I nod to both of them and then make my way over to the unmarked assassin car. Dani calls out, “Vasi, why don’t you eat?”
Since when does Dani care when I eat. I turn, confused. “I’m good.” The look in his eyes says something unfamiliar. The mix of anger, disappointment, and maybe even worry tells me he’s not too keen on my uncharacteristic behavior, but I don’t have time to decipher it.
I keep my gaze on him long enough to hope he can get the picture that he’s messing with my plan, and not in a good way. Then I nod to both of them and get in the car. Halfway down the driveway, I take a peek in the rearview mirror to see Henri and my best friend, who, for the first time in my life, looks like a copy of his father. I shudder and blink away the view, hoping to relax.
I’m hitting the highway just as my phone goes off. It’s about time, I think, taking a little bit of my irritation out on Rosie.
“Hello?”
“Vasi, I’ve got her.”
Forgetting to express my appreciation, I quickly ask why Riley didn’t call me herself.
“Gee whiz, Romeo, she’s right here. She hasn’t even buckled her seatbelt yet.”
“Well, get out of there and make sure you’re not followed.”
“Yes, brother sir. Here she is.”
Before I can retract and thank Rosie for completely trusting my insanity, I hear music to my ears.
“Hey, you.”
I have no idea what it is about this girl that melts my insides like a freakin wimp, but she does. It’s like I turn into somebody else. Someone with a weak heart made of warm wax. It doesn’t make sense, and it feels contradictory while I’ve got three guns and two knives attached to my body. I decide to toughen up and keep it formal.
“Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Rosie was exactly where you said she’d be.”
“Good. You weren’t followed?”
“No, I don’t think so. Rosie’s good. She moved my car too.”
“She what?” That wasn’t in the plan.
“Yeah, she said she hotwired it while I was shopping and moved it to a nearby apartment complex. That way when the Scout or whoever goes back out there, he’ll just think I left and he missed me.”
Clever. I hadn’t even thought about that. Rosie definitely just bought us some extra time with that. Even if he found her car later, he’d think she was inside an apartment. It was perfect. I’d have to thank her for sure, and agree to whatever bribes she’ll ask for.
I smile. “Okay, well Rosie is going to take you to a hotel. I want you to stay there, and I’ll see you in the morning.”
“The morning? Why not tonight?”
Even if I could, it wouldn’t be a good idea to spend this night away from home and then disappear for a few days. Henri would know something was up. With my story and Rosie’s brilliant idea of moving Riley’s car, there would be no reason for Henri to suspect me of anything…yet. I’m not going to ruin the leeway we have now. Plus, I have something important to take care of.
“I’ve gotta handle something tonight, but I’ll come and get you tomorrow.”
“Handle what? Like a Hybrid?”
This is when I hear Rosie ranting in the background. “He’s an idiot. Let me talk to him.”
In a soft voice, clearly not wanting to challenge Rosie, she says, “Um, your sister wants to talk to you.”
I don’t even bother telling her it’s okay, because I know Rosie’s already pulling the phone from her hand.
“It’s not nice to snatch, Rosie.”
“Whatever, Vasi. Seriously, this is not cool. I’ve done what you asked. Now you have to trust me and please let me have another day or two to tail that thing. Please.”
“I don’t have a day or two, Rosie.”
“Yes you do. I’ve got Riley. She’ll be safe in the hotel. Another day or two won’t make a difference.”
“Yes it will. In a day, Alexandru will know she’s missing, and you better believe they’ll be watching me like hawks. I’d never get to her. Now please, just go with the plan, and I’ll see you soon.”
I hang up the phone, feeling sorry for putting Rosie through this and even more sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye to Riley. But, I can’t worry about that. It’s peanuts compared to taking out a Hybrid. I have to get focused, and right now it’s hard.
My mind keeps traveling back to my conversation with the girls. As if on cue, my phone vibrates with a text. From Riley: “Be careful. I’ll be waiting.”
