Chapter 6

• LYRA
• The annoying ringtone of my phone woke me. I tried to reach out for it on the bedside table, like it was an alarm clock but I couldn’t. The caller kept calling back, like it was some game.
• I sat up lazily and reached for my phone, muttering curses to the caller, under my breath. I stared at the blur screen of my cell, trying to make out who the caller was. It recorded ‘unknown ‘.
• I picked the call. “Hello.”
• “Lyra!!!” The receiver yelled. My ghost jumped out of my skin, the phone flying out of my hand. Today must be a lucky day because it fell on the bed and didn’t bounce off.
• From the edge of the bed I could hear Henderson laughing hysterically. I boned, glaring at the phone as of my gaze would email lasers to him.
• I picked up the phone and put it close to my ear. “You are so dead when I find you.”
• He gulped, loud enough for me to hear it. His fear eased my anger a little bit.
• “My queen I apologize for the prank, it was not my intention to enter you kill list.” He pleaded, feigning an Italian accent. “If I show you my results from the evidence files hacking, will you forgive me?”
• “We’ll see.”
• “Yikes. Anyways, the files were bloody encrypted. I’m talking firewall on firewall, submerged in firewall.”
• “And this means what, exactly?” I asked, a little grumpy because I had barely slept.
• “It means that those bangle eating monkey cops from a decade ago couldn’t have done this. To be honest I don’t think it any police station did this.”
• “Really?”
• I climbed down from bed, stretching myself out. I could hear my bones cracking away like I was breaking eggs.
• “Who do you think may have done it then?”
• “The FBI, NCIS, you know the tippy top good guys.” He ranted.
• ‘And what if it’s not them, then who would it be?”
• Henderson let out a sharp exhale, in the background I heard footsteps, metal door slamming and then a rocking chair.
• “Sorry about the noise. I had to go where the walls don’t have ears.”
• Immediately he said that, my mind unconsciously remembered his home layout and where he might be.
• I furrowed my brow. ‘Why did he have to go into the panic room to talk to me?’
• “Okay, listen and listen carefully. Asides the tippy top good boys, there are two organizations which I know have access to this kind of encryption technology: The wildfire mob and the Zefang mafia. My money is on the mafia, Graham Avenue is their territory and they have had suits filed against them for killing college kids.”
• I was silent for a moment. This was a lot to take in. I hadn’t even started anything and I was already hitting a hard wall. I knew something was out of place about Jason’s murder but the mafia’s involvement was not what I expected.
• “Hey why do you think this cold case is so important to the mafia, anyways?” Henderson asked me, whispering.
• “Honestly, it’s something you need to find out.” I said, smiling from my end. I heard Henderson grumble.
• “This could get me in real trouble.”
• “I know. “ I dismissed his complaints like they were nothing. “How long for the files are decrypted?”
• “A week or two; you will have to wait.”
• I exhaled like I had smoke in my lugs. I fell back to the bed immediately. Here goes my plan to be busy today. Henderson hung up.
• I puffed. There was no way would spend today lying around. I sprang from bed, hit the shower, put on a short skirt over a black crop top and hit the streets.
• All the gangs in Graham Avenue had a one stop hangout hood. It was a long street with casinos and hotels on both sides of the road. According to the stories, things were always hot here but it was hotter at night time. So I went in the day time.
• I thought that there might be a chance I would meet Zefang mafia gang member here. It was a long shot but it was worth the try. I needed as much insight as I could on why they would want to hurt Jason, if at all they did.
• The cabbie stopped me at RANbow’s casino. I waltz in, gracefully finding a spot at the bar. If there was something I learnt from those four useless years with mom, it was how to reveal my breasts and sit at a bar listlessly staring at a glass of wine and looking like I was waiting to get laid.
• I wouldn’t pretend I didn’t know that I had mother’s magnetic features. In less than an hour, I had gotten five guys shoot their shot at me. I turned them all down when I saw they didn’t bear the Zefang mafia gang’s symbol; a black wolf.
• I took a few shots to pass time and then I played some blackjack. Before I knew it, the day began to end, night falling. The smart thing to do was to go home but I wasn’t the type to leave without getting what I wanted.
• So I returned to the bar, ordered some white wine and sipped it slowly while I tapped my fingers to the beat of an old classical playing on the turntable. The spirit of the night was slowly stealing everyone. The room was charging little by little. Drugs were popping and switching hands; People were getting drunk and getting high.
• I paid for my drink and surveyed my purse, preparing to leave, A disappointed look on my face; must be my mood because I didn’t notice him come up to me until I felt his hand fall gently on my skin and slid up slowly, feeling my thighs like he owned it. He placed his head on my shoulders and whispered.
• “Off so soon?”
• “I want to go.” I whimpered, bitting back a moan. I was slightly intoxicated and because of that, every touch, every whisper, every time his breath grazed my skin; sensation rippled through me. I tried to control myself, crossing my legs and squeezing tight but even at that, I couldn’t fight the fire he sparked inside me. I didn’t know i could be so sensitive.
• “You can’t leave yet darling. Not when I already picked you.” He planted a kiss on my neck, I gasped unable to hold back the tension inside me.
• “Give me your hand.” He muttered; his voice, enchanting. I obeyed like I had been possessed. He led me slowly out of the casino and into his limousine.
• It was a devil on wheels. It was painted midnight black and on the hood was the head of beast wolf with moon blue eyes.
• I lay on his lap, inside the car. His fingers played on my body like he was painting and I was his canvas.
• Although he was only caressing me, my mind was already in a haze like I was high on something stronger than ecstasy. He licked my ear and raised my chin before he licked my lips. I moaned for his pleasure.
• He asked me. “Do you know who Lui Zeng is?”
• “No.” I murmured, bitting back the urges to groan when his hands crawled into my shirt.
• “I am him and I’m telling you now; don’t try what you did again. Go back to your school and stay away from the Drop street.”
• My eyes shot open the instant my brain processed what he just said. I scampered away from him immediately. That’s when i realized that the limo had stopped moving.
• “Get down. Get down, little L... girl.”
• I gulped, turning around immediately, my heart racing as I yanked on anything I could before I finally opened the car. I literally jumped out and hurried off immediately.
• It was when I had finally come pretty far from the place I was dropped off that I realized that he had stopped near the dorm.
• I hurried home, unconsciously looking at all four corners of me. I took out my phone and dialled Henderson. He picked up immediately.
• “Who is Lui Zeng?”
• “What?”
• “You heard me.” I snapped at him. I was almost out of breath.
• “Yeah I know but why are you asking me about the leader of the Zefang Mafia gang?”
• My heart stopped cold. I jolted on the stairs, my eyes gaped in shook.
• “Oh my god.”
• “Lyra what’s the problem? Did something happen? Lyra, Lyra.” Henderson‘s voice faded into the background. All I could hear was my own.
• “I met him. I met the most dangerous man in the world. Oh fuck.”