Warning! The scenes of violence and cruelty are present.
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Elena went to the recreation area, which was separated from the main part of the office by a large bookcase. Books, standing tight on the shelves, turned the bookcase into an additional wall, allowing those who didn't want to be seen to hide from prying eyes. This was her favorite place in the professor's office.
She sat in a comfortable chair and opened the manuscript. The quality of the paper immediately made it clear that it was over a hundred years old. The girl flipped through the pages written by its author. The handwriting of this researcher was very beautiful and neat. She had not seen such beautiful calligraphy for a long time.
Suddenly, Elena heard the voice of an unexpected visitor, whom the professor opened the door to. Her whole body strained instantly.
She gently pulled out a few books that covered the visibility of the office. Her feelings were true. This was the man who came earlier.
"Hello, Professor Richards," the man said in a cold voice and took a step forward to enter the office.
Professor slightly closed the door, thereby blocking his path. "Who are you? And why did you come here?"
"Who am I? You don't have to know my name." The man grabbed the door with his hand, opened it with force, took a step forward and closed it behind him. "As for the purpose of my visit ... I think you understand it perfectly well." The visitor snapped the door lock and stared at Brian.
"I do not understand what you are talking about. But, judging by your behavior, you are clearly deprived of education. I ask you to leave my office before I call the security."
"Professor, I think you should be more cooperative. It's in your best interest." The man in black removed his hood and tilted his head to the side, grinning brazenly.
Mr. Richards looked at the man and was ready to respond to his rudeness, but his attention was attracted by the drawing on the stranger's neck. A black tattoo, resembling a bolt of lightning, went up the left side and went back behind the ear.
The eyes of the stranger flashed with hellfire. "Now you understand exactly why I am here?"
Not hearing the professor's answer, the man continued "Where are the documents?"
"I don't understand what documents you are talking about," Brian tried to keep himself cool and speak as confidently as possible. But the only thing that he knew for sure was that this man had something very bad in his mind.
'Damn, Elena is here. He must not see her.'
While the professor was pondering how to divert the attention of a stranger, Elena tried to see this stranger in detail.
He stood sideways to her and was dressed in all black, and she could not identify any significant features, except for the one, that he openly demonstrated. His tattoo was indeed a very perceptible fact, but neither the color of the eyes, nor the color of the hair, nor the shape of the nose ... nothing could be seen.
She made an attempt to get a little closer to them, but she hooked one of the books inadvertently, and it fell down the floor making a huge noise. The two men turned reflexively toward the source of the sound.
"Professor, it turns out that you've got a company?" The stranger took a step towards Elena.
"You are greatly mistaken, I am completely alone. Not considering you, of course," Brian angrily answered the question.
"Once again, leave my office. I'm calling the security." Mr. Richards went to his desk to make a call. An unwanted visitor instantly interrupted his attempt and forced Professor Richards to sit on his chair.
"You know, Professor, I am running out of my patience. I am asking you for the last time, where are the documents that your friend stole from my Master and handed to you? You received them last week."
When Elena heard the last question, she understood that it was about the documents that she gave to David last night. The girl looked at the professor and he, feeling her gaze, turned in her direction and shook his head, giving her a sign that she would remain in place. Then he pointedly sighed, trying to pass off his actions as reflections on a question posed by a stranger.
Brian raised his head up with a smile and said through clenched teeth, "I don't have the documents you are looking for. You wasted your time coming over here. Get out now!"
The stranger's face twisted in anger. "And I guess you won't tell me who has them now either?" he asked in a voice full of hatred.
"Absolutely not!" Brian responded in a furious manner again.
Everything else happened so instantly that Elena did not even immediately understand what she saw. The stranger pulled a syringe from his pocket, stuck it in the professor's neck and injected an incomprehensible liquid into his blood. After that, he quickly removed the syringe and put it back to his pocket.
The professor reflexively grabbed his neck on the injected spot and felt that he began losing his breath. After a few seconds, he felt a sharp pain in his chest and lost consciousness.
Elena covered her mouth with both hands, trying not to scream. She could feel that her body was shaking. The girl began to look for her phone in her pocket to call for help. Suddenly the melody began to play.
It was her phone. She remembered leaving it on the professor's table. The melody of the call filled up the silence of the room. All of a sudden, the ringing stopped...
"Hello?"
Elena burst out in surprise. The man in black answered the incoming call and turned on the speakerphone.
"Hello? Elena? Where are you? I am free already," Corey's voice sounded in Elena's ears.
With every second this voice was approaching her, and the girl understood that her refuge was about to be revealed.
Elena began to go through her options in her head with the speed of light, but they all boiled down to one. She did not know her opponent at all, and given the speed of his movements, he was clearly not some kind of amateur. And with high probability, she would not even have time to get out of her chair when her fate was already doomed.
"Hello? Elena, why are you keeping silence? Are you again with the professor or are you in the library and therefore you can't talk?" Corey's voice sounded right behind the girl's back, and she had already begun to hear the unhurried steps of a man heading toward her.
"Okay. I will be in the professor's office in 5 minutes, and if you are not there, then I will go immediately to the library. Wait for me wherever you are."
Corey hung up and there was total silence in the room. Elena actually stopped breathing, and only a mad pounding of her heart confirmed that she was still alive. It seemed to her that time had stopped.
Suddenly, she heard how the creaking office door was opened and shut again. Elena slowly turned around and saw that the stranger was no longer there. She carefully got up from her chair and went to the professor.
The man was unconscious. He was sitting on the chair in a very strange pose. The girl raised her hand to the injection spot and froze.
A minute later, Elena pulled her hand back, and a shiver filled her body. There was no pulse on the man's neck anymore.
Professor Brian Richards was dead.