It’s enough to prompt a smile from me, but not enough to mess up my concentration. It’s perfectly Riley. With a sense of optimism and confidence, I eagerly head for my hour and a half trip to Culpepper, Virginia, the home of a soon-to-be-dead Hybrid.
Even though stuff is about to hit the fan with Henri and Alexandru, I can’t help nurturing a sense of satisfaction. One would think I’ve completely gone off the deep end, but it seems right. No way to explain it.
Driving, I feel the presence of my mother and father, encouraging me to be strong and follow my instincts. Not one ounce of me feels like a disappointment to the Syndicate. Not one.
I do know right from wrong, and nothing is right about targeting and killing a girl. And even if she weren’t a girl, she’s completely human. That’s two nos. And to think I almost lost my true self to Henri’s propaganda.
It doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve made my decision. Alexandru is not getting within a mile of her, at least not without getting through me first.
Just thinking about Alexandru and his smug overconfidence gets me ready for a confrontation. By the time I reach my destination, I’m pumped. I pull into the apartment complex. It’s just as Rosie described. It looks like it’s about thirty years old and left standing after a bout of modern build-up around it.
At one time it was probably one of the nicer places to live, but now it sits behind a back alley of two shopping centers. I drive through one time and don’t see much activity going on, which is a good thing. I always worry about women and children passing through when the target lives in a complex, but this one is quiet. Real quiet.
It looks like this place doesn’t get visitors often, so I park my car on a side street behind the complex. That way, it’s out of view from residents, but also close and dark enough to where I can “take out the trash” without being noticed by passersby.
Now, it’s time to make a move. Rosie said he’s the only one on the lease, but she wasn’t sure if he has a girlfriend or a roommate, which is why she requested more time.
As a safety precaution, I take out one of our props from the backseat. It’s a pizza box, and, although I’ve played the part more than once, it still makes me chuckle to pick it up. I add a baseball cap to go with it and then get serious. With the empty pizza box in hand, I decide to walk the sidewalk in front of the entire complex to make sure there are no witnesses lurking around.
It’s completely desolate save for a bunch of decade-old two-door cars with tinted windows and chrome wheels. Definitely not a family complex. Satisfied, I turn toward the targeted address.
The closer I get, the more eager I am to finish this. That way, I can go home, sleep innocently, and get Riley in the morning so we can move on to the next step.
The target lives on the second floor, and the iron stairs are exposed to the outside, which means I need to act fast, because noise will travel farther than if muffled inside an interior hallway. I climb the stairs two at a time and take a deep breath before removing one of my knives from my ankle and placing it in my hand beneath the pizza box.
In my left hand, I’m holding a ticket with gibberish scribbled on it. A few quick knocks later and my Hybrid speaks.
“Who is it?” he shouts through the door.
“Pizza delivery,” I say.
“We didn’t order a pizza!”
Damn. We? Not going to be as easy as I thought. I’m going to have to sit and wait. Hopefully whoever he is with will leave, or he’ll come outside. Either way, I?
??ll have to regroup. I take a step back. “Oh, sorry,” I answer, pretending to reread my ticket.
I’m about to walk away when the door swings open, letting out a whiff of smoke, and not the nicotine kind. Since when do Hybrids get high? Maybe he’s new too. I look him over closely and notice he’s blatantly holding the source of the aroma between yellowing nails. He’s not new.
“Actually, we’ll take the pizza.”
“Nah, I had the wrong address. My bad.”
“No. We ordered it. Didn’t we?” He turns his body to open a pathway into his living room. It’s dark except for a blue glow. I follow the source to a lava lamp on the table. I fight from rolling my eyes, when several voices pull my attention back.
“Yeah we did.”
“Hell yeah.”
“How much, dude?”
I scan the dim room, trying to decide which one to reply to, when every nerve in my body tightens. In the darkness, I catch the faint glow of at least seven pairs of eyes. Hybrid eyes, and counting the one reaching out for my empty pizza box, that makes at least eight. Crap.
