Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 165

The first person to arrive was one Jacques had met only a few times. It was a woman, in her early fifties, with a shaved head, who swore like a sailor and had tattoos covering both arms. Her left arm had an underwater theme, with the scariest things you’d find in the depths of the ocean; giant squids, those lantern fish with the teeth, and an octopus with its tentacles threaded throughout the art. The right arm had been done to look bionic, with muscles, bones, and the like redone as if she was a cyborg.

Personally, he had mad respect for the lady, who was one of the doctors employed by the boss, but he didn’t enjoy dealing with her all that much.

Her car pulled up and she was out of the vehicle in a second. She flung open the passenger door of the van to lay eyes on Mr Devreaux. “Tsk. You look fucking terrible, boss,” she told the man.

“Nice to see you, too, Christine,” Jacques said in greeting, but she pointedly ignored him as she pulled herself into the vehicle.

“Definitely drugged to fucking hell on some good shit,” she muttered, shining a penlight into Mr Devreaux’s eyes. “At least the injuries only look like a bitch, though I’ll know for sure once I run some tests.”

“And I’m fine, thanks for asking,” Jacques said to the windshield. The blows he’d taken during his fist fight weren’t really worth mentioning, but being ignored like this was aggravating.

“Your skull is too fucking thick for you to get hurt, fuckwit,” Christine retorted, not even glancing his way as she spoke.

“So, where’s Dr Polanski?”

“Busy with the other one,” she replied, finally looking over her shoulder at him. “Got a fucking problem with that?”

“Not at all. You’re just such a ray of sunshine; I wanted to know how I got so lucky.”

“Fuck off.”

More people showed up in the minutes that followed, until the person Jacques was the least eager to deal with made their appearance.

Gilbert looked calm as he stepped out of his vehicle. He marched to the van, where Christine was still looking over the boss. “What’s the prognosis, doctor?” He asked.

“He’ll live. We’ll need to flush his system, though. Fuck knows what those bastards put in him, so I can’t do much except wrap him the fuck up for now.”

“George, Adrien; you two are to bring Dr Everly and Mr Devreaux to the skyline safe house.”

“Yes, sir,” the two men replied as one, before stepping up and carefully removing their boss from the van.

“Don’t worry too much ‘bout his injuries; they’re superficial for the most part,” Christine told them. “Fuck if he can feel anything right now, either.” She jumped from the van and followed the men to a waiting SUV, where they loaded Mr Devreaux into the back seat.

“Jacques,” Gilbert began, drawing his son’s attention from the doctor.

“Got two in the back,” he said, thrusting his thumb in the appropriate direction to emphasize what he’d said. “Doubt they know much, but figured you’d want ‘em alive.”

“Where’s Miss Vivian, Jacques.”

“I’m not gonna tell you,” he replied, “I’m not letting you leave me behind. I told her I’d be back, with help, and I’m not gonna break my word.”

Gilbert’s eyes narrowed as he regarded his son. “Fine.”

“Great,” Jacques began, nodding. “Unload the dead weight, and grab whoever can fit in the back. I need someone riding up front with me, who looks a bit like a nobody.”

A sigh came from the old man. It was obvious he wasn’t enjoying the leverage Jacques was using to get his way. After this was over, Gilbert would definitely make him pay for it, but by then the little lady would, hopefully, be there to act as a buffer.

Jacques was pretty sure his willingness to help her out, when everyone else had shut her down, earned him some big points in her book. As long as their boss didn’t break his neck before Vivian was able to defend him, since he’d technically put her in danger by doing as she asked. It was something to worry about after they got her back.

It didn’t take long for five men, including Gilbert, to load themselves into the back. Jacques decided not to point out his old man wasn’t exactly in top form for something like this — he didn’t have a death wish, and the guy’s aim was good enough to avoid a ricochet.

One final man joined him in the front as Jacques took off his motorcycle jacket, revealing the plain white t-shirt and shoulder holster he wore underneath. The jacket was too distinct to wear if he was hoping to get back into the factory, at least not without any posted guard noticing they weren’t one of them.

Once that was done, the man in the passenger seat gave Jacques a gun and two magazines. He checked the magazine already loaded, then chambered a bullet before putting on the safety and slipping it into his holster. Now he was ready to get this thing going.

“Just so you know,” he began as he turned on the engine and swung the van back onto the street. “I’m pretty sure that guy called the Curator was there.”

“What makes you say that?” Gilbert asked, the other men staying quiet.

“Dude wore some creepy Japanese mask and used a voice changer.”

“You saw him?”

Jacques nodded, the abandoned factory already coming into view. “Yeah. Didn’t introduce himself, but who else could it be? Anyway, there were four guys at the park for the meet up, but only three came with us. Another guy was waiting when we parked, and when I left there was another new face.”

“Seven men that we know of, including the one in the mask,” Gilbert summarized. “Anything else?”

“They were all armed with guns, but never drew them. Most of them deferred to the masked guy, but there was one who always took a second to respond to an order; I caught him giving mask-guy a few looks when we were being led back to the van.”

“Hm. Do you think he’s a possible weak link, or will he be a problem to us?”

“I think…” Jacques hesitated. There were multiple reasons for that guy’s behaviour but, while witnessing it, only a single thought had come to mind. “I think he was sent to keep an eye on mask-guy. I don’t know why; it’s just a feeling I got from watching him.”

“So there may be others to look out for, not just the ones you saw.”

“Yeah… We’ll need to be careful. Something tells me there’s more going on than just a kidnapping and ransom.” Jacques didn’t feel it was his place to talk about the possible connection between the little lady and the masked man; it wasn’t his place to share this information.

*There’s definitely something more going on, and that girl is probably at the centre of it.*