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Chapter 14
By Agent Havoc
« Cisia… », Phoenix whispered in his delirious state « I…have… to protect…Cisia… »
Darian was getting more and more tired of hearing Phoenix repeat those words over and over. Phoenix had been muttering these words for the last hour as Darian was dragging him through the alleys of Central District and away from Phoenix Mark’s crashed motorcycle .For a moment he wondered If Anika and the others were doing fine right now, and he immediately came to the conclusion that they probably were okay. Anika had been his partner for the last seven years and she had come a long way since they first met. She was a grown and mature woman now with a lot of experience and training in the arts of survival. To add to that, Darian had explained the whole situation in detail to her and she had everything in her possession to improvise on any given situations : her handgun, money, the seringes and Talehn who would probably help her out alot. Darian hated to admit It, but he actually liked Talehn and Cisia. They both seemed so determined that the ex-hunter actually admired them. Too bad they didn’t have a single idea of what was happening here. Or perhaps they did because Anika might have explained everything to them by now.
« Cisia… » said Phoenix.
Darian laid Phoenix gently on the pavement and looked around to make sure there wasn’t anybody. When he was sure they were alone, he started o search the semi-counscious hunter and found quickly enough what he was searching for; a cellular phone. He smiled and took it, and punching a few numbers in quickly. He put the phone next to his ear and started to walk in circles near Phoenix as the phone rang.
« Hello ? » answered a gruff voice on the other side.
« Link ! My man ! It’s Darian! » said Darian in a cool tone « I need to get to your place right now and equip myself... Will that be possible? This is very urgent. »
A moment of silence… Darian started to walk faster and faster back and forth. If Link refused his request, Darian was without any options left because the arms dealer was his only contact in this part of town and since his weapons had been confiscated by the cops when he was unconscious, he had to reequip himself before doing anything. That left him very nervous because he simply hated to have to depend on anybody else than Anika and himself.
« You better get here quick, kid! » answered Link in his grumpy old voice « In exactly half an hour, you’ll have to be out of my place…I have a business meeting … »
Darian was relieved. He would have no trouble getting there after all.
« Thanks Link, I’ll be there in 5 minutes and I’ll be gone in fifteen. »
He hung up the Phoenix Mark’s phone and put It in his own jacket’s pocket. It was then that he had an idea to get back in touch with Anika.
Darian went to Phoenix Mark.
« Cisia… must protect Cisia…»
« I need your cell phone’s number, Phoenix… I have to page Anika… »
No response…This was rather frustrating. Yet Darian sympathised with his long time rival. The delirious state he was in would without any doubt die away soon enough. It was simply a secondary effect of the Ministry’s experiments and these crisises were always temporary…as far as he knew…
« Anika is with Cisia… »
Something stirred up in Phoenix Mark’s expression and he started to breathe a little easier, obviously, Darian had said something positive to snap him out of It. Phoenix opened his eyes and looked at Darian with bloodshot eyes and sweat all over his forehead.
« You look like how I feel Ashley… » said Phoenix weakly.
Darian rolled his eyes to the back of his head and sighed. He was stuck with Phoenix Mark for a little while but it was without any doubt very necessary. It seemed like his former rival was part of this puzzle and to prevent any disasters that were most likely to happen in the coming months. Darian extended his hand to Phoenix, who took It, and helped him get up.
« I need your cell phone’s number Phoenix, I have to page Anika. »
« Tell me where Cisia is and I’ll tell you… » retorted Phoenix, looking at Darian defiantly even in his weak state.
« Cisia is with Anika, Phoenix…and there is simply no chance that I’ll send you off with them. You’re coming with me to meet them, where I’ll be able to keep my eyes on you. Now give me your phone number so we can meet up with them. I have to page Anika and set up a rendez-vous point with Cisia, Talehn and her. » Phoenix Mark looked at Darian suspiciously.
« 541-6708 »
« Thank you Phoenix… »
Darian punched in Anika’s pager number and punched in the numeric message he wanted her to see; Phoenix’s phone number and 909, wich was a code he and Anika had agreed on to identify themselves whenever they were paging each other.
« Alright, ‘Nik’s going to call us as soon as she can, Phoenix », said Darian, « now we have to get to Lincoln Traynor’s place to buy some weapons »
Phoenix nodded and they started to walk. This had been a long and tiresome day and Darian hoped with all his heart no more unexpected events would be showing up anytime soon.
A few moments later, both men were in front of metal stairs that went up in spirals, It was the back entrance of Lincoln Traynor’s appartment wich was also his weapons store.
« We’re here! » announced Darian. « If you want to buy anything from Link, prepare yourself to pay alot, he sells only quality and precision firearms »
« Just get this over with so that we can hook up with Cisia, alright? » said Phoenix, obviously losing patience. « Just because I’m stuck with you doesn’t mean I have to like It. »
The tone of Phoenix’s voice irritated Darian big time and so did his statement.
« Hey, your idiotic tactics will probably get us in a world of trouble. You had no reasons to kill that cop. For all I know, that man could have had a family and people who loved him. He was simply doing his job and you killed him for It. »
Tension was rising in the air as both men felt their hearts beating faster and faster.
« I just saved your sorry ass back there if you hadn’t noticed, Ashley, If there’s anything you should feel for me right now, It should be gratefulness for your current freedom. »
« Grateful ? » laughed Darian « I could have easily escaped by myself… I didn’t need you at all to escape… I was learning to do this kind of thing when you were still learning to write. As far as I’m concerned, you should have died in that motorcycle crash and you should be the one that’s grateful towards me »
Phoenix looked straight in Darian’s icy cold blue eyes with a stare that could kill and raised his fists.
« I’ll show you just how grateful I am! » hissed Phoenix.
« If that’s how you want it … » answered Darian raising his fists also.
Before any of them could throw a punch, they both heard a loud clicking sound coming from above. Both of them looked up to see a tall man with a double-barrelled shotgun in his hands. He was bald and sported a goatee that had a few streaks of grey in it. Wearing only a blue shirt and blues jeans with running shoes, the man seemed menacing enough for both of the rivals to stop. Darian recognised Link immediately and lowered his fists, smiling. Phoenix followed Darian’s lead.
« Are you two going to keep on bickering like kids? » asked the arms dealer with his grumpy and gruff « or are you going to come in and buy some stuff ? »
Darian and Phoenix stared at each other with hateful looks and started to climb the stairs. Darian sighed thinking that with Phoenix Mark by his side, nothing but trouble would be coming up ahead of him…
Anika went to pick up the her biefcase full of money and the metal box with all the seringes inside them. The blonde woman then put the box back in her jacket and headed towards Cisia.
« Help me get her inside! » said Anika to Talehn as she started to lift Cisia’s uncounscious body holding the interface’s shoulders .
Talehn went for her feet and lifted them as they started to walk towards the door that Kuri had opened,
« What happened here? » asked Kuri.
Anika looked at Kuri and smiled at him sincerely despite her extreme exhaustion.
« I’ll explain to the both of you what’s going on inside, sweety, and as I ‘ve said before, I’ll give you a nice lump of money inside too. »
As both Talehn and Anika entered the building, Kuri closed the door behind them…
Outside the building, a few minutes later, lying on the pavement, Anika’s pager started to beep with a message from Darian… with nobody to see It. A message that would not reach the blonde ex-hunter.
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