Chapter 11 #2
Varsha doesn’t say anything; she’s just watching us.
And, because the whole situation is making me feel constricted, I decide to give myself some space from it.
Throwing my bloody hand wrap on the ground, I stand and walk over to the table where my duffle bag is placed.
I pull my water bottle out from inside it and take a few long swigs from it, then lean against the table to calm myself a bit.
I knew that when I told them about this, they’d be mad. But what I wasn’t expecting was for them to be unreasonable about it; be so damn unwilling to understand.
I’m about to take another swig from my bottle, but stop when I hear Jayce’s comment.
“She must really be something, then, if you’ve decided to be so fucking callous about things.”
I close the bottle and place it on top of my duffel bag. “She is.” I face Jayce. “You know I wouldn’t have done any of this if she wasn’t.”
He glances at the rest of the crew as he sighs, then gets to his feet before sliding his hands into the pockets of his sweats.
“Well, in that case, make sure to at least give us a damn heads up before you decide to infiltrate an elite’s security again – you know, so that we can be there to watch you get shot in the ass for getting your dick hard over a pixie-looking chick. ”
I can’t help but chuckle at that.
“Fuck you, man,” I tell him.
He clicks his tongue. “Don’t think Cignette will approve of that, unfortunately.”
“And neither will I, you dumbass,” Alex says to Jayce.
Varsha snorts. “My God, you guys are fucking ridiculous.”
Alex already has a response for her, and he’s about to voice it, but stops when Jayce’s phone rings.
He pulls it out of his hoodie pocket and hands it to Jayce – who, after taking the phone from Alex, briefly touches his husband’s jaw with a knuckle as a silent apology for having used an undeserved tone at him earlier.
Alex stifles a smile and acts unaffected, but I can clearly see that his shoulders have gone a little slack, and his overall posture, too, has relaxed a bit.
Jayce looks at me after having checked the caller’s name, then answers the call before putting it on speaker.
“Solo,” he greets.
“Jay.” There’s Sinatra playing in the background, and I already know that Solo is in his condo – probably with a bunch of naked people in their early twenties vowing over him.
“You guys feelin’ ready for the party this Saturday?” he asks.
I walk over to Jayce and stand next to him, just as he answers Solo by saying, “You know we are.”
“And Dor?”
I scoff. “I’m fine, Solo.”
He chuckles. “Just making sure, kid.”
I shake my head, even though he clearly can’t see it, or me. “Go back to your orgy, boss; you don’t have to worry about the kills,” I tell him.
This time, he laughs, and the song in the background swells to a crackling crescendo – a little static through the line.
“This lot is quite…efficient, if I do say so myself,” he provides.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that,” Alex says, then grimaces.
“I know you’re old, but you can’t possibly be that old.
Efficient, really? They’re people, Solo, not your fucking life insurance policy.
Because that is something you describe as efficient, not guys and girls who know how to have mind-blowing sex.
Learn your praises before you end up using the wrong one and pissing one of those groupies into slitting your throat. ”
Varsha coughs, Jayce puts his tongue to his cheek, and I purse my lips in order to stop myself from losing my shit.
Solo bursts into a very unfiltered bout of laughter. “Oh, Alex…” He continues to laugh. “I hope you suck Jayce’s cock just as well as you run that blunt mouth of yours.”
Alex crosses his arms over his chest and shoots a quick wink at Jayce. “Much, much better, I’ll have you know,” he tells Solo. “Too bad your shriveled shrimp didn’t get a chance to experience it before Jayce put a ring on my finger.”
Jayce looks too close to losing it, whereas Varsha is trying really hard not to.
“And isn’t that the biggest regret of my existence,” muses Solo.
“There’s always afterlife,” I quip. “You’ve got a shred of hope to hold onto.”
Jayce kicks me in the calf, which makes me grin.
Solo chuckles again, then clears his throat. “Anyway.” His tone shifts to all-business. “We sticking to the same plan, then?” he asks.
“Yeah,” Varsha answers. “Rizwana, Andres, and Tomas – that’s the decided order.”
“Copy.” He pauses for a couple of seconds, and we then hear him talking to someone on the other side.
“Sorry about that,” he says to us after a short while. “Alright, so where were we?”
“We confirmed the kill order,” Jayce states.
“Ah, yes.” There’s a rustle of fabric against leather, footsteps clicking against hardwood floor, followed by the shutting of a door.
“Alright, so Waleed informed me earlier that he’s got your names added to the event’s invitees list,” Solo informs us. “Mine was already in there, of course, so all he had to do was confirm my RSVP.”
“Just making sure: he managed to get us in without freaking out the person responsible for the guest list?” Alex inquires.
“You underestimate the power our client holds over the entirety of this shindig, Alex,” Solo says.
“Touché.”
“So…” There’s another rustle, followed by the groaning of leather. “I’ve acquired a softcopy of Imperia’s blueprint,” Solo tells us. “I’m emailing it to you as we speak. It’s for reference only, by the way; you don’t have to store it into memory or anything.”
“Do we wanna know how you got your hands on it?” Varsha asks.
“Eat the damn mangoes and forget about the seeds, V,” Solo answers.
