Chapter-3

Glancing outside the window, I couldn't help but notice the city wrapped in a silvery coat of snow. The clouds appeared to be a gloomy grey-black casting an eerie shadow upon the neighborhood. The street lights seemed to illuminate the snow beneath, making it look like thousands of tiny diamonds.

I watched it all pass us as we finally reached my Uncle's house, my eyes glancing at the illuminated dash clock to see ten minutes had passed since we left. It was now three in the morning, and to say I was impressed with John's driving skills now would be an understatement. I honestly thought something else would go wrong on the way here, especially after the phone call my uncles gave me five minutes ago.

Five minutes ago,

I was wiping some of the blood of Crystal's forehead when my phone rang. My eyes widened when I saw that my Uncle was calling me.

"Thank god you called! I was going to call you; we have a situation..." He cut me off immediately.

"I know what the situation is, Sam called me." he started. "I just called to hurry you along. I have everything arranged, bring her here as fast as you can" With that, he cuts the call.

Annoyed that yet again, I am hung up on. I stared at my phone like it grew a head and wondering if this was national hang up the phone on Tess day. Jerking my phone back into my purse, I relayed the encouraging message from my Uncle to John. He gave me a wtf look, nodded his head, and increases the speed just a little, trying not to swerve in the road.

John broke into my reverie. "Tess, we are here,"

Looking out the window, I saw the familiar mansion of my Uncle Max. He's loaded and was not ashamed to show it or flaunt it to us, little people. The guard waved us in through the main entrance, already aware of our pending arrival.

As the car neared the house, I spied my cousin Tom standing at the end of the walkway, a stretcher by his side. Before John could park the car in the garage, Tom ripped open the back door closest to him, pulled Shirley out, and placed his hands under Crystal's arms to hoist her onto the stretcher. After we got her situated, he nodded his head in a follow-me motion and began to push the gurney to our destination. We went inside, trekking through the large hallway. It had a chandler on the ceiling in the middle of the hall, spiral of staircases at both ends leading to a common hallway on the first floor for guest rooms, and closed doors of rooms on either side beneath the staircases. It was the epitome of luxury, but it never suited me. I always liked things plain and elegant.

I dared to ask Tom what was going on, but he shook his head at me and said, "Later,"

I frowned at him in annoyance, he may be my cousin, but right now I wanted to throttle him. After reaching the end of the hall, we took a right turn, moving into the living room. Tom stopped before the fireplace reaching up to a box on the mantel, opening it, and tapped what appeared to be buttons inside of it.

Tap

Tap

Tap

A loud whoosh sounds echoed through the room as a shift in the wall opened up and slid to our left, making me jump slightly. Staring at the opening, I was sure I was dreaming. I had to be because I had been in this house thousands of times and have never seen anything amiss. Movement out of the corner of my eye kicked me back into reality, Tom still leading the stretcher, was entering what appeared to be an elevator, hitting a button on the panel.

Tom turned to find us stuck in our spots and snarled at us. "By all means, take your time, we have all the time in the world."

The annoyance in his voice propelled us into action, and we entered the elevator, taking up different positions, so we didn't bump into the stretcher. As we began descending, I stared at Tom, letting him know I was unhappy with his unwillingness to share any information. I thought the message was received, as he kept shifting from foot to foot. I smirked and kept staring at him.

"Tess, stop staring," he finally looked at me. "I know you have many questions to ask, but it will be good for you if you keep them inside your head for now," he again went back to staring at the closed glass door in front of him.

I dig all my questions deep down into my heart, waiting for the moment when they could resurface. With that, we reached - what I assume was - the basement. Tom walked out, and like earlier, we followed him. It was the day for me to get all the shocks that god saved for my whole life; he was showing no mercy to me. That crazy, old man had his hospital down here, well not actually hospital, but this shit is crazy. He had all kinds of machines, all equipment that could be needed to check any disease or injury from simple to severe. He had a fucking I.C.U in here.

