CHAPTER 159: DIFFERENT FROM THEM

Sure, it wasn’t someone related to her who had died, but Harper couldn’t help the emotions that surged through her mind. At first, it was really true that that lady had a sick sister, and now she was dead.

There happened to be a connection to the whole case... Harper, for a short moment, figured that perhaps this lady could be doing this just to save her sister.

All she had done. The assassination attempt... The robbery?

Only a few considerations had convinced Harper that that could be the case.

"Uhm, we’ll let her know," Harper said and turned to walk away.

Then she stopped.

"Also, I’m sorry you lost a patient," Harper added with a sympathetic smile and then stepped out of the office.

"What do we tell her, ma’am?" one of the men who followed her into the office asked.

"Who?" Harper asked.

"The lady in the infirmary," he responded.

"What’s there to tell her other than just telling her that her sister is dead?" Harper spoke, her eyes vibrant.

The man hesitated for a moment, thinking deeply about it before he responded.

"I... I think it would be a bad idea to tell her right away, if you don’t want her to be hard on herself," he began. "The boss needs some information from her, and if she gets to hear this, she would have a much worse time for a long while."

Somehow, Harper figured that what he said made a lot of sense.

At this point, Rhea was only needed to give them information about Sofia, and then they would decide what to do with her afterwards.

Indeed, it would be a bad idea to tell her that her sister, who she had probably been risking her life for, was dead.

"That’s smart. We will tell her that all is well, until we get what we want from her," Harper said before they took off.

******

"The doctor said she wouldn’t make it if I don’t bring the money for the transplant in five days. It’s been twelve days since I’m here, which makes it thirteen days since I left the hospital. My sister must have died!" Rhea cried, seemingly hopeless as she lay on the bed.

The doctor couldn’t say a word as he stayed at the side, the armed men guarding her on the other side, close to the room door.

All Rhea’s complaints were heard, for sure, but they all wouldn’t dare to respond, or even try to consider letting her out.

It didn’t take long before Harper was back again.

Entering the room, she made sure to put on a calm and bright expression, just to give Rhea some good impression.

"My... My sister. Is she okay?" Rhea quickly asked in a rush, trying to sit up.

Harper hesitated and looked at the man who had just followed her in.

She nodded. "Brea is fine. We had them do the transplant immediately. Got the bills covered up, since you failed to. She’ll be okay, alright?"

Rhea’s face brightened at once the moment she heard that, closing her eyes as she sobbed more.

"Oh, God. Thank you," she smiled at Harper, who only nodded and switched the topic.

"The only way you can make us not kill you for what you have done is to tell us where The Boss is, and what she’s planning," Harper said, her face suddenly turning stern.

Rhea flinched, confused for a moment but then decided to stay calm.

"I... I know nothing about The Boss," she replied, her voice breaking.

"That’s a lie, Rhea," Harper cut in.

"I’m not lying. Razer is the one who gets fed with her plans, and then he had us do it. We don’t even see The Boss often, and precisely, I’m not one of them," Rhea said.

"You became one of them the moment you picked up a gun and joined them to attack and kill my friends. You became part of them when you joined them to rob a bank and killed thirty-six people," Harper stated.

"Yes. You are one of them."

Rhea shook her head and wanted to speak but suddenly lost the urge.

At that point, she didn’t even know what to say to that, because no matter how she tried to tell herself that she wasn’t one of them, indeed, she was feeling like she was one of them.

"You did it for your dying sister, I get that. And that’s why I am not going to make it hard on you. You get me?" Harper asked.

Rhea nodded nervously, breathing roughly.

"Good. Now answer the question... Try to tell us what you know," she asked.

Rhea had to heave a sigh of relief, letting out the fear and finally spoke up.

"She was going to kill you all one by one when you are out for any appointments. Someone in here is working with her, I guess..."

"Yeah, captured. Continue," Harper cut in.

Rhea was amazed that they already caught the guy serving Sofia the information. Now she understood why they didn’t have a mission for days.

"Well, her men are all dead. You made sure of that, so... I don’t think she would be able to do anything anymore, unless she hires another gang," Rhea said.

Harper nodded after striking a long look at her for a while.

"So, you mean the whole gang is dead?" she asked.

Rhea nodded. "Yeah."

"Oops, I thought the ones I killed were just the ones that loved to rob banks," Harper smiled.

"I brought the idea..."

At that point, Harper flinched.

"What?" she asked.

"I brought the idea to rob the bank... The Boss wouldn’t pay since we didn’t kill your friends the other day, and my sister... She would die if I didn’t get the money. I had to bring up another plan, and they were the only ones who could help," Rhea explained.

That explanation hit Harper hard in the chest that she couldn’t help but curse.

"Oh, damn. So, you indirectly killed these innocent people," Harper said. "You let some murderers join you to commit a crime on top of another crime. That’s worth a lot, Rhea."

Rhea nodded as tears dropped down her eyes. "I know," she said, sobbing.

"At this point maybe you deserve to rot in jail. Maybe you deserve even a greater punishment. Well, but I have other plans," Harper said.

Rhea raised her head to look at her.

"Oh, yeah. You are going to help me find Sofia, The Boss..." Harper added.

"No no no! I don’t want to do this anymore. Please, I don’t want to," Rhea pleaded.

"You aren’t doing nothing anymore. This... This is just a simple one, Rhea, and you aren’t going to be alone..."

"You have got company."

******

Harper went to Jayden immediately after she was done talking to Rhea.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"Bad..." Harper said as she approached.

"Her sister is dead," she added.

"I expected as much. The doctor gave three days or five... She was away for thirteen days. That’s a wide distance," Jayden nodded.

"True," Harper said and kissed him on the lips before sitting next to him.

"Haven’t told her yet. I lied to her, so she would tell us what she knows about Sofia, like you ordered. I did it the easiest way," Harper said.

Jayden swiftly nodded with an amazed smile. "Yeah, you did. But what did she say?" he then asked.

"She said we ambushed the whole gang, that some already died in the last attack on them when they attacked Cammy and Becky," Harper said.

"Do you trust her?" Jayden asked.

"Nope. That’s why I am having her help me find Sofia. She must know something, somehow, since she was part of the gang. She wasn’t completely part of them precisely."

"So, I think she must have one leg off the plans they make. She is only there for the money," Harper said.

"And so are the rest of the gang members," Jayden said as he gave her a straight look.

Harper understood his difficulty in believing, but she knew she could get this job done.

"I think there’s still a big difference between her and them," she smiled, kissed him one more time before walking away.

"It might be too dangerous for you, Harper," Jayden called as she walked.

"No, I can handle this," Harper said casually and continued walking.

Jayden didn’t want to force her not to... In fact, she was even better at such a job than he was.

He knew that she would always try to get things done, but he was still worried about her. However, that wasn’t stopping him from letting her go.

His best calming factor was the fact that she would be doing this with some men, who would try to protect her and do their jobs at the best heights.

Maybe that was almost relieving enough.

...

"Sudden bomb blast in Northern Fenille, Nortasia today. Eighty-seven killed, two hundred and twenty-eight injured. Sixty houses destroyed."

Jayden suddenly saw the news pop up on the TV, making him flinch at once.

Staring at the image on the screen, only one thought flashed in.

"The Icelandians."