Nefertiti

Having lunch with my family is one of my favorite things to do. We all sit together in the dining hall, and it’s full of laughter, and joy. Everyone is happy and the food is delicious. Our cooks work wonders on the food and I’m so thankful for them.

Sitting next to Kade and Talen, I’m full of bubbles. We are talking about our training and how we are excited to go out and do real things with the older members.

“I think I’m the best fighter,” Kade says, and then takes a bite of his chicken leg.

“No, I definitely am,” says Talen with a smirk.

“Guys, maybe I am,” I pipe in. “Just because I’m a girl, doesn’t mean that I can’t keep up with you boys.” Kade and Talen have been my best friends since as long as I can remember. They are both my age too.

“Beatrix, shut up.” Talen gives me a look that’s signaling I’m being ridiculous. “Just because your dad is the freaking boss of this operation doesn’t mean you can be cocky. Trust me, you are nowhere near me and my skill level.”

I roll my eyes and smile. The boys bicker for a little bit longer while I continue eating and watching them like I’m watching a movie in a movie theater.

“Beatrix,” Michael gets my attention from behind me. “We got orders to hunt down a man. He’s on foot and he shouldn’t have gotten far. You’re coming with us on this one.”

I get up and give the boys a proud look, and they scowl at me. I keep my gun holstered on my hip at all times and I always wear my work clothes, because I don’t wear anything else at home. I follow Michael out to the garage and get in the same car he does. We drive down the gravel road away from our property and park along the side of the road. Two other vehicles follow behind us and two guys from each car get out.

“He’s an average height man, wearing a black hoodie. He may be armed, so be prepared. We had guards confirm that he’s still in the woods somewhere, so keep your eyes open,” Michael explains to us. “I don’t want to be here all day so let’s please find this guy.”

“Yes, sir,” we all say back.

Michael and I take the left side of the woods. Two guys take the middle, and the other two take the right side. I keep my gun in my hands ready to shoot anyone if I need to. I’m on high alert and my heart is beating so loud I feel like it’s going to burst out of my chest. I’m not nervous, but rather excited. The adrenaline is rushing through my veins right now and if I don’t get in with any of the action, I might explode.

We keep at a steady pace, and try to be as quiet as we can. We really need to find this guy before it gets dark because then we really won’t be able to find him. We walked for what seemed like four days, but it was only four hours. Michael and I are sweating, but even after four hours I’m still high on adrenaline.

I still don’t know why we need to find this guy and take him back home but I don’t ask questions. I know better than to talk during a mission, especially when we are hunting someone down. I have to think of myself as a lion, waiting for the right moment to pounce on my prey.

A few more minutes of us walking pass by and I finally spot someone walking towards us. I stop immediately and Michael looks in the direction I’m looking. He’s wearing a black hoodie, black pants, and black boots. He looks pretty suspicious to me.

“That’s him,” Michael whispers to me. “Let’s go get him.”

We take off in a sprint towards our target. The man sees us running towards him and turns around and runs in the opposite direction. My legs are on fire from walking for so long, but I don’t let that slow me down.

“Stop!” Michael yells. “Stop right now or we will shoot!”

The man pulls something out of his pocket and reaches his arm behind him to point it at us. Then I hear gunshots and immediately get out of his fire range.

“We found the target. He’s running east, and we are by checkpoint 2. He’s armed and shots have been fired,” Michael says in his earpiece to the other four men. “I repeat, shots have been fired.”

Michael and I are still behind the target, but instead of running directly behind him we are running diagonally from him so we have a lesser chance of being hit. After hearing those gunshots, my adrenaline is on full blast. I feel like I’m running so fast that I’m floating. I feel like a cheetah chasing her prey.

“We are by checkpoint three, so we’ll head west toward your direction,” one man says.

“Let’s corner him,” Michael responds.

We continue to chase him towards the other two men. The target trips on a fallen branch and falls. He isn’t quick enough to get up and Michael grabs his gun and throws it away from him. I kick him in the abdomen and then his nose. Michael takes the back of his gun and jabs the target’s head, knocking him out.

“Good work, Beatrix,” Michael says as the two men run up to us.

“Thanks, I learned from the best,” I say, giving him a wink. I’m breathing so heavily that I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up burning a hole in my lungs.

“Max, and Apollo, drag him by the arms towards the vehicles,” Michael commands.

“Yes, sir.”

“Beatrix, tell the other two that we have the target and they need to meet us by the vehicles.”

Through our earpiece that we were all given, I tell Mark, and Tony to meet at the vehicles. Michael takes off in a sprint towards the road where we left the cars. Max, Apollo, and I walk to the nearest trail and wait for Michael to come back with one of the cars.

After a few minutes Michael returns and we throw the target into the back of the car, and Max, and Apollo sit back there with him. We drive in silence back to the remaining vehicles and drop off Max and Apollo. Mark and Tony will get back home whenever they can. I’m not sure where they were located when we found our target.

When we get home we bring our target to the interrogation facility and tie him up to the chair in the middle of the room. Michael and I are going to sit here until he wakes up.

When he finally does wake up I stand up and walk towards him. I grab him by the chin and look into his eyes, that are fluttering open and close.

“He’s still really out of it,” I tell Michael.

“Go fill that bucket up with cold water and dump it on him.”

I grab the pail that’s sitting on the floor and walk over to the hose. We have a hose in each room to clean up blood and human parts. I fill the bucket up and then walk back over to our target. I dump the freezing water on his head, and he jerks right up, gasping for air.

