Scintillating
Chapter 4
October searched for papers as she constantly kept looking out at the door. The reception desk was left the same after Leila’s death but now there was October’s laptop also. October had two jobs now and didn’t necessarily mind it except for the fact that she was always on guard and kept a small handgun in a drawer. Even though Scarlett installed a bell that would ring every time the door would open, October still felt the need to look up every few minutes. When she finally located the paper, October quickly read the time of appointment. She relaxed when she saw that the appointment was two hours away. October started typing on her laptop happily as she tested her new safety system. The little bell rang softly but clearly and October looked up quickly, almost straining her neck. A woman holding a baby in her arms came in crying. Her baby was also wailing behind its blanket. “I-I want to…um,” the woman started to say with an Italian intonation. October waited for the woman to finish but when she didn’t, she asked, “Are you here for an appointment?” The woman shook her head nervously. “I just couldn’t take it anymore, you know? I need him finished right away. I have the money already here,” she said pulling out the money from her bag. October nodded and took out a piece of paper with a pen. “Just write your info here and tell us what would you want and your motive.” The woman looked up at October with terrified eyes but took the paper and pen. She sat on the white sofa that was on the far left and started writing swiftly. October quickly sent up an e-mail to Anissa notifying her about the woman and underlining how terrified she was. Waiting for her response, October looked up at the woman and asked, “So why are you in such a hurry?” The woman looked up once and kept on writing as she mumbled, “He’ll be sending someone to search for me soon.” October nodded as she received and opened the response that Anissa sent back. The woman walked up to the desk and handed her the paper with trembling hands. “Okay, Anissa has agreed to see you but it’s going to have to be quick because there’s another appointment in like two hours,” said October typing the next e-mail to Anissa. The woman slightly smiled in relief. October quickly grabbed the phone and dialed Alexia. “Hey, we need DNA testing right know really fast,” she said.
Even the woman’s mouth was shaking as Alexia rubbed a small Q-tip against the woman’s cheek. “Why do I have to do this?” asked the woman after she was done. “Like I said before, for safety reasons,” said October as she quickly matched the DNA sample with the woman’s driver’s license. Alexia then took the woman’s fingerprints and scanned her with a metal detector that Scarlett had invented. The “metal” detector not only detected metal but also any sort of weapon or chemical substances. “She’s clear. Thanks Alexia,” said October as she cleared the woman’s profile. Kerli was just behind the woman holding the baby as she was being checked. She was amazed at how secure they were. “Follow me upstairs. Anissa is waiting,” said Alexia as she showed the woman to the elevator. The woman took back her baby from Kerli and nodded. “We know how impatient Anissa gets when she waits,” whispered October to Kerli as they both started to giggle.
The woman followed behind Alexia, her tremors starting to fade. She starred, as she got off the elevator at the second floor, at the center of the building. In the middle were two work desks in which each there was a computer. In the front was a big metal table and all around it was decorated so you would feel relax. They walked a few steps and stopped in front of an office door. Alexia knocked softly and opened it when she heard Anissa say, “Come in.” The woman walked in, holding her baby close to her chest. She looked around the office as it was the same pattern as the center building. A big window looking out at the street was on the left of the wall. No pictures were hanged on the wall nor where there pictures on her desk. The room was small but enough to fit a desk and a files drawer. Alexia left once the woman was situated in the chair before the desk. The woman focused on Anissa’s features at once. She noticed that she had sort of a light and dark skin color, her silky black hair was in a ponytail, her hazel eyes were luminous and seen through her glasses, and her lips were naturally plumped and lightly red. She had natural beauty. “Mrs. Cesare?” asked Anissa when she noticed the woman just starring. “Um…yes…I prefer ms,” she said as she looked down. Anissa nodded and watched as the baby boy, now awake, was looking everywhere with wondrous eyes. Ms. Cesare breathed in, trying to hold back tears, and started to say, “I need to get away from him.” Anissa watched her as she began to speak again. “He needs to be killed or else he’ll never leave me alone. Or worse, he might kill me and take Tony,” she said. Anissa figured Tony was the baby in her arms. “How will he find you?” asked Anissa. Ms. Cesare gulped before answering, “My husband, Marty, is a huge drug dealer for the Italian Mafia. He has a lot of resources.” Anissa said promptly, “We don’t deal with mafias.” Ms. Cesare’s eyes filled up with tears as she said firmly, “You have to kill him! Not just for me but…” Ms. Cesare was having trouble saying the last part. “He has killed innocent families. He killed my best friend after