The Syndicate

  “Listen to me. I cannot stay here, and you cannot go anywhere with me. Just—”

  A knock at the door stops me short.

  “Who’s that?” I ask, instinctively whispering.

  “I have no idea.”

  A second knock. A near pound on her door, so I put my finger over my mouth.

  Leaning closer, I whisper for her to see who it is. Nodding hesitantly, she slides past me, takes a look through the peephole, and then quickly jumps away from the door.

  “It’s him,” she mouths.

  Just…fantastic.

  My head drops, and my feet find themselves gliding over to look myself. What does this guy want? Through the hole, I can see he’s nervous. No, not nervous, but losing composure. He’s tapping his foot and looking around, biting his lip impatiently. He wants in here, and this whole damn experience is only getting more irritating by the second.

  “What does he want?” she whispers.

  “How the hell do I know?”

  Her forehead creases. “What do I do?”

  “Nothing,” I answer, making my way back into the living room.

  She follows. “Okay.” She’s nervously wiping her hands on the side of her pajamas.

  “Hey, Riley. Yo!”

  We both turn toward the door, but ignore the beckon to answer.

  He bangs some more. “Riley. Hey. I need to borrow some sugar!”

  “Should I give it to him?”

  “Are you serious? It’s eleven o’clock. He can find some sugar somewhere else.”

  He pounds again, and it takes everything I have not to open it with a pound on his face. But I hold tight and tell her to turn out the light. He’ll get the message eventually.

  She flips the switch, and it’s dark, except for the light from the street lamp peeking through the tiny cracks of her vertical blinds on the sliding glass door. My eyes scan the room, adjusting, and within seconds she moves close enough that she’s touching me. Mangos and strawberries. My eyes take a quick roll toward the back of my head, because I can’t seem to get away from this temptation. I can sense her fear, and it makes me want to calm her.

  A few moments of silence go by, and I say, “See, he got the point. He’s gone.”

  She sighs, but then the streaks of light on her wall are disrupted by a shadow. Both of our heads turn quickly. There’s no doubt that a person is trying to sneak a peek through her blinds. This idiot has gone stalker.

  I make my way over to the blinds with every intention of yanking them open. Hybrid or no Hybrid, this guy’s pissing me off. I’m almost there when the knob on her front door jiggles, stopping me dead in my tracks. A quick look back at the blinds tells me there are two people, or Hybrids, trying to get into this apartment.

  “What the hell?” I mutter.

  Before I have time to wrap my brain around the possible scenarios, I find myself guiding Riley by her elbow down the dark hall of her apartment.

  “Where’s your gun?”

  “It’s in the closet by the front door.”

  “What’s it doing there? Forget it. Just take this one.”

  I give her the gun that has been tucked away by my side.

  “It’s ready to fire. This is the silencer. You just need to aim and shoot. Now, lock yourself in your room and don’t come out. Only shoot this thing if you have to.”

  She’s nodding, but feels limp, so I give her a shake to rouse her.

  “Okay,” she responds weakly.

  By the time I make my way back to the front door, he’s nearly picked the lock. My mom used to scold me for cursing, but right now several words run through my mind.

  From behind the door, I wait. It finally clicks and slowly swings open. My knife is ready in my hand. At this point, it doesn’t matter if he’s a Hybrid or not.

  Stealthily, or so he thinks, he enters, closing the door behind him. I wait until he’s out of the narrow hall, with his guard down. He thinks he has free roam of her dimly lit living room, but he’s wrong. I pounce on him from behind.

  With him surprised and off balance, I grip his hair, forcing his head downward. With my thumb I trace his spine and easily feel the sharp, widened ridges of the bones. I slice his throat two seconds later, and then, with the last blow, my knife finds a home in the back of his unnatural neck.

  This kill was easy, but there’ll be no victory dance, because I hear the door open behind me.

