Hey Grandma, we will be in Springfield, Illinois in three days. Father wants us to spend some time with you”
Sent. Just then, his phone rang. Caller ID – Dean.
“Hey,” Tom said as picked up.
“Tom I knew this was going to get someone killed…” Dean yelled in a state of dysphoria.
“Don Olivetti thinks there is a rat among the guards. He has ordered a background check from a private detective,” Dean said in a state of panic.
“Relax Dean,” Tom replied.
“We are leaving for Illinois in three days. It’s the perfect escape. In the meantime, we have a party to plan for…” Tom added.
“Party for what?” Dean asked in a frustrated tone.
“Just a going away party. Arrange security…” Tom said as he hung up.
6
Tom wokeup. He glanced at his alarm clock. It was barely 5am. Don Olivetti’s discovery made it difficult to sleep. He thought about all the possible things his foolish request might do to innocent guards. His Uncle was very unforgiving to disloyal men.
He stood up from his bed slowly. His whole body ached, his head felt like lead. He walked into his bathroom, turned on the sink tap then splashed some water on his face. Anxiety over clouded his mind as he struggled to think of other solutions. Suddenly, something popped up. He walked briskly to his room to grab his cellphone. He dialed Dean’s number.
“Hey Dean,” Tom said.
“Yes boss,” Dean replied in a frustrated tone.
“I need you to drop me off at the office in ten minutes,” Tom replied without waiting for a response then hung up. He had his occasional guilt-trip moments for the way he treated the guards assigned to him, but this was not one of those moments.
He took a shower in less than five minutes. He paced around his room while drying his body. The sun struggled to rise as light began to emerge around the vicinity.
On one end of his room was his video game lounge, which had two grey sofas, home theatre equipment and game consoles. On the right side of his room, was a study corner with a shelf full of books he barely read. He had few posters on his blue wall. On the left side was his king sized bed which was almost never neat.
He briskly walked to his large closet, picked random clothes, put on a random pair of shoes then took a glance at the mirror as he brushed his hands through his hair. He grabbed his bag then quietly made his way to the front of the house.
He took one look around, he could see some guards patrolling and some sleeping. “They don’t have to walk around all night. That’s why there are cameras everywhere. Oh well,”
Dean was already seated in the car ready for Tom’s arrival. Tom jumped into the car without delay. They drove off.
“May I ask you a question?” Dean asked Tom.
“Yes…” Tom replied.
“Please tell me why I had to wake up this early in the morning,” Dean said.
“I want to see if I find something at the office,”
“And what’s that ‘something’ that couldn’t wait till a normal time?”
“Don’t know yet,”
“Sounds like you are up to something again,”
“Truthfully, I just wanted to be out of the house – it’s choking me – Uh and please tell Jack to retreat,” Tom replied.
“Okay boss,” Dean replied trying to keep an even temper.
They arrived at the office building. Tom got out of the car. Dean drove away to park the vehicle. Tom stood in front of the large office building, looked around, and then made his way into the building. The security man in the lobby was half awake and half asleep. Tom briskly made his way to the elevator – the housekeepers had already arrived. He could see different cleaning supplies on his father’s office floor. Tom made his way into his father’s office.
“Morning!” Tom greeted the housekeeper who passed by. She smiled.
“You’re here early…” She said, expecting a quick explanation.
“Uh yes! Have a project to finish and my father suggested I use his computers,” Tom lied
“Okay. Good luck on your project then,” She replied as she continued mopping the floors.
Tom opened the door with his spare key. Just then, Dean arrived inside the office.
“Jack is on his way,” Dean said sharply.
“Okay thanks,” Tom said as he glanced around the room.
“What are you looking for?” Dean asked.
“The key card to the records room,” Tom replied.
“I have one here,” Dean said as he brought out a key card from his Jacket.
“How did you get this?” Tom asked surprised.
“I work for your father. Remember?”
