Lesson 10: Unnecessary Mess

"You sure this is the right way?" Kole asked, shooting me a sceptical look.

I rolled my eyes, repeating myself for what must have been the millionth time. "Yes, I'm sure. Unless you're questioning Henry and Robert's technical skills?"

"Nah, they're never wrong. You're the rookie here, Jaia."

I resisted the urge to scoff. Me a rookie? I could juggle knives before he knew his seven times table. I was already speaking four languages by the time he could do a cartwheel. I knew— breathe, Jaia. Breathe. My fingers itched to show how just how much of a rookie I was but I held back, staring out of the car window to distract myself.

A few minutes later Kole sighed, scowling at the empty road ahead of us. "You definitely remembered the number plate correctly?"

"Yes."

"You sure 'cause—"

"Yes I'm fucking sure, Kole. I've been with you guys for three years now. I'm not an idiot," I hissed.

"Jeez, someone's testy today."

"And you sure are irritating today."

Kole chuckled, flexing his fingers on the steering wheel. "You're just easy to wind up, Jaia. It's fun."

I stuck my tongue out at him and crossed my arms. "Or maybe I'm just in a bad mood because someone made us get up at five in the morning."

He shrugged, not seeming even slightly apologetic. "A little less sleep won't kill you."

He was so much like Emilio. "You're like my annoying big brother, you know that?"

"You have an older brother?" He quirked a brow and I stiffened but luckily he didn't notice because he was driving.

"No. Only child as far as I'm aware but I had friends with older brothers. We're bickering just like they used to."

He shot me a wink. "We don't have to act like siblings if you'd rather be something else?"

The smirk on his lips made me want to vomit. "Gross. Did you just forget the whole 'brother' thing?"

He stopped at a red light, throwing his head back as he laughed. "I'm just teasing, Jaia. You're like the irritating baby sister I never had and I'm not into that shit."

I punched his arm. "Focus on the road, dummy."

"Relax. I could drive this thing blindfolded if I wanted to. Now, tell me more about this Jacob guy."

Yesterday, after I'd called Kole and told him about my day at the university, he'd suggested that I inform Celine. She'd agreed that he was worth checking out even if all I had to go on was a hunch.

I'd given Henry the number plate I'd remembered and he did the rest. Apparently, his name was Jacob Miller and he was twenty-three years old. He lived alone and worked part-time at the Hive Cafe (where I had first met Zack) and part-time at a martial arts centre in town. He had been arrested twice, both for charges of unprovoked assault. He'd also been held back a year when he was at school thanks to his constant suspensions and neglect to attend classes so had just managed to barely scrape through the second time around. On the surface, it seemed he had cleared up his act because for the last year his record had been squeaky clean but I wasn't so sure.

"Henry told us both the same information."

"I mean, what did you think of him? You're the one who's met the guy."

I stared out of the window, counting the trees as we passed them. 387. "I got a bad vibe from him, Kole. I'm not sure why but I think there's something up with him."

"Like what?"

I shrugged, my eyes still focused outside. "I don't know yet but I need to find out. There's definitely something though. Maybe he's—" I shook my head. "Forget it."

"Forget what?"

"It's nothing."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Whatever you say."

~*~*~

"Be quiet," I hissed at Kole when he slammed the car door shut. "People are gonna notice us if you make all that noise."

He rolled his eyes. "Jaia, it's six in the morning on a Saturday. Do you really think anyone else is awake?"

I shoved him roughly but the damn brick wall barely budged. "We're not exactly in the nicest area. People might get suspicious."

"Only if you seem like you're up to something. Relax. You're acting like there's a flagpole shoved up your ass."

I gave him my best sardonic smile. "I'll shove a flagpole up your ass if you're not careful."

"I'm terrified," he said flatly, giving me a blank stare.

I stuck my middle finger up at him which he ignored as we crossed the empty road. We'd parked on a different street to where Jacob lived so we had about a five-minute walk ahead of us.

"Everything looks normal," Kole said after we'd scoped out the area.

"Yeah... too normal."

Kole eyed me suspiciously.

"What?"

"You've got an idea."

I shoved my hands into my pockets, still ignoring Kole's gaze and counting trees. 504. "No."

He nudged me with his arm. "Yes."

I shrugged, there was no point hiding it from him. He'd just pester me until I punched him otherwise. "He's got work at nine. We can sneak into his apartment then and figure this shit out."

"Urgh. Breaking in is such a faff," he whined. "Besides, if he gets clued in we're screwed."

"So we don't leave a trace."

Kole grumbled, getting back into the car. "Easier said than done."

"Now look who sounds like a rookie."

"Fuck off. I'm lazy is all."

