Wild Tiger Chase - Chapter 16: Chapter 16
You are reading Wild Tiger Chase, Chapter 16: Chapter 16. Read more chapters of Wild Tiger Chase.
— Rio —
Sissy all but jumped from her seat. The cord from her name tag caught in the microscope's lens, almost toppling it over and into a plasmetallic box labeled "the cell playground."
When the microscope stopped swaying, and Rio saw he wouldn't lose the past three years of his cell culture, he let out a sigh of relief and relaxed in his seat. Sissy didn't even notice the almost-accident.
"Is it Yule?" She placed her clipboard on the table and walked around it to stand at Rio's side. "Is it him? Answer, Gregorio."
"Yep." Rio took the cigarette from her hands, got up from his seat, and only then handed her the phone. "But the connection is bad. See if you can understand anything."
"Oh, I will." She pressed the phone to her ear. "Yuyu? Yule? Can you hear me, hubby?"
Under her glare, Rio mashed the cancer-in-a-tube on an ashtray. Sissy really needed to start following lab safety protocols.
"Take as much time as you need," Rio whispered, patting her bony shoulder. He grabbed the mortal remains of his wac-burger, crumpled them into a bacon-scented ball, and threw it on the bin under his desk, where last month's pizza box and a spoiled box of synthetic sashimi awaited.
The lines softened on Sissy's face, and she slumped on Rio's chair. "Hmm... really, Yule? You can't think of any other excuse?" She let out a teary chuckle. "Oh. Uh-huh.... As if, you pig." She laughed, rubbing her welling up eyes. "Don't be absurd, honey. Of course I was worried, but Cae sent Jackal a message, saying he had found you.... Yeah.... Mhm...." She smiled. "I miss you too, baby. Are you eating properly? ...What?"
Rio shook his head, his lips curling into a warm smile. He caressed Sissy's long red hair and jerked a finger towards the small office-slash-bedroom of their lab. When Sissy nodded, Rio walked away.
His right hand was cold inside his pocket as Rio closed the door at his back. Phillip didn't know, but Rio had found the hidden promise rings in his underwear drawer. Once Phillip left for Old Continent, all Rio had to do was break into his apartment and steal one of them.
No, he only collected what was already his.
He took his hand off of his pocket and stared at the delicate white gold filaments around his ring finger. Gregorio spun the ring with his thumb, watching as the little diamond in the center glimmered under the weak light in the office. Phillip had bought it one size too big, that dork—but he'd be damned if he didn't confess how much he liked it. Thick, but delicate. Strong, but with underlying frailty.
Like Phillip.
"Don't fall in love with your mark, they said. Did I fucking listen? No," he mumbled, furrowing his brows. Six damned years preparing for this job, and he had to play Dom fucking Juan.
Literally.
Rio huffed and fell on his makeshift bed, kicking his feet up. And why? Why did he like Phillip so much, anyway? The sex wasn't even that good—Rio had to teach Phillip everything about what entails a good foreplay—so where did these weird feelings come from?
"Disgusting stuff," Rio muttered, rolling to the side and hiding his face on Sissy's floral-scented pillow.
Phillip was so dumb. So self-centered, rude, and so attached to his mother. Not that the last one was a terrible trait, but... Rio just didn't have a mother. He didn't know how to deal with one. Also, Phillip's relationship with his money was always funny, to say the least. He liked fancy stuff and spared no expense to get it, even with a now almost-empty bank account.
He was pretty sure Phillip would be in the red now, after paying so much money for a damned tourist guide to find Léon in OC.
Not that he was checking, of course—it wasn't his fault if Phillip had added his bank app in Rio's phone because I always forget how shit like that works; keep it in order for me. Which, in Phillip Esposito's dictionary, translated as please, my love, help me control my finances; you're the only one I can trust with this.
Sissy's voice came through the thin office door. "Well, tell Caetano to fuck off, or I'll talk to Jackal for him.... I don't care.... What do you mean you're running from him? Yulie, darling!"
Rio sighed. Maybe he could just make a small deposit to cover the emergency credit line Phillip had taken before his trip. For old time's sake.
He closed his eyes.
