l e x i
"Hey, come on, guys! We really have to go already," Alex hurried us from across the room on Jackson's bed as we prepared for step two of our grand mission.
Personally, it wasn't much of a favorite. I didn't really enjoy it as much. Investigating outside our base just really wasn't my thing.
What my thing is, though, was hacking—obviously for good reasons and information only—which came right after investigating.
"She's gonna be gone before we even get there if we don't leave now. You know how I hate being late," Alex whined again.
"Shh, I need to concentrate. This camera is incredibly tiny, and I have to place it perfectly. I'm almost done," Jackson shushed her, fixing a really tiny camera on an equally bored Ryder's shirt.
He was so bored that what he resulted to for entertainment was making weird funny faces at Mia to make her smile instead of scared because she said she had a bad feeling that we were gonna get in trouble.
Ry was honestly a good person if he wanted to be a good person. All you have to do is get it out of him.
"Stop it, Ry. I'm trying to be serious here, and all you're doing is trying to make me laugh," Mia finally gave in and cracked a smile. They're good for each other, we all had to admit it.
They both were just so oblivious that they didn't see how much they really meant to each other.
Hold on, what in the world was happening? Since when did I know so much about feelings and things like that? Since when did I turn into my sister?
Uh oh...
"Why though, M? That's the only fun thing I can do right now. Jackson's taking actually forever to put this camera on me. Please? Don't deny that you're also having fun. Come on, M," Ryder poked Mia.
At least he was awake. To be honest, if I were the one in Ryder's place, I would have probably fallen asleep already. It had happened before, really. It was the reason why the camera was going on him and not me.
"Oh, fine. Now stop with that smile or else I'm leaving the room, and you can do those faces to yourself," Mia threatened playfully. The smile on her face was still there from before.
I turned to my sister who looked like she was having a form of heart attack mixed with some sort of air drum but was actually just internally screaming in delight.
"And done!" Jackson grinned with satisfaction, making sure that the camera was hooked up to the computer, "Okay, remember, she's in the top floor of the main building of Myore Incorporated Towers. You'll need a password. That would be 267893. Info from the TSSA HQ say that Alessandra Myore, the Myore Inc. President, is a close friend of our target."
A few days ago, we locked in our target's name, or at least what people call her. Issabella. We didn't know much about her, but the tracker we got on her helped us get to her.
"Finally! Okay, we really have to go now if we want to catch up to her. Security camera footage shows that she leaves the building at exactly four everyday. That's an hour from now, and the building's half an hour away," Alex urged, pulling Ryder off of the bed, "Come on, guys! Let's get a move on, I still have a date to get to tonight."
"Wait... you have a date? Tonight? Damn, and I thought you were gonna help hack," Jackson rolled his eyes, shooing us away.
We walked out of the house, earpieces in place and Ryder's tiny camera hidden from view.
We had half an hour in the car that we used to annoy the hell out of Alex, who was busy texting Luke, trying to delay their date by an hour because we still had to do some research after investigating. That would probably finish at six, the original time of their date.
She had to prepare.
Thankfully for all of us, after a little convincing from Alex, Luke agreed and didn't protest any further. I told you, Alex loved to win arguments. Anything really.
Moving on, half an hour of amusing ourselves later, we finally arrived at Myore and posed as some business people who were there for an important meeting.
"Well, actually, our meeting is till scheduled in thirty minutes; we just decides to come a little early."
The lady at the front desk asked us for our names, and we immediately introduced ourselves as some four people Jackson told us us through our earpieces.
"Oh, yes, here you are. You may all wait by the lounging area at the lobby or go around the building. Miss Myore instructed for us to allow you to tour the building. Top two floors are off limits, and the elevators are right over there."
Well, that was easy.
We all nodded our heads at her before walking away to the elevators across the reception desk. The building was fairly large, maybe a little shorter than the length of a football field, so it took us quite a while to reach the other side, but we managed.
The best thing as that there were no people in the elevator with us when we got there, so it was easy for us to be able to lock in the code to get to the top floor.