I smirked, a mischievous twinkle in my eyes which I knew put Kole on edge. "Put your big boy pants on, Kole. We're breaking into Jacob's flat."

~*~*~

Jacob lived in a studio flat but it wasn't part of an apartment complex which meant no annoying button intercom to get inside. He'd left in shorts this morning, an odd choice because it was still nippy outside but I supposed he'd work up a sweat at work anyway.

The shorts meant I could see the sleeve of tattoos on his right leg which had been covered the first time I'd met him. They were nothing special, just your everyday images that everyone seemed to choose nowadays: a clock, rose, lion, dragon, eye and so on, all woven together into the sleeve pattern. Despite the common choices, the artist had done a beautiful job.

"Jaia, he's out of range. Let's go," Kole said once we were certain Jacob wouldn't be coming back.

I picked his lock using a bobby pin that had been keeping my bun in place. Kole preferred to use the standard lock picking tool which MI5 issued to all agents but I'd always favoured using a simple pin. They were much more reliable.

We'd had Henry temporarily turn off the CCTV in the area and put the footage on a loop. Overkill but it was better to be safe than sorry.

After about thirty seconds we heard a satisfying click and Jacob's front door swung open.

The flat was a pigsty. Thankfully, it didn't smell awful but it was still anything but tidy. Unnecessary mess had always been something that bothered me which I supposed was strange for an assassin. Weirdly, blood and bodies didn't necessarily count as mess to me, it was litter and uncleanliness that rubbed me the wrong way. Emilio had sported quite a few black eyes over the years thanks to his constant refusal to keep tidy. At least Gio was a clean person.

We split up. Kole took the kitchen-lounge area and I got the bedroom and bathroom.

Making sure to put anything I touched back exactly as I found it, I rummaged through the bathroom. Nothing incriminating.

The bedroom was even messier than the rest of the flat if that was possible and I resisted the urge to tidy as I went through his things. Dirty laundry, several used mugs, shopping bags, folders, guitar, weights and so on. Everything seemed normal... too normal.

If I was trying to hide something, where would I put it? I lifted his mattress. There was a knife — not necessarily incriminating because it could've just been for protection. I'd seen some of the houses near here with boarded up and smashed windows. Break-ins were common. What struck me as odd was the phone sitting next to the knife.

"Kole, get in here," I called. "I found something."

Kole rushed in, looked at the phone and then at me, eyebrows raised.

"Why would he hide it like this?"

"Maybe to stop it getting stolen?" he suggested but didn't sound convinced.

I blew a hot breath onto the screen, the password pattern now visible. "Bingo," I grinned, unlocking the phone. There were no additional apps on the phone, only the default ones.

Kole and I sent each other sceptical glances as I checked the texts. A few different unknown numbers were the only messages. All were things like 'meet me at 4' or 'bring the stuff'.

"Could be a drug dealer?"

"Then why are there no drugs in his apartment?"

"Touché. I'm going to send a copy of the messages to Henry," Kole said, dialling said tech wizard. "The agency might spot something we've missed."

I nodded, handing the phone to Kole and riffling through the folders that had been discarded on the carpet. Jacob's handwriting was scruffy but still legible but I wasn't finding anything useful as I skimmed through the pages. Notes about martial arts techniques, finances, shopping lists and a few sketches.

My finger trailed across the words, stopping when I recognised a name. £950 - L.R. Jackson. Where was that name from? I snapped a picture before giving the finance sheets to Kole and telling him to send Henry a copy of those too, just in case. Maybe there was something else hidden in there that I'd missed.

Kole passed the phone back to me and I scanned the messages, looking for anything of use but my mind kept flitting between focusing on the messages and that name. I knew it from somewhere, I was sure of it but I wouldn't tell anyone just yet, not until I knew for sure.

I brought my attention back to the screen and smirked when I noticed something I'd missed before. "Looks like we're in luck, Kole," I said, showing him the message we'd somehow both managed to miss earlier. "Jacob is meeting someone tonight at nine. We're going on a little evening chase."

~*~*~

"Jaia, you stepped on my foot," Kole hissed.

"Oops." He shoved me lightly and I stepped on his other foot. "Stay still you fat oaf. If Jacob sees us it's game over."

Kole grumbled under his breath but said nothing more as we went back to silently following Jacob, keeping a good distance behind him. We'd installed a tracking signal — under Henry's guidance — on Jacob's burner phone but it would still be easier if we could keep an eye on him.

Celine had made me promise that we'd only watch from a distance and not get involved no matter what Jacob was doing. My leg was still healing and she wasn't about to risk me tearing my stitches and being out of action for another two weeks.

I'd agreed albeit reluctantly. Danger and risk-taking had always been my calling but I knew not to cross Celine, not if I ever wanted to be allowed on solo missions. So, we'd just be watching almost like we were at the cinema. I had half a mind to suggest that we should've brought popcorn.

