Red Lady

-11-

Dominic

When I finally started to wake up from my forced slumber, I could feel two pairs of hands shaking me roughly. A groan escaped my lips, and that seemed to be the signal for the shaking to stop. Reluctantly opening my eyes, I was met with the faces of Kris and Myers. I lifted my hands to my orbs to protect them from the light and was helped into a sitting position.

“How are you feeling Ramirez?” my boss asked, handing me a gold bottle of water. I grabbed it and drank the liquid greedily. Once the bottle was half empty, I opened my mouth to talk.

“I feel like shit,” I answered honestly, to which the two men chuckled.

“So,” I continued, drawing attention back to me, “The sleeping gas thing was real, right?”

I saw Kris nod his head. “Unfortunately, yes.”

“And Eden got away, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, she did,” Myers said with heaviness in his words.

Everything was quiet between us until I let a large sigh escape my mouth while running a hand through my hair. “Damn it.”

“You’ve got that right kid.”

“Does anyone know where she’s headed next?”

“Not a clue. But since we know who she’s after, it won’t be too hard to find her again.”

I nodded my head before getting up, stretching my sore muscles as I raised my arms over my head. The only thing I wanted to do right now was sleep. Weird, seeing as I’d been out for probably hours.

“Boss, do you think its okay if-“

“Go to your hotel Ramirez, you’re not needed here at this point in time.”

I gave him a smiled and started walking away before turning to look back at Kris. “You coming?”

He looked me in the eyes before following me without saying a word. As we both walked out of the building, I saw people around me that were just waking up just like I had a minute ago. This all hadn’t been a dream, unlike what I wanted it to be. I wish I could just wake up in my bed at home and learn that this whole Red Lady thing had just been something crazy I had made up.

But it wasn’t, and this was my real life. A life that I had to face and deal with.

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Eden

“You guys look wicked suspicious, you know that?” I said while motioning towards the couple across from me.

Irene still had her dark sunglasses on, even though we were inside a diner. Her light coat was pulled around her tightly and she kept completely still. Avian had a dark hat on with his red hair tucked inside and his green eyes were watching everything around him.

“Better safe than sorry,” he told me, almost giving himself a heart attack when the waiter came over to give us our drinks.

“Can I get you all anything to eat?” he questioned as he placed my hot tea in front of me. I locked eyes with him and gave him a sultry look.

“No, I think we’re fine here. We’ll call you over if we need anything, though.”

A sly smile lit up his face before he nodded. “Don’t hesitate.”

I watched the cute man walk away, mostly just staring at his bum. Avian called me away by clearing his throat. I turned my attention to him and saw him glaring at me. “What?” I asked.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little too conspicuous?” my cousin hissed, to which I raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t take that tone with me Avian,” I said coldly and I saw him back down some, “And didn’t I tell you before I don’t care if I’m caught? I’m not going to go into deeper hiding than usual just because of the FBI.”

“That’s all fine and dandy,” he replied back, sipping on his coffee, “But I’d like to keep my record clean.”

Ignoring him, I drank my tea and looked at Irene. “So, why exactly are we here? I wasn’t really paying attention when he explained it before,” I announced, throwing a thumb over to Avian.

“We’re waiting for-“

“Me, darling,” a male voice said from behind me and I smiled when I recognized it.

“I was wondering if you had made it out alive Agent Donavan,” I said while scooting over to give the man room to sit.

“Wasn’t that hard,” he bragged, leaning back into the seat with his hands behind his head and a smirk on his face.

I have him a looked then turned to Avian. “You think I’m cocky? Look at this kid. Where’d you get him from anyway?”

“I called him in. He’s one of my FBI contacts,” Irene interjected, mixing the cream into her coffee.

“Not anymore,” Donavan said with a pout.

“I told you that you would lose your job.”

“At least I gained a pretty lady,” the ex FBI agent said with a wink towards me.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty.”

I rolled my eyes. “You really are kid. And I’m out of your league.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but Avian’s hand silenced him. “Enough with the jibber jabber. Finish your drinks and we’re out of here. We need to keep driving so we can reach our destination on a timely manner.”

“Where’s the destination?”

“Ontario, Canada.”

“I hate the cold,” I groaned.

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Dominic

Sleep hadn’t come easily to me that night, too much had been running through my mind. Eden’s escape, Donavan’s betrayal, my sister hospitalized. So much was happening so fast, and I didn’t know if I could keep up.

As I tossed and turned, one thought kept surfacing into my brain. How were we going to catch the Red Lady a second time? Now that she knew we were onto her, she was going to be more careful than before. And it hadn’t been an easy task to catch her in the first place.

The ringing of the cell phone on the bed side table cut my thoughts short, and with a groan, I rolled over and picked up the damned thing, answering it with a tired, “Hello?”

“Mr. Ramirez?” a male voice asked from the other end.

“That would be me, who is this?”

“My name is Mika Hart. I’m one of the doctors that works on your sister.”

At the mention of Su, I shot up in bed, instantly at attention. “Did something happen to her?”

“No, no, you don’t have to worry about that. But I would like you to come down so we can discuss things. I know it’s late, but this may be the only time I will be available.”

“Uh… I guess if this is the only time. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Thank you, I will be awaiting your presence.”

Once I ended the call, I ran a hand through my hair and got out of the bed for a midnight trip to the local hospital.

---------

The hospital wasn’t that far away from my hotel, and with the almost empty road at this time of night, I was there fairly quickly. Even of the strange hours, there was still staff walking around here and there, checking on their sleeping patients or talking quietly to one another. After quickly finding out the location of Dr. Hart’s office, I knocked lightly on his closed door. I heard a muffled, “Come in,” and I entered the man’s office.

Dr. Hart looked up from his computer and gave me a smile. “Mr. Ramirez, it’s nice to see you.”

“Nice to meet you as well,” I said, taking a seat, “Can you inform me why I’m here?”

“Of course. I just wanted to let you know that the bills for all of your sister’s operations and those to come have been paid for in advanced.”

“I didn’t pay them,” I told him, feeling confused.

“That I know the person who paid for it all came to see me directly. She also let me this note to give you.”

I took the single paper from his hand and unfolded it. The handwriting was elegant and neat, unlike my sloppy handwriting. I instantly began to read it.

To Dominic Ramirez

Out of the goodness of my heart, I’ve made sure that your sister’s health is in the hands of the best, and that she will get the special treatment. I don’t feel guilt for what I did to her, she’s lucky she’s alive; she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I really do hope she makes a full recovery. Over a long span of time, of course.

In another matter, I am eagerly awaiting seeing you and your boss at my last crime scene, where I will either be caught, or once again get away. It’s all up to you, isn’t it? See you soon.

The Red Lady- Eden Hayes