CHAPTER 5

Two days later, Lucy got out early for a quick jog before heading off to work. As she was jogging she noticed a bunch of people gathered a few miles ahead and she decided to go see what the commotion was about. As she approached she could hear a lady wailing and when she finally got through the crowd, she saw the body of a man soaked in his own blood. The lady crying seemed to be related as she held the man in her arms, his blood stained her gold dress. Lucy could tell she was rich; not just by the dress she wore but by the Cadillac she rested her back on. The car's two flat tyres had arrows on them

"What happened here?" Lucy asked one of the bystander.

"I don't know, but I heard she was mugged and they killed her son during the mugging" he replied.

Lucy walked towards the scene

"Ma'am, are you OK?" she asked.

"Do I look OK to you?!" the woman replied; her makeup had been dissolved by the tears she had been pouring.

"It's alright ma'am, am agent Lucy...am here to help"

"You can help by finding the bastards that did this!" her words seems to to be forced out her lungs as she struggled to be able to talk through all the tears and sobbing.

"What's your name ma'am?"

the lady didn't reply, she just went back to her crying. After that she didn't utter a word till more agents came, then Lucy went home and got dressed for the rest of the day.

"One hell of a scene, isn't it?" asked Eddy as he saw Lucy approaching.

"Not really, we were always cursed with the sight of dead bodies....but we were never blessed with instant transportation" Lucy said.

"And what's that suppose to mean?"

"Exactly what you think it does"

"Am not thinking anything" Eddy said with a look of annoyance.

"And am not saying anything either" she retorted.

As they stare coldly at each other Joshua walked into the scene

"Lucy, glad you could make it in time before we rounded up here" he said.

"Glad to Sir....do we have any leads?"

"None yet, but I think our two friends back at HQ will know who's responsible"

"Where's the body?" she asked.

"Taken to the morgue" Eddy who was still standing by replied.

"And the woman?"

"She's safe, she decided to accompany the body"

Lucy nodded without saying a word and stepped back a bit so she could get a view of the surrounding; she watched agents looking for clues round the scene, others interrogation potential eyewitness and a few searching for finger prints on the blood stained Gold Cadillac.

"How would someone of this class be in town with no guards?" she kept asking herself, and as if it was an answer to the question a kid ran towards her and handed her a note.

At first she wasn't sure if to take the folded piece of paper that the child brought but when he said "it's for you Ma", she was convinced to take it. On opening it she saw that it was handwritten and it read

Stare at the world through the rear view but know that dangers are closer than they appear.

She stared at the note like it wasn't in English, she wondered who wrote this and she would have asked the child but he had ran off as soon as he handed over the note to her. Dangers, the word ran through her mind as she now paced to where Joshua was talking with an agent.

"Sir, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, go on"

"Can the deceased undergo an autopsy?"

"You know how this rich folks get about cutting open their loved ones, only if the woman give us the permission then sure"

"Don't worry sir she will" she said with confidence as she began heading back to HQ.

"One last thing" Joshua called out

"Yes?"

"It seems Eddy forgot to call the tow truck, can you please help with that."

L

ucy simply nodded and kept walking.

"Good afternoon Ma'am" Lucy greeted. She was now back at HQ and she was seated in a room designed for entertaining visitors from other districts and seated with her was the woman from the scene, she was still wearing her blood stained dress but she seemed more calmer now.

"Can I ask you some questions?" Lucy said after handing her a glass of water.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, first of what's your name?"

"Mary...Mary Mai"

Lucy quickly recollected the surname.

"Are you related to...."

"Yes, am his wife" she said before Lucy could finish the sentence.

"What was in your car?" Lucy asked.

"What?" Mary said looking surprised.

"Ma'am, I can tell they didn't go through all of that just to kill your son, what were you two transporting?"

"G...g.....guns" she stuttered.

"Pardon?" Lucy asked, her face had suddenly lost all friendly features.

"Guns, we were carrying guns. Lots and lots of them"

"Your son wasn't stab was he?"

"No, they shot him" she said and started crying.

Lucy got up and made to leave

"I'll be right back Ma'am"

Leaving the room, Lucy hurried down the building her eyes were on the look out for Joshua, but then she saw Eddy and ran towards him.

"Eddy!"

"What?" He asked with a frown.

"We might have a problem"

"Might?" he asked.

"I don't think bringing the woman here was a good idea"

"What do you mean?" Eddy asked getting impatient.

"She's not who she claims she is"

"And who might that be?"

"She says she's Mai's wife"

"Have you told Joshua?"

Lucy wanted to reply but then she suddenly remembered Harry's story and realised what the note meant.

Without wasting any time she began running back to the room upstairs, Eddy followed her unsure of what was going on.

"Hey, wait up" he said as he tried to catch up with her. She bumped pass a few other agents who wondered what has gotten into her. On getting to the room she saw the door was open and the room itself was empty.

"Hey, where did she go?” Eddy who was now behind her asked.

"Shut up, am thinking" she said as she slowly stepped into the room; her head was slightly bowed her right fingers dancing in the air like someone playing an invisible piano.

"She left her left shoe" she said.

"What has that has to do with her whereabouts?!" Eddy asked; he had ran out of patience and wanted answers quickly.

Before he could utter another word, the alarm went off. Eddy knew what the alarm meant, he quickly grabbed the dagger hanging on his belt and turned around to watch who else is around. Lucy's heart was pacing faster than the bells of the alarm, she didn't pull out her weapon but kept still in her thinking poise, then suddenly and without the slightest hesitation she began running up to the suspect's cell.

"Hey, where are you running to?" Eddy asked as he saw her took off.

"This girl is unbelievable" he said as he went off after her.

On getting to the top, they were two doors facing opposite directions. Lucy took the one to her right, as she pushed it open she saw the guard who pressed the alarm lying on the floor; he was bleeding from his neck, and he had his right hand pressed on the wound to reduce the bleeding. He pointed to the cell; two of them were opened and in the first lied Austin; he was lying in a pool of his own blood. And in the second was the woman and the other lady who was fast asleep. On the woman's right arm she held her right shoe; the heel of the shoe had a tiny blade protruding from it. Her right arm was up and she was about to strike the sleeping suspect with her shoe when suddenly, an arrow hit her on her right side just below her armpit. She staggered to her left and fell to the floor. Lucy turned to see who took the shot and she saw Eddy holding a crossbow, he had this look on his face that Lucy couldn't describe, she just stood there and watched him walk slowly towards the cell and when he confirmed that the woman was dead he returned back to the dying guard.

"Well don't just stand there, call for help!" he yelled at her.

She was about running back down when Joshua and a few other armed agents came running through the door.

"What happened?" Joshua asked.

"She killed Austin" Lucy replied as Joshua walked closer to the cell to see the dead bodies.

"Is she....sleeping?" Joshua asked, pointing to the other lady in the cell.

"Must be a deep sleep" Eddy replied. Lucy turned and stared at him, she didn't say a word after that, she just watched as the bodies were picked up and the blood cleaned. She was there when the lady came to, and informed her of her assassination attempt.

"Thank you for saving me" she said.

"I didn't save you, that was Eddy"

"But still you helped, thank you...." Lucy nodded and made to leave when she said

".....and oh, my name is Eve not Archer"

Lucy looked at her smiled, nodded and kept walking.