Well, that would have been the case if we only needed one elevator ride to get to the top floor. When we got in the elevator, the very first thing we noticed was that the buttons for the top two floors were nowhere to be found. We couldn't find them.
I, along with the other three went to the highest floor we could get to and found out that the elevator going to the top floors wasn't what we rode.
As we walked through the floor, looking as casual and not suspicious as possible. We also looked at the rooms we passed by, just in case we happened to see Issabella. We found out that her doors automatically locked up whenever she left the building, and guards started to keep watch outside her so-called secret hideout-slash-office.
Hopefully she didn't change her normal schedule or we were absolutely doomed.
At the end of the long hallway, there was one elevator that was barely seen. Making sure that absolutely no one was looking, we all slipped into the elevator with no eyes landing on us. We punched in the code Jackson gave us in the keypad before the elevator started to move up.
Weirdly and suspiciously enough, there were no cameras in it, and the the elevator moved fast.
Issabella's office was massive. It was basically the whole floor, disregarding the small strip of hallway in between the door and the elevator. And luckily, there were no guards outside.
That meant that she was inside the room, and we couldn't afford to get caught. We didn't have time for all of that. Alex would kill us.
I really don't remember what we did exactly, but we ended up inside the room without any of us getting caught. We had to crawl on the floor and ended up under the giant desk near the door that probably belonged to Issabella.
I saw a few files in folders and made a mental note to get them later. It was going well.
I would say probably a little too well.
I really should not have said that because right when Mia got under the desk (the front was all wood so we were all covered), one of the guards saw Ryder, went to him and pulled him up with the help of another guard.
The only good thing was the three of us weren't seen, and the camera was with him, so Jackson could see everything.
"Well, well, well, I'll be damed. Andrew Evans. TSSA, am I right? Fun group. It's such a shame that your sisters and that other girl, Mia, was it? Yeah, I think so. Sad they're not here, I wanted to talk to them. Oh wait, they are here. Hey, Kev, get the three girls from under the table. It's very cramped down there," she instructed.
I knew our hiding place was too predictable.
We couldn't do much. It was the only option we had.
A big, buff guy came in front of us and pointed a gun at our heads until we finally came out from under the table.
Now that was where things finally got interesting.
Ryder spoke from the chair he was tied in, "Don't hurt them. Don't hurt my sisters and don't even try to touch Mia. They're going to fight back, and you don't want to be the receiving end of any of that."
I was sandwiched in between two guys that previously held Ryder in place. Mia was to the right of the guy on my right, also held onto tightly so she couldn't escape. It was the same for my sister except she was to my left instead of to my right.
With one look to each other, we all knew what we had to do. And so when Issabella turned away, our plan was a go.
In one swift motion, Mia was able to get out of buff guy #1's grasp and do a high enough kick to the back of his head to make him black out. As she did that, I worked with Alex to get buff guy #2 to lose consciousness as well.
His face met several punches that would probably lead to a few bruises and eventually just got him to lay on the ground, groaning his face off in pain.
Before Issabella even got close to us, our guns were already pulled out and pointed at her, all while Ryder was still tied up to his sad, little, plastic chair.
Her words snapped our attention back to her, "Put down all the guns, and I'll let you guys go. No people get harmed. Guards are on the way up here now, so I suggest you comply. Just know that I have a secret weapon none of you will ever expect. I'm sure of it."
"Yeah, whatever you say, Issabella," Alex scoffed, tucking her gun back in the waistband of her pants. "I think we all know you don't have to sound so full of yourself by bragging about your secret weapon, whatever it may be. It's not going to do anything to us."
She walked over to Ryder and untied him.
"Actually, my secret weapon can do things. To you especially, Alexandra. You don't know what it is yet, but when you do find out, well, let's just say it's gonna hit you like a truck you never saw coming. Anyway, I had a good little chat with you all today. You can leave now, just never come back," Issabella retorted.
How could someone get me to roll my eyes so hard my head started to hurt a little?
