By ambushed, I mean ambushed. Like there was a pretty-blonde-holding-a-gun- to-Kai's-head kind of ambushed. That was after he dodged a few punches to the face, of course. It all happened so quickly, I didn't even realise what had happened. One second the blond was holding the gun, the next second it was in Kai's hand, pointed at her head. I walked closer towards Kai.
"Stupid move, Elizaveta," he said in a soft dangerous tone that made the hair stand on the back of my neck.
"Fuck you!" Elizaveta said, eying the gun warily.
"You already did that, remember? Right before you tried to kill me?" He asked calmly.
"You were that bad in bed?" I muttered.
Kai didn't react, Elizaveta did. She stared at me. "Who's that? Your new slut?"
Again with the slutshaming. "Just because you're criminals doesn't mean you possess every bad quality imaginable," I told her.
"No, Kai wouldn't fuck someone that irritating," she remarked.
"Well...he fucked you," I drawled out.
"YOU LITTLE-"
"Enough!" Kai said calmly, flicking up the safety of the gun.
"Kes?" He asked, keeping his gaze steady on Elizaveta. Uh oh.
"Yes?" I asked nervously.
"Remember what I told you about shutting the fuck up?" He asked in a level voice. You didn't have to have above average intelligence to know he was pissed. And a pissed Kai was not something I wanted to witness firsthand.
"Right," I said.
"Elize?" A voice called from behind me. Kai whirled around, pushing me into the car and turned the gun around.
"Kai!" That someone yelled. Male.
"Don't move," Kai warned.
"There are two of us and one of you," Elizaveta snarled.
"And me," I muttered. Kai's hand found my wrist, a silent command to shut up.
"True," Kai said, unfazed. "But the one of me is armed and dangerous."
"Elize, what's going on? Why is Kai here?" The someone snarled.
"Ask him," Eliza snarled.
"No offense Kai, but I don't think your friends like you much. Not that I'm surprised, frankly," I said, tugging on his sleeve. Kai's grip on my wrist tightened.
I turned around and saw a man about Kai's age, maybe younger with messy brown hair and a tensed stance.
"Kai, what the fuck are you doing here?" The man demanded.
"Kai! Who's he?" I asked.
"Please shut up?" He asked.
"What's the girl doing here, Kai?" The man asked.
"Well, she-" Kai started.
"Kai, who is the bitch?" This was from Elizaveta.
"I said she's-"
"Elizaveta, why are you here?!" The man demanded.
"Ask Kai," she said.
"Elizaveta-" Kai said.
"Maybe the girl knows," he mused. "What do you know?"
"Ask Kai," I said. "Kai, who's the blond bitch?"
"Didn't I ask you to shut-?"
"Who the fuck are you calling a blond bitch?!" Elizaveta demanded.
"Not to offend to your intelligence or anything but there appear to be a limited number of blonds here," I said, staring pointedly at her.
"Kai, make her shut up!" She snapped.
"Kai, make her shut up!" I parroted in a shrill, whiny voice.
"Kestrel-" he said.
"Kai! What are the girls doing here?!" The man demanded.
"Can you shut up? I asked him first!" I said.
"Oh really, what did you ask him?!" The man demanded.
"Listen here-" Kai tried again.
"I asked him who the bitch and the asshole were! Kai who are the bitch and the asshole?!" I asked him.
Kai only took a deep breath.
"Kai! Who are they?!" I demanded, louder this time.
"Who is she?!" Elizaveta yelled at the same time.
"Why are we here?!" The man bellowed.
"I swear to God, this bitch is dead!" Elizaveta shrieked.
Kai clenched his fists, his knuckles turned white. He was pissed.
I didn't care. I wanted answers.
"Why the fuck aren't you answering us?!" I yelled even louder.
BANG!
Everyone fell silent as Kai lowered the gun.
I voluntarily took a step away from him. So did the bitch and the asshole. After a long time had elapsed, I finally broke the silence.
"You look... unhappy," I said nervously.
He glared at me and let me tell you, being glared at by a pissed off assassin who happens to be armed can really help snap things into perspective.
