The one on the left is a woman. Her brown hair is pulled back in a tight bun, and her jaw is set in anticipation as she studies me with her caramel eyes.
The man next to her is tall and lean, with a bald, shiny head, and a mean, untrusting expression flashing through his pale, gray eyes.
"Hi officers..." I speak aloud, feeling the gazes of all the people in the room lock on them. Both of them are staring at me hesitantly, with their fingers on their sidearms at their waists. "What can I do for you?"
"Put your hands behind your head!" The woman's stern voice rockets into my ears loudly. "You are under arrest for aggravated assault and conspiracy of unlicensed carrying!"
Oh dear, Toni, this is the test!
"Hey, look, I don't want any trouble." I start, but both of them whip out their guns and point it at me.
Everyone in my peripheral vision scatters at the sight of the guns, and the police officers scoot towards me to allow the bystanders to get away.
I back up, and then I tell them, "Look, you guys really don't want to do this."
"Put your hands up, lady!" The man screams at me, right before I speedily spring backwards and swing my legs at their arms mid-backflip. I whack both of their guns out of their hands with my feet, and then land in a crouching position to catch both of their guns.
When the metals slide nicely in my hands, I rise to a stand and unload both of their guns in one swift motion while they are still realizing that I disarmed them.
The man looks terrified, while the woman looks bewildered and awe-struck, with her mouth wide open and her caramel eyes as wide as quarters.
I toss their useless guns on the floor behind me, and then watch as both of them put up their fists. The woman's expression is determined, the man's: unsteady.
The woman steps forward and swings her fist at me, but I dodge it, grab her arm, and yank her forward. With her back to me, I kick her knee in just the right place, and she is sent tumbling down yelping in agony.
The man's gray eyes drop down to his partner's body, and his expression worsens as he realizes that I kicked her knee out of socket.
Instead of bringing his fists up, he flings them down to his waist where his walkie-talkie is holstered. I lunge for it, and swipe it from his hands right when he was about to press a button to call for help.
He stutters when I throw it across the room and send it shattering against the wall, but gains his courage somehow and then swings at my head. I duck, nail two swift punches in his stomach, and then turn when his leg flies towards my side to kick me. I catch his leg, and then hold it in place as I lift my right leg up to knee him in the gut, twice.
He wails as I bring his leg up and send him off balance, and tumbling to the floor. He lands hard on his back, and is winded, but I know that won't keep him down.
I hurry to crouch down, and then I grab his neck. Fear dances in his eyes, but shut in a grimace when I bang his head against the floor. When I pick his head up again, he braces himself, and even grabs my arm, but I thrust it downward and watch as his consciousness disappears, and his body becomes as limp as a rag doll.
I hear something shuffle, and I whirl around just in time to catch the woman police officer's right hand. On the floor in front of me, she holds the butt of her sidearm in her hand, her eyes coursing with pain.
"Sorry that I have to do this..." I murmur truthfully before I turn her hand just the right way and witness her scream in pain. The metal drops from her hand, but I pay that no attention. I release her hand, grab both sides of her face, and then rise to my feet after jabbing her twice in the head with my knee.
Cop sirens flash in the distance, definitely nearing, so I peer up from their unconscious bodies.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Bravo." A familiar voice shatters the silence and whirls me around. The man in black stands before me, the hoodie still protecting his face from sight. "You passed the test. Come with me, and I'll take you to the secret society."
The cop sirens blare now, nearly outside of the cafe.
I stare at the mystery man. "Okay. Let's go then."
In the bright cafe lights, I watch as the shadow diminishes and the man lets the hood fall off the back of his head, revealing the man underneath.
Mysterious hazel eyes, a charming, sly smile, and black, perfect hair meet my vision.
Wow, he's the guy that was at the hotel!
"Follow me." He tells me with his deep voice, smooth voice, and stretches his hand out to me.
I take it--after stepping around the bodies, of course--and then let him lead me to the back of the cafe, where a staircase awaits us.
***
"The roof? This is your escape plan?!" I ask in disbelief as the man closes the roof's door.
He just nods and walks towards the edge of the building. I follow, wondering how on earth we are going to escape the swarms of cops that are probably on their way if we have no where to go.
The man stops at the edge of the roof and peers down at the traffic. Police lights flash fast on top of cop cars as they make their way over to the cafe. They travel in a pathway that the traffic had to make for them, but are down the street, still a little ways away.
I wait patiently for the man to say something, to tell me a plan, but he just stares down at the bystanders that are running away and listening to the blasting sirens.
What is he doing?
"What are we going to do?" I query to him aloud, watching as he lifts his right arm to his mouth and whispers something to it.
I blink, but then realize that he wears a black, expensive-looking watch. Almost immediately after he rests his arm at his side, a loud thud thud thud booms in my ears.
