Chapter 3: Zodiac Hot Spring

The week's forcast is perfect for a vacation. Sun is shining, a light breeze blowing, and combining the two creates the right temperature. Everyone is taking this cahnce to enjoy the outdoors. Children are playing in the yard, people crowding the beach, and going out for a bite to eat.

Adira was about to be pleasured by going on her first vacation in a long time. But this vacation is not like any other; it's a mission for a professional. Although it would be nice to relax, this young photographer would prefer to take on a criminal then to lay back and be lazy. She wants to join in on the extreme to give her life a kick-butt career. A life with no action is boring and unimaginative, but one with a little action can give you excitement and adventure; that is Adira's view point on life.

As she was almost ready to head out the door, Quincy came in abruptly.

"Adira!" She sang. Tip-toeing all the way to Adira, she leaped up in the air to give her friend a hug. Considering the fact that Adira's hands were full, both women fell back to the ground hard. Adira let out a sceam and let out a sound of pain. Quincy didn't care and refused to let go.

"Get off! You're heavy!" Quincy slowly got up from her friend in pain and helped her up. She gathered her belongings that tumbled. Before she knew it, Quincy had snatched everything from her hands. "Hurry up!" her friend said and ran out the door. Adira followed and locked the door behind her.

The trip wasn't that long but it felt like an iternity with Quincy babbling about her fat cat. But despite the long stories and old classic music blazing from the radio, the ride was quite peaceful. They arrived to their destination. Adira was expecting a small old fashioned building with only about a little over a hundred rooms, but what she saw was the total opposite.

"What the..." She began to say as she witnessed a new scenery right in front of her. A large mansion sized that had to have at least over five hundred rooms. The outside was neatly aranged with marble walkways, an extravogent garden full of different varieties of flowers, and a magnificent design to the "Zodiac Hot Spring" sign. But that wasn't all to see. Entering the massive structure, she and her friend were welcomed by nicely dressed men who politely held the door open while bowing. The design of the interior was nicely form; blending in flawlessly. The elegance to everything surrounding her was almost over whelming.

"Come on! We should check in so we can get our things put away to enjoy this wonderful day," Quincy declared yanking on the mesmerized Adira who was somewhat in a state of shock.

They checked in and got the room key. Both were given seperate keys, and both locations on the fifth floor. Adira went to room 515 while Quincy went to room 563. If the outside and inside wan't enough, the room given was as purely desgined as everything else.

I feel out of place for some reason, Adira thought as she stared off into the large space. She put down her baggage on the bed and began to unpack. The walls were a pearl white, and wooden furniture was made from the finest, the sheets of the bed and pillow covers were made of silk, and the carpet was soft to the touch. Trying to get used to her surroundings, she entered the bathroom to place her shampoo and conditioner only to find not only a bath tub, but a large hot tub as well.

There was a knock at the door and a recognisable voice from the other side said, "Come one slow poke!" Adira quickly grabbed her wallet and walked out the door only to be faced by a heart warming smile.

They began to walk down the hallway and on their way down to the elevator, they passed a group of men. Tough, scary men who surrounded one man. All of them were dressed in black suits and ties, but the man in the center was well dressed in a gray suit and dark blue tie. He had a a light tan, light brown eyes, and jet black that was comed back. Adira thought of him as handsome and had a mature stature.

As she looked back, the well dressed man stood in place and stared back. She quickly turned around to prevent any awkward situation. Even though she was getting farther away with each step she took, she could hear a faint voice say, "Beautiful eyes." She stopped for a moment, looked back once again, and only saw the group of men enter a room; the room right next to her own. Quincy tugged at her sleeve, asking what was wrong. Adira got a hold of her senses and continued walking.

Quincy took Adira to a small fast food restraunt. It wasn't buisy, but there was a few groups of people sitting around eating and talking. It smelled mostly of french fries and hamburgers. Adira sat across from Quincy at a booth near the windows. They ordered lunch and had small discussions, but one in particular became really long.

"So, what was that all about between you and that well dressed man?" Quincy said, grinning at Adira with curious eyes.

Adira looked up at her wide eyed. Confused of what she was talking about, she began to think of what could possibly caused her to ask such a question. Thinking back she realized she was talking about back at the hotel. She smirked and said, "Nothing, just that I was quite surprised to see such a mass of men gaurding one guy." She noticed Quincy lift up one eyebrow. "Didn't you find it kind of weird?"

