Grooves

Prologue

In June of 2012, there was a man sitting at a small table in a local café. He'd ordered a simple black coffee, to which he added enough creamer to make the man across from him grimace.

"Did you plan on having coffee with that creamer?" Raul asked, making yet another face as he took a sip of his own black coffee, sans hazelnut cream.

"Do you plan on enjoying your beverage?" Kai countered, sparing his partner a glance before sliding his dark eyes to the street outside. The ground beneath them rumbled slightly as a Whole Foods semi rolled past. Kai's stare refocused the second it was gone, scanning the opposite sidewalk for any changes. He made sure to do the usual routine with his gaze every few seconds, looking away from the window to scan the cafe, glance at Raul, and then take a sip of his coffee. Two exits were located, the closest one behind him and just three feet to his right. Three other customers sat sporadically at tables, all on their laptops or phones. They'd sat so the laptop screens were easy to see, and the man with his phone had it turned sideways and propped up with a movie playing through his headphones. One teenage girl worked behind the counter, and she'd been busy cleaning since they'd sat down with their order. His eyes scanned back outside. They moved again to flicker through the cafe. Every 3 seconds. Or sometimes it was five seconds; other times it might be 2. Sticking to a set time was easier, but also more identifiable.

"What gives you the idea I'm not enjoying it?" Came Raul's reply as his pale blue eyes zeroed in over Kai's shoulder, watching through the window behind him. However, he didn't miss the quick smirk Kai gave, just a fast twitch at the right side of his mouth.

"You're face," Across the street, seated under the outdoor awning of the small Pizzeria, a woman with short black hair raised her left hand from the table and tapped it twice, sipping her water. Serena's eyes never met Kai's. Seconds later, two men approached the empty seats at her table. There wasn't anything noticeable about them; both were around six feet tall, the one closer to the street just an inch or so shorter than his companion. Dressed in simple summer attire, Kai quickly noticed the one abnormality; thick, black boots that weren't made for summer in Colorado.

But they were made for war.

"Black combats, two or three concealed." Kai muttered to no one in particular, but the piece in his ear buzzed slightly at the reply.

"Vol said they'd be harmless, but he didn't promise they'd be defenseless." Thomas sighed down the line.

"Translation: ready to fight, but not dumb enough to start one." Kai glanced over as Raul sipped more of his coffee, leveling him with a look from over his cup. They both looked as the two men sat down across the street, seemingly relaxed as they lounged in their chairs. Kai knew better. He saw the taller of the two slowly rubbing his boot-covered heel into the ground while the other had a tight grip on the railing next to him that he'd nonchalantly draped his arm over.

It was silent over the line and between the two men in the cafe over the next few minutes. Between making his normal glances around his surroundings, Kai's eyes were trained on the interactions across the street. Serena and the men took turns speaking, all keeping calm and serene expressions; a passerby would think they were discussing the weather or which pizza they could all agree on. This wasn't his first, nor would it be his last surveillance operation, but Kai hated them all equally. His blood was on fire as his hammering heart worked overtime, and it flowed like an itch under his skin. The constriction of tension in his chest made him work extra hard to regulate his breathing. He despised sitting and waiting; the push for action was as a part of him as his heritage, the shape of his eyes or the color of his skin was. He hated watching, hated waiting and he hated that Serena didn't have an earpiece.