My orange hair whips in my face, and then flies behind me, going in random circles. The wind goes wild, stinging my skin, as the thuds scream louder in my ears. I glance up, and realize that there is a helicopter only yards above us, and from it hangs a rope ladder in reach.
"Holy-"
The man surprises me as he wraps his arms around my waist. I glare at him, only to look at the smug smile on his lips that is so boastful. He pulls my body against his, reaches up, and then grabs the rope ladder.
Our bodies lift off the roof, floating gracefully in the air above the city. The pilot of the helicopter drives us up into the sky slowly, making sure we don't fall off in the process.
"You like the view?" The man asks me in a sweet tone. "I'm amazed every time."
"Oh, so you do this every time you pick up new recruits?" I laugh nervously as I gaze out over the beautiful city. The cop lights disappear behind the tall building, bystanders becoming smaller and smaller.
I try to keep the fact that I am hovering over the city in the hands of a secret society member and can fall at any second in the back of my brain, but that fails. My stomach is churning and rolling inside of me, my heart fluttering like crazy.
"What can we say, we like recruits." The man informs me as I continue to glower at the beautiful yet frightening scene below us. "Here, go ahead and climb up."
I meet his certain gaze, and then I nod and reach up. My hands clasp one of the roped ladder steps, so I begin to pull myself towards the helicopter bar by bar.
It's easy, until I get to the very top, only to realize that I don't know how to get up there. With a huge lump in my throat making it hard to breath, I glare up at the helicopter only inches away from me.
A hand abruptly grips my butt, so I yelp and glance down. The man has one of his hands on it, while another on the ladder, holding him up.
He yells to me, "I'll push you up! Get ready!"
With my right hand, I stretch up and grab onto the edge of the open helicopter. When the man beneath me starts pushing me up, I help him by swiping my left hand onto the helicopter and tugging my body upwards. Pretty soon I am in the helicopter, lying on the floor while staring at the helicopter's ceiling as wide as quarters.
"You okay?" The man questions calmly as he hops smoothly into the transportation. He plows a hand through his perfect black hair, and then grins with a twinkle in his charming hazel eyes.
A queasy feeling in my stomach takes over my happiness. Still on the floor, I gripe, "You don't have to show off."
The man lets out a laugh, but the wind thundering around us wipes the sound of it away. He turns around as I begin to sit up, and reels up the ladder. When I'm finally to my shaking feet, he is already done, and slamming the helicopter door to close us off from the spinning city.
I plop myself in one of the three seats across the helicopter, and the man sits right next to me and smiles at me. I don't want to meet his gaze, I really don't, but my eyes won't listen to me as they flicker over to it.
His hazel eyes pierce mine as he says, "You look like you're about to be sick."
"Well," I murmur as my arms move to hold my stomach. "I haven't ever ridden in a helicopter before. Or hung from one 300 feet in the air..."
The laugh again. But this time, I can hear it. His deep voice is warming, and even settling at it rumbles in a laugh.
"What should I call you?" He asks in an even tone.
"T." I answer after a moment's hesitation. "What should I call you?"
"Call me Colton." He offers, his hypnotizing eyes keeping my gaze locked on his.
Toni, we have a problem. We can't see where you are going. How are we going to be able to help you if something goes wrong and we don't know where you are?!
My heart feels like it has been flooded with ice, my body filming with chills. I glance over at the helicopter's front window, but I can't tell where we are going either.
"Where are we going?" I query to him as I try to keep my voice calm.
"Somewhere the police won't be a problem." He tells me and nearly makes me jump when he reaches his hand out and turns my head to him. "There you will talk to a man that you will call Zach. He will make sure you aren't with the police, or with any agency trying to infiltrate us."
"How will he do that?" I ask him, worry stinging my eyes but shielded in my voice.
"You'll see." He smirks and then sends a chill down my back by rubbing my cheek gently.
I bite my lip, and his gorgeous eyes immediately flutter down to my mouth. I suddenly realize how close we are and how is hot breath is swirling across my face.
"I..." I mutter, my voice so weak-sounding and awkward in this moment. "I guess I will."
"And if you are, he will kill you in a way impossible to imagine, cut your lifeless body into thousands of pieces, and then hide all the pieces somewhere where nobody will never find them." He says with a straight face and a truthful nod.
"Oh..." I murmur, hiding my nervousness away from his intriguing eyes. "Well, we won't have that problem."
"Hope so." He agrees, the grin reappearing on his thick lips. "I like you."
A blush surfaces on my cheeks as a smile becomes painted on my small lips.
This is Chance; Don't trust him. The message appears in front of my eyes loud and clear.
That's funny, my gut was telling me not to trust him either.
