CHAPTER TWO


After a long flight, Alex and Asher arrived in Budapest. Alex drove them from the airport immediately to Vadzel. As Alex had expected, Asher's reaction to the place mirrored the look of awe that she had previously, when she had first set foot at the castle-like manor. After a tour of Vadzel, Asher now seemed more keen on working with Alex and Aretha. Alex told him to wait at the foyer while she went and find Aretha. She took a little detour to her son's room to make sure that he is alright. He was sleeping quite soundly, with a bit of an angelic smile on his face as if he was dreaming of something nice. So she just gave him a little kiss and left his nursery. She then made her way to Aretha's office.

She saw that Aretha was busy having a conversation with someone inside the office. A casually dressed black gentleman, fit, muscular, and very tall. Close to the same, if not the same age, as Aretha's. Might be a client. she thought. So she peeked through the glass window and silently mouthed words to Aretha, "Meet us at the foyer when you're done!", and then proceeded to leave to join Asher in the foyer. But Aretha called her back and told her to come in.

Alex joined them inside the office. She was curious as to who the man was. Aretha spoke first.

"Alexandra Hunter, may I introduce you to Mr. Ezekiel Kosa. Ezekiel Kosa, this is Alexandra Hunter, my associate." She turned her gaze to Alex and added, "Alex, after taking your advice into consideration, I've decided that you were right. We do need help. So, I've hired Mr. Kosa to be our 'Head of Security'."

Alex gave Aretha a disbelieving look. Yet another unexpected surprise from her English friend.

Kosa held out his hand to shake Alex's, and with a Western African accent, said "Pleased to meet you, Miss Hunter."

Alex met his eyes and replied, "The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Kosa. Would you excuse us, please? I need to speak with Miss Deveraux, in private." Without waiting for an answer, she then pulled Aretha outside of the office and closed the door behind them.

Alex was obviously caught off guard by all this. She knew that since Aretha owns the manor, she's entitled to hire anyone she wanted to. Still, Alex felt that she should have at least been asked for her opinion on the matter.

"You just hired him? Just like that? What happened to not letting in strangers inside the manor? I'm assuming that you know this man? That you trust him with your life? With all our lives?" she asked, half whispering, half shouting.

Aretha did her best to calm her. "Alex, I apologize that I had done this without consulting you. But in all fairness, you were the one who said that we should hire people who specializes in the other aspects of the job. Yes, I do trust Ezekiel, with all of our lives, not just mine. He had more than proven his loyalty to me in the past on more than one occasion."

Alex took a deep breath to calm herself. "He saved your life, huh?" she asked.

Aretha nodded. "Yes, more than once. And I've saved his life more than once. We've learned to trust each other. And I know that you don't give away your trust as if it were candy, but I'm hoping that in time, you will learn how to trust him as well. The same way you've learned how to trust me and I've learned how to trust you."

There was a brief silence between them. Finally, Alex spoke. "Alright, Aretha. I'll give him a chance, but only because I trust your judgement !"

Aretha smiled at her and they both went back inside the office.

Ezekiel stood up from his chair. "Is everything alright?" he asked.

Aretha nodded. "Yes, everything is fine." she replied.

Alex spoke, "If you don't mind, Mr. Kosa, would you tell me something about yourself?" she asked.

"Please, call me Zeke. And no, I don't mind at all." Zeke replied.

"What is it exactly that you do, Zeke?" Alex asked him.

Zeke looked her straight in the eyes, with a serious facial expression, and said, "Well, Miss Hunter, I used to be a soldier in my previous line of work. As of late, I mostly do 'private contracts' as a 'retrieval specialist'. I retrieve certain objects for other people in any manner necessary. I suppose that the word to best describe me is a 'mercenary'. But I assure you that I am in no way near as evil as that word implies. As for my skills, I am fluent in four different languages, I have a high level of expertise on various forms of martial arts and I specialize in weapons and munitions."

Alex halted him. "Pardon the interruption, Zeke, but did you just say weapons and munitions? As in guns?" She looked at Aretha and then back to Zeke "I am NOT a big fan of guns!" she said.

"Neither am I, Miss Hunter, I assure you. But just because you don't like guns, does not mean that it should stop you from learning how to use it. It just might save your life one day." Zeke replied.

Alex looked at him with annoyance. "Well, what Aretha seemed to have failed to mention to you is that we have an infant living here in this manor. My son, Nicholas, who happens to be less than a year old. So excuse me all to hell if I don't share your confidence about having guns anywhere near the premises!"

