(I know this is going extremely slow but it will start picking up speed soon)

Chapter 9

Ravi, Hyuk and N had rushed back to the medic room. They were stood looking at the two strapped and muffled figures on the beds. Hongbin eyed the three men. "It seems that these two are siblings." He announced. The three men whipped their heads towards him.

"What?" N exclaimed, "How the hell did you find that out?"

Hongbin nodded towards Dominique, "He blurted it out, the little sod." Dominique glared at him.

"Well how did the little brat find the warehouse?" Hyuk exclaimed narrowing his eyes at Adeline.

"Best question the girl." Hongbin asserted walking over to her and taking off the handkerchief tied around . Adeline gasped for air and choked. felt hoarse and painful after screaming so loud. She struggled against her bindings watching the four men talk and visibly flinched when the leader, N, stalked towards her. She looked towards her brother; he looked back, his eyes pleading and fearful. “Did you get her name?” He asked scrutinising the girl.

Hongbin nodded. “Adeline.”  

"Is he your brother, girl?" N asked his voice steely and hard. His arms crossed, eyes narrowed under low brows, he looked foreboding, "Answer me!" He snapped. Adeline glared at him, her expression belying the fear she felt. She refused to answer and she could see the anger build up in his eyes. N slammed a fist onto the bedside table. "I said ANSWER ME!" He shouted. Dominique yelled out through the handkerchief, his struggles renewed as he watched N glower at Adeline. N looked toward him then at Hongbin. "Un gag him." He ordered. The gag was swiftly removed.

"Don't touch her!" He screamed out, "Don't you ing dare touch her!" N turned back to him.

"Or you'll do what, eh?" He challenged. He turned back to Adeline, an idea popping into his head. "Ravi, get a bat. If this little chit refuses to cooperate she can watch her brother be beaten to death."

Adeline widened her eyes in panic, looking at her brother. He was already so badly injured; she knew he couldn't live through another beating. She saw Ravi come back into the room gripping a bat. She watched as he walked up to her brother, raise the bat with both hands...

"Yes!" She shrieked out, "Yes he is, please don't hurt him." N nodded at Ravi as he lowered the bat and stepped back.

"Now that wasn't so hard was it?" he cooed mockingly. He sat on the chair close to her bed and leaned forward, "Now tell, my dear, how is it you found out where your brother was?" His voice was now silky and soft.

Adeline looked from her brother, who shook his head, to N who sat waiting for her reply. "I found some documents and scrap papers in his study, pieced them together to find the location." N raised his brows glancing over at Dominique.

“I had expected him to do his homework in regards to us. He’s an inspector. But I had not expected this. Sharp minds must run in your family.” He retorted, smirking at Dominique, “We’re not too happy with your brother, my dear. He barged into my home and killed some of my men, messy job.” His voice was low, threatening.

Adeline swallowed before she spoke up, voice trembling in fear and anger, “That’s his job, to find rats and kill them. Rats like you” N narrowed his eyes to slits; anger radiating off him in waves, his smile was dangerous.

“What do you suppose I do with these two boys?” He asked facing the three men standing close by.

Hongbin and Ravi shrugged. “Up to you boss.” Ravi muttered. Hyuk stepped forward.

“I say we ditch the hawkshaw and put the girl into the side business.” He announced, “With a face like that we can’t lose.” Hongbin growled at Hyuk then stepped up.

“It’s clear that this guy has a lot of information about us. If we were to dispose of him another inspector would just take his place. And the information is lying around his house. It’ll be easy pickings for the others.” He assessed looking directly at N, “Best to use the girl as leverage to strike a deal.” N nodded smilingly at Hongbin.

“Brilliant as always, Hongbin.” He went over to Dominique, dragging the chair over his bed, and sat down. “Well, inspector I’m sure we can negotiate a deal.” Dominique snorted in reply shooting death glares at him. N shrugged, “You can either cooperate or I can cart off your dear little sister to our special parlour. Some of the men can become extremely vicious when aroused.” He watched as Dominique fought to free himself from his bindings. He could see the overprotective fear in his eyes and knew he had struck a chord.

“I’LL MURDER YOU, YOU BASTARD!” Dominique screamed. He had to save Adeline; he had to get her out of here. N sat there, simply watching him.

Adeline turned to face Dominique and N. “Don’t listen to him. I can take care of myself Dominique.” She called out to him desperately, screaming when Hongbin muffled her again. N watched her as she leaned towards her brother. Dominique, too, was leaning towards her, looking at her sorrowfully. He could almost see the cogs working in his head. Dominique would do anything to save his sister, even risk his job, maybe his life.

“I’ll do it.” He whispered resignedly. N smiled, patting his shoulder.

“Wonderful, wonderful,” He cheered, “Now I’ll give you siblings a few minutes to say goodbye then we’ll send you off.” Dominique’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean?” He barked looking from N to his sister, “She’s coming with me.” The other three men snorted, Hongbin rolled his eyes.

