The Revenge by Tijan

Her eyes lit up, her smile turned even more seductive, and her hips were swaying as she walked down to where everybody else was dancing.

Once she was gone, I motioned to both of them. “We have to go.”

Tony and Matt shared a look, but Tony was getting up. He was doing it slow, but he was doing it. “What the fuck, Hayes?”

“You need to do something for us, and we’re not going to owe you. You’re not doing it for any other reason than just to help us, and because you owe us.”

His nostrils flared, and his head moved back. “I owe you? Your math is wrong. I’ve now done you two solids. You owe me.”

I leaned in, making sure he knew I wasn’t messing around. “No.” I clipped that word out. “You owe us. You owe me. You owe Matt for being a bad influence on him.”

Tony’s eyes darted over my shoulder, and I couldn’t see Matt’s response, but I heard his, “Um…”

I didn’t care. I kept going. “You owe me for being a douchebag, for having girls touching you, blowing you, and doing all the disgusting sexual things you’ve been doing. Not for doing them, though. I’m sure the girls might have something to say about that. No. For me. Because you did them right next to me, when you know you shouldn’t have done that. You enjoyed making me uncomfortable, and because of that, you are going to do this and you aren’t going to ask questions. You’ll never talk about it again. You won’t even think about it again.” I waited. One beat. “Got it?”

I couldn’t say that there was fear in Tony’s gaze, but there was definitely a new uneasiness.

I cocked my eyebrow, and he nodded. “Fine. What do I need to do?”

“You are going to set up a distraction for us, and then you’re going to drink with us for the rest of the night.”

Except, that wasn’t exactly how it was going to go.



* * *



As plans went, this one was simple. That was the genius of it, in my opinion.

There was no real thought put into the selection of our stand-ins. Tony walked up to two people, a guy and girl, and told them to go to the back section. They were told to wait, and that showed the power these guys had over normal people, because they did it, no questions asked.

It hit me then how much I had grown accustomed to this world. I didn’t see Tony as the intimidating guy I had when I first saw him. I didn’t see Matt Francis as the Matt Francis. He was my brother. Tony was annoying. That’s who they were to me. But when Tony approached those two strangers, their eyes were saucers, they gulped, and they jumped when Tony told them “Go.”

I would later process this. Later. Not now. I did not have time. But this very interaction would remain in the back of my mind.

The plan was put in action.

We went to a dark corner and as the guards were watching us, the three of us slipped into the booth. This booth was chosen for a reason. It was far enough away that the guards would see us go in, and from there, they knew three people were partying in the booth. The shadows and the club’s dark lighting would help camouflage our stand-ins. The guards were ordered to remain at the bottom of the walkway to keep people away from us. It was a bit of a diva move, because we were taking up an entire section of the club, but it was necessary.

We got into the booth.

We ordered drinks.

The guards all saw this, then turned their backs as they took their positions. One glanced back to make sure we were there, and I allowed that we could waste five minutes. That was it, and then Tony called in his distraction.

I don’t know who he asked or how he got them to do it, but exactly three minutes in, there was a burst of fireworks in the front corner of the club. One guy stood with sparklers, and when those went off, all eyes were on him. He was in plain sight of everyone. A few people shrieked. Most laughed. And the club’s security guards took him out.

Everyone relaxed after that and went back to partying.

In that time, Matt and I slipped out of the booth. The guy and girl slipped in. As they picked up our drinks, Matt and I were tiptoeing out an exit door that was hardly used. There would be security footage of us, but it wouldn’t be caught until later.

Matt and I slipped out this side door as our guards remained inside. They wouldn’t look for us if they thought they knew where we were.

Then we got in Matt’s car and drove away.

Easy, right? The hard part was going to be next.





FIFTY-ONE

Kash


Both my teams came in.

The computer team was set up. They knocked out any surveillance within a three-block radius, which included street cameras and personal security systems. The other team stood next to me, all of us in our spots, taking up the perimeter around the house.

It was a lone house.

There was nothing special or distinguished about it. That was why they used it. Just another suburban neighborhood home.

I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. I didn’t want anyone to die. But when you send in a team to take over eight agents, I knew there was a high risk of someone getting a bullet in their body. Setting this up, thinking over everything, from every angle, I used what we had to use.

Me.

“All clear.” A voice came over our coms, and that was the signal. “I have control of their system. You are good to enter the east door. We have three minutes before they realize they’re not in control.”