Shadow Under the Sun [Complete]

Chapter 4: Surveillance System

The morning after the game, a black van pulled in front of Kaito’s dorm. The driver was the very same person who drove him home last night, and he started to think if he actually worked as a chauffeur to the group. He chimed in greetings and latest news as the redhead closed the door to his van, including weather forecast and an offer to stop by a coffee shop.

“No, thanks. I’m fine,” the younger answered politely. He wasn’t at all a coffee lover anyway. Arthur insisted, and in the end they stop by the town’s famous coffee shop and fetch two cups of latte from the take away window.

“Fine woman, that barista,” he joked as they left the place, “did you notice the way she talks? Very sweet and polite, though a little faint.”

“Your girlfriend is a nice too. Dude did she tell you how many men tried to woo her? None ever succeeded. She loves you very much.” Arthur flicked his wrist and grinned, “you’re lucky”

The lad sipped on his coffee nonchalantly. He started tapping on his cup and twirling his finger on each other, holding back the urge to steer the topic away, “I am, thanks.”

Kaito leant back and stared at the street of his beloved country. Huge concrete buildings lined up both sides of the road, staring down at the four-laneway road through their dead, dark tinted windows. Most of them were built in elongated fashion, with beam running on their length and staircases displayed on the front as a featured decor. The materials are hardly other than bare concrete, polished light grey, intercepted by narrow, high frameless windows spanning either the entire height or length. It gave off a feelings of fortresses, slab after slab of concretes with no decorations except signage written in square letters, introverted, uniformed. Bridges occasionally spanned above the road, connecting pedestrian streets and buildings across each other.

“We’re here,” the young driver whistled and stepped on the gear pedal, turning the wheel to the right. Kaito leant forward, trying to see the top of the much familiar building with its massive concrete walls running from the roof down to its root. Sitting at one third of a wall was the majestic symbol of the peace department, beaming with pride under the flapping country flag.

“So this is the peace department.” Kaito turned to Arthur, who grinned and raised his thumb as an answer. He turned to enter the basement, driving the van a bit further to the back where it opened to a concrete courtyard at the end. He parked the van next to a black high-end sedan, carefully aligned the vehicle with the white mark on the cement finished floor.

“Here is the place to park your bike, car, whatever, when you finally drive here on your own,” he jumped off the van and close the door with a loud bang, “don’t park in the yard, seriously.”

Kaito expected to see police cars and vans in the basement, but instead of the usual black and white cars sporting huge ‘POLICE’ and red-blue lights on the top, there were three black luxurious sedan and several bike, many can be categorized as high end. It was not at all looked like an officer’s method of travelling.

“This way,” The young man pointed to the concrete courtyard lies behind the basement. It was apparently lower than street level, a huge empty space with a single pond in the middle, reflecting the wide building encompassing the courtyard. White, smooth finished concrete walls made up most of the façade, with slits and occasional glass pane lightens the seemingly powerful, monumental structure. A grand staircase, ten meters wide, preceded the disproportionately humble glass entrance. Everything about the architecture seemed intimidating to the boy. Its size, its design, its monochromatic color, every single elements sent forth enough grandiosity to make people involuntarily kept their head low.

“Building has 6 floors in total,” Arthur explained as they stepped up the staircase, keeping them shielded by the building’s shadow on their left, “four stories up, two basements down. Rules are a little stricter than most places, but you’ll get used to it.”

Upon entering the glass door, the lads were greeted by a practically empty lobby, two stories high. A block of black marble placed in the center. It was five meters long, with only one young man seated behind it as a receptionist. Arthur gave him a short nod before turned to the right, leading Kaito to a wide corridor with two elevators at the end.

“Relax,” Arthur slapped the skinnier boy on the back when he saw Kaito looked so tense. The chap was biting his lips in anticipation and anxiety, wondering what kind of people looming around in this building, “We don’t bite as much as people say we do. The government’s dogs are tamer when they’re with each other.”

“The government’s dog?”

“That’s right. Ever heard of it?”

“No, not really,” Kaito shook his head lightly and avoided the guy’s gaze. He kept his attention fixed to the unmoving door, hands shoved deep in the pocket. A single cold sweat trickled down his temple as he clenched his jaw. He had to draw a long breath to calm down.

“Sounded cynical, isn’t it?” the boy forced out a smile, afraid he would offend the man.

Arthur shrugged his shoulder.

The chauffeur were lead to another empty hall, this time thrice bigger than the lobby. There were tracks running on the ceiling and massive concretes block with marks and scratches on the surface stood as walls on the perimeter. The floor was also made of concrete, simply glazed and finished to give it a touch of completion.

A much familiar figure sat against the wall when Kaito came in. His hand was busy tapping on the keypad, sometimes frowned in a seriousness that was strangely charming. He always has an air of authority around him, even when he was simply sitting down and did something as mundane as texting. The way he walked when Kaito first met him, the flick of his wrists, and even today when he turned and the way he sprang to his feet gave off an effortless elegance able to put celebrities to shame.

“Hello, welcome” Allegra beamed off his trademark smug and approached them, hands stretched out for a shake. A simple, leather belted wristwatch peeked from behind the sleeves. Kaito noticed a deep scratch on the edge of the steel frame.

“Colonel,” the red haired lad went to his stance at first but hurriedly accepted his offer, “Nice to see you again.”

“So what do you think of our place?” the man asked again after Arthur left them, saying he’s gotten another errand to do, “it may felt a little too cold at the moment, but once you’re used to it, this place is actually quite comfortable.”

Kaito nodded, awkwardly. He felt oddly relaxed at the presence of this person, though his entire gesture clearly expressed dignity and pride, a quality owned by someone used to sit atop the pyramids. Allegra was huge, with broad shoulder and equally broad torso. His steps are wide, his movement effective, making him looked always calm even though his facial expression was light and pleasant, with smug instead of smile plastered on his lips.

“You are very familiar with firearms, right?” the young man reached to his pocket and produced a black handgun. Kaito immediately tensed, eyeing the gun and the man back and forth. Remembering he was the game master at their previous encounter, the boy wouldn’t be surprised if this man has something else up in his sleeves.

“Yes sir, why sir?”

“Calm down boy,” Allegra chuckled and showed the boy his gun, “you don’t have to be that-- scared. You performed well during the initiation, fighting me wouldn’t be much of a problem.”

“Yes, sir,” the brown eyes casted a worried glance over the gun and shrugged his shoulder.

“I have read the report on your performance during your mandatory military service. You excelled at both hand combat and firearms., Right you did, I almost forgot You have no history of rule breaking whatsoever. Clean records.” the lad treaded down the corridor with wide steps and gestured to Kaito to follow him. He was still holding his gun in his hand.