And to think he almost revealed everything to Phillip when they were breaking up. Goddess, he was so thankful he didn't. If Phillip as much as suspected of what Rio had done, his whole life and his job would be a huge mess right now.
Rio clicked his tongue and stared at the ring again. You know what? With a long sigh, he took the ring off and tossed it aside.
Fuck this shit.
He was tired of pretending to be a good-natured nurse, anyway. Once all of this ended, he would quit his job, take his stuff, and go back to his sister's house in New Mindanao. She had just discovered a new treatment for forced trace-induced coma, and he was crazy to put his hands on her notes and see what he could learn from them.
Jackal wasn't paying him enough to suffer for love like this. Lie and fool a handful of people with his powers? Sure, no problem. Develop his contracted research? Hell yes—he adored working with Sissy. But love? No, thank you.
Sissy's voice came from the lab. "Rio! C'mere!"
He grunted. "Do I need to?"
"Want me to go in there and drag you out?"
Rio grimaced. The last time Sissy had done that, his ear had looked like a tennis ball. For a week. He answered with a grudging, "All right, coming."
In the lab, Sissy had a cold expression on her wrinkled face. It was a spacious lab—a well-equipped, well-hidden room inside Sta. Lucretia's Hospital in New Continent. The Hernandes family, the owners, didn't even know it existed. This was something only Jackal knew about—and it was perfect for their experiments.
"What happened? Everything okay with Yule?" Rio asked.
"Yep." Sissy gave him his phone back and leaned on the edge of his desk. The worry and tiredness on her face made her look even older. "Any shivers? Are Project Amethyst's memories still in place?"
Rio took a moment to close his eyes and search through the extensive mental database of memories he had implanted over the years. He reached the memories Léon had of him; the warmth was still there. Just to be sure, he did the same with Satina and Kaliandra's memories. Satina's were a bit colder, but nothing to be worried about.
"Yep," he said. "All three of them still believe they've known me for years. Everything's still in order." He crossed his arms and walked toward the woman, sitting on his chair. Something cold reverberated through his brain—a drop of icy water and a short ripple afterward. He found the origin of the droplet and chuckled. "But that guy we fooled into selling his home in Hawaii just remembered he didn't have a debt with you. If I were you, I'd find a lawyer in OC."
Sissy didn't even smile.
A crease formed between Rio's eyebrows. "What is it, Sissy? What got you so worried?"
"You tell me if that changes. All right?"
Rio nodded. "You know, Satina was the only one who even questioned the reason I knew so much about Léon's powers and his blocked memories—but I invented a solid story, so there's nothing to worry about." The crease deepened in his forehead. "Seriously, what's wrong?"
She let out a long sigh. "It's a small world, is all," she whispered, her words barely audible.
"Sissy." Rio reached forward and placed a warm hand on her arm. She was cold. "What happened?"
Schooling her grimace, Sissy straightened her posture. "Do you remember a certain Rafaela Taiguara, one of Yule's patients?"
"No? You and your jealous ass are the only ones who keep tabs on your husband's clientele."
"Well, maybe this will make you interested. Turns out she is certain Roberto Taiguara's sister—and he is, apparently, Léon's boyfriend. What means..."
Rio's eyes widened.
Holy shit.
"Are you telling me Roberto Tapir, the Grizzly Bear, was under our nose all this time?" Rio raised his voice. "How did Yule not see that? All the shit we've been doing here! We could have already finished this stupid project!"
"Hey! You're the only one among us who saw his face without a fucking ID concealer on. Don't blame my husband. It was your job to keep an eye on them!"
A growl crawled up Rio's throat. He opened his mouth to answer, but a crashing noise came from an attached room before he could.
A jolt of worry crossed his body. "We'll talk about it later," he said. "I need to check on him."
Sissy's words soured. "Yeah. Go feed your human-sized lab rat."
"He's not a lab rat!" Rio roared, getting up. He took his suitcase and studied the several injections inside. A mild tranquilizing might be enough this time—they were making progress.
"Yeah? What is he, then?"
Rio took a disposable needle and attached it, flicking the tube to remove air bubbles. "Considering what you just told me, Sissy, he's the key to fixing our mess." He sighed. "Now call Jackal and pack your stuff. We might need to go back to OC and stop those people from ruining our damned research."
