The mission is supposed to be easy. Mika and his gang of real-estate crooks only have to infiltrate a high-rise building and steal secret codes for a client. But the building is the ZENITH, the most fortified residential tower around, the codes are...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The dead of night came with enough warning, even to the nondescript pod parked behind the hedges. Through the tinted windows, Mika watched the sun climb down, bringing with it the natural veil of darkness. Right in time for the rest of Aledetri to respond. Within seconds, a bright flood of white light ripped through the inky haze.
Mika hated light. He didn't voice the sentiment more than a slight nose scrunch. It would bring more teasing, with Kabe claiming Mika was just like the fictional vampires Camreen was fond of watching. Down the hair, too, the rest of the crew would chip in. Cam didn't appear to mind, but her response would depend on what her current mood was. Tonight, as she hunkered on the pod's sleek corner, fingers clacking away at the portable screen she bought, she didn't look anywhere near amicable.
None of them did. Typical of the time they were in, which were a few minutes off the actual heist.
The nerves didn't bother Mika the least bit. He craned his neck to the sky, noting how the ZENITH's glass-like facade mirrored the streak of dark magenta clouds, the twinkling stars, and the bright moon in the distance. The only indication of the residential building existed was the stark red neon sign bearing the big letters strapped in one corner. Since today was as ordinary as any day that wasn't the owner's birthday, the display screens layered off the building's six facades remained inactive. During important holidays, those screens were known to display commemorative designs and occasional advertisements from the Monaldi Group's affiliates.
A frown pulled at the edges of Mika's lips. The Monaldi Group was one of the leading real-estate tycoons, focused on making the rest of the regions outside Aledetri into the sparkling utopias it was. That's one of Ida's gripes. She wanted a part in that race to the top, and she couldn't do that without going toe-to-toe with the spearhead of the Monaldi Group—Andra Monaldi.
"That woman can't have built all of that on her own!" Ida had once scoffed during a meeting with the leaders of her cadres. "She's just leeching off her dead husband's name. She wasn't even part of the Monaldis until she married in and wormed her way up."
Which was an ingenious way of taking something shiny and off-limits. Mika had to give the Monaldi Monarch that, especially when he's about to do the same thing to her.
He tucked the lower half of his face into the mask he had come to favor. He's been using this since their Verde Dasen case ages ago. "I'm stepping out," he turned to Camreen. Her face was lit up with the portable screen's brilliant light, making her look like a grumpy ghost. "Cover me."
She only gave him a short grunt. He turned to Laien who sat beside him wearing the same clothes and the same face. It's a convenient way to build his alibi should he get implicated. This mission was variable, after all. Anything could happen in the land of possibilities.
"Buy me a coffee, would you?" he said to which the disguise master nodded to. "And Kabe—"
"Yes, sir!" Kabe said from the driver's seat a little too eagerly. "Drive around the building until it's time to escape."
