503 A Lesson to Learn

More than an hour later, three men entered the black van that was parked under a tree. Gus, Noah, and Felix exchanged baffled looks at how surprisingly easy it was for them to finish their task. Even Styles and Amelia who were listening the entire time felt like an angel was watching over them, making sure that this whole operation was successful.

Their eyes landed on the bag of cash in front of them, feeling odd at the turn of events that night. 

"Alright, nice work team. See you back here," Styles said over the comms.

And soon, the black van sped off into the night and headed to where they had kept Chris in Esmea. As of tonight, Gus, aka Agent Gazelle, had already been eliminated.

…

Back at Senator Jones's home

The guard who helped Senator Jones earlier told her that other guards were knocked out, so he hurriedly went to her bedroom to check in on her. He had also told her that her daughter was out cold too, but was safe and sleeping in her bedroom. 

Smith, the guard, agreed to her request, and he told her to stay in the bathroom while he took care of it—that it was best if she didn't watch. And so she did. She took a bath just like usual and cried while she did—all without her knowing what was happening in the bedroom while Smith 'took care' of it.

When Smith knocked on the bathroom door and told her that everything was taken care of and that he had to leave to take care of business, she waited until she heard the door closing and a few more minutes later before she had the guts to leave the bathroom. Her bedroom was now empty with a few things knocked over, but nothing was broken—even the blood on the floor was already wiped clean.

She hurriedly went to check on her daughter who was still asleep in the bedroom down the hall.

Still shaken up by what happened to her, there were so many things running through her head. She could have died that night and would have probably ended up on the headlines with her suicide note. She shivered at the thought, clenching her hands together as the events from earlier replayed in her mind—the image of her assailant who dropped dead in her bedroom made her gag.

Senator Jones scurried back to her bathroom and puked into the toilet bowl. She slumped on the floor after flushing and closed her eyes as she leaned against the wall. 

Just then, her phone rang. She gargled and wiped her mouth before she went back to her bedroom, then rummaged through her handbag in search of her phone only to find out that it wasn't her phone that was ringing. Her brows knitted in confusion, wondering where the sound was coming from.

However, now that she was seeing the unfamiliar phone, she became anxious again. Senator Jones picked up the phone just as the call ended. Checking the call registry, she saw a familiar number and her blood boiled. Without thinking much, she pressed the call button and on the first ring, a man answered.

"Is it done?" he asked.

"You really think you can kill me, Green?" Senator Jones bit out under gritted teeth. She was so mad. She already knew that it was Parker, but actually finding out the truth, pissed her off. 

The other line was quiet. It was as if Parker didn't expect that one of his agents failed the mission.

"The Company will know about this!" she added, her voice was cold and threatening.

"What did you do to my agent, Jones?" Parker questioned, ignoring what she just told him.

"Is that important? He's gone, Green. One of your soldiers died tonight with a bullet through his chest. You already lost Christopher and now you lost another one. Do you plan to finish all of your agents like you plan to kill all of us?!"

There was a beat of silence before Parker answered, "You must have forgotten who you're talking to, Jennifer. My agents are dispensable. I can send more your way as long as I tell them to."

She quivered at the thought of more men coming to finish her. 

Parker did not wait for her to respond, so he added, "You tell The Company and I will release all of your underhanded dealings for the whole world to see. You know very well that I am capable of that, don't you, Jennifer? You were lucky tonight. It's best if you treat this as a lesson."

The line went dead. And so did her heart.

Senator Jones dropped to the floor sobbing despite no tears coming out of her eyes. She didn't know what to do. Another ring sounded and this time, it was her phone on the dresser. 

She walked towards it and caught sight of the pen and paper next to her bag—the 'suicide' letter that she wrote earlier as per the assailant's instruction mocked her.

She picked up her phone and George Watts—the one she spoke on the phone in the afternoon—was calling her. They were supposed to meet with the other members of The Company that night to discuss her concerns about Parker. But because of what happened, she surely wouldn't be able to leave her house as she was still pretty much agitated. Her stare landed on the letter again and she briefly closed her eyes to brush the ill thoughts away before she picked up the call.

"Jones, where are you? You were supposed to be here—"

"I'm sorry, George, my migraine is acting up. I can't get out of bed. I'm afraid I won't be able to go there tonight."

"What about the meeting? Everyone is here waiting for you."

"Let's just cancel the meeting." She swallowed and took a deep breath before she added, "I'm sure Parker will pull through with it. He still has 24 hours."

"Are you sure?"

"Mm. I need to take my medicine. I'll call you when I can tomorrow." Senator Jones ended the phone call and sunk into her bed, her head swimming with thoughts of how she could outsmart Parker.