Devil on the Rooftop [Book 1]

Chapter 32 - Khaleel

Hino wanted to meet off school grounds during second period. His message said it was important. When I asked what happened, he said he couldn't say over text—that meant it had something to do with our special service. We never discussed business out in the open, it was always through phone calls, or in-person meetings on the rooftop. It was the safest way to make sure there was no text trail was left on our phones; especially when teachers could confiscate them in class. When potential clients messaged us, they used a code of words that we had worked hard to implement and perfect.

'Knock, knock' meant 'I'm interested in using your services'. If we answered 'Not today,' that meant we were at full capacity and they should try again later. If we answered, 'Who's there?' they would respond with the last six digits of their student ID number. It was all we needed to look up their profile on the school app. Then they were instructed to delete the conversation and had to wait for us to contact them through email. All interested parties knew the rules beforehand—they had to because they were all introduced to us by previous clients. Word of mouth was the best way to let students know what we offered, and our notorious reputation was the key to ensuring sure no one snitched.

Loyal caught up with me at a nearby park. I asked him to tag along because he was the only one who could bribe the security guard into letting us out of Jackheights. Last year, the bulky old man had caught us jumping from roof to roof; we almost made it to the new building atrium when he yelled at us to get down. He threatened to tell on us if we ever did it again. Loyal didn't like that, so he did some digging and found out Pino Bennett was a gambling addict in heavy debt. Loyal offered to pay him a big sum every time he did us a favour—an offer he couldn't refuse. That was how we got a hold of the master key to the academy, and how we accessed the rooftop openly. Before Pino, we climbed out through the side window, and ruined our uniform in the process.

We ran through the woods on the hills and found Hino on a picnic bench near the community splash pool. He wore a baseball cap and a black spring bomber. The closer we got to him, the more urgent the emergency became. I could see bandages wrapped around his fingers and stick-ons covering his neck. When Hino glanced up at us, I spotted more bandages on the side of his face.

"Who did this to you?" I asked, almost ripping the cap off his head. His hair was a mess and his forehead was covered with cuts and scrapes.

"You should see the other guys," Hino said, unbothered. He was strong. Everyone knew that, so to see him like this was really bizarre.

Loyal got a hold of Hino's shoulder. "Who was it?"

"Dobberman," Hino replied. "Well, not him exactly but friends of his, I'm sure."

"Neal?" Loyal asked, his expression souring.

Hino nodded. "I thought I could get him to pay up without involving you guys."

I was ready to pull all my hair out. Hino could take Dobberman, no problem, but that wasn't the point. We never did anything without consulting one another. We operated as a unit to make sure no one ever got caught off guard or outnumbered; we had too many enemies to be making executive decisions like this.

"Why would you do that?" I asked. "Why would you go looking for trouble without back up?"

"I didn't go looking for him," Hino clarified. He was acting so nonchalant about the whole thing, like he couldn't care less about his injuries, but more about getting even. "I was trying to get info about him, and...I might have roughed up Carter for it. I didn't think Dobberman would act so quickly. He lured me out with a text late last night. A few of his friends showed up for payback but not the kind I was looking for."

"How did your dumbass not think to call us when he messaged you?" I yelled. "They could have done a real number on you, Hino."

Hino laughed. "They tried, Khaleel. They really did. Those public school peasants thought they were going after the weakest link. You should have seen the looks on their faces when they realized who they were dealing with."

Dobberman was attending a public school now? Okay. Good to know. I was happy to hear his friends underestimated Hino. Like a lot of people, they thought his only job was to be the middleman, the peacemaker, but the dumbass could hold his own. And then some. I would be the first to admit that but none of that meant shit at the moment. Just because he was strong didn't mean he should pick fights with people, especially dickheads like Dobberman.

"Have you told Zander?" Loyal asked the important questions.

"I couldn't bring myself to," Hino answered. "That's why I said I was at the doctor's."

"You think he won't notice you walking around looking like King Tut?" I asked. "He's going to find out and when he does, I'm not the only one who's going to declare war!"

"We need to get intel about Dobberman's friends," Loyal said, thinking out loud. "And yeah, unfortunately, we can't keep Zander in the dark."

"I'm probably not the best person to approach Arisa anymore," Hino added. "My injuries will give her more reason to pry into our lives."

"We can pass that responsibility to the playboy," Loyal suggested. "It might be a nice distraction for him."

"Let's not forget the fan club," I pointed out. "The more time Arisa spends with him, the bigger the target on her back gets."

"She can handle herself," Loyal supplied. "I want to make sure Dobberman doesn't get a whiff of her or our complicated relationship with her. We need to keep Arisa away from this."

We nodded in agreement. "You should probably take the day," I said to Hino. "We can't have Z going Tasmanian until we have all the facts."