“Oooohhhh, are the worms coming up for air since the doves are away?” Glancing to my right, Cezar sat across the plane from us, facing Kazia's chair, staring at it like a lost puppy.
Doves?I mouthed to Nicu, who shook his head, not wanting to figure out what the hell was going on in Cezar’s head.
“It seems so.” Nicu nodded, tapping onto something before turning it around to show me a video of one of our weapons warehouses. He pressed play and everything was fine until a loud boom sounded. “Fire! Fire!”Someone yelled; people ran around trying to put the fire out when a group of men all dressed in black, masks covering their faces with AKs in hand, descended upon them, gunning them all down.
Sitting back, I thought about who we were currently dealing with as enemies. I mean, we were always fighting with the Shadow Kings. They seemed like cockroaches, unable to exterminate them permanently, but they were just a local gang vying for power. They wouldn't have access to the gear that those men in the video had.
Could it be the Russians from Moscow?I’ve heard whispers of them wanting to take back territory they had back in the day, but they would need to take over the Georgian territory first, which was unlikely. We’re the drug supply for the Kutaisi clan in Georgia and covered our ass with being the weapons dealer for the Vipers in Turkey, so coming for us would be more work then its worth for them.
“I think it's the Hovsepian and Zakarians.”
I did a double take before I furiously shook my head as Nicu’s theory. “What? Why would they even do that? We’ve had a treaty for over forty years?!” When Armenia split from the soviet union, the KGB left, leaving a hole that several powerful families wanted to fill. It was a bloodbath. Thousands of people died in that first year in the fight for power. Three families ended up on top. The Azadians, the Hovsepains, and the Zakarians. All three were powerful in different ways.
The Azadians had strength and muscle. We also have connections to military-grade weapons. The Hovsepains were known for their poisons and stealth. They had the most skilled assassins, so in a game of war, one of their assassins was like twenty soldiers. Then there were the Zakarians. They were smart, too smart, and always tricked their way out of bad situations or into good ones. Eventually we grew tired of the bloodshed, deciding under a treaty to split the country into different territories: North, Central & South.
Usually, we worked together on major deals, stuff that would make all of us money or issues that would effect us negativity, but in the end it was more of a partnership between enemies. Animosity still ran deep between our families, but the treaty kept us from doing anything to each other.
“It's just a gut feeling I have.” Nicu folded his hands in front of him, looking off in the distance.
“They can feel it. The change in the air… and they want to capitalize on it.” Cezar’s hollow voice had Nicu and I both turned towards him.
“What do you-”
“But that's crazy!” He laughed out loud, throwing his fingers in front of himself and wiggling them mockingly. “The air can change at a moment's notice. What are those silly donkeys thinking?!”
His laughter stopped. He tilted his head for a second before rolling his eyes upward. “I know. I know, Nan. It’s not nice to make fun of them. They can’t help they’re beneath us.” He glanced at us, putting his hand to the side of his mouth as he whispered loud enough for us both to hear. “God, she's such a nag, am I right?”
We just stared at him, not knowing what the fuck to say to that lunatic. He always talked in riddled or wrong words, but his knives never missed and he knew the human body better than a surgeon.
“Do you guys have any food on this plane? I'm starving!”
All three of us jumped up to see Kazia standing there in rumpled clothes, rubbing at her eyes with her hair going in several different directions. She looked so cute, sweet, untouchable.
Cezar moved first. “Of course, my Roma. Of course. Sit, and I’ll have the cowardly steward make us something delicious.” He sat her down smiling, buckling her up before turning his deadly gaze to the front of the plane like a savage swinging around a knife. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Cez-,” she reached out for him, trying to stop him, when she saw he was already off. She sighed, “Oh, never mind,” lowering her hand as she leaned back in her seat. Even she was getting used to Cezar.
Her eyes flicked to mine, and her cheeks flushed; the tension between us sizzled, and I had to grab the armchair to keep myself in my seat. She switched to looking at Nicu, who leaned forward to stare at her. She held out for a few seconds, playing with her fingers in her lap, before looking in the direction Cezar went.When did he become the safe option?
“So…” she started, looking in her lap before taking a breath and looking up at us. “What should I expect when we land?” It was a good question, one that I would let Nicu answer since he got regular updates.
“We’ll get off the plane and have a car waiting for us, which will take us to our family estate.” Nicu kept his tone steady and crisp, but for once, I heard an edge to it. A worry. “Then, from there, it all depends. He could have you taken to the dungeons, he could slice your throat right then and there, he could put you in a room and plan what to do with you later.”
Her face turned pale as she nodded, and I wanted to punch him in his stupid face. I went to tell her we would not let that happen when Cezar walked in smiling with a tray of food. Turning his face to glare at Nicu, his warning clear as day, before turning back to her and smiling wide.
“Don’t listen to that manic and his babbling.”
Nicu’s eyes darkened, his hands clenched, not one to take disrespect well, but Cezar kept going, setting the tray in front of her.
“While I’ll admit number 1 or number 3 might happen,” he sat down, his lips turned down as he stared at Nicu. “Number 2 won’t happen. I can assure you.”
Nicu and Cezar stayed that way for what felt like forever, having their internal eye battle the rest of us weren’t a part of. Kazia picked up a french fry, nibbling on it as her gaze bounced from Nicu to Cezar.
When it seemed like there was no end in sight, she threw down her fifth fry and waved a hand at them. “Alright, alright. I get it. I’ve been warned,” her attention on Nicu had him look at her, and she nodded to him. “I also believe you.” Her hand went out to clutch Cezar’s, and his face melted.What a sucker. And why can’t I stop looking at their hands together?
The captain's voice came overhead, speaking in Armenian. “We have started our descent and will land shortly. Please buckle in and thank you for letting me serve you today.” The three of us buckled as Kazia looked around, catching on to what was going on, and grabbed her sandwich, taking bites out of it like it was her last meal, and that… irritated me.
The landing was smooth, and just like Nicu said, a car was waiting for us. The driver opened the door, and Nicu was the first to climb in, holding out his hand to Kazia to help her in when the driver put his hand on her shoulder, and a syringe was headed for her neck.
