Z

Standing solitarily upon the flat roof above the streets below, Z watched the parading crowds, observing with interest. These people celebrated to happily, so freely. They had no idea that any one of them could lose their lives, if he felt like it. Because that was the power he held as an assassin, the power to decide who could live and who should die. And yet the world below him remained oblivious, unknowing, and happy.

Foolish. Lies. Ignorance.

Because that was all it was.

He listened to the voices, carrying up towards the roof where he remained too high to be seen. He heard laughter from below and he smiled. Ignorance. How nice it must be, he thought.

Footsteps approached from behind, but he had already heard them slide up to the roof before they made their presence known to him. He didn't turn. He knew who it was.

And if they were back that could only mean one thing.

"They got away." He said, voice cutting through the night air as smooth as a blade through water. The steps halted in their tracks. His tone wasn't questioning, he was stating a fact, a fact that he knew because he had witnessed it himself.

"You saw them then," one of the two responded. The woman, her voice hard as he felt her cold gaze at his back, and Z smiled.

"Indeed."

There was a pause of hesitation before the woman spoke up again. "I don't understand you. If you wanted them, then why let them go? Wherever you were, I know you could have taken them out easily and they never would have seen you coming. Why just let them get away—especially after you ordered the attack on their safehouse?"

So many questions.

One couldn't possibly hope to see the bigger picture with a view so small.

"Because, Silan," Z answered simply, chuckle touching at the edge of his voice as his eyes glittered down on the street. "Think of how boring that would be..."

ALEC

Once they had put enough distance between themselves and their pursuers, they stopped running and Alec gratefully collapsed his back against the nearest wall, leaning on it for support as he fought to catch his breath. Neither Kishan nor Maize seemed to be in that much better of a state.

Kishan sunk to the ground, back slumped against the opposite wall from Alec as he inhaled air. Maize on the other hand had propped her elbow up against the brick to steady herself as she too caught her breath.

They remained like that for a silent few minutes, the only sound in the narrow alley being the distant chant of music and their own heavy breathing. As the adrenaline rush began to fade and a calm stillness took over them, Alec could feel the weight of his two comrades gazes as the reality of what just happened hit them.

"What the fuck just happened back there?" Kishan asked, his voice uncharacteristically low.

Alec couldn't answer.

Back when they were speaking with the man who held him at gunpoint, Alec had acted like their appearance had come as no surprise to him, but that was a lie. While he knew they had still been out there looking for them, he had no idea how they could have found the location of the safehouse. It hadn't even been a week since they left the city. Precautions had been taken before and after their departure to ensure that wouldn't happen. And yet, somehow, it did.

"Let's look at the facts; Zmeya managed to find us, again. Whatever resources they may or may not have, it doesn't stop them from being able to locate law enforcement safehouses—even if it's in another damn country," he said out loud, eyes drawn in thought as he stared at the ground. "Most likely, they've got moles in the system feeding them this information, otherwise I can't think of any other way they would catch up this quick. That, or they're somehow aware of our every move," he finished sarcastically.

"Guess it all depends on how bad they want my ass six feet under," Kishan said with a resigned sigh.

"Great," Alec muttered sarcastically, adding a few chosen curse words under his breath as he ran a hand through his hair.

The fact of the matter was that their plan A—keep Kishan guarded in the safehouse off the grid—was now a complete bust, seeing how their 'safehouse' had not been as safe as they thought. Now they were stuck in a foreign country, with no contacts, out on the street, in the open, with no defence, or money for that matter.

Hiding out in a different country was supposed to have worked to their advantage, but currently, it was their biggest problem. Not to mention, they had no idea where they currently were, and Alec hadn't had time to grab his gun in all the chaos. He didn't like the feeling of being without it while they were being hunted on the streets. In fact, he didn't like the feeling of being hunted on the streets period.

They needed a plan.

He took a deep breath, "Alright, I think our first thing do would be to arm ourselves," he began. "Secondly, I think we should start looking for supplies—"

"Already got it covered," Maize interrupted.

"You already—wait what?"

Maize smirked and gestured to the pack still over her shoulder, before she set it to the ground, unzipped it, and began digging through it. A second later she tossed a handgun at Alec, who caught it with surprise.

"Figured you would want one of these," she said as she tossed a second one to Kishan. Then she pulled out a few items so that they could see, water bottles, flashlights, a map, money, and what looked like a leather roll of various daggers. Maize seemed amused by their blinking expressions, "You're lucky to have such a prepared partner."

"You had your jacket in there as well?" Kishan asked, still surprised.

"Yes. That, and a change of clothes for each of us," Maize answered calmly.

Kishan stared at her, "When the heck did you put this all together?!"

"As soon as we got here."

Alec briefly remembered seeing her going to the basement with a pack—the same pack she had now. So that's what she had been doing.

"How did you know we would need all this stuff?" Kishan continued to question.

"I didn't," she said.

Alec shook his head a chuckled, "You really are full of surprises..."

She turned to look at him, "Thought you would have figured that out by now."

"I think the next question is where do we go from here?"

They shared a look before he looked away, returning his gaze to the ground in front of him as. He thought hard about their options—which in his opinion, weren't looking all that bright at the moment.

For starters, they wouldn't be able to fly out of Mexico, they didn't have enough money on them nor did they have any of their passports or legal papers with them—all of which had been left back at the safehouse. Including Alec's cell phone. Dammit.

On top of that, Zmeya now knew they were in Toluca. Once they got word out to the rest of their gang, there would most likely be a manhunt for them on the streets. And Alec knew they didn't have to kind of ammunition to stave something like that off.

He would also need to find a way to notify the Captain that the safehouse had somehow been compromised—but that would have to wait until they got off the street.

Alec finally took a few moments to look around and paused. "Hold on, where exactly are we?" He asked.

"What? You're the one who lead us this way! Are you saying you had no idea where you were going?!" Maize asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry, did you want me to stop and ask for directions while we were running for our lives?" He shot back sarcastically. "Besides, I didn't see you trying to lead."

"Maybe because I was busy watching our backs," she retorted.

"Ok, ok," Kishan stood and cut between them nervously, "we're all a little tense after what just happened, but how about we try calming down and being civil about this? It really isn't the time to start biting each other's heads off. Why don't we start by Maize getting out the map to answer his question—"

"What do I look like your personal secretary to you?" Maize questioned.

Alec sighed, "Please?"

Maize stopped and stared at him for a second before finally he seemed to give in and rolled her eyes as she pulled out the fold-out map and began noting their position from the street signs above them.

"Well if we're here," she muttered out loud, tapping a spot on the paper, "then that means we're closer to the heart of the city, just off the coast of the Santo Maré river—"

"Wait really?" Alec started.

"Maize gave him an odd look, wondering why that would mean anything to him. "Yeah...why?"

Santo Maré...Santo Maré...

Why did that sound familiar to him?

"I have a summer house by the Santo Maré river...you should stop by sometime if you get the chance, I'll give you the address..."

Oh fuck no, Alec thought. Bad idea, bad idea...

But at the moment, he did not have a better option.

"What's the matter with you?" Kishan asked, staring at the expression on his face.

Don't say it, don't say it—

"I...I think I know somewhere we can go."

"Really?" Maize asked, and Alec mentally groaned and cursed himself out.

This was going to suck.