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"Who are you?" I asked, still not sure of the new guys relevance.

"Think of me as the spy of the group." Caleb replied casually.

"Ok, why couldn't you have just met me later?"

"Because I need to talk to the guy we're going to see after this."

Just then, the waiter came up, asking what we wanted to order. After leaving out orders with the man, we uttered a thanks and turned our attention back to each other.

"This lunch is your chance to ask anything you need to, make proper use of it." Mendez said, though his eyes told me that if there was anything he didn't want to answer, he wouldn't answer it, full stop.

"Ok, why did Jack come after me?"

"Pass."

Caleb chuckled next to me, only amused by the whole thing.

"Are you kidding me right now? I thought I could ask anything."

"I reserve my right to free speech, I'll answer what I want to answer."

"Ok then, fine. Why was there a picture of you, Brian and Jack on a wall in Jack's room?"

"That, I can answer. Me and Brian were brothers, Jack was a very good childhood friend. After he found out about me becoming the next heir to Genesis, he became jealous, knowing that I was going to have so much more power than him."

Suddenly, I saw the picture in a whole new light, a light of innocence where nothing mattered. Where everything was calm and going to plan. They were just three young boys enjoying their lives.

"Why was Jack jealous, surely if you were friends then you could have shared the benefits?"

"Sadly, that's not how being a gang leader works. He wanted the 'good' life that came with being a leader. He wanted the power because he never really had a great childhood. As a kid, he was abused before he made friends with me and Brian. When my dad, the old leader, found out about his abuse, he had Jack's dad taken out and dad took him in as his own. Jack was the oldest of us so when he didn't get the leader position, he felt cheated but everyone knows it's the next in blood that is the heir."

While he was explaining, the waiter had placed down our food and poured us all drinks. I couldn't shake the feeling that the waiter was up to something as he stood there, seemingly listening to our conversation, prolonging all his actions. He poured the drinks much slower than he needed to, concentrating way too much on such a simple task. He was clearly listening in.

I raised a hand so that only Mendez could see, telling him to wait. When Mendez had stopped talking, the waiter quickly finished pouring the drinks, the concentration from before suddenly dissipating. He walked away.

"That waiter was listening to our conversation."

Caleb looked slightly impressed as he looked over at Mendez who was wearing a light smile.

"She is clearly yours." Caleb said, a small upturn in his lips visible.

"I knew he was listening, but I'm surprised you noticed. Brian trained you up well."

"What do you mean, trained me up well. Trained up well for what?"

"In short, trained for this. I couldn't tell you, or else it really spoils the surprise. You'll find out later in tonight's dinner with Mirage though, promise."

I took a good look at Caleb, only just noticing how he actually looked, the shock from meeting him wearing off. He was a good looking guy, no joke. His brass, auburn like hair took out against his green eyes, complimenting his slightly tanned skin. Thick brows framed his hooded eyes. 

His lean arms were crossed across his chest, his size making him look quite young, maybe even the same age as me.

"Caleb, how old are you?"

"Just turned 18, why'd you ask?"

"Aren't you a bit young to be living in the gang life?"

"My dad was Mendez' dad's second in command, I was born into this life. I've lived my whole life like this."

That sparked a question then in my head.

"If you are the leader of Genesis, why was I trained for this life?"

"Another secret soon to be uncovered."

I could feel annoyance starting to creep up on me now.

"If you weren't going to answer any of my questions, why did you bother bringing me out?"

"Don't lie, I've answered a few of your questions, the rest which will also be answered later today. Have some patience." Mendez said, not reciprocating my annoyed mood. He was way too laid back about this.

"Fine then, why is seemingly everyone I know part of this gang life and why do half of them tell me that they are there to protect me?"

"You're asking me the same question but in different forms." He said, catching onto my trick. "I'd probably do the same but you could have at least been a bit more subtle. Derek had been friends with you since you were born, his dad having been a good friend of mine. It only made sense that he was around to protect you. As for Connor, I had later found him after I knew he was friends with you. He seemed like someone good to hang around and I wasn't wrong when I saw how much of a good hacker he was, nearly good enough to out-hack Zayne. He has been on the down low in this gang nearing four years now."

The revelation of finding out that one of my best friends was part of the gang for such a long time left me speechless and completely surprised as I had no clue what to even say to that.

If Connor had been found so early, what about Ocean? Was she a part of it too? If so, why didn't they try and protect her when Jack took her and killed her?

My distress was clearly leaking through because Caleb reached out and put his big hand over mine in a comforting gesture.

"Ocean only joined us a year ago. We only really needed Connor, Ocean was an extra. We tried to find her when we heard Jack had abducted her but by the time we had people looking out for her, we saw the message that came through on your phone."

"Which Connor presumably hacked."

He nodded.

"We tried to find the body afterwards but it was nowhere to be found."

"What did the police find then?"

"Her blood. It was everywhere."

"So you're trying to tell me that you could have saved her, but you didn't?" I whispered, my voice starting to raise.