  I turn in time to see two more figures making their way into the apartment. This is not what I need. Suddenly this feels like a trap, but there’s no time for me to even think about it.

  The second Hybrid pounces on me, but luckily the other one is still too new to harness the savage mauling instincts. He stands back, eyes wide, mouth salivating. Soon the urge to maul me will overtake him.

  My one knife is stuck in the spine of the first Hybrid, so I hold this one off by his neck and grab for my other knife. One thing full-blown Hybrids haven’t seemed to master yet is keeping their wits when challenged. Right now, this one is so wild that he can’t think straight, which means he’s momentarily confused.

  By the time he’s figured out to use his claws, my knife is ready. Swiftly, I thrust it into his neck, finishing him with the slit to his throat.

  I’m shoving him off of me just as the third Hybrid crashes into my injured side. Certain that more stitches have ripped, I clench my arm and knife against my side. The Hybrid starts kicking me, and I protect my torso, barely maintaining an awkward grip on my knife.

  He jumps on me as I shield him with my forearms and fumble with my knife. I’m trying to reposition my grip, while wondering what’s happening. Is this it? Are there more? Will I have it in me to fight more? Maybe Henri was right. This girl will be the death of us all. Including me…now. Struggling with that last bitter thought, I hear a whipping sound and feel the Hybrid fall limp. It’s just enough time for me to move in with the knife and slice his throat, penetrating his spine.

  Fatigued, I lift my head just enough to see Riley pointing my gun at him and, then, at me.

  Chapter 9

  RESISTANCE

  I’m too exhausted to even wrap my brain around the idea that this girl could kill me, so I just close my eyes and fall back. My hand clenches my side, and then I smell her. Mangos and strawberries. I wonder if her hair is right in front of me.

  “Oh, my gosh,” she says.

  All I can think to say is, “Lock the door.” The last thing I want right now is another one sneaking up on us, and who knows how many more there are.

  Thankfully she doesn’t ask why or delay, and hops up quickly and locks the door, including fastening the chain in the slider. My muscles relax, and then my questions start pouring out as she makes her way back over.

  “What the hell is going on? And why are three…three Hybrids in your apartment right now?” She starts to kneel beside me, but I quickly stop her. “Back away from me.”

  She pauses and then inches her way against the wall.

  “Answer me.”

  “I don’t know,” she says.

  “The hell you don’t.”

  “I swear, Vasile.”

  “It’s Vasi,” I snap, not sure why, other than it bothers me to hear her sound like my sister or mother when she addresses me.

  “Okay. Vasi. I don’t know. Honest.” She starts back over to me, but I put my hand out like a crossing guard.

  “Stay over there.”

  “Why—”

  “Because I don’t trust you, that’s why.”

  I hear her release a big huff of air. She’s got her mouth in a tight line and her forehead all scrunched up. “Don’t look at me like that,” I say.

  “What did I do?” I’m about to tell her, when she keeps going, building momentum with each word. “You’re the one who came into my house trying to kill me, and I just saved your life, but I’m the one you don’t trust right now?”

  I hesitate with my answer, and that’s when she tells me to get out. The look on my fa
ce is complete confusion now.

  “That’s right. I said get out of my house.”

  “No,” I answer, and then her mouth clamps shut. I gather myself off the floor, and she does the same, never taking her eyes off me. “I’ll leave once you tell me why three Hybrids are in your house.”

  She raises her voice and walks so close to me that she has to look up to keep eye contact. “I said I don’t know.” For a few moments, we’re in a staring contest, and then she relaxes her shoulders and crosses her arms. “What’s the big deal anyway? You said this is what you do. Kill these things—”

  My nostrils flare, and I close the space between us even more, because she needs to know who’s in control here. Slowly, so she doesn’t miss a single word, I say, “Because it’s unheard of to find more than one Hybrid in one place at one time, and three just walked through your apartment door, while I was in here.”

  She takes a step back from my intimidating proximity and looks me over.

