Special thanks to: Kendelle, music4evah, LucianWriter77, jenn-is-me, EveryOtherUserNameTaken, psychoticbookgirl, screamattheskyx3, and Klbooks for reviewing my last chapter.
The lovely Music4evah for adding my story to her community.
The talented LucianWriter77 for being a fabulous Beta Reader again.
Chapter 3 – The Holt Hustle
~ There are some people who have the ability to serve as friends
and some who will stop at nothing to bring you down.
Be able to tell the difference,
or you will come to your own foolish demises. ~
-Isabel Kabra in "Preface"
Eisenhower Holt cornered Ian and Natalie until their backs were up against the building's rear wall. He sneered wickedly, and Ian did his best to put on an emotionless face. He was tense, but he knew that if he were afraid, it could be deadly to show it. The Holts only thrived off of their enemy's fear.
"Give us the information we need, and nobody gets hurt… depending on how fast you talk," Eisenhower added, his eyebrows moving up and down. Mary Todd, Reagan, and Madison blocked off all their other possible exits, and Hamilton quietly closed the door to the music shop. Ian saw Natalie clutch her coat closer to her chest, so the lump of the journal could not be seen. He swallowed before speaking.
"Mr. Holt," he said in a hard voice while trying his best to maintain a polite tone. He was also trying his best to bluff to the best of his ability. "It is distasteful to threaten us. My sister and I would be more obliged to tell you what we have found if you state your request –"
"We didn't come here to listen to fancy talk, Kabra," Eisenhower spat, pushing Ian's shoulder against the brick wall. Ian wrinkled his nose at the thought of Eisenhower's dirty hand on his clean white suit… and the use of his last name. It was one of his greatest pet peeves. He simply ignored the pain in his shoulder from Eisenhower's fingers tightening around his shoulder blade. The Holts were growing impatient. All Ian and Natalie needed was any small movement of the Holt family. All they needed was for one of them to just take one step closer, and they could make a move. Soon, it was given to them.
Mary Todd took a step closer to Natalie to secure her, but Natalie was fast. She pulled her dart gun out of her jacket pocket, and swiftly jumped out of Mary Todd's reach. Natalie held it up at Mary Todd's chest. Mary Todd quickly put her hands up in surprise.
"Freeze," Natalie said coolly, pointing the gun from Holt to Holt. Madison and Reagan seemed to cringe slightly when the muzzle was pointed in their direction, but Hamilton's face remained set in stone. He was not afraid which made Ian the slightest bit anxious. He silently prayed that Eisenhower wouldn't feel his nerves tightening.
"Don't try anything funny," Mary Todd told her sweetly, soon regaining her composure. She put her hands down. "We can do this the easy way… or the hard way." The Holt family all cracked their oversized muscles and growled through their clenched teeth.
"Whatever happened to stalking the Cahills?" Natalie asked Eisenhower, distracting him for a moment. Eisenhower released his grip on Ian and took a step toward Natalie. Ian instantly grabbed his shoulder, knowing there would be a huge bruise there soon. He looked back up at Natalie who was still bravely holding her dart gun at Eisenhower. He towered over her and looked at least three times her size. Ian thought fast and grabbed his black phone out of the back pocket of his suit.
"We lost them a while back," Eisenhower was saying. "You were the nearest… and easiest target. Now hand over the information before I get mad –"
"Security," Ian spoke quietly into the phone. "We are behind the old music store in the boardwalk, hurry!" While Natalie had been too busy looking at cheap shoes, he had made sure two of their body guards stayed behind, just in case they ran into trouble. She hadn't even noticed, and Ian was thankful that he had thought ahead.
Unfortunately, he had not spoken quietly enough. Eisenhower's eyes flashed in astonishment, but he didn't move. Instead, Hamilton charged Ian head on, but Natalie ran and jumped on top of him. Hamilton didn't even seem to notice; she was like someone jumping on top of a charging elephant. Ian had no idea what had come over her. It would have been easier to just shoot the dart gun. Quickly, he slammed his phone shut just as Hamilton punched him hard in the stomach. The phone went flying. Reagan and Madison grabbed Natalie who began shooting her dart gun furiously in every direction.
"Aah!" Madison yelled. Ian assumed Natalie's dart gun had made a hit. He was struggling to stand. In a swift moment he dodged another blow from Hamilton as Mary Todd ran after Natalie. Snapping out of his daze, Eisenhower turned his fury on Ian.
Before things could get too messy, the Kabras' body guards showed up promptly, as usual, and went for the Holt parents. Hamilton - furious at this point - was constantly at Ian's throat, trying with all his might to throw a punch in. Ian was just running, dodging, and shoving when necessary, but every now and then, Hamilton would get lucky and slow him down.
"You're going down, Kabra!" Hamilton yelled, loud enough for his father to hear.
"Get him, Hammer! Show him what you got!" Mary Todd's voice returned. If the situation wasn't so treacherous, he might have laughed at Hamilton's ridiculous nickname. His body guard came to the rescue. The tall and muscular man became engaged in a full-on fist fight with Hamilton. Ian gripped the top of his legs and leaned his weight onto his shins, gasping.
Quickly, he caught his breath. He hadn't realized how truly tired he was until Hamilton had been taken off his back. He grunted, feeling stiff all over. His fancy white suit was covered in a light layer of brown dust, and his hair was very tousled and didn't look the least bit tidy. He groaned and gritted his teeth to try and numb himself against the pain. Kabras never lose. Kabras never lose. Repeating the words over and over in his mind, for some reason, gave him a small boost of confidence.
"Aah!" he heard someone scream. Ian immediately recognized Natalie's high-pitched voice.
