Chapter 14

Nicholas pulled out his phone and pushed the tiny adapter into the USB port. He made several copies of the files he just stole from the raided office, in case if things ever goes wrong. The trembled fingers keeps on dancing on the screen while he shakes his thighs vigorously. 

He was running as fast as he could before he came to the public toilet. He was this close to get caught by the security guards who were patrolling the place. Cold sweats had begin to trail along the side of his face and the closed cubicles aren't being any of help.

The files he uploaded into his cloud were immediately scheduled to be sent to Hugh through an encrypted message via email. The hacker will understands it. He discards the pendrive right after. The only copy anyone could access was the one through his email.

Glancing over to his wrist watch, Nicholas estimated his time. He was in the public toilet for about ten minutes and with the amount of people who were after him, they would probably be gone by now. He carefully steps outside the place and take a peak by the wall.

"Oh shit!" He cursed before he pulled himself back in. 

The men who were following him were still there. They weren't that many before but now it seems like a whole squad. He went back inside and contemplated how to disguise himself and not looking too suspicious in the eyes of public. When he was staring his features in front of the gigantic mirror, a high school boy walked in. 

Something immediately click inside Nicholas head.

"Hey, kid. How much is your uniform?"

\

The weather forecaster this morning had mentioned about the sudden increasing in the temperature throughout the day despite the winter season is just around the corner. The ground is still snowless but those whom had walked along the pavement could tell how everything started to stick to the ground. 

Unlike the early of autumn, there were still leaves and flowers remained but now everything had started to fall. And even that itself couldn't change the beauty of Caralina City. 

Seora volunteered to help the maids that normal came around the house thrice every week. Unlike the other week, this time she didn't try to befriend them. Never have she ever thought that they could get fired if they strike a single conversation with her. Before she get to know about it from Alden, the previous maids were no where to be seen.

She would be dumb enough to not know who was the one hired them. Only one name she had in her mind.

Since Nicholas was busy with work, Seora was left in the house with no entertainment. She tried to fill them with movies or drama in television but none of them interesting to her. She wanted to cook but the maid weren't coming in yet to top up the foods. There weren't many books to read either and she has no phones to use the internet. 

A complete hostage for real.

Therefore, she begin to do cleaning work. She scrubs Nicholas' bathroom and toilet. She washed his sheets and puffed off his pillows. Change into newer ones and sweep away all the dust. Reorganised his walk-in closet including his accessories. That itself took her a whole two hours. 

But she was satisfied with her work. 

The cleaning extend itself to the living room, the dining hall and the kitchen. The utilities were at the back room near the washing room. She helped herself to mop the entire floor, vacuum the carpet, swipe every surface she could reach. 

The kitchen was the last place for her to clean up. Every corner and every bit of the cabinets and the refrigerator were cleaned. Like a cleaning maniac. This happened when she had none to do for the day.

Her active state was too expressible that none of the men in the house wanted to break her momentum. Luca was the first to notice when he heard commotions in Nicholas' room. Unlike last time, he didn't barged in but he put his ears near the door to listen what was going on.

Alden who had just woke up also got himself involved into the younger's scheme.

Surprisingly, when the cleaning proceeded to other areas, none of them looked bothered. When Hugh was about to go to the kitchen, both of them stopped the guy. 

"What?"

"The kitchen is being cleaning." 

"Okay, so? The maids are coming today right?"

"No, not the maids."

Hugh looked dumbfounded but when he heard a familiar voice singing in the kitchen then he took a peak at the commotion. Seora Song was mass cleaning the whole kitchen.

"Hey, what the hell she's doing?"

Both Alden and Luca shrugged off their shoulders. 

"Is she putting some camera jammed device? Or she put a recorder in?" The two younger guys stared deadpanned at Hugh's.

"Bro, does that look like she was doing that?"

"Hugh, you really don't know how the maids cleaned up the kitchen before."

The hacker made a side glare on the snide remarks at him. "Shut up."

The three pairs of watchful eyes continue to witness the newly history. Never had they ever seen someone other then the maids and Elliot himself whom dared enough to do extra work such as cleaning.

This was the first.

\

After having to pay triple the original price of the high school uniform, Nicholas made himself comfortable in the new outfit. When he casually walked out of the public toilet, he tried to ignore the people around and focus on playing his phone. Opening a mobile game while acted his best to avoid attention on him.

Other than enjoying fist fights and martial arts, Nicholas tends to have a niche in enchanting people through his acts. Most people believe it.

There were men in suites strolling around the area. They were busy searching for him but Nicholas managed to be subtle and immediately ran to his car. When he found it, he made sure to look around the area before he get inside.

When he was about to ignite the engine, the sounds of heavy footsteps marching through the alley. From the side mirror, he could see several guys wearing suites are walking along. His eyes widen in horror.

"Aish, why do these guys are so persistent? Can't they just get a day off?" He mumbles in annoyance. Thankfully his car is completely tinted and the guys seems to be a little tired from running around the area. Nicholas take his chance to revive his engine and not to make anything obvious despite his rare sport care.

A guy who seems to notice the familiar sound, turned his head. The only guy who stare directly to Nicholas face, but he didn't know that.

"That's a really cool car." He mumbled.

"What?" His friend asked.

