Dalliance - Z.M. (An Exquisites Original Story)

68; Why'z It So Hard

"You're gonna make me stop working, Fosco," he warns, glancing over at me as I roll the cigarette between my fingers. "Stop lookin' at me like that."

"Whatever you say," I pass him a wink before walking out of the room, leaving him in his element. I hear him laugh as I leave which makes me smile.

When I walk across the vacant hallway, I try to hear for anything that will give me any clue whatsoever as to where Apollo may be. When we entered, he had separated with Vex and Zayn had split with Ade, both of them clearly on a mission of their own. I don't know what they're hoping to find here, probably anything that could prove me wrong about what a waste of time and resources this is, but I'd like to be right next to them just in case it happens to be valuable information.

But when I finally trace the sound of muffled chatter to a room, I see all four men in a room that is scattered with three dead bodies. Clearly, they didn't have any luck in getting information out of the poor bastards that they captured, but I can't say the same for myself. They're engaged in thoughtful conversation so I take a beat and stand against the doorframe, listening to what they have to say to each other.

"There is no way this entire fucking base was cleared so quickly," Zayn is saying as he ruffles a stressful hand through his hair. Ade is standing silently in the corner of the room with his hands crossed behind his back, not saying anything but digesting every piece of information that is coming from his mouth.

"We took too long to get in," Vex points out as he kills a cigarette against the floor before lighting another. "It wouldn't take long to erase everything through a third party server."

"But still, how is it possible that everyone is this loyal? Not one person wanted to talk." Zayn looks more stressed than the rest of the men in the room, which makes my lips turn up into a spiteful smile. He seems more desperate than anyone to find Ana, probably to rejoice in his lost love and get married and have a million psychotic babies with her, but she doesn't want to be found by him. She doesn't want to be found by anyone, for that matter. She knows Apollo's strategy better than anyone here which means she could easily predict that they would attack such a easy target first. All she had to do was tell Moon and the rest, as they say, is history.

"This raid was too predictable," Apollo speaks up, as if he's reading my mind. He's pacing the room with his head down, the grip on his cane tight out of sheer frustration, though his words reflect a bested man. I can tell he's annoyed that this didn't work the way he wanted but maybe if they just listened to me for a second they could understand that this is not their typical enemy.

"I agree," I finally say, making my presence known to everyone. They all shoot their heads up at my voice, standing taller now that I'm in the room. They can definitely admit their mistakes to one another, but not in front of me. "But we got two people talking. Dario is with them now, so if you guys are done moping around, you're welcome to join him."

"You kill anyone?" Vex asks.

"Just one," I smile sheepishly. "He had a temper."

Vex smirks and makes his way over to the door, whipping his pistol out as he heads to the action like a real junkie. "Clearly it was no match to yours."

"Ade, do one more sweep," Apollo orders. "We can't be here for much longer."

Ade nods once and leaves the room, heeding the orders like a true follower. He pats my back once as he exits the room and then it's just Apollo, Zayn and I left. A bitter taste fills my mouth at the deja vu of the whole situation. Zayn is looking right at me but I keep my eyes on Apollo who nods at me to come inside and shut the door.

When I close the door and ensure our secrecy, he begins speaking. "We can't afford another failed mission like this one."

My surprised eyebrows raise as I kill my finished cigarette against the desk. "You don't say."