“I don’t think you quite understand, inspector,” Sneered N, “We are only letting you go so you can get rid of all the information you and your colleagues have about us, you will also assist us in finding out the whereabouts of our enemies. I’m sure you have information about them. They have been plaguing our lives out. We need to find their headquarters so we can put a permanent end to this. We keep your sister while you keep the end of your bargain. Once you have finished you can come and take her back. Don’t worry, we will make sure to take special care of our,” He glanced at Adeline, “guest.”

Dominique shook his head, “No!” He bellowed, “No, she comes with me.”

“Then the deal is off.” N snarled at him, and then turned to Ravi, “Take the girl to the parlour.”

 Dominique watched, horrified as Ravi loomed over Adeline. He deftly unbuckled the straps, using one to bind her wrists together, and then tossed her over one shoulder. Adeline whimpered slightly, her small frame shaking. Dominique turned back to N. He had been watching him silently.

“I’ll do it, please let her go.” He pleaded his eyes moist with tears. N nodded at Ravi who put the girl back onto the bed.

  “Get the car ready and call Ken. He can go with you, Ravi better to be safe than sorry.”

Hyuk rushed down the room, shouting orders to the workers. Dominique turned his eyes to N again.

“Promise me you’ll keep her safe.” He demanded, “If anything happens to her, the deal is off and I’ll hunt you down and kill every last one of you.”

N nodded, “I promise.”

 A heavy silence fell in the room as N stood up and walked out leaving his parting words, “You have a few minutes to say your goodbyes.”

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Dominique looked down at the floor, trying to stem the flow of tears from his eyes as Adeline walked over to him and sat next to him. “Dominique?” He looked up as she softly called out to him.

“I’m so sorry Adeline. I never thought I would end up dragging you into this.” He whispered. Adeline shook her head, looking into his eyes with her own. He saw the battle in them, she was trying to be brave for him and a feeling of immense pride mixed in with the fear and uncertainty. Would he ever see her alive again? What if N did not keep his word about keeping her safe?

“Listen to me Adeline,” He whispered urgently, “Listen to me carefully. There are ways you can get away from here. Take a good look at your surroundings; try to find ways to get out. Remember I taught you how to pick a lock using hair pins?” She nodded, “Use them or whatever else you have or whatever else you can find. You can easily get out and run into the woods.”

Adeline opened to speak but Dominique shook his head, stealing a quick glance at Hongbin and Ravi as they monitored the door. “No, listen, you can do this, I know you can. If you run in the middle of the night they wouldn’t be able to find you. The nearest town is five miles. Get help from someone there and I can come and take you away before they have a chance to figure out where you’ve gone.”

Adeline sat staring at Dominique as he spoke. She listened to him outline a plan for her escape, her heart breaking with every word. She knew it would be impossible to get away. They would, no doubt, have guards on duty and to get away from them without a gun was unfeasible. She sighed as he finished and then spoke up, “Dominique I can’t. You know as well as I do that there will be guards on patrol during both night and day. And if I tried this they would surely kill you.” Dominique shook his head, “It’s better for the both of us if I stay here.” She concluded. She saw Dominique fight through his haze of anger and despair.

“Why did you come here Adeline?” He whispered brokenly to her. The tears started to flow again as he thought of his little sister here amongst these villains, mocked and jeered and no doubt abused by N and his peers. Adeline, however, remained dry eyed, as she looked at her brother.

“I refused to wait for someone to bring your dead body back, singing false praises.” She declared, “You wouldn’t understand. Every time you went on one of your assignments I would pray desperately for your return. I would always think that someone would one day come and tell me that you were dead. It was either wait and weep or be strong and fight back. I chose the second option and I have no regrets.” Dominique watched her in awe. When had his little sister grown up to become this strong?

He gently head butted her and smiled softly, “When did you grow up?” He asked. Adeline smiled back tenderly.

“Oh well somewhere between September and March I think.” She joked trying to lighten the mood, “I’ll be fine big brother. I’m a fighter like you.” Dominique nodded swallowing the lump in his throat.

“I love you, little sis.” He whispered, not trusting himself to speak louder in case broke down into tears, “Please take care of yourself and don’t let them hurt you.” Adeline nodded.

“I won’t let them hurt me. I promise.” She vowed closing her eyes 

Hyuk had walked back in during their parting and whispered to Hongbin. Hongbin nodded and walked over to the pair sat on the bed. “Time’s up.” He declared. Dominique stood up, dejection in his every movement, took one last glance at his sister and turned away. Hongbin put him onto a wheelchair and rolled him out the room, highly conscious of Adeline’s gaze as they walked out, leaving her alone.

The door shut behind her as she watched them wheel her brother away. With a sudden jerk she ran to the door, at a desperate attempt to escape, and flung them open. Her path was blocked at once by two mountainous men. They stared her down, daring her to take a step forward. She turned her head to see Hongbin put a white cloth to Dominique’s face; she choked on a sob, watching his struggle before going limp.

“What did you do to him?” She cried out. Hyuk immediately came to her side and turned her around, prodding her back to make her move.

“Relax girl, he’s only been chloroformed.” He answered as he nudged her forward. He waited until she had sat back down on the bed before leaving the room. Adeline closed her eyes, letting her tears gush forward and she cried.

“God speed big brother. May he keep you safe...”