one of his guys raped her and then killed her little girl who was about Tony’s age!” she said embracing Tony tightly. Anissa closed her eyes as mental images of the scene Ms. Cesare had said ran through her head like a movie. “Fine, but we’re going to need as much info as you can provide us,” said Anissa through clenched teeth. Ms. Cesare nodded feverishly. “They are having a ‘dinner’ gathering on Friday with ‘family’ but it’s actually going to be about new shipments arriving. It’s going to be armed with many of their men that work for him plus the other guy’s men that he’s making the deal with. Kill them all if you like. The gathering will be at Marty’s house and I wrote the directions on the paper. No women or children will be present so that is going to be the least of your worries. I know where all the cameras are hidden: one in the main gate, two in the entrance, two in the dining room where they’ll be, and if you must escape from in back, there are two there as well.” Anissa wrote on her pocket notebook quickly and when she was finished, looked up at Ms. Cesare. “Is that all?” Ms. Cesare nodded and swiftly pulled out a wad of hundreds. “If you need more, I have this gold necklace,” she said, stumbling to take the necklace off. “Are you going to be at the gathering?” asked Anissa ignoring the money. “No, I left him and that’s mostly why I was in a hurry. That’s all the money I have,” she answered. Anissa looked into Tony’s soft, innocent eyes and took the wads of cash. She took out two hundred dollar bills from one of the stacks and returned it back to Ms. Cesare. Before Ms. Cesare could say anything, Anissa said, “You’ll need this for your new place to raise Tony meanwhile you find a job. Before leaving, go down to the reception desk where October and Alexia will get you a new I.D. with a new identity. They will erase your and Tony’s birth certificate and everything as so that you never existed. They will change your whole appearance by dying and cutting your hair, and get you two new names with new information. You two will be another person and the man’s buddies will never find you meanwhile we prepare for Friday. That’s only if you want to, of course.” Ms. Cesare was breathless and all she wanted to do was hurry and get out of there so she could be a new person. She nodded and got up to leave while Anissa dialed October to tell her what their job was to do now.
Kerli’s smile widened as Alexia told everybody that was in the center building about Anissa’s generosity. “Is this new of her to do that?” asked Kerli. “Well, in something so big, yes, but she does go easy on some of her customers who are desperate,” explained October. Everyone hushed when the office door suddenly opened. “Good, since you are all here, we can discuss about our upcoming task,” said Anissa, walking up to the group of them who sat in a semi-circle. “It’s an un-invitational gathering,” Anissa said simply. “So you’re going to have to be extra careful?” asked Alexia. “We are going to be on our guard every second.” Alexia stayed quiet, October smiled, Scarlett gasped, and Mary waited for one of them to complain. “This is very big if you need all of us, right?” asked Alexia. Anissa nodded and said, “We’re going to be dealing with a group of the Italian mafia and another unknown group, perhaps another gang family.” “I thought we didn’t mess with that,” said Scarlett. “We use to not but apparently now we do. There are going to be a lot of armed men with weapons, most likely guns, so you need to have as much as five firearms and a smoke device for each of us by Friday,” she ordered Scarlett. Scarlett nodded, knowing that she already had many prepared. “Alexia, how did the experiment for unidentifiable prints turn out?” “Positive. No more wearing gloves. I also created, with the help of Scarlett, a gas bomb that will terminate any hair follicles we may leave behind,” explained Alexia. Anissa nodded in approval and turned to October. “There are about seven security cams around the perimeter of the house and inside. They are most likely connected to a guard system inside the house. Can you hack in and capture some images of the people and the house so we can get a preview of what we’re dealing with?” October nodded reassuringly, saying, “Hell yes!” “Mary, we need to learn more techniques dealing with firearms.” Mary said, “Of course. I have plenty.” “Good. This week we’re going to be training with Mary individually for three hours and together for another three hours,” she ordered. “Ouch,” October mumbled. “So training is canceled for me?” asked Kerli. Everyone turned to her as if they forgot about her presence. “Yes,” said Anissa sternly. “Wait a minute. Who’s going to monitor the cameras to see from where we can go and to see who is approaching?” asked October. Anissa hadn’t thought of that as she cursed under her breath. “I can do it!” volunteered Kerli. Everyone looked up at Anissa waiting for her reply. “I did teach her how to work the monitor and I can teach her more,” encouraged October. “Yeah, besides, she can be in the van near the house so when we escape, she’ll be ready,” Alexia added. “Can you even drive?” asked Anissa to Kerli. Kerli nodded proudly and said, “Illegally since I’m only fifteen, but yes.” Anissa starred at Kerli for awhile and finally said, “Fine.” She walked back into her office leaving everyone to start working on testing the equipment.
