ALL NOVEL Chapter Twenty: Threads At Candle Light
We head to a restaurant we have been to a few times. It's one that caters mainly to the upper middle class with little private booths and only the minimum ads splattered across the walls. We talk for a while, and in this conversation, I learn that they are having a Maniac event in one of those RTS-like Samurai vs. antithesis games. That is flattering; I think I kind of wonder what kind of event it is, though. Like, what are you supposed to do? Collect masks? Kick CEO out of buildings? Anyway, during dinner, Ciera receives a call and steps out for a bit, and Anika comes and sits next to me.
“How secure is this place?”
“There are about three hidden cameras and five microphones, so I would say they have great coverage.”
She looks around for a while. “Can you turn them off or something?”
“Or something,” I say, while overloading the chips and frying all the spyware in the area. “We are good. Anything you need to get off your chest?”
“Not something like that. It's more a request or a favour; you know, I just want to make sure that my children are safe.”
“Uhm, why wouldn’t they be safe? Is something happening?”
“Evelin, I don’t know the how of it, but I know you have more Samurai equipment in your body than a normal person should have.”
“Are you threatening me?” I ask, a bit panicked. I knew I was fucking up more and being less careful.
“No, no, definitely not,” she blurts out in a panic. “I just wanted to ask that when you do what you're going to do, you leave my children out of it.”
“Uhm yeah, okay, that was never a plan anyway. Why would you even think that?”
She looks at me, confused for a second. “Because you have always used them to threaten me?”
“I have never threatened you. What would be the point? You would just beat me up if I did?”
She goes quiet for a while, then takes out an envelope and gives it to me. “What is this then?”
I open the envelope in side there are several photos of children playing and attending school. It mainly focuses on two children in particular. I guess they could be Anika’s kids. They have similar whitish hair, but I wouldn't really know. I've never seen them before. That is not all. There are also notes inside saying that if you don’t behave, they can’t guarantee their safety. Well, that is clearly a threat, a basic one at that, even.
“How long has this been going on?” I ask.
“You remember the first time I screamed at you for making Cierra cry?”
“How could I forget such a traumatic experience?”
“I don’t think I screamed that loud.”
“Well, that was the day I lost my virginity, and Cierra was excited, not gentle; it kind of just hurt a lot.”
She at least has the decency to look embarrassed. “I am sorry, I did not know. I thought you enjoyed it.”
“You should only apologize for things you actually feel sorry for. And I mean, she did improve a lot after that time, so all in all, it’s fine. Everyone has to learn, right? Anyways, so what you're saying is that you've been receiving these for like three years. Why did you never tell anyone?”
“Well, I don’t know. I just got off work after lecturing a bratty hacker. It just made sense that this was your poor attempt to take revenge. And they never asked for money or anything else, so it was not a priority until you ripped my arm off.”
“Ooh, right, sorry about that.”
“Weren't you the one who said not to apologize for things you don’t mean?”
“Fair point. I actually really enjoyed that. But this is not really how I operate. I am more the kind of girl who breaks someone's ad blocker and floods them with advertisements for insulting products.”
“Wait, that was because of you?”
“Yes.” I say, with a big smile.
She looks at me for a bit, deciding if she should be angry or not. “So what should I do now? Should I turn this in to the company?”
“You can, but I think we should move everyone to a safe location first.”
“Uhm, okay, sure, but why?”
“Because if someone has done this for so long, they are either an asshole that just wants to mess with you, or they want something very specific from you that you normally would not do unless you have been pressured for a long time,” I say, while I nod at Cierra who still seems to be arguing with someone over the phone.
Anika spots her as well. “So you think someone wants to harm her?”
“I don’t know, but I prefer to find out after everyone is in a safe place. So that they can’t be used as bait or hostages. If you don’t mind, I can get them somewhere safe.”
“Really, how safe?”
“Samurai safe”
She looks at me, then at Cierra. “Please.”
I smiled at her, and just sent a message to Yun Min asking if they are finished yet, and if they are, if they could go and pick up some people. I really hope I am not overworking her. I like her, and it would be disappointing if she came to hate me; maybe I should get her something. I almost immediately get a reply saying that they're nearly done, and that Deatnite gave them some kind of nanite swarm to help clean things up. They will head there shortly. And here I thought his name meant something completely different.
‘Lyssa, remind me to call Jason and thank him for his help.’
How much in debt do you plan to go with your new Vanguard friends anyway?
‘Not sure, I really need a way to get more points.’
I turn back to Anika. “Okay, we are sorted.”
“Good, so what do we do next?”
“Nothing. We need to wait until they are actually safe before we do something. Whoever this is has some kind of plan, but I doubt it will happen soon, so we have time to make sure nobody gets hurt when we start investigating.”
