The Enemy of My Enemy Is my Ally and all that.
Chapter 10:
Ten years ago.
Shadwell Street Birmingham's Gun Quarter.
The Warehouse.
Drake.
"So, what you're saying is that you've been made by the target."
I was standing in the middle of our warehouse; one Duncan had no idea about. It was Found and prepared secretly for the unique goal of taking him down.
On the outside it's a nondescript building in the middle of The Gun Quarter among many other abandoned warehouses and derelict Victorian factories, while on the inside it's an open space with a kitchen, bunk beds, bathrooms, a small gym and most the important of all; Caleb's hacking space.
For as long as I have known my kid brother - which is Four years now - I have seen him with a computer, either breaking it apart to know how something inside of it works or reassembling it with better parts he made himself.
And although Duncan was a technophobe, he left him to be thinking – in his weird fucking mind- that it was another way to have Caleb under his thumb, in addition to holding Ella's safety over our heads. He would never phantom what we have been up to.
Still, although many of our breakthroughs in the big plan to take down the motherfucker who is making our lives living hell are mostly due to Caleb skills, he is still a little shit with a big mouth.
"No, that's not what it fucking means." I respond to Caleb earlier comment.
"It kind of does." Winter groans his British accent heavy, while lying down on his bunk bed. Yesterday he had a rough fight and today he is feeling the after-effect of the bruising. "Or maybe it means the little shit was not through with his digging."
"Oh yeah, you think you can so better when you can't even ice your boo-boos for shit." Caleb retort.
When my mother was still alive, she used to say that having siblings or close friends would be a blessing. Somedays I agree with her, other times like now, I think a break would be blessing enough. It's not that I didn't love my lil bro and best friend, but they always fight over meaningless stuff.
For Caleb, it usually stemmed from his anger toward Duncan, his mother who abandoned him with him, me – although it was completely out of my control - not knowing about him until recently, and most of all from his hormones going Gaga in his body.
See Caleb has my height, and his look are those of the cute school prince type. Dark blond hair and green eyes top it off with his mixed accent of American and British. But, his built is still on the lanky side, so although he was good at wooing the ladies, he was shit fighter, which bring us back to another reason why he always picks fight Winter.
Winter, well he was bigger, taller by a few inches. A highlander with dark ginger hair and grey eyes. If he entered a room, no one would dare make eye contact with him. In a fight he was a machine, until he met someone bigger, then he was like now lying down and nursing his bruises.
For Winter, the reason he was here was because of his grandfather who was scammed by one of Duncan's bookies. He was given a choice to either find his pops death or to pay back the debt instead of him.
So yeah, there is a lot of anger and teenage hormones in this room and if left alone Winter will get red in the face, forget his bruise and Caleb will start to jump up and down around the warehouse while calling names.
The only thing able to stop them would be, «Ella…" as predicted Winter stop mid-rise and Caleb quiets down.
"We need to pin down this girl if we have a chance to get Ella on the phone, so Caleb start hacking, winter go put yourself in an ice bath."
"I'm all down with pinning her and all that, but how?" winter growl as he makes his way to the bathroom.
"And what the heck am I hacking anyway?" Caleb asks too.
At both their questions, I turned toward our board the one we set up with all the key players in Duncan's little organization. We had started to ship away at them slowly for a couple years now, each of them using the same weakness, Greed.
They all had money and wanted more of it which made taking them down easy, for the most part. The trick was, do it too fast and the other go into hiding, too slow and you risk having another greedy pig pop out to replace the last one you've taken down.
But "For little miss Jackline Acker we might need another guidebook altogether." I say almost absently.
But Caleb's hearing picks it up. "No shit."
"Oh, nice hideout you have here." I turn at those words, and my eyes clashes with the multicolored one's of none other than Jack Acker.
"The hell?" I whisper. This can't be. She is not standing in the middle of our warehouse looking around like she is touristic tour, wearing an oversized grey jogging suit with her hair under a baseball cap.
"Ahhhh." The scream of Caleb is followed by a huge crash like sound, but I don't look back. I keep my eyes on the girl who should not be here.
This must be what a real face-off feels like, I think. Not the simple angry eye contact that I am used to on the illegal fighting ring, or with Duncan and his goons. This is when you know that you've met a real predator, someone who studied you as much as you did them, and somehow found out your secret warehouse and decided to spring up a visit on you. Hell.
"What the hell is going on?" Winter's voice booms from the direction of the baths. Still, I don't take my eyes off Jack whose eyes wiped to follow the direction from which Winter's voice came from, and that's when the most absurd train of thoughts came to my mind.
Winter was in an ice bath so he must be naked. Obviously. He also thinks it's just the three of us inside the warehouse, but with the noise Caleb is making he will surely come out in a hurry, like naked, and Jack will see him like that. Oh hell no.
"Stop. Winter don't you fucking come out of there." I yell the word semi turning keeping the serene looking intruder in my peripheral vision. Both of her eyebrows raise at my outburst, and really why should I care if Jack-fucking-Acker saw my best bud in his birthday suit, it shouldn't matter…but it did. It fucking did.
"WHAT?! You want us two to be alone with her." Caleb cries out from behind his precious computer screen.
"HER?!" winter shouts. This time I hear him sloshing and splashing in the water, and Jack make this cute
"How are you here?" I question her. "How did you find this place?" Shit, my body is so corded with tension it's a wonder I was able to speak just now.
"Oh, was this supposed to be a secret?" she looks between me and Caleb. Then she focuses on my kid brother. "Since its close to the homeless center you were frequenting when you were younger."
I look at my brother and I watch him flush all the way to his ears. Dammit. "Anyone with half a brain would align the dots and connect that the director of the center is also the owner of this warehouse, and since you Mr. Duncan…" Jack point to my bother. "… are quite close to that director; what better place to plan the ruin of your archenemy than the warehouse of your mentor."
"Dammit, Caleb." I curse under my breath, knowing exactly what she was talking about. Caleb was the one in charge of finding a secure base, now we'll need to move out because of his screw up. I look at him communicating silently that we will be talking about this later. He pales and shift his gaze down.
"This still does not explain what you are doing." I say looking back at her.
Before Jacks get the chance to answer Winter come out of the bathroom – clothes on, thanks God – when he sees who is present the battle-ready tension, I've seen him adopt many time in a fight come on to him as he pins Jack with his stare. Hell, I need to control this screw up before I have to hold my best friend in a chokehold.
"Winter stand down." I tell him. "You…" I point at Jack. "…Start talking."
If I thought I was intimating Jack Acker, then I had it all wrong. Plus, she didn't appear at all wary of Winter although he was giving her his cold look from hell. She stood there for five seconds looking us up and down before she talked.
"Although, what I am going to say might sound quite cliché and suspicious but… I come in peace, and I am not here to hurt you."
After she finishes, you could hear a pin as we all stand there, the three of us looking at her as if she just popped another head. While Jack keeps her stand relaxed, hands at her side, and small supposedly harmless smile on her face.
But then Caleb breaks the ice in his own fashion. "Lady, are you on crack?"