Self-Seeker

34

Sunday

It was ten o'clock in the morning and the day after the attack at the twins' birthday party. They had pulled some strings and managed to get the press to release it as a heist rather than an attempted kidnapping. Jazmine was still nowhere to be found and everyone pretty much remained on edge.

Nonetheless, they had to move forward, which was the reason Genesis had taken a shaken Emily to the gym to teach her how to defend herself. She had selfishly made the decision to involve Emily in the dangerous life she lived, knowing that it was a huge risk, and had consequently put her friend in a position of danger. The only thing she could do now was to ensure that if anything like it happened again, Emily would at least be able to put up a fight. Genesis knew Emily was strong on the inside, but it was understandable that she cried from the scare. However, being strong on the outside too was never a bad trait to carry.

"Again. Come at me." Genesis demanded. Emily reluctantly swung her fist out at Genesis. She was tired as they had been at it all morning and she had hardly gotten any sleep last night. Genesis knew that, but she had to push her. She was actually going easy on the woman but she doubted Emily thought that.

She grabbed Emily's fist with both hands, turning so that her back was facing her and effortlessly threw her over her shoulder onto the mat. Emily groaned, laying on the mat with no energy left and sweat dripping from her body. Genesis sighed, knowing that Emily hadn't the strength nor stamina yet to work at such a fast and continuous pace.

"How about we take a break? You have fifteen minutes, okay?" Genesis said, offering her hand for Emily to take and pulling her up to her feet. Emily simply nodded in reply, completely winded from the fall.

Genesis walked over to a bench at the side, taking a sip from her water bottle and wiping her sweat onto a towel. She wandered back over to the mats to find Emily talking to someone with their back to Genesis. Upon closer inspection she realised that it was, in fact, Tyler. She was not expecting to see him here, though her research on him had told her that he attended this gym, he usually only went on Monday through to Friday.

"What are you doing here?" Genesis interrupted their conversation, he was currently one of her least favourite people and she intended on letting him know that.

He looked at her with a foul expression, the resentment clear in his eyes. "Emily told me that she would be here today, I just wanted to check up on her - make sure she's alright." He answered unenthusiastically.

"Well, she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She doesn't need a baby sitter. As you can see, nothing is wrong with her so excuse us, but we're busy at the Moment." Genesis replied. Emily stepped in the middle of them, where there was just about enough space for her as they had subconsciously taken steps towards each other as if they were going into a dual.

"Actually, Genesis, if you don't mind, I was going to continue this session with Tyler. We're going out to lunch in a couple of hours so you don't have to worry about having me with you all day." Emily said. Genesis was internally proud that Emily had made a decision for herself rather than agreeing to what Genesis wanted. But her hardened facial expression didn't falter as she glanced over at Tyler, clenching her jaw.

"Having you with me isn't a burden nor a chore, Em. But if you'd rather have Tyler with you then by all means, enjoy the rest of your day. I'll see you at work tomorrow." Genesis said, patting Emily's shoulder and offering her a smile. She turned on her heel as Emily told her goodbye.

She went into the changing rooms just in time to catch her phone ringing. It was from a blocked number. Genesis answered the phone, bringing it up to her ear with a good idea of who might be calling.

"You have some nerve calling this number." Genesis spoke with hatred lacing her tone.

"Oh Genesis, don't you ever get tired of being so miserable all the time? Lighten up." Jazmine taunted.

"Twenty seconds. That's how long you have to tell me what you want."

"I think you already know the answer to that by now. Let me give you a clue. Blue eyes. Blonde hair."

"I know you don't really want Emily, Jazzy. You were sending me a message. Why?"

Jazmine chuckled, Genesis could imagine her rolling her eyes on the other end of the phone. "You're a smart girl, Genesis, figure it out."

The call had already ended before she could respond. Letting her anger get the best of her, Genesis punched her fist into the row of lockers, screaming out curses in pain as her knuckles split open. The locker had dented from the impact. She took a few deep breaths, collecting her bag and swinging it over her shoulder. This was not the appropriate time to be acting irrationally. She needed to focus, there was a lot of work to do.

***

After showering and making herself a sandwich, Genesis had shut herself away in her CDC, combing through video feeds, tracking wherever Jazmine went. Who she met with, phone conversations, whatever she could find. She had attempted to pick up her parents' trail after their meeting with Jazmine a few weeks ago, but it seemed they had disappeared. It wouldn't be the first time.

It was ten pm by now and Genesis was just about ready to call it a night when one of her screens began to flash with an alert. It displayed a text message from the same burner phone Jazmine called Genesis from that morning to an unknown number. Genesis opened the file and immediately the pieces started to fall together.

The message read 'You saw what happened to Falzone, fail me and you can expect a similar fate.' At the bottom of the screen the date read '16/09' - the date of the twins' birthday party. Whoever those men were that infiltrated the party had to have been working for Falzone and were also present to witness his murder.

Genesis wheeled her chair over to her multi-touch table. She cross-referenced the video she recorded of the men in the alley where she had followed Jazmine to, with the footage from the yacht. Just as Genesis had expected, there was a 99.6 percent match. All three men that were in the alley that day had been the same three tying Emily to the helicopter ladder. Those men were all employees of Padre, which could only mean that he was the one that gave the order for Jazmine to kidnap Emily to get to Genesis.

Well then, if he wanted to see her so badly, it was time Genesis finally payed her father a visit.