The Victimless Crime

Chapter 28: "Stepping on a Minefield"

Warning: violence 

"Let me go! No!" Oli shouts.

It all took fifteen minutes before Oli stops throwing everything she could find in the room. Everything has been a mess in the hotel room. It took awhile before Charles comes running in the room and finds the mess.

Oli is not in her right mind at all to even think properly. The phone is all but a shattered screen. Vases are thrown on the wall or the floor. She couldn't even breathe right. It all feels like some sort of a chain suddenly pulling her down.

They got him. They got him. Those words kept repeating in her mind.

Charles tries to grab Oli by the arm, but Oli immediately pulls away.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Oli shouts. Her throat is already hurting from trying not to cry. Though, everything felt like it was shattering.

It's my fault. This is all my fault. She thought.

However, when she turns to the man still tied to the chair, the rage boils down on her. She takes a step forward. Lino doesn't even get to react when she grabs the gun from him and points it at Brambilla.

"This is your fault! If it weren't for you stupid fucking greedy head, all this wouldn't have happened," she says in gritted teeth.

"Oli, put down the gun," Lino said.

Oli doesn't listen even for a second. She even takes a step closer and lets the gun's nozzle touch Brambilla's forehead. Brambilla is all pale and his eyes travel from the trigger and to Oli's face. Oli's finger touches the trigger. Her eyes are dark and clouded by the loss of her one and only friend.

Her finger slowly pulls the trigger; however, before anything else, Oli breaks down. Tears immediately fell across her cheeks. Charles takes this as a queue to come closer to you. He slowly takes the gun from you and hands it over to Lino.

Oli then just covers her face and sobs. Charles pulls her into his arms and pats her back.

"We'll find him," Charles repeats as Oli just clings to him and sobs through the seconds that pass. Though, it doesn't take long before Oli pulls away from Charles.

"I think I already know where he'll be," She narrows her eyes and turns to Brambilla.

When Brambilla thinks that his truth-telling is over, he's badly mistaken. When he manages to calm down from the whole gun fiasco, he looks up and sees Oli narrowing her eyes at him.

"It seems the game is not yet over, Mr Brambilla," Lino chuckles. Instead of using the gun once more, he just grabs a pocket knife from behind him.

Brambilla's eyes widened at the sight of the sharp knife.

"So, let's not make this hard. Hm?"

******

Dark. Echoey. Empty. Musty.

Those are the only things Locke can make up for in his surroundings. He's not sure where he is exactly. Other than being tied up in his hands and feet, he can't make up for what happened. All he knew was that he was interrogating the man in target when all of a sudden someone hit something hard at the back of his head. Later, he's swallowed into oblivion. Then, he woke up once more but all he could remember was a man. Yes. The man Oli has been hiding all her life. The demon that has destroyed a part of her soul.

Liam Freud.

Though, no words were exchanged between them. All he remembered was Liam coming closer to him with a big smile on his face. A devil's smile.

"Aren't you a little too...clean for underground fighters? Aren't they supposed to have bruises here and there?" He chuckles. "Don't worry, we'll fix that out,"

Then he dives into oblivion once more.

It's probably been an hour before he got back into unconsciousness.

This time he tries to settle himself down. He takes a deep breath trying his best to be calm and find any sort of solution to this problem. He wouldn't just wait here and wait for someone to save him. He knows for sure that he will not risk letting Oli dive into a rescue mission, especially, if it involves this man she tried too hard to run away from.

He looks around for anything at all. He finds a broken glass, but he couldn't even manage to crawl with all the bruises and possibly broken ribs as well. Though, that's his only hope. He then leans to the side and pushes himself with a grunt.

Click.

Before he can even get himself to work on that little task, the door clicks open. He immediately sits upright as the light seeps in. He squints hard at the man figure standing by the door. It took a little sense of relief after realizing that Liam is not there. Though, he doesn't know if he can give himself as much relief to whoever the man is.

"Can you get up?" The man said.

Locke doesn't answer.

"Well, you better be in the state to run," the man walks closer after closing the door behind him. Locke can't even move at all as the distance between them decreases. Though, later does he know, the man is untying or rather cutting the ropes on his wrist and ankles.

"Who are you?" Locke managed to say in a confused look.

The man chuckles. "For a detective, you couldn't even recognize the victim you've been working hard to find,"

Locke then takes a better look at the man.

Magnus Young.

"So, you're really alive," Locke mutters.

"Yup," Magnus helps him up.

Though, it's not a surprise that the man is alive. The only question is why he is here and what does he have to do with Liam? Though, something tells him it all makes sense. Oli will surely be able to put the puzzles together.

"I don't understand," Locke simply managed to utter as he stood up.

"Long story short. My half-brother reeled me in in his mommy issues. Things got out of hand, and I knew I just had to do something before he killed me next or better yet...our youngest half- brother. That weirdo didn't do anything," Magnus said.

"So, you hid from the police or anyone else because of Liam's...mommy issues," Locke asked.

"I didn't go here to tell you everything. What matters now is that we get out of here before he comes back from wherever he is," Magnus then heads to the door.

That seems easy enough. However...the moment Magnus opens the door, Locke hears one voice he hoped not to hear at all.

"LIAM, COME OUT!" Oli's voice echoes through the halls.

Magnus lifts an eyebrow and turns to Locke.

"It seems...miss detective has come to rescue you,"

"It seems she did," The next voice they hoped to hear at all. Liam's voice.

Next Chapter (29): 

"Checkmate"

Author's Note: 

I'm sorry it's so short. Though, I really just quickly finished this chapter. Hopefully, I get to finish this soon.