Realise - Real Lies

Down the Rabbit Hole

Check it out here as well: https://jaderoxx30892.wixsite.com/reallies/post/chapter-9-down-the-rabbit-hole

Jade's POV

I sat in the car gripping the steering wheel, willing it to take me away from this place. Driving here was easy. Or easier. I had this ominous feeling about going to this place. First off, it wasn't a house. Secondly it looked completely abandoned. And third it just gave me the creeps. Jade if you go to that place you are definitely going to die. Or catch an infection. Can't do it. Why am I in this situation? I took a deep breath and got out of the car.  I kept my phone in my hand, ready to call the police if something went wrong. I walked towards what looked like a dilapidated building.
I got inside. It had just 2 floors. No light emanated from anywhere, so I had to use my phone as the flashlight. Maybe  I was on a wild goose chase because it didn't seem like anyone lived here. Or maybe they had moved. I tried searching for any signs of any person being here. Nothing. I checked the top floor first. Empty. Absolutely empty. I groaned. Maybe it was a sick joke. I didn't know what I expected to find. I went down to the first floor. I walked the entire floor not seeing any signs. Nothing. Definitely a dead end. I decided to head back. This was hopeless. I walked back on the floor towards the exit, angrily stomping my feet as the sound resonated across the place. When suddenly, the sounds differed. Confused, I retraced my steps. The sound of my footsteps changed. I bent down and shined my flashlight on the ground to see a depression in the floor. A square block with a handle was carefully camouflaged in the depression. I touched the handle and pulled with all my strength. It opened to a space below the floor where I saw a faint light. Memories of the bunker Luke had me in, smash into my mind. I take a step back, anxiety hitting me. The pain, the helplessness of the situation I was in, was suffocating me. I squeezed my eyes shut and urged my mind to push those memories away. After what seemed to be a few minutes I felt myself regaining my composure. I walked towards the door and stepped down quietly.
As my feet hit the bottom of the stairs, I was startled looking at the contrast between the above floors and this room. It was dimly lit but majority of the light emanated from the laptop screens, that were on one corner of the room. A bed was on the other corner. A table was in the center, but what surprised me were the a stack of passports and documents on it. What was this place? I walked towards the center to examine the passports that lay open. Weirdly they were of one person only. How could one person have multiple passports? And with different names. I was about to turn around when I felt someone push me. I slammed on the table with a scream. I saw blade being slashed towards my face when I raised my hands and I felt the blade slash at my hands. Sharp pains erupted and I tried my best to get up. I saw the blade retreat and get ready to hit me again. Stop Stop," I pleaded getting ready for another blow, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes to stare at a figure of a woman staring at me intently, with the blade in her hand. I slowly tried standing up when she said, "You're Jade." I looked at her surprised, "How do you know my name?" My hand quickly tried reaching for my phone. She noticed. She pulled the phone from my hand, slammed the phone to the ground and stamped it vehemently. "Hey hey that's a new phone," I yelled. "You are welcome," she said. "Excuse me? Who are you?" I asked. She considered my question and said, "You can call me Layla." She walked towards the corner of the room, picked up a box and threw it on the table, "You better clean up." "What?" I asked. "Well you are bleeding all over my documents and that is not aesthetically pleasing to my clients," she said. I looked at her fearfully, but I still tried asking her, "Who are you and how do you know my name?" "Well I guess you are slow. I told you. Call me Layla and I know the woman who survived the clutches of a monster like Luke." "You know that's not what I asked. What do you do? And why did Cleo have your address?" I asked.
"Precocious, are we? Please clean up. Dammit you are dripping all over the papers," she screamed. I grabbed the box which was a first aid box and moved away from the table, but I didn't dare turn my back on the woman. Luckily, the cuts weren't deep. I quickly bandaged them to the best of my ability. "I apologize about that. I hope you won't tell him that I did this," she said. "Who are you talking about?" I asked. "My client?" I was getting annoyed, "I have no idea who you are talking about." "Dominic," she said. Jake's alias. I stared at her, "How do you know him?" "Well he has been my client for a few years," she said. "I don't know what that means. What kind of client?" I asked suspiciously. She pointed towards the table, "I make documents for him and retrieval work," she said. "Oh," I said. "I actually remember you from the Marina Sokolov ID I made for you a few months ago." I joined the dots. So she made documents for him. "Why did Cleo have your address?" I asked. "Cleo? No this location's address was given to Luke along with a message," she said. "What message? And who told you to do that?" I asked. "Just a name. Hermês." "Who asked you to I give that message?" I asked. "He did or she did. I dont really know if he is a guy or a girl," she said. "Who?" I pressed again. "Hermês told me to tell Luke," she said.
"What?" I said completely surprised. A realization hit me. She didn't know Hermês and Dominic were the same person. But why would Jake tell Layla to give Luke his name and this place's address? This was so confusing. "Yeah Hermês had given me clear instructions. But how did you know to come here?" she asked. I composed myself. I had to be careful. I had no clue who this person was and she knew me which was kind of odd. "How did  Hermês give you the instructions?" I asked. "A forum on the dark web. Did Dominic send you here?" she asked eagerly. "What do you know about Hermês?" I asked. She narrowed her eyes, "You are kidding right? He is the best in his field." I sighed, "Okay. Can you be more specific?" "Well he is a hacker and he can break into anything," she said. That was probably accurate. "Do you know why he told you to give Luke this address and his name?" I asked.
"Lady I don't ask questions in this profession. I do what I am paid to do," she said. "When was the last time you spoke to Dominic?" I asked. She stared at me and then shrugged, "He came here here a month ago to get new IDs and passports." "Do you know where he is now?" She shrugged, "My work ends with the delivery of the IDs. What is done with them or where the people go is none of my business. Now I want to ask you. Dominic didn't give you this address and Luke is dead so I assume this Cleo gave it you. Why are you here?" I thought a bit before answering. There was no way I could tell her the entire truth. But I still needed to tell her enough so that she would help me. I didn't know if she could help me but I had to try. Finally I said, "I need to find Dominic. I need to find my boyfriend." "Dominic is your boyfriend?" She asked quickly. "No. My boyfriend Richy is missing. And I think Dominic might know where he is. But I can't find him," I said. She eyed me suspiciously, "Richy? Is he the garage owner who went missing? He is your boyfriend?" I nodded, "We were on a road trip and the next thing I know is that I woke up in Mistissini with no trace of where Richy was." "Seems like your boyfriend likes to disappear. How does Dominic fit into this?" She asked.
I thought for a moment, "Richy had Dominic's information on his laptop, so.." "So you think Dominic had something to do with it?" I hesitated, "Or someone who wanted to get to Dominic tried to get through by using Richy?" Layla smirked, "Or he just got fed up of you and ran. Or you got fed up of him and killed him and are using Dominic as a pawn. Do you know how you look in this? You have murder written all over you."