Chapter V: New Allegiance

Professor Richard Banc's black Ford 150 pick-up stopped at the west wing of the Hotel Le Meridien. Edward looked at the passenger's window. The eight-story, two-winged modern hotel was already prepared for the auction tomorrow. Large advertisement and welcome signs were already hung, announcing to the general public Gemini's 35th anniversary and its auction bonanza.

At the entrance, company employees wearing the light green jumpsuits were busy unloading massive boxes containing the items up for auction. Some guests were already checking in to the hotel, most of them as agents for anonymous bidders.

Richard slowly drove his truck, passing some parked cars to the backend of the hotel. At the hotel's back, the metal door of the employee's entrance opened, and a small Indian man in a black suit exited.

Richard gave him two quick flashes with the truck headlight, and it caught his attention. He looked to his shoulders alternately. Finding no people around, the man quickly went towards the waiting truck. When he reached the car, he smiled, showing in the semi-lighted street his white teeth.

"Good evening Ramesh," Richard greeted him. "This is Professor Edward. He's also from MIT, were the same department".

Ramesh smiled as Edward handed his hand. He squeezed it and smiled even more expansive. "Ah yes, yes, you are familiar, sir," he said with his typical Tamil accent.

Both men looked at each other, puzzled. "I saw Gemini securities briefing in the lobby, and they flashed your face in the monitor. It was from the last hotel's security footage. Then Gemini's security dragged out of the hotel – "

"Alright, that's too much for details," Edward cut him, embarrassed. He saw Richard holding his tummy and about to burst out laughing. He frowned at him. "Yeah, funny, you want a copy?"

Richard patted Edward's back and looked at Ramesh, who still in a cheerful mood. "You take care of him, Ramesh." He reached for the rolled 50-dollar bills in the dashboard of the truck and gave it to Ramesh.

Ramesh wobbled his head in approval. He put the money inside his vest's pocket. "No problem, sir. I have prepared a suite for Professor Edward just as you requested." He turned to Edward and handed a chef's clothes and apron. "Professor, please wear this first."

Puzzled, Edward gave Ramesh an asking look. "You want to be incognito," Ramesh answered and left Edward with no choice. He swiftly changed clothes in the passenger seat.

The white chef's jacket fits Edward's cut physique. It's like a gym buff guy is going to the kitchen to serve the Serafin beauties starving. He finally hangs the apron with Le Meridien's logo on it. He gets out of the car and leans on the open window.

"Thanks. I owe you one," Edward said.

"Just don't get caught," Richard replied. "And ask the lady's name this time. I'm tired of you referring her as an Angelina Jolie in doll shoes."

Edward smiled and waved at his parting friend.

"Let's get you inside, professor," Ramesh said. The two hurriedly went to the backdoors of the hotel.

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Johnson's residence's white picket fence is already decorated by a profusion of bright and golden yellow damiana daisies. At the center of the front home is a redbud tree, where its magenta leaves staring to crumple for the coming cold weather. The fire pit near the tree is surrounded by five brown garden chairs, overlooking the vineyards usually grown on the rolling hills of El Paso, Texas.

Behind the 16-meter-wide garden is a two-story farmhouse. The 1700 square foot property is a combination of modern architecture and Texan country life, with doors inspired by old barns. The combination of white concrete and oak wood is elegant, especially when the hot sun illuminated it.

Despite being a three-bedroom home, it's been a lonely haven for Alicia Johnson, Maya's mother, when her husband passed away. Her only daughter has inherited his father's passion for auction and always out of town.

The morning routine is just the same when the phone rings abruptly. The attending nurse, who has been taking care of the 60-year-old Alicia for three years now, answered it. Upon knowing it was Maya, she immediately gave it to the ailing lady.

Alicia, who is in the wheelchair and cherishes the morning heat, is suffering on Achard Thiers Syndrome for three years, a rare variant disease of diabetes only among menopausal women. Her unstable blood pressure and failing organs have succumbed to her frail body, gradually waiting for the sun to set in her life.

Despite all of these, no remorse or negativity can be seen on her face. The smile still there, and her silver lining on her hair cannot deny her ageless beauty: still wearing the red lipstick, ears adorn by fancy earrings, and eyes sparkling for the passing town folks greeting her.

"Hello, mom, how are you?" Maya greeted her from the other end of the line.

Alicia pressed the wireless phone to her ears. "I'm fine, my dear; how is your work?" she replied as she tried her best to be energetic.

"It's OK. Still enjoying it," Maya lied. Despite the stress she had this week, she won't tell her sick mom whatever the problem she has right now. It won't help, she thought.

Alicia waved to the passing farmers in the tractor. "When will you going home?" she asked her daughter.

Silence fell between the line. With the schedule she has, it's hard to give her mom a definite date to come home.

"Maya?" her mom pressed.

Maya felt guilty. She's been away at home for almost a month now. "Soon, mom. The Company is celebrating its anniversary - you know – "

"Just like when your father still alive. The Company has taken all the time in this family", a teary-eyed Alicia rebuked.

Maya felt the trembling voice in the other line. When she decided to replaced his father in the auction, her mom despised it. It was a curse rather than a blessing. "Mom, I promise you, just after the auction tomorrow and all the paper works, I'll be home."