It was Aretha's turn to speak. "I've thought about that, Alex. It just so happens that there is this huge empty space at the lower level of the East Tower. I will have it remodeled as the new base of our operations. That way, it will be very far away from our residence." she assured Alex.

"You just have all the answers, don't you?" Alex said. With a resigned tone, she added "Alright, fine! You win!" Alex looked at the both of them and said, "I suppose the only thing left to do is for you guys to meet our new 'tech support' specialist."

She walked towards the door but Aretha stopped her. "You mean your friend, Asher? I haven't hired him just yet." she told Alex.

" 'I' hired him!" Alex said with conviction. Aretha stared her in the eyes, but Alex held her gaze and told her, "You're just going to have to TRUST me on this one!" With that, she turned around and walked away. Without looking back, she said "You two, follow me to the foyer. Oh, and Zeke, you may call me Alex. The whole Miss Hunter bit is getting old!"


The three of them went to meet Asher back in the foyer. Asher was looking quite a bit nervous when she saw Aretha and Zeke. Alex broke the ice.

"Asher Henrie, as you may well know, this is Margaretha Deveraux. Isn't it nice to finally put a face to the dosier?" She ignored the looks that both Aretha and Asher had given her and continued. "And this is Ezekiel Kosa, our 'head of security'. Margaretha Deveraux, Ezekiel Kosa, meet Asher Henrie. As of today, he will be our very own one-man Geek Squad."

Asher gave her yet another irritated look. Suddenly, he realized, "Wait a second! You mean I'm hired?" he said excitedly.

Aretha replied "Alex here was very insistent upon it. She said that you will be a valuable addition to the team. Welcome to our crew, Asher Henrie!" Aretha held out his hand to shake Asher's.

"Thank you! You won't regret this!" Asher replied. Zeke shook his hands as well.

Alex spoke. "Alright, I will leave you all to discuss the 'financial' aspects of your jobs. I, on the other hand, am off to spend some quality time with my son. And then I'm off to get some well deserved beauty rest. Ciao for now!" she said as she headed up the stairs. She heard Asher's voice calling to her.

"Hold on, Alex! You have a son? Alex? Alex!" he shouted.

"We'll talk later Ash!" she chuckled as she continued her way upstairs.


True to her word, Aretha turned the lower level of the East Tower as their headquarters. Alex was surprised to know that it used to be a dungeon. But then again, they lived in a castle. Asher was very excited when Aretha gave him free reign over acquiring all the gadgets that their lair would require. He felt like he had built them their own personal Bat Cave. Zeke did have a separate shock proof as well as sound proof section, where he keeps all the guns and other weapons locked for safe keeping. They also have a conference room, a gym/training room, a dressing room where they keep all the props and disguises, a laboratory, and a tech center that Asher liked to call the 'Magic Shop'. Only the four of them have access to the 'cave'. Aretha meets with clients at her office. Jakob and Edina use the intercom to call them if they needed anything. No one else but their crew sets foot inside their headquarters.

In between jobs, they used their time to teach each other some of their skills, if only as a way to get to know each other better. Aretha taught Asher a few basic skills in picking locks and lifting pockets. Asher in turn taught Zeke to be more tech savvy and computer friendly. Zeke in turn taught Alex various ways on how to defend herself.

At first, Alex was very hesitant to accept Zeke's offer. She's never known herself to be a violent person. Zeke then made her realize the it was not about violence, but about being able to defend herself if the situation called for it. So, Zeke trained her in capoeira to build up her agility and krav maga as an effective form of self defense. She also learned how to use kali fighting sticks just in case she needs to defend herself from more than one person. She found all her training quite useful in her line of work.

After that, Zeke told her it was time for her to learn how to use a gun as a weapon. She said she wasn't interested but Zeke was very persistent. He told her that if and when the time comes that her cunning talents and her martial arts training had failed her, the only thing that can save her is a gun and she needs to learn how to properly use it. As Zeke prepared to train Alex at the gun range, Alex took the 9X19 mm Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol, cocked the gun, then aimed and emptied a round. Alex had hit all of her targets with great precision. She then turned to Zeke who was shocked at what he saw. As it turned out, when it came to guns, Alexandra Hunter was already a marksman.

She winked at him and said, "Just because I don't like guns, doesn't mean I don't know how to use 'em!" She had failed to mention to any of her crew members that anything and everything she needed to learn about guns, she already learned from Neal Caffrey.


