New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 909  A Call Sooner Than Expected

As he was deep in the realm of dreams, a call came through on his neurophone, waking him up from his sweet reverie.

Startling awake, Kary looked at him in surprise at his sudden jumping up.

"Nightmare?" she asked him, wondering why he jumped up so suddenly.

"No, someone is calling me," Alex replied, rubbing his still-tired eyes.

He didn't recognize the number, and half wondered who it could be.

He cleared his throat so as not to sound freshly awakened and picked up the call.

"Hello."

"Alex! Alex, you have to come now! I accept your deal, but I need you here right now!"

Alex winced as the screaming entered his brain.

"Ahh, do you have to shout? What's going on, Elise?" he asked, rising to his feet. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"There is no time to explain, Alex! You need to be here now! The Los Segadores have taken people and are threatening to kill them publicly if the police try to do something about it!"

"The what now?" Alex asked, confused.

"The gang, you moron! They've taken Anthony and his father, Diego!"

Alex went from confused to serious in seconds. The mention of the gang, along with the kidnapping of two honest people trying to eke out a living, snapped his attention into focus.

"I'll be right there," he said before hanging up.

Kary looked at him with a confused gaze.

"Who is Elise? And why were you talking out loud on your neuro-phone? You know that picks up your thoughts, right?"

Alex paused, realizing she was right.

"Old habits, I guess… As for your first question, I'm trying to get Elise on our side when we leave to resolve matters worldwide. She is awakened—a powerful one, too. But I can paint you the full picture later. She needs me to take care of something, and I have to go."

Kary's frown deepened.

"I'm coming with you. You promised you wouldn't leave me behind, and you've already done it once today. I may have turned a blind eye for Constantine, but I'm not turning a blind eye now."

Alex was about to say no to her, but her words reminded him of his promise.

"Fine. But it's going to be dangerous. I don't want you dying, so be careful," he asked her, grabbing her hand.

As his skin turned black, and horns grew on his head, Alex melded with Asmodeus, expanding his senses as far as he could, and found where Elise was in a flash.

The next moment, both he and Kary were no longer in his penthouse and were standing on a busy side street, with the clamour of a crowd not too far from them.

He was behind Elise and returned to his human form before tapping her on the shoulder.

She snapped around, her fist suddenly raised in a punching motion, but stopped before hitting Alex as she recognized his face.

"Don't fucking startle me like that! I was about to punch your stupid face…"

Alex chuckled at her.

"Yeah, I saw. How bad is the situation?" he asked, wanting to get straight to business.

But Elise and Kary both cleared their throat.

"Pretty rude of you not to introduce us," Kary said admonishingly.

"Yeah, what she said," Elise added.

Alex sighed loudly, getting glares from the two of them.

"I thought you said this was urgent?" he asked.

But both of them looked at him with daggers in their eyes.

"Fine. Kary, Elise. Elise, this is Kary. There, all caught up. Now, situation, please?" Alex blurted in rapid fire.

Both women glared at him for his bluntness, but smiled at each other.

"I take it you're his girlfriend. I don't envy you. This man is a caveman," Elise said, smiling at Kary.

"Right?!" Kary exclaimed.

"It's a pleasure to meet a fellow awakened woman. We are here to help. What is going on, and what can we do?" Kary added, presenting her hand to Elise.

Elise gripped her paw and shook it with a solid grip, but Kary's strength in return impressed her.

"Like I told the dolt over the phone, the local gang kidnapped two people and is now holding them hostage in their hideout. They say they'll kill them both publicly if the police try to stick their nose in it.

"The police are cowering two streets further down, trying to get a negotiator to them to calm down the situation. But the gang has already fired warning shots at the negotiator they tried sending.

"They don't know what to do anymore, and are thinking of withdrawing."

Alex frowned at the cowardly actions of the local law enforcement. Weren't they supposed to serve and protect?

What was with the cowardly attitudes?

He was also slightly peeved that Elise was explaining the situation to Kary, but he passed over his grievances and taking action.

"Fill her up, Elise. I'll go have a chat with the police and see what all the fuss is about," Alex said, before walking toward the police barricade.

Elise nodded at him, and Kary looked at him, worried he would jump into the action without her again.

But Alex smiled at her and winked, reassuring her wordlessly that he would wait for her backup.

He quickly went through the crowd surrounding the nearby streets and reached the police barricade.

"Stop right there, sir! This is a restricted area!" an officer barked at him, his hand already on his gun.

"Get me the one in charge of this mess, officer," Alex ordered.

"Excuse me?" the officer asked, looking at him with a frown.

"You heard me. Get me the one in charge, before I go find him myself."

"Who the fuck do you think you are, sir?!" the officer asked, pumping out his chest and shoulders.

Alex looked at him in disdain, almost triggering the officer to pull out his firearm.

But a voice echoed from behind him, and de-escalated the situation.

"Stand down, Officer Parks. I know this little hoodlum, and you don't want him to start another situation. What do you want, Mr. Leduc?" the familiar man asked, as he walked over to Alex.

"Detective Trudeau! How quaint to meet you here!" Alex exclaimed, recognizing the man in uniform.

"It's Sergeant Trudeau, now, kid. You haven't answered my question. What are you doing here?"

Alex smiled wide at him.

"Would you mind if we talked somewhere more private? Your goons don't need to hear what I have to say."

The officer looked at Alex with rising anger, half-tempted to step across the police line and slap the shit out of him.

But the officer shivered at how he grinned back at him, with absolute confidence in his eyes.

'What the fuck is wrong with this dude?' he wondered.

"Now, now, young man. You don't need to go around taunting my men. Come into the barricade. I'll bring you to a van, and we can talk in peace," the Sergeant said, lifting the police tape up.

Alex nodded, bending under the tape, and following the ex-detective to a van parked on the side a few feet from them.

He opened the back and climbed in, inviting Alexander inside as well. And before closing the doors, he looked at Officer Parks and said, "Let no one in here, or I'll have you on traffic duty for the rest of your career. Understood?"

The man paled at the words and nodded frantically, guarding the van as if his life depended on it—which it kind of did, considering traffic duty was a career killer.

Once they were both comfortably seated inside, the Sergeant looked at Alex with tired eyes.

"Seriously, kid. What are you doing here? This situation is already tense. If it escalates any further, I'll have to order my men into a shootout with an armed gang. There are fifty of them in that shithole they call a hideout. I only have thirty officers.

"Please tell me you aren't here to stir shit up…"

Alex looked at him with a face that screamed, 'Sorry, man.'

"I'm afraid I'm not the bearer of good news, Sergeant Trudeau. You see, the people they are holding hostage? Well, I know them. And someone else, to whom I owe a favour, also knows them and likes them."

The Sergeant sighed loudly.

"Then why did you come here instead of starting directly when you arrived? We both know you are fully capable of finishing this in minutes. I've seen what you did in the Bianchi Compound…"

Alex's eyebrow raised.

"The what of who, now?" he asked, faking ignorance.

"Oh, don't you bullshit me, son. I'm not born of the last rain. I saw the state of the compound. Even if your cleaners removed the bodies, it was easy to reconstruct from the damage to the place. And I knew of only one person capable of doing that kind of damage."

Alex chuckled.

"You haven't seen the start of what I can do, Trudeau. But that's not why I came here."

"Then, spit it out, already."

Alex grinned at him before becoming serious.

"I came here to ask you and your men to vacate the area and evacuate all civilians. When I go in there, I don't there to be stray bullets that hit bystanders. Clean the area up for me, and I'll get rid of the problem."