And Stay || Han Lue

thirty-one

Beatriz made Keir hold the basket while they walked around the convenience store. Her Nissan sat outside and the cashier knew her by name. Keir was taken back by how quickly Bea made herself at home. He didn't understand what the cashier and Bea were saying, but the conversation ended as quickly as it started. Bea dragged Keir with her to run her errands, if he wanted to talk, then he was going to talk while she was busy.

"Do you really need this many?" Keir asked as he looked at the basket full with snacks.

Bea nodded. "Han goes through a lot. He likes to keep his hands busy." Beatriz commented as she put another bag of chips into the basket. "He likes the snacks I buy for him." She shrugged.

"Where is Han today anyway?"

"He's dealing with a debt that's owed to him." Bea said. She wasn't going to tell Keir about the race last night. He didn't need to know about Bea and Han still were going to races. Outside of owning a garage, that was all Keir needed to know.

"Do I want to know?"

"Leave the DSS agent back at your hotel room, Keir, those credentials won't work here." Bea said as she walked around the corner. "Follow me." Keir shook his head, following Beatriz. He stopped dead in his tracks, looking at what Bea was picking out. Bea looked over at Keir, "What? They're just condoms." Bea dropped a couple of boxes into the basket.

"The cashier-"

"Knows I'm not cheating on Han." Bea shrugged, grabbing the basket from him. "Tell me about Niko. Did you find anything else about this cipher group or what?" Beatriz asked.

"From my research, and the help of outside sources, I've found out that Cipher is a group." Beatriz looked over her shoulder to Keir. "How do you think I was approached to become a DSS agent, Bea?" Keir asked.

"Honestly, I never questioned it."

"Bullshit."

"Okay, so you sources say that Cipher is a group. A group of hackers?" Keir gave a nod. "How does Niko fit into all of this?" Bea asked.

Keir crossed his arms as they walked around the store. "Well, I checked her phone records for the past ten years-"

"You can go back that far?"

"You can when you have hacker friends." Bea fell silent. "There were over thousands exchanges between Niko and an encrypted number. Not even my source could figure out the person behind the number. But when it comes to Cipher, they are able to wipe their presence with every database within seconds of entering it." Keir explained.

Bea sighed. "So, basically, you are no closer to find out what Cipher actually is or why Niko is involved." Bea said.

"Whatever Niko's involved in, she's been doing it willingly. There was no blackmail involved." Keir said.

Beatriz rolled her eyes. "Good to know that part." Bea commented under her breath. Bea pulled out her phone when it buzzed. She looked at the text message from Han saying he was going to be back late. That wasn't surprising when Han was running errands for DK. Bea pocketed her phone. "Do you have any theories as to why Niko is working with this Cipher group?" Beatriz asked.

"I wish I did. But since I only have records of Niko's side of the conversation, she gave no indication about how she started working for Cipher." Keir picked up a bottle off the shelf as Bea looked at the alcohol to stock their fridge back up. "You can really buy alcohol like this in 7-11s?" Keir asked.

"You'd be surprised what you can buy from a konbini." Bea said. She looked down into the basket before pulling out her phone. "Come on, I've got a few more errands I need to run before the club opens." Bea stated.