Quincy let out a long "hm" and said, "You know what? I think your on to something!" Adira responded with a "Huh?" Quincy leaned in and whispered, "He must be some type of rich guy, or of great importance. Like a mafia boss!" It was silent for a moment. Together they smiled and burst out laughing so loud that everyone looked at them in surprise.

The food arrived and they began to eat. Thinking that it would be a silent conversation, Adira was startled at the fact that Quincy was bothered with the fact about the handsome man.

Adira swallowed her mouthful of food, "Why are you so curious about this man? Are you in love?" She started making a kissing face and leaned forward at her friend. Quincy laughed and pushed Adira's face away with her hand.

"No!" quincy proclaimed, laughing at the same time.

Once they fifnished they went back. They discussed what to do next during the car ride and Adira suggested they should rest for a bit. Quincy could not disagree for she was also tired. The elevator was near Quincy's room so they walked to her room first.

"Later, we'll go check out the hot spring. Okay?"

"Yeah, when do you want me to stop by?"

"Around seven."

Adira said goodbye and started to walk to her room. It was very quiet, and all that you could hear was the sound of birds chirping outside since the window at the other end was open. But when she got to her door and pulled out her hotel key from her back pocket, the mysterious man came out with two men in black suits right behind him. Their eyes met. Adira stopped and froze on the spot. She couldn't look away from his eyes.

Hesitantly she said, "Hi."

It became silent for so long that the moment became awkward. "Beautiful," Adira tilted her head a little to the left. "Huh?" The man stepped a little closer and said, "You have beautiful eyes"

Adira's cheeks blushed a little. She looked away and her sight wandered to pervent eye contact and she said in a low voice, almost to a whisper, "Thank you, sir." She looked up for a moment to see him about to say something, but then a man in glasses grabbed his shoulder.

The man in glasses said, "We have to go sir." The mysterious man looked at him and nodded. He waved goodbye to Adira and walked of with the throng of men surrounding him.

"What the hell was that all about?" Adira went into her room. And as soon as she walked in, her phone rang. Quickly, she answered, "Hello?"

"Adira? It's Will"

"Oh, Will, what's up?"

"I have sent the information you need to identify your target through email. Look at it immediatly and search. We don't have time to wait." Will's voice was strict. Adira knew very well that with the tone of his voice that she must get this job done quick.

"Alright, Bye." Adira hung up and pulled out her laptop. She quickly looked and saw the new email sent by Will. She opened up the link that was connected to an identitiy file. She began to read the information.

Full name: Henry B. Formmen

Gender: M Age: 47 Birthdate: Janurary 23, 1967

Criminal record:

Armed Robbery, Abuse, Resistance, and Possesion of Drugs

Additional information:

Married to Tina F. Formmen. Age: 46. Has two children, Ben H. Formmen and Sydney W. Formmen (twins). Age: 21. Highly dangerous and unstable emotions.

Below all the information was a picture of the man. He had nasty scars on his face, an expression of anger, and half bald. Adira stared at the picture. Most people would think of him as scary, but the more Adira stared, the more she couldn't hold back the laughter. She burst out laughing and said, "He looks so weird!"

Catching her breath she had to go start looking around. She investigated for a bit, and basically romed around the area. Where is this guy, Adira thought. Thinking she might have to look tomorrow she caught a glimpse of a larger group of scary looking men. It was quite suspicious. They were all in one area. It was obvious that people most likely avoided them with such a first impression they gave off.

Adira sat by closely, picking up a magazine and opening it up. Pretending to read whatever was inside, she watched the group of men patiently. After about a half an hour, there was an opening. Siting on the chair was the man she was looking for, and across from him was another older gentleman.

Looks like they are having a meeting, but what is it that they are talking about? This thought ran through Adira's head for a very long time. She couldn't hear what the discussion was about, but getting a little closer would cause them to notice most likely. Finally, after an hour of watching, they got up and began to walk in Adira's direction. As they passed by, she got the best information she needed at that moment.

The target said, "Meet me at the ball room at eleven P.M. tonight."

The other man then responded, "Alright, I expect good weapondry from you."

"Oh, don't you worry. You will get the finest, at the right price." the target chuckled.

Everyone left and Adira grinned. "Well, well, well, Mr. Formmen, I would also love to see your fine weapondry," she said to herself. She looked at a near by clock to see it say, "6:55". Shoot! Forgot I have to get Quincy at seven! She ran off in a hurry to her friends room.

When she got off the elevator, she didn't even have to go to her room. Down the hallway she saw Quincy panicing in front of her room. Adira ran up to her only to be tackled as soon as she was seen in Quincy's view.