"Kai-" The man said.
"One more word and the person who speaks it has to take a trip to the hospital. Get it?" He asked calmly as if we were talking about the weather.
Today's weather report: Sunny skies with a chance of bloodshed and humidity.
We had caused enough of a commotion for people to peek outside the shop and at the car. Fortunately Kai was smart enough to hide the gun, even though he had fired it. Either way, this was one of the worse parts of Chicago, the people would forget it if they knew what was good for them.
"Let's go in and have a cup of coffee, shall we?" He asked.
I had a feeling that my options were limited to 'yes' and 'yes'.
Elizaveta was the first to walk towards the café, followed by the brown haired asshole. Kai dragged me by the wrist, his grip was harder than necessary.
"Uh... um...Kai?" I asked him carefully.
"What?" He asked placidly. His grip hadn't loosened one iota.
"My hand is injured," I said.
He let go of my wrist, but by then we were already inside the tiny café. Most of the people had cleared out. I felt a twinge of guilt. There weren't many customers to begin with and we'd scared most of them off.
The coffee shop was nice. Cozy. It was tastefully decorated with pastel colours to give it a light airy mood. Too bad the location sucked.
"E-Excuse me, sir," a timid voice called and I jumped. A girl who looked about fifteen walked up to us. She had reddish hair and a splattering of freckles across her nose. "M-May I take your order?"
"We haven't decided yet," Kai said soothingly with a gentle smile. "Why don't you come back in a few minutes?"
The girl let out a small sigh of relief. She visibly relaxed when Kai addressed her. Maybe he wasn't such a shitty person after all.
"What do you want?" He asked nobody in particular.
"Blueberry muffin," Blonde Bitch said.
"Chocolate chip cookies," I said.
"Espresso," Asshole said.
Kai gestured for the girl to return and she did so, hesitantly. He relayed our orders to her, she seemed to be more and more at ease as Kai spoke. I knew that, it's what lured me in in the first place. He had a way of making you feel comfortable.
"And for you?" The girl asked shyly but she wasn't trying to flirt with him.
Kai smiled sheepishly. "Anything with lots of caffeine."
And he had a coffee addiction. The girl smiled and went away.
Why was he an ass to me? Was I that special?
Well, that's not strictly true, he did have that stupid nice guy act when I met him at the food court.
"So this is Kestrel Seran," he said gesturing to me. "Possible pyromaniac and an important asset to whatever I'm going to tell you."
"That's Elizaveta Ruslanovna Dragomirova. She's a spy and sometimes homicidal psycho," he said.
How did her name fit on her birth certificate?
"Looks like you have a lot in common," the man muttered.
"And he's Julian Moreno. He's a computer genius, he's even hacked into the Circle's database once," Kai said.
"And he tried to kill me," Julian said under his breath. "Hey."
He had a nice smile. Julian's features were more rugged than Kai's, strange because he was a hacker and Kai was Kai.
He had a prominent chin and heavy set features but the texture of his skin was smooth and made him look like he was in his early twenties. He was also a good few inches taller than Kai, who already towered above me. Somehow, Kai still seemed to command presence.
"Kestrel," Elizaveta said. "Strange name for a cracked girl."
"Elizaveta Ruslanovna Dragomirova. Did I get that right? I needed a new WiFi password," I said calmly, like I'd seen Kai do.
Julian stiffled a laugh with a cough. Kai's lips also twitched upwards.
"You little-" she snarled.
I yawned.
Julian burst out laughing. Kai pursed his lips to keep from smiling. I already had a small smile plastered on my face. The only person not smiling was Elizaveta.
"Kai, I'll kill her," she warned.
All the best with that crazy bitch.
"No, Elizaveta, you won't kill her. In a rather stupid move, I promised her that I would keep her safe. If any of you tries to kill her, you'll have to last more than five seconds against me for a start."
"I like her!" Julian complained. "I don't want to kill her. Thats just Elizaveta."
"I like you too," I told Julian. He smiled at me. Kai rolled his eyes. Elizaveta turned a few shades redder.