"That car. I think its the latest edition from oversea." The friend looked at the sport car parked by the end of the alley. He tilted his head.

"That's weird, why would someone with that expensive car, parked around here..."

The other friend widen his eyes before they both exchanged the same look.

As if he found it as a cue, Nicholas lowered the handbrake before he steps on the accelerator. 

"Yah, yah, yah! That's him!" He quickly notified the whole group as all of them turned to the sport car which suddenly rush out of the place.

"What the hell? Yah! Get the car ready, He's escaping! Quick!" The man yelled to his group while move into the building basement to get their transport. Nicholas on the other hand had no time to not lift his foot on the paddle. He pushed it and slides through the traffics like a professional race gamer. 

His eyes trained on both side and rear mirrors. He noticed the SUV those guys from before were in. They are coming closer behind him. Swiftly turning his steering wheel, Nicholas pressured the already packed traffic. The last thing he wanted was to get horded by those people. His engine roams throughout the main road and by the time he managed to get out, he heard a blaring sound of the police is catching up to him.

"Fuck!" He curses.

He should have taken into account about the polices on duty. Now he got extra companies to run away from.

"Shit." Another curse came out of his quivered mouth.

"Out of all day, why is everyone in this fucking world need to be so diligent?!"

Nicholas was focus throughout his drive. Not a single moment he let himself got distracted. The swift motion of the sport car could only be achieved through efficient maneuver of the mechanics.

His mind on the other hand were busy searching up a way to escape the sight of the polices and the gang that were after him. A signboard that he came across while he was rushed picked his interest. Like his neurons interconnecting with each other, he finally found a way out.

Nicholas frees one of his hands and quickly make a call for Hugh. But the hacker didn't pick it up. He tried until the fourth time but still fails to reach him.

"Damn it! Out of all time, why today?" The line was busy.

Last resort, Nicholas started a voice message. He wanted to send them to Hugh since he would know what to do but things just had to be more interesting. The previous SUVs are catching up to him.

"You've got to be kidding me." He sighed. The recorded message was immediately send to whomever the auto filled system in the smartphone suggested.

Nicholas pushed the accelerator and raced through the road, taking advantage of the lesser car there since it was heading to the outskirts of the city. He doubts he could escape within the time frame. The polices are smart and the SUVs aren't given up.

Hugh currently unavailable and Nicholas had to manage himself before the gang finally got his message. He switched off his phone before he throw it outside on the side road just as he passed by the last road lights and a huge signboard painted, 'Come again to Caralina', with a smiley face at the corner.

"Now, let's play hide and seek then, shall we?".

\

The huge office room is filled with smokes and burnt cigarettes smells. The bad air circulation didn't do justice at all especially when the room is jammed pack with people of different sizes.

There is a man, sitting behind the desk who keeps puffing out another few white smokes from his mouth. Everyone could tell he is the one in-charged. The guys were keeping their heads down and no one dared to look up.

"What did he took?" Calmly, the man questioned his men. His voice is too serene for someone's territory had just being raided. The man turned to his subordinates as he found that nobody was answering his question.

He pressed down the white stick on his ashtray, hard that the sound bounces around the room.

"I'm asking, what did he took?"

The guy in front, standing a little further than the other men, reluctantly begin to answer him.

"He managed to take some information from our database, boss. It seems to be about the meeting you had last few weeks."

The boss hummed in surprised. "Have you find out who this rat is?" He muttered while keeping his teeth in tact.

The guy shook their head carefully.

"All the footages from the cctv were cleared."

The boss scoffed. He glanced to his side, where his secretary was standing there holding a tray of his coffee. He called for him by the finger and the secretary put the tray infront of the boss man.

"Yah." The boss called for his subordinates.

Before these ducklings could do anything, the mug of a hot coffee was thrown directly to the guy who was answering question. The one who stands in the middle. The cup shattered as it hits him straight at the side of his forehead.

"Can't you do your job properly?!! Huh?!!" He yelled as he slammed his fist on his desk, making everyone flinched. They knew, their boss is pissed. For now, they had to endure what ever bullshit their boss is giving them.

"Argh!" He stood straight up, shouted in anger, as he kicked his chair away.

"I apologise for our lackings, boss." The injured guy said immediately, hoping for his boss to forgive him. Though, it was unusual for it to happened but he still wanted to try as he kept his head down.

"Sorry?" The boss scoffed. "Do you thing sorry would be enough?!"

He walk to him, and grab the guy's collar as he made him look him in the eyes. He take a deep breathe calming himself in front of his underlings.

"Yah. Before I blow up your face, fucking find that piece of shit! Don't even think about coming back without him!" The guy nodded quickly understood his task.

"If you failed me, you know what would I do." The guy felt his breath got stuck in his airway passage.

"Yes, boss! I'll try my best not to disappoint you." Timidly he replied to his employer.

"I'm giving you two days. Find that fucker! Now get out of my face!"

The room finally found it peace and space after everyone had left except the boss and the secretary. 

"I found an interesting footage for you to see, boss." The secretary begins before he put down a tablet in front of the man. Nobody knew how he managed to find it, but the secretary actually did a better job than his underlings who practically only used their knees to think.

The boss sighed as he did get the idea just who this rat was.

"Make sure the Lee's won't know about this." The secretary nodded.

"The last thing we wanted is a war with them."