42 The chess board

On Riley's side

The van had stopped for a while, but neither Riley nor Clive had any idea of where they were. The next thing the two of them heard, was sliding doors of the van. So, be it. They had finally reached the place they were planned to be kept.

The burly men dragged them down the van, causing them to stumble. A stinking smell nauseated their olfactory senses. Ugh! Disgusting!

"It stinks!" Clive voiced out his thoughts, but the burly men could care less. They dragged them along. Riley and Clive continued losing their balance on things. It made them ponder where they were. It was a long, long walk before the burly men shoved them ahead. They were not sure of how much time had passed being in captivity. Both of their wrists were sore and stinging for the reason that they were tied too firmly and securely in front of their torso, making them look as if they were begging.

Both of them bumped into each other and avoided themselves from falling. Before they could even stand any straighter, they were again dragged and were made to sit somewhere. Riley figured out that it was a chair. After they were made to sit, the clothes on their eyes were removed. The two of them realized that they were sitting with their backs against each other and they were being tied to the chairs together.

"Woah", Clive exasperated, "This is way beyond the script. We were supposed to fight the goons. Right, Brother Riley?"

Riley sighed while the goons could care less about the two of them. They left the two of them alone. Riley took this opportunity to take a better look at his surroundings. It was just a cell with a light hanging low above their heads. The room was quite small and empty. It looked more like a prison cell.

"Brother Riley..." Clive rested his head on Riley's shoulder, "Why are we stuck here?"

"You ended up here wrongly", Riley sighed while he placed his head on Clive's shoulder, "It was supposed to be only me."

"Bro did you know...?" Clive turned his head a bit.

"Not really", Riley shook his head, "But, I knew that something like this might happen sooner or later."

"Why? Why would you be targeted all of a sudden? Out of the blue?" Clive asked with a worry-filled voice.

"Because I fell in love", Riley closed his eyes and smiled like a fool.

"Oh!" Clive exclaimed, "Does the girl's father, not like you? And he wants to get rid of you? But, his men were puzzled between the two of us?"

"No, it's not like that. The girl had lost her parents seven years back and the tale is too long to be told", Riley spoke, melancholy apparent in his voice.

Clive kept silent before his handsome face twitched with agony, "Whatever or whoever it is, may you two be happy and together forever. I can only pay lip service as of now."

Riley softly chuckled, "You bet!"

"Do you doubt me?" Clive chuckled in return.

After that followed complete silence as time slowly ticked by.

...

Footsteps echoed from nearby, waking up Riley and Clive from their unexpectedly deep slumber. Before they could even properly open their eyes wide, they heard a deep voice, that sounded like an annoyed and spoiled brat, "Why two? It was supposed to be one. Which is the one?"

"Boss, we did what you asked us to do. How would we know which one? We thought you should know. Now, we could probably not let one get out of here, right?"

"Whatever, I will call Papa and inform him that we have the pawns in our palms", the voice sounded excited like a child.

"No, Ryan", it was followed by a matured voice, "First, execute. Then, inform. Do you get me?"

"Yeah, first, execute. First, execute", the voice was psychopathically excited.

Clive could not see anything as he had his back faced towards the door, but Riley could see two tall figures, clad in black, surrounded by the masked goons from earlier. Of the two tall men, one's face was covered by a silver mask while the other had a golden mask on.

The goons opened the cell door, and the group walked in.

Riley scrutinized each of the masked faces before his gaze landed on the silver and golden masks, which stood out among the crowd. The next thing he saw was the silver mask fishing for something in his long black robe. He took out a phone and panned it straight as if he was trying to snap some pictures.

"No, Ryan", the man under the golden mask held him back by grabbing his hand, "You are not allowed to take pictures now."

"Why not?" Riley could feel the pout under his mask, "I will show them to Papa and tell him that I captured celebrities and played with them."

"No", the golden mask shook his head, "We cannot do that. Do you want Papa to erupt again?"

The silver mask shook his head furiously, "I don't want it! I don't want that!"

"Then, listen to me", the golden mask maintained his grip, "Be good or else…"

"Or else? Or else?" the silver mask continued with his silly drivel and gobbledygook, "No, I will make Papa happy and then he will be fond of me. He won't be mad anymore."

"He is a psycho", Clive muttered under his breath.

Riley lightly banged his head with Clive, in a bid to quiet him down, "Shh!"

"Oh!" Clive exclaimed lightly, "That hurts."

"Don't exaggerate", Riley muttered under his breath, in a chiding manner."

"Good", the golden mask patted the silver mask's head. And, then he gestured something to the goons who were mere onlookers of the inane display like Riley.

The goons exchanged looks among themselves, under duress to move. The silver mask scoffed and spat with disdain, "Go! Do as brother say! Do you want to face my Papa's wrath?"

The leader scoffed and pushed one of them ahead. He had no other choice and he walked in by their sides while Riley's and Clive's eyes followed him.

"Do you remember how to play?" the golden mask asked the goons.

The leader just grunted approval. On the other side, Clive saw the goon bring a giant chess board on the floor. He frowned. How dramatic!