Page 5 of Cruel Legacy

He crouches down beside me, keeping hidden from the street as we wait for our third. I scan the street. Movement halfway down the block catches my eye. Finn is on the roof, flipping and jumping from building to building, like it’s his personal parkour course. He’s not at all stealthy about it either, like the last thing he’s worried about is someone following him. I guess he has a right to be cavalier about it. It’s hard as fuck keeping up with his free-running ass.

I check the time on my watch. We’re still ahead of schedule. Tonight’s mission is simple. We should be in and out before anyone notices, and back at the dorm laughing, while the other teams are still trying to pull a plan out of their asses.

We’ve all been given the same coordinates, but my boys and I are sure to come out of this game on top. We’ve got the perfect team. Finn with cat burglar type skills, Holden the puzzle solver extraordinaire, and me… I take point on damage control and risk assessment. I’m also usually the man with the plan. The other team’s plans. They need to get better at guarding their secrets if they ever want to beat us.

Finn’s almost to us, now. He’s hanging from the top rung of a fire escape and then lets go, free falling five stories before grabbing the next one, and swinging through the side of the ladder rung. I turn to say something to Holden, when a squeal of brakes drags my attention back across the street just in time to see Finn leap into the air, tuck and roll off the hood of a car, then land on his feet, before disappearing through the trees, like that shit didn’t just happen.

Holden and I share a look. We’re thinking the same thing. Who the fuck is in the car? We creep through the trees to meet up with Finn, my mind going over the possibilities of what just happened.

“What the hell is a car doing out here tonight?” Finn asks, glaring in the direction of the car, which is long gone by now. Whoever it was didn’t even stop or get out to see if the person they hit was okay. That could be a good or bad thing.

Holden asks, “Are you hurt?”

I do a quick look to make sure Finn’s not bleeding. It’s not as if that shit matters to him. But it would be a problem for our mission because he’d be leaving DNA all over the scene.

“Fuck no.” He waves off Holden’s concern. “I’m pissed. Whoever it was messed up a sweet ass aerial landing I’ve been working on all week.”

I scoff at his answer. Of course he’s mad he didn’t stick his landing. “Did you get a look at who was driving?” I ask, working through this little hiccup.

“Nah. I didn’t bother to look.”

That’s smart, because we’re supposed to be sneaking around. Making eye contact is a surefire way to be identified.

“What do you wanna do, Pax?”

I turn, heading deeper into the foliage, and say, “There’s only one thing we can do.”

We trudge into the dark bunker. The lights are on an automatic switch. It flips on or off when the door is closed and the locks engaged. This side of town was left to waste a long time ago. It’s ignored and avoided, which makes it the perfect place to work out of. The bunker looks like shit on the outside, but inside it’s a state-of-the art, smart home. Our very own impenetrable fortress.

Last night’s job took longer than expected. After Finn’s run-in with the car, we had to make sure we weren’t being followed. No one drives across the railroad tracks to enter or leave town.

The road shut down when my dad was a kid, after they paved the new highway on the Northeast end of town, and made it a major artery between here and Palisade Shores.

So what the hell was someone in an Audi doing coming from that direction? I’m sure it’s overrun with trees and dirt by now. Then, there’s the mountain terrain you have to drive up. Nobody’s foolish enough to drive up it in the dark. That makes the car being there suspicious as fuck, and we had to lie low to make sure we weren’t being set up.

Even with our delay, we still made out better than the other teams and came in first. We’realwaysfirst. Years of living, playing, and training together make my friends and I an efficient team. We were first to complete our mission, but it wasn’t without its challenges, and the second-place team was close behind us. So close, I know I’m going to have to answer questions about it.

I put my gear on the shelf, lock the trinket we procured in the safe, and grab my cellphone from the charging station. We never take our cellphones, because these games call for no distractions. The team in last place is still out there, running in circles. Someone hacked their cells and sent them in the wrong direction.

Finn, Holden and I know this city inside and out. If there’s anyplace we’re unfamiliar with, we use paper maps. You can’t hack paper. I look over at our tech genius. “How much longer should we leave them out there?”

Okay, so we’re the ones who sent them the wrong directions.

Holden shrugs. “We’re done. There’s no reason to let them continue to wander around other than for the laughs.” I give a quick nod and he taps a few keys on the computer. “Done.”

I don’t know the particulars, but what he’s done is send them the correct instructions and coordinates to complete their challenge. We finish gathering our stuff and head to our cars, powering up our phones, when we’re clear of the bunker. We have jammers inside so no one can track our signal, but you can never be too careful. The first part of the challenge is to grab whatever thing we’re sent to retrieve. The second part is hanging on to it.

Dad

Home

The one word text greets me as soon as my phone powers up. It’s nearly one in the morning, and I’m dead on my feet, but my bed will have to wait until after my debrief with my father. This is another reason the guys and I take separate cars. I never know when I’m gonna be called away on some bullshit.

On the drive to my parent’s place, I go over what happened last night. My father will want a recap about everything we did, starting from the moment we got the details for the challenge.

My body screams in protest as I drag myself toward the front door, but I shake off the sore muscles and fatigue. I know better than to show any signs of weakness in front of him. The house is quiet when I walk inside, but I know where he’ll be. In his office, a glass of bourbon in his hand, and a lit cigar in the crystal ashtray in front of him.

I knock on the closed door and wait for him to invite me in. He’s behind his desk, his sleeves rolled back and his tie undone. This is as close to casual dress as I’ve ever seen him, outside of the golf course.

---