Ava held the file so tight in her sweaty hand that the paper started to crumple. What type of look did she have on her face? She didn't know and she didn't want to know either.
She refused to look up so the other members of the team wouldn't notice.
'Are–are we going to kill him?! But he's… he's–'
Ava tried to take a deep breath and calm herself but nothing was working, her heart still thumped like she had just run a hundred miles.
Kiera took a glimpse at her reaction and quickly opened her own file, her eyes nearly bulged out of her head when she saw who this new target was. She swallowed.
'Well… shit.' She cursed.
There was no way this could have been easy for Ava to swallow.
She reached out a hand and clasped her friend's already stiff shoulder gently.
Ava let out a small breath before mustering the courage to look up. "Are… we supposed to kill him?" She asked, trying not to make the quiver in her voice too obvious.
"Unfortunately not." Vince stated. "We're just supposed to steal something from him."
'What the hell do you mean by 'Unfortunately'?!' Ava wanted to yell but after all that tension earlier, she could finally breathe easy... somewhat.
She pursed her lips, glancing at Coyle from the corner of her eye to see if he was watching her, but he wasn't. All his attention was fixed on the file that was given to him.
A small wrinkle formed between Ava's brows as she fidgeted with the edge of the paper in her hand. 'Does that mean he doesn't know I was saved by Eitan last night?'
The street was dark at that time but Ava still found that hard to believe. But if he really didn't know anything, then that made things a lot easier for her. She let out another shaky breath.
"What exactly are we supposed to steal from him?" Kiera asked, gently taking Ava's hand and walking to a seat closest to them to settle down. "Money?"
Vince's lips twitched. "It's a bit complicated."
Kiera shot him an irritated glare. "We're supposed to take something, just say what it is! What's so complicated about it?" She then paused, seemingly in thought. "Oh right, it might be for you because you're quite slow in the head..."
Ava bit her lip and her eyes fluttered shut as she struggled to hide a grin. 'Ah… there she goes again…'
Vince stiffened for a moment before his face went red with rage. "You'd better watch your mouth…"
"Kiera…" Coyle called in warning.
"What?" Kiera asked, feigning innocence. "I just said the truth."
Walter could only roll his eyes and sigh in exasperation. It was like he found just being in the same room with all of them suffocating.
A vein popped at Vince's temple and he attempted to take a threatening step forward when Coyle hurriedly stood up and placed a calming hand on his broad chest.
"Don't." He said simply. "What exactly are we supposed to take from Berger? Just tell us and ignore her. She's deliberately trying to provoke you."
Kiera scoffed, almost disappointed as she watched them, her chin resting on her hand. "Lucky guy, aren't you?" She told Vincent. "You at least have a sense of reason beside you since you don't own one… not every dumb person is that privileged."
"Kiera…" Ava called softly, her lips nearly breaking into a smile now. "You can stop now, I'm fine."
"Hmph! You're not fine but I'll stop since you asked me to." Kiera huffed, deciding to back down for the time being.
It was true she wasn't fine, but Kiera's outrage brought her some satisfaction.
"Ahem." Walter cleared his throat. It seemed he was trying his best not to laugh too. "Please carry on, Vince. Some of us have places to be."
'Huh… what is this guy going on about now?' Kiera mused as she glanced at Walter.
Vince closed his eyes and took a few minutes in silence, like he was trying to calm himself.
"I don't know what we're supposed to steal yet." He continued. "Our client just believes that the contract deal with the Alrosas' should be in his possession."
Coyle nodded thoughtfully. "That… makes a lot of sense. The Alrosas should be with a copy at least, but it'll make more sense for Berger to be with the original document since he's the bigger of the two of them."
"So what? We're supppsed to ransack his house and take every document in sight?" Walter asked in disbelief.
"His apartment." Vince corrected. "He's currently staying in San francisco for the time being."
"We know that but still, searching the whole apartment would be too inconvenient." Coyle added. "If we only knew a particular place he kept his documents…"
"I… can probably find out." Ava finally spoke up.
Walter raised a skeptical brow. "How? Do you plan on sneaking into his apartment alone? That's not going to work unless we work together. It's said in the file that the complex is a death trap for thieves."
Ava only nodded. "I see…"
It wasn't like she didn't know it would be next to impossible to sneak into a billionaire's heavily guarded apartment complex alone, she just wanted to make a contribution to avoid looking suspiciously quiet.
Vince sighed. "One way or another we have to find out where the contract is before we attempt to steal it." He said, rubbing his head. "This is our last operation here before we go back to base."
Ava felt her stomach drop and her mouth go dry. "We're… we're going back to base?"
Vince scratched the back of his head. "Yes, the Sir Xandro says we should return. He said we need to rest for a while and honestly I'm not against it… it's already been two years since we headed out."
Ava took in a shaky breath as cold sweat slid down her back. She began to shake slightly and her mind began to buzz.
'We're going back?! Why… why exactly is he calling us back? What…?'
Kiera rushed to rest a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently.
"Come to think of it, Ava." She Started. "Didn't you say you spoke to Eitan at the masked party that night? You said something about him asking you to meet with him, right…?"
Walter blinked, taken aback. "He did?!"
Vince's face turned sour. "What…?"
Ava stiffened and stared at her friend in shock, her eyes literally asking, 'What do think you're doing doing?!'
Kiera subtly glanced back at her, rubbing her back meaningfully. 'Just play along, will you? I know what I'm doing.'
Ava was doubtful of the look in her friend's eyes but she decided to do as she suggested anyway… only because she trusted her that much.
"...Yes, I did speak to him at the party." She agreed with a nervous smile. "He told me to come see him when I had the time."