Billionaire's Bodyguard

Ch 6. Dam it

Around 10 o'clock, Rey stood outside the station's main entrance. One hand held his phone and the other gripped the strap of his sling bag tightly. People looked busy passing back and forth around him.

Rey didn't move along with them, his eyes slowly observing the area in front of him, searching for something amid all that crowd.

His steps began to move inward, and his mind went back to the conversation at the coffee shop yesterday.

"What job?" Rey stared at Ethan that time. "How much does it pay? What company?"

Ethan laughed lightly, more like someone who found the question amusing than uncomfortable. "Relax, Rey." He sipped his coffee. "First, about the salary, you won't refuse it. Don't worry about that."

Rey nodded slowly, but his gaze didn't change.

"Don't ask too many questions." Ethan's tone dropped a little, sounding more serious. "This job is simple. Take it, deliver it, done. There's nothing you need to understand beyond that."

Rey found what he was looking for, a dark gray steel locker rack stood in the corner of the waiting area, wedged between an ATM machine and a coffee machine.

The locker wasn't conspicuous, its size not too large, with small doors each having a number pad to open them.

["We work with codes."]

Rey stood in front of the locker, he took out his phone and his fingers pressed the buttons on one of the doors according to the message he had received.

Click!

Inside the locker, there was a box wrapped in black plastic. Its size was no bigger than Rey's palm.

Rey didn't open it, he lifted it quickly and put it into his bag, then closed the locker again.

His heart pounded harder than usual as he turned and walked toward the platform.

["No need to rush. Take your time, unless you're asked to hurry."]

Rey opened his phone again, then walked to the platform for the short-distance train heading to another city to the east.

Inside the train moving at moderate speed, Rey sat in the seat at the very end of the car. The scenery outside the window changed from dense buildings to a more open green area, but his eyes weren't really seeing it.

His mind couldn't stop spinning since last night.

"I'll look for a motorcycle rental for you," Rey said at that time.

Emily shook her head without turning around. "No need, I'll just buy a bicycle, that's enough and much cheaper."

"A bicycle to carry all those goods?"

"It's fine, I can do it two or three round trips." Emily's tone was brief, not harsh.

Rey's phone vibrated in his pocket, he immediately answered. "Hello?"

"Good evening, is this the family of patient Margareth?" A woman's voice on the other end sounded trained and flat. "We ask that you and your family please come to the hospital now. The patient's condition has suddenly declined."

At the hospital a young doctor explained to them. "Just around seven o'clock, Mother Margareth's condition suddenly declined."

The doctor spoke in a calm tone but went straight to the point. "Her blood pressure was unstable and she lost consciousness. We've already done a CT scan, and the results show there's an abnormality in the brain area that we need to follow up on."

Emily stood beside Rey with her hand gripping the edge of her bag. "What kind of abnormality?"

"That's what we want to confirm through a further procedure." The doctor opened the folder in his hand and showed a form. "We need consent from the family before we can proceed. This procedure is to ensure a more accurate diagnosis."

Emily nodded slowly, then lifted her eyes to the doctor. "All these costs ... will they be covered by social insurance?"

The doctor shifted his position slightly. "The scan and basic procedure are covered. We hope there won't be any additional costs the family has to bear."

Emily didn't answer, just nodded again. Rey, standing beside her, saw Emily's jaw tighten slightly.

They signed the consent form. Emily and Rey didn't talk much.

***

Rey finally arrived at his destination. He walked through a business area that looked crowded and busy. The main street was wide, filled with pick-up trucks parked temporarily while some people carried cardboard boxes in and out of shops.

Rey opened the map on his phone and walked following the indicated direction, passing rows of two-story grocery shops, then entering a narrower alley.

The width of the alley was only enough for one car and one motorcycle. Three to four story shophouses on the right and left stood closely together so that the scorching midday sky was almost invisible from below.

Rey kept walking, his eyes alternating between looking at the map and looking at the numbers on the walls of the shops he passed. He didn't realize that several pairs of eyes were watching him from several different places.

A sign reading Hotel Sakura was visible at the left end of the alley. The building was five stories tall, its paint already looking dull and pitch black in several corners. The entrance consisted of two door panels with an old-fashioned style decorated with mosaic glass.

Rey stopped for a moment in front of that door. He remembered Ethan's message.

["Make sure your surroundings are safe before you place it."]

He looked right and left down the alley once more. Nothing looked suspicious, no one standing too long in one place or staring toward him.

The hotel lobby was small and stuffy, the air inside smelled like mothballs and old carpet that had never been aired out.

Only the head of a receptionist was visible behind a tall desk, no other guests sitting in the waiting chairs, no sound from any corridor.

The receptionist didn't greet him, seeming as if he didn't even see Rey come in.

Rey saw the elevator in the left corner, going to the fifth floor would be faster by taking it. But Rey chose to look for another door and found the steel emergency stairway door at the right end of the lobby.

"Sakura house, fifth floor," he muttered while pushing the steel door open and starting to climb the stairs.

The emergency stairway was narrower than usually found in modern buildings, its walls roughly plastered and its paint already yellowed.

Rey's footsteps could be heard there even though he tried to walk more slowly. He passed the second floor, then the third floor.

CLEK, Kreettt!

The sound of a steel door opening was heard loudly on the floor above Rey.

Rey stopped, his hand reflexively gripping his bag strap tighter. He tilted his head and peeked upward through the gap in the stairs, and saw several heads also peeking down.

Their eyes met Rey's, and their footsteps became hurried. Rey immediately moved following his instinct, then turned around and went back down. He had only gone down two steps when the sound of another steel door was heard from below, this time from the ground floor.

Rey stopped between two sets of footsteps moving toward him from above and below. He looked to the right and saw a floor access door right beside him, pushing that door open and stepping outside.

The corridor on the third floor was quiet. Two rows of room doors on the right and left, all closed. There were no other doors besides those room doors.

Rey moved quickly to the first door on his right and tried opening it. Locked, the second door was also locked. Third, fourth, he kept moving while his hand kept trying every door handle he passed.

All locked.

The emergency door where he had stood earlier finally opened. Rey stopped and turned around.

Two people came out, then three, five and kept coming out until Rey no longer focused on counting because they now filled the corridor completely.

Plain t-shirts, some short sleeved and some sleeveless entirely so the tattoos on their arms were clearly visible. Their expressions showed no good intentions whatsoever.

One of them held a long piece of wood resting on his shoulder like someone walking casually, but his eyes stared at Rey with a cold expression.

"Damn it," Rey muttered.

***