Chapter Eleven: Screams
Lia was still lost in thought when her phone suddenly rang beside her on the counter, snapping her back.
It was Damien, without hesitation, she picked up but said nothing. He'd long since adapted to that.
"How was the flight?" he asked softly.
Lia pushed off the counter, walking into the living room. She pulled out a chair and sat before answering. "It was fine. Why do you ask?"Her voice was calm.
"Nothing. Just asking…" Damien muttered, suddenly awkward.He knew better, but old habits died hard. Lia didn't tolerate fluff.
She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Is that why you called? Or is there something else?"
"No… nothing else." there was a pause and spoke in more gently voice "Just… get some rest, okay? Don't overdo it."
Then hung up before she could respond, not that she planned to. She placed the phone on the table, then reached for the folder.
The moment the first page opened, her face shifted. Every line, every grainy photo, every connection it all mattered now.
She went through it silently, but quickly. Her expression was unreadable. And when she was done, she set it aside, rose, and headed upstairs and she took her bath.
Changing into another hoodie. And crawled into bed, the wind whispering outside her window.
...
The morning in Volgrin was quiet, but Lia was already awake before the sun finished rising. The cold, clean air wrapped around her as she stepped out of the glass-fronted apartment, her hoodie zipped up, running shoes soft against the sidewalk.
Running made her feel lighter, not in body but in mind. It was the only time her thoughts didn't feel like loaded weapons.
Her strides were long and rhythmic. The streets of Volgrin were waking up slowly shutters rising, steam curling from street carts.
When she returned, Lia didn't stop to rest. She rinsed off quickly, tossed on a black T-shirt and jeans, tied her hair in a loose bun, and left againthis time with her bag slung over one shoulder and her foldable bike in hand.
" Take a leave I will call you when I need you" she said startling the driver but still complied and rode off.
---
She stopped at a small café tucked between a flower shop and a tailoring joint. A place where no one knew her name, and she didn't care to know theirs.
She took her seat near the window, fingers wrapped around a warm cup, eyes lazily scanning the street. On the wall-mounted television, the volume was low, but the name caught her attention.
"Alexandria Vegora"
The news anchor was mid-sentence.
"...announced the completion of her fourth educational facility this year, this time in central Volgrin. A workshop built to support young minds in creative science and innovation…"
Lia's gaze didn't shift, but something in her posture changed only slightly. So she searched her on the net and what she found according to netizens was that Alexandria Vegora is a woman hailed as a visionary, elegant, philanthropic and powerful.
Lia blinked slowly, then stood. Her coffee remained half-finished on the table.
She walked out of the cafè after settling her bill and got onto her bike.
She rode her bike past city streets that hummed with normalcy, horns, bikes, music leaking from alley speakers. She didn't have a map in her mind, just a direction and that was south.
The ocean met her by accident.The sun was already beginning its descent, golden light streaking the waves. Wind kissed her face and made the ends of her sleeves flap.
She dropped her bike into the sand, with her shoes still on, and walked slowly until the noise of the city became nothing but background air.
But then suddenly she heard a scream. It was sharp, it sounded like that of a female.
Lia paused. Her head turned but only silence followed.
She waited. Letting her instincts decide. And there it was again and it seemef closer. This time, clearer. She immediately turned and ran in it's direction
Down a stretch of broken fence, past a parked delivery van, she found the source.
A silver Maserati Levante was parked with its doors were flung open, one swinging like a wounded limb. A young woman who looked the twenties, was being dragged out by two men dressed in black.
Some people where on the ground they seemed to be have knocked out cold and if she was right they were her bodyguards judging from their attire at least three were down already, groaning or unconscious on the pavement.
Lia didn't hesitate.She sprinted forward, her movement precise.
The first man didn't hear her coming and she landed a kick to his spine that sent him crashing forward. The second turned just in time to catch her elbow in his nose.
The woman screamed again as the first man lunged back at Lia. Lia ducked, grabbed his wrist, twisted, and drove her knee into his ribs. Making him dropped.
The second tried to pull a gun, but Lia's hand was already around his with one clean, vicious twist and the weapon clattered to the ground.
Panting, the woman backed away from the chaos, with her eyes wide. Lia stood between her and the downed attackers. Wind tore across the street again, flapping her hoodie.
The woman stared.
"You...you're not one of them… are you?" she asked, voice trembling.
Lia didn't answer. She just looked over her shoulder to be sure no one else was coming.
Then she said flatly, "You should leave. Now."
The woman clutched her wrist where the bruises had formed, her breath ragged as she took a shaky step forward.
"You...you're not one of them… are you?" she asked asked once more, blinking rapidly.
Lia gave her a brief glance. "If I was, you wouldn't be talking but screaming"