Chapter fifteen
V I V I A N
How did he find me? That is my first thought.
There are so many doors that I could have gone through, and he instantly decided to go to this one?
The knocking continues along with Rob’s voice. “I don’t think you’d want to see a blade through your door. Open up and we won’t have any problems.”
Rian only takes in a small breath.
There’s a bash and I don’t doubt Rob just attempted to kick the door. “Open this so we can talk,” he calls.
Rian sighs, then pulls me into the kitchen. He starts rattling off a few things.
“Stay here, don’t turn the light on, and don’t speak. I’m going to go check on Rob and see what’s going on with him. I don’t want him standing outside my door the entire night.”
He turns around and heads for the door, where the soft knocking has started again.
“No—” I whisper, trying to stop Rian. But he doesn’t listen to me.
Knowing I won’t be able to do anything, I back away farther into the kitchen and conceal myself in the shadows. After a few more seconds, I hear the door slide open.
“What do you need?” Rian sounds tired again and I’m sure he’s doing that on purpose. Rob needs to think Rian had just woken up.
“Something has occurred.” Rob's voice.
“And what would that be?” Rian sounds curious.
“It’s about Vivian.”
I laugh to myself. Then I instantly remember Rob wants to kill me. My smile vanishes.
“What about her?” Rian asks.
I crouch down and press myself against the wall as silently as possible. I’m not too sure if Rob has entered Rian’s room yet. There’s a chance he’s still in the hallway.
Rob answers with, “I was doing my nightly patrol when I spotted her in the hallway. She threw something at me and ran off.”
I'm too frozen with fear to realize that's not true.
Rian laughs. “What does that have to do with me? This isn’t anything major. I see people throwing things at each other all the time.”
“Uh,” I hear Rob say. “I just need you to help me find her. She shouldn't be causing this much trouble.”
Rian doesn’t answer right away. It’s silent for a few seconds.
I hold my breath and wait. Does Rian actually believe Rob?
Rian finally speaks up. “What did you want exactly?”
“Your glasses.”
I press myself tighter against the wall as if that could hide me more.
“I don’t have glasses,” Rian says.
“Not for your eyes,” Rob exclaims. “The map. Hand them over.”
“For what?”
“Just trying to find a room, that’s all,” Rob says.
I hear Rian scoff. “And what happened to searching for Vivian?”
“Just forget about her.” A pause. “I’m trying to look for someone else.”
“Who?”
“Some—uh—guy. Today's...his birthday.”
Rob's not making any sense at all.
I turn my head around, trying to look for a cupboard to hide in.
Too far.
Bash!
I freeze and clench my hands into fists.
“What exactly are you doing?” Rian exclaims.
“You tried to close the door on me!”
“It’s two o’clock in the morning,” Rian says. “Why don't you just come back later?”
“I’m not leaving,” Rob yells suddenly. Then there’s a sound of someone barging through the door. “I know she’s in here.”
Rian sounds clueless. “Who?”
“That girl. Vivian.”
I scramble to the farthest corner in the kitchen, behind a table, and pull my knees to my chest. He won’t come in here. Don't come in here—
Ah, who am I kidding? Of course he’ll come in here. I breathe in as soundlessly as I can and wait. There’s nothing else I can do. Rob still has his knife. I can’t stop him from stabbing either Rian or me.
I hope Rian will be fine.
“I can assure you,” I hear Rian say, “that Vivian is not here.”
The light in the bedroom flicks on, but I don’t move. He’ll reach the kitchen soon.
“Don’t lie to me, Callum,” Rob snaps. “The map on my glasses marked her location.”
So he did use the glasses to find me just like I tried using them to find Welds.
I’m trying not to panic as I hear footsteps. It’s not clear to me if they’re coming closer or they’re just wandering around the other room.
“So you had your own glasses all along?” I hear Rian ask. I don’t take my eyes off the kitchen doorway. Rob might step through it soon.
“Of course I did, Callum,” Rob says.
I'm right. He will come in.
His figure sets foot into the kitchen and I freeze, hoping he won’t see me. I’m partially concealed behind the table.
Please don’t see me.
He spots me right away—
Rian swings an object at Rob’s head, and Rob’s body collapses onto the ground with a thud.
I remain frozen. He’s not dead, but only unconscious.
“Th-that’s it?” I ask in a whisper. “That’s all it took for him to go down?”
“It surprises me too.” Rian drops the object onto the kitchen counter. It’s a tablet, looking like it's in tact despite the hard blow to Rob's head. “I thought his head was tougher than that.”
