Unedited

I sat in the plane and stared outside the window as Doc knocked over his fifth glass of Diet Coke. I wonder when he's going to realize there are cup holders. Bee started yelling at him again, and I glanced at Victor before looking away quickly.

I had contacted one of my fences from the good old days to get us a plane. The unfortunately named Edna Odessa Snoople-really it's like her parents wanted her to turn into a crazy cat lady-had been my go to fence for jewels, but she was also a really good confidante. We used to have the best conversations, ranging from politics, to psychology, to music, and a whole lot of other topics.

I had explained the whole situation to her, and while she was trying to perform voodoo and place a curse on Brandon, Rachel, and Rafe, she agreed to let us use one of her planes.

Edna let us use her fastest airplane, and taught us how to use the autopilot plus basic maneuvers. She offered to fly us there, seeing as she actually had a license, but we didn't want to impose. Well, Victor wanted to impose because he didn't trust Doc and I, but the rest of us didn't want to impose because we were polite people. And I really wanted to fly a plane. Since our team was a democracy, we took a small vote and we won. Victor could suck it.

It didn't take long for me to set up the autopilot to take us to Honolulu. Setting up autopilot counts as flying the plane. The autopilot wouldn't be flying us if I didn't set it up, so I indirectly flew it. It counts. The flight would take about 10 hours, so instead of sitting in the cockpit being tempted to push the blinky buttons or flip the shiny switches, I decided to play it safe and go back to the cabin.

The cabin interior was very cushy. It was divided into two parts. The part in front was where the seats were, with two sets of chairs. Each set consisted of four chairs facing each other, two chairs per side, and they all had cup holders. The second part had two beds, with a curtain one could use to provide some privacy while sleeping or resting.

Bee was sprawled across two chairs on the right side of the cabin reading. Victor was sitting upright spooning something into his mouth while looking at his laptop. Surprise surprise, Doc was occupying the two chairs opposite Bee, so I could either sit next to Victor or across from him.

I had chosen to sit across from him, which was apparently the wrong choice, because he would occasionally snicker at something, but every time I looked at him he would be staring at me. And I figured out what he was eating. Yogurt.

Unfortunately, there was practically nothing to do, plus there was a sort of awkward tension between me and Victor, leaving me unable to look  him in the eye as he stared at me and ate his yogurt. Also, I was probably making a stupid face trying to suppress the urge to laugh at my idiotic-and a little bit adorable-older brother trying to impress his crush by being clumsy. Truly a wonderful position to be in. Like and subscribe if you agree, nonexistent viewers in my head. Victor broke the awkwardness by asking, "Ms. Snoople. Is that her real name?"

Relieved, I startled both myself and Victor as I laughed. "Yep. Poor Edna's parents have no taste in names. Their pet dog is named Fluff, and their cat is named Fuzz."

"Not much creativity there, huh."

"Nope."

"So how long has Doc been crushing on Bee?"

I gazed at the pair. "Three or four years. Every time he finally works up the courage to ask her out, it turns out someone else has too, and they asked first."

"Ouch. Poor guy."

"Yeah. But I don't know. They don't seem right for each other."

Vic looked at me in surprise. "How so?"

"Bee, as much as I love her, can be flighty. When it comes down to it, she'll do anything for her friends of course, but when nothing important is at stake, she's flaky. She knows it, and tries not to be, but it's hard for her. She's as beautiful as a butterfly, but just as fickle. I don't think Doc will be able to put up with that for very long."

Victor nodded thoughtfully. "So, you're basically saying you think Doc is in love with the idea of her?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Okay." There was a lull in the conversation, and I sat there not knowing what to do. What is he thinking? Why is he staring like that? Can I attack him for staring at me? Why won't he do something stupid again so I can take him down so he'll stop staring? Argh.

"Argh? I don't think I've heard anyone literally say argh since I was a kid."

I flushed and smiled a little. Did I say that out loud? C'mon girl pull yourself together. You're a deadly agent, and deadly agents don't blush. "Who said you're not still a kid? And I've heard people say argh recently."

"Oh yeah? Who?" Lucky for me, Doc let out a well-timed argh right at that moment.

I pointed at him. "Doc."

Victor chuckled. "You're adorable." Then he turned to look out at the view of the world passing beneath us. How am I supposed to respond to that? Boy what do you want from me?

I sighed and closed my eyes. Guys. I'll never understand them. The next thing I knew someone was shaking me.

"What?" I growled, opening one eye to see a close-up of Victor's chin. "You missed a spot when you shaved."

