Planet Heist (The Dunham Archives Book 1) (6 page)

“Kairee, listen. We have to give it to him.” Salah said with conviction.

“
What?!
” I stammered at him, “You want to give up our glory? This was
your
plan anyways. Why would you want to write it off to someone else?” I snapped.

“You know what he’ll do if we don’t agree to give him the Xeron, right?” Salah seemed surprised that I didn’t understand all his thoughts.

I was shocked. Salah’s no mind reader, so I must have missed something

“He’ll tell the universe about the plan. We won’t be able to get in the Institute with
or
without his help.” Salah reasoned, “The place is already going to be crawling with police, security guards, and tourists. We’ll have to do everything we can to get in, and we don’t want them to know we’re coming.”

“He’s right,” my brother said, sincerity in his eyes as he looked into mine, his tone softening, “This is big. We have to do this, and it has to be done right. My only question is how Mahar knew that we’re going to steal the Xeron.” Rowan said, his eyes narrowing.

“Oh god.” I breathed, realization seeping into my head.

“Thanks Rowan. Listen up: we have to take him back for questioning after we get a map of the tunnels. I never told him we were stealing the Xeron. That means somebody knows, besides us.”

“So the twins make another enemy.” Salah said.

“An enemy we need to find.
Before
we steal the Xeron.”

June 15
th
8:40 am

Cairo, Planet Earth: Egyptian Bistro

“So, how about those maps?” Rowan asked Mahar.

I was sitting at our table, sulking and drinking my martini. I couldn’t talk about the Xeron now, after I had agreed to give it up.

Hopefully, we’d find a way to trick him into sending it back to us.

“Okay, come with me.” Mahar commanded, standing up.

This seems to be a pattern among criminals – this leaving public places almost as soon as arriving.

Walking out of the gated courtyard, I noticed something particularly…unsettling. At first, I only saw the bright flashes. Then, I noticed the people milling about, wearing black and sporting cameras.

Paparazzi. Ugh.

I couldn’t help but find it funny that paparazzi simply question and follow me, but don’t call the cops.

“Follow me!” I shouted, taking off my shoes; I’d run faster without them. The stone road was hot under my feet as I started off towards the nearest building – a four floor stone affair with one widow cut out of the top.

“Kairee! Is it true you’re planning a big scam for your three-hundredth crime?!”

“Kairee! What are you going to steal?! How big are we talking?!”

“Rowan! Rowan! Is it true you and Salah are fighting for the affection of your sister?!”

“Salah! Is there a romance between you and Kairee yet?!”             

Idiots, the lot of them.

The questions were ridiculous, but one stopped me in my tracks.

“Kairee! A source tells us you’re stealing the Xeron! Is that true?!”

I turned around, grabbed the reporter who said that and pressed my knife to her throat.

“All of you get out of here or I’ll slit your throats!” I screamed, glaring at each one in turn. One of the reporter’s fingers twitched over the photo button, and a flash set off. I took immediate action and whipped around to plunge my knife into his heart while still holding back the woman.

The rest of them looked petrified and fled the scene, towards the restaurant we were just at. I suspected they would link the dead waiter to me –  obviously – and twist out some deranged story about how I was yelling death threats at them. They would warp it into how I was on a crazy killing spree, rampaging through a terrified Egypt.

“You’re coming with us,” I told the trembling reporter in my grip, continuing on up the stairs of the building. There were four flights of steps to the top, and I dragged the girl all the way, and at the top I handed her off to my brother. He restrained her struggling frame. She was small – maybe 5’4 at the most – with a frail frame, much like mine but with no muscles. Her hair was long and silky auburn, and she had twinkling, spring green eyes that held flecks of black and hazel.

The room we entered was large and made completely of stone. There was a skylight cut out of the thick rock ceiling, and another hole in the wall to my right. The stone walls were a faded yellow color, looking sandblasted and rocky. The floor, on the other hand, was a dark, flat slate that clicked when I walked across.

