Chapter 4: Hide and Seek

As Adira sat there being stared down by what could be her worst nightmare, she realized she couldn't get caught. By getting her senses together, she gathered the courage to run off. But as expected, the man ran after her. 

"Wait!" he yelled.

But it was too late. Adira ran at full speed and hid in the janitors closet. She saw the shadow of his feet from the crack. Fear dwelled up inside as she waited for him to open the door. But luckily, he walked back in the direction they came from. Relief fell over her and let out a quiet sigh. She wasn't sure of how long she waited, but she waited till she thought the coast was clear.

When she got to her room, she immediately got dressed with her body shaking uncontrolably. The thought of being caught by such a powerful is spine tingling. Taking deep breaths, slowly she calmed herself down.

I still had my disguise on so he shouldn't know who I am, Adira thought. A knock came from the door. Her heart skipped a beat as she stood there with wild thoughts rampaging through her mind. Staring at the door, paralized with fear, and just waiting for the moment a big tough man breaking down her door. But with a sweet voice that yelled, "Open up, Adira!", Adira let out a big sigh and her relief overflowed her body. 

She opened the door to have a grumpy girl in her face. "What took you so long?" Her friend yelled. Adira, knowing that she had to make up a story in such a short ammount of time, could only say, "I was sleeping." She scratched her head and tried her best to smile to make her little white lie look true.

Her friend squinted her eyes and took a moment before saying, "God, Adira! Don't sleep in your cloths! At least put on her pajamas!" They laughed together and went bak to a calm state of mind.

"So what are you here for?" Adira said as she sat down on a chair.

 "I suddenly woke up and can't fall back asleep," Quincy yawned then continued, "so you want to go back to the hot spring?"

"What? We just went not that long ago."

"Come on! The bigger hot springs are better anyways, and they also make you feel like you are actually in the wilderness!"

Quincy gave a good point, and sense Adira was quite stressed she agreed. As she put on her bathing suit she thought, I definetly need time to relax. Thank goodness I came here for the job!

It was quiet and everyone was basically in their room at the time. The hot spring had no time schedule so anyone could enter at any time. When they arrived, Adira continued her way to the girls hot spring, but noticed that quincy stood in front of the coed door.

"Um, Quincy..." Adira began to say.

"Oh, come one Adira! It's not like anyone is in there. We are probably the only ones up," Quincy proclaimed. Adira felt that there was no point in arguing with her so she went with it.

Inside was even more beautiful than the female hot spring. Although it looked the same, flowers covered the walls in tropical flowers and small birds actually flew around chirping and relaxing in little built nests out of dried up vine. The smell of the tropical flowers made a tranquil atomosphere. Such eligence was expected from such an elaborate structure.

They walked in and to their surprised, there was people in the hotspring; all men. Quincy leaned in and said in a whisper, "I guess there is people still awake, but it's okay. We'll be fine." Quincy did not hesitate to enter the hot water. But for Adira, she felt like she was in a nightmare. The men were the bodygaurds of the man she bumped into. And right in the middle, expectedly, the man who had brung the stress to Adira sat and stared right at her with mysterious eyes. 

She had to get her act together, and Quincy was sitting and waiting for her to enter. Just keep calm, she thought. She entered the water and quickly approuched Quincy past the clique of mafia men. The boss continuously looked at her and barely payed attention to his comrades. Adira noticed from the very beginning and her muscles tensed at every moevement he, or his men, made.

 Finally, after an hour of sitting, Quincy stood up and said, "I think it is time to go. I believe I should be able to sleep now that I have enjoyed this scenery." Adira did not hesitate to get out and grab her towel. Grabbing Quincy's hand, she dashed out of the room. "Adira, what's wrong?" Adira did not listen but consentrated on getting far away. Quincy pulled her hand away from Adira abruptly and looked frightened. "What is wrong?" Adira tried to think, and her face became red with frustration. Quincy immediately noticed, and Adira knew it too. But to her surprise, Quincy said, "You're embarrassed!"

"Huh?" Adira tilted her head in confusion.

"Your face is red so you must be embarrassed from being in a hot spring with such hot men! Don't worry, I felt the same way!" Quincy said with a bog smile.

