128 (Operation Armageddon: Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-One: The Tower | Part 1

Daniel arrived back at the apartment. He jangled a car key in one of his hands and shut the door with the other. He then placed the key back down on the dining table, before looking at the other three. "If you're ready, we can leave now. The car's down at the carpark," Daniel informed them.

Matthew nodded. "There's no time to lose," he agreed. As such, he grabbed the assassin up to his feet, assisted by Daniel to cope with the weight. Megan followed behind and left the apartment with the others, although she stopped and remained outside the room for a few seconds. She managed to catch George's attention, and so, she said one last thing to him before she would leave. "Remember the plan," she whispered to him discreetly before closing the door quietly, and dashing forward to catch up with the other two detectives.

The detectives then entered the elevator, settling the man down on the ground until they arrived. They then headed into the rental car hastily, with the assassin sandwiched right between Matthew and Megan in the rear row of the car. The two detectives ensured that the ropes tied around his hands and body were still secure, and that duct tape was placed on his mouth so that he wouldn't be able to scream for help.

Meanwhile, Daniel was still the one driving this time. He then drove the car out of the carpark and onto the main road. He followed the directions from Google Maps, which told him that the tower was only ten minutes away from their apartment building. Ten minutes didn't seem short to him, however.

The detectives all knew very well that they had little time to lose. It had been hours since the assassin had arrived at the apartment, so it wouldn't be long before Yael would come to the realisation that something might have happened to him.

Within a few minutes, they had arrived in front of the building. The tires screeched loudly as the car came to an abrupt stop right before the barrier guarding the entrance to the carpark. The barrier didn't open automatically, however. Instead, a parking warden came out of the guard house and knocked on Daniel's window.

As such, Daniel winded down the window. The warden stuck his head closer to him, before clearing his throat. "Excuse me, sir," he began. "Please state your identity and purpose of being here."

Daniel hesitated for a moment. However, he quickly came up with a cover story. "I'm businessman Samuel Durand. I'm here to meet up with the chairwoman to discuss some our partnership," he lied.

The warden also noticed Matthew and Megan in the car through the window, but not the assassin sent by Yael themselves. Thus, he tried to clarify how many people were in the vehicle. "May I know how many people are with you?" he then asked.

"Two. They are my associates," Daniel added on to the cover story.

However, to be sure, the warden wanted to check the people in the car for himself. As such, he poked his head in and unfortunately got a glimpse of a third person—tied up, unconscious, and silenced by duct tape.

And so, he retreated from the car, both anxiously and fearfully. "Excuse me for a moment, sir," he told Daniel before grabbing a walkie talkie from the guard house. He then picked it up and began speaking to it. "This is Raymond at Guard House B. I need some assistance here. I have two—"

Unfortunately, he didn't get to finish his request. Daniel had already got out his gun just in case. And when he knew that it was going to threaten their safety if they guard were to report them to security, their plan would be busted.

Thus, without regret, and pulled the trigger on the warden. The bullet swivelled as it approached the warden, who turned around to see the approaching bullet before it entered right into his chest. A spurt of blood burst out of him, before he fainted and fell to the ground.

Matthew and Megan both gasped as they stared at the fallen man. A pool of blood began to form, indicating that his wound could be fatal. This also meant that Daniel could get in a lot of trouble, as it wasn't necessarily self-defence for him to cause grievous harm to or kill a car park warden.

"Daniel!" Megan screamed at him. "You just killed a man that was just trying to do his job!"

Daniel, however, didn't have a very adverse reaction her comment. Instead, he seemed very calm to the point that he could speak monotonously. "And I'm just doing my job too," he stated before continuing and driving down to the carpark.

Matthew and Megan, however, remained in shock after Daniel had stopped the car. He got out calmly, as if nothing had happened, before opening the rear doors to let the detectives out. "Come on out," he said in a regular, calm voice.

Megan pursed his lips, while Matthew stayed frowning. He dragged the assassin, who struggled a little, out of the car. He then turned to face Daniel, the dismay burning in him. "You really could have found another way to subdue to guard instead of shooting him, you know," he scoffed before walking away to the elevator lobby, dragging the assassin away with him.

Megan was terribly displeased with Daniel too. And for two reasons. She was already keeping it down, although she seemed enraged at that point. As a result, she simply walked away from him and followed Matthew.

The trio later arrived at the lobby, stepping out of the elevator and taking in the strange ambience of the place. Two female workers stood by the information counter, and so the detectives approached them. The workers put on a smile as they greeted them.

"Hello, sirs and ma'am," one of them greeted. "Can I help you with anything?"

Matthew nodded. "Yes, actually," he started. "I need to speak with the chairwoman. Georgia White," he stated his request.

The woman stuttered for a bit, seemingly nervous. "W-well, I'm sorry sir. She's a very busy person. She doesn't even open up appointments to people—." She stopped herself halfway through her sentence, however. She quickly noticed that Matthew was hiding something behind his body. But it turned out not to be a thing.

As soon as she stuck her head out to the side and got a closer look at the thing behind, she found the assassin to be restrained. She gasped in shock, stepping back from the detectives. "Sir, I'm going to have to call security and get the police here—"

"We are the police," Megan cut in. She then grabbed out her badge from her pocket, signalling to the others to follow along. As such, all of them pulled out their badges to show to the worker. Of course, they didn't work in the Philadelphia Police Department, but that didn't matter.

"N-NYPD? What are you officers doing here, and why are you doing this to that man?" she questioned nervously, putting down a walkie talkie that she was planning to use to call security.

"We don't have time to explain," Matthew added to the conversation. "All that matters is that this man is a criminal sent by your corporation, but however corrupted he is, he is still a person. If you tell us where the chairwoman is, then we'll let him go."

The woman shuddered in fear. She didn't know whether to trust them or not. However, she knew that if she didn't comply, the detectives could kill the man. As such, she gave in and revealed the information to the detectives. "Ms. White is in her office right now. On the 128th floor," she said plainly before scrambling over to untie the man.

"Come on, let's go," Matthew said as he left the assassin behind and pulled his colleagues along with him towards the elevator lobby.

They then rushed over to push the elevator call button, before the carriage arrived on their floor. The detectives rushed into the elevator, before spamming the door-close button. Nevertheless, however fast the elevator zipped up the tower, it still took a minute to reach the chairwoman's office's floor.

At the very instant that the door slid open, the detectives darted out of the elevator. Matthew turned his head left and right, before noticing directory signs that pointed to different rooms on the floor. And the chairwoman's office was to the right. And so, he pointed to the correct direction before the three all headed towards the office.

Matthew ran ahead of the rest of the group. As soon as he arrived in front of it, he slammed the double doors open. They weren't locked for some apparent reason, which was good news for them. The bad news was that someone was standing in front of them with a gun, and that someone wasn't the chairwoman.