“That’s…hardly accurate.” She clicks her tongue and pulls her phone out of her denim jacket. “Anyways… Password,” she tells him, then taps on the latest notification she’s gotten, which in turn opens the encrypted email Solo has sent her.
“The capital of Nauru, times ninety-four, times omega.”
yaren×94×omega
Varsha types in the password, then flips her phone sideways before showing us the black-and-white blueprint.
“Give me a verbal rundown, Solo,” I say, then take Varsha’s phone from her.
Her and Alex come to stand next to me, and as I zoom into an area on the blueprint, I notice that they’ve moved the ballroom up to the first floor.
“Threat level is intermediate,” he says.
“The place may look like it was built to be some sort of a palace, but it’s got none of the surprise factors of one.
The layout is pretty standard, too – nothing we need to concern ourselves about.
The security is top-notch, as it is to be expected, but they are quite easily persuadable if you’ve got the right words to say, the right tools on hand, and the perfect amount of status. ”
“Escape routes?” I ask.
“We’ve got 3 exits,” Solo begins. “The first one, of course, is the entrance itself. The second one is on the ground floor as well – in the kitchen, northwest side. It’s got a digital lock system and is supposed to stay shut unless an emergency hits, but the staff has disabled it for their random cigarette and coffee breaks, so you’ll find it open at all times.
It leads to 17th Ave, so you guys will have to take a bit of a turnaround to get to the parking lot – on foot – to reach your vehicles.
Not the best bargain if, God forbid, you’re being chased, but it’s still a solid option.
And then, finally, we’ve got the third exit…
” He trails, and that’s not exactly a good sign.
“What is it?” Jayce asks.
“Avoid it if you can, because the third exit is on the second floor – inside the manager’s office. It’s a massive glass window, basically, which opens to a metal platform, followed by a set of metal stairs that’ll lead you directly to the hotel’s parking lot.”
“But we’re to avoid it because the room itself is heavily guarded, I presume,” I tell Solo.
“Bingo. The manager has a team of security that’s always stationed outside the office. He’s Chase and Miranda’s puppet, and not only takes care of their illegal biddings, but also manages the hotel’s finances. So yeah, he’s kept well under protection.”
“What’s his name again?” Jayce asks.
“Manav Dheer,” says Solo.
“You have any idea why they moved the ballroom to the first floor?” I ask him.
“It’s because the area where it used to be before has now been turned into a seating room for international meetings or some shit.
Chase wanted a room that’s big enough, and also good enough to transform into a patriotic bullshit dungeon to cash in any foreign dignitary that visits Riverside and holds a meeting with him. ”
“Of course,” I muse. “But this change does leave us at a disadvantage, doesn’t it?”
Varsha studies the blueprint. “We’ll be in the middle of it all,” she says, then meets my eyes. “No matter what, we’ll either have to ascend, or descend, an entire floor to get away once we’re done.”
“Exactly.” I work my jaw as I look at the image again. “And the first floor has no exits, no shortcuts. It’s got the ballroom, a very open hallway, a massive dining room, and a bathroom. Good places to perform the kills, but not close enough to our possible retreats.”
“Then perform the kills on the ground floor,” Solo tells us.
“Where, in the very-easily accessible foyer?” Jayce counters.
“It’s got a bathroom and a dining area as well, you dumbass,” Solo says.
“Right.” Jayce rolls his eyes, and the rest of us chuckle.
“So it’s settled, then,” Alex states with a slightly manic gleam in his eyes. “We’ve got everything figured out?”
“Chill,” I tell him. “We know the kill order and the layout of the place where we’re to perform them, but the rest we’ll have to figure out after observing the event.
Making concrete plans restrains us within the lines we’ve drawn around the formulated idea.
Let’s not be completely decisive over anything unless we’ve studied the grounds and taken in every factor once we’re actually there. ”
“Well said, Dor,” Solo states. “Going into this with a tunnel vision won’t help. You’ll need to watch each other’s backs and sides.”
“Agreed,” Varsha adds, just as Jayce says, “Copy.”
Alex rolls his eyes. “Fine; kill my joy before it even has a chance to fucking breathe.”
“But that’s kind of our job, isn’t it, babe?” Jayce tells him, to which Alex simply flips him off, making him laugh.
“Alright, guys; I’ve gotta go,” Solo tells us. “I’ll see you 4 on Saturday, yeah?”
“Yup,” we say in unison.
“And Dor?”
“Yeah?”
“I want you focused – entirely, you hear me?”
I know what he means by that; he’s indirectly asking me to keep my wits about me.
It’s pretty obvious that Cignette will be attending the event, and despite being aware of that little factoid, I’ll have to do my job; I’ll have to perform those kills.
I gotta admit: I’m clueless as to what my state of mind will be then – with her being close – but what I do know is that I’ll try my best not to fuck shit up, because if I do, then it’s not just me who’ll take the fall, but also Solo and my crew.
Easier said than done, though, especially when it comes to Cignette being my object of imperiling distraction.
I clear my throat and slide my hands into the pockets of my joggers. “Adios, boss; I’ll see you in 3 days,” I tell Solo, then give my crew a quick nod, turn around, and head for the gym’s bathroom.