“Can’t, man. Gotta deliver it.” I pull back, but he snatches it. By the time he realizes the box is empty, I’ve made my decision to get the hell out. “Get him!” someone growls.
I take off, jumping down six steps at once, and then I take a quick turn and jump down the other set. Even running at a full sprint, I can sense all of them chasing after me. To them, I’m probably just a guy playing a prank, but they’re about to find out otherwise. I put my knife between my teeth as I run, and then take hold of both guns. As soon as I get them close enough to my car, each one can hang it up.
Two hundred yards later, I reach my car. Turning swiftly with my hands hidden behind my back, I wait. To my shock, there aren’t eight. Not possible. There’s at least a dozen running toward me. How in the hell am I going to get out of this?
I decide there’s not enough time to wait for them to get closer. I start picking them off. My aim is usually on point, but it’s pitch black out here, and the only thing I have to go by is the sound of their feet and the occasional yellow reflection in their eyes. I aim for the heads. One down. Two. Three. Four. They’re getting closer. I fire with both hands. Miss. Hit. Five down. Six. Seven. Closer. Too close. I fire faster. Eight. Nine. No miss. Damn. Nine. Ten.
There are three left, barreling down on me, minds wild. I aim for two at a time and decide to shoot the middle one last, when I’m tackled from the side. I’m thrown into the car door so hard, the passenger window breaks. The knife drops from my mouth and I feel a blazing tear in my stitches. Focusing on the most immediate threat, which is the Hybrid on my back, I turn the barrel of the only gun I’m still holding and shoot him in the face before he can bite me.
The three remaining are almost on top of me. I drop to the ground to give myself some extra seconds. Hybrids are not as coordinated as humans, and the motion to attack me on the ground while running full speed will trip them up for at least a few seconds.
On the ground, I raise my legs to fend off the Hybrids, and manage to put a bullet in one of them. The other two fall on top of me, knocking the gun out of my hand. Not good. I grab both of their throats with all of my strength, no longer trying to kill them. Right now, I’m doing everything I can to keep one from biting me. Turning into one of them would be worse than death, but I can’t fend them off much longer.
Their weight is heavy, and my arms are getting weak. I’m shaking, but there’s nothing I can do. If I let go and reach for my knife, I’ll expose myself. Pushing them off with all my strength isn’t enough, and I begin to feel nails at my own throat. It’s over.
I decide my only chance is to let go and attempt a head butt on both of them at the same time. Without thinking it through any more than that, I let go and the lack of resistance causes them to fall into me while I thrust my head upward, knocking it into both of them.
A searing pain shoots through my skull, and I feel myself passing out, with nails digging deeper into my throat. Just as my eyes are closing, I feel the weight of them ease off and a cool rush of air sweeps over me.
Everything goes black.
“Vasi!” I’m smacked in the face. “Vasi!” I’m being shaken. “Vasi!”
I roll my eyes and rest my head on the pavement, trying to pull myself back to the moment. “Vasi!”
I pry an eye open, which sends another pain through my skull. A blurred face is hovering just above me. I reach for the knife in my pant leg. I’ve gotta take a swipe. “No, Vasi. It’s me. Wake up! Are you bitten?” My clothes are pulled away from my neck and wrists, causing me to jerk away and roll over. “Look at me!” the voice shouts.
I turn back and watch the face as it comes into focus.
“Dani?”
“Yeah, it’s me. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was delivering a pizza,” I slur.
“In a Hybrid den?!”
My vision starts to clear. “I didn’t know it was...wait a minute. What are you doing here?” I cover my eyes and rub the pain away from my forehead.
“Rosie called me. She said you didn’t give her a chance to find out what you were walking into. She was worried sick.”
Great. Will I ever live this down? Surely, she’ll be running the show from now on.
I make a move to get up, and Dani grabs me like a child. “Ouch!” My side is burning, and I can feel the fresh blood seeping into my shirt.
“Here, you sit.” He opens the passenger door and pushes me in. “I’ll get these bodies, and then we need to get the hell out of here.” He goes to gather them up and then decides to pick up my weapons. “Here. Take these in case any more of those bastards come out.”
