Page 21 of The Diávolos: Part Two
“You know, he told me you’d follow me blindly. I’m surprised you're still alive.”
He?I continue after him, stumbling over my feet, confused. “I know how to defend myself.”
The man turns around swiftly, which forces me to a stop.
I stand up tall, summoning some courage from deep within.
“Self-defense can only get you so far. You’re following a stranger into the depths of a subway station. It’s dark, there’s no one around, and I could easily hurt you.”
I scoff, a weak smile playing on my lips as I acknowledge the absurdity of this situation. “You’re very confident for someone only a couple feet away from the train tracks.”
His lips curl into a smirk and familiarity hits me again.Is it just my imagination?
The man grabs me by the shoulder and swings me around so that my back is facing the drop to the tracks, and I let out a choked gasp. I stop breathing completely and my body stills. He laughs at my unease.
Again, familiar.
I squint my eyes. “If you’re not going to push me off the ledge, let me go already,” I say, a lot more confidently than I feel.
Rule number one. Never let them sense your fear.
He throws me to the side, and I stumble onto the ground. I get up quickly, dusting my clothes off.
The man continues his trek into the darkness without another word. I stay in the same spot for a few moments, but he doesn’t even turn around to check if I’m behind him. I grunt out loud and stomp my feet. Why do I keep getting bullied by assholes who think they can boss me around?
“Fine! I guess I’ll follow you to my demise.”
“I’m not going to hurt you, Angelica,” he responds from afar. “My brother would have my head. And so would his business partner.”
I knit my brows in confusion. “Who's your brother and his business partner?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
At this point, I’m entangled in this mysterious web.And it very well may kill me.
We walk down a narrow passageway at the far end of the station that I’m sure not even employees know exists. It’s cold, damp, and dark; I can barely see ahead of me.
My mysterious companion takes out a flashlight. “Hold onto my shoulder.”
I do as he says as we squeeze through the tight space, and I have to duck to get through the opening.
He halts his steps when we get to a large, metal door and flashes the light onto a keypad.
I take a second to look around, but I can only see darkness. Thankfully, I’m not scared of the dark, but this is still creepy.
He inputs a code and the lock clicks, the door opening on its own. I’m nearly blinded by the dazzling light on the other side.
“Where are we?” I ask, my arm over my face to block the brightness.
“In the underbelly of Antium.”
When I can finally see, my mouth falls open in shock. We’re in a massive…lair? The walls are all composed of rock or concrete, the ceiling is very high and there are computer screenseverywhere. Rooms made of what looks like glass walls cover the area and seem to have various uses: an office, a lounge room, a kitchen. I turn around in place, taking in the sight—I can’t believe my eyes. It looks like it’s straight out of a superhero/villain movie. The man next to me chuckles and startles me out of my daze.
“Crazy, huh? My brother built the entire thing. We call it the ‘bird’s-eye of Antium.’ You can see and hear everything that happens in the Big A from here, even though we’re underground.” I whistle in response. “You can look around if you want.”
I nod and walk further into the massive shelter, nearing the wall of screens, and stand right in front of them, astonished. There is a camera view of every street, corner, body of water. The feeds switch every few seconds and it’s giving me whiplash. I don’t know what to look at and the more reality sinks in, the more I feel myself filling with dread. “Why am I here?”
The man stands next to me and puts his hands in his pockets. I take my eyes off the large TVs and assess him, his gaze pointed at the views of Antium City. “Someone wanted to see you.”