"Well, whatever, we'll believe it when we see it, bitch. And don't worry about us coming back here. We're just going to take these and leave," I shot her a fake smile as I took the files on her desk—the files I planned to take and the desk we hid under that was beside the door. "Be happy we can't arrest you without evidence."
She didn't do anything to stop us from getting the folders, probably because one, she had backup files and two, she knew that if she did anything, four guns would be pointed right at her with no hesitation.
I mean, you had to admit, she was using her brain, at least. We had targets before that were so stubborn and dense that it wasn't even funny anymore. Really.
We went back downstairs to the lobby, no one uttering a single word. We each walked out of the building, trying not to be seen by the girl at the reception desk we talked to. She was talking to four people who I think were the ones whose identities we used because they were arguing with her about something I couldn't really hear.
As we got inside the car, I let out a sigh I didn't know I was holding in. Thank God we outnumbered Issabella and her guards.
I was so annoyed, though, because we could have very easily arrested and taken her right there and then, but TSSA rules distinctly stated that unless we had very good and clear evidence that the target was, in fact, a criminal, we can't arrest them.
That would be kidnapping.
That's why we came and got her files. We needed solid proof that she really was a criminal that had to be thrown into jail, even if we already basically had a confession with the way she spoke to us.
It was maybe four o'clock in the afternoon, so we would get home around half past that to start hacking and checking our evidence. Alex had plans to start getting ready after an hour because she always took forever to get read.
Besides thinking of all of that, I also talked to Mia in the car about random things like our favorite cheeses because Ryder was singing and driving, and Alex was on the phone again, probably with Luke on the other side as usual.
"Okay, let's get going, everyone. We have about an hour before we lose one person to makeup, hair styling and the most annoying of all, overpriced clothing," I announced as we entered Jackson's bedroom, pulling out my laptop along with my sister's and getting settled in on the bean bag in front of the bed after handing Alex her laptop.
Let's do this.
"You secretly love getting all glammed up, Lex. You just gotta accept it. Like hello? Have you seen your hair? Goals. It sucks that you were the one born with the annoyingly beautiful straight hair, and I got these curls. Like can we trade hair one time? Is that a thing?" Alex rambled. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail before finally sitting down beside me.
"That's true, you know? You are so lucky your hair is already that's straight without having to do anything to it. Do you know how long it takes me to straighten my hair then re-curl it when I'm trying to look good? An hour. And that's on a good day," Mia chimed in from beside Ryder whose arm was around her as he typed away with one hand on his laptop. Talented.
"Oh fine, whatever, guys. Maybe I will learn to love it. But that's something for another day. For now, we have to be... wait guys? I found something," I stopped, finding some information about Issabella.
"Her name is Issabella James. She is currently around nineteen years old. She used to live in North Carolina with some cousins before she moved all the way to LA with her immediate family. Hey, didn't your boyfriend do the same thing?"
"Oh yeah, he used to live in North Carolina until he was like three because his mom found a better job opportunity here, but he doesn't really like to talk about what it was like when he lived there. I think it's either something happened there or maybe he just doesn't remember much from then," Alex commented, zooming in on some screenshots from security camera footage in and around the Myore Inc. building.
I continued to look for more information on her or anyone who could possibly be connected to her, and as the page was loading itself, I looked around the room seeing everyone else very concentrated.
Mia looked murderous, Alex was biting her lip in concentration, Ryder had his tongue slightly sticking out, and Jackson was bobbing his head to the music from his earphones as he flipped through the files.
"She has a huge family because based on this picture alone, there's around twenty. But the caption says that it isn't even all of the family in the picture yet. I have the picture, but I can't get any other information because all their faces have some sort of halloween makeup. I can't scan their faces, and this is the only picture I can find," Ryder informed us.
"Oh, you can send me the picture, and I'll find a way to get some scannable faces," Mia called out.
She told us about a thing she found in the computer of a TSSA executive one time. She said it pretty accurately removed makeup off a person's face to get what they really looked like without it. It was apparently made by TSSA but was still in the alpha days, so it wasn't working to its full potential yet.