Suddenly, Jacob turned around and both Kole and I went rigid, barely breathing as we kept our cover behind a nearby building. After he was done checking that no one was around, he slipped into the adjacent alleyway, hidden by evening shadow.

"We'll have better cover if we're in the car," I said and Kole groaned but knew I was right. If someone saw us just standing behind a building they'd get suspicious.

We'd only just gotten out of the car in case he went further down this one-way street so it was easy to slip back inside its warm embrace. We couldn't hear Jacob from where we were, even more so now that there was the barrier of our car separating us, but we'd also hidden some recording software in his burner phone. Kole passed me an earpiece, grinning mischievously as he put his in his right ear.

A few minutes passed but there was no noise on Jacob's end, only a bit of static accompanied by the impatient tapping of feet.

"Stakeout missions are so boring," the whinging baby said and I shoved his arm.

"Too bad. Now, pass us the binoculars will you?"

Kole rolled his eyes and pressed the second pair of binoculars into my hands with much more force than necessary. "Why so whiney?"

"Maybe because this was a last-minute mission and some of us have lives outside of work?" he mused bitterly.

"Oh no, you had to cancel on your fuck buddy. How will you ever go on?"

Kole stuck his middle finger up at me but was interrupted before he could snipe back by noise on Jacob's end.

"Finally," Jacob grunted, the sound slightly muffled.

"Traffic. Sorry, kid," another voice said. It was gravely and rough like the guy smoked three packs a day. If a boulder could speak, it would sound like him.

"Whatever. You owe me a grand by the way."

"Why? You already had your pay this month."

"When I was picking these up, he said you guys were a grand short." There was a slight clinking of metal but I couldn't make out what Jacob was holding. Even with night vision, these 'binoculars' couldn't see around corners.

"Another thousand? That's ridiculous. We already paid him a fuck load," Boulder spat.

"Don't blame me. I'm just the messenger."

"I knew we shouldn't have gone through J. Everyone knows he charges you for everything you got. If those stupid whoevers hadn't stopped our shipment we wouldn't be in this mess," Boulder grumbled to himself. "I can't believe they— never mind. I'm going off topic." There was a long pause before he carried on. "Hand it over then, Jacob. I haven't got all day."

"What about my money. I paid that out of pocket."

"Yes. Yes. Here you go. You're lucky I was going to go gambling tonight but you've stopped that plan now haven't you. I suppose I would've lost the money either way... now, give."

There was more shuffling and clinking sounds. "Good. I'll see you soon, boy. Don't forget about the meeting."

"Wouldn't dream of it, sir," Jacob said, footsteps crunching on the gravel.

Kole and I ducked when we saw Jacob stepping out from the alley, making sure we weren't visible sitting in the car. The tinted windows and evening sky made our job easier but we still didn't want to chance it. Jacob had met me as Cassie Bell so I'd be screwed if he found me following him.

Once he was gone, we waited another ten minutes to be sure Boulder had disappeared too. Although it might've been a smart move to try and find out who he was, it was too risky at present. We didn't have the right equipment and I was still healing.

"Did you get all of that?" I asked Kole as he started the car engine and it purred to life.

"Every word. You were right, Jaia. He's definitely involved in something."

"You think it's to do with the terrorist group?"

Kole shrugged, reversing out of his parking spot. "Could be but I'm not sure. Either way, he's definitely worth keeping an eye on."

I nodded, staring out of the window and counting the trees yet again. 154. Doing this had always helped me think.

Boulder had mentioned a 'J'. Could it have been S.R. Jackson? The prices roughly matched up. £950 compared to £1000 was pretty close. But what had cost enough for Boulder to have said they'd already paid him a 'fuck load'? Whatever it was, it was definitely metal if that clinking was anything to go by. Maybe it was—

I froze but I didn't think Kole noticed, used to me staring out of the window by now. Fuck. S.R. Jackson. How could I have forgotten? He was a weapons dealer who specialised in illegal shit like rifles and explosives. I'd dealt with him once as Blair.

Jacob had to be a part of the terrorist group. Otherwise there was no way they'd have gone through Jackson, he was so expensive. Besides, Boulder had mentioned someone stopping their shipment. It had to have been us.

I smirked, knowing I'd figured it out. However, I quickly realised that I couldn't tell anyone about my findings. They'd be too suspicious about how I knew about Jackson. I couldn't risk it. I hoped Celine would think what we found was suspicious enough for me to keep tabs on Jacob. Especially seeing as I had the perfect way to keep close to him: Zack.

~*~*~

Exams are still going on but I wanted to get this out for you guys. I hope you enjoyed!

Stay safe xx