“Rowan, let her go. Know this, reporter, if you even try to escape, I won’t have a single aversion with hurting you, or worse. You obviously know who I am, and I think I have a right to know the same about you.” I told her with malice in my voice.

“I-it’s uh…A-Adena Ognian. Please don’t hurt me,” She began crying. It was pitiful.

“Shut
up
,” I sighed, annoyed, “I won’t hurt you unless you do something stupid. Rowan!” I snapped, “Didn’t I tell you to let her go?!”

He dropped her and she almost plummeted to the ground in fear. She sat down instead of getting up, rocking back and forth nervously.

Am I that intimidating? Good.

“Cooperate with me, all right? Then I can let you go.” I told her softly, and she nodded her head willingly.

“All right, Adena. Now, I need to ask who told you we were stealing the Xeron. Who was it?” I demanded.

“My boss.” She cried plainly, tears streaming down her face.

“Who’s your boss?” I inquired coldly.

“A woman called Zenda.” She enlightened me.

“Zenda? Who is she?” I asked, utterly confused.

In seconds, I flew through a rally of tens of thousands of people I had met, heard of, hated, hunted, or hurt. Never had I met a Zenda.

“A very powerful woman with a lot of connections. She has a plan to off you by the time you get the Xeron. She wants it.” Adena divulged to me.

“Oh does she? Did she happen to mention what planet she’s from? If, of course, you’ve spoken to her,” I reply.

“She said she was from Saize, recently. She said it was your home planet, so she had to move there.” Adena conveyed to me.

“How long has she been following me?” I posed.

“A few years, at most. She hasn’t been very interested until now, since you suddenly want her prize. I…I can’t tell you anything else. She’ll kill me,” Adena sobbed.

“So she’s dangerous.” I deduce, “Are you wearing a wire?”

“Yes – directly connected to her. P-Please don’t hurt me,” She sniffled.

“Haven’t I told you I’m not going to hurt you?” I snapped, irritated, “I’m positive you know that. The only person who’ll hurt you is this Zenda woman.” I walked over to her, and she began cringing.

I almost slapped her, but refrained.

I reached behind her ear, pulled out the wire and mike set. I put the microphone to my mouth, the earpiece behind my ear and said, “Listen here, Zenda, and listen well. You’re messing with the wrong girl here and I know I could take you down. I don’t know who you are but I’ll find out. I swear if I ever see you near me, I’ll-”

“No,” said a silky smooth voice from the other side, “
you
listen, Kairee Rose Dunham, I’m the toughest enemy you’ll ever have, your worst nightmare in the flesh.”

“I believe you’re mistaken. I don’t have nightmares, I cause them. I hope someday I’ll be able to cause yours.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll have the delight of meeting me the day you step foot in the Institute. On that day, you won’t walk back out. Pay attention: there are only two ways this can go; either you live or you die. I’ll see you soon, Dunham.”

The line went dead, her voice still ringing in my ears.

“Get out of here, Adena, and never return to Zenda. I’ll give you money and send you on a ship to another planet. I hope Zenda is still listening right now, because she will never know where you are.” I say, pulling out a wad of cash from my pocket – at least a

few million in dollars, but not much in Saizian money. Handing the money to Adena, I said, “Go and become someone else.”

She got up and left as fast as she could. When she reached the bottom of the building, I listened closely to my surroundings.

Voices.

The voice of Dmitri Ivanov, head of the Intergalactic Police Force, rang through the four stories all the way up to my ears. Dmitri and I have had quite the feud between us for many years. I, as the most dangerous person in the galaxy, meant that he, the toughest policeman I’ve ever met, doesn’t exactly get along with me. He’s been hunting me down since I was ten, attempting on twenty different occasions to capture or murder me – most of the time both. He’s more of a simple, though dangerous, enemy, fleshy and middle-aged, and I could probably take him if he didn’t always have the greatest level of firearms with him at all times. Plus, Dmitri often has at least ten men with him, a necessity when he wanted to get to the Dunham twins.

