Chapter 23

[Third Person POV]

"Thank you officer, but I swear; we're fine. Could we just go to sleep please?" James asked the man keeping an eye on them.

"Sorry sir, but I can't let you do that. We still have questions that need answers and we can't ask them if you're sleeping," the police man replied. All he seemed to be doing was texting someone. It was really starting to piss James off.

"Then ask us your goddamn questions and let me go to sleep!" his voice slowly rose, almost shouting at the man before him.

"James," Jordan put a hand on his arm as if to calm him down. "Come on. Not now. You're gonna wake up Ze."

James took a deep breath before continuing to pace around the main room at the bottom of the stairs. He could look to the top and still see it. The shadow of the wild, blonde, mercenary, and the body of his victim.

"So Mr. Wilson. You're saying Mr. O'Doherty is a mercenary?" the man asked James for the third time.

"Yes," James said, straining his voice. "Again, Seamus was a mercenary sent to kill us. I have no clue why, but that's what he told us."

"The mercenary told you he was a mercenary?" the officer looked up from his clipboard, questioning the sanity of this man.

"Yes. Before he jumped out the window," James was losing his patience.

"And you believe that the dead man was a hit man-?"

"Yes he was a fucking hit man! Why do I have to keep telling you the same things over and over and over again!" James interrupted the policeman.

"James calm down. Sorry sir. He's just in shock," Jordan apologized for James.

Another police officer walked in the wide open front doors. "We've identified the deceased man as Aleksandr Marchant. Did this man have any former connection to you?

James replied without hesitation, "Absolutely nothing. Never heard that name before."

Jordan's response wasn't so sure, "I've heard that name before. I can't remember where, but I've sure I've heard of it."

Dan walked in, an obvious scowl still on his face. "I just don't understand why. I don't get it," he muttered to himself, rubbing his beard.

"Well boys. I think we'll call in a night here, but we'll be back for more interviews tomorrow, okay? And about the mercenary, we'll keep tabs on the area," the officer gave reassuring pats on each of their shoulders before walking out the door with his other cohorts.

"Well I'm off to bed-"

"No, you're not," Dan grabbed James' sleeve before he could walk out. "Boss has to explain some stuff to us,"

Jordan hung his head and rubbed his hands together, nervous about what was gonna have to happen, and the night's previous events. "I don't want to talk about it until I'm with Ze," he mumbled.

"Fair enough." Dan nodded his head.

"Okay. Then I'm going to bed-"

"Wait a second James! A man was murdered in this house by our so-called 'friend' not even two hours ago, and you just want to sleep it off?" Dan interrupted James again.

James sighed, "Yes Daniel. I just want to fucking sleep. It is 4:30 in the fucking morning and you can't tell me what to fucking do."

"But Seamus left his bag. Surely you wanna stick around a little longer to see what kind of things he has inside it," he raised his eyebrows at the taller man. Dan knew James' curiosity would get him to stay.

James sighed. He had always wondered what Seamus had kept on his laptop after he had snapped at him that one time. "Fine. Just get the fucking bag," he grumbled, rubbing his face.

"I have it right here," Jordan lifted the heavy bag off of his lap. "I told them that it was mine so they wouldn't take it. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t have gotten to see for ourselves."

"Thanks Jordan," Dan took the bag from him, and sat on the couch; unzipping it to remove the contents one by one.

"A shirt, pants, a gun....." he trailed off, holding the new possession up to observe.

"Holy shit," James marveled at the sight. "Dan, could you put it down? It just makes me feel weird, you holding it like that."

Dan slowly placed it down on the opposite arm of the sofa away from each of their grasp. He reached in again, and pulled out another one.

"This guy was prepared," Jordan adjusted his hat, leaning back in disbelief.

Dan set it beside the other. Taking one last look inside, he pulled out Seamus' beloved laptop. He held the computer in his lap, only interested in what secrets he could be hiding in his files. There wasn't a password. James sat beside him, curiously leaning over his shoulder.

His desktop had the generic Windows background, and folders lined the screen. Things like sponsors and victims, labeled each; some with dates, some with names.

There were several folders and txt files minimized in the sidebar. Dan clicked open the txt.

Target - Creatures

Their eyes scanned over the page, reading over all the possible ways Seamus was initially plotting to kill them.

"My god. This is the stupid freelance work he was doing," James sighed.

"Dan keep looking through the other stuff," Jordan had leaned in closer.

Dan opened the folder on the sidebar, two other files were inside it. Jordan Matthewson and Steven Universal.

"Do I want to open them?" Dan asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. Mine first," Jordan ordered.

The document was a bio of Jordan, complete with pictures of his graduation, him and his girlfriend, and modern day.

Quickly skimming through the story of Jordan's life, they began to read some of the more modern info about him.

"Jordan was born in Montana.... pyromaniac.... blah de blah... hmmm. This is taken straight from the Creature Wiki!" James laughed.

Dan opened Ze's files. Pictures of a young Steven scattered the page.

"I haven't even seen these pictures before," Dan awed as he scrolled through the pictures. "That is definitely Ze though."

Ze's bio was just like Jordans, complete with his young achievements and his modern accomplishments.

"Wow. This is kind of scary. I don't think he researched us. Do you think Dan?" James asked, the worry evident in his voice.

"Hope not. I'm gonna just go to bed before I find something I don't wanna see," Dan handed the computer over to James.

"I'll go too," Jordan rolled away from the couch.

"Well I'm not tired anymore. I'm gonna keep looking through this if you don't mind," James sat in Dan's spot as they left the room.

"Well Seamus. Let's see what other kinds of shit you're hiding," he mumbled to himself.