Planet Heist (The Dunham Archives Book 1) (2 page)

“Where on Earth?” She asked, one pale eyebrow rising.

“Cairo.” I enunciated slowly, keeping my voice low in an attempt to prevent her from noticing anything out of the ordinary.

“Egypt?! What business do you have there?” Her features were surprised and angry, wrinkled beyond usual in frustration and curiosity.

I understood her revulsion towards the idea – my father lived in Egypt. He had moved back to his home planet when they separated and later divorced a few years back.

“We have to go see a possible accomplice,” I reasoned.

“But, where will you stay?” She asked obliviously, clearly trying to ignore what was plain in front of her.

“I planned to go there for a reason, Mother. We’ll stay with Dad.” I told her, attempting not to raise my voice at all.

Her voice seemed to raise an octave or so as my mother demanded, “With your
father?!
”

“Yes. We’ll leave at eleven tomorrow.” I dismissed her quickly, giving no choice in the matter.

“I’ll see you off then,” She said, turning away from me as she, like all of us, hid her emotions expertly. I watched her walk away, her body rigid with controlled anger before I locked the door and returned to my brother.

“As I said, we’ll depart at eleven from the
Wasp
. Wear sunglasses – our eyes are a dead giveaway. And we’ll both have to wear something…inconspicuous. What we’re wearing now,” I gestured to his suit and tie, and to my killer combo of a formal black dress and sexy red stilettos, “might stand out in a civilian tourist town.”

“I agree. Now, we’ll just have to find something besides the usual,” He said, his blank expression unwavering.

“I’ll reconvene with you at eight,” I said, knowing that eight o’clock was late in our family, but stepped out of the room before reconsidering, locking everything behind me.

The main entryway was white marble, with a dark wood staircase leading to our bedrooms. I sauntered up the stairs quickly, my stilettos clicking against the wood. At the top, I turned left down the long hallway to my room. I pushed open the door, had my finger pricked, and walked in. My room, unlike the rest of the house, was black as pitch with a dark gray carpet. I kept another desk up here, this one glass, which held the same files as all of my computers. If necessary, I could terminate the files with one click (and several passwords and protocols). A floor to ceiling window was behind my bed, but curtains were drawn tight over it, the only light showing was the glare from long, bright white fluorescents hanging from the ceiling.

My bed was warm and inviting, and I quickly drifted off to sleep.

June 12
th
5:16am

The Wythe Mansion, Unami, Planet Saize

I woke up before my six am alarm, and yet I was up after my whole family. We, as criminals (and Saizians, I suppose), tended to rise early and stay up late. I quickly stalked down the steps and into the kitchen, where Row was tapping his watch and finishing breakfast.

“Good morning, Kai.” Rowan smiled and kissed me on the cheek – the international Saizian sign of friendship and greeting, “So, if we’re going to meet this person, are we really going to be weaponless?” He asked, clearly worried. Though my twin could take any person with his bear hands, both of our strong suits were in weapons, as that’s where most of our training was focused.

“Of course not. Our weapons will simply be better concealed.” I explained rationally.

The hours passed unnoticed until it was nine o’clock and I was preparing for the day.

I looked in the mirror, staring at my sleek, Saizian body. My muscles flexed over strong bones. I stretched my arm across my chest, watching my deltoids bend and move, pulsing under my pale skin. I could feel two hearts thudding under my ribs, the best of Saizian muscles. Even though I had hundreds of organs, as varied and strange as the galaxy itself, my hearts were the most useful. They allowed me to lose monumental amounts of blood and sustain injuries that would kill a lesser being.