They had the resources to find her this whole time yet they did nothing until the last moment. It was too late by then.

Tears started pooling in my eyes when I realised that she could have been alive now if someone had done their job properly.

Caleb squeezed my hand again, in a desperate attempt to tell me to calm down.

I blinked back the tears, not ready to show Mendez my weak side, that would have meant that he won. I couldn't do that to myself.

Instead of replying, everyone grabbed their forks and started eating.

The food was probably really delicious but for the first time, I couldn't have cared less. Each bite was tasteless, bland. My mind just kept spinning over and over with the fact that everyone I loved was in the gang life, that everyone I cared about died because of this gang life.

"I get it. He took me because I was the next in command, didn't he? You have no kids so the leadership would gave gone to Brian then Eleanor, my mum, both of who Jack killed. The next in the blood-line is me, isn't it? By having me out of the equation, he would have made it."

"I always knew you were smart. But sadly, you are slightly wrong. Be patient, princesa, you'll find out everything you need to know later."

I carried on shovelling the lifeless food into my mouth, trying to swallow it all down before I threw it all back up.

"You got any questions for me, Maya?" Caleb asked, his right hand still holding onto my left hand.

He was a leftie, he must have been eating with his left hand to have not broken contact.

"Ok, if you're the 'spy' and Zayne is the 'hacker', what's everyone else?"

"Ooo, good one. Ok. So Shawn is the combat guy, he plans any fight and usually trains us up when Esteban is busy, which is always. Quinton, as you should also know, is the driver. He can get you anywhere anytime in a quarter of the time it'd take someone else - speaking from experience. Nance is the bait, she lures in people that owe us or people we need to get payback on. She then, well, kills them at there most vulnerable."

"So she sells sex disguised as an execution."

"In essence." he said, like it was  a normal thing to seduce someone into killing them. I guess people had to get creative to get the job done. "Anything else?"

"Yes, what was your mission you just came back from?"

Caleb looked over to Mendez, as if asking for permission to speak. Mendez nodded, his hand going up in a way to say 'proceed'.

"Genesis is the biggest gang here, no doubt about it but there is another gang that fast growing and they're growing in malpractice, killing people off for the fun of it."

"Isn't that what you guys do too?" 

Suddenly, Caleb and Mendez' faces went sour and dark, lie I had said something completely taboo.

Mendez spoke up this time, the darkness from his face not having left. "Never, is that what you think of us?"

"It's what most of England think."

"It's not true. We kill those that deserve their deaths. We would never kill and innocent like The Wings do."

"Who are the Wings?"

"They used to be the South before they merged with the original Wings. This is one way they've grown."

"That must have pretty recently then." I stated, knowing I had heard of the South in a conversation before.

Mendez nodded.

"They now have a leader the two gangs chose together. No one but they know who the new leader is. That leads us to what Caleb was doing there."

I pieced it together, realising that Caleb must have been trying to infiltrate the Wings to see who their new leader was.

"How did that go, by the way?" Mendez questioned to Caleb.

Caleb's face scrunched as he answered, telling me that he couldn't have gotten too far with the mission.

"They're hard to infiltrate but I have a girl there I'm warming myself up to. She's hopefully my way in. All I've found so far is that the leader wasn't part of either gang before she was chosen which makes me think --"

"--Who the hell is she?" Mendez finished for him, now seemingly deep in his own thoughts. "She must have been important to both sides if she made it to leader. We'll get Zayne on it after tonight's dinner."

I looked up again, noticing how the waiter had his eyes trained on our table. He slowly reached his hand down his waistband. 

He was reaching for a gun.

"Mendez, Caleb, we need to move now." I said to the two of them who had their eyes trained on different waiters around the room.

"Bit late for that now." Caleb said as about 5 waiters around the room reached for their guns aswell.

"Catch." 

Mendez threw a gun at me which I caught with ease.

The metal didn't feel as heavy as it did when Jack forced me to shoot down the door.

I guess I was a changed girl now.

The moment I caught the gun, Caleb pulled me down behind the solid wall of the table, a bullet whizzing past me. If Caleb hadn't moved me, I'd have had a hole in me now. The 10mm Auto felt comfortable in my hand as I took off the safety.

Last thing I needed was to shoot someone, ending up with my dumb ass having forgotten to have taken off the safety.

Mendez was behind a table next to us, the table acting as a good shield between the waiters and ourselves.

"The table isn't going to last for long, I need you to go get to Mendez table and shoot down the two waiters closer to us."

"You mean, kill them?" I whispered to Caleb, not really liking the idea of killing someone

"If you can't do that, I just need you to immobilize them." Caleb replied, a comforting smile on his face. At least he wasn't going to judge me for not wanting to take a life because you know, that's just normal life around here.

The skirt half of the dress was really starting to piss me off as it restricted my movement. With one movement, I hooked the flowing material into the corset half of the dress with a bobby pin.