"So, Kai? Why did you invite Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon here for coffee?" I asked.
"Who's who?" Julian frowned.
"I don't know really. But the colour of Eliza's face matches the Nickelodeon logo," I said. Elizaveta practically had steam blowing out of her ears.
"I can call you Eliza, can't I? Elizaveta Ruslanovna Dragomirova is a bit of a mouthful."
"No!" She snapped.
"Thanks Eliza," I grinned.
She lunged at me.
I screamed and scrambled back, tipping backwards. She screamed with frustration as Kai stopped her attack before she could kill me. He held her wrist. "Elizaveta, relax."
Julian also held her back. "Chill out, Eliza."
Her heavy breathing sobered after some time. Her ample chest still moved heavily with every breath she took but slowly, the anger faded from her face.
"Crazy bitch," I breathed. Was I in shock?
Unfortunately everyone heard it. My new friend Eliza snarled and reached for the knife on the table. Kai knocked it away before she could get her hands on the weapon.
"ELIZAVETA!" Julian yelled.
He then turned on me and banged his palm on the table with all his force.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" He yelled, making me jump. It was the first time I'd heard him raise his voice and it was scary as hell.
"I-I was-"
"The next time you want to piss someone off make sure they're not twice as strong as you. Are you stupid?!" He continued. "Or do you have a death wish, which I'll be beyond happy to grant?!"
I kept silent. I didn't want to provoke him. My ego had already fucked shit up by making sure Elizaveta didn't get the last word.
"Kai," Julian said softly. "You're scaring her."
I looked at the waitress. She was nowhere in sight. So how did Julian know that...
Oh wait. He was talking about me. Was I scared? I don't know. Everything was one big mess.
"Kestrel," Julian said softly. "It's okay."
I slowly raised my gaze to meet Elizaveta's. She sighed. "Kai, it's fine. Let her go, if anyone kills her, it's going to be me."
Kai ignored both of them and sat down.
Julian studied me with his grey eyes. "You're not part of this world are you?"
I wordlessly shook my head. No.
He looked at Kai. "May I suggest something? Why don't you try controlling your temper when you're dealing with a girl who is new to violence."
"She had it coming, she was behaving like an utter idiot!" he defended.
"I second that," Elizaveta said with a sly smile.
"Shut up," he snapped at her. Elizaveta's face fell.
I took a shaky breath and realized that I had unconsciously shifted closer to Julian.
"So why are we here, Kai? I know it's not so you can introduce us to your little bitch," she continued.
My cheek twitched.
"Elizaveta, you provoke her once more, I won't interfere. Just so you know she nearly blew up a car that she stole from five mercenaries, set Dean Cavilleri's personal bodyguard on fire and proceeded to extort information from him," he said. "Plus, I gave her a gun and she's a bit crazy and impulsive, so be careful."
He looked at me. The anger was gone but he was still irritated, I decided not to speak.
"Brilliant. Let's put all the sociopaths and criminals in one team. Sounds like an excellent idea," Julian said.
"You're in?" I asked. "Kai hasn't told you anything yet."
"I'm a hacker and Elizaveta is a spy. The best at our game. We figured it out," he said.
"I seem to be at a loss," I said.
"He offered us something we couldn't refuse," he said.
"Like what?" I asked.
"None of your business, bitch," Eliza said.
"Classified," Julian answered.
I looked at Kai for an answer but he just shrugged.
I stared at Julian. "Kai said he nearly killed you," I said. "When you were hacking into the Circle's database."
"Yes," he said nervously.
I held his gaze and then looked at Elizaveta. She looked away quickly.
"If Kai truly wanted you two dead, you would be. He let you live."
I looked at Julian first. "You're helping him. Was it because he spared your life when your little hacking attempt went wrong? Or do you also hate the Circle like Eliza here?"
He shifted nervously.
"She's creepy," Elizaveta said. I turned to her.
"And you're here because you hate the Circle with a passion. Or else you wouldn't have risked your sorry life and tried to kill him," I said gesturing towards Kai who sat there, watching me with a small smile. "Either that or you owe him your life. But hatred seems more fitting on you."
