MAIZE

A short while later the police arrived to make the arrests of the fifteen Zmeya men—all generously tied up and waiting. She watched it all happened from across the street through the coffee shop window.

Carrying unregistered firearms would most likely be the thing that got them behind bars, but their identities and other past crimes they've committed in the past would keep them there. For a while, Maize hoped as she sipped a hot cup of coffee by the window-cill.

Ryder came in several minutes later.

"Where's Kota?" she asked when she didn't see the familiar mass of black fur following in through the door behind him.

"In the car," Ryder answered, sliding into the booth seat across from her and throwing his arms back behind his head. "Where's mister 'can't get my name right'? I thought you'd both be in the same place together."

"He went looking elsewhere," Maize answered, remembering how Alec had taken off, giving her a minor explanation of where he was supposedly going which told her practically nothing. "Said there was something he wanted to check out."

Ryder shrugged in response meagrely before turned his head out the window next to where they sat and focused in on the guys getting hauled away in the last of the police cruisers. "How lucky for them..." he grinned, "anonymous tip just happens to come in and oh look at that, a nice raid to start off the day."

"Yeah, how lucky," Maize repeated before the slight upwards angle of her mouth slanted into a flat line. "More than we got out of it anyway. The whole thing ended up being nothing but a waste of time for us," she sighed heavily, setting her cup down.

Ryder shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't say that. I mean, at least those guys will be out of your way from now on...that's something," he pointed out, and Maize relented her views slightly.

"They have caused us a lot of trouble these past few weeks," she acknowledged begrudgingly. Admittedly, it was a satisfying to see them driven away in cop cars, or at least justified. So maybe their small excursion hadn't been entirely a waste. "But still—it's disappointing. I thought interrogation the gang members would have led somewhere." She swore.

Ryder was staring at her, with an oddly narrowed look of curiosity in his steely eyes.

"Are you concerned about the agent? Or are you so frustrated because this was your mission?" His tone was neither accusing nor condescending, he was simply asking a straightforward question. "Do you actually care about whether the agent lives or dies?"

Of course I do! Maize was so close to snapping immediately, but a moment of hesitation had her still, and she held it back in time.

There was a reason he was asking her this question—and it wasn't to be rude or provoking—he still thought she operated like she used to; indifferent to her targets. But that had changed, as she had tried to explain it to him. It had changed everything, though she knew she couldn't expect him to understand that with the same revolution that she did. Which is why she calmed herself before answering.

"I do." This mission had yet to be the longest mission she had ever gone on by far, but it was one of the first she had been sent out where she wasn't doing her job alone. That had made a difference, one that she hadn't thought to acknowledge until Ryder asked. "I do care...about saving Kishan's life, not just because it's the job," she said, and she meant it wholeheartedly. "He saved our lives before too, and he was only doing his job, doesn't deserve any of this. I do care. Though I will admit, probably not as much as Alec—they've known each other for a long time."

"He did mention that," Ryder muttered as he retracted his arms from behind his head and brought them forward to rest on the table. "But I'll be honest with you, this job seems to have blown up bigger than any mere protection gig I've ever heard of. Hell, it's not like you're guarding the freaking president," he muttered rantingly, but Maize stayed quiet.

There was something that had bubbling on the bridge of her mind, something she didn't think she would have gotten the time to address right away.

"Look, Ryder, you can leave if you want to," she finally said after a moment, her voice lower and more serious than a second ago.

"What?" Ryder's eyes were narrowed immediately in question, but something in his eyes said he wasn't dismissing her words so fast. She continued.

"Listen, I won't try and stop you. I know saving cops isn't exactly in your interest as it is mine, and you've already helped us enough—and paid the price for it. And believe me, you're right, I didn't know things would turn out this way for you, or for us, otherwise, I wouldn't have put you through this." She gave him a hard look. "I don't want you to get caught up in any more shit because of me. If you choose to just head out, I understand. In fact, I suggest you do."

"Are you asking me to leave? Or ordering me to?" He asked slowly.

Maize shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Whatever favour you owed Cassandra, it's more than paid off, and I'm sorry about what happened. I meant what I said just now—the last thing I want is for you to get caught up in something worse."

Ryder snapped at her, "Quit bullshitting me. You know I deal with shit like this all the time. Why does it matter if things suddenly got a little out of control because of something you're caught up in?"

"Maybe because in the past two years I've grown somewhat of a conscience," she replied without waver.

He looked like he wanted to sneer something back at her, but then he hesitated, his mouth parted on the bridge of expressing whatever words were being held back and bundled within his mind. Steel metallic eyes stared at her, through her, looking for something—a note of humour, a flash of regret, anything to indicate that what she was saying was just a hoax because she merely felt bad for him and what had happened.

She did, she did feel bad, guilty, regretful. She wouldn't have agreed to come to him if she had known things would have turned out this badly for them all—they were left backstabbed, and Ryder with only a secret underground garage left of his entire home. She had made a mistake bringing another person into what was obviously something bigger, as she was starting to see. She should have learned that lesson after Cassandra's casino was attacked.

"You're...you're serious." The previous look of discontent on Ryder's face vanished, replaced now by a calmer expression of neutrality.

"We've got this, Ryder," Maize said, hoping to assure him of the matter, which should have been simple given he knew her skill. "Besides, I'm sure you and Kota have got other things to do," she added.

Ryder was just watching her, with that same expressionless mask of steel that never seemed to leave his face. He seemed neither angry nor disagreeing with her.

Ryder was a great ally, tactically it would have been wiser to have him stay—and not just that, but Maize had missed his and Kota's familiar company, despite Ryder's many frustrating qualities. But it was because of that that she didn't want him to get caught stuck in whatever sticky web was revealing around this case, she didn't want to see him lose anything else. She wouldn't forgive herself for dragging him into this if he or Kota did get hurt.

