Chapter 23: Two can play

(Mr. Hansel's Interview)

Mr. Hansel received a call from his scientist during his interview with some of the reporters who were asking why the fish businesses were going down.

He excused himself to take the call

"What is it this time? i am in the middle of an interview" Mr. Hansel said

"Something bad happened" 

"What happened?" Mr. Hansel asked him

"We lost the mermaid" 

"What!" Mr. Hansel shouted causing everyone to stare at him, he faked a smile at them to continue his call "What the hell do you mean by you lost the mermaid?" he asked 

"We got caught up in her trick, some of the scientist are badly injured from her attack" the caller said again

"I don't care about what happened, I want you to find her; she can't go anywhere looking like a mermaid" Mr. Hansel told him "What about the CCTV?" he asked again

"Everything happened so quick, I think she was smart enough to monitor to attack from a dark side of the room" the caller answered 

"You all are useless, i made it clear that she could outsmart any of you and no one should fall for her trick, you could have called me first; i run that place" Mr. Hansel angrily said

"your break is almost over Mayor" his assistant informed him

"Wait a minute Idris" He said to his manager before continuing his call

"She haven't gone far, make sure you find her before night" Mr. Hansel ordered before he ended the call

"Is there any problem Mayor?" Idris asked

"The girl is gone?" he told him

"The sea creature?" Idris asked 

"Yes, i need you to be in charge of this search. If it gets difficult; call in the secret search organization again" He told him

"Yes sir" Idris responded.

He left the room leaving Mr. Hansel with the bodyguards to continue the interview.

***

Lava sat down at the gaming center looking lost in his own thoughts and not minding his friends who had forced him to the center so that he could pay for their game.

He flashes back to his conversation with Oma in the morning...

" What do you mean by that? There is no business between my father and Erica" Lava said seeming confused

" Exactly, that's what anyone would think ; I added every pieces together and it made sense" Oma told him

" Why would my father go after Erica?" Lava asked

" Because she is a freaking mermaid, you can find me crazy because I am already going crazy over here" Oma told him

" Come on, am serious here" Lava said looking almost pissed at Oma

" Does it look like I am joking? I told you earlier that you might think that i am crazy; I can't even believe it myself" Oma said placing her hand on her face in disbelief

" What? That doesn't make any sense" Lava said still finding it hard to believe

" The truth is that Erica was never my sister, I had never knew Erica until the day she showed up at my door asking for shelter" Oma said again

" Wait... what?" Lava let out the words out of his mouth without hesitation

" At first, I wanted to turn her in but..." Oma paused immediately as she suddenly felt so emotional " but I started feeling too comfortable around her; I didn't want her to leave anymore, I couldn't tell anyone a shit about her even when you were already feeling too comfortable around her too" Oma said gently

" Unbelievable, for real? you are not joking nor making this story up to mess with my head?" Lava asked getting up from his seat

" That night at the party, I followed Erica outside because she had been acting strange during her dance with you at the party; I had been watching her so I know when she isn't herself, at some point I lost track of her and when next I found her; your father's men were ganged up on her, they were hitting her and just before my eye... She transformed to something I see in movies" Oma said almost bursting to tears

Lava stood there looking dumbfounded without saying a word.

" This was her necklace, she never took them off before. It made more sense that this was her talisman to stay human" Oma said to him again as she exposed the necklace on her neck which have been covered by her own clothing

" Why would my father need a mermaid" Lava asked still in shock

" Lab rat, it never gets old; everyone is trying to discover something right?" Oma asked

" If this is all true, then Erica needs the necklace more than anything; you know that too" He told her.

Lava was called back to reality by one of his friends who had noticed he had been absent minded lost in his own thoughts

" Dude, what are you thinking?" He asked

" It's almost time for me to leave, remember I am the mayor's son; I can't spend much time outside, my time with you is limited" he told them.

***

" Hey you, are you new here?" a masculine voice interrupted Olga from going any further

Olga paused for few seconds before turning towards him "Yes, I am just looking for the one in charge; I have something important to say" Olga responded faking a smile

" You will have to get Mr. Hansel through his assistant here but it will take long to deliver whatever message you have" the man said to her

" Mr. Han... Hansel?" She asked curiously

" Yes, don't you know the mayor owns this facility?" He asked

" I am new here remember?" She asked

" Am guessing you are on probation, you will get along anyway. Inside this facility; we foresee everything about the fishes before they are distributed into markets and so on. We have a lot of departments here, which department are you?" He asked her

" Fish..."

" Fish department? do we have any department like that here?" he wondered "...or you are a fish distributor, now I get why you don't know much; keep fighting" the man said with a grin before leaving

" He must be looking down on me? He will wish he never met me" Olga said to herself " Mr. Hansel, this is going to be fun" she said again with a smirk.

Right at where Mr. Hansel was rounding up his interview, Mr. Charles walked in followed by Vashi and two of his men.