Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Marcus was restless as well as nervous as he shifted uneasily on his seat in the guards' quarters, but mostly nervous. He had been on missions even more demanding and extremely dangerous than travelling to a country for a month, but right there where he stared staring in mild rage at his phone screen, his heart saw no peace and neither did his head.

His nervousness could be likely attributed to the fact that it had been a long time since he had been out on one of these missions. Not that he was afraid the lapse in time would affect his effectiveness, but he knew the trip to Berlin would be a tough one considering that she barely listened to him. His line of work entailed that those protected want to be protected and also are ready to listen and adhere to instructions. Much to his worry, Jane was the direct opposite of those attributes.

Meanwhile, the reason for his restlessness was that for the past hour and a half, she had been calling her phone consistently and she was picking up any of his calls. The sun had gone a long way through in its journey to its two-hour long, and the only remnant of its existence was the crimson shadow it cast on the clouds. Yet, Jane had not returned.

From what he had gathered from the men who were on duty, Jane had stepped out with Sophia, who had been accompanied by at least two of her guards. But even with the assurance, Marcus did not feel safe. He knew the responsibility of looking after Jane fell on his shoulders and if anything should happen to her—he shuddered at the very thought— Mr. Morrison's wrath would be on him and not on two individuals who he knew were most likely not as professional as him and probably had let Jane wander off.

He and Jane's flight was is two hours and from what he saw when he checked her bedroom, she had not packed her travelling and from the clothes laid haphazardly on the bed, she seemed to have left in a hurry. When he had realized she had left the house, even when she had been given specific instructions not to do so unless accompanied by him, he had reached out to Sophia and then Jane, but then when no one replied, he alongside others in the house were worried.

Marcus was just a blink from falling into despair when his phone screen came alive with a blinking call from Jane. He answered the call almost immediately only to be greeted by the sound of shuffling like two individuals struggling to speak first.

"What is going on, Jane? Where are you?" Marcus asked with a sense of urgency. Everyone soon gathered around to listen in.

"I'm with Sophia and we're at the beach but I'll be back soon," Jane said.

"Come home, Jane. We have a flight to Berlin, remember? I need you to come back now."

"You have no right to be bossing me around! I am the boss here and I said I will be back soon," Jane snapped rudely.

"Just give the phone to Sophia, please," Marcus instructed. He could nearly smell her drunken breath from the phone and knew exchanging words would only waste their time. He just hoped Sophia was not drunk as well. "Hey Sophia, where are you guys? I'll come to pick you up."

"We went to Noosa beach but we're on our way back and will be home very soon."

Marcus wanted to rant angrily at her for ignoring all his calls, but she hurriedly hung up before he could speak. The others immediately wanted to go after her but having heard the sound of cars zooming past, he knew they were indeed coming back and advised them to stay back and go over the route they would take to the airport. In the meantime, he instructed the maids to tidy up Jane's room and then waited until the car drove into the gate some minutes later and pull into the driveway.

As soon as Jane stumbled out of the car, she lost her balance, slipped and fell, only to be caught in midair by Marcus's waiting arms. While he balanced her on one arm, he retrieved his other hand and clasped it around his nose to shield him from the strong alcohol stench oozing from her.

"Oh my god! How much did she have to drink?" He asked Sophia who was also tipsy but sober enough to get their things from the car.

"A lot."

Marcus scoffed and turned to Jane asking I'd the latter was okay to walk on her own.

"Leave me alone! Don't touch me, asshole…" Jane whined, her voice failing. As if that wasn't enough, she began wiggling and throwing weak punches in the air while he lifted her and lead her into her room in the house.

Her whining was not the only thing that made the trip into the house a bit stressful. Jane was still clad in her bikini and this made it difficult to keep his eyes and his hands to himself. He could already feel the throbbing bulge pressing against the tight fabric of his underpants as he sauntered up the stairs to Jane's room. In fact, it discomforted his movement.

"Hey, I'm going to lay you down now," He whispered, as he stood beside the bed with her still in his arms. "The maid will come in when I leave and clean you up. I will ask that the flight be delayed for about an hour, so you could get enough time to rest and also get ready."

Slowly he laid her on the bed, but surprisingly she sat up slowly, looking around the room wearily. "I don't need the flight to be postponed. His much time do we have left?"

"Roughly two hours," replied Marcus, taking a seat beside her.