Ryder was still staring at her, his always gloved hands now hidden in his pockets and out of sight.

Eventually, after what felt like forever, he finally sighed with an air of acceptance. "If you want me to head out, then I guess I won't argue with you..." he said, his tone holding the same calm steely note as always. But then he leaned forward and gave her a meaningful look, eyes dead focused. "But, you need to look me in the eye and tell me you won't need my help later on..." he said.

"I won't," she replied firmly, which seemed to ease whatever hesitation he may have been keeping hidden.

"Then I guess I'll be seeing you around Maize..." he said before he sighed and got to his feet. Maize could only bring herself to nod as her eyes followed him out of the booth and around the table until he was standing on her side looking down with a look of almost complacency. "I'll try to keep a lookout for your friend if I can. I intend to make that agent pay me back for all the dishes he broke—so I think it is in my best interest to at least keep my eyes open..."

"Thanks," she replied with an uplifted grin at his offer.

He nodded and turned to leave, but before he took a step away, he paused with his back to her and threw one last purposeful look over his shoulder. "And you're going to keep in touch this time around—no more disappearing for another two years?"

Maize felt the smile tug across her lips. "No more disappearing for another two years," she promised with a nod. She and Ryder shared one last meaningful look, before he smirked ever so slightly.

"Tell the asshole detective I said bye," he replied.

And then he was gone.

ALEC

He knew he was being followed.

There were two of them, pulling up along the side of the road in their dark vehicle. It wasn't the first time that day that Alec had seen that car either. That same car had made a pass around the street they had been on after the interrogation—he had spotted it the first time slowly driving through, but then noted it when he saw it go through a second time. At first, the windows had been rolled up, tinted too dark and at too far of a distance for him to see anybody inside, but now that they were closer, he managed to catch sight of two individuals sitting in the front seats.

Great, now who the hell are they and what do they want? he wondered to himself irritatedly, but on his guard all the same.

He certainly wouldn't find out the answer while they continued to stalk him from the inside of their car, but still, Alec didn't like the churning feeling in his stomach. Something was wrong, something particular about the two in the car following him, seemed off. And it gave him the feeling he didn't want to stick around in broad daylight to find out.

The next moment he made his decision and made a sharp right behind the next building, out of sight of the roads.

The two in the car had lost visual. The next moment the driver had pulled off along the sidewalk which allowed his partner to step out of the vehicle and quickly begin to follow in their target's wake. The man followed the walkway, turned down the same alley, and for a moment, found himself standing behind the building, in an empty parking lot.

He didn't turn around in time.

Without a moment of hesitation, Alec forcefully slammed the stranger against the brick and held him there at gunpoint, still using one of Ryder's guns. The man wore casual attire—jeans and a jacket—nothing particularly worth noting, nor would you think to, and dark reflective shades covered his eyes so that Alec couldn't quite see if the blank but tense expression he wore on his facial features reached up to his hidden gaze. Alec was about to open his mouth, when he heard a click from behind him.

"I would drop it if you know what's good for you." The other's voice was impassively cold but harsh.

Alec didn't turn his head but stared at the man through the corner of his eye. The stranger's partner; looked exactly like the other, almost like mirror copies, only this one was a few inches taller with darker features. And still with the same shades. Alec didn't lower his gun.

"Listen—don't make this any more difficult for yourself than it has to be. We can either do this the hard way or the easy way. Take your pick."

Alec eyed the two—the one held at his gunpoint and the one who had him in a similar position as well—and then the corner of his lip twitched upwards as Alec smirked. "Hard way it is then."

He slammed his opposite elbow back into the side of the other man's head and knocked the gun from his hand. His eyes weren't on the other, who took advantage and went for his gun arm, but Alec was quick and deflected the blow aimed at his face and delivered his own straight into the other man's stomach. A blow was landed to his turned back, and Alec winced before side kicking the other who hit him.

Both down at the same time Alec stood over them glaring.

He noticed one reach into his jacket and he aimed his gun down at him in warning. "I wouldn't do that if I were you—don't make this any more difficult than it has to be."

Begrudgingly, under the point of Alec's weapon, the guy slid the object away from him where it skittered across the pavement and landed an inch away from Alec's shoe. A simple swiss army knife. Alec picked it up and tossed it in the air a few times, watching it flip while neither of the other two men moved.

With one last cold look, Alec shot each of them a faint grin and said, "Don't come around again."

Then within a few seconds, he left them in the alleyway, walking down the street. He didn't hear anyone getting up to follow him, and he assumed they wouldn't. Not yet.

He still had the knife in hand when he passed by their car, parking along the side of the road. He glanced around once, no one else seemed to be around. Alec then slid out the blade and jabbed it once into the first tire, then once more. Then, because he felt like it, he did the same to each of the other tires.

Then he used the knife, stabbed a hole in one tire, and then left the handle produced from another—it wouldn't stop them but it would keep them from chasing after him on wheels.

Johnson slowly got up from the ground, clutching at a newly sore rib cage with his partner did the same, holding a hand to rub the side along his jaw bone. Surely, by tomorrow it would bruise.

"I think we underestimated the detective," Monroe muttered, almost begrudgingly as he took the sunglasses off his face and ran a hand down to the bridge of his nose.

They walked out of the alley a few minutes later, coming up to their car when they heard an odd sound coming from the tires. Johnson bent down to inspect the small puncture wounds that had been made into the rubber and were slowly beginning to let out air, as he quickly found out was the case for each of the other tires as well. Johnson shot a look at his companion.

"You think?"

Is this really the last we see of Ril—Ryder?