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                              Kapitel 10: Day Ten
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Frank didn't know what he was doing anymore. It felt like the woman controlled
him without wanting to. He couldn't tell anybody what he was doing, either.
Thinking about it didn't help at all.
So there he was, standing in front of a closed down grocery shop, wondering
about the places these people chose to plot their plans to escape. Then he came
to the conclusion that it isn't the right time to use the logic he knew, before
knocking on the door.
In the meantime, Gerald, Anthony and Vincent were hiding only a few metres away,
trying to catch a glimpse of what Frank was doing.
„Can anybody see what's going on?“, Gerald asked.
„I saw him knocking on the door. I doubt that he's going to meet a client in
there“, Anthony replied.
„Shut up!“, Vincent silenced them. „The door opens!“
After the door in front of Frank opened, the detective spotted the all too
familiar woman with the hair standing behind the door.
„I'm not surprised that you came, but I'll act like I did“, she greeted him
with her personal smile.
„Just let me in. I want to get this over with as fast as possible.“
„Oh, for once, we're thinking the same thing“, Helena said before stepping
aside and letting Frank in. After he disappeared in there, the three of them
left their hiding spot and got closer to the store.
„So, what do you say? Any chance of getting in there?“, Vincent asked
Anthony, who observed the build at the moment.
„Might be hard. Breaking in frontal is out of the question, as we have no idea
how many and how good at combat they are.“
„Even with my Gatling?“
„It may have a high fire speed, but I doubt that you can aim with it fast
enough. Also, these people might be just misled.“
„They were trying to kidnap me!“
„Find the right words and people jump off a cliff if you told them that.“
„So, have you got any ideas how to get in otherwise?“
„Hm... spontaneously trying to think of a way to sneak into a building from
which I haven't even got blue prints and with no idea where in there they are
actually meeting will be a challenge.“
„It's a grocery store, isn't it?“, asked Gerald. „How many rooms can there
be to meet anybody? And they can't be in the actual store part of it, because
otherwise we would hear them, wouldn't we?“
„Good point, Gerald“, Anthony replied. „Doesn't make it much easier to get
in there, though.“
„Maybe we could get in from behind. I'm sure this store will have a back
entrance“, Vincent proposed.
„It's worth a try. No idea about if the door is locked“, Anthony said.

„What is with these people and their fear of light?“, Frank thought as he
followed Helena to the storage room, where the meeting was presumably held.
Helena layed her hand on the door and gave it a push, opening it and revealing
about one hundred people sitting or standing to the sides, with a desk put at
the end of the room. Both of them entered the room, and while Frank looked
around trying to sort his thoughts, Helena moved straight up to the desk and
took her place on the chair behind it.
„Good night, fellow Freedom Seekers!“, she greeted them. „On this
particular meeting, I am finally able to welcome the most prominent character in
this story: Frank, the private detective!“
The rest of the people applauded, while Frank tried to not associate himself
with them. It just felt utterly wrong to him.
„As you may know“, Helena continued, „we have plotted our escape for so
long, long before the writer found the ritual to enter this world, hoping that
it may bear fruit when we're done. But before we eventually put our plan into
motion, we still need to prepare a few things.“
„And these would be?“, Frank asked her. „And why do I get the feeling that
it's going to involve me?“
„Well, the most obvious thing we need to do is getting the ritual sentence
Gerald uses to switch between the worlds. You maybe haven't heard him using it,
don't you?“
Frank shook his head. „I never was around when he left.“
That caused Helena to sigh. „ It would have made it so much easier... but we
have to live with it. And it's not like we haven't planned anything for that
occasion, haven't we?“
Frank raised an eyebrow. „Randomly attacking him is your plan? Really?“
„It wasn't random. We planned these attacks carefully. He just happened to be
around other people.“
Frank could see very well that this just couldn't end in a good way.
„And it only took us two attacks to realise that this way of approaching him
didn't work, so where's your problem?“ 
“The problem here is that I don’t see the sense in your plan! What would it
help you if Gerald knows that you exist? He’s just going to be more cautious
about what he’s going to do! At least two other people are supporting him
currently!”