“Yeah. That’s cool. That means he trusts you and that means you’re the last person Don Olivetti will suspect as an FBI agent,” Tom replied in a low voice.
“No! That means nothing to the Don. Your father trusts me, he doesn’t,” Dean replied.
“Okay never mind!” Tom said as he swiped the card on the door to the records room. He looked around. It was the only room he had never been into before. The room was too large for a record room and the files only occupied a little part of the room. The walls were soundproof and looked more like a secret chamber of some sorts.
Tom went digging through the files, ignoring the table full of torture tools on his far right. “And what are you looking for in particular?” Dean asked.
“Recent files,” Tom replied.
“Let me help you out,” Dean said, checking through the files. After seconds, he brought out a file then handed it over to Tom. “This is it,” he said with a straight face. “This is what?”
Tom opened the file. On it, “Sanchez contract” was written. Tom opened it then read through it – nothing meaningful was on it. It had a bunch of scribbles and dates. The most alarming date, September 11, 2001.
“What did you find?” Dean asked curiously.
“Nothing,” Tom replied as he walked out of the room. He grabbed his bag and dashed out of the office.
Jack arrived as they were walking out. He hurried out of the car with his black tie out of place.
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked panting.
“Nothing! Why are you panting?” Tom asked, startled.
“I thought you said it was an emergency,” Jack said after glancing at Dean in a distasteful manner. Apparently, the both of them had been playing pranks on each other.
“Well it seemed like one,” Dean laughed. Jack mumbled a couple of curse words as he adjusted his tie.
“Okay we know nothing is wrong. Can you give me Nina’s number?” Tom asked, amused.
“Okay boss,” Jack said. He handed his phone to Tom.
“Uhm, Am I missing something here? Who is Nina?” Dean asked.
Tom smiled. He excused himself. He dialed Nina’s number as he walked further away from his bodyguards. There was a man in a Waste Management Uniform. He was odd. He looked too clean for his job. He had a gold necklace and a ring on his right finger with a skull on it. The man stared straight at him.
“Hello,” the voice on the phone said. It was Nina! The last thing he had heard her say was, “I’m sorry”. Tom tried not to stammer. As good as he was with girls, she seemed to give him a rather odd feeling.
“Hello,” the voice said again impatiently.
“Yeah. Is this Nina?”
“Yeah it is.”
“It’s Tom – Thomas Olivetti,”
“Yeah I know,” she said promptly. He was in a state of shock. How?
“I…I’m sorry did I wake you?” Tom asked.
“Yes, obviously. Its 6:30 in the morning,” she replied.
“Dang,” he cussed in his thoughts. He forgot about the time.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“It’s okay. I need to start waking up early anyways,” she said in a subtle voice, leaving a pint of calmness within Tom.
“So how you doing?” Tom asked nervously.
&
nbsp; “I’m good. Just tired of school already,” she replied. The awkwardness was still prevalent.
“Yeah I know that feeling,” he replied. “I don’t even want to know how you got my number,” she said with a humorous tone. “Uhm…”
“But it’s okay. It’s nice to see a guy go through so much trouble just to get my number,” she replied.
“You sound like you know me,” Tom replied, more confident than he was seconds ago.
“Yes I do, unfortunately. The guy I bumped into last week was too timid to say hi to me in class. He then hires his bodyguard to watch me. It’s a little bit weird; then again, it’s flattering coming from someone like you. You have my number and you’re still shy,” she replied.
“Someone like me…” Tom said as he strolled around the empty parking lot. The weather was slightly chill. Just enough, to dry up the beads of sweat emerging on his forehead. He was extremely nervous.
Just then, he had a brief flashback of the assassination attempt. He could see the man in the skull ring wearing the waste management uniform. His memories began to merge. It was him. He was there. He was at the location where his father was nearly killed. He could remember the necklace and his skull ring. His heart rate increased. Anger and fear rose within his chest.
“Sorry, I’ll call you back later. Something just came up,” Tom hung up without waiting for a response.