I rise to my feet, legs shaking. “Are you okay?” I ask Rian.
He starts brushing his sweatshirt off even though there’s nothing to brush off. “I’m fine,” he says. He doesn’t turn the kitchen light on but motions me out of the room instead.
I hop over Rob’s limp form without looking at it. My stomach flips.
“What will we do with him?” I ask Rian as he picks Rob’s knife off the floor. “Lock him up?” My voice sounds too hopeful.
Rian sets the knife down next to the tablet on the counter. “We’ll need to report this, at least. I don’t think you’d want to let this go.” He mutters something about Rob going crazy. I silently agree with him.
When will Rob wake up again? That is if we didn't give him a concussion.
Rian kneels down to search Rob’s body. What for, I don’t know exactly. Once he stands back up, I see he has pulled out a pair of glasses from Rob’s pocket.
Rian walks over to the cube-shaped phone resting on his nightstand and starts dialing a number. We wait for a few seconds before a deep voice answers. “Need any assistance?”
Rian glances at Rob’s unconscious body and waves a hand to the limp figure. “Watch him,” he mouths to me.
While still listening to the conversation, I slowly make my way over to Rob’s body. He’s spread out across the floor, with his face pressed against the kitchen tiles. That must hurt, falling straight on your face.
“We have a problem over here,” Rian is saying to the phone. I don’t take my eyes off Rob’s face.
“What problem?” the man’s voice replies from the phone. I cringe as his voice rings in my ears. My heart is still hammering hard.
“Robin Garmin is unconscious,” Rian says.
There is a long pause before a voice starts talking. But instead of the man’s voice, a very familiar female voice replaces it. “Robin Garmin?”
It’s Janelle. My head snaps up to look at Rian. He looks surprised.
On the phone, Janelle clears her throat when no one answers. "Excuse me. What happened to Rob?"
A mumble comes from Rob and I immediately jump away, grabbing the knife off the table. His arm starts to move out from under him and I turn to Rian to see if he has noticed Rob's awakening.
He has, and he's watching him as he quickly says into the phone, "Nothing's happened. He's fine."
Janelle doesn't buy it. "What happened to him?" she asks again. "You said he's unconscious. What happened?"
R
ian ends the conversation with, "Rob's not exactly sane right now. He's plotting to kill Vivian."
He hangs up before snatching the tablet off the counter.
Rob is slowly getting to his feet, pain expressed on his face as he presses a hand to his head. He's in too much pain to focus on us. Before he can raise himself further, Rian has already swung the tablet over Rob's head. Rob collapses onto the ground again and I want to laugh with relief and say the most cliched line ever: My hero.
But I remain silent.
Rian laughs for me. "I overpowered a thirty year-old man. Twice.”
The phone starts beeping and I know someone’s calling Rian. He strolls over to the phone to answer it. “Hey.”
I’m not exactly sure if it’s possible to check who’s calling you before you pick up the phone. From my experiences, I think not. You’d just have to pick it up, not knowing who would be calling you.
“Mr. Callum,” Janelle’s voice says from the phone. “What do you mean Rob’s not sane. What has happened? I have sent a group to come to you so you better explain this to me.”
While Rian gives her a brief summary of what has happened, I walk over to Rob, making sure he’s still unconscious. I have to be brave around this maniac. I can’t just chicken out and freeze in place while he attacks me. But something tells me I’m not capable of being brave. As soon as he wakes up again, I’ll probably run for it.
Rian is still talking to Janelle on the phone. “I’m glad you’re sending a group of people down here, but maybe Rob can explain what happened.”
Janelle’s voice raises. “Mr. Callum! What do you mean Rob is plotting Ms. Clancy’s murder? Why would he do such a thing?”
Rian looks at me quickly and I answer Janelle’s question, “He said I killed his father.”
There is silence at the end of the line for the longest time. Then a sigh, followed by Janelle saying, “Rob won’t go that far. He won’t hurt you. If he wanted to, he would have a long time ago.”
Rian lets out a frustrated breath. “He brought a knife with him! He invaded Vivian’s room in the middle of the night and watched her sleep.”
His voice gets louder at each word and I’m afraid that would cause Rob to wake up again.
Janelle continues telling us that “Rob would never kill anyone” until Rian actually hangs up and puts the phone down.
No one calls again, but it doesn't take long for the group Janelle sent to get here.
Rob doesn’t wake up. When the group arrives, I’m surprised I know most of the people who come. There are only three: Piers, Fox (the guy who also has the tattooed hand), and some lady I’ve never seen before.
