C10H15N12.

           I figured it out. I figured it out.

           I stumble back from the white countertop, breathless.

           "I did it!" I shout. And there's only one hour left to spare. "I did it!" 

           I've always been better at math than chemistry, and I've always been better at hacking than math. But figuring this out, solving this formula . . . this is a rush.

            "We have blackmail!" I cheer.

             Well, those are three words I certainly never thought would come out of my mouth.

             "Quiet down!" Mai's voice is raspy from across the hall of Veah's penthouse. "We're busy!"

              "Busy? Doing what?" And suddenly all those rattling noises make sense to me. "Never mind! Don't answer that―um, cool! Sex is great―"

              Veah strides into the room with two swords on her back.

             Sex is great dies on my tongue.

              I suddenly can't breathe.

              "You look . . . you look . . . wow."

              An IQ of 159 and I can't come up with something better than you look wow. 

              She is wearing a dark grey suit that brings out the storm colour of her eyes. From the inside of her jacket, I can see the smooth expanse of her chest with a low-cut silk top. She cuts a striking figure, and I am reminded of the fact that she is feared throughout all of Tokyo city. My girlfriend, the deadly assassin. 

              Except the lapels of her suit are a little crooked. Without thinking, I am moving towards her. Straightening those edges, my fingertips accidentally brushing against bare skin.

              Electricity shudders through me.

              I look up at her. I am about to say, You promised to fuck me in the cab ride home, remember?

              But Veah grins. And I remember I have the chemical formula of the drug Okami was so desperate to keep a secret―and it didn't even require hacking.

               "I did it," I breathe. "I figured it out."

               Veah's eyes brighten. Grey rain. "We have something against her. We can threaten to tell the Cais this."

                "Your plan is crazy," I warn. "You know that, right?"

                "Oh, I know," she says, leaning towards me. "But I do need one more favour."

                "Anything."

                "I need you to breach the Drakon."

                "The . . . firewall?"

                "Okami needs to believe that we have the formula. And if you take down that firewall, if you hit her where it hurts . . . later tonight, she'll know we aren't bluffing."

                 "The strongest firewall in all of Asia? In all of the world?" 

                 "Please, Kaya," she says. "I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. But you're the only hacker left who is capable of it. We already have the formula, so you don't have to go deep―you just have to make her scared."

                  I set my jaw. "I'll do it. I just need a laptop."

                 She brushes a wisp of my hair back. "Done."

                 I have less than an hour to hack into the Japanese Mafia's most protected firewall.

                 Good God. 

             Maiko tilts her head. White strands of her hair frame her face, striking against the backless sapphire dress. 

             "Are you almost done yet?"

            "No."

            "I have the most perfect dress for you."

           "Be quiet."

           "You're going to be stunning," Maiko informs me. 

           "Not now."

           "You've been here for forty-seven minutes."

           "I'm almost done."

           "You said that five minute ago."

          "Maiko, I'm going to stab you if you don't go away."

            In the corner of my eye, I see her holding up a black dress. "So violent. Please, pretty please, Kaya? This banquet is going to have some of the most important people in Europe and Asia."

             "I'm almost done."

             "Are you sure?"

             "If I bypass the firewall using a SQL protocol, I can load the XML into the CSS stack and update the database to cross the JavaScript and SVG streams . . ." When the screen lights up in red code, I breathe a sigh of relief. "And I'm in!"

              Maiko's voice is stunned. "You breached the firewall?"

              "You didn't think I would?"

              "Well, no," she admits. "No one alive has been able to do that."

              When I narrow my eyes at her, she hands me the black dress.

              I hesitate. "I don't know . . ."

             "Kaya, you have curves to die for. With that red hair, you're going to look like a femme fatale. Like Scarlet Johansson as the Black Widow."

               Well . . . that's definitely badass.

               I take the dress. Before she dances out of the room, she says, "Quick question."

               "Yeah?"

              "Does this nose ring go with my outfit?" 

              The half-moon septum ring is silver, and I have never been more jealous of a piercing before. "You know, Ren is pretty much going to be worshipping the ground you walk on tonight," I tell her. "That's a yes."

                   She laughs, closing the door behind her.

                   Alone, I finally have time to look at myself. I slip the dress on, tugging it up. It clings to every curve of my body, enhancing the hourglass shape. The swell of my breasts is visible and the satiny black fabric touches mid-thigh. Mai was right about being a femme fatale.

                I look like the kind of girl who breaks the rules.

                And I almost don't recognize her―that girl in the mirror. But when I smile at her, she smiles back. She has golden-red hair. Piercing green eyes. She is . . . she's beautiful, and she's me. I have never looked at myself this way before, and I like it. The confidence. The power.

              There is a knock on the door.

              "Come in," I call out, stepping back from the mirror.

              Veah opens the door. "Maiko and Ren already left for the banquet―"

              When she sees me, her eyes darken.

             And heat spikes in my blood. At the thought of that grey suit―what it would be like to rip it off her. To touch her again. I am craving her―I am craving cherries.

              "Kaya." Veah's voice is rough. "You look . . . you are sensational."

              I blush. "You look hot, too."

             "Are you ready?"

              A nod. "I hacked into the Drakon. Okami should be worried―I stabbed right through the inner defenses. She'll know we're not bluffing about giving away the formula. And . . . Bastian?"

             "Good," Veah says. "And Bastian is tied up in the bathtub. He'll wake up in the morning. Okami won't know about him for a while, so tonight, she'll still think we're loyal to her."

            "This is going to be one hell of a party," I say.

           "A crazy night," she agrees. "But before we go―there's one thing."

          "Please tell me it involves fucking you," I breathe. "Really hard. Right now."

           Veah's eyes are glossy with thunder. "No. But . . . I think you're going to like this a little bit more."

           "Really?" I say doubtfully, as she pulls me towards her. "Because if you don't fuck me right now, I'm going to shred this gorgeous suit to pieces and fuck you."

            "No, you're not," Veah says darkly. "There's no time."

            I grab her by the lapels of her suit. "Dare me."

            Veah shakes her head. "Trust me, Kaya. You're going to like this much, much better. But it's going to have to be a secret until later tonight."

            "Aren't we going to be late?"

            "It won't matter," Veah says, her eyes scanning mine. "But nobody can know until later. Not even Maiko and Ren."

            "A secret?" I whisper against her lips.

            "A secret," she says, and she kisses me.

>>>

Any guesses about the secret? This one is going to be important later . . . 

Did anyone get my reference when Kaya says "one hell of a party?" Remember the first chapter?

From the moon and back,
Sarai