"It must be pretty big if you need an elevator to go down." Kazimir says, looking up at the ceiling.
"You think so?" Laurenté rhetorically asks. "I'd say it's average."
The elevator dings and opens and the two men walk out.
Laurenté switches on a light and the young detective nods in astonishment.
"Does your family collect weapons as a hobby?" Kazimir asks, picking up a pistol.
"No, but I'm sure it looks like that." Laurenté replies, softly laughing.
"I've been meaning to ask you; how'd you get into the hitman business?"
Leaning against a wall, Laurenté picks up an AR-15 from a shelf next to him.
"I come from a line of hitmen; I'm the 7th generation. However, it's strictly reserved for men due to a number of reasons."
He walks over to a wooden person and begins to fire, Kazimir's eyes slightly widening as the man successfully hits the target in less than 10 seconds.
"You don't use the scope?"
Laurenté shakes his head no.
"I've done it plenty of times since I was younger. I suppose I can just take an estimate on where to fire now."
"I'm guessing you've taught Alexei a thing or two?" Kazimir asks.
"Ah, I wish I could have, but he learned on his own." Laurenté replies, reloading the gun. "I believe he picked it up from tagging alongside his father on golf course meetings."
Handing the gun to Kazimir, Laurenté steps to the side.
"Anyway, Alexei asked me to rate your targeting. Feel free to begin when you're ready."
Nodding, the young detective pulls the trigger and Laurenté slightly raises a brow.
"Where'd you learn that from?"
Looking up, Kazimir gives the man a confused look.
"You hit the target perfectly, even though it's slightly angled at a harder position to hit."
"I don't know, maybe it's just a fluke." the young detective replies. "I've never actually practiced shooting anything."
"Okay, let's try one more." Laurenté says, as he sets up another target, positioning it at a weird angle.
Kazimir fires again and Laurenté shakes his head.
"That's definitely not a fluke; I'd say you have a hidden talent. Especially when it comes to hitting things at angles."
"Uh, I don't about that. Maybe I'm having a lucky day or something."
"Even on our luckiest days, we won't be able to win it all." Laurenté replies.
A faint knocking sound comes from upstairs and the man chuckles.
"That must be my two favorite cousins."
Following Laurenté back upstairs, Kazimir looks down at his hands. Maybe Laurenté was right, maybe he did have some sort of hidden talent.
"I do have one question for you, Kazimir."
Turning to the man, the young detective nods.
"The Claiza City Police Department murders; specifically the gunshot wounds. You know something about that, don't you?"
"How'd you know?"
Laurenté gives him a smile.
"Alexei told me he suspected you were behind it, but never gave me a final answer." A couple of months ago, I was reading some of the autopsies and they stated the bullet had been weirdly positioned into whatever part of the victim's body."
"You're a smart pair." Kazimir says, sighing. "Guess I can't put anything past you."
"I don't know." Laurenté replies, shrugging. "For all I know, you could be putting on a facade and fooling us all."
The elevator opens and Laurenté walks over to the front door, answering it."
"Just find a room that's not mine." Laurenté says, giving Dréy a glare. "I'll be on the rooftop if you need anything."
"Is everyone else up there?" Alexei asks, turning to Kazimir.
"Yeah."
"Then I'll just lay out the game plan up there. I'll be up in a few." the young law student replies, dragging his luggage to his room.
Opening the glass door to the rooftop, Kazimir was immediately greeted with a splash of water by Jai.
"Bro, you gotta come in! It's so nice in here and it even comes with one of those bubbly drain thingies underneath!"
"Maybe later." Kazimir says, taking a seat at a table.
"Bruh, I'mma come back up here at night, this view nice as fuck." Dréy says, jumping into the pool. "Lanté, what we eating for dinner tonight?"
"That's for me to know and for you to find out." Laurenté replies, turning a page in his book.
"Meow!"
Running out in front of Alexei, Chantelle happily prances around, arching her back.
"Dréy, can you do something about this kitten?" Alexei asks, picking up Chantelle as she arched against his leg. "She almost peed on my shoes when I didn't let her up the stairs first."
"I can't, she's in heat." Dréy replies, floating on a pool ring. "Just entertain her wit' a yarn ball or something."
The young law student sighs and sits down, placing a box down at his side and takes a piece of paper from his pocket.
"Meooooow."
"No, Chantelle. This piece of paper isn't food." Alexei replies, holding the paper in the air.
"Maybe you have something she wants." Laurenté replies, watching as Chantelle cuddles up on the young man's lap.
Groaning, Alexei looks back down at the paper.
"Alright, everyone. Please gather around, I have a few things I'd like to go over."
The men take a seat at the table and the young law student raises a brow.
"Where's Lennox?"
Turning to the left, the group of men watch as Lennox sat on a chaise lounge chair and lightly snores, a baseball hat pulled over his face to block the sun.