Piers looks relieved that I’m alive and he gives me a quick pat on the back, asking me how I’m feeling. I tell him I’m fine, which is mostly the truth. But I’m also a little nervous. There’s no knowing how Rob will be after he wakes up.
Rian, Fox, Piers, and the woman all stand over Rob’s unconscious body while I keep my distance.
It’s as if Rob can sense them there because he wakes up, hand on his head. He stares at the four people surrounding him and pushes himself up into a sitting position.
Then his eyes move to me and stares.
“What happened?” He sounds tired and confused. I haven’t seen him like this before. He’s always either ready to fight me or he’s explaining something.
Piers pulls him to his feet and starts marching him toward the door. Rob immediately wakes up from his daze and tries to yank his arm free of Piers’ grasp. Piers doesn’t let go and Rob thrashes around even harder.
Fox and the woman are there immediately, restraining him.
Rian is already by my side, a hand on my shoulder. I’m guessing he’s trying to keep me from lunging at Rob. I'm not going to do that.
Rob starts shouting. “I’ll lock you up!” He points a finger at me. “I’ll come back and I’ll lock you up somewhere. I won’t let anyone get away with my father’s murder!”
Rian’s grip on my shoulder tightens but I don’t dare say anything to Rob.
Rian and I watch as Rob gets escorted out of the room. His shouts are still audible out in the hallway, but barely.
Rian finally lets go of my shoulder but he stays where he is. “We need to go find Jack.”
He slips out of the room, and I follow him. Not too far away, I can see the three people pulling Rob along.
“Isn’t Mr. Welds asleep?” I ask Rian, remembering it’s two o’clock in the morning. Piers, Janelle, Rob, Fox, and that other lady are still awake, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Mr. Welds is.
“Many of them of them stay awake until four or five.” Rian shrugs.
“Five in the morning?” I say, disbelief in my voice. “Then what? They wake up at six? Or 5:30?”
I understand that these people can be busy most of the time, but trying to function on thirty minutes of sleep? But who knows, maybe they’ve managed to create something to keep them awake for this long.
The four people ahead of us have disappeared out of this corridor. They're already in the white hallway, but I can't see them.
Rian increases his pace, and I do the same hesitantly.
We reach the white hallway, and I spot Fox, Piers, the unfamiliar woman, and Rob not too far away from us. They're standing by a door. But just before they walk through it, I see Piers cast me a glance. Then they're gone.
After a few minutes of walking in silence in the dim hallway, Rian and I finally stop by a door.
Rian knocks two times and we wait, but it doesn’t take the door too long to slide open. Once it does, I see there’s no one standing there. Instead, as I peek into the room, I see Mr. Welds sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, watching us. He gestures us inside and the door slides closed.
This room is (not surprisingly) white. Just like the lounge I’ve been too, there is not a lot of furniture, leaving the room with unnecessary free space. There’s a white couch up against the wall by the door along with a few pictures frames hanging on the walls. The paintings are to abstract for me to tell what they are supposed to be. There’s the desk Mr. Welds is sitting at. It’s made completely out of glass and I find myself staring at all of the transparent drawers. Not too much stuff fills them. I notice a few tablets.
“Would you like anything?” Mr. Welds asks us. He raises his eyebrows as Rian and I enter the room. “You’re both here? Is this important?”
Rian nods his head. “I’m just going to get straight to the question because I believe whatever you’ve been hiding from Vivian should be revealed.”
Mr. Welds smiles and folds his hands on the desk, nodding for Rian to go on.
Rian continues. “Rob said—”
“Multiple times,” I add in quickly. But they ignore me.
“—Vivian murdered his father,” Rian says. “So I think it’s about time you told her what actually happened. She needs to know. And while you’re at it, I’d like to know more about my past too. I’ve lived here for two years.”
The smile on Mr. Welds' face leaves and he leans back in his chair, letting out a breath. It takes him a moment to say anything else.
And after a few seconds of silence, he says, "Couldn't Vivian have asked me this? If she was interested, then she would have asked me herself. Might I ask why you are asking for her?"
I did ask him. He just refused to tell me.
Rian’s hands clench into fists. "Don't avoid answering this, Jack," he says.
Mr. Welds lets out another breath, folding and unfolding his hands a few times. I cross my arms, unsure how I want to stand.
I wait for an answer. Again, it takes several seconds before Mr. Welds actually answers.
"Yes, it's true, Miss Clancy." His eyes land on me. "Rob is telling the truth. Approximately thirty years ago, you were hired to assassinate the government leader, Thomas Garmin. He's Rob's father."