Scarlett worked anxiously testing each gun carefully. Since Anissa recently announced that the guns’ needed silencers on them, Scarlett didn’t have time to test them until today, the day of the task. She had checked all the bullets and even sent them to Alexia to see if she could trace them or identify them. “Good, I can’t even trace it back to you,” she had said. Scarlett picked up a small gun and quickly shot at the glue-like substance used in crime labs that Alexia created for her. The bullet, as she observed, passed through the substance and made a dent on the metal wall placed a few feet away after it. A wide grin appeared on her face when the experiment had been a success.
Alexia placed her whole left hand on her arm then on her table. She took two paper chromatograms and used it on the places she had touched. No traces of finger tips had appeared or other signs of DNA. She grabbed a glass container that quarantined a small gas tank and plucked one of the strands of hair. She then turned the gas on lightly using gloves and saw that as soon as she dropped the strand of hair, it disintegrated. She promptly turned the gas off and recorded her evidence on a clipboard.
The room was lit with dangling lamps even though it was morning. The dark clouds above started to send small drops of water accompanied by lightning and then a roaring thunder. Mary ducked low and traced her leg gently across October’s. “Did you practice the technique?” asked Mary, getting up swiftly. “Yes,” answered October. Mary smirked and said, “Show me.” October smiled but it quickly faded as Mary’s arm was headed for her face. She pushed Mary’s hand away and ducked low. She then swiftly kicked Mary’s legs so that her whole body fell on the floor. This all happened in a matter of seconds. “I told you!” said October smiling as she offered her hand to Mary. Mary nodded impressed and took her hand. “Nine seconds. You beat your record!” said Mary. Her wristwatch’s alarm beeped wildly. “Okay, its Anissa’s turn to spar,” Mary announced. October breathed out happily and said, “Good! I’m tired and need to show the kid once more so she’ll be ready. Jeez, don’t you ever rest?” Mary smiled and said, “I rest when I really need it so after Anissa, I’m going to bed to be ready for tonight. I’m sure Kerli will do fine and don’t forget to practice the other techniques.”
Even the woman’s mouth was shaking as Alexia rubbed a small Q-tip against the woman’s cheek. “Why do I have to do this?” asked the woman after she was done. “Like I said before, for safety reasons,” said October as she quickly matched the DNA sample with the woman’s driver’s license. Alexia then took the woman’s fingerprints and scanned her with a metal detector that Scarlett had invented. The “metal” detector not only detected metal but also any sort of weapon or chemical substances. “She’s clear. Thanks Alexia,” said October as she cleared the woman’s profile. Kerli was just behind the woman holding the baby as she was being checked. She was amazed at how secure they were. “Follow me upstairs. Anissa is waiting,” said Alexia as she showed the woman to the elevator. The woman took back her baby from Kerli and nodded. “We know how impatient Anissa gets when she waits,” whispered October to Kerli as they both started to giggle.