"I'll wake him!" Jai says, grabbing his water bottle.
Tiptoeing up to his friend, Jai quickly splashes the semi-warm water on him and Lennox slowly opens his eyes.
"Come on man, we're going over the plan on how to rescue Khristina!"
Yawning, Lennox follows Jai back to the table, taking a seat next to him.
"Okay, you can start now!"
"Thank you, Jai." Alexei replies, looking back down at the piece of paper. "First things first, I'm assigning everyone to a mission today. Currently it is 11:45 A.M., meaning it's almost lunchtime. After this, we'll all follow Laurenté to the place I said Khristina's kidnappers were meeting at to see if we can get any clues. Laurenté and I will try to get as close as possible to the building or whatever they hold their meetings in. The rest of you will standby and follow the men around in case they go out to eat or something; I'll ring you each if they do."
"Do you want us to take pictures and record, too?" Jai asks, leaning his chair back.
"Yes, if you'd like."
"What if I get hungry?" Dréy asks.
"Then you can order something to eat. Just don't make yourself noticeable." Alexei replies, rubbing Chantelle's stomach.
Opening the box, the young law student picks up a handgun, before passing around the box to everyone else.
"Now, as we're all going on a potentially dangerous mission, I'd like for everyone to carry one of these for safety. Only use it if the person or persons you're following start to threaten you and you feel as if your life is in danger."
Taking the box from Laurenté's hands, Alexei puts it back down.
"Does everyone know how to work it?" he asks, looking down at his watch.
The group of men all nod and Alexei smiles.
"Good. Let's begin."
-------
*SLAM!*
Looking up from eating her cheeseburger and waffle fries, Khristina watches as the unknown man places a chair down in front of her, before sitting in it backwards.
"That was too loud, Mr.! It almost chopped off my ears!"
"My bad." Haruki says, giving her a slightly psychotic smile. "So, how're you enjoying your time here so far?"
"It's actually really fun!" Khristina says, smiling. "I like my Hello Kitty themed bedroom and my pretty new dresses! Plus, I get ice cream whenever I want and I get to stay up really late 'cause Mr. Kazimir doesn't let me! But, I do miss him."
"Which is why I'm here to ask you a couple of questions about him."
The little girl looks up and Haruki gives her a warm smile, before pulling out his phone.
"I have a couple of houses I'm going to show you and I want you to tell me which one looks the most familiar to you. Are you ready?"
Khristina nods, taking another bite out of her cheeseburger and watches as Haruki begins to scroll through the photos.
"Wait, that's my house!" the small girl says, pointing at the phone. "I just moved in some days ago!"
Haruki looks down at the picture and smiles.
"Are you sure?"
"Yep! It has that same lake in the back!"
"I see." Haruki says. "Now I'd like to ask you some things specifically about Kazimir."
"Okay!" Khristina says, happily swinging her feet.
"How well does he know your brothers?"
"I think they're best friends forever, Mr.! Alexei and Mr. Kazimir like to hang out a lot, but not as much as Dréy 'cause he's usually playing video games!"
"If you and your brothers were to vacation, would you invite Kazimir along?" Haruki asks, his smile getting slightly wider by the millisecond.
"Duh, Mr. Kazimir is one of the bestest people in the world!" Khristina yells.
Haruki's eyes glare a little and Khristina tilts her head.
"Perfect, that's all I needed to know."
He makes his way over to the young girl and cups her cheeks.
"As a reward for your cooperation, you get to see Kazimir soon!"
"REALLY?! HE'S JOINING THE MOVIE WITH US?!"
"Yep." Haruki replies, watching as a couple of women powder Khristina's face in make-up to make it look as if she had bruises. "We just need you to film one more scene pretending you're kidnapped and that you need help. This time, pretend as if you're going to die."
"Okay!" Khristina says, following a woman to a green screen.
Picking up three machine guns, Haruki hands them to three masked men.
"Point them down at her. If any of you filthy bastards pull the trigger out of fun, I'll make sure to decapitate you all."
The men nod and surround Khristina.
"Alright, Khristina! This is the most important scene, so just read the script and give it all you've got!" Haruki yells, as he adjusts his film camera. "3...2...1...ACTION!"
The young gamer smiles and mentally laughs as the small girl perfectly acted out as if she was about to be killed.
"AND CUT!"
Khristina smiles and jumps up, running over to Haruki.
"How'd I do Mr.?"
"Very well, miss! I'll have to hire you for more acting roles in the future!" Haruki replies, patting her shoulder. "Hey, someone get our star a bowl of chocolate brownie ice cream!"
He watches as a woman leads the small girl upstairs and turns to the three masked men, snatching the machine guns out of their hands.
Throwing two to the ground, the young man begins to fire, smiling as blood splattered against the wall.
"Thank you for your services. You're no longer needed."