I nod and do my best to scan the darkness to cover his back. Within ten minutes, Dani has gathered up all fourteen Hybrids and stuffed them, sans bags, into both of our trunks and backseats. He tries to move my car to a safe location until we can come back later to pick it up, but I refuse, saying that I’m okay to drive.
Even though I’m probably not okay to drive, I make it, following Dani like an old lady. By the time we’re halfway home, my head is completely clear. A little headache, but mentally, everything is working fine.
If Dani hadn’t come, I’d either be dead or a Hybrid right now. The more I think about it, the more angry I get. We pull into the driveway at around ten o’clock. Dani jumps out of his car and bursts into the house.
“Dani!” I call after him, but he’s gone.
By now, I’m feeling well enough to start lugging these freaks into the garage. By the time Dani comes back, I’ve managed to drag four in. The pain in my side prompts me to take a break. That’s when I hear Henri’s voice.
“You weren’t kidding, my son.”
The pain in my side suddenly gets worse.
“No, Father. I’m not kidding. And this is only four of them. Vasi would’ve been dead if I hadn’t gone to check it out! What’s going on?”
I don’t even look at Henri for his response, because I don’t care.
“Now now, son. Settle down.” He starts pacing, and by then Petric and Andre come out.
“Damn,” Petric says.
Andre notices the blood seeping through my shirt. “You all right?”
“I’m fine.” I point to Dani. “Thanks to him.”
Dani steps closer to Henri. “Yeah, well good thing Vasi’s an excellent fighter. He took out a dozen of them before I got there. A dozen. He could’ve been killed!”
“Enough, Dani!” I can’t tell if Henri’s irritated that Dani is challenging him or if it’s because I lived. He turns to my other brothers. “Go get the rest of them out of the cars and burn them.”
“Father, what are we going to do? This isn’t normal.”
Henri pauses for a moment, and then replies, “You are going to go inside. That is an order.” When Andre and Petric come back with the first load, he turns to them. “And you two will not say a word about this to anyone.” They look at
him, confused. “I don’t want to worry anyone.” At this point, I’m rolling my eyes relentlessly. “We are facing unprecedented times. We will all be challenged. This is a result of someone not doing their job in the Syndicate.” He looks directly at me. “And now, we have to fix it. I will fix it.” He turns to all of them. “Now do what is asked and speak nothing of this to anyone.”
At this point, I can no longer hold in my contempt. I let out a deep rumble from my chest, feeling that this is a perfect time to make my exit. A real one, and if I do it now, Henri will attribute it to me blowing off steam, which wouldn’t be all that inaccurate.
“I’m out of here,” I say.
“Where are you going?” Dani asks.
“To the mountains. You can come if you want, but you better stay away tonight. I might mistake you for a Hybrid.” Or Henri, I think. I’ll call him later to tell him not to come, but for now, I want Henri to think I don’t have anything to hide other than anger.
Satisfied that I’ve killed my target, survived a whacked-out attack, and given Henri a plausible reason to watch my dust, I lift my aching body into my truck.
I head to the only place that makes sense right now.
Chapter 17
THE MAYBE
I call Riley and let her know I’m coming. Hearing the relief in her voice makes me wonder what Rosie told her. It doesn’t matter. If it weren’t for Rosie, I’d be toast right now, which reminds me that I owe her. Once I get off the phone with Riley, I call Rosie. To my relief, she doesn’t go down the I-told-you-so road, and that makes me feel more thankful. Saying it more than once comes easy, and also makes me appreciate having her as my true blood.
Just as I’m about to hang up with her, she stops me.
“Hey, Vasi?”
“Yeah,”
“I like her. I don’t know why, but I do.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Be careful, and call me if you need anything.”
It’s at this moment I’m witnessing a new Rosie. Mature Rosie, concerned and responsible. She’s always been a good Scout, but it’s been fun for her, just something for her to do. But now, she’s truly earning her place in this Syndicate.