4. Callum
CALLUM
“Stars-damn,” Axel bit out from my right as I shook out my wrist, muscles flexing.
I holstered my pistol as I took a step further into the alley, shaking my head. “You’d think they’d at least have a bit of self-preservation.”
We both stared at the two Solis Guards lying on the floor in a heap.
The first guard had put up a decent fight, although it was by no means impressive, considering the abilities I would expect from a sergeant.
The remaining guardsman with him went down in the blink of an eye.
Neither of us had to call on our affinities as we knocked them out cold, their bodies crumpling.
I took a moment to scan the alley we stood in, ensuring no cameras were recording or drones were flying by that might catch our ambush on the RSG.
“Did you have to get blood on the uniforms?” Eleana asked from where she leaned against the alley wall, inspecting her nails, the neon light changing across her face as a streetlight in the distance shifted from yellow to red.
“My apologies,” Axel drawled from beside me. “Next time I’m beating up a male, I’ll try to keep it a bit cleaner . . . just for you,” he teased. “Or better yet. How about next time . . . I stand against the wall looking pretty while keeping watch, and you do the dirty work.”
Eleana laughed, her tone light as she replied, “We both know if I had done it . . . there wouldn’t be blood on that uniform.”
“Stop bickering like children and let’s just get the stars-damned uniforms already,” I bit out as I began removing the useless Solis Guard’s uniform.
Eleana rolled her eyes as she spoke. “All I’m saying is I’m not the one cleaning those uniforms when we get to the safe house. You drew blood . . . you do the cleaning.”
I ground my teeth as I kicked the guard with the toe of my boot, his unconscious form hardly budging at the movement. Pathetic.
“I fail to see how it bothers you either way,” Axel stated as he cut a glance toward her. “You’re not the one wearing the uniforms to begin with.”
“Just finish getting your uniform, unless you’d prefer to sneak around the Solis Court wearing nothing,” I grunted as I finished stripping the male of his uniform and stashing it in the duffel bag on the ground beside me.
“How come you get the unstained uniform?” Axel griped from beside me, and I whirled my head toward the male, narrowing my eyes at his question.
“You can get the first pick of our clothing when you take out both the guards,” I replied.
He huffed, a muttered complaint under his breath, but I was already moving the body of the first guard toward the end of the alley, disposing of the unconscious male in an unceremonious heap.
I didn’t wait for Axel to finish hiding the other guard before I moved toward the entrance to the alley, ready to get out of the district.
Moments later, I was on my bike, engine roaring to life as I pushed out from the alley, turning onto the deserted street.
The low glow of the streetlights flickered, casting red shadows on the street as I watched the light, my fingers tapping against the handlebars in time to the purr of the engine.
I heard Axel pull up beside me as I adjusted my helmet, already feeling the desert sands picking up.
Revving the engine once more, I felt the bike roar to life beneath me as I waited impatiently for the light to turn.
I grinned, the bike rumbling beneath me as Axel glanced over toward me from my left, a challenge in his eyes as the light changed from red to green.
We snapped our visors down, kicking off as we both sped forward, racing down the streets.
It was a reckless decision. Idiotic, really, considering our current mission and the task we’d just completed. Not to mention the speed traps sure to be in place across the city and potential drones that could pick up our tail.
A decision that Eleana would be sure to throttle us both for the moment we made it back to the safe house.
In this moment, though, under the cover of darkness, I couldn’t care less.
My entire body leaned right, knee dropping far closer to the ground than I should have allowed it to on a mission, as I whipped around the corner, finally getting ahead of Axel.
I could feel the tires sliding as they gained traction on the sandy streets of Solis Quarter and knew that the latest turn had to have kicked up sand directly in Axel’s path.
I grinned viciously. I had him.
The pavement rushed my line of vision, but I straightened out just in time, urging the bike to go faster.
I watched the odometer rise rapidly as I pushed the bike to its limits, weaving through the streets before pulling a sharp U-turn and whipping into a dark alleyway behind the complex where we would be hiding out.