"Where were you!?" she yelled, "I was so worried!"

"Sorry, I just went for a short walk around to see everything. I found the hot springs too." Adira scratched her head in embarrassment.

Quincy sighed in relief and patted on Adira's back as she chuckled. "Well, if thats the case, then there is no more need to worry."

Together they got ready to head to the hot spring. They put on their robes and grabbed a towel as they left their rooms. Adira remembered passing it on her way to the dining room. They found it in no time, but what Adira didn't realise was that there was three different hot springs; one for girls, boys, and...coed.

Quincy saw the strange look on Adira's face as she stared at the coed sign. She then teasingly put her arm around Adira's shoulder and whispered in her ear, "You ready to go in there?"

"Go in where?"

"There," Quincy pointed to the coed door.

Adira was baffled at what Quincy's plan was leading to. "Oh, no. No,no,no!"

"Aw, what? Don't want to join in with the blended genders?" Quincy chuckled.

"Hell no," Adira said and laughed with her friend realizing that she was only joking. "Stop joiking around and lets get in the hot tub, shall we?"

They went into the hot spring happily. As expected from such a high class building, the design to the hot spring was as if you were outside into the wilderness. The temperature was nice and warm. Although they wished to stay there forever, it came close to closing time.

"Well, looks like it stime to go," Adira said. She slowly got out and dried off with her towel then covered herself with her robe. Quincy did the same while pouting and complaining on leaving. "You have a hot tub in your bathroom so I am sure you can continue relaxing in there."

"I guess you're right," said the sad Quincy.

Both returned to their rooms. Quincy skipped the hot tub and went straight for the bed. Adira on the other hand grabbed her camera and put her disguise in a bag. It was only ten o'clock, but that just gave Adira more time to set up and get to know her new enviroment. The room where her target was to meet his client was perfect. There were indoor balconies high above the ground where no one would look up. And on top of that, since it was in construction, she could easily hide behind the mirror windows that have not been installed yet. The mirror part was facing toward the ball room so no one would suspect anyone to be behind it.

The hour went by fast, Adira had her disguise on, and everything was set up to where it was impossible for anyone to catch her. As she sat up in the balcony, her target had arrived. A large amount of men gathered; two groups. A table was set up and chairs were put on each end for the leaders to sit down.

The meeting was about to begin, and Adira went to take a photo. But she realized the flash was on. Turning it off she began. It was not long for the target to bring out hus merchanduse of machine guns and heavy explosives. To get a better shot she snuck down the balciny and behind the mirror windows. The photos turned out better, and soon she had all the evidence she needed.

While behind the window, a man walked up to it and began picking at his teeth right in front of where Adira was sitting. He was getting out a piece of lettuce and his teeth was really yellow. Gross!, Adira thought. The target's customer left, but Adira left her lense cap on the balcony. Dang it. Oh well, i'm not in a rush anyways, Adira thought as she snuck back up the balcony.

After grabbing the lense cap, Adira thought of leaving till she heard a commotion going on below. She cautiously looked down to see her target frightened. What is he scared of? Adira thought. When she looked in the other direction, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. The person that was scaring her target was the strange man right next door from her room. What's going on!? Adira thought.

"So, I see you are enjoying yourself." The strange man said in a cold, spine chilling voice.

Her target went on his hands and knees as he started begging for forgiveness. Adira couldn't believe her eyes. She started taking photos of this uninvited guest and tried to keep up with the situation.

The target was continuously punch over and over again, and then stopped as the strange man lifted his right hand. He lowered himself on one knee, lifting the target's head up, and said in a deep, terrifying voice, "Where is the money you owe me?" Although the target kept repeating that he doesn't have the money, the strange man asked the same question all over and over again. Finally the strange man said, "Beat him till he gives me what I want." He then walked out of the room as hid group did as they were told.

Thats when Adira thought back at what Quincy said about them earlier while they were in the resturaunt. She thought at that point, Oh my god! Quincy was right. He must be a mafia boss! "I got to get out of here!" She whispered to herself. She quickly snuck out as quietly as possible. She still had her disguise on but she didn't care. She needed to get as far away as possible. As soon as she was out of range, she began to run. Suddenly she ran into someone.

As soon as she was about to apologize, she looked up only to see the strange man staring down at her as she sat on the floor shocked. Not realizing yet, the sunglasses have flung off Adira's face revealing her saphire eyes. Not worrying about them all she could do at the moment is think, Oh no!