The woman followed behind Alexia, her tremors starting to fade. She starred, as she got off the elevator at the second floor, at the center of the building. In the middle were two work desks in which each there was a computer. In the front was a big metal table and all around it was decorated so you would feel relax. They walked a few steps and stopped in front of an office door. Alexia knocked softly and opened it when she heard Anissa say, “Come in.” The woman walked in, holding her baby close to her chest. She looked around the office as it was the same pattern as the center building. A big window looking out at the street was on the left of the wall. No pictures were hanged on the wall nor where there pictures on her desk. The room was small but enough to fit a desk and a files drawer. Alexia left once the woman was situated in the chair before the desk. The woman focused on Anissa’s features at once. She noticed that she had sort of a light and dark skin color, her silky black hair was in a ponytail, her hazel eyes were luminous and seen through her glasses, and her lips were naturally plumped and lightly red. She had natural beauty. “Mrs. Cesare?” asked Anissa when she noticed the woman just starring. “Um…yes…I prefer ms,” she said as she looked down. Anissa nodded and watched as the baby boy, now awake, was looking everywhere with wondrous eyes. Ms. Cesare breathed in, trying to hold back tears, and started to say, “I need to get away from him.” Anissa watched her as she began to speak again. “He needs to be killed or else he’ll never leave me alone. Or worse, he might kill me and take Tony,” she said. Anissa figured Tony was the baby in her arms. “How will he find you?” asked Anissa. Ms. Cesare gulped before answering, “My husband, Marty, is a huge drug dealer for the Italian Mafia. He has a lot of resources.” Anissa said promptly, “We don’t deal with mafias.” Ms. Cesare’s eyes filled up with tears as she said firmly, “You have to kill him! Not just for me but…” Ms. Cesare was having trouble saying the last part. “He has killed innocent families. He killed my best friend after one of his guys raped her and then killed her little girl who was about Tony’s age!” she said embracing Tony tightly. Anissa closed her eyes as mental images of the scene Ms. Cesare had said ran through her head like a movie. “Fine, but we’re going to need as much info as you can provide us,” said Anissa through clenched teeth. Ms. Cesare nodded feverishly. “They are having a ‘dinner’ gathering on Friday with ‘family’ but it’s actually going to be about new shipments arriving. It’s going to be armed with many of their men that work for him plus the other guy’s men that he’s making the deal with. Kill them all if you like. The gathering will be at Marty’s house and I wrote the directions on the paper. No women or children will be present so that is going to be the least of your worries. I know where all the cameras are hidden: one in the main gate, two in the entrance, two in the dining room where they’ll be, and if you must escape from in back, there are two there as well.” Anissa wrote on her pocket notebook quickly and when she was finished, looked up at Ms. Cesare. “Is that all?” Ms. Cesare nodded and swiftly pulled out a wad of hundreds. “If you need more, I have this gold necklace,” she said, stumbling to take the necklace off. “Are you going to be at the gathering?” asked Anissa ignoring the money. “No, I left him and that’s mostly why I was in a hurry. That’s all the money I have,” she answered. Anissa looked into Tony’s soft, innocent eyes and took the wads of cash. She took out two hundred dollar bills from one of the stacks and returned it back to Ms. Cesare. Before Ms. Cesare could say anything, Anissa said, “You’ll need this for your new place to raise Tony meanwhile you find a job. Before leaving, go down to the reception desk where October and Alexia will get you a new I.D. with a new identity. They will erase your and Tony’s birth certificate and everything as so that you never existed. They will change your whole appearance by dying and cutting your hair, and get you two new names with new information. You two will be another person and the man’s buddies will never find you meanwhile we prepare for Friday. That’s only if you want to, of course.” Ms. Cesare was breathless and all she wanted to do was hurry and get out of there so she could be a new person. She nodded and got up to leave while Anissa dialed October to tell her what their job was to do now.