Alicia knew Maya was lying but did not want to spoil the day. "Well, just make it sure. Anyway, your Uncle Ben and her family will be helping me to clean the house tomorrow. It's been ages since we clean the upstairs".

Maya was relieved a little bit as her mom changed the topic voluntarily. "That's good; please tell Uncle Ben I'll buy him new boots when I come home."

Alicia laughed as she remembered how her brother loved the old boots that his husband gifted him. "I told him to throw the old pairs, but he always says it was your father's remembrance to him.

Both of them laugh as the conversation concluded.

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It was the second bottle of 2010 San Guido Sassicaia for Lindsay Jones. It was only past six o'clock p.m., and the welcoming banquet arranged by the hotel is just half an hour away, yet she was already tipsy. She poured another one and raised it in front of her when a familiar figure reflected on the glass.

"Good evening, madam," said Sylvia Baron. Lindsay gave her a stern look but shifted into her glass once more. Sylvia noticed that Lindsay was already intoxicated even before the party started.

The lady auctioneer grabbed the bar stool and sat beside Lindsay, who was now pouring for another round. She waved to the bartender and asked for a cognac. She took a shot of it and asked again for a refill. She turned to Lindsay, who was not paying attention to her at all.

"You know, madam, we have something in common," Sylvia intervened.

Lindsay paused midway, her glass in her mouth, gave Sylvia another poker face, and finished her drink. "You don't know me, auctioneer. We're not even acquaintance," she replied.

Sylvia smiled. I got her attention now.

"I saw the commotion yesterday. The growing tension between you and her is hard to conceal," Sylvia proceeded. She asked the bartender for her third round.

Lindsay was intelligent enough to identify who was her Sylvia talks about. "What do you care for, huh?"

Sylvia now adjusted her sitting position and erectly faced Lindsay. "You see, madam, your problem, is my problem too. Since the day she entered, I became the third choice. Behind Mendez and her. And I think I can't take another year – "

"Cut the chase, will you?" Lindsay sounded irritated, but she was now fully committed to Sylvia's agenda.

"Let's get rid of her," Sylvia proposed. This made her 40-year-old boss bursts in a laugh, emerging from the mellow music in the Le Meridien bar.

Sylvia pressed on and whispered to Lindsay's right ear. "The only thing between us and her getting fired is the company policy. But I figured it out that there's a way to finally get rid of the pain in our asses…accidentally."

Both women locked eyes. Dead silence fell for seconds as Lindsay measured her new found allegiance. Sylvia slides a folded mission slip to Lindsay's fingers.

"A simple order coming from you, and I'll take it from there," Sylvia offered.

With the wine mixing on Lindsay's head, her logic corrupted, and she was easily persuaded upon reading the mission slip. "We get rid of Maya just by giving her an urgent mission now?" she asked in confusion.

Sylvia grabbed the half-empty bottle of Sassicaia and poured it into Lindsay's glass. She placed it to her waiting hand. "Let the policy play against her. As for now, you need to trust me,", Sylvia replied.

Lindsay returned another question to her. "And what's the deal in exchange?"

"The Board's attention, your friendship, and a little bit of promotion," Sylvia replied cynically.

For the past days, it was the first thing she heard that made Lindsay satisfied. She smiled wide, raised her glass, and asked Sylvia for a toast of approval.

Maya, here I come! Sylvia thought as she and Lindsay poured for another round of drinks.

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Edward and Ramesh exited the elevator on the 6th floor of the Hotel Meridien. Surprisingly, the hotel staff and the Gemini employees they met in the hallway ignored him.

They took the right-wing of the 6th floor. Edward counted ten suites before they reached the end of the hallway. Ramesh stopped in front of an unnumbered door near the fire exit of the hotel. It was different from the standard brown doors of the rooms they passed. It was preferably white, with a cheap round silver doorknob.

Ramesh opened the door with his keys and signaled Edward to come in. As the professor stepped in, he noticed that the room is full of cleaning tools and scaffoldings, leaning on the 30 square foot room's left wall.

"Feel at home, sir," Ramesh smiled. He gave Edward a potable hand-held radio. "Just turn into channel three, sir. This line is private, and mine is in tune to that frequency," he added as he showed Edward the same radio he has.

When Ramesh left, Edward put his bag on a makeshift bed. After locking the door, he turned on the 46-inch TV opposite his bed, and it displayed the CNN breaking news and laid down.

CNN was covering a massive fire outbreak in the California forest, near the Bay area. Edward closed her eyes, and he remembered the fire that broke at their farmhouse in Minnesota 17 years ago.

The heat of the flame almost melting their skin as Edward's mom and dad held them away. They helplessly watched their ancestral house devoured by raging hell. All the hard work was turned into dust, and it drove his father into insanity.

Edward immediately sprung up and cut his rumination. He walked towards the window and opened it. The cold breeze of December suddenly pierced into his body. It made him back to his senses and his urgency to find the answer to his question.

How did the revolver come into life? And he knew the answer, is just a room away.

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Sylvia noticed the pair of eyes peeking behind Maya. The strange guy in chef uniform has been secretly following Maya up to her room on the 6th floor.

She grabbed her smartphone, and her finger navigated to her gallery. She nodded upon recognizing the man's face. She realized he was the same man who the Gemini Security kicked out from the last auction.

An idea just lighted up in Sylvia's brain.

My odds just got high, she joyfully said to herself.