Sissy all but jumped from her seat. The cord from her name tag caught in the microscope's lens, almost toppling it over and into a plasmetallic box labeled "the cell playground."
When the microscope stopped swaying, and Rio saw he wouldn't lose the past three years of his cell culture, he let out a sigh of relief and relaxed in his seat. Sissy didn't even notice the almost-accident.
"Is it Yule?" She placed her clipboard on the table and walked around it to stand at Rio's side. "Is it him? Answer, Gregorio."
"Yep." Rio took the cigarette from her hands, got up from his seat, and only then handed her the phone. "But the connection is bad. See if you can understand anything."
"Oh, I will." She pressed the phone to her ear. "Yuyu? Yule? Can you hear me, hubby?"
Under her glare, Rio mashed the cancer-in-a-tube on an ashtray. Sissy really needed to start following lab safety protocols.
"Take as much time as you need," Rio whispered, patting her bony shoulder. He grabbed the mortal remains of his wac-burger, crumpled them into a bacon-scented ball, and threw it on the bin under his desk, where last month's pizza box and a spoiled box of synthetic sashimi awaited.
The lines softened on Sissy's face, and she slumped on Rio's chair. "Hmm... really, Yule? You can't think of any other excuse?" She let out a teary chuckle. "Oh. Uh-huh.... As if, you pig." She laughed, rubbing her welling up eyes. "Don't be absurd, honey. Of course I was worried, but Cae sent Jackal a message, saying he had found you.... Yeah.... Mhm...." She smiled. "I miss you too, baby. Are you eating properly? ...What?"
Rio shook his head, his lips curling into a warm smile. He caressed Sissy's long red hair and jerked a finger towards the small office-slash-bedroom of their lab. When Sissy nodded, Rio walked away.
His right hand was cold inside his pocket as Rio closed the door at his back. Phillip didn't know, but Rio had found the hidden promise rings in his underwear drawer. Once Phillip left for Old Continent, all Rio had to do was break into his apartment and steal one of them.
No, he only collected what was already his.
He took his hand off of his pocket and stared at the delicate white gold filaments around his ring finger. Gregorio spun the ring with his thumb, watching as the little diamond in the center glimmered under the weak light in the office. Phillip had bought it one size too big, that dork—but he'd be damned if he didn't confess how much he liked it. Thick, but delicate. Strong, but with underlying frailty.
Like Phillip.
"Don't fall in love with your mark, they said. Did I fucking listen? No," he mumbled, furrowing his brows. Six damned years preparing for this job, and he had to play Dom fucking Juan.
Literally.
Rio huffed and fell on his makeshift bed, kicking his feet up. And why? Why did he like Phillip so much, anyway? The sex wasn't even that good—Rio had to teach Phillip everything about what entails a good foreplay—so where did these weird feelings come from?
"Disgusting stuff," Rio muttered, rolling to the side and hiding his face on Sissy's floral-scented pillow.
Phillip was so dumb. So self-centered, rude, and so attached to his mother. Not that the last one was a terrible trait, but... Rio just didn't have a mother. He didn't know how to deal with one. Also, Phillip's relationship with his money was always funny, to say the least. He liked fancy stuff and spared no expense to get it, even with a now almost-empty bank account.
He was pretty sure Phillip would be in the red now, after paying so much money for a damned tourist guide to find Léon in OC.
Not that he was checking, of course—it wasn't his fault if Phillip had added his bank app in Rio's phone because I always forget how shit like that works; keep it in order for me. Which, in Phillip Esposito's dictionary, translated as please, my love, help me control my finances; you're the only one I can trust with this.
Sissy's voice came through the thin office door. "Well, tell Caetano to fuck off, or I'll talk to Jackal for him.... I don't care.... What do you mean you're running from him? Yulie, darling!"
Rio sighed. Maybe he could just make a small deposit to cover the emergency credit line Phillip had taken before his trip. For old time's sake.
He closed his eyes.
And to think he almost revealed everything to Phillip when they were breaking up. Goddess, he was so thankful he didn't. If Phillip as much as suspected of what Rio had done, his whole life and his job would be a huge mess right now.
