ASHES: 14

A few minutes ago...

Dylan opened his eyes. The light blinded him momentarily. He kept them open as he tried to sit up. Pain coursed throughout his body and was forced to lay down again. The cool breeze coming from the open window on his left seemed to soothe his pains. He looked outside. 'I must be in an apartment building or something' he thought since he could see the setting sun casting a purplish hue across the sky. The sound of footsteps approaching from the door on his right scared him. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. 

Lucas walked inside the room and looked at the sleeping man. "How is he"? he asked the hired doctor. " He's fine its just that the ants left a bit too much of formic acid in his system. He's lucky to be alive," the doctor said looking at the patient's chart. Lucas tilted his head and again looked at the sleeping man. He took out his gun and shot his leg. Dylan screamed in pain. The doctor and Riley were stunned. It had caught them unawares and startled them.

Lucas pulled the chair and sat down. "I'm going to ask you questions," he said looking at Dylan who had sat up and was trying to stop the bleeding. The doctor rushed to help. " Don't even think about that", Lucas said coldly his eyes never leaving Dylan. The doctor ignored him and went ahead to help the man. Lucas shot him in the arm," There's a thing called listening to instructions," he said above the doctor's screams of pain," Get him out of here," he continued, still looking at Dylan. Riley helped the doctor up and walked away with him. The room fell silent.

" Its unfortunate that I killed Winter before I could ask him more questions I'll not make that same mistake again," Lucas said coldly. ' He called killing a mistake'? Dylan thought worriedly. Fear ran through his body leaving his mouth dry. " Tell me all about the upcoming business expo and the people you had to bribe in order to host it", Lucas commanded, his tone was one of finality. It left no room for denial or excuses. Haltingly, Dylan told him everything. 

 Once done, both men fell into silence. Lucas stood up and adjusted his coat. He looked at the man and lifted the gun, he shot him twice in the head and turned. He dropped the gun in front of the door and stepped over it. He opened the door and, finding Riley standing there horrified, he smirked. ' If this has you already scared, what about the rest that I've planned'? he thought. Loudly he said," Have someone call the police to tip them off where Dylan is." He removed the gloves and walked away slowly. Riley sighed and placed the call. A few minutes later, they were driving away leaving two dead bodies in the derelict building. Dylan and the doctor's.

Riley was confused. "Why call the police"? he asked as they pulled out of the scene inside Winter's car. Lucas looked out the heavily tinted window and said," Well, we'd need a scapegoat." It was then it dawned on Riley. Winter was the scapegoat. That's why he had told the men to photograph the crash before the car was burnt to a crisp, leaving nothing but the chassis and a well burnt body.

Lucas took out his phone and dialed a number. It was until the third ring that the other end answered." What"? He answered. It was Drake. " I want your help to take revenge on everyone," Lucas said gruffly, his eyes staring hard at Riley. " I don't want to because..," Drake replied quietly but was interrupted by Lucas. "It's only for three weeks then followed by a month of unbridled fun and exclusive rights to taking part of the revenge on Melanie while at it, " Lucas said. He was met with silence from the other end. It was as if he was contemplating. " Interested now"? Lucas asked.

Drake sighed. He had wanted to distance himself from Lucas as well as everybody else but, a chance at destroying that bitch? He could hardly pass that up. " Alright I'm in." Lucas smiled, he was pleased. He put the phone on speaker and began to explain himself. When he was done, Riley looked at him in awe while Drake let out a low whistle. This was one heck of a revenge plan.