Adira, surprised and shocked, went along with it, "Yeah, I was embarrassed!" They laughed together; although, Adira's laugh had a nervoud tone to it.

They returned to their room and went to bed. Adira tossed in turned as she continued to dream of the man who was a boss of some unknown mafia group. This continued through out the whole time she tried to enjoy her vacation. Avoiding every place that the mafia boss was, and preventing Quincy to notice. After a stressful week, the day finally came when it was time to go home.

"Aw, I wish I could live here, " Quincy pouted as she slouched in dissappointment. Adira smiled and nodded as if to agree, but iside her mind she was saying, Yes! I can finally go home! 

When they packed everything in the car, they were on their way home. All was well till Adira noticed a black fancy car following them for the past five miles. Adira knew very well that they were being stalked by only one person, the mafia boss. Although the chances of him being in the car is zero, it is most likely his men.  "Quincy!"

Quincy was shocked and swirved in the road, but she soon went back into place. "Geez, what was that for?" 

"Pull over," Adira commanded. Quincy didn't question the situation even though worry enveloped her. Quincy whispered into her ear, "What's wrong?"" Adira and Quincy quickly switched sides by crawling over and under each other inside the car. As soon as Quincy buckled in, Adira hit the gas. 

"Slow down!" Quincy yelled. Adira didn't listen. The black car kept up and did it professionally. "What's going on? Tell me!" Tears flowed down her face.

Mixed emotions developed in Adira's mind. Debating on revealing the secrets, she knew she had no choice. The actions that were played were too suspicious to create a little white lie. Looking at her frightened young friend crying for her dear life, she had no choice. It was time. 

"We're being followed," Adira stated. 

"What? Why!?" Quincy asked in a frantic voice. Adira knew that a small explanation would confuse her. So she told the whole story from her being the Concealed Photographer to the events that happened at the Zodiac Hot Spring. Quincy was wide eyed. Shocked to the point that she kept silent. Adira thougt for sure that she was going to be scare, but got the complete opposite. "Wow! I'm best friends with the Concealed Photographer!" She started to jump up and down with excitement, but Adira had no choice but to make the situation serious.

"Hang on tight! We need to lose these guys unless you want to meet the mafia," Quincy nodded as Adira said this. Quincy prepared herself. Soon there was an opening. With traffic coming in, and an empty road, they could lose the mafia. Closely, Adira watched. There, she thought. She turn the wheel abruptly and swirved into the empty road. The black car tried to follow but was blocked by a semi and a few cars. 

It was not over yet. Adira swirved into different streets as the black vehicle had trouble cooperating with her swift movements. But at one point, a large truck was coming in at full speed from the right. "Prepare yourself!" Adira yelled and slammed on the gas pedal. They past the truck and missed by a second. But for the black car, it was a crash to the left corner of the truck. Adira and Quincy laughed as they gave each other high fives. They went off back to home feeling satisfied and accomplished.

While Adira and Quincy were getting away, the men inside the black car got out. The man from the front passanger seat pulled out his cell phone and clicked on a contact. Ring, ring, ring. The man waited patiently till someone finally picked up.

"Did you get her?" the voice said.

"No, she must have caught on to us and escaped," The man explained. 

"Find her!" The voiced spat and hung up. 

As the man from the other line hung up, he looked at his boss; the very man who was at the hot spring. "Sorry, Francesco, the girl got away." The mafia man called "Francesco" sat there silently in his leather chair behind his glass desk.

"Do you know her name, Larenzo?" Francesco asked in a silky smooth voice.

"No, the name that was given was fake. When we tried to research the name, the results were nothing. But there is one name," Larenzo stated. Francesco looked up and said, "Continue." Larenzo took a deep breath as he continued, "We looked up the name of the woman who traveled with the mystery girl. We found her and she works for a newspaper. Most likely we will find the mystery girl if we continue to watch her.

Fracesco nodded and motioned his hand to signal his comrad to leave. Larenzo bowed before leaving the room. It was silent for a moment and a sudden, small chuckle came form Francesco. He grinned, taking out a picture that he took of the mystery girl. "Well, I see you like to hide, " he giggled some more before he said mischieviously, "I don't mind playing a little hide and seek."