"First time I heard of M being a rule breaker. Write this down, people! It's in the books!" Ryder teased Mia, chuckling lightly. She glared at him and playfully slapped his chest.
"It's not the first time, Ry. I like to have some fun too, you know? So stop being like that. Plus, hello, if you had the chance to get this thing, I'm so sure you would. It's so cool."
We didn't find much more information about Issabella that was particularly useful to us before Alex started to get ready for her date an hour before Luke was coming to pick her up.
As she put her eyeliner on, she spoke up, "I'll be back around half past nine. I'm gonna shower when I get home then I can scan the faces Mia's getting from the picture and have them ready after like forty five minutes."
"Okay, great. I already have two faces, but I won't be able to finish until maybe eight tonight. If it's alright, can I stay the night? I'm sure my parents won't mind at all," Mia requested, mostly directing the question to me and my sister. I mean, I wouldn't mind another girl to talk to late at night. "Oh, and I would so love to hear about the date. What do you say?"
"Yeah, no problem. At least I'll have someone who actually wants to hear about my night. Lexi just spaces out like five minutes after I start talking. And also I need some updates on project RM. I'm dying to get some details," Alex told Mia, holding up two dresses. " White or black? It's between basic Alex or black 'cause it makes anyone look good."
"I'm thinking white. It's really your color, Alex. If you wanna go black, why not, though? What do you think, Ry?" Mia nudged at Ryder who mumbled something I didn't hear well then turned back to Alex. "He said white too, but it's still your choice."
"White it is, then. You don't even know how many white dresses I had made at Evans Corp. last summer. Sundresses, form-fitting, strapless, long-sleeved, name it, I probably have it. The people at Evans probably hate me for making them see white for three weeks straight at work. I felt so bad I bought all of them lunch one time, the ones who made my stuff anyway," Alex laughed, walking into the bathroom with her dress to change into it.
"Hey, why don't we take a break first? I'll go downstairs and get something for us to eat. I'm really hungry," Jackson stood up from his place on his desk, stretching his legs and arms. "I've been sitting on that chair for more than three hours now. My butt is so sore. What do you guys wanna eat? Sandwich? Fruit? Granola bar? Or do you not want anything?"
Ryder raised his hand. "Ooh ooh! Can you get me some leftover food from last night? I'm suddenly starting to crave Alex-made food. And speaking of her, there she is. I was starting to think she got flushed down the toilet."
Alex literally made Jackson's room into a dressing room. She walked out of the bathroom wearing a flattering white dress.
"Do you want me to zip you up? You only have twenty minutes left to fix your hair."
True enough, Ryder did just that before Alex hurried to fix her hair.
Jackson walked out of the room after I asked for a banana and Mia asked for some juice.
That was something cool and new I learned about Mia. She loved, and I mean loved, juices. That included shakes and smoothies too. She brought a new one to school everyday.
I didn't even know how she didn't run out of fruits and vegetables to juice after that long. Maybe she mixed them?
"What's project RM? Why don't I know anything nowadays? It's not nice to hide things from your womb mate, Alex. And I thought I was your best friend, M! Why am I not hearing anything about project RM from you?" Ryder glared at the two of them. It wasn't hard for him because Mia was helping Alex with her hair so they were generally in the same area.
If only he knew what project RM really was.
"Sorry, Ryder. My lips are sealed on this, and so are Mia's. The topic is private and confidential. But you'll find out soon, hopefully. Soon, I'm working on it, okay?" Alex fixed her last curl and got her heels from beside the bed.
Luke fetched my sister soon afterwards, and we got our food right before Alex left.
Honestly? You could really see how happy she was when Luke was involved in things. It was like he was the only one who could flip on that switch that gave my sister her extra happiness.
Besides that, I had another thing on my mind.
What the hell was Issabella's secret weapon?
~~~~~
A/N
Don't come for me! I'm sorry this update came after so long. School has been really hectic lately. I'm really sorry.
Hope you liked the chapter, everyone! Please also point out any typos you find, thanks!
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