“And that’s one of the reasons you’re here, Frank.”
“…what?”
“You heard me. Who would know more about Gerald’s habits than somebody who
was not only created by him, but also spent a lot of his time while he spends
his time here?”
“As if I tell you anything else, now that I know why you forced me to come
here!”
Helena chuckled. “That doesn’t change the situation at all, Frank. You will
tell me more, if you feel like it or not.”
“Just… who - or what - are you?”
“As if knowing that would make it any easier.”
“Guys! I found it!” yelled Gerald, pointing at a door in the wall. It
wasn’t hard to spot, as the street light was directly shining on it.
Vincent then tried to slam the door open, with no success. “Okay, blunt force
won’t work.”
“Why haven’t you just tried opening it normally first? This shop seemed to
be closed down for a while now, and I doubt they properly locked the doors when
they left it as it was”, Anthony said to him while looking at the door.
“Though, when I think about it, it may not be that easy to get in there. If it
wasn’t closed down, the door should have opened after Vincent hit it like
that. Maybe…” He was thinking for a while, before drawing a picklock out of
his pocket.
“I hope you don’t use that thing to break in everywhere you like”, said
Gerald in a tone that couldn’t decide if it wanted to sound jokingly or
worrying.
“Don’t worry. I use this thing as little as possible…” He slowly pushed
the picklock into the lock, moving it around as he hoped to hear a certain kind
of click. But as much as he fiddled around, it didn’t seem to work.
“Okay, that’s out of the way”, Vincent said. “Any other ideas?”
“Have you tried looking under that?”, asked Gerald, pointing at the doormat.
Anthony and Vincent then stared at him, wishing that it was some sort of joke.
“You really think it could be that easy?”, joked Vincent. “Please. You
can’t serious.”
Gerald bowed down and moved the doormat away, revealing a small key that could
probably fit into the door.
What followed was Vincent and Anthony hitting their faces with their right hands
wide open.
“So, tell me more about what you know that could help us.”
Helena was looking at Frank with her signature combination of cat-like slit
eyes, her soft and yet irritating smile and a slightly tilted head, while Frank
was about to lose his nerves.
“Forget it. I’d rather get myself killed by you before I let you know
anything else.”
“Sorry, but killing you is out of the question. I need you alive, if you
understand.”
She pointed at the door through which she and Frank came in.
“Don’t let him get out of here. I need to get a point across before he can
leave this room.”
After she finished, three of them placed themselves in front of the door.
“Frank, I won’t let you fight these people, and you’re allowed to go as
soon as I told you this. But the thing is - as I have told you so many times
already - resistance is futile. I know that you’re going to help me in the
end, and you can do as much about it as you like, but it won’t get you out of
this. You just try to act like the tough guy you’re representing -”
“I’m not representing Frank, I AM Frank!”
As she ignored him, she continued: “- and completely ignore your own wishes
and desires. And I know that, somewhere inside of you, you wish you could leave
and leave all of this behind you.”
“Let me go.”
Helena sighed. “I can’t tell it to you often enough, can I? You’re just
making it harder for yourself if you deny the truth.
He repeated himself, his time talking in a patronising fashion: “Let. Me.
Go.”
Without saying anything, she moved her hand so the three people blocking the
door would leave.
“See, what was so hard about it?”, he said, before going away. As he left
them behind, he heard a familiar voice speaking to him from his back.
“Frank?”, she whispered. It turned out to be Gerald, who just got in
together with Anthony and Vincent.
Frank was really surprised about this, trying to not draw attention to him.
“Gerald, what are you doing here?”
“We could ask you the same thing”, replied Anthony.
“You see, I got another clue concerning the Freedom Seekers.”
“Why haven’t you told us then?”, asked Vincent him.
“It’s a long story, and let me assure you that you don’t want to hear it
right now.”
“Have you at least gathered information?”, said Gerald.
“Not much, but better than nothing at all. Now let’s leave before they
finish their meeting and see us together.”

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