Blood And Shattered Vases; BOS 5

The Black Crystal Rose Cartel

Liam Stone
I ran down the street, searching desperately for clues as to where Alysha might be. "Oi. She's been down here." I yell when I get to a dodgy looking alleyway.
The others run over. "How do you know?" Maddison asks.
"Breath through your nose deeply. What do you smell?" I reply as I walk into the alleyway.
"Gas, fumes, oil, trash and sewage." Ashley gags.
"Concentrate." I sigh impatiently as I slowly look around.
I spot something laying on the ground and I stop. "Perfume. Kharizmaticheskiy. The most expensive Russian perfume in the world." Shannon says in shock and I nod.
"Plus her jacket is shredded and laying on the ground here." I pick up the shredded fabric and turn to face them.
"How did you notice the smell?" Crystal has her hands on her hips.
"Yeah. It's kinda creepy that you know what she smells like." Delance says curiously with narrowed eyes.
I clench my jaw and turn away. "Oh my god. You didn't." Antonio gasps.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I reply and walk down the alley and stop at a wooden door that was the slightest bit ajar.
Maddison jumps in front of me and I jump due to never hearing her approach. "Liam. You didn't rip a bullet out of Alysha did you?" She asks with a knowing smirk.
"Technically I did but it was the day you caught us on the couch. She was weak and wanted to watch a movie with me so we lay on the couch together. Today after I quickly brought her back to the hotel she purposely made me snap." I reply and look at the door out of the corner of my eye and caught the slightest glimpse of someone moving and I smile.
I'm frozen in shock as Maddison hugs me. "Oh my god this is amazing. Alysha has never let anyone in before." She squeals and I clamp my hand over her mouth.
"Shhhh. We don't want to scare her away." I whisper and turn to the door. The others slowly approach.
"Who's her?" Ash asks quietly.
"Our ghost." I smile and walk to the door and step inside with everyone following closely.
Inside was pitch black. I felt a hand brush over my arm and I walk in that direction. "How can you see?" Kyle asks as he bumps into a wall.
"I can't." I reply with a smirk and begin walking backwards. "I have some added help."
I turn back around and am indicated to stop by a soft hand on my chest which disappears. I couldn't see anything. I could sence her though. She was right there in front of me. The more I stood staring the more I could just make her out. She steps closer and kisses me softly before backing away.
I stay still. "What is it?" Brett hissed.
"Shut up and wait. She'll tell us soon." I reply as I relish the past feel of her lips on mine.
The lights turn on and I blink rapidly to allow my eyes to adjust. It was a furniture store and on either side of me was a table with a glass top. I look back over my shoulder to see the others were rubbing their arms or knees. "That's unfair." Dylan grumbles.
"I'm sorry if that's what it seemed. Now please take a seat." Alyshas voice came from above us and we looked up to see nothing but the ceiling.
Slowly we sit down.
"Why Liam?" Steve asks to Alysha wherever she is, knowing she could hear him.
"Well I know Alex little secret about 5 years ago. Also I know Brett little secret from when he was 20." Her voice replies and both Brett and Alex stiffen.
"Oh don't worry boys. I don't know who these people are. All I know is what happened and what you're doing." Alysha steps into view and walks over. She stands in front of me and puts her hands on her hips.
"You don't seem mad so I guess you watched the video." She says and I chuckle.
"I saw the video. I know and Alex knows. We understand. You were protecting us and saving them." I say and pull her swiftly onto my lap.
She rests her head on my chest. "Shall we get to work?" She smiles and I kiss the side of her head.
"As long as it means we get to kill some asshole who want you dead." I reply and Alysha smirks.
She bends down and pulls out a couple snipers and chucks them to Crystal and Kyle. She pulls out knives and chucks them to Delance before handing everyone else except for Maddison guns and grenades. "This Maddison is something you're gonna like." Alysha stands and reaches into a lamp and pulls out a grey case.
"It's from the IMF. A little toy that they thought was destroyed." She smirks and hands it to Maddison.
Slowly Maddison opens in and smiles happily. "This is the ultimate hackers weapon." She looks up at Alysha who shrugs before spinning and flinging a razor blade, taking down a woman with a gun, seconds from shooting.
"Oh come on people. I thought you guys were trained. If we're gonna kill who we're about to go after then you all have to be on your A game. Got it?" Alysha says seriously and we all nod. Maddison pulls a watch out of the case and puts it on.
"A watch is the hackers ultimate weapon?" Antonio looks at Alysha in confusion.
"Oh baby. You may be able to hack computers but you aren't a hacker if you haven't heard of this. This watch can track down any person you want by using anything with a camera or speaker in the whole world. With this nobody can hide. Not even the most ghostly of ghosts. It also allows you to take control of anything with a computer system or GPS. Including any high damage military weapon you please." Maddison laughs and pats Antonios cheek.
"It's how I escaped being noticed. I used that watch to stay in the blind spots. Now let's go. We have a tail to kill." Alysha claps her hands together and a bag drops from the ceiling. She catches it and slings it over her shoulder.
I'm shocked into silence got a second along with everyone else. "We can't kill your tail until we know who and what your tail is. We need to be prepared." I say after a moments silence and Alysha sighs.
"Fine. But if this gets out to anyone then the IMF with make it seem as if you never existed." She warns and we all nod.
"The Russian Assassin Cartel." She says and looks down.
"Which one?" Steve asks warily.
Alysha doesn't speak for a second before looking at us, a slight sheepish cringe on her face. "In Russian it's the 'Картел Черный хрустал'ный розовый' and in English it's the 'Black Crystal Rose Cartel'."