"If he's leaving the city and not taking the helicopter, that can only mean he doesn't want Shu Maxwell to know that he's going outside the city. If we're lucky, we'll get answers to many of my questions," Ray told the girl.
" Alright. Now stop disturbing me and let me do my work," The girl said as he disconnected the call.
****
Soon, Ryder left the city with Alice.
" Alice, Can you open the net and search for the best hotel for dinner? Since we're going there, we might as well go to the best one," Ryder told Alice while keeping his eyes on the road.
This was an abrupt plan that had to be made because of an abrupt mission given by Janus.
He didn't have the time to do any research, and he didn't want to stop the car. He didn't want to delay any further by stopping the car since he knew Alice must be hungry. It was already very time consuming to travel from one city to another by car.
He gave the task of searching for a hotel to Alice.
"Ah, didn't you say that you are going there because that's a nice hotel there which you want to eat at?" She asked Ryder in confusion. If Ryder already knew where he wanted to eat, why was he telling her to search? She was confused.
"Ah, right. I do know a great hotel, but now I think that it would be better to go to one selected by you. Choose one and give me the location," Ryder said, shaking his head.
"It's fine. I don't have a preference. I want to eat in the place chosen by you," Alice answered as she smiled.
"Ah, don't worry about that. Select one, or we'll spend the entire night like this since I am not dripping this unless you first a hotel for dinner," Ryder insisted as he smiled wryly.
After a little more back and forth, Alice agreed to do it.
She started browsing through the internet to find a hotel she wanted to have dinner in.
"This one looks good, Hotel Luxia. The reviews of the critiques are good," Alice said as she selected a place.
"What about the people's republic review? You know some hotels pay the critiques to give nice reviews. You should focus more on the public reviews," Ryder said as he chuckled.
"The public perception is good too. All I hear is praise for their dishes," Alice said as she smiled.
"Alright. Hotel Luxia it is," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.
"Oh, right. How's that friend of yours? Estonia, I believe she was called?" Ryder suddenly said as he started some light-hearted talking.
"She's good. I met her in college. She was shocked to hear that I was attacked, and she offered to help. She said that her father was rich and had plenty of security. She suggested that we stay with her to stay safe," Alice replied.
"Yeah, her father is Rich indeed. What did you reply?" Ryder asked, even though he knew what her answer was going to be.
"I denied. I'm perfectly happy here, and I don't worry about my safety with you around," Alice replied as a beautiful smile blossomed on her face.
" Hahaha, It should be the opposite. You're in more danger with me around. Danger always seems to be following me. I try to keep it away from my family, but it finds its way. The guys who kidnapped you did that because they wanted to blackmail me. If it were not for me, it wouldn't have happened," Ryder replied, shaking his head.
" Don't say that. It all started because I was arrested first, so it's because of me," Alice said, shaking her head.
"Oh, right. Shu said that we should stay with him. He said he would be alone if we leave. I want to ask your opinion about it though. Should we get a nice mansion for just the two of us or stay with Shu? There won't be any compromise in your security either way," Ryder asked Alice.
"What do you want?" Alice asked back.
" I'll do what you say. I'm fine with any of the two options," Ryder replied. He didn't take his eyes off the road throughout this conversation.
"I-i think we should stay with Brother Shu. If he says that he would be alone when we leave, then it would be bad to leave. Also, it's more fun with the three of us. It's like our family just got bigger," Alice replied as she smiled.
" Yeah, Our family got bigger," Ryder replied.
" Shu is a great guy. He's just like us. It's like all our destinies were written with the same brush. All of us lost our parents at a young age. The only difference was that he had money, and we didn't. But that doesn't change the fact that we all suffered. All three of us lacked a family. There will always be that empty spot in our lives," He muttered as he sighed.
"Fortunately, I had you, but he didn't have anyone except a few loyal employees," he added.
"We should stay," Alice said, nodding her head.
"Yeah," Ryder muttered.
"Oh, right. I completely forgot about that. I wanted to buy some clothes for myself. Let's get some on our way back," He said as he remembered.
Soon, Ryder reached the neighboring city.
'That car has been chasing us throughout the way. That girl is such an idiot. Did she think that I wouldn't notice her? That idiot spy. She's doing such a bad job. She's lucky that I'm pretending not to know, or she would've been in deep trouble,' he thought as he looked at the car chasing him through the mirror.
The girl that was chasing him didn't know that Ryder had already discovered her.
Ryder drove through the roads of the city that were empty since it was so late at night.
He stopped his car near Hotel Luxia and stepped out of the car.
He gave the Valet the keys to part the car before he entered the hotel while holding Alice's hand.
Ryder entered the Hotel and booked a table. It was pretty expensive since it was a Seven-Star Hotel, but Ryder didn't care about that much money. He was escorted to the table, which was in a private room. The food was served inside the room for them.
There was a TV in the room which was showing a news Channel.
" Breaking News! We have just received information that there has been a terrorist attack in Hotel Durham in New Jersey!"
Ryder was just about to take his first bite when he heard the news. He looked to his side and stood up, shocked.