“YOU BASTARD!” Tom yelled as he ran towards the man! With a surge of sudden burst energy, he grabbed the man by the neck. “Piece of shit,” he said as he pushed the man towards the car. Pedestrians watched the scenario like cats on a windowpane.
“I know you!” Tom said, glaring into the man’s eyes. “You were there that night”, Tom added. The man grinned, “Yes I was. What are you going to do about it? Kill me in front of all these people? The police will be here in seconds,” the man replied in a sadistic and humorous tone.
“Who sent you!?” Tom yelled as he slammed him on the car again. The man was powerless. Tom had his hands directly on his throat.
“Relax boy. If I wanted you dead you would have been dead already,”
“I haven’t been ordered to kill you yet. I still have some unfinished business,” the man said then smiled.
“You think it’s a coincidence that I let you find me. It’s all part of the plan,” the man added. Tom couldn’t believe his ears – he was utterly disgusted.
“HELP! HELP! SAVE ME FROM THIS CRAZY BOY! HE’S INSANE!” the man yelled.
The early boomers around looked terrified. Dean and Jack were alarmed. Their eyes searched for the direction of the noise. They ran towards Tom, hands on their guns, ready to shoot. Dean held Tom away while Jack held the man.
“He tried to kill my father!” Tom yelled over and over again in anger.
“What are you saying Tom?” Jack asked.
“He’s insane,” the man yelled, still laughing.
The crowd watching was beginning to pile up. Tom looked around – people were watching – gazing at him in terror. He tried to calm down, but his chest was still burning in anger.
“Let him go,” Tom said to Jack. The man smiled, picked up his fake equipment then ran towards the alley.
“What’s going on Tom?” Dean asked in a state of confusion.
“Nothing,” Tom replied, shrugging off from Dean’s grip. Bystanders watching got bored. They walked away.
“I swear! If you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’ll have to report everything you’ve done so far to the boss,” Dean yelled.
“He was there that night and I’m sure!” Tom said to Dean and Jack.
“And so you decide to confront an assassin on your own? That makes no sense!” Jack yelled.
“You’re lucky he wasn’t here to kill you. We’d be dead for not keeping an eye on you!” Dean added.
There was a long silence. Tom breathed heavily. “He told me he was there,” Tom said to them.
“What?” Jack asked.
“He said he was there that night! And he would have killed me if he could, but hasn’t been ordered to kill me yet,” Tom replied.
“Fuck! And we let him go!?” Dean said. Tom didn’t say anything. He walked back to the car. “Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered,” Jack said.
“You’ve got some guts attacking a man like that. I underestimated you,” Dean said.
“Let’s go get breakfast. I’m hungry,” Jack added in an attempt to change the topic. Dean glanced at Tom.
“Don’t worry. Someone like that is bound to pop up again. We’ll get him.”
7
The school bell rang. Students walked briskly to their respective classrooms. Five minutes later, all hallways were deserted.
Tom arrived to class. He was twenty minutes late. Dean escorted him to the front of the classroom. Tom dragged the door open and walked to his seat, ignoring the angry snares. Miss Carter, his teacher, acted like she didn’t notice him.
“I wonder why he never gets punished for being late,” a student whispered to another student.
Tom and the teacher heard, but pretended not to. Tom noticed Nina from his seat. He had abruptly hung up on her earlier that day. He knew he had a lot of explaining to do. He was absent minded. The teacher’s voice slowly faded away as he fantasized about killing the man he saw at the parking lot. His fantasy played in his head like a broken DVD. He knew what to do. He had to let things calm down before he could strike. There were too many witnesses.
Whatever he needed to do, couldn’t be done single handedly – he would need the help of Jack, Dean and some other guards. He wasn’t afraid of being apprehended by the police. Though, the thought of his father finding out terrified him more. He knew it would greatly disappoint his old man. He remembered the Sanchez contract he had found at the office. The dates – the incoherent scribbles. None of it made sense.
