Chapter 13

"No, you dumbass! I said put the box on the-

Letting out a loud groan, Pierre Richano snatches a large box from his team member's hand.

He stacks it up against a wall before turning back to the man.

"Go and find Uzini and tell him you're finished for the day."

"But I-

Pierre smiles, his eyes widening and the scared detective quickly runs off.

"Jeez, I'm on a fucking time limit and these idiots act like it's their first day here." the man mutters to himself, checking his watch.

*THUD!*

Turning around, the professional detective rolls his eyes.

"You too? Aren't you supposed to be smart, I mean you're a spy for fuck's sake. Go and put the box-

"The box stays here. That way, we can ship them back to the station faster." Dayne interrupts, squatting down and counting the bags of medical pills inside of them.

Kicking the man in his side, Pierre picks up the box and carries it towards the wall before seeing it vanish before his eyes.

"You little-!"

*CRACK!*

Holding his nose, Pierre stumbles back, removing his hands from his face.

Looking down at the drops of blood on his palms, he grits his teeth and lunges forward, returning a punch to Dayne's temple.

Quickly ducking, the skilled spy grabs Pierre's arm and throws him to the ground, twisting his arm.

"LET MY DAMN ARM GO, DUMBASS!" Pierre screams, kicking the man in his back. "I'M YOUR FUCKING SUPERIOR, YOU LISTEN TO WHAT I SAY!"

Using most of his upper body strength, the angry detective pushes himself up, knocking Dayne to the ground.

Pierre kicks Dayne in the stomach and Dayne quickly picks himself up.

The two men continue to fight, throwing punches at each other.

Pierre lets out a loud groan.

"This damn bastard! FUCKING DIE ALREADY!"

Lifting his leg into the air, Pierre kicks the spy in his temple.

Immediately, Dayne falls to the ground and the satisfied detective smiles.

"Finally. Have a good nap."

Pierre goes to kick the "unconscious" male in his stomach who quickly grabs his foot, dragging the unsuspecting detective to the ground.

Standing up, Dayne puts a shoe on Pierre's back, grabbing both of his arms and putting them behind him.

"You're a good fighter, I'll give you that." Dayne says, taking out a piece of rope from his pocket.

Tying the Pierre's hands and feet up, Dayne drags his co-worker over to a storage closet.

"You can stay here until the rest of us are finished loading the boxes. I'll come back to get you once we're done."

Slamming the door shut, Dayne tightly locks it before walking off.

Pierre's jaw drops in surprise and he squirms himself up against the locked door.

"HEY! HEY! ONE OF YOU ASSHOLES LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Groaning, the agitated detective rolls himself over, propping up against the locked door.

"Little bastard! He's going to regret he did this!"

Taking his gun from his pants, he positions the barrel to the rope and pulls the trigger.

Feeling the rope loosen, the young man aims the gun down at his tied feet, pulling the trigger once more.

Walking over to the door, he pounds his fists against it, yelling for someone to unlock it.

His request is answered as the door opens and Pierre falls forward.

He looks up, coming face to face with a young woman with purple eyes and long, jet black hair.

"Who the hell are you?!"

The woman rolls her eyes as Pierre stands up brushing himself off.

"I'm Milette Feliano. I got hired last week but wasn't able to attend the meeting you all had two days ago."

"Feliano, Feliano, Feliano. Where have I heard that name before?" Pierre asks himself, running a hand through his hair. "Oh! You're that chick with that annoying cousin who wouldn't stop bothering me about that airplane case a few years back!"

He scowls and crosses his arms.

"And why the hell are you on this team?"

Milette shrugs.

"Captain Uzini assigned me to it."

Pierre shakes his head and points to the exit.

"No, no, no. If you're on MY team, you're supposed to be with the other females filing papers, not moving boxes. Here's some money for a taxi back to the department. You're in room 309."

Milette's brows furrow and she runs after the professional detective.

"First off, I can do this job just as well as any other male here, so I'm not going back. Second off, we're in a city where work is considered gender-neutral. And lastly, you couldn't even stay assigned to my case you were assigned to three years ago, so you have no right to complain!"

Pierre rolls his eyes, looking at his watch.

"No, that cousin of yours kept annoying me about when I'd be done. I got tired of him calling back every two days, so I gave the case up to someone else. Now, be a good girl and go back to the department. The other broads probably need more help there anyway, plus you all can talk about using men for money or whatever girls do for fun."

He walks off and Milette watches as Pierre calls over another man.

Sighing, she picks up a box and carries it over to the wall, dusting her hands off.

"See? I told that idiot that I could pull off this job!"

"Don't stack them against the wall, though. It'll be easier if we place them near the exit."

Turning around, Milette comes face to face with Dayne.