“We have to get out of here guys. Now!” I yelled as I heard the click of semi-automatic rifles locking for fire, “We’re not invincible and they have guns. Mahar, I’ll have you contacted; you can walk downstairs and they won’t pull you. Salah, Rowan, and I will have to get out of here more…creatively. I have a plan. Go now, Mahar. I’ll send a bug.” I pluck out a piece of his dark hair, so the nanobug could track him down later on, “Boys, follow me!” I commanded loudly, setting off the police. They would probably figure that we’d simply waltz into their fire and fight them off in my normal style of flashy combat.

Instead, we would stealthily escape out the skylight.

“You boys better be quick.” I told them.

I stood directly under the edge of the hole. Knowing I could get onto the roof easily, I reached up and grabbed the stones with my hands, holding on with a killer grip. I began to pull myself up, but instead of relying simply on myself, there were two strong hands on my waist. Thinking only Rowan would have the nerve to support me, I looked down to see Salah’s hands on me. I was shocked, but allowed him to boost me up and out of the hole. Once under the blue sky, I knelt down on the gravel-covered roof.

“Take my hand,” I mouthed to Salah, and he did. I hoisted him up, and Rowan began bringing himself to the roof. He could do it by himself, I knew, so I let him struggle. Once he was up, I began running. There were a few five-to-ten foot gaps between the buildings, I assessed before jumping.

The police quickly noticed we were on the top of the building and the onslaught of bullets was hasty. I’ve been shot two hundred times, and it’s not a pleasant experience. The feeling of your flesh being torn open as the sheer momentum of a bullet rips through layers of skin was something I hoped never to feel that again, but it’s preposterous to believe in such frivolous hopes, as I would probably be shot again in the next ten minutes.

“Run!” I yelled again, following my own command. The scenery rushed around me as I pushed my legs to their limit, jumping a huge span. The moment in the air was terrifying, yet thrilling – a host of burly officers pointing guns at me from a fifty foot drop onto solid concrete wasn’t exactly my cup of teas. Though it was in slow motion for me, for them I passed by in a blur and was gone. I landed with a loud crack on the first building. I kept going, and heard Salah and Rowan following quickly behind me, along with Dmitri.

“You can’t hide forever Kairee!” Ivanov yelled, “I
will
get you eventually! Sooner or later you will be at the dangerous criminals holding center!”

“In your dreams!” I screamed back, attracting too much attention from the people on the ground. The next jump was shorter, so I landed closer to the middle instead of the edge. The next stretch was even smaller and I overestimated it. Right before landing, I realized something fatal that I had missed – the top of this building was eight glass skylights with only a few feet of stone in between. Instead of stopping safely on the stone, as originally anticipated, I shattered through one of the skylights. A bone-crushing scream escaped my lips as I crashed down into a room full of construction objects. Bricks and pipes and glass panels all made harsh contacts with my body at frightening speed. Slamming down on the concrete floor, I felt as if I had turned to jelly. I landed on my stomach and felt three of my ribs crack – two in the back, and one in the front. Pain shot through my leg, setting my veins on fire wherever it hit, possibly a broken femur and another break on my tibia from hitting bricks. Attempting to haul myself up, the windows around me exploded. Hundreds of flying silver projectiles sped through the room, all splaying above my head but ultimately landing around me in a grandiose display of titanium. The dagger case on my back was digging into my skin, creating a bruise that would probably stay for while. Some of the glass landed on me, slicing open portions of the skin on my exposed and broken leg.

I heard Rowan’s light footsteps above me and Salah’s hard footfalls behind those.

Rowan, realizing I wasn’t in front of him, sounded nervous when he yelled.

“Kairee?!” He screamed, dropping down onto his stomach on the ceiling above me in order to avoid the bullets.