So much for stealth.
Turning into a covered spot, I cut the ignition, feeling the bike turn off as I silently leapt off.
Axel peeled into the space a few seconds later, cursing as he too cut the engine. “I had you back there . . . but that turn . . . You have a death wish.”
I grinned widely, lips curved up. “Consider me flattered, but death’s already coming for me . . . might as well win a few extra bets before it catches up,” I responded as I held out my hand.
Axel removed his helmet, his tousled brown hair flopping with the movement as he shook his head, in both amusement and agreement, while griping as he handed over the money he’d effectively lost.
“Callum Blackwood and Axel Pierce, are you both out of your stars-damned minds?” Eleana bit out in greeting as she parked her bike beside ours. “In the streets of Solis Quarter, no less. Are you hoping to gain Lucanus’s attention from running lights alone?”
“It’s just a bet,” I drawled as I leaned against my bike, crossing my arms while I watched her frustration rise. “We weren’t caught, no need to stress, mother hen.”
“Fuck you,” Eleana said as Axel laughed. “Actually, fuck both of you,” she snarled, glancing between the two of us before she snatched the keys from my hand and stalked inside the building’s side entrance.
We darted through the shadows as we climbed the below-level stairwell that wound up to the lobby of the complex we would be staying in for the next week.
Taking a quick scan of the area, I spotted one, two, three cameras monitoring the space.
With a quick motion to Axel, I gestured toward the surveillance cameras, waiting as he called on his water affinity, the liquid snaking across the room before short-circuiting the cameras monitoring the lobby.
We moved quickly after that, darting through the space toward the elevator as Eleana impatiently pressed the button repeatedly, while we waited for it to arrive.
The ding couldn’t come soon enough, and as the doors slid open, the three of us slipped out of view as we rode to the top level of the complex.
Axel entered the code Elion had given us, and the faint whirl of the locks clicking had us entering the space. A low whistle left his lips as he stepped into the room and looked around. “Hell of a hideout,” he said with a grin.
“No shit,” I answered as I followed him inside the entrance to the room, my hand still resting on my firearm as I scanned the space for a moment before double-checking every entry point, ensuring the place was secure.
Walking around the perimeter, I continued my assessment of the layout, memorizing the placement of every object in the space.
My eyes scanned over the marble counters of the kitchen, past the floor-to-ceiling doors leading out to a fairly small balcony. They then roamed over the skylights on the ceiling, before I passed into the first of the bedrooms.
Too many entry points—far more than I would have allowed in a safe house.
But then again, I supposed we should just be thankful the Guild still had access to this location.
I finished scanning through each room, assessing every entry point, and confirming the perimeter was secure. Confirming that we could talk freely.
It was muscle memory for me by this point in my career.
A habit Elion had painfully drilled into me as a young spy just entering the Guild.
I had only been ten when Elion had discovered me on the streets in Aurum Quarter, begging for food.
He’d taken one look at me before offering me a job—a job that had eventually become my entire life.
“All clear,” my voice ground out a few moments later from one of the bedrooms as I did the final sweep.
We were staying just outside the Temple District, right on the edge of the temple grounds and close to the Solis Court—a strategic location, based on our current suspicions regarding how King Lucanus was running his Quarter.
“It’s one of the better safe houses we’ve been stashed in,” Eleana said as she rummaged through a closet close to the first bedroom before finding the safe located inside it.
I heard her enter the key on an old-fashioned turn lock, and then a familiar click as the safe unlocked.
“I’m surprised it’s this nice with how long this particular location has been out of commission. ”
By all official accounts and records, members of the Aurelian Guild hadn’t entered Solis Quarter since The Rift appeared, dividing the city of Aurelia into four quarters, centuries ago.
Not that it had stopped us from entering on the rare occasion when needed.
Only, lately, it had been far more challenging to enter this Quarter.
King Lucanus spent far too much effort building a wall around Solis . . .
Whether to keep others out or keep his people in, that was still to be decided.