Bounty Hunter

Reed

“I might have some information on Zinnia’s whereabouts,” Hermine storms into my study, forcing my gaze on hers. Excitement glittered in her eyes and for the first time since Alex was rescued, the smile on her face was brighter than a thousand summers.

“So, the knife from the van had the mark of a bull imprinted on it. At first glance, it is not visible, but tilt the knife to the left in a dark room and viola! Now, the bull mark belongs to a biker club of the east. I was able to pull some strings and meet with the leader of the bull club who was very willing to answer my questions. Turns out, the van belongs to their club as well. Now, he’s willing to let go off the fact that you killed one of his men during the ambush at the neighborhood of death and even give us some vital information regarding Roman’s whereabouts, but on condition that you owe him a favor,” Hermine blabs, pacing back and forth.

With a dispirited sigh, I rose to my feet, rounded the table and walked towards Hermine. I put my hand on either side of her shoulders, urging her to calm down. “What favour?” I ask.

“He wouldn’t say for now, just that he would call on the favour you owe him when the time comes,” Hermine answers in a breathy voice. I pondered over her words. The leader of the bull club was a cold hearted man who was known for granting help in exchange for something. Now, whilst I was willing to kill anyone, I worried his favour might be something that goes against what I stand for; like killing someone innocent. But right now, he was my only hope to finding Zinnia since every attempt seemed futile.

“Okay.” I say.

“Great, because I already agreed to meet with him in exactly thirty minutes,” Hermine says, walking past me and heading for the door.

“What?” I asked, stunned.

“And get your arms and whatever thing you use to kill people,” she adds before closing the door.

*****

“Have you checked up on Alex?” my voice roars through the quiet moving vehicle. Hermine peels her gaze from her laptop and stared at me momentarily before focusing her attention back to her laptop.

“No,” she replies plainly.

“You know; you will have to check up on her at some point. I know you blame yourself for what happened to her, which is foolish,” I tried to convince. Since Alex was found, Hermine refused to visit her, even though she was in one of the rooms in my estate. She would ask the doctors for updates on her health but refused to visit her. For some reason she blamed herself for what happened to Alex which was something I couldn’t understand because it was beyond her control.

“Take the next bend.” She dismissed my statement.

“Hermine,” I call out.

“I don’t want to talk about it, please. Let’s just focus on getting Zinnia back,” she states. I decide against counteracting her. instead, I follow her directions and shortly after, I was driving through a rough neighborhood. The looks that came our way was expected, after all, we were strangers driving into an unknown territory.

“Just keep driving and forget about them. Park at the end of the street and someone will take us to him,” Hermine adds.

“Are sure you got the right info? I don’t want to start a war,” I say, starting to feel a little unsure about this. Hermine might have been duped and with us driving through the streets of a territory where we clearly aren’t welcomed might lead to a fight. Which I didn’t want. She rolled her eyes.

“Yes I got the right info. No, your presence here will not lead to gang fight. Now, just trust me and drive to the end of the street,” Hermine replies in frustration. I drive to the end of the road as ordered. I stopped when a man with a burly physic raised his hand, urging me to stop. Hermine rolls down her side of the window and duct her head out.

“Hermine Rivera for the Bull,” she says in a firm tone. The man stared at Hermine and me suspiciously before turning to his partner. After exchanging a nod with him, he turns to us.

“Password,” he says. Hermine turns to me with a frown on her face. “I’m not sure what he means,” she whispers to me. The man must have heard what Hermine said because he immediately got defensive and pulled out his gun. At once, the other men who stood by as we drove pulled out their guns too, and in no time, our vehicle was surrounded.

“You have one second to step out of the vehicle!” he ordered. My gaze shifts to Hermine who was physically shaking on the spot. With my one hand up, I slowly took off my seatbelt, opened the door and stepped out. They brutally seize me, poking every side of me in search for a gun. Once they’d unarmed me, I spoke up.

“Tell the Bull the Bounty Hunter is here for a favour,” I said calmly, putting my hands down. Realisation dawn on the man who searched me as his face went from confidence to horror.

“Yes, of course,” he stuttered, returning the guns he took from me. Hermine runs towards me, wrapping her hands in mine. In no time, the man returns, asking that we follow him. Now, it was Hermine’s turn to be skeptical as she hung to me as though her life depended on it as we walked behind the man.

“I apologize for the cold welcome my men gave you. They were simply following orders,” a voice speaks up as we enter a dimly lit room. I had never come face to face with the Bull, reason why when a seven foot Viking man stepped into light, I swallowed a lump.

“No offence taken,” I say. He smiles firmly at me before signalling to his men to leave the room. Then, he spoke to me.

“Follow me,” he says. I follow quietly behind him while taking in my surroundings.

“Mr Bull, you say you have information on Roman,” Hermine’s timid voice echoed through the silent isle. Bull doesn’t respond until we get to his office.

“That I do,” he says calmly, taking a seat.

“And you are willing to give this information in exchange for a favour which you will call in on a later date,” I repeated what Hermine told me earlier. He nods.

“I brokered a purchase between Roman and a client of mine and I am certain Roman conducts most of his businesses there,” he says. A frown appeared on my face.

“What purchase?”

“An island, but this island is not registered under Roman’s name,” he adds. It all made sense, the reason why I have been unable to track down Roman from the properties he owned. “This island is registered under his wife’s name,” My eyes widened in shock.

“His wife?” I ask He nods.

“My sister,” he adds further shocking the hell out of me. “I am willing to give you information on this property and in exchange, I need you to get my sister out of there and make sure she is safe,”

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