Chapter Five

Raya St Claire

My fingers were shaking when I opened my laptop.

I couldn't shake the nauseating feeling I felt every time I had to hack into something, but this time, it was as if the nauseating feeling was heightened.

My mother's words from eight years ago played inside my mind, as if she was standing right next to me. "Raya, you're going to get into trouble."

She was right. I did get into trouble and my punishment was my entire family being murdered by the guy whose database I hacked into that night.

Hoping to calm myself down, I rub my hands against my legs but the shaking never subsided to my utter dismay. Taking in a deep breath, I started to get to work after my laptop switched on.

This wasn't something I couldn't do.

I just had to.

The NC was counting on me.

Hacking was easy, but the fact that I had to reopen old wounds doing it... that was the part getting to me, but hacking sometimes had its advantages.

I can track down the people who killed my family all those years ago, but of course Archie wouldn't let me do it. He says that it would be a bad move to try and find them because once I do; I won't think with my brain but with the hatred I have towards them and that would be the cause of my death.

"Pain and hatred makes you weak." He used to say. "You won't think about anything else but killing them, and that could lead to your downfall. Wait for the right moment to kill him. His day will come, but not today."

And Archie was right, because once I find those bastards who took my family from me, I won't have an ounce of remorse inside me. I will kill them on sight—and I will make sure that they won't leave this earth easily.

They deserve pain.

They deserve to feel what I felt that night when I saw my entire family being murdered right in front of my fifteen year old eyes, and when they feel that same pain I felt that night, they'll beg for mercy; mercy I will not give them.

I took yet another deep breath and went to work, my fingers gliding over the keys as I hacked into the docks' security cameras.

I wrote down everything I saw on a piece of paper in very accurate details, but the further I scanned for danger, the more disadvantages there were.

It wasn't anything the NC couldn't handle.

• • •

I slightly crush the piece of paper I had between my fingers as I made my way back to the meeting room that same afternoon.

Archie and the rest of the boys, including the newcomer, was already seated and awaiting my arrival. They were waiting in suspense; I could see it in their eyes as they surveyed the piece of paper containing the details of the boat in my hands when I made my way to my seat right beside Archie's.

I plop down in my seat and slide the piece of paper towards Archie. He doesn't scan the piece of paper; he wanted to hear whatever I found himself.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news about the shipyard." I say, looking between all of the boys before my gaze landed on Archie.

"Tell us." Storm says, leaning forward in his seat. "We can handle it."

I sigh. "There are about, and take note that this is just from what I could see from the camera's point of view, ten people guarding the docks at night."

"Ten people? That's easy." Bear chuckles and folds his hands in his lap, like taking down ten guys were a piece of cake, and I guess to him it was because he didn't have the name Bear for fun, he was built like one too.

He has the broadest of shoulders, even broader than Storm's, and Bear's physique was definitely active and athletic. He was the captain of the football team after all. Bear could easily take down ten guys by himself, but unfortunately that wasn't the bad news I wanted to share with them today.

"That's not the bad news I was referring to, Bear." I say, taking the piece of paper I slid in front of Archie back in front of me. "You see, there are ten people patrolling the ground alone. But here," I pause, tapping the warehouses' rooftops, "here is the main problem: snipers. There are two."

"Why would there be snipers?" The newcomer asks, eyeing the piece of paper in front of me.

I doubt he could see anything from where he was sitting because my both my handwriting and drawings were so tiny, but he tried to look nonetheless.

"It can be one of two reasons... one: there might be something important they are guarding, or reason number two: they're used to getting robbed and increased their security." The newcomer nods as he processed the information, and so did the rest of the crew. "But there's a third reason," I add in, "we might also not be the only ones who wants the next shipment. There might be other gangs too who want the same thing we do, and they'll go in full force to get what we want, making our break-in more difficult."

"So we can expect a fight?" Bear asks, grinning widely.

"We can expect a fight all right."

"No." Archie cuts me off. "When you guys go in; you do it quietly. We don't need there to be bloodshed or the police knocking on our doorsteps."

Bear's grin disappears into thin air.

"Silently? There could be trouble—" I start, but was cut off by him again.

"Don't let there be trouble. If you guys work together, as a team, you would manage to take everyone down silently, and non-lethally." Archie says, looking between everyone.

He then turns to look at me. "Raya, I'm putting you in charge tonight. Do it silently and non-lethally. If there comes a time where things don't go according to plan, only then can you guys go through extreme measures to get the job done, but unless someone gets shot at, there should not be bloodshed at all."

I nod. "Got it."

"What do we say?" Archie asks.

"We will protect each other." Everyone started to talk in unison, except the recruit. "We will take care of each other. We will have each other's backs."

"Always and forever." Archie says.

"Always and forever." We finish.

• • •

"Man, I respect Archie so much but going in non-lethally? Who does he think we are? The Barbie Squad?" Bear sighs from next to me. "I mean I get we don't have to kill every time we have a mission, but really? Where did this sudden non-lethal rule come from?"

"He doesn't want a repeat of what happened the last time." Storm says.

"What happened the last time?" The recruit asks; his interest clearly piqued.

"Storm bit someone's ear off." Bear says, chuckling.

"The fuck?"

"That was after he stabbed three guys with just a pair of scissors." I laugh.

"Yup." Storm smiles proudly.

"You are a wicked, wicked man, Storm." The recruit says, shaking his head. "You would have made an excellent partner in my line of work."

"What was your worst kill, recruit?" Bear asks him.

"Worst kill?" The newcomer swipes his fingers through his hair. "There was this specific contract that'll stay with me forever. The guy worked at a construction site, so I didn't really think much of him. I thought he would have a big belly and wear a tank top, but when I got there, the guy was a damn beast." The newcomer then chuckles, sitting back against the couch. "He used a fucking sledgehammer on me, bashed my knee in quite well, but somehow, I managed to get a nail gun. I got him in the eye and in the forehead. Authorities thought it was just an accident. They never investigated it."

"Damn." Bear swipes a hand across his face. "You're badass, recruit."

"Why would it stay with you forever?" Storm asks.

"He's the only guy who ever fought back. The other contracts...they didn't expect to be killed because I upped my game. I don't usually use weapons that would make it obvious that the contracts were killed, I use poison, and you know, things the authorities and family members won't think much of."

"Remind me never to get on your bad side, newbie." Storm says.