Victor backed away and rubbed his chin sheepishly. "Does it bother you?"

"A little bit. Anyways, I assume you're risking death because we arrived?"

Victor cleared his throat. "Yep. Welcome to Honolulu." I let him pull me out of the seat, you can do it yourself, you idiot. Stop giving him power over you, and he waited patiently as I stretched. "By the way, Doc spilled drinks all of twenty times when he was in the cabin with the rest of us.

I laughed as I arched my back, stretching my arms over my head. "I'm surprised. He was calmer than usual today." Gotta admit, sunsets look a lot better in Honolulu than they do in Parkstead. It was starting to darken outside and the stars were coming out.

We hired an Uber to take us to our hotel, where we all took about fifteen minutes to drop our stuff and get a bit freshened up. Before leaving the room I shared with Bee, I checked the distance between our hotel and the store. Looks like we can walk there. Sweet.

Bee and I met Doc and Victor in the lobby. Oh, he shaved that last patch, I thought, then mentally cursed at myself for noticing. "The thief will probably steal the sapphire soon, if he or she hasn't already."

While we walked there, we chattered about how beautiful Honolulu was, and did other touristy things. After all, it was better to try to retain the element of surprise.

Bee and I window-shopped a little while Doc and Victor hung back to talk about "man"stuff. Most of the stores were closing soon since it was night, but a few were open. Eventually we found the store, and Bee and I scanned the display facing the window. No sapphire in the display case. It's probably inside.

The store had been closed for about an hour, and nobody was around, so we stood there for a bit longer. Bee sighed. "I can't tell if we're too late or if it's still there."

I was peering intently into the darkness behind the rings shown when I thought I saw movement. Light glinted off something, momentarily blinding me. I blinked hard, and when I regained my night vision, there was a humanoid shape coming toward the glass.

"Away from the glass! Now!" We scooted backwards, running across the street as fast as possible. I heard a crash and turned around.

A Chinese man in black jeans, a black long-sleeved shirt, and gloves stood there staring at us. He had just punched through the window, and I could hear the crunching of glass as he stepped through what used to be a beautiful display case showing off at least seven hundred thousand dollars' worth of jewelry.

There was a two-second staredown before I sprung into action, throwing knives and trying to move Doc and Bee into safety. Doc was a scientist, and Bee was a researcher and analyst. Neither of them were field ready.

For every weapon I threw, Mr. Cliche-Thief-Getup threw a shard of glass to match it. But he wasn't just flinging them at me-they barely touched his fingertips and yet his throws were accurate and strong. I tried to stop them from getting past me, occasionally even taking a shard to a limb to block it from reaching Bee and Doc, but I couldn't stop everything.

Victor will protect them. They'll be fine. Focus on beating the thief. Then I saw Victor in my peripheral vision. Fucking hell.

"Dude, what the fuck are you doing here?" I tended to curse a lot when I got angry, which happened often enough.

He frowned. "Doc refused to move to safety unless I helped you out. Bee agreed, so I came here because I knew you would want them to leave." I swore. Those stubborn fools.

I turned around and gasped. I was vaguely aware of Victor and the serial theifer, what's his face, fighting in the background.

All I could focus on was the blood. No. No no no.

Doc was on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood. And next to him, was Bee.

No.

I had blocked so many shards, and Victor had gotten the few that I missed.

But only one was needed.

One was enough.

And it was buried in Bee's neck.

Doc was covering the wound, applying pressure.

But even I could see that there was too much blood.

Please.

Her limbs lacked that boundless energy she had just started getting back.

She can't die.

Something fractured in my heart.

I just got her back.

Everything was muffled, Doc's heart-wrenching sobs, Bee's last words.

A roaring started up in my head. I couldn't breathe.

And so I turned to face the thief. It didn't matter what his name was. He wouldn't be alive to need it.

Make. Him. Pay. I nodded once, a promise to myself, a promise to Bee. I would get revenge.

I opened my eyes and whispered one hate-filled word. "Die."

I rushed toward my future victim, batons in hand, vision tinged red. The only thing fueling me was red. Hot. Rage. Victor was holding the son of a bitch still.

Good. He won't be able to run while I'm beating him to death.

Just as I reached the dude, my vision went dark and I woke up in the middle of nowhere, Victor lying unconscious next to me.

I slammed my fist into the dusty ground, relishing the pain that came with it and let out an anguished scream. It petered out as I shoved my rage down into a little box, and looked around.

Where am I?