Two Steps From Hell

Chapter 3: Marked For Death

"He comes home very late at nights. When he's at home it's like he's not there. I miss the conversations we use to have. Now, it's like we don't talk anymore."

A psychologist watched keenly, making a few jottings here and there in his journal as a teary-eyed woman explained. Essen was also present, sitting on the opposite end of the couch from this emotionally ravaged woman. Essen appeared disconnected from the session, lost in his thoughts. He watched cluelessly as the woman moved her mouth, unable to hear what she was saying. Suddenly he heard someone calling his name. It sounded like the person was very far away. However, the voice got louder and louder. It was the doctor calling out to him. By this time Essen's unresponsiveness had drawn both the attention of the doctor and the woman.

"Essen...Essen?!" The doctor repeated loudly. 

"Hmmm?" Essen replied, returning to reality. 

"I was hoping to hear your side of the story as to why your marriage is failing?"

Right away Essen disagreed with the doctor's phrasing of his marriage and objected, by saying, "My marriage ain't 'failing', Doctor."

"Your wife seems to think differently," the doctor replied, squinting his eyes through his eyeglasses at him.

"With all due respect doctor, coming here for these past couples of weeks have turned out to be a big waste of time and money. Come on, Olivia. We're leaving," he insisted, getting up and throwing his jacket over his shoulder.

"Joel, sit back down and let the doctor do his job," she advised with a dulled expression.

"Olivia, our marriage is fine. We don't need this douchebag telling us it's not," Essen continued to protest.

"No, it's not!" She abruptly yelled, this time with a hardened expression. Tears began to flow down her face after. "Joel, we need help."

"We're fine, Olivia. Nothing is wrong with us. Please, Olivia. Let us go home. Olivia?" 

"I want a divorce," she said calmly. 

Immediately, it was as if someone ran a sword straight through his heart when he heard those four words coming from her lips. He was speechless. A sudden quietness took over the room. 

The doctor in response took off his eyeglasses and placed it on a side table along with his journal. "It's good that we're now communicating our true feelings in the open," he commended with a smile plastered on his face. "We've made a stunning breakthrough today. But let us not make rash decisions that we'll regret later. Let's all just sit back down and think this through." 

Using her fingers, she combed backwards through her wavy black hair, trying desperately not to let her temper get the better of her. "I've spent many weeks thinking this through, Doctor. I think my mind is made up. I can't do this anymore, Joel. I'm done pretending I love you. I do not love you, Joel." 

"Olivia, I know we have had our fair share of challenges. But we can fix this together. Please don't do this," Essen begged, reaching out to hold her, but she turned away from him. 

"Joel, I don't think you understand. When I see you, I see her. I---I cannot live like this; being constantly reminded of our failure as parents."

Essen's eyes began to fill up with tears when she said this. "I'm sorry, Olivia."

"No. You don't get to say that. Not after what you did," her lower lip then quivered in pain and anger. "You let our baby die. You did it. You murderer---murderer!" She exclaimed with a sudden demonic voice. Her face had changed into a terrifying, fiery demon which scared Essen so much that he woke up sweating profusely. 

"Having a bad dream are we?" Ezra remarked after seeing him jumping up in his seat and looking all over the place. 

"I must have dozed off," Essen later replied, wiping the drool away from his mouth. He then remembered where he was going. He was in Ezra's car heading to the place where Ezra had promised he could find out the answer to who killed Judas. "Where are we?" He asked as the car came to a stop.

"We're here," Ezra answered, turning off the car engine and unplugging his seatbelt. 

It was early in the morning, precisely at one o'clock in the morning. They had arrived in the industrial district of the city which was very close to the port and harbour. The streets were shrouded in mist coming off of the sea. The district itself was very deserted compared to the more active nightlife usually seen in the city centre. There were adequate street lights here, but the mist was too much and some corners looked way too dark.

"An abandoned warehouse...why is it always an abandoned building," Essen remarked while unbuckling his seatbelt and staring through the windscreen. "I should have never agreed to leave my phone back at the department. I don't know why I listened to you...a kid." 

"First off, stop calling me a kid. I may look young to you, but I'm twenty-three. Secondly, I've explained it to you already. The man who we're going to meet does not allow unvetted devices to be around him. He says they can use the satellite to piggy-back on them to ascertain his location."

"What's with every one and this 'they'?"

"Let's get out of the car," he frowned as he now opened his door. 

Essen did the same and they both stepped outside. The air they encountered on their way out was very chilly and spooky. They shortly glanced at each other before simultaneously closing the doors.

"Kid, are you sure this man you speak of has the answers we seek? Because if he doesn't---"

"He does. Now let's go. He's expecting us," He replied leading the way.

It was a good walk up to the building, but in due course, they reached the entrance in one peace. Ezra knocked three times on a metal shutter which guarded the gate. While at the same time Essen looked up above the shutter and noticed a surveillance camera moving about. Soon a security guard opened the rolling shutter to allow them in. Inside was warm and livelier than on the outside with heavily armed security guards patrolling about. 