My mind shifted gears to clothes. Instead of what I would have chosen – a form fitting red dress and spiky black stilettos – I wore jean shorts and a black T-shirt. It was ridiculous; I could hardly believe that people wore this sort of thing every day. I slipped on a pair of Converse, impractical shoes lacking proper grips and arch supports, that I had picked up from a market downtown displaying classic Earth fashion, and tied my hair back into a ponytail. I stared at myself in the mirror, mildly annoyed that I didn’t look more like a civilian. I had the striking, pure Saizian features of my mother’s side of the family and my home planet – full lips, large and wide eyes, high cheekbones – and most of the time I could use that beauty to my advantage, but in this case, it would work against me. My face was recognizable in every part of the universe, much to my chagrin, plastered across the universe with the words
Danger! Do not apprehend!
scrawled under my most unattractive picture. I wore only light makeup since all my classic picture depicted me in my classic deep red, hallucinogenic lipstick. My own invention, the lipstick line caused a victim to experience horrible, deranged psychotic episodes before passing out, often going into a short comma. Peachy and dangerous lipstick, glittery mascara and golden eye shadow adorned my face after only a few moments.

I fixed my hair so that some of it was sticking out, instead of in the pristine way I preferred. Popping in some blue contacts, I looked at my eyes in the mirror. Instead of pure black, they were now a navy. It hardly helped, and now my vision was murky blue. I took them out, figuring it didn’t matter anyways, as I would be wearing dark sunglasses. I took off all of my jewelry, engraved with my initials, KRD, and put on a bracelet purchased at a bazaar in India years back – a braided brown leather band fastened with a silver button.

Now, for the weaponry. My absolute favorite. Concealed inside my mundane bracelet was a small laser, activated with the flick of a wrist. On my sunglasses sat four cameras, hidden away but recording every motion. I slipped on the family ring, a black diamond with the silver Dunham crest engraved under it. The diamond itself was filed into an impeccably sharp point, coated with poison – lethal with one swift punch to the throat. On the back of the ring, a small, retractable needle point covered in a sedative would be activated if my pulse quickened – one slap to the face, or even a seemingly friendly handshake and I would be safe. My gorgeous dagger strapped to the back of my thigh would provide crucial defense in a dangerous situation, as it was my weapon of choice. In my hair were humane looking bobby pins. They were sharpened into deadly points with razor blade sides, the most functional of all my weapons. All of that plus the fact that I’ve been training since I was barely able to walk insured me a safe meeting. And, even if it wasn’t safe, a dangerous and exciting fight. If everything went as planned, I wouldn’t technically have to wear any of this later in the day, as we would most likely make it
into
the Hyatt – one of my many permanently booked rooms all over the worlds – to discuss plans. This isn’t something I would talk about in the open.

But, with me, it’s rare that anything goes according to plan.

An hour later, Rowan and I departed in the
Wasp
to Egypt.

I climbed up the ladder shakily, not used to having on flats. Rowan sat down in the passenger’s seat, surprising me.

“Aren’t you driving?” I asked, since he was superior to me, at least with flying.

“No, I figured you might as well.”

“Alright then.” I replied, slipped on my driving gloves and slid into the seat.

Once we reached the speed of light, I just sat by and waited for our arrival in Cairo.

June 12
th
10:54 am

Cairo, Egypt, Planet Earth: Adarian Dunham Estate

“We have exactly ten minutes,” I told my father impatiently as he hugged Rowan and I upon our surprise arrival.

“Well, that’s enough time to go upstairs and see your siblings,” He said, kissing the top of my head. Rowan nodded toward the steps.

We walked up together. I was mentally preparing myself for seeing Bronwyn, my older sister who turned nineteen a week ago, Elaina, seventeen, and Izan, my twenty year old brother. It had been years, and I had grown older, wiser, taller, and stronger than most of them.

Wynn had stopped training when she was eleven, Izan shortly after. They gave up the
family
business
, as we call it, and took up their desired professions. Elaina was the only one – besides Rowan, of course – who could almost match me physically if not mentally. She would want a rematch from the time when I, only eleven years old (the last time I saw her), had beaten my twelve year old sister. Now, I was sixteen, she was seventeen, and I was still the better for all our years apart.

