I took a sip of water while sitting on the couch. I stared at the white ceiling, my mind empty.

  Tim called not too long ago and gave us the rundown on the plan. I listened in silence while Sydney yelled, furious. She knew this plan wasn’t ideal and risked us getting caught.

  “So fucking stupid,” she said, wearing a skin-tight, black leather zip-up. Something an assassin would wear in a movie.

  I offered a shrug. “We have no other choice.”

  She shook her head, the motion cutting off a curl of smoke as she lit a cigarette with a click of her lighter. The sharp smell immediately began to taint the air. “We’re gonna get ourselves caught. Better yet, killed. Why in the hell didn’t he consult us first before taking a step this monumental?”

  “Tim made a choice. We won’t know if it’s the right choice unless we take action.”

  She huffed with malice and slammed her fist against her thigh. “Our lives are in jeopardy. If we get caught, that’s it. We are dead. No coming back.”

  I inhaled sharply. “Why don’t we ask Ruben for help?”

  Sydney looked at me with disgust. She tapped her cigarette above the ashtray on the table, and didn’t say a word. I knew she heard me. It is evident that she did. I repeated my question louder.

  Annoyed, she answered with zero interest. “Not going back there.”

  I rolled my eyes and stood. “We need to. It’s our best bet to survive. We can get Fernando or Alce to help—”

  “I’m not talking to Alice.”

  I let a sigh of exhaustion out. Sydney didn’t often speak about Alice. Whenever her name was brought up, Sydney would no longer be interested. I didn’t understand or know the history between them. I didn’t want to ask at the moment in case I stirred the wrong pot.

  “Fine. We don’t have to ask any of them.”

  Sydney looked at the ground. Her curly hair poofed up and poured down her face, sheltering her eyes.

  “Get ready…”

  “Meaning?”

  She exhaled with annoyance. “You said it yourself. We have no other choice. I can’t let my relations with people ruin our chances of survival. We need to save Roger. For us to increase our chances, we must consult with Ruben.”

  I clasped my hands. “Good, good. We can go there and talk to Fernando and—”

  “I never said I would ask Fernando and Alice to join. All we’re getting are supplies and gadgets to maximize the chances of our survival and Roger’s.”

  “The more people, the better, though. We can use all the manpower we can get.”

  Sydney extended her head back, stretching her neck. She obviously wanted to disagree, but instead, kept quiet. I could argue till the next day. The bottom line was that we need more people to assist us. We cannot do everything ourselves.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  In the middle of silence, the front door opened with a creak, and footsteps raced towards the living area.

  “Are you both ready?” He huffed and puffed. Tim’s blue eyes seemed darker than usual.

  “No shoes in the house,” Sydney said.

  Tim looked at her as though she said something beyond comprehension. “Hey, Sydney, now is not the time,” he said quickly. “We need to get going. I have Avery’s location. They’ll be on the move soon.”

  “We can’t go anywhere if they haven’t moved yet.”

  With Sydney pointing out the obvious, Tim scrunched his face and acknowledged his haste. “Sorry for pushing this plan without consulting. I hope it wasn’t a mistake.” He couldn’t keep eye contact with either of us.

  I stood. “Tim, don’t worry. You took the steps needed to protect someone you care about. That’s all that matters.”

  “Yeah, and you’re putting your lives at risk.”

  “Risk?” I scoffed, trying to downgrade the situation. “Tim, before I met you, I used to throw myself into risk. This—well—I’ll be okay. Don’t worry. Same goes for Sydney. She’ll be okay, too.”

  “You don’t sound confident…”

  I exhaled, turning to Sydney. “My confidence will rise once we give Ruben a visit.”

  “Ruben?” Tim said, surprised.

  “You know him?”

  “Hey, I do. He’s… Macy’s cousin. The guy in the suit who lives in a big penthouse in the center of the city.”

  “Macy? Whose that?” I asked.

  “Uh—just a friend—I think. Yeah, so I know Ruben. Why do you need to go there?”

  Sydney stepped in. “We need to borrow supplies. I suggest you stay here, though.”

  “Hey, why? I want to come.”

  “You can come,” I said.

  Tim raised his fist, claiming victory.

  Sydney walked close to me and whispered sharply. “He should not know what goes on there.”

  I whispered back, calmly. “He’s part of this. He has every right to join us.”

  Sydney stepped away, taking one last inhale of her cigarette before crushing it into the ashtray. The living space smelled like a dead can of bugs, and eyes tingled from the lingering smoke. Even after all this time, I wasn’t used to the smell of disgusting cigarettes. I sometimes wondered how her brothers had managed to live through it.

  “Do you have to argue with everything?” She asked, visibly annoyed.

  Surprised by her attack, I attempted to defuse the hostility. “I’m not arguing. Tim is the reason why we know what we know. We should be grateful, if anything.”

  “There’s a time and a place to be grateful. Ruben’s penthouse is neither.” She exaggerated her sigh and looked at the ceiling like a lost lawyer. “I guess… do as you please.”

  I nodded. “Tim, get ready.”

  “Hey, I am ready.”

  “Should we get going?” I asked, glancing at the two.

  Sydney tapped her forehead and let out a deep sigh. “Come to the basement with me.”

  “The basement?” I asked, surprised by an odd request.

  She didn’t elaborate. I followed in silence with Tim. The stairs to the basement were soft and carpeted. It was dark, like descending into an abyss. I haven’t been in the basement in ages. Sydney never allowed me to go unattended for whatever reason.

  She flicked the lights on, the switch being at the end of the stairs, onto the wall. A small, yellow light did its best to light up the tiny, rectangular basement. It was less of a basement and more of an underground room. It was small with the cool, blue stone beneath us. It reminded me of the type of floors I’d seen in the outside world.

  “Step back,” she said.

  Tim and I back up towards the staircase. Next to a bookshelf was a mallet that Sydney grabbed.

  “Whoa, what are you—”

  Before Tim finished his sentence, Sydney slammed the mallet onto the floor with all her might. She repeatedly smashed the floor, over and over, yelling with each swing. We didn’t know what to say, so we stood in silence with the occasional glance at one another.

  She breathed heavily and gave the ground one last smash. She kneeled and removed the excess rubble. Underneath was a black briefcase. Sydney held it with both arms.

  “It’s been a while…” She said without any context.

  Tim asked what was in the briefcase. Without looking at Tim, Sydney insisted on opening it at Ruben’s.