  “You think I had something to do with this? I didn’t even know what these things were until you told me.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “I swear, Vasi.” Now she’s back in my personal space, and my instinct to back away from this vixen sends a wincing pain through my side.

  “You’re hurt,” she notes.

  “You think?” I say, brushing past her.

  “Where are you going?” she asks, softening.

  “To my truck to get something to put these things in.”

  I don’t even wait for her comment, because right now my mind is racing. I’m not sure anyone in the Syndicate has had to kill three Hybrids by themselves at once, and the fact that her apartment is riddled with them right now makes me angry. Angry because it doesn’t add up, and angry because I don’t know what to believe about any of it.

  I hear my father’s voice telling me to listen to my inner thoughts, and then Henri’s telling me to listen to his warning. My head races with the thought that my family’s existence depends on this girl’s death.

  The door clicks behind me, and my eyes scan the hall while my ears strain to hear any more threats. When confident that there aren’t any more freaks lurking around hidden corners, I make my way to the truck for some body bags and head back into her apartment. She’s standing pressed in the corner.

  “You didn’t have to leave me in here with them,” she says.

  Ignoring her, I put the Hybrids in the bags and fold up the blood-stained area rug. I wait for a clear path, and lug them to my truck one by one. For a brief moment, I consider jumping in my truck and speeding off, but things need to be said first to ensure we don’t meet again.

  I’m about to knock on her door when she pulls it open. Her eyes are as round as quarters as she anticipates my words.

  “Are you coming in?”

  “No.” Her shoulders drop a notch or two, but I don’t care. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m leaving, and that you shouldn’t expect to see me back here. And please don’t come to my house.”

  “That’s it? You’re leaving me here?”

  “Yes. You can’t expect me to be your friend. Just stay away from me.”

  I take a step back, and she comes into the hallway, pajamas and all.

  “What am I supposed to do if I find another one of those things, or they come for me again?”

  “Look. We have Readers who find them for us. You don’t have to.”

  “Well, they didn’t find these. They would’ve killed me if you hadn’t been here. Please.”

  “I’m sorry.” My brain wills my feet to start moving.

  She follows, grabbing my arm. “Why do you hate me so much?”

  Yanking my arm free, I turn and lower my face to hers. “Look! I don’t hate you, but my family says you’re bad news, and right now I feel like you’re the devil. And on top of that, I’ve gone against just about everything our code stands for by not killing you. Now please, stay away from me.”

  Tears well in the corners of her green eyes, giving them a shine that captures my attention in ways I don’t need.

  “Just go back inside,” I demand, regaining my focus. Turning my back on her, I find myself driving away with three dead Hybrids and no explanation for how I found them.

  On my way home, I call Andre and tell him to meet me in the garage. Dani already knows about Riley, but he’s Henri’s son, and although I trust him more than anyone, Andre would be a better option right now.

  He meets me outside, and I nod as he follows me to the back of the truck.

  “What’s up?”

  “I picked me up a couple of Hybrids.”

  He sees my three trash bags and his eyes widen. “What the hell? You had three assignments?”

  “Naw. Just two.”

  “Then what the h—”

  “Let’s just say I picked up two unexpected ones when I only anticipated one.”

  “Damn. At the same time?”

  “Yeah.” I start to carry one bag, and I can feel warm blood seeping its way down my side. The pain causes me to let out a half grunt, half wince, and he thinks it’s a battle wound.

  “What happened? Did you tell Henri?”

  I’m having a hard time lugging my bag in the garage without further highlighting my injury, but I try. The last thing I want is for Andre to start worrying. “No, not yet, but I will.”

  “Good, ‘cause he needs to know this. The Readers should’ve seen this. We can’t be sent out there to be ambushed like that.”

  “It won’t happen again,” I say. We reach the incinerator, and Andre won’t stop talking even as we shove the bags in.

  “How do you know? This is crazy.”