“What the hell?” he screams. His eyes are bloodshot and his nose is crooked since I kicked him so hard.

Michael comes up to me and explains why we even needed to capture him in the first place. The security cameras caught him lurking around the tech facility. On the outside of the building we have a power box that controls the cameras, computers, and even electricity in the tech building. They saw him messing with the box and then the cameras shut off. The tech workers notified my dad when the cameras shut down, and then our target came barging in the facility. He ended up killing all six workers in that building with his silencer.

He then was messing with the computers and trying to access our confidential information. When he heard people coming in the building he shot both people and ran for the woods. He killed a total of eight people today. Eight people that are a part of my family.

“Now we have to find out what he was trying to find, and why.” Michael gives me a knife that’s sitting on the table. “You’re in charge of this one. Find out who he works for, what he was trying to do, and why he was doing it.”

I’m ecstatic. I get to do my own torture lesson by myself. I just hope I don’t mess it up. I saunter over towards the man while he continues to scowl at me.

I lean down and make eye contact with him, and say, “I’m going to have so much fun with you.”

He spit in my face.

Well, he’s going to pay for that. I thought. I wipe off my face and grab one of his fingers on his right hand. Since his wrist is tied down there’s nothing he can do but watch as I carve out his fingernail with my knife.

He sits there in silence. His whole body is tense though and his face is the color of a tomato. His eyes are watering and soon his tears start running down his cheeks.

“Aww, does this hurt you?” I taunt him. “Well, this is what you get for spitting in my face, asshole.” His whole nail is off now and I toss it on the ground.

“Well, I sure taught you right,” Michael says behind me.

“Now,” I start, circling the man. “you’re going to tell me who you work for.”

He doesn’t say a word. He just stares at me, with hate in his eyes.

“Okay then, another nail is coming off.” I take another one of his fingers and start carving out that nail. Again, he just sits there and lets the tears fall, not letting any words come out.

I drop his nail on the ground and look at him. Well, this tactic isn’t going to work. I take the scissors off of the table and start cutting off his shirt. When his chest is exposed, I take my knife and start cutting his skin. Blood drips down from his fresh wounds. He hisses when I pierce him a little harder. I smile, amused.

I walk back over to the table and grab the hammer. “If you don’t tell me who you work for then I’m going to smash your hand. You have three seconds. One.”

He still stares at me.

“Two.”

More staring.

“Three.” I wait a split second before I bring the hammer down on his right hand. The room echoes with the sound of his scream and his bones cracking.

“Okay, okay,” he says in a pained voice. “I’ll tell you what you want to know, just don’t do that again.”

I look at Michael and smirk. He gives an approved nod back.

“Who do you work for?” I ask.

“Mors Navis.” My blood boils. Of course he would be working for our rival Mafia.

“What were you trying to do in the tech facility?”

“I was—” he takes a pained breath. “I was trying to steal information about your plans with other Mafia families or cartels. My boss wants to know everything about you so we can take you down.”

“Is that all?” I ask pulling out my gun from its holster.

“Yes,” he responds.

“Thank you,” I say. I aim my gun at his head and pull the trigger.

“Nice work,” Michael says. “Let’s go tell your dad.”

***

After we told my dad about what we learned he decided to call an emergency meeting. I’m sitting next to Kade’s dad and Michael. My dad has a composed posture, like nothing is going wrong in this world right now.

“I want to discuss the news I was just given a little while ago,” my dad says. “My daughter—Beatrix—and Michael hunted down a trespasser that we had caught lurking around the tech facility. You have probably heard about the loss of eight of our family members. The target killed all eight of them but my daughter and Michael captured him and then got information out of him.” He looks at me; proud written all over his face. “Beatrix got all the information out of him by herself and I’m proud of her for doing that.”

He stands back up and that mask falls right back over his face. “The man works for Mors Navis. He was sent here to steal our information about our allegiances, and our enemies. They want to take us down and we can’t have that.”

“I’m proposing we take them down first. Malfors is hosting a party tomorrow night. They had invited us and I wasn’t planning on going, but now I think we should. If we can secure our allegiance with them, then they can help us take down Mors Navis.”

Malfors is another Mafia family that has the same enemy as us. They have always been friendly with us, and we’ve always been friendly with them. We were planning on asking them to team with us but we never needed to—until now.

“I will be taking Beatrix, Michael, and seven others. First seven to volunteer will come. I need eyes to look for anything suspicious, and to help close the deal with Malfors. There will be ten of us total and we will leave here around six p.m. Is that clear?”

A murmur of “yes sirs” pass around the room.

“Okay, it’s settled. Who are my seven that want to come with us?”

Four hands immediately shoot up. Three other hands slowly raise.

“Thank you for your cooperation and time. You all may go. Beatrix, stay here.”

I stay seated in my chair and wait for everyone to file out of the room. My dad sits down in the chair across from me.

“Beatrix, I’m really proud of you today.” The mask falls down again. “You will one day run this family and I have no doubt that you will be an excellent leader. I know this isn’t the ideal life, but just know that this is the best life you’ll live.”

“I understand, dad. I love my life and wouldn’t want to do anything else. Thank you, dad.”

“Of course. Come here.” He gets up and walks towards me with his arms wide open. I hug him tightly and cherish this moment I get to have with him because it’s not often. “I love you, Beatrix.”

“I love you too, dad.”

He pulls away and rests his hands on my shoulders.

“Go get some rest now. We have a busy night tomorrow.”