Betrayal Codes

Chapter 2: Cole

Nothing is as it seems.

Many have parroted variations of this quote. Many claim to have said it first. No matter who recited it first or who crafted this theory, it rings true in so many circumstances. Take this situation, for example. If a hungry robin was flying around, looking for a snack, it would easily pass by a tasty stick insect. In fact, that robin would just see a branch. However, nothing is as it seems.

This is what I'm repeating in my head, over and over as I pace our hotel room. If I passed those girls on the street, I wouldn't give them a second thought; they could have analyzed me and done all their spy work without me even knowing or caring. If I knew the truth, I would try my best to steer clear of them if I saw them. Because those girls are dangerous. They were powerful. They were a threat to us — to the Band of Crime. Those girls might be the cause of our downfall if we don't stop them first.

"Cole, quit pacing. You're going to wake the sleeping little children below us," the man next to me whines sarcastically. Tucker. He's the third criminal on this mission: Tucker, Aiden, and me.

"I'm thinking, Tuck. We just saw our competition. And what do I always do after seeing the competition?"

"Analyze, predict, analyze, act. Yeah, we know," Tucker recites, now bored. I have a routine for every time we meet the enemy. Every time, I go through this sequence.

First I analyze. I strip down the layers of the enemy. Not the surface details like a name, age, and birthplace. More like their internal features. I learn their strengths and weaknesses, their power moves, and their consistent mistakes. I try to learn all I can about them and when I've succeeded, I predict their moves. I anticipate what they might do to stop us based on my prior analysis. Then, as every good schemer does, I analyze every angle of my conclusion. I find flaws and fix them. I locate weight and move it around to my advantage. Finally, I carry out the task.

My system works every time, it never fails. I never fail. The consequence of never failing is the Band's trust. As an infamous criminal group that carries out hundreds of felonies each year, being trusted with secrets is a bad thing. Others only brainstorm what I may be hearing, however, I know the real thing. Some say it's my dark, soul-searching eyes while others just shrug and insist I have a secret-keeping air to me. I wish I didn't.

As little as I like it, my bosses love it. My boss, Aiden, presses me for the "daily secret" every night. The Band's leader — who is also his boss — asks me for these secrets at our monthly meetings. One may think this would get traced back to me and everyone's trust in me would dissolve, but not yet. I'm hoping it will eventually so I can be rid of the Secret Keeper title because honestly, do I really want to know the behind-the-scenes details about your last murder? No. Would I like to know that you had sex with a woman for a job? Absolutely not.

My talent for lying and cheating doesn't help the matter, though. I am exceptionally good at keeping a poker face and coming up with the most realistic tales on the spot. And if you asked me to con something or someone, I would succeed too easily. So keeping secrets is easy. I just tell others something untrue.

"Cole, they said next to nothing to us. How can you know their ins and outs with nothing to base it on?" Aiden asks, snapping me back into the world. He was with me when we met the girls half an hour ago, so he thinks he knows everything. "The best way to complete the mission — and get you more information — is to join their inner circle. We must befriend them, get a hand on their plans, and destroy them." As always, Aiden is so sure of himself and his plans. When Aiden has an idea, there's no negotiating. No wonder he's a respected boss. Well, not respected by us, but by Peter, our leader.

Peter is the mastermind of this mission, of course. He's planning our meetings, our decoys, and our escapes. This is all to protect him as he invites yet another delinquent to the Band, making us a very large, very dangerous criminal group.