Kerli’s smile widened as Alexia told everybody that was in the center building about Anissa’s generosity. “Is this new of her to do that?” asked Kerli. “Well, in something so big, yes, but she does go easy on some of her customers who are desperate,” explained October. Everyone hushed when the office door suddenly opened. “Good, since you are all here, we can discuss about our upcoming task,” said Anissa, walking up to the group of them who sat in a semi-circle. “It’s an un-invitational gathering,” Anissa said simply. “So you’re going to have to be extra careful?” asked Alexia. “We are going to be on our guard every second.” Alexia stayed quiet, October smiled, Scarlett gasped, and Mary waited for one of them to complain. “This is very big if you need all of us, right?” asked Alexia. Anissa nodded and said, “We’re going to be dealing with a group of the Italian mafia and another unknown group, perhaps another gang family.” “I thought we didn’t mess with that,” said Scarlett. “We use to not but apparently now we do. There are going to be a lot of armed men with weapons, most likely guns, so you need to have as much as five firearms and a smoke device for each of us by Friday,” she ordered Scarlett. Scarlett nodded, knowing that she already had many prepared. “Alexia, how did the experiment for unidentifiable prints turn out?” “Positive. No more wearing gloves. I also created, with the help of Scarlett, a gas bomb that will terminate any hair follicles we may leave behind,” explained Alexia. Anissa nodded in approval and turned to October. “There are about seven security cams around the perimeter of the house and inside. They are most likely connected to a guard system inside the house. Can you hack in and capture some images of the people and the house so we can get a preview of what we’re dealing with?” October nodded reassuringly, saying, “Hell yes!” “Mary, we need to learn more techniques dealing with firearms.” Mary said, “Of course. I have plenty.” “Good. This week we’re going to be training with Mary individually for three hours and together for another three hours,” she ordered. “Ouch,” October mumbled. “So training is canceled for me?” asked Kerli. Everyone turned to her as if they forgot about her presence. “Yes,” said Anissa sternly. “Wait a minute. Who’s going to monitor the cameras to see from where we can go and to see who is approaching?” asked October. Anissa hadn’t thought of that as she cursed under her breath. “I can do it!” volunteered Kerli. Everyone looked up at Anissa waiting for her reply. “I did teach her how to work the monitor and I can teach her more,” encouraged October. “Yeah, besides, she can be in the van near the house so when we escape, she’ll be ready,” Alexia added. “Can you even drive?” asked Anissa to Kerli. Kerli nodded proudly and said, “Illegally since I’m only fifteen, but yes.” Anissa starred at Kerli for awhile and finally said, “Fine.” She walked back into her office leaving everyone to start working on testing the equipment.
Scarlett worked anxiously testing each gun carefully. Since Anissa recently announced that the guns’ needed silencers on them, Scarlett didn’t have time to test them until today, the day of the task. She had checked all the bullets and even sent them to Alexia to see if she could trace them or identify them. “Good, I can’t even trace it back to you,” she had said. Scarlett picked up a small gun and quickly shot at the glue-like substance used in crime labs that Alexia created for her. The bullet, as she observed, passed through the substance and made a dent on the metal wall placed a few feet away after it. A wide grin appeared on her face when the experiment had been a success.
Alexia placed her whole left hand on her arm then on her table. She took two paper chromatograms and used it on the places she had touched. No traces of finger tips had appeared or other signs of DNA. She grabbed a glass container that quarantined a small gas tank and plucked one of the strands of hair. She then turned the gas on lightly using gloves and saw that as soon as she dropped the strand of hair, it disintegrated. She promptly turned the gas off and recorded her evidence on a clipboard.
The room was lit with dangling lamps even though it was morning. The dark clouds above started to send small drops of water accompanied by lightning and then a roaring thunder. Mary ducked low and traced her leg gently across October’s. “Did you practice the technique?” asked Mary, getting up swiftly. “Yes,” answered October. Mary smirked and said, “Show me.” October smiled but it quickly faded as Mary’s arm was headed for her face. She pushed Mary’s hand away and ducked low. She then swiftly kicked Mary’s legs so that her whole body fell on the floor. This all happened in a matter of seconds. “I told you!” said October smiling as she offered her hand to Mary. Mary nodded impressed and took her hand. “Nine seconds. You beat your record!” said Mary. Her wristwatch’s alarm beeped wildly. “Okay, its Anissa’s turn to spar,” Mary announced. October breathed out happily and said, “Good! I’m tired and need to show the kid once more so she’ll be ready. Jeez, don’t you ever rest?” Mary smiled and said, “I rest when I really need it so after Anissa, I’m going to bed to be ready for tonight. I’m sure Kerli will do fine and don’t forget to practice the other techniques.”