Ava jolted awake, her entire body covered in beads of sweat as she lay in bed, breathless. Suddenly, amidst all the buzzing in her head, she felt bile claw at her throat and a wave of nausea washed over her.
She leaped from the bed and ran into the bathroom, doubling over and emptying her stomach into the toilet.
"Urgh…" Ava groaned, wiping at her mouth with a trembling hand. "It's that nasty dream again…"
She chewed on her bottom lip. 'Why? Why does he keep haunting me? It's already been two years since I last saw him already…'
Ava sat back and leaned against the wall, staring up at the ceiling of the bathroom blankly.
'Is this some kind of warning?' She wondered, massaging her forehead. '...Or am I still too terrified of going against him… even after years of being apart…?'
Ava let out a humourless laugh. "I'm pathetic…" She muttered. "I wish I could just disappear..."
Then she wouldn't have to think complicated thoughts and Kyla would be free to do as she liked. Ava hugged her knees and buried her head into the crook.
'What does Eitan really want from me…?' She scoffed. 'It doesn't even matter… I'm far too cowardly. Maybe it'll be better to just go to jail…'
All of a sudden, she heard the buzzing of a phone come from the living room and with a little difficulty, she stood from her place on the floor and went to check.
Ava's face took on an irritated form when she saw the text on her phone was from Vince. She would have hurled it across the room if she had any money to get a new one but she dared to open the message first.
"The whole band needs to come together. We have something to discuss."
Ava's throat nearly closed up as she read the message over and over again. Her eyes nearly glazed over.
'It's a new mission…' She thought, clutching the bedsheet on the bed. 'I'm doomed… we're all doomed.'
*****
Kyla let out a big yawn, her hand stretching past Ava's head, who was sitting directly beside her on the bus.
"So you're saying Vince sent that message as early as four in the morning?" Kyla asked.
Ava nodded. "Yes. I saw it when I came out of the bathroom."
"Urgh!" Kyla groaned, scratching the back of her head. "It hasn't even been a week since our last mission, what now?!"
Ava could only smile as she looked out the window. "It's sudden." She said as fidgeted with her nails. "I wonder what it could be."
Overall, she had a bad feeling about this upcoming mission, but she couldn't tell Kyla that. It would start a topic she didn't want to talk about.
"Hey." Kyla called softly, prompting Ava's gaze on her. "You know you can't tell the rest of the team about what happened last night, right?"
Ava looked dumbfounded for a few minutes before she broke into a baffled smile. "Come on, Kyla, I'm not stupid."
Kyla chuckled and nodded. "I know you aren't." She agreed and Ava felt like she was talking about something more than that.
She let out a long sigh.
"You're still so young, you know." Kyla told her. "You can't be sighing like an old lady."
Ava pursed her lips. "I… Just have a lot on my mind."
Kyla let out a breath, meeting her gaze and clasping her hand softly. "Ava, you'll be fine."
'You really think so?' Ava wanted to ask but they had already arrived at their stop.
"Let's go meet Vince, shall we?" Kyla smirked as she jumped off the bus, Ava followed immediately after. "I have a bone to pick with him."
Ava could only let out a breathy laugh as she followed behind her.
Soon, they got to an apartment building that overlooked several small buildings by the side. It didn't seem like a place where rich people lived, but it was enough to be comfortable for the upper middle class.
Vince's living quarters was somewhere in there and even as they entered the elevator and walked through the long halls, it was more than familiar to them because they'd been here plenty of times before.
This was where all they're strategy meetings took place.
The moment they both got to the front of his room, Kyla didn't even bother knocking. She kicked open the door with so much force that it hit the wall on the other side.
"Hey!" Vince barked as he sprang up from the couch he was sitting on. "You're going to pay for that door if you break it! I'll make sure to squeeze out of you every little bit of money you're worth!"
"Shut up you shameless bastard!" Kyla spat back. "Even if your door costs a million dollars I'll pay it back but no amount of money would fix the damages you've caused."
"What?" Vince seemed confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh so you want to play it that way, huh?" Kyla started, visibly fuming. "How dare you try to take advantage of my Cookie again?"
"Kyla…" Ava called softly. "That's enough now, you know he won't stop trying."
"No, it's not enough!" Kyla barked. "This male bitch–"
Vince's face contorted in an ugly manner. "What… did you call me?"
Kyla smirked. "A bitch." She repeated. "What are you gonna do about it? Try to take advantage of me too, hmm? You scum."
"Why you–"
"Hey!" Another voice cut in. "Quit it, you two. This isn't what we're here for." It was a member of their group, Coyle. He sat leisurely on one of the seats in the living room, a leg over the other.
Walter merely stood beside him and watched everything in silence, arms crossed.
For a brief moment, Ava and Coyles' gazes met, but she turned away quickly. She didn't want to see whatever was in his eyes.
Vince's nostrils flared and his fists clenched and unclenched for a few seconds before he let out an exasperated sigh, deciding to back down.
He gave Ava a piercing look for a few lingering moments, she sharply turned her head away and a vein popped at his temple.
He let out a breath… this wasn't the time. He decided to carry on with the topic that brought them all here before raising any other argument.
"We have a new target." He stated flatly as he took several files from the coffee table and handed it to each of them.
Curious, Ava immediately flipped open the cover to see a very large picture of a very familiar face.
Her heart plummeted to her stomach.
It was Eitan Berger.