It wasn't going to last long but it was going to have to make do for now.

There was about 2 meters between the two tables, plenty of space for me to get shot if I don't move quick enough. 

The table was beginning to splinter, pieces of wood flaking off everywhere. I could feel myself getting itchy as the wood flakes took home on me and my dress.

"Ahh, fuck it." I said, standing up slightly so I was slightly ducking before I ran across to Mendez. Metal flew past my head, missing me by a hair each time.

My head was raised above the table so that I could just see the men. Holding up my gun, I shot in a quick motion, two mens shoulders now sporting red liquid as they screamed. Knowing they could still use their other hands, I shot their feet aswell, knowing the pain would keep them down.

A third man aimed at me, pulling the trigger in less that a second. I felt two hands pulling my waist down.

"I can't have you dying already. Already gotten shot at twice, are you trying to get yourself killed?" Esteban asked, anger seeping through his voice.

"Why does it matter, leave me to die like you did Ocean, I couldn't give three less shits."

"Really? I tried to save the girl but Jack was already done with her by the time my men had even noticed she was missing."

"What you're trying to tell me that Jack just took her and killed her? If he was really keeping an eye on me so so closely, then he knew that Ocean was part of the gang. Why not push her for information first?"

"Because he had Connor at the time aswell, remember?"

He wasn't wrong as I thought back to that day in the hospital. After getting out, I challenged Jack to a race which lead to me winning through Jacob's help. After finding out who he was, I ran to Derek's house to find Connor being tortured. Jack had him aswell.

Not replying, I looked around and saw a thick pillar just behind us. It's give me better aim at the men. Turning to Caleb, I pointed at the pillar and he nodded. Mendez just rolled his eyes.

My fingers motioned the numbers 3, 2, 1.

Go.

In the second we had, I jumped up behind the pillar with Caleb but Mendez stayed where he was.

"Are you fucking kidding me." I uttered beneath my breath. He was going to get us all killed.

Peering to the right of the pillar, I set my eyes on the third waiter who had tried to shoot me before who was now running towards us, clearly not having seen Mendez not jumping behind the pillar aswell. Before he could even get in a five meter distance of us, Mendez shot him in the chest from where he was crouching.

With a scream, he it the floor, clasping his chest like he was fighting for breath.

"He's going to die, isn't he?" I asked to no one in particular. 

"It was him or you, Esteban was clearly going to choose you." Caleb reassured, at least he tried to.

"Whatever." I said, looking over to the next pillar in the room which was about five meters away. If I could get Caleb to distract them, I could run over to it, giving me a perfect vantage point to shoot the other two waiters.

"Caleb, I need you to run back to your first table. I need to run to the other pillar and while they're trying to get you, I can run behind those other tables to that pillar, alright?"

"Got it. GO."

As he jumped to the left, getting back to the other table, I jumped right, using the tables as a shelter as I got to the other pillar. Each table splintered behind me as I jumped between each one, knowing that just a few more centimeters to the left or the right, the bullets could have shot right through me.

Safely behind the pillar, I peaked to the left of the pillar, aiming my gun at the fourth waiter, noticing how the fifth man was not there. The others must have already shot him down.

The man couldn't even react before I let a bullet sink into his right thigh.

I let out a sigh of relief as silence filled the room after the resounding of the gunshot disappeared. 

I walked out from behind the pillar, feeling myself slump against the front of the pillar.

What I failed to notice was the fifth waiter waiting behind the empty first pillar me and Caleb were hiding behind before and how Caleb and Mendez had moved to the other side of the room, using an 8 man table as their guard.

"MAYA!" The two of them screamed as I felt a pair of arms securing me against their body.

Cold metal pressed against my forehead as both Caleb and Mendez raised their guns at the waiter that was holding me against him.

"Lower your guns or the girl's brains end up on the floor." The man shouted, his deep voice penetrating my ears, filling me with slight horror at realising that the man had not been shot down by Caleb or Mendez.

Throwing his gun across the floor, he came out fro behind the table, arms raised in a motion to say surrender.

"What do you want?" He asked from across the room.

"Tell us where Jack is and she lives."

"Good, we were just going over there now. Let's take you." Mendez said cautiously as he took a slow steps forwards, in a way that said he wasn't a threat.

"No, tell us his place and we'll go there ourselves."

"That sadly won't work, the place is under high protection so they won't let you through and you would be way too outnumbered to fight them, you'd be looking like spongebob with the number of bullets in you before you could even call for backup.

"Then stop wasting time and lead the way."

The waiter had seemingly forgotten that Mendez was a man of manipulation and that Caleb still had his gun. 

---

a/n: happy tuesday guys.

ive decided that this holiday im going to actually meet up w people, yay me!

heres just a random song recommendation im throwing out there because i actually cant stop listening to it!

Antisocial by Ed Sheeran and Travis Scott.

banger.

other than that, i hope you have a good day my lovelies <3

Lolaalvilivi