The Bounty Hunter

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Lloyd stared outside the living room window as rain and hail poured from the sky, the dark clouds covering the sky echoing the mood of the house. His plan was to send Kasey and Hailey back today, but this storm came out of nowhere so he decided not to mess with it now. Besides, Hailey was nowhere to be found; she had hidden herself somewhere in the house to where even Kasey couldn't find her. Hailey's fear of storms had made it impossible for Lloyd to carry out his plan, and if Kasey and Luke couldn't coax her out of hiding, there was no point to it. Lloyd watched as the rain pattered against the window and Luke walked up to him, his eyes going from the rain to Lloyd. There was a long eerie silence before Luke broke it.

"So what now?"

Lloyd close his eyes. "We wait till the storm passes. If Hailey won't even come out when you call her, there's no point in rushing." Lloyd looked over his shoulder and saw Luke's shoulders sag a bit, knowing he was feeling relieved they didn't have to send them back right away. Lloyd turned and was making his way towards the stairs when Scott, the soldier in charge of the other mansion, came forward and stopped at the end of the stairs.

"I've secured the item in room near the security computer room. We'll transfer it back out whenever the storm passes over. It's contained sir."

"Make sure the door stays locked until I notify you further," Lloyd said. Scott nodded and departed down the hallway, and Lloyd put his hand to his head. That was something else Lloyd was going to have to figure out; how to deal with the items he had gotten when Brandon was stripped of his rank. Lloyd decided to head over to the couch and deal with paper work instead of being cooped up in his room. He sat on the couch and just stared at all the papers requiring his signature regarding Brandon's possessions. The house was strangely quiet and seemed to carry the mood of depression with it, which didn't make Lloyd feel any better. Lloyd was relieved Kasey was slow at picking things up. If she caught on to Luke's and his mood, she would know something wasn't right and would demand an answer Lloyd couldn't give. Lloyd put his head in his hands. This was tearing him apart, but he knew it would be for the best, whether or not Kasey agreed.

"Is work that stressful?" Lloyd's head shot up and he saw Kasey standing near him, her head cocked in confusion. How long has she been there? Lloyd wondered. He smiled warmly at her anyway; he had to act as if nothing was wrong.

"Why don't you try filling out all this paperwork?" Kasey rolled her eyes dramatically and crossed her arms. 

"Okay, forging your signature shouldn't be too hard. I'll get it done a lot faster than you could."

Lloyd raised his eyebrow. "My signature is unique. It's going to be a lot harder than just simply forging it." Kasey smiled sarcastically and shook her head.

"No, I've seen your signature. It's just a bunch of scribbles. Luke showed it to me one time." Lloyd shot a glance over at Luke, who was still standing by the window, and caught the smile appearing on his face.  Lloyd scowled.

"Since you have nothing better to do Luke, why don't you start mopping up the water leaking into the kitchen?"

"Aye aye captain," Luke said sarcastically, smiling deviously over at Lloyd. Lloyd just shook his head and smiled.

"You don't have to be so harsh Lloyd. He didn't mean anything by it."

"No," Lloyd said, his gaze following Luke as he disappeared into the kitchen. "I know exactly what he was trying to do." Using my weakness against me is clever, Luke.

"Making your work harder, huh?" Lloyd and Kasey turned around to see Caleb enter in from the security room, flipping through papers. He stopped in front of Lloyd and handed him the stack, a smirk coming up on the sides of his mouth. "You have more coming in you need to sign."