He was internally mad. The frequent glances at Nina reminded him of purity – it reminded him to be sane.
Tom glanced across the school parking lot where Dean and Jack were. He walked towards them. They were chronic chain smokers –the only thing they could do to keep themselves from being bored. Tom approached the car. Dean walked out. He dropped his cigarette on the ground. He was wearing jeans, a black Henley tee and a black leather Jacket. His black hair was combed backwards, neatly, leaving a dark streak of shine.
“Hey!” Tom said.
“Hey!” Dean replied as he stamped the burnt out cigarette he threw on the ground earlier.
“I need more information about the man in the parking lot,” Tom said without an ounce of emotion.
“I knew you’d soon say that. I took a picture of his face on my phone so it will be easier to find him,” Dean replied.
“Good! I need you to find him and…” Tom paused. The order he was about to give was irrefutable.
“Kill him,” Tom added.
Dean didn’t look surprised. Jack got up, startled by Tom’s brash order.
“Kill him?” Jack asked, trying to hide his shock.
“Yes and I need it done before I leave for Illinois,” Tom said as he walked back into the school building.
Dean and Jack paused. They waited till Tom entered the building. “I don’t know man. This is the one order Tom is ordering that I can’t do. I signed up to protect him, not murder someone,” Jack said– he couldn’t hide his timidity from Dean.
“What do you mean? We work for him! We have to do as he says. We have to protect him,” Dean replied in an excited and almost sadistic tone.
“Yes! I know! We were employed to protect him. When did we become his personal collection of assassins?” Jack replied.
“Well, if that’s the case, we will have to tell his father. He won’t be too happy with us. I guarantee that. We will be in trouble for letting the man go. Imagine the trouble we will face if Don Olivetti hears about our incompetence,” Dean said in a lawyers voice, trying to convince Jack.
“Nothing will happen. We didn’t know who he was. To
m had a random altercation with a man in the parking lot. It’s as simple as that. We will tell Don Olivetti and he will understand why we didn’t murder or capture a man in front of everyone,” Jack replied.
“Think about it – Don Olivetti finds out this man tried to kill his brother, his entire family and is out to kill his nephew, Tom. What do you think he will do to the man? What do you think he will do to us for letting him go? We’re disposable. We shouldn’t give the family a reason to dispose us,” Dean said. Jack paused. He paced around the car nervously. His mind was fogged. Everything felt out of place.
He sighed, “Okay we will do it.”
“Yes! This will secure multiple favors with the Olivettis. Who knows, we might not have to babysit Tom anymore. We could become Made Men,” Dean replied.
“If things go sour, we could pay with our lives,” Jack replied. “It won’t,” Dean said abruptly.
Jack slammed his fist on the car. He had taken an oath to protect the Olivettis. He couldn’t break that oath based on what he felt was right or wrong.
“Let’s get this over with,” Jack said.
“Good! We’ll start the hunt tonight!” Dean said with a thick grin on his face.
Lunchtime. The school cafeteria was full. Students sat together according to their social standing; the jocks had their table, the cheerleaders sat together, the geeks sat together, members of the drama club sat at the corner reciting lines, the metal heads nodded their heads rapidly to heavy metal. Tom looked around the cafeteria for Nina. He scanned through the piles of faces that stared at him as he walked passed them.
Finally, he spotted her. She was seated with a group of friends. He walked towards her table. His heart pounded rapidly. Not in fear, but in awe. She was beautiful. The strands on her black hair were even with a lustrous shine. Her skin tone blossomed like warm caramel. Her eyes were bold with neatly arranged eyebrows and eyelashes. Her lips were pink and plump with a perfect stride of lip-gloss.
He arrived at her table, thinking of twenty possible explanations he could give for hanging up on her abruptly. He couldn’t see anyone else besides her. Her beauty made her other friends redundant.
Olivetti: Inception Page 5
