Chapter 13: Chapter 13

What happened next appeared in slow motion to everyone involved, and later on they all had a slightly different view on events, although none of the stories were different enough to be considered untrue. Time somehow seemed to stretch and the next few seconds seemed to take an eternity to pass. Each of them had always thought that this was just something that happened in films.

Edward Davis saw Isabelle coming towards the woman he couldn’t say he loved but definitely had strong warm fuzzy feelings for. Belinda seemed rooted with sudden fear and it looked like this was not at all going to end too well for her.

With one extra hard push, he took Belinda out of the way of the knife and found himself facing Isabelle head on. His cry of agony seemed to float into eternity as the knife slid into his arm like warm butter.

Time sped up again and everyone watched with sickened fascination as the two fighters tumbled to the ground. The knife, now out of Edward’s arm, was knocked from Isabelle’s hands by his agonised thrashing. Belinda, suddenly out of her shock, saw an opportunity and went for it.

Before she even got near to it, the knife seemed to shoot away from her and was back in Isabelle’s hands in seconds. A look of fury crossed her eyes at the thought that things hadn’t gone quite as she had planned. She made to slash at the wounded Progression Software employee, who rolled away and barely avoided her second blow.

With catlike grace, Isabelle was on her feet. She looked down at Edward, who had left a trail of blood as he had rolled away, he seemed to be very badly wounded indeed. She sneered at his fallen form.

Before she could do anything to make his situation graver, Robert ran from nowhere to save the day. Without even thinking twice, Isabelle batted him to the ground again. It looked, to anyone who cared to see, like she hadn’t even touched him.

Isabelle didn’t take her eyes off Edward at any time and now that the distractions were all gone again, for the moment, she took a couple of steps forward and stood over him.

“I hate to be the bearer, of bad news and all, but it’s time that I killed you!”

To be honest she did not look like she hated to be the bearer of this particular bad news.

She only staggered slightly and made a few small steps forward when the chair that Belinda was now clutching, was smashed over her back. It broke into pieces, once again looking more like something from a movie. Belinda was sure that there would have been a sickening crunch under other circumstances and, judging from where she hit the woman, there might have been a fifty/fifty chance she would have ever walked again.

But Isabelle was different now and she merely turned round to see just who of the assembled group had the nerve to try (and fail) to inflict such injury upon her. Belinda was sure that, when she saw her prey in full view, Isabelle’s eyes glowed, just a little bit.

Edward used this very short period of time to his advantage, scurrying away and getting back onto his feet as quickly as he could. The left arm of his shirt was covered in blood, which was continuously dripping down onto the floor around him. He was sure that he had lost enough blood to pass out but he still appeared to be completely aware of his surroundings. He reckoned that perhaps an influx of adrenaline was keeping him going.

Robert, thanks to his being gracefully removed by Isabelle, lay the furthest away from the confrontation between Isabelle and Belinda. He ached and couldn’t bring himself to get up from the floor, his body telling him over and over again that he would just end up back down here in a few moments. He couldn’t take his eyes off the two women facing each other off. He realised that everyone else in the Haunt felt the same way.

“You really do want to fuck with me, don’t you?” Isabelle asked.

“Can I get back to you on that one?” Belinda asked, dimly hoping that this psychotic bitch from hell might have a sense of humour.

She did. She laughed at Belinda’s joke as she slashed the knife at the computer programmer’s stomach.

2.

Tuesday 27th April 2010

02:20

It didn’t take much to excite Alice and get her in the mood for action. She was full of adrenaline as the quick drive to Haunt 9 continued Now that she was sure that she might be some use that evening. David did not seem to bother that he was going well over the speed limit. She could tell that he was too worried about what was waiting for them, despite the fact that he didn’t show any sign of it. The roads were empty and they did not have to slow down for anything at this early hour of the morning.

But to the excited and agitated Alice Cuthbert, it still felt like they were not getting there quickly enough.

David’s car almost knocked the two people who had made the call earlier like skittles. They had appeared out of nowhere, having hung around close to the bar, on the off chance that they saw something exciting come out of the whole thing.

Both of them had been too scared to actually follow Robert in, though, as they had suddenly felt an instinctive fear about the place. Something just didn’t seem right about this at all and they had been torn between trying to find out and staying outside in the safety of the night.

When David’s car screeched to a halt and nearly knocked them down, they realised that they’d had enough of the events of the evening and did the only thing they could think of. They fled into the night, determined to discover what was going on from the safe distance of home, in the warm light of day that dawn would bring.

David got out of the car, not even seeming to notice that he had nearly killed Robert’s two friends and started his walk to the front entrance of the bar. Alice, once again, found that she had been left in the car on her own. She tried to quickly catch up with him, sparing a quick glance to the retreating duo, not sure if they were friend or foe and casting it from her mind for the moment.

“It’s very quiet!” She managed to say.

David nodded in agreement and smiled at her humourlessly. “Worrying, isn’t it?”

She nodded her agreement and both of them walked to the unlocked door of Haunt 9. David opened the almost ruined door slowly and then…

All hell broke loose.

3.

Tuesday 27th April 2010

02:53

The predominant sound in the room is that of Karen breathing. The events in Haunt 9 are now over, but she is unaware of the outcome for now. She is reading a report and is not very happy with the contents. After a few moments she looks up at the woman in front of her.

“So you thought it was prudent to cancel the whole operation because of this… mistake?”

“That wasn’t my decision”, Ingrid answers, trying to keep cool in front of her boss. “When we informed the other groups of what had happened they backed off.”

“Did we get anything from tonight? Something I can give to the Directors to show it wasn’t a complete loss?”

Ingrid shrugs. “I don’t know how important any of this is. Something seems to have rattled Oswald’s cage quite badly. He also exposed the location of the men in the grey suits who occasionally visit him. The Directors have wanted that information for some time as I recall.”

“That’s no good to me. The location is fine and well but nobody above me would sanction an approach anyway. I get the feeling the Directors know who these men are but don’t think we need to know yet.”

Ingrid knows that by we, Karen really means herself and this thought must worry her greatly. Her underling cannot hide her sneer. “Maybe they just don’t trust you.”

Karen flashes her a dangerous look. “That will be all.”

Ingrid knows that she has got to her boss and she likes the feeling a lot. She turns and walks to the door.

“Just one more thing Ingrid.”

She stops and turns, trying to disguise the smile that is on her face as best she can.

“If I were you then I would pray that this report goes down well with the Directors. Because if it doesn’t… there might be more than one broken neck in your department from tonight’s activities.”

The smiled disappears when the words register with Ingrid. With that, she turns and leaves. Karen makes sure that she gives Ingrid enough time to be out of earshot before she slams down on the desk with both fists, hard enough for it to hurt.