The morning dawned on the two as they laid in bed, entwined in each other. This was second to the last day of their contract.

Monte woke in a brief moment of fright as Ruth's hair tickled his long nose, looking down at her face, he smiled and tilted his head back on the pillow. Thinking on how eventful each day has been, he chuckled and whispered to himself "at least I'm getting my money's worth".. a few moments later Monte's cell vibrated hard on the mattress as a call came in, Ruth had woke by the vibration and hearing his deep voice echoing through his chest as he answered.

"This is Montgomery."

Ruth opened her eyes, but still laid in the same position while hearing the squealed voice on the other end of his call.

"Hello Sir, I'm sorry to bother you so early, but we have a problem at building C, there are a couple of guys here requesting to see you."

Monte's face remained unfazed and not perturbed in the slightest.

"Well, what do they want?" He asked.

"They won't say, but they just roughed up the doorman, and they're going door to door asking about you. One of them has a bulky hip, I'm thinking it's a gun."

"Interesting, thanks, tell them I'm on my way." Monte closed the call and looked down to meet the four way gaze of Ruth's stare.

"The fuck you think you're going? Are you crazy?"

"Yes."

"Shut up" Ruth said.

"You asked...." replied the cheeky bastard.

"Monte!" Ruth yelled as she landed a fist over his heart, "you shouldn't go, we don't even know who they are and what they want. Send some of your cop friends."

"Doc, I appreciate your concern, but I've got it handled."

"Then I'm coming with you." She said, believing herself.

"No, you're not, and don't even think about following me again. I doubt things will get too ugly but I can't risk you being there."

Eventually, Ruth agreed to stay behind and wait for his return which he repeatedly assured her of. She pleaded with him to at least stay for breakfast, but Monte denied. He convinced himself he was thinking of the safety of his tenants, when really he was after the thrill. Eventually, Ruth had to watch him drive away and that's when her worrying truly began. Monte drove for some time before getting to the city, while making a pit stop at Cory's. Cory was Monte's right hand man for all intents and purposes, the one he asked to help Ruth take care of the 12.8 million dollars buried behind the cabin.

Cory was in the middle of mowing his lawn when he saw the purple beacon of a car pull up to the front of his house. Coming to a halt himself, Cory climbed out of the riding mower and stood tall at almost six feet.

"Haven't heard from you in a hot minute, the fuck you been?"

Monte smiled at his friend's remark and told him of his latest escapades with the lovely Ruth Moore.

"....but with all that said, C, I'm afraid I've got some urgent trouble."

"Hmm, of course you do, what is it?" Cory inquired.

"Two guys at one of the Sunrise locations, asking about my whereabouts, I've been advised there may be a gun involved."

Cory chuckled softly before letting out a deep laugh from the pit of his belly.

"Man you always got some shit going... A'ight whatever... gimmie a few." He concluded as he took some time to put himself together. In an effort to be unobtrusive, Montgomery parked his M4 and tagged along in Cory's Jeep. It didn't take long for the two to arrive.

Monte, glancing at his phone saw the ever growing list of messages from Ruth before deciding to enable DND.

"Sorry doc, I'll talk to you soon." He thought out loud.

"You know she's only worried, let's have this dealt with so you can go back to your honeymoon." Cory interjected.

"Yea' boi, it breaks my heart to leave her behind." A melancholy ridden Montgomery said as Cory wondered why he was taking this so hard, unaware that Monte was referring to their week coming to an end. The jeep parked adjacent to the only unfamiliar vehicle in the parking lot, a blacked out 69 Dodge Camaro presumed to be that of Monte's two guests.
"Nice car," Cory mentioned before being nudged by his friend to get out of the vehicle. The anxiety intensified as they were surprised to see the two intruders exit the apartment building as they were about to enter, standing just a feet away from them.

Recognizing them instantly, Monte addressed them accordingly.
"Alright then," He spoke calmly, "you two gentlemen have went through a lot of knocking and questioning to get me here, so now tell me who the fuck you are and what do you want."

Cory stood in the fashion of a bodyguard, analyzing the two men with his eyes; the first was an African American man in his mid-twenties, and the second was caucasian with blonde hair and of the same age range.

The black guy stepped forward slowly and looked Montgomery dead in the eyes before addressing him, "I'm gonna ask you once, where's Caitie?"

Taken aback by the impeding question, Monte paused in silence for a few seconds before he chuckled and asked "so what, you're her boyfriend or something? ...listen Caitie and I are just friends, I haven't seen her though."

"That's funny, because a little bird told me that you and Caitie were seen on the boardwalk downtown. That being that last place Caitie was seen, and that was two days ago."

"Okay, yeah, she told me she was recently turned into an informant against me. She had an idea to skip town, I told her there's no need and that I have a good lawyer but I guess she didn't listen to me, not that she ever has."

The man began to show his annoyance at Monte, whom at the end of his rebuttal turned away and began to walk away.

"Anyway," Monte said, "let her know to call me when she shows up, and you fellas have a good day."

Leaving the two guests staring at each other in disbelief, the blonde haired accomplice reached forward and grabbed Monte by the shoulder, who in turn was instantly filled with fury, giving into psychosis, he pulled Cory's gun from his waist and turned around with an intent to shoot. Between gathering his sanity and losing it completely, Monte noticed the man before him smiling with the gun pointing dead at him.

"Mr. Langston!! Drop the gun!!"

By the time Monte had found himself back to reality, he noticed the flashing blue lights and turned around to see Cory on the ground with his hands behind his head and three guns pointing in their direction. The lights dazzled his eyes as he saw the shadow of a familiar figure approach him, it was the officer that pulled him over a week ago before showing up at Ruth's.

"What is this?" He asked the officer faintly.

"They have a video of you putting a young woman in your trunk, I'm sorry but I have to do this.." the officer answered before continuing aloud, "Montgomery Langston, you are under arrest in relation to the disappearance of Caitie Garcia...." continuing to read the rights.

Meanwhile at the Cabin, things were getting on the stranger side. Ruth tried desperately to call and message Monte, but every effort was forcefully denied. Later hearing a knocking at the door, she wondered who that could have been.

"Huh, I didn't hear a car pull up, who would walk here?" She thought to herself.

The knocking continued and sounded more heavily, Ruth cautiously walked up to the door and asked, "who is it?".

The voice that answered was that of a woman, "Ma'am you're in danger, please open the door."

Ruth began reaching for the doorknob slightly shaking as she tried to control the anxiety taking her over. Finally, she had opened the door, the woman standing outside was dressed in a black suit with two identical japanese style swords strapped across her back.

"Do you know who I am?" The woman asked.

Ruth was astonished to see one of the state's elite forces of reformed vigilantes standing before her; A member of The Shadows.

"Ryuu" Ruth answered.

"Good." The long dark haired woman said, "Montgomery has been arrested for the disappearance of Caitie Garcia, the cops are on their way to this Cabin to ransack the place and I am here to take you to the police station and away from all of ... that."

Ruth froze as she tried to process the news, wondering what happened at Building C, and if she was about to be caught for aiding an abetting a murder.

"I'm also hearing about some suspected murders, a missing sum of a about 12.8 million dollars... you know anything about that?" Ryuu asked.

"Uh.. I know they were investigating him but..he says it's a mixup, and that he has good lawyers on this and I shouldn't worry." Ruth said, wondering if she was helping Monte or throwing him under the bus.

"Hmm, okay come on."

The woman rode a motorcycle parked not far away from the cabin, while Ruth agreed to drive straight to the precinct where Monte was.


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