Alek

Chapter 12: Mae Kazimi

Chapter 12: Mae Kazimi

Alek Russo has 24 hours left to live. No, he had 24 hours to live.

He has 19 hours left now.

"Rashid," I speak into my earpiece. "Send location now."

"Sending," comes his voice into my ear. "Be careful Mae."

I turn to Avery and Kai who sit on the motorbikes beside me, watching from a small distance. We are parked on the side of the deserted main road, waiting for Rashid to give us the heads up before we go.

"The warehouse is 20 miles away on the side of an abandoned roadway," Rashid speaks into my ear. "Make sure to go in from the South door and to head upstairs through the elevator on the right to the third floor."

"Where will we find the doses of the poison?"

"According to the cameras on my screen, they'll be up ahead in big crates on the third floor. But Mae...." he takes a deep breath. "Don't forget what Hale taught us. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Five hours ago, Dr. Kale had explained to us the severity of the poison coursing through Alek's veins.

"I need a pure dose of this Bortox poison in order to make a cure out of it," he'd said, lips pursed in worry. "You're going to have to hunt down its supplier."

And so, Rashid had.

I'd called Kai and Avery immediately and asked Tomasso's permission to bring back this Bortox poison and give it to the doctor as quickly as possible.

Alek is going to die when I say he's going to die.

Now, as I get back onto my motorcycle, I wave to Kai and Avery to follow. My bike growls with energy before I set off into the night, using my right hand to bring my mask down onto my face.

I've left Mae behind at the Russo mansion. And right now, I'm Shadow.

I speed down the street, carefully turning when Rashid tells me to. I can hear the roars of Kai and Avery's rides behind me, following close behind but not too close. If someone was to be following us, they'd be the first to know.

I take a sharp turn to the left, my bike skidding against the road and sparking. I grit my teeth as my body tilts and force my ride straight back up once more before increasing my speed.

I need to get to the warehouse fast.

"Left on the first road," Rashid says into my ear.

I flick my eyes to the road, narrowingly crashing into a car and running a red light.

Shit. Hopefully, there are no cops around.

It takes us twenty minutes to arrive at the warehouse, but by the time we arrive, I'm breathing hard and my fingers are itching for a fight. It's been a while since I've been out like this and the exhilaration is feeding me energy.

"I'll scout," Avery sends me a toothy grin. She has seemed to have forgotten our argument thankfully and I can only return her grin. "I'll meet you on the third floor in fifteen minutes."

"I'll come looking for you in fifteen minutes and twenty seconds," Kai warns as he parks his bike beside mine, pushing his mask down onto his face.

"You won't find me."

"Oh?"

I let out a loud sigh. When Avery and Kai begin competing, things usually go to hell. I can already think of the many times their little competing sessions led to both of them strangling each other when we were younger. But we were older now, and when Kai said those things, he meant it more in an older brother protective type of way. And I know Avery no longer holds him up to their old little game anymore.