How could they fit such large space in the basement, and how I always wondered why the walls were so thick in his house. No wonder he was hiding an elevator in those walls and a hospital beneath.

"What the..." Shirley looked around like she was in a whole new world,

My Uncle, whom I usually call Max, was standing outside the I.C.U waiting for us,

"Shirley, Tess quickly go inside, change her clothes and clean her wounds," he ordered us around as he stepped back, preparing to leave. "I just need to do one more thing,"

Max turned to leave, but I stopped him by holding onto his arm. "Not now, Tess, we need to treat her quickly" he went to the way of the lift,

I wasted no more time in thinking, Shirley, and I quickly got inside. I changed her clothes while Shirley worked on her injuries. She cleaned all the blood, making the cut and wounds look more clearer. Shirley gave her the dose of anesthesia while I wore the gloves and worked on the gash from the bullet. It was hard as the wound had swollen, but with the help of Shirley, I took out the bullet using forceps and dropped it on the plate Shirley was holding.

Just then, Max entered inside with a middle-aged man following him. "We'll take it from here, you both can leave now," he ordered us as I take off the gloves,

"Are you sure?" I asked him doubtfully,

"Yes Tessa, I don't think both of you are enough experienced for this operation," he said, making us aware of our situation,

"So don't worry, I'll handle it," he reassured us,

"Max, there's a scratch behind her head, it looked serious," I told him, to which he nodded. We left the room with a gloomy face. I wished I could do more for her. I sat on one of the chairs outside the I.C.U and bowed my head down, resting it on my arms, as a heavy sigh escaped my lips. I tried to recall all the events that happened in the last hour but couldn't find one thing that made sense,

"Tess, I am going to look for John, will you be fine?" Shirley asked me. I didn't look up and just nodded. She rubbed my arms in an assuring manner before leaving. I suddenly remembered our conversation in the car,

"Did you see the guys who did this?" John asked me as he heard the whimpering sounds coming from Crystal,

"Ya," I answered,

"Why, someone would do something so cruel...?" Shirley guessed,

"No, they were just not some thieves; they looked professional for some reason," I cleared her doubt,

"What do you mean by Professional?" John popped out another question,

"They looked experienced in what they were doing. OK, tell me could any normal thieve cross a fence which is around nine and a half feet long, without getting any scratch," I explained to them what I saw,

"They did that!!" he exclaimed in disbelief. I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw it. I mean, it was nine feet long. They just swiftly leaped and very gracefully held onto to the net before jumping down on the other side,

"Yes, also their accent, it was different, they were not from here," I thought about their posture, which speaks dominance and their way of talking, which does not signify that they were just simple people,

"Did you see their faces" he tried to get any hint which could lead us anywhere, but it was a lost case.

"No, they had their faces covered,"

I felt a shudder pass through as me I remembered the coldness in the guy's voice as he ordered to leave Crystal alone on the streets,

"Penny for your thoughts?"

I jumped on my place as I heard an unknown husky and imposing voice beside me. I placed a hand at my heart to quiet it down as it began thumping quicker. I looked at my right to see a lean guy standing with his hands tucked inside his jeans pockets. He looked down at me, and I assessed his featured. He had similar features to that of the girl inside, he too had blue eyes, yet they didn't have that grayish blend in them. They were striking blue. His messy dark brown hair slightly fell above his eyes, with slight stubble on his jewel trim face. He was wearing a black-led zeppelin T-shirt with black jeans, which should make him look like a boy, but his aura told otherwise. His entire presence addressed power.

I didn't realize that I was staring at him for a long time until he snapped his fingers in front of my face. I blinked my eye at the sudden movement and looked back at him.

He forwarded his hand out. "Hello, I am Sam Smith. You must be Tessa?"

I took his hand, instead of shaking it, he pulled me up catching me off guard, I could have almost lost my balance if it wasn't for him to hold a steady grip my hand. I steadied myself with the help of him and looked at him confusingly,

"Now when you're are completely in your senses, tell me what happened when you found my sister, sequence by sequence,"

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