Chapter 52.4

Ken walked up to a board and uncovered it revealing a crime board. There were two major strings connected to the central photo with several other smaller strings branching out.

"The man who ordered the hit is Elijah Steele," Ken said through gritted teeth. "Scion of Steele Tech, and my parents' former employer."

"Hmm. From the looks of it, he didn't pull the trigger himself," Alina stated.

"No," Ken shook his head in agreement. He pointed his finger to one of the major strings. "He had this guy, Joseph Zayn, order the hit. And Joseph -"

"- Is one of the biggest crime lords in Europe," Alina finished grimly. "Who then had this guy pull the trigger."

Alina pointed to the second string and grimaced; she recognized him. Silas Gunner, a mercenary who was listed as number thirteen amongst the top twenty mercenaries in the world. A far cry from Jason, however, Fenrir was listed unofficially.

"Yeah. How did you know?" Ken asked in confusion but Alina didn't answer him but shrug.

"There's no way you can get to him or Steele. Not from here at least," Alina pointed out. "And forget about Gunner, he's a renowned killer."

"Maybe. But there is someone here that I can get," Ken replied evasively before pointing to a smaller string.

"This guy here," Ken continued. "He's a drug dealer."

"Jacob Smith. Man, a boring name like that's gotta be fake," Alina added under her breath before speaking out loud. "So, what's he got to do with a mercenary and a tech scion?"

"Business," Ken answered as he turned to a desk. He pulled a thick folder and browsed through the papers before pulling a stack out. "Using the computers here, I managed to pull some bank records."

Computer? Alina narrowed her eyes and turned to the computer on the desk. Hidden from Ken's eyes, she flicked a bolt of electricity into the computer and connected to it wirelessly. However, a firewall blocked her progress and Alina rolled her eyes.

Computer my ass. It's A.V.A that's doing the heavy work, Alina grumbled to herself.

Ken didn't notice anything as he handed the papers to Alina. The latter skimmed through them quickly before grimacing.

"Bastards," she muttered under her breath.

The paper indicated that Smith would get young ESPers hooked to drugs before "employing" them to Steele Tech. Those with strong powers would be good as muscles and grunts, while others, females mostly, would be assigned as "secretaries".

"And the cops aren't doing anything?" Alina asked in disbelief.

"What can they do? The victims themselves don't want their help," Ken answered bitterly.

"So Accelerant . . ."

"Yeah. It's Smith's work," Ken nodded, admitting easily. [2]

"So let me get this straight," Alina raised a hand and turned to look at Ken with a raised eyebrow. "You're buying a gun from the guy you wanna kill? Are you stupid? They'd keep an eye on you and kill you before you even got close to him!"

"You've got a better idea?" Ken asked.

"Yeah-uh," Alina nodded. "First, surveillance. We watch him and find out his schedule. Then we canvas an area he often visits, a nightclub or wherever he seeks pleasure or business and hit him when he least expects it."

Ken's mouth dropped and continued to drop as Alina continued her plan.

"Any questions?" Alina asked.

"Have you done this before?"

"Maybe," Alina shrugged, an enigmatic smile on her face as she unfurled her crossed arms. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Alina took a step closer to Ken and the latter stopped breathing as he caught sight of her eyes. Somehow, those hazel brown eyes mesmerized him and he couldn't look away until Alina turned back to the table.

Good, she's amazing, he thought. I think I'm in love.

Alina gazed down at her watch and sighed. "I need to get back home. Let's plan some more over there."

"Wait, what?" Ken froze, unsure of whether he heard her clearly.

"We'll plan more at my place?" Alina repeated, her head tilted as she sent him a flummoxed gaze.

"Y-your place? Just like that?" Ken asked.

"Yeah what's wro-" Alina realized just how ambiguous her sentence sounded and she stopped halfway, utterly stupified. Her cheeks turned bright red and she spun away while screaming internally.

Oh my god! What did I just say?! Alina asked herself as she punched herself internally.

"I-I only meant that as a friend!" Alina corrected herself with a stutter and Ken frantically nodded.

"Right, right. I knew that. Even though you're inviting me as a girl -"

"Argh!" Alina covered her face with her hands while turning her body away from Ken, who was just as embarrassed.

After a few minutes of flustered silence, Ken spoke. "So, should we . . . ?"

"Yes! We're leaving!" Without giving Ken a moment to see her face, Alina dashed out of the room.

The entire ride back home was filled with silence as Alina sat at the back with her hood up and Ken sat in the front passenger seat while gazing out the window. This time, they had the unfortunate luck of landing a taxi that was driven by a driver, and the latter was grinning wide at the sight of the two. Many times, Alina was tempted to shut the driver up violently, especially when he began telling Ken what to do to 'make up with his girlfriend'.

It was only after Alina reached home was she able to breathe properly. She smiled after turning to Ken who, once more, had nearly dislocated his jaw from shock as he gazed at the mansion.

"Welcome to my home," she said while gesturing at the mansion.

"Damn," Ken muttered as he took his shoes off. He slowly followed Alina up the stairs but continued gazing everywhere with surprise; he had never seen such a luxurious place before, let alone enter one.

"I know," Alina overheard him and nodded with a hint of a sigh. "I'm not used to it either, but Jason got this place for Alice, his daughter."

"Alice is Jason's daughter?!" Ken turned to Alina as his jaws dropped. Again. "But - how? They don't even look related!"

"She got it all from her mom," Alina explained curtly as she opened the door and entered her bedroom; she didn't want to tell him everything. Ken hesitated for a moment before gingerly following her. "Only thing she got from Jason was his nose."

Alina stretched before pulling off her elbow and knee guards. She tossed them aside before unzipping her hoodie, forgetting that Ken was standing there watching her in stunned silence. After removing her armor, her sleeveless tank top revealed her smooth brown skin but Ken's eyes were fixed in Alina's back, where a scar was.

"Wait. Where - how?" Ken called out to Alina as he approached her, any semblance of embarrassment faded as he seriously checked her wound.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Alina blushed and yelled as she realized that Ken was there but quickly saw where his attention was diverted to. "It's - it's nothing."

"Nothing?!" Ken noticed the exact same scar on the front of Alina's chest and quickly came to a conclusion: she had been run through with a sword. He gently touched the scar on her back before looking straight at her eyes. "How - what happened?"

Alina's face darkened as she pushed Ken's hands away and quickly pulled a sweater from a nearby drawer and put it on.

"I said it's nothing," Alina said indifferently.

"You were stabbed, Alina. I think -"

"It's none of your business!" Alina shouted and Ken flinched. Alina's face changed as she knew that her outburst was uncalled for, especially when Ken was only concerned for her. "Sorry."

"No. I'm sorry," Ken said rather guiltily. "I didn't mean to push -"

"I know," Alina cut through before sighing. "And thank you, I appreciate your concern. But I'm not ready to talk about it."

"Alright," Ken nodded with understanding. "But if you ever need to -"

"Thank you," Alina whispered again, her voice filled with relief at Ken's understanding.

The sound of the front door opening and the voices of Alice and Jason interrupted the two who froze.

"Shit," Alina said as she realized that Jason had come home before Ken could leave. "I'm screwed."