Syndedeménos (Connected)

CHAPTER 11

While students usually come to the library building to look for information from books or articles contained in it, Aquila came to the library to rest. The third floor of the library was Aquila's favorite place whenever she intended to sleep. After exiting the elevator on the third floor, there were many single seater sofas with a considerable distance from one seat to another. Aquila took a seat in the corner, then spent about an hour just sitting there and leaning her head against the wall beside her.

No one had ever dared to reprimand Aquila while sleeping in the library building. There were two possible reasons. First, she had few friends and her friends knew that Aquila really didn't want to be disturbed by her sleep. Second, even if there were people who rarely knew her, they chose not to reprimand her because Aquila's appearance really meant that she didn't want to be disturbed: she deliberately lowered the lobe of her hat to her chin so that her face could not be seen and with her arm folded across her chest.

Another factor that could interfere with Aquila was the two cellphones she had. When she was resting, she would turn off one of her cellphones so even phone calls from the lecturer could be ignored. There was only one thing that would immediately make Aquila open her eyes, namely a vibration from her cell phone that she didn’t turn off. And only two people knew the number. Pygmy and...

"Yes, Rex… cough cough…what’s wrong… cough... " Aquila checked the voice first before she picked up the call from the person named Rex. After she felt that her voice didn't sound like someone who just woke up, Aquila pressed the phone button on the candy bar type cellphone in her hand.

"Yes, Rex. What's wrong?" asked Aquila, repeating the dialogue she has rehearsed.

Several people who were sitting around Aquila looked at the girl who was picking up the phone. They were anticipating whether there would be a loud volume to disturb them in the library. But Aquila was able to speak softly enough so that people who turned their heads immediately resumed their abandoned activities.

"I'm still on campus and soon I'll be heading to that place…. I'll make sure everything is okay." The phone call only lasted less than a minute but Aquila immediately sighed after hanging up the phone. Accountability for what she said to Rex just now was a very heavy burden for Aquila.

Aquila's drowsiness disappeared suddenly after receiving a phone call. She immediately got up from her seat and immediately walked quickly towards the exit while wearing a backpack that she held while sleeping. After passing through the glass door that opened automatically, Aquila immediately ran to the motorbike parking lot which was on the north side of the campus.

Now Aquila was riding a classic light blue motorcycle from Piaggio with a helmet that was also blue but darker. Aquila was ready to go to the place she talked about on the phone, the place where Keenan Aldrich was hidden. But before going to that place she intended to take some things from her residence.

After leaving the campus area, Aquila's light blue motorbike passed through the housing estate that had a large garden around the building. The housing estate which was guarded by security for twenty-four hours was fôrced to pass by Aquila to save driving time. Although she was not someone who had an interest in entering the housing, no one was holding her motorbike from passing because Aquila already knew all the security there.

After passing through a luxury housing estate, Aquila entered a small road between several buildings that could only be passed by two-wheeled vehicles. Not long after,  there is a large building that was quite elongated and had an area about one hectare. Aquila slowed down the speed of her motorbike as she passed a row of motorbikes, then joined her motorbike parked in an empty place. The large building in front of Aquila was a flat with a fairly large entrance at the front of the building. But if Aquila chose the driveway that was accessible by car, she would have to spend half an hour longer than the time spent using the back road.

Aquila chose a flat that was quite far from campus because the price was still affordable. The price could be quite cheap because the building was ancient and the maintenance of the building was not carried out properly. Lots of cracks on the flat walls and faded paint that could be seen from the parking lot. And when examined further, actually there were many leaks in the rooms of the flat's occupants, including Aquila's. But Aquila didn't intend to protest and just put the bucket under the leaky ceiling.

After reaching the tenth floor, Aquila put the key into the doorknob on the door marked 1007. The number 1007 was made of rusty chrome so that the number was disguised with the door which had a similar color. After the door opened, there was a room of twenty-four square meters without a partition. Every wall in the room was installed with wallpaper that was supposed to be white-beige with polka-dot patterns, but now the white and beige have turned into a graded brown color.

Aquila took off her shoes beside the door. There was a bed in the corner opposite the entrance of Aquila’s room. Then a small kitchen was behind the bathroom wall which was next to the entrance. Other items that filled Aquila's residence were a wardrobe, a small table on a rubber mat that no longer needed a chair to sit on and a heater that was activated in winter. A simple room but enough to get through her daily life when she was not going out.

Aquila opened the one refrigerator near the entrance and took out three glass bowls filled with meat, vegetables and rice wrapped in plastic wrap. After throwing the disposable plastic in the trash, Aquila put both bowls in the microwave. While waiting for her food to be warmed she turned to the small table beside her bed.

Aquila crouched beside the rubber carpet, moved the small table and rug to another place. When you looked at it for a moment, Aquila looked like she wanted to clean the floor which was covered with wood patterned vinyl. Instead of picking up a tool to clean the dirt on the floor, Aquila's hand approached a spot on the floor that she knew very well. It was located on the centerline of the bed and the centerline of the cupboard which were tangent to each other. This point looked no different from other floor designs.

Aquila's forefinger was perpendicular to the vinyl-covered floor and then moved down until it seemed to penetrate the flat plane. Then Aquila bent her joint finger then a slab of cement the size of a tile was lifted off the floor. There was an iron box buried under the floor with a knob and a row of numbers at the top.

Aquila's mouth moved silently as she pressed the password to open the safe she had been hiding. After entering the four-digit number, her hand pulled the knob on the side of the screen until the contents of the safe were visible.

Aquila didn’t not take money from the safe like ordinary people in general. What Aquila took was two pieces of pistol.