  He has no idea. He’s just hung up on the fact that more than one Hybrid was there. He’s good at what he does, but heaven forbid if he were confronted by three Hybrids at the same time. He’d panic.

  “Because,” I say to calm him down. “I just think I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Which was true. “And when I saw one, I just reacted and did what had to be done. End of story. They’d have probably been on the list at the next Circle, but hey…I saved us some trouble later.”

  “Damn, Vasi, you are one lucky son of a—”

  “Right,” I say, punching him in his arm.

  “You need help getting the other one in here?”

  “No, I’m gonna take a piss, and then I’ll get it.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  We part ways, and after about ten minutes I go back out there and bring the third one in, hoping to have slid this incident under Henri’s radar. If he was watching the garage cameras, he would’ve seen just me and Andre each bring in one. That wouldn’t have raised an alarm, and he’d have hopefully gone to bed satisfied once we went into the house.

  I don’t plan on keeping this incident from him forever, but a little time would be nice. Maybe by tomorrow, I’ll think of a way to approach him about this. Right now, it’s just not my priority. Fixing myself up is.

  One thing we have a lot of around my house is first-aid supplies, so a few butterfly adhesives later, my stitch job is looking better. By the next morning, my mood is too. For some reason, I feel good. And the fact that I took out three Hybrids on my own makes me feel even better. So much better that I eat breakfast at the family table, unconcerned about running into Henri.

  It’s early, so my brothers aren’t up yet. Eating my Mini-Wheats alone gives me time to reflect on my accomplishment, but I don’t admit to myself that I had help, because that would mean thinking of her, which is not on the top of my to-do list.

  So, I let my mind wander to other places. Like thinking of how proud my father would be and how much his training paid off in keeping the Hybrids’ teeth at bay.

  If you panic and worry about their claws, you only open yourself up to their teeth. That’s what I was most worried about during the fight. I watched the third one lurking in the corner. His hands were flexing in and out o
f clenched fists and his claws were extending, but all I thought about were his teeth. As long as the fangs weren’t drawn, he was of little concern to me. Until he kicked me in my side.

  Not cool. I begin to think of my technique, and then remember my knife gripped incorrectly. I flinch. So what if she shot him with my tranquilizer gun. I would’ve had him. I imagine my father agreeing with me, and smile. Then, my ears ring with my mom telling me I shouldn’t have been so rude to her.

  I wasn’t rude to her, I think.

  Finally Dani comes in, sleepy eyed, with a full plate of warm breakfast.

  “You make that?” I ask.

  “Heck, no. Clara made it.”

  “Right.” I say, teasing him, knowing he couldn’t find his way around the kitchen if his life depended on it. I’m not sure what he’d do without Clara or her housekeeping and cooking duties.

  “So, what’s new?” he asks.

  “Not much.”

  “Not what Andre says,” he replies, sitting down.

  Damn. “Andre’s just being Andre,” I respond too quickly.

  “Three? Vasi, that ain’t got nothing to do with Andre being Andre.”

  So much for the code of secrecy. Well, I suppose it doesn’t count since technically they weren’t assignments. “Yeah, well. What can I say?”

  “You can tell me why you didn’t call me.” He’s stabbing his eggs with such force that it moves his plate, so I decide to tell him the truth.

  “Because I thought your dad might be watching the cameras, and I didn’t want to put you under his microscope.”

  “Eff my dad. Don’t ever cut me out for Andre’s ass again, man. I thought we were like this.” He holds his fingers up, crisscrossed.

  “We are, but like I said.”

  “And why are you hiding from the cameras anyway? And what the hell happened?”

  I tell him part of the truth, and it’s enough to chill him out. By the end of our conversation, he believes I was in the parking lot, staking out Riley’s for any suspicious activity, when I saw a Hybrid snooping around her window, and pounced. Then two more came out of nowhere.

  “Dang. That’s some crazy stuff. And they were full-blown crazed out you say?”