She just nods, and we sit there in awkward silence for a while. To avoid dealing with this situation, I spent most of the time looking at Cierra. She is still on the phone call; it is not going well, and I think I catch Sam's full name a few times, but I don’t have the ability to listen in that well, since I had already destroyed the mics that are around her. At some point, she closes the call and joins us back at the table with a huff.
“Trouble?” I ask
“Kind of, maybe. There are some signs that Chris is messing about, so my dad said he will close your inter-department.”
“I see, what will he do with the employees?”
“Well, since you have been such valuable assets, you will be given new jobs in the company, probably with higher pay even,” she says.
“Ahh, so he did not want us to tell anyone what kind of jobs we actually did.”
“Yes, exactly, so I was trying to get you for my part of the company.”
I raise an eyebrow at that. “No, not like that. Don’t give me that look. It's more that if you work for me, I could protect you,” she says
“So I guess that is not the case.”
“Yeah, my mother was against it, she basically said...” She stops and looks at me. “Never mind, I don’t want to say such things about you.”
“I see, so for which archduke of hell am I working now?”
I hear Anika snicker next to me, and that just sends my hackles up instead, but I try to stay composed.
“Edward said he needed your help for a job, something about analyzing competitors' markets. He was a bit vague.”
“Edward, could you not have started with that? I mean, the guy has done nothing to me, but tries his best to ignore my existence, and since that is the only thing that he ever did to me, that makes him the best Agroria in my books.”
“What about me?” Cierra says, in mock offense.
“Well, you are a very close second,” I say.
“Why don’t you start dating him, then?” she asked, a little smile on her face.
“He is not really my type. First, he is not a woman, and second, he is younger than me.”
“Wait, I am older than you?” all the joking seemingly disappeared.
I look at her for a bit. “Yeah, by about two years, I think.”
She goes completely white. “How old were you when we were intimate for the first time?”
“I was sixteen. Why? Does it matter?”
“Yes, Evelin, it does. You were still a child back then. Fuck, I am sorry. I... ”
I cut in before this gets out of hand, “It is fine. I am the one that faked my age at the time, so you should not feel guilty about it.”
“Why would you do something like that?”
“It’s a long story. But the basics of it are that I would be forced to sell myself regardless, so when I heard that my boss's niece needed a girlfriend, I offered myself for the position, thinking that it was a better option than any other I would have had.”
She looks at me and then gently grabs my hand. “Are you being forced right now, to do so as well?”
“No, Le Mond has my contract, so he is the only one that could force me. And since he is in hot water at the moment, I think I don’t have to worry about him for a while.“
“What if they seize his assets as compensation?”
“Well, then I would hope that you would be so kind as to obtain it for me.”
“Yeah, sure, I can do that.”
“So I am afraid to ask, but what about Sam?”
“She is under me. Her resume is quite impressive, and she is your friend, so I made sure to grab her.”
“Thank you. Make sure to look out for her. She has helped me a lot, and I would hate for anything to happen to her.”
After that, we talk some more. I try to make sure that Cierra knows how great Sam is and what areas she excels at. We end up eating a lot of food and the night proceeds to go on with a lot of laughter.
Once we get back to the car, Cierra turns to me and asks, “Where do you want me to drop you off?”
“You can drop me off at Anika’s house.” I say.
Both of them just look at me. “Why do you want to go there?” Cierra asks.
“Well, if someone is threatening her family, they might have left some clue there, so I was hoping that I could have a look.”
“What do you mean they are threatening her family?” Cierra asks.
“You haven’t told her?” I say, looking at Anika.
“No, of course not. I thought it was just you messing about.” Anika says.
“Oh, right,” I say. “You did say that. Well, anyway, someone is trying to blackmail her, so I thought that me and her could have a look to see if we can figure out who it is.”
“I see. Well then, I am coming too,” she says.
“No,” Anika and I both say at the same time.
“Why not?” Cierra asks, almost looking offended.
“Because these guys are dangerous, and we don’t want you to get hurt,” I say.
“And who is going to make sure that the two of you are safe?”
“Well, Anika is your bodyguard, so she should be capable of keeping me safe.”
“And who will keep her safe?”
“I mean, she has a surprisingly thick skull. I'm pretty sure a bullet will just bounce off it.”
Cierra giggles. “Don’t be mean. I don’t like it. Let’s just send a security team, and they will take a look.”
“I'd rather not. There might be some people on the inside. This has been going on for a while, and I doubt that she will be the only one. We don’t want to give too much away.”
“So I just have to go home and hope the two of you are going to be okay?”
“You know what, fair point, give me a second,” I say while opening some data transfer channels and creating some shortcuts, then sending the file off. “Open that; it’s a direct link to my augs. You will be able to see and hear everything that I do.”
“Isn’t this kind of an invasion of privacy?”
“Maybe, but I gave you permission, and I know how to kick you off, if necessary.”
“I see, thank you.”