies.
The trip to Rage’s place is super quick, mainly thanks to the fact that he has very little stuff. It makes me wonder about his parents, to come to this school you have to be extremely rich unless you’re put here for protection like all of us. I would’ve thought that they would’ve mentioned it if that was the case though so why is it, he only has the bare essentials.
“Did you want the room upstairs or one of the ones down here?” Luc asks him before we start emptying the SUV.
“Have you seen the room upstairs, it’s the size of my freaking closet,” Ever announces coming out of the house.
“Yeah, I don’t think he’s been in there since we first arrived, and he’s forgotten how small it really is.” Rage chuckles. “I’ll have one of the ones downstairs.”
“It’s a good thing you decided that because Ever insisted and we’ve already started to bring the furniture down out of the upstairs one. There was barely any room to move.” Riot groans.
“We haven’t chosen a room for you though, I thought you might like to do that.” She grins at him and even from here I can see him practically melt.
It’s hardly surprising.
Ever grabs his hand and pulls him into the house, to choose his room. It’s a comical sight, seeing the giant, heavily tattooed man being helplessly dragged along by a five-foot-three pixie.
I chuckle as I follow behind them, this is going to be fun and at least keep us entertained while we wait for them to come back.