Rio clicked his tongue and stared at the ring again. You know what? With a long sigh, he took the ring off and tossed it aside.
Fuck this shit.
He was tired of pretending to be a good-natured nurse, anyway. Once all of this ended, he would quit his job, take his stuff, and go back to his sister's house in New Mindanao. She had just discovered a new treatment for forced trace-induced coma, and he was crazy to put his hands on her notes and see what he could learn from them.
Jackal wasn't paying him enough to suffer for love like this. Lie and fool a handful of people with his powers? Sure, no problem. Develop his contracted research? Hell yes—he adored working with Sissy. But love? No, thank you.
Sissy's voice came from the lab. "Rio! C'mere!"
He grunted. "Do I need to?"
"Want me to go in there and drag you out?"
Rio grimaced. The last time Sissy had done that, his ear had looked like a tennis ball. For a week. He answered with a grudging, "All right, coming."
In the lab, Sissy had a cold expression on her wrinkled face. It was a spacious lab—a well-equipped, well-hidden room inside Sta. Lucretia's Hospital in New Continent. The Hernandes family, the owners, didn't even know it existed. This was something only Jackal knew about—and it was perfect for their experiments.
"What happened? Everything okay with Yule?" Rio asked.
"Yep." Sissy gave him his phone back and leaned on the edge of his desk. The worry and tiredness on her face made her look even older. "Any shivers? Are Project Amethyst's memories still in place?"
Rio took a moment to close his eyes and search through the extensive mental database of memories he had implanted over the years. He reached the memories Léon had of him; the warmth was still there. Just to be sure, he did the same with Satina and Kaliandra's memories. Satina's were a bit colder, but nothing to be worried about.
"Yep," he said. "All three of them still believe they've known me for years. Everything's still in order." He crossed his arms and walked toward the woman, sitting on his chair. Something cold reverberated through his brain—a drop of icy water and a short ripple afterward. He found the origin of the droplet and chuckled. "But that guy we fooled into selling his home in Hawaii just remembered he didn't have a debt with you. If I were you, I'd find a lawyer in OC."
Sissy didn't even smile.
A crease formed between Rio's eyebrows. "What is it, Sissy? What got you so worried?"
"You tell me if that changes. All right?"
Rio nodded. "You know, Satina was the only one who even questioned the reason I knew so much about Léon's powers and his blocked memories—but I invented a solid story, so there's nothing to worry about." The crease deepened in his forehead. "Seriously, what's wrong?"
She let out a long sigh. "It's a small world, is all," she whispered, her words barely audible.
"Sissy." Rio reached forward and placed a warm hand on her arm. She was cold. "What happened?"
Schooling her grimace, Sissy straightened her posture. "Do you remember a certain Rafaela Taiguara, one of Yule's patients?"
"No? You and your jealous ass are the only ones who keep tabs on your husband's clientele."
"Well, maybe this will make you interested. Turns out she is certain Roberto Taiguara's sister—and he is, apparently, Léon's boyfriend. What means..."
Rio's eyes widened.
Holy shit.
"Are you telling me Roberto Tapir, the Grizzly Bear, was under our nose all this time?" Rio raised his voice. "How did Yule not see that? All the shit we've been doing here! We could have already finished this stupid project!"
"Hey! You're the only one among us who saw his face without a fucking ID concealer on. Don't blame my husband. It was your job to keep an eye on them!"
A growl crawled up Rio's throat. He opened his mouth to answer, but a crashing noise came from an attached room before he could.
A jolt of worry crossed his body. "We'll talk about it later," he said. "I need to check on him."
Sissy's words soured. "Yeah. Go feed your human-sized lab rat."
"He's not a lab rat!" Rio roared, getting up. He took his suitcase and studied the several injections inside. A mild tranquilizing might be enough this time—they were making progress.
"Yeah? What is he, then?"
Rio took a disposable needle and attached it, flicking the tube to remove air bubbles. "Considering what you just told me, Sissy, he's the key to fixing our mess." He sighed. "Now call Jackal and pack your stuff. We might need to go back to OC and stop those people from ruining our damned research."
End of Wild Tiger Chase Chapter 16. Continue reading Chapter 17 or return to Wild Tiger Chase book page.