Pin drop silence followed. The waitress placed our food on the table and scurried away, sensing the tension in the air. Neither Elizaveta nor Julian had corrected me. I was right.
"What are you?" Elizaveta asked lowly. "You know what we want. The real question here is why are you here? Do you work for the Circle like Kai?"
"She doesn't. Her sister went missing. The Circle took her after she tried to spy on them for Dean Cavilleri," Kai said.
My breath caught. Elizaveta cursed under her breath.
Kai took another sip of his coffee and I grabbed a cookie without letting my worry manifest.
"So what's the plan, Kai?" Julian asked slowly.
"Arianna Seran knows something about the Circle. Something big enough to make her disappear. I want to find out what that is and then take the Circle down," he said.
"Take the Circle down," Julian repeated. "And how, exactly do you plan to accomplish that?"
"Kill Nozava," he said.
"How do you plan to get close to him?" Elizaveta asked.
"Through the Dian Mu Power Project. Its important, he'll be there," Kai said.
That's where Arianna was!
"This is ridiculous!" Julian said. "He'll be surrounded by guards at all times!"
"I wouldn't be the best if I let something as insignificant as that deter me," Kai said.
"How will you get close enough?" Elizaveta asked.
"With your kind help," Kai smiled.
"And if you get close enough to kill him, what then?! The Circle would be thrown into Chaos!"
"His son will take over!" Elizaveta said.
"We don't even know for sure if he exists," Kai said.
"Nozava has a son?!" Julian asked.
"Nikolai Nozava," Elizaveta said.
"Hideyoshi Nozava's illegitimate son," Kai elaborated.
"Let's find him," she said.
"No!" I said. "You don't even know for sure if he exists." It would be a waste of time and I had to find Arianna as fast as I could.
"I agree with Brainless here," Kai said.
"Brainless?!"
"Kill the Circle and pick off all important board members. Simple," he said. "Don't create problems we don't need."
"So you're saying that a nineteen year old spy, a twenty-one year old hacker, a twenty year old assassin and an eighteen year old creepy kid and all going to team up and somehow take down a three hundred year old international criminal organizations without killing each other?" Elizaveta asked.
"Yes."
"How are you all so young?" I whispered.
"Tragic pasts," Julian said softly. "The Circle has touched all of us."
And now they have Arianna.
"So you're in?" Kai asked.
"You're giving us a choice?" Elizaveta asked.
"It would appear so," Kai said, finishing his coffee. I noticed that Julian had finished his espresso and had proceeded to finish half my cookies.
"I'm in," he said after a minute of silence.
"It's going to be risky," Kai warned.
"But we'll be free of the Circle and it would be worth it," Elizaveta said.
Kai looked at me.
"What?"
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Kai, it's my sister."
"How is Dean Cavilleri involved in this?" Julian asked.
"As far as I know, he wanted something on the Circle so he could blackmail them," Elizaveta said.
"He's probably in trouble with the Circle too," Kai reasoned.
"Can't we enlist his help?" I asked.
"No, he's not even half as powerful as the Circle, and I can promise you he won't. He'll probably rat us out in hopes of getting on Nozava's good side," Kai said.
"Makes sense," I said.
There was a moment of silence.
"Okay then," Elizaveta said. "The Suicide Squad has been assembled. What now?"
"I don't know, I'm the hacker. Kai is the boss," Julian said.
"Arianna loved computers," I said wistfully. Why did I say that out loud? Arianna, computers, binary. Data is written as a sequence of zeros and ones. Seven numbers. One letter. Why was I thinking about this?
Oh, right.
Because I cracked the code.
A/n.
And in case you were wondering why Kes had no friends...
What do you think about Elizaveta (I love her 😂) and Julian?
How was their first meeting?
I kind of feel bad for Kai. He's the babysitter/ leader of the group with Kes, Eliza and Julian in it...
And what's with Nikolai Nozava? Is he going to be a friend or an asshat!
So 1/3rd of the book is done. Shit's about to go down! I hope you liked the story do far, it's different from TBaTH, but still..
Don't forget to vote ★