It was like most warehouses; just a large hollow building used for storing things. However, in this one, there was an inner building with just one office located up some flight of metal stairs. The lights were on in this office and the shadow of a person could be seen moving around inside. As they walked to the overhead office, Essen saw an old cobweb-infested sign saying, 'You buy it, We ship it' and thought that this place may have been a shipping company back in the days. But apart from that, there wasn't anything more inside to see. No furniture or machinery, just loose plastic rappers and squashed boxes on the floor. It would appear whoever once owned this establishment just packed up everything one day and left. 

They entered the office. Inside was an excessively bearded man with a lit cigarette in his hand. The man stood in a messy office with boxes of papers everywhere. On a desk, cigarette butts overflowed from an ashtray that was beside two empty Whisky bottles. There were computer monitors on the wall displaying live footage from surveillance cameras located around the property including the one Essen had seen at the front gate.

"Ezra, what is the meaning of this?" The man's face crinkled in bewilderment. "Who is this stranger?" 

"Antonio, relax. He's a friend."

"How can I relax when there's a complete stranger in front of me," Antonio was frantic with worry, drawing in multiple puffs of smoke from his cigarette. He then continued: "Ezra, when I went against your uncle's wish and brought you into this, I explicitly told you not to tell anyone about this place. But did you listen to me? No. No one ever does."

"Wait, I was under the impression that you were expecting me," Essen said, making his voice known.

"Mister, I can assure you that I agreed to no such thing," Antonio replied with absolute certainty.

"So you lied to me?" Essen asked, turning his attention to Ezra.

"No...not entirely," Ezra carefully answered.

"If this is some kind of game---"

"Judas is dead, Antonio," he blurted out, cutting off Essen.

"What did you say?" Antonio asked, removing the cigarette from his mouth. 

Ezra with sadness clouding his features, replied, "I saw his body. He is really dead this time. They got to him when he tried to seek refuge at a cathedral over on Main Street."

"What was he thinking," Antonio said in disbelief, walking over to a dust-sealed window where he stared outside.

"Everyone who was on our side, in the beginning, are all dead now. The two of us are all that remain. Antonio, we need more people to help us fight this fight," Ezra said, trying to reason with him. But he did not answer. He just kept on staring through the window as if he was looking at something when in honestly he wasn't. 

"I'm sorry for both of your losses and all, but I only came here for one thing. Who killed Judas?" Essen reminded them. "It's obvious both of you know something and I want a straight answer right now." 

Antonio then turned around with a screwed face and asked dismissively, "Who did you say this man was?"

"He's a detective. He was investigating Judas' death before the FBI showed up and carried his body away. He yearns for justice like you and me. We can work together with him," Ezra tentatively proposed walking over to him.

"Ezra, you're smart and your heart is in the right place. But you're also very naïve. No one can help us. We're all predestined to die at the hands of these people one way or another."

"I refuse to believe that. You need to tell him."

The two were then locked in a staring contest; staring intensely at each other in their disagreement.

"No," Antonio finally responded, giving Ezra his back; this time trying to ignore him while looking at the monitors. "I'm not having this conversation with you. It's probably best you leave now with your detective friend and never return."

"No."

"Ezra, do yourself a favour and save yourself. This is my fight. Not your fight." 

"It is our fight. I won't abandon a friend in need. Let us help you. What good has it done for you and the others, keeping this secret to yourselves? I'll tell you, nothing. For the past decade, you've watched everyone you've cared about die. No man is an island and no man can stand alone. We must get the police...the people...everyone involved. We can all rise up against this evil. You need to tell everyone the truth...the one thing you've refused to tell me."

"The world doesn't work like that and the less you know the better it will be for..." his voice then disappeared. His eyes had narrowed and his mouth stopped moving. His whole body froze in terror. Essen, while for the most part keeping himself isolated from their little banter, observed this and knew something was wrong. But what was it? 

Antonio was looking at the live surveillance footage of the warehouse showing two katana-wielding female assassins dressed in black, boldly approaching the front gate. The cigarette fell out from the corner of his mouth and landed next to his shoes. Both assassins wore a mask and looked equally bloodthirsty as they closed in on the warehouse.

"Oh, no," Antonio's eyebrows rose in discomfort. 

The two women then went out of the line of sight of the camera and Antonio could see them no more. He searched desperately on the other monitors for them, but one after the other their screens just went straight to static. "Where are they?" He nervously asked himself. 

The static screens soon drew Ezra's and Essen's attention.

"What is going on here?" Essen then enquired.

"They have found us," Antonio replied in a trembling voice.

Then before he could add anything more on what he had just said, the building erupted into a war zone with heavy gunfire followed by a loud explosion that rocked the very foundations on which the warehouse stood. Promptly they all turned around to face the closed door in fright; fearing what was happening downstairs and what would soon befall them.