Since it was mostly the two of them who worked together in the field, Alex and Zeke had to learn to trust one another. They needed to, as their lives oftentimes depend on each other's hands. Alex told Zeke about her old life back in New York, about her family and friends, especially about the father of her son. Zeke, in return, told her about his life back in West Africa. How he used to be a soldier for the West African military in Sierra Leone, along side his older brother who was the General. Zeke told Alex about how he thought that he was fighting for the rights of the people, only to find out that he had been used as a murderer of the same people he was trying to protect, by the corrupt government he swore allegiance to. He told Alex how he found out that his own brother had betrayed him and when he tried to get away, his brother's men killed Zeke's wife and his new born daughter.

Zeke told Alex about how he had killed his own brother in a fit of rage after he'd learned about the death of his family. He told her about how he had to leave West Africa because of the bounty that was put on his head for the assassination of a high ranking government official and how he could never come back to the place he was born. He could never go back to the place where his beloved wife and daughter were buried and couldn't even lay flowers on their graves. After Zeke was done telling his story, they both had to wipe the tears away from their eyes. Alex admired Zeke's resilience. Most people, herself included, would most probably just curl up in a corner and wait for death if something as devastating as that had happened to them.

I don't think I could go through living the rest of my life if anything bad happens to my Nicholas! She shuddered at the thought. But instead, the tragedies from his past has made Zeke harder and stronger in the present. And because of that, he had gained Alex's trust, admiration and most of all, her respect.


As time went by, and they did more and more jobs as a team, Alex realized that they all worked quite well together, like well-oiled machinery. Aretha, as their 'chief strategist' and 'lead negotiator', would be the one to pick and choose which job to take. She is the one who makes all the plans and decide which tactics to use. Asher is the one-man geek squad in charge to gather up all the information that they need, as well as any legend they would require for a con. He also provided them any gadget they needed for the jobs.

As for the field work, Alex and Zeke were mostly teamed up together in the front lines. Zeke, their head of security, who aside from being their weapons and munitions specialist, also did most of the retrieval jobs. And of course, he had the very difficult task of watching ALL their backs. Alex, with her skills as a con artist, did most of the high end grifting. She was also their liaison to the black market as well as the 'streets'. With all their skills combined, the success rate of their cases skyrocketed. A fact that Alex liked a lot, since it not only gives her a job to provide for her son, but also frees her to have an ample amount of time to spend with Nicholas.

From time to time, Asher would insist that they should have a name for their team.

"All great crews have catchy names!", he reiterated. Then he would suggest the cheesiest, most ridiculous names and the rest of them would just shoot down his ideas.

Alex looked at the crew that they have managed to put together. Their leader, Aretha, the 'procurement specialist' who could do anything and everything. The young nerd, Asher, who could get you what you need without leaving his tech center. Their muscle, Zeke, who was an expert on 'retrieving' objects, with or without the use of brute force. And of course, HER, the cunning con artist and black market fence who uses her feminine wiles to get anything she needs. Together, they can steal your money, your identity, your confidence, and everything in between, without you noticing it until it's too late. It doesn't really matter however which term you put it or whatever name you call them. The rest of the civilized world would only view them as one thing. They are 'THIEVES'.


~FINI~


Footnotes:

* Ezekiel Kosa is a character which personifies an even balance of kindness and darkness inside him. In my head, his physical looks are a mix of Djimon Hunsou (Amistad), Idris Elba (Luther) and Boris Kodjoe (Undercovers). He is haunted by powerful memories from a painful past that he had left behind in Sierra Leone, yet still find strength to go on with the present. Hope to explore more of his story later on.

* Aretha's character, since I've introduced her, is the jack-of-all-trades of the group. That's why I made her as the mastermind of the operations, so to speak. She knows everything, can do anything, and has powerful connections.

* Legends are the fake identities they create for a con job that has all the paper works, id's, background stories and other documents required to make a grifter seem legit.

* Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian form of martial arts, disguised with fluid acrobatics, dance-like movements and used to build up one's agility, strength and endurance.

* Krav Maga is an ecclectic form of martial arts training that the Israeli Defense/Special Forces Unit uses for hand to hand combat technique.

* Kali is a fighting technique using sticks for attacks as well as defense.

***Again, many thanks for taking time to read this story. Hope to write more, for both your enjoyment, as well as my own.***