"We are almost there. I'm sorry, but I have to do this." He tells me and then reaches into a compartment behind his seat. When he sits forward again, his fingers hold a syringe full of a clear liquid. Before I can even say anything, he sticks the thing in my arm, and then pushes all the liquid into me.
"Oh..." I hear my voice whisper as I lose the feeling in my body and my head starts spinning.
Colton sticks the syringe behind the seat where he got it, and then holds his arms out. Without wanting, or meaning to, my body goes limp and falls right into his buff arms. He holds me against his chest, but because of the liquid, it feels as if we are spiraling and spinning like crazy.
"Sh..." He coos to me before he uses his soft fingers and closes my drooping eyelids for me. My world goes black, and the last thing I hear is the steady heartbeat of a stranger.
***
"She took down two cops in under two minutes, Colton? I'm impressed." A deep voice crackles in my ears and wakes me from my dreamless sleep. "Did you check her for bugs or cameras?"
"Yep. She is clean, according to the scanners." Colton's voice responds to the first.
I decide to slowly open my eyes and take a look at where I am. To my surprise, I can barely tell. In front of me, a dark gray wall stands blankly. There is one wooden chair sitting against it, but besides that, that is all I can see in front of me.
When I peer down at myself, I realize I am in a machine. My wrists are in locks against the metal slap I am stuck to. My legs, too. I am off the dark wooded floor by about a foot, only being held up by the board I am pinned against.
"Thanks for the intel Colton, I will call you in here once this is concluded." The same crackly voice speaks from behind me.
My right finger has a contraption hooked up to it, but as I try to inspect it with my eyes, manly fingers clasp over it and rip it away.
"Ah, the finger print scanner is finished." The voice leads my eyes up to the man that steps in my line of vision. "Hello, Toni Gates."
The man is broad-shouldered, but doesn't look nearly as buff as Colton or Chance. The fact that he isn't that buff doesn't take away from his intensity.
He has sharp, blue eyes that seem glossed over with a different kind of evil that a child couldn't possibly be born with. His lips seem to be naturally curved in a devious smile, his thin lips nearly reaching his eyes on both ends. His nose is large and pointed, matching his ears that stick out from the sides of his head. His hair is a mess of black and gray colors, though his hair is in long curls tucked in a pony-tail at the back of his head. His goatee is the same colors, and matches his thick eyebrows that are narrowed at my inspecting gaze.
This must be Zach.
"I have a few questions to ask you. If you answer truthfully, I won't have to kill you." He informs me with no emotion inside his hollow tone. "First question."
"Who are you?" He asks, his eyes like a predator's as they scan mine.
"I am Toni Gates." I confirm, my eyes glued to his, having nothing else to look at.
He nods, and then waltzes over to the wooden chair. He plops his big body on it and then looks up at me once again with those evil blue eyes.
"Are you here to harm the secret society in any way?" He questions me, his eyebrows raised a few centimeters in curiosity.
"No." I answer truthfully, and watch as he leans back in the chair and crosses his arms over his chest.
"Why are you here?" He pries, thin lips still forming that wicked grin.
My breath hitches in my throat. What am I supposed to say that is truthful?
I feel my face starting to heat up, so I look away from Zach. C'mon, Toni, think!
"I'm here because fate brought me here." I try, wondering how on earth that couldn't be true.
He stares at me for a moment, and then sits up and rests his elbows on his knees.
"What could you possibly have to offer me?" He questions, his eyes like daggers to my nerves.
"My skill set." I offer, meeting his gaze once again. "I can do nearly anything asked of me, besides killing someone. I'm not a killer."
"Hm." He sighs and then stands up so that we are face-to-face. "I'm going to ask you one more time. Why are you here?"
"I'm here because I fought hard to get here!" I reply with a little bit of a snarl. "I want to help," my brother, "and I know I can if someone would let me."
After a long moment of silence and sweating, I listen as he tells me, "I think we could use you. You've proven that you have skills."
I nod, wanting to shake his hand but still stuck in place.
He passes me a quick nod before leaving my field of vision. My ears strain to hear what's going on, but all they hear is a door opening and closing.
Voices mumble something on the other side of the door, and then the door creaks open once again. Footsteps tap over to me, and then Colton's smirk flashes before my vision.
"Hiya." He grins and then begins to unhook me from the board I am stuck to. "Glad you're not dead! Boss man gave me a new mission, and Zach told me to let you tag along."
"Really?? What did the boss man order us to do?" I ask curiously.
"He asked us to steal a diamond worth two-hundred and fifty million dollars from a heavily guarded museum in Washington, DC, named the Smithsonian. No big deal." Colton grins as he lets the words fall from his mouth like raindrops.
***
OMG! WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?