“Kairee Rose, could that curvy young lady be you?” Wynn said, hugging me. She was three inches shorter, with our father’s dark hair, the family eyes, and tan skin that had popped up from nowhere and yet had hit my two of my older siblings.

“Yes, Bronwyn Elise, it’s me,” I rolled my eyes, accentuating her hated middle name to show her yet again how I despised mine. It was much too girlish to be the name of a criminal mastermind.

“I hear you’re now wanted on another planet – the one we’re on right now. How did you manage that?” She scoffed, a mix of teasing an sadness in her tinny voice..

“I…stole something,” I told her softly.

Her eyes widened slowly. “What?”

“Just…a painting,” I continued guardedly, but thankfully didn’t have to explain more since Elaina walked up to us. Her own tan skin was just a shade lighter than Wynn’s, and she had a clear complexion. Unlike the rest of the family, Elaina had less than perfect eyesight. At the moment, she had on streamlined, clear framed glasses that seemed to make her large eyes even wider. She had long golden hair, something I had always envied as a child but now preferred my pale locks.

“I hope you’ve been training.” Elaina threatened.

I rolled my eyes, “Hello to you too.”

“Hi. But, I
will
beat you this time.”

“In your dreams, Laina,” I sighed.

“I don’t know, Kairee, she’s been training like crazy. I think she could beat you, little girl,” Izan, who I hadn’t noticed standing behind me, cut in. I took in my eldest brother – whom I looked strikingly similar to. He was more like my twin than Rowan, in all honesty. We had the same pale skin and hair so blonde it was almost white, the same intuition and wit, and the same scrawny-looking weight. He was taller than me in my stilettos – an impressive 6’4, even for a muscular boy standing on twenty.

“Whatever you say. We’ll see later, I suppose. Rowan and I have to go meet a future client,” I said, and they all gave us curious looks before going off to their rooms, Wynn and Izan making bets on the battle that would happen soon enough, if Elaina had anything to do with it.

“Let’s go, then.” I turned to Rowan, who stood stoically by the door.

“How will we get there, since we can’t legally drive on this planet?” Rowan asked, always one to stick to regulations in order to avoid suspicion.

“Has
legally
ever been a problem?” I smiled, grabbing the keys to our father’s shiny sleek convertible.

We arrived at the hotel a minute later, 11:03, going thirty miles above the speed limit as we weaved through traffic. I walked out slowly, putting on sunglasses to shield my eyes from the blazing Egyptian sun and any cameras that were undoubtedly watching. They were deep purple shades that covered more of my face than necessary. The courtyard of the Hyatt was stone, with lush green ivy growing on the walls.

Rowan escorted me, nodding to the maître de, to a table discretely hidden by an untreated acacia tree. We sat down, and I surveyed the surroundings, taking in every detail, every person. Anything and everything was filed into my large brain for a whole minute. When I was done, I glanced up at the gate, where a tall boy was standing in a suit and tie. He was stunningly handsome, I surprised myself by noticing. Normally, the looks of someone simply struck me as attractive or unattractive based on easy math. With my better-than-perfect vision, I could see his piercing green eyes and the curly black hair falling in front of them. He had a deep tan latched onto his skin, a native to the area, and his muscles tensed as he clenched and unclenched his fists from nerves. He was probably a few inches taller than me – at maybe six foot, two inches or a little over. We locked eyes for a split second, and he walked over casually, as if to a class in school rather than meeting the most prestigious criminals in the galaxy. In that instant, I knew who he was, confirming or denying any ideas that had previously occurred to me. He looked strikingly like his father, one of my past associates…and murder victims.

“Kairee Dunham, what a pleasure,” he smiled, offering his hand. I declined, as did Rowan, to shake it.

“Salah the Younger,” I smirked in acknowledgement, waiting for his reaction.

“You know who I am?” He whispered, obviously stunned.

“But of course – did you think I wouldn’t remember my most hated accomplice’s son?” I asked mockingly, trying implicitly to be insensitive to judge all his emotional control.