"And you are?"

"Dayne Níserraté. I'm assigned to this team as well."

She smiles, looking at the man's dull expression.

"I'm assuming you don't like blue-eyes either." Milette says, picking up a box and looking over at Pierre who was currently yelling at an older man.

"Correct." Dayne replies. "Uh, could you pass me the packaging tape?"

------

Pulling into the driveway, Kazimir puts the car in park and steps out.

Walking up to the front door, he rings the doorbell.

After about a minute, the door opens and a small Khristina runs out to hug him.

Kazimir looks down at the young girl who was abnormally quiet.

"Alexei came by and told us the news about Amir. He said he staying in town for another week." Dréy says, checking his phone.

"Where can I find him? I'd like to talk to him if you don't mind." Kazimir asks.

Dréy shrugs.

"Don't know. He said he was going out for a drive to clear his head around 3 P.M."

Kazimir takes out his phone, checking the time.

"It's 7:49. Do you happen to have-

The soft rumbling of a car interrupts the young man and he turns around, blinded by a pair of headlights.

The lights quickly switch off and out steps a stressed-looking Alexei.

Picking up Khristina, Kazimir walks over to the young law student.

"Good evening, Alexei."

The young man looks up and Kazimir raises a brow.

"Oh, you look somewhat tense. I was planning to discuss something about the details surrounding Mr. Kansaye's death but I think that-

"It's fine. There has been multiple times where I've been more drained than as of now, so please, let's talk." Alexei says, interrupting the young detective and giving him a tired smile.

"Aye, y'all can't talk here though. I needa meet Pierre at that new club in town, so y'all gotta find somewhere else to go." Dréy chimes in, looking down at his watch.

Kazimir nods and turns back to Alexei.

"We can go to my place. I mean, if you're okay with that." the young detective says.

"That's perfectly fine." the young law student replies

The three head back to Kazimir's apartment complex, the young man quickly unlocking his door.

He turns the light on and places Khristina down.

Alexei squats down in front of the young girl whose eyes start to water.

"Awwww, Khristina. It's alright. Everything's going to be okay."

He hugs the young girl and she starts to audibly cry.

"BUT I WANTED TO SEE HIM! YOU SHOULD'VE LET ME GO!"

"Khristina, he has been dead since four this morning. There's no way any of us could've saw him." Alexei says, frowning.

She stomps her little foot and crosses her arms.

"I STILL COULD'VE SAW HIM WHEN YOU WENT TO HIS HOUSE! YOU SAID HE WAS UNDER A SHEET AND I COULD'VE SAW HIM IF I WENT, TOO!"

"Khristina, even I didn't get a chance to see him under the white sheet."

Her little mouth trembles and her eyes water.

"YOU KNOW WHAT?! I HOPE EVERYONE THAT DIDN'T LET ME SEE HIM GETS EATEN BY A SHARK!" she says, followed by a sneeze.

"Khristina, just get your sick ass out my face." the brown-eyed male says, massaging his temple.

The small girl gives her brother an angry look and she turns around.

The two males watch as the young girl heads off to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Sitting down, Alexei sighs.

"Mr. Cizetto, I deeply apologize for my profanity. Now, what was it that'd you'd like to discuss?"

Kazimir nods, taking his phone from his pocket.

He opens the gallery application, showing the young man next to him a picture of a business card with weird yellow symbols plastered across it.

"One of the detectives found this on Mr. Kansaye's front yawn. After testing for DNA on it, I came to the conclusion that it didn't belong to him. I asked the original photographer to send me this picture of the card so that I could do some personal research on it."

He swipes to the left, showing Alexei a screenshot of an internet search page.

"After connecting to a deep web browser and reverse image searching the card, I found out it belonged to a group called Merderaé. Apparently, it's formed by the wealthy and multiple social media stars; they're recruiting 24/7."

The brown-skinned man takes the phone and zooms in on the picture, reading the text on the screen.

"I feel like I've seen this particular card somewhere before."

He hands the phone back to Kazimir who puts it back in his pocket.

"We also found about five cameras that were placed around the house and tried to check the surveillance footage from 4 A.M. but it seemed to be deleted from the rest of the 12-hour long footage along with any footage at around the time we detectives were in the house."

"I see." Alexei says. "However, if it's fine with you, do you mind sending your research to me? I'd like to look into this myself as well."

Kazimir nods.

"Sure thing. I'll have to DM it to you since I'm behind on my phone bill, so may I have your social media?"

Alexei shakes his head.

"I don't have social media. Can't stand it."

"Oh, then I guess I'll just email it to you instead."

The brown-skinned man nods.

"That's fine with me."

"ALEXEI! MR. KAZIMIR! I'M READY FOR BED!"