Kal glared at me with such intensity that I imagined that even if a mosquito was to land on his eyeball there and then, he still wouldn’t blink. I could only look into his eyes for but a second or two before I had to look away again.

“Fei hua!” he growled “What?” I asked feigning shock “That’s a Fay-fay d’pian.” “I…” “You gorram coward, you’re ruttin’ lying to me” “I’m not…”

Impatient, Kal pushed me against the wall and demanded the truth from me, pressing his right arm hard against my upper chest “Listen to me! I’m gonna find him one way or another, but I think you’ll find its better to be on my good side and point me in the right direction” Kal was, believe it or not, a good guy. Passionate, granted, but a good guy nevertheless. But that day was not one to test his patience; I learnt that it was better to be on his good side than his bad “I… I don’t want you to make a mistake” I admitted “I won’t” I didn’t know if he meant he would try and control himself if he finds the guy responsible or that he just wouldn’t consider beating the living hell out of him “a mistake”. Whether I agreed with Kal or not wasn’t the issue, I wasn’t about to put the wellbeing of a criminal ahead of my own. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t stop Kal. Honestly I didn’t know if I wanted to. He probably was right, if the person got away, then there was a good possibility they would never be brought to justice, and the more I thought about that possibility, the more I felt the responsibility to point Kal in the right direction. “Okay, okay” I surrendered, “he’s down there”. I nodded my head towards the opposite end of the corridor that lead to my room. Kal stared into my eyes until I’m sure he was confidant enough that the words I spoke to him were the truth. He stepped back and muttered a “right” before turning and making for the location I had given him. “Kal, wait” I uttered to him hastily. “You can’t talk me out of this” he called back irritated. “No, but I can help”

He turned back to face me. “Now you want to help?” he snarled “I wanted to help Cutter catch this guy before I knew what had happened! Believe me, I want this guy caught.” “Then why the hell did you try and stop me?!” “Cutter didn’t want my help, and he definitely won’t want loose cannon like you after him…” Kal’s face was scrunched in anger as he waited for me to weasel out yet another excuse why he shouldn’t go, but I didn’t give him one “… but you’re right, if Cutter don’t catch him, this guy could get away with it. And I can’t let that happen. We can’t let him leave.” Kal’s face softens somewhat and he nods his head slightly. He probably thought I was now fully on his side, and would condone whatever punishment he would meet out, but I wasn’t finished. “But we’re not vigilantes. This guy deserves to be caught for what he did to Victoria but… we’re not going to dish out our own brand of justice, you hear? We catch him, we hand him in. We take it no further” Kal did not utter a reply in agreement or disagreement, he merely nodded again in acknowledgement of my command. Then after a moment of silence between us, he turned away and started again for the location.

I pushed myself from the wall and jogged to catch up with him, all the while hoping that my knees wouldn’t give way due to my nervous state.

At that point, I knew nothing about Kal’s true motives, not really – I didn’t know if what I had told him had sunk in, or whether he was still going to get revenge. Being kept in the dark about it sure did make me feel nervous as I walked beside him. He was unpredictable. He was as much a wild card as the one we were hoping to track down. What if we find the guy responsible and Kal really goes for him – will I be able to hold him back? Is this really the best move?

I glanced at him occasionally, sometimes just out of the corner of my eye, other times a full on turn of my head. It didn't matter, Kal ignored me thw whole time. His gaze was fixed firmly on the journey ahead – his mind clearly still dwelling on either what had had happened to Victoria, or what he was about to do to the guy responsible. Possibly both.

My heart began to pound in my chest, faster and faster. Surely I should have felt that way knowing I was going after a criminal, but that fact didn’t concern me nearly as much as the responsibility I had of making sure Kal didn’t do something stupid.

It wasn’t long before we reached the spot where I had lost spoken to Cutter. Unsurprisingly he was nowhere to be seen. But we continued walking the path regardless. Inside I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. True, we hadn’t yet found Cutter, but something told me that I had worried too much, and that somehow, everything would be okay.

The gunshot that suddenly rang out proved I was an idiot for believing that.

The noise caused me to jump so much I almost fell over in shock.

I had barely regained my composure before I noticed Kal was gone – fleeing his position by my side as he ran towards the source of the sound.

I didn’t have the courage in me to follow him, yet for some unknown reason that is exactly what I did. I staggered for a moment before I threw my body into a hurried run.

At no point did I feel I was in control of myself. I had no idea what I was doing, or how I was doing it. I was terrified of what was going on, not courageous. What I was doing was stupid, but I needed to go after Kal. I needed to do this for Victoria, for everyone in the house. We were a family, as cheesy as it sounded, and I may not have been a tough guy, but I knew I had to do whatever I could.

*****

As I ran down the corridor after that dark blur that I presumed was Kal, I couldn’t help but notice doors to the rooms being opened as I passed. Companions, curious to what was going on, should really have been staying in the rooms when a gun has gone off, but people don’t generally do the smart thing when something unpredictable happens. And as a person following the sound of said gun, I was hardly one to talk.

“Kal!” I shouted in the hopes of attracting his attention long enough for me to catch up, but it was to no avail. Either he didn’t hear my call or he didn’t want to hear it.

Then he stopped. He skidded to a halt at the end of the corridor. But it was not for my benefit. He stood at the entrance to one of the rooms, and he gazed in. I had already begun to slow my pace, though it was due mainly to the fact that I was close to exhaustion than anything else.

I hadn’t yet reached Kal when he approached the wide-open doors and entered the room, escaping my line of sight.

Reaching the opening to the room, I heard nothing but silence until Kal opened his mouth and muttered under his breath “Gos se”

Apprehensively I stepped inside, looking both ways as I entered the main part of the room.

To my left was a bed, dishevelled with sheets that spread themselves from the middle of the bed to the floor. Partially covered by the sheets, sitting practically naked on the floor were Sofia and a male client. She was a petite companion known for regularly changing her hair colour. Today it was coloured bright red. Her face though was white with fear. Her client, like her, was also fairly short, though his hair was light brown hair and upoin his forehead was a fresh graze. Behind them both, the walls were decorated a mild yellow, only I suspected the bullet-hole in the wall was not supposed to be there.

I glanced quickly to the right where the two were looking. There stood Kal silently by the open window. Recognising there was no immediate danger I approached Sofia and crouched down in front of her. Overcoming my heavy breathing, I asked her as calmly as I could if the two of them were okay.

She nodded her head but remained silent. Her male client however was a bit more informative.

“Yeah” he began to divulge “a guy came in…”

He paused for a moment, leading me to look directly at Sofia and ask “Who? Cutter?” She shook her head.

“No. Not Cutter.” He continued, demonstrating that he must have been enough times to know who exactly Cutter was. “He came after. They fought and…”

I waited anxiously for the rest of his answer whilst Kal remained silent as he turned to face us.

The male client then took a deep breath and stated “I should have seen it coming. The guy got Cutter’s gun. It all happened so quick.”

“Where are they? Did anyone get hurt?”

“Not yet. Though that bullet sure came close to Sofia”

I turned my eyes to her. The client had his arm wrapped around Sofia who remained in a state of shock.

“Where’d they go?” I asked.

He didn’t need to answer as he signalled with his eyes to the open window across the other side of the room.

“He got out”, Kal snarled. “ The hundan got out. And now he’s armed”