She sniffled in. "Then we have enough time. Just call the maid to get me a bottle of water and some aspirin. I feel like my head is spinning." She paused, letting him carry out her order. "Also, she could bring along a bowl of water, I feel like I'm about to…"

Her words were cut short by the bulk of vomit that erupted out her mouth and soiled Marcus's shirt, the only thing in its way. He was still trying to recover from the shock, his jaw hung and his face squeezed in disgust when Jane released another round of puke which didn't only ruin the remainder of his shirt but splattered over his trousers and some particles of the whitish pulp even rested in drops on his face. And then yet another followed.

As if on cue, the maid rushed in with a towel along with the other items but halted in her tracks gazing in disgust at Jane, angry Marcus, and the floor. She then proceeded to take slow and calculated steps towards them before settling the items on the bed and attending to Jane who sat weakly unaware of the mess she had created.

Marcus groaned in frustration. He could barely breathe comfortably as the stench seemed to accompany each breath. He stood up slowly, taking off the shirt and trousers, and dropping them on the floor. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Jane staring at him from where she sat as he reached for his phone in his trouser pocket before heading out to freshen up.

During his brief time at the house, Mr. Morrison had given him a room where he could stay in case he needed to sleep over, but this was the second time he had stepped foot in there. There was also a change of clothes in the wardrobe so after a quick shower, he put them on and headed out to see how Jane was faring, but on getting to the room she found the elderly maid just exiting the room.

"How is she?" He asked, running his hand through his dishevelled hair.

"She's asleep now. She also came down with a fever after she took a bath but the aspirin should take care of that."

"And my clothes?"

"I just sent someone to get them in the washing machine. I would advise you to let her rest but if you insist on seeing her, then she's all yours," said the maid and then left.

Marcus knew the woman was right. He crept in slowly and when he saw Jane safely tucked underneath her heavy blanket and "breathing" he left and walked out, closing the door behind him. One may wonder why he had checked to be sure she was alive, but it could be attributed to a lesson learnt from a previous occasion he had encountered that was not dissimilar to this one.

About two years ago, he had been on a job with his former partner Brian Pacman, when he had been put in charge of an ailing woman who had been rushed into the mansion they had worked in. Shortly after the patient had arrived and ushered into a room, a maid had been assigned to take care of her. The maid spent a couple of minutes with the woman and by the time she re-emerged from the room, she said the same words; "I would advise that you not go in, for now, come back a few minutes later and let her catch some rest."

Like the naive man he was at the time, he had remained at the doorpost not knowing that the woman who he had been led to believe was sleeping had been fed with poison by the so-called maid and was almost at the point of death. If not for his partner Brian, who grew suspicions and went in to check on her nonetheless and who called in a proper doctor who resuscitated her, they would have lost that night. But the incident eventually cost them their job and from that day on, Marcus learnt the hard way not to repeat the mistake.

Sophia, on the other hand, didn't stay long after she learnt Jane was safe and sound. She promised to check in on Jane as soon as she got home and after that Zoomed off with her guards, leaving Jonathan to sit on the granite fortified pavement of the water fountain that stood proudly at the centre of the outer compound, staring wistfully at the bright sky.

It was one of those nights when the moon was fixated in heavy competition to outdo the glittering myriads of stars that clouded the sky. One would think serenity would follow this enchanting scenery, instead, the ballads and chorus of the band of nocturnal creatures lurking in the trimmed fields and even the little garden cultivated at the northern eastern fence of the mansion was swayed around by the light cold breeze. And amid all this orderly commotion sat Marcus with only one individual on his mind. Brian Pacman. His best friend and partner. Well, at least Brian was all that and more before Marcus lost him in his last job.

If boldness, creativity, professionalism, love and loyalty could be intertwined to form a human, then that individual would be Brian. He was Marcus' friend in college but as soon as they graduated, they somehow found a way to cross paths with each other and that was when they turned out to be best of buddies. Together, they built a Private Security Agency from as much as nothing and rose to be a reputable household name. All that before Brian's mysterious death on their last job working for a powerful man, an occurrence which left Marcus with pain, anger, regret and most of all guilt as he spent every day blaming himself for what had happened that day.

A tear trickled down Marcus' chin as he remembered all the plans they had for their company which they had started back in Italy. All those ideas and big plans were cut short before they could be put in motion. He knew Brian would have wanted him to live on and finish what they started but he just couldn't; nothing felt right without his best friend there to advise and stand by him. That seemed like the perfect time to let out all those tears he had kept bottled up, but when he heard the sound of hurriedly approaching footsteps, he sniffled them back in and wiped his chin.