Chapter 78 - Who Are You?

…

Present Time

Patrick informed Daniel of this incident and Daniel was shaken after knowing what happened in the past, he wondered what would have happened if those two guys didn't hear that conversation, if Patrick didn't reach there on time, if that girl didn't call the police, there were many ifs going on in his mind, if any of those things wouldn't have happened the way they did then he would have had lost Rachel even before he met her. These thoughts drove him crazy and he was aggrieved.

"So, Daniel now you realize the incident that happened with you two was not the first and the exact same thing happened around ten years ago." James revealed, he looked pale and sad, it seemed as if he aged ten more years.

"Were you not able to figure out who was behind this for ten years, are you serious?" This time Daniel looked at Anthony with an underlying meaning to his question which was understood by everyone sitting there except for Patrick although he did have some idea about it.

"We did use all the power we have to figure out who is behind it, we were also able to reach the truth but unfortunately, one of our own men betrayed us and because of it we reached a dead-end and in the end without any other choice we sent Rachel away as far as we could and then we decided to give up on searching the person who is behind all these attacks as we were warned to back off and were threatened with lives of other close people in our circle, including Patrick's friends. It was a silent agreement where we won't dig about them and they won't harm our people, we thought this agreement would continue but we didn't expect Rachel to be attacked again, after she came back from the US for 2 years everything was peaceful and we thought these people won't bother us but I guess they again decided to attack us." Anthony explained everything to Daniel, the reason behind everything that was happening.

Daniel was speechless for some time and was not sure what to say, he cursed himself for not looking into the attack deeply and taking it all so lightly.

"Two days back she received a message from an unknown number." Patrick broke the silence in the room.

This time Anthony and Michael were shocked as they didn't know anything about it.

"What message?" Michael asked.

"Two days back, we all went for a reunion, at that time Rachel received a message 'I am coming for you and this time I won't fail' the message came from an unknown number and it doesn't allow us to message back on it. I tried to get more information on the sender so I forwarded it to my cyber team and yesterday I got to know this message was sent from the same club we visited two days back."

Daniel, Anthony and Michael were all shocked, James was calm which implied Patrick already informed him of this.

"You mean the person who messaged this was near you guys at that time?" Michael worriedly asked.

"Yes and that's why we decided to have this meeting, to be open about every information we have as we believe this time the attacks on Rachel will be more intense and we have to act more carefully."

"James let's keep Rachel at home, let us not let her go outside." Anthony got really scared after knowing all this information.

"No Anthony, I can't take away her freedom from her, she will get really pissed." 

"Did you people never tell Rachel about that attack in her school?" Daniel was looking at James and Patrick.

"No I didn't want to scare her and neither do I want her to live in fear, somewhere I believe the people behind these attacks are the same ones who killed my wife, William and Liz." James had tears in his eyes when he remembered his happy family that he has now lost forever. 

Michael went to James and kept his hand on his shoulder to console him, "James we will not let anything happen to Rachel, we have learnt from our past mistakes and this time we will catch those people."

"Yes grandpa, I assure you, I'll protect Rachel and I promise you she would be fine." Daniel walked towards James and kneeled in front of him and made this promise looking into his eyes.

James who was calm till not showed some reaction and looking at Daniel and hearing his words, James indeed felt assured, he was not sure why but he strongly believed Daniel's words and knew his granddaughter will be safe.

"Daniel please don't tell Rachel about this, she should not know anything. Promise me"

"I promise you." Daniel didn't hesitate before making this promise as he too didn't want Rachel to know about all of this.

Then all the men decided that from now onwards they will increase the security around Rachel.

James told them he has to go back home before Rachel comes and he will inform her about these changes and discuss it partially without revealing much information. 

Everyone then left for their homes.

Before he left, Daniel received a message from his source. Two days back he called someone and asked him to look into the cryptic message that Rachel received and that guy promised him to get some information in 48 hours and just now Daniel got that, he read it and furrowed his brows after reading it.

He quickly ran to chase Patrick, lucky for him Patrick was approaching his car and didn't leave yet, Daniel was able to run towards him on time, "Patrick" he called out loud, he was out of breath.

Patrick turned towards Daniel in confusion.

Daniel handed his phone to Patrick and signaled him to read it. Patrick was confused as to what was happening but he took the phone and read the content of the message, after reading it Patrick's expressions changed, "How did you get this information?" he asked in surprise.

"My source." Daniel answered.

"Who are you?" Patrick looked at Daniel with a mix of curiosity, confusion and surprise.

"That's not important. This information is very useful for you right? I am ready to share every information my source would get but I want you to look into it more deeply." There was a tone of command in Daniel's voice.

Patrick couldn't oppose or go against his command, "This is illegal" these were the words he finally managed to blurt out.

"That's why I want you to delve deeper into it, legally."

Understanding Daniel's intentions Patrick agreed to cooperate. 

"Okay, it was nice meeting you Dr. Daniel."

It was not a surprise for him to know about Daniel, he has done his research on him when Rachel confessed she likes him.

"It was nice meeting you too, Mr. Patrick." Daniel lightly smiled

Patrick smiled back and then he left. Daniel too left for his home.

…

Daniel's Penthouse

Daniel was lying on the bed, with one hand on his side and elbow of his other hand on his forehead, he lied in that position for don't know how long, he was thinking deeply about everything that happened few hours back and about the information he received from his source, 'I'll protect you Rachel, no matter what, but I just hope all of this will pass away quickly without leaving any life long scars on you.' he made a promise to himself.

...

Rye, the county of East Sussex, 82 km away from London. 

Queen home is a small motel in Rye with minimum facilities. It is a five storey building which is old and has no basic amenities like an elevator or more people available at one's service. It is a less populated town, only tourists visit this place and majority of the people stay in the interior of the town. This hotel is near the entrance of the town a bit far away from the main area, one old aged couple reached this motel, parked their car and entered the reception area.

A man sitting at the counter smiled towards the old couple courteously, "Hello sir, what can I do for you?"

The old man slightly coughed and replied "we want a room with double bed and if possible the best room in this motel"

"Sure, actually on the first and the second floor some repairs are going on so there is room on the third floor which has a double bed and would be comfortable for two people."

"Don't you have at least one good room on the first floor? Anyway no other people are seen here so it definitely is not full and it is difficult for old people like us to climb three floors."

"Sorry sir, although It is a motel but it is still a small place and therefore we do not have proper facilities on every floor, so the room on the third floor has all the basic amenities and will be perfect for you"

The old woman who accompanied him signaled her husband to take the room