Natalie! He had completely forgotten about her! He had been so worried about his own safety and physical condition that he hadn't even remembered that Natalie had been with him.
"Natalie!" he tried to yell, but it came out more as a pathetic croak. Ian hobbled over towards the fight, feeling extremely exhausted and weak. Hamilton's blows were bound to leave a few bruises… covering his arms, legs, and maybe even giving him a black eye. He began to worry if the Holts had found the journal.
Suddenly, someone jumped down from the top of the building in front of him. Ian staggered backwards and fell at the sudden movement. Another person leaped from the roof, joining the first. They were both wearing thin black jeans and grey hoodies.
"What the –" Ian began, but he was so startled that he couldn't speak for a moment. In response to his voice, the pair quickly turned around to face him. Their slick appearance was enough to stop anyone in their tracks… except maybe his parents. His parents were never distracted by anything.
It was simply a girl and a boy. They were both wearing dark, tinted sunglasses and were fifteen years old at the least. The boy was tall and lean. He had a solid face and the body of a soccer player. He had windswept bleach blonde hair that was surfer styled. Unlike Ian, his hair looked purposely tousled. The girl had matching bottle blonde hair, but she had blazing red highlights that made her hair appear to be sun-kissed. It was smartly cut just below her shoulders. She was also lean and slender with a hard gaze.
"Do not talk," she said simply, her voice slightly high-pitched, but full of authority. She had a Russian accent, though it was not as heavy as Irina Spasky's. Ian quickly snapped out of his mystery. How dare a peasant order him.
"Excuse me, do you know who I am?" he asked, beginning to stand up. "How dare you speak to me that way–"
"Of course we know who you are," the male said in a slight Russian accent, and Ian could swear he saw him roll his eyes behind the dark sunglasses. The girl scowled at her partner, and then they both looked disapprovingly down at Ian. Instantly, he felt embarrassed of his rugged appearance. The boy smirked at Ian's facial expression.
"Lucian scum," the girl spat. Ian began to stand. He was not about to take that offensive blow sitting down. Before he could fully stand, the boy pulled out what looked like a large black golf ball. He threw it to the ground, and smoke billowed out in every direction. A smoke bomb, Ian realized. He coughed loudly and wheezed as he fell back on the ground. Ian squeezed his eyes shut, then snapped them back open. Loose, light grey smoke surrounded him in the open space. Hearing all the Holts scream, Ian whipped around to where the boy and girl were standing.
"Hey, who do you think you…" Ian began angrily.
His voice trailed off as he took a double take, and then spun around trying to find them.
"…are." He completed his thought. "Natalie!" he yelled instinctively. "Natalie!" he tried again, but his voice was lost in the midst of the Holts' military-loud yells.
"Don't let them get away!" he heard Eisenhower yell at the top of his lungs. "Just throw a punch at whoever –"
Thump! Ian winced at the loud blow and prayed it wasn't Natalie who had been hit.
"Ow! Hamilton!" he heard one of the twins yell in response. He sighed with relief. "Now I am going to have a black eye! Thanks a lot!"
"Sorry, Madison!" came an equally loud reply.
"I'M REAGAN!" the high-pitched voice screamed.
"Ian!" he heard Natalie yell suddenly.
"Nat –" he began. Suddenly, he felt someone grab the back of his collar and start to drag him from behind. Yelling defensively the whole way through, he kicked and desperately tried to free himself.
"Get your dirty hands off me!" He could only imagine what Eisenhower would do to him if he got him all the way out of the smoke. The gravel against Ian's backside tore at his suit and his legs were kicking against Eisenhower's shins in a frantic attempt to stop him.
"Why are you so heavy?" he heard a female voice complained in a slight Russian accent. Ian stopped kicking and yelling, knowing the voice did not belong to any of the Holts… or his body guards for that matter.
Forcefully, he was thrown out of the smoke into the clear air. He gasped and inhaled deeply. After he caught he breath, he spun around, but no one was there. Suddenly, he heard Natalie scream. Ian quickly whipped around to see her being thrown out of the dust cloud as well. He tried to scramble out of her way, but he was too slow. She thudded on top of him.
"Oof!" Ian let out a moan as Natalie head slammed into his stomach exactly where Hamilton had punched him earlier. He grabbed at his stomach as a surge of pain spread throughout his entire body.
"Man up," Natalie complained, obviously worn out from running away from the Holts. In response, Ian pushed her off of him and clutched his stomach. He wasn't sure if he was bleeding or if it was just a massive bruise, but either way, he sure didn't want to stick around to gain another. Ian also did not want to look at his reflection; it was horrid, he was sure of it. Natalie for one didn't look like her usual graceful self. Her ponytail had come undone and her hair was like a rat's nest, even worse than in Korea. Ian held back a laugh, seeing his sister's rough appearance.
"Is the journal safe?" he whispered to her quickly. Natalie patted her jacket and nodded.
"Ian, call the chauffer. Let's get out of here," she moaned, in a tone that sounded a lot like a toddler who had just fallen and scraped their knee.
"Did you not see the phone fly out of my hand when Hamilton punched me?" Ian snapped. Natalie's dark eyes flashed.
"Ian!" she whined. "That is our only way out of this! Without it, we have no way of getting back to the hotel! Get down on your hands and knees and find it!" Ian was insulted by her command. He had been ordered around too many times today, and he was not about to take orders from his younger sister, no matter how vital the request.
"I am not a peasant! You do it," he snapped in response. For a while, they were too busy arguing with each other to notice the fog clearing behind them. "You know perfectly well that…" he stopped mid-sentence. "Natalie," Ian said quietly. His eyes grew wide as he looked at the area where the Holts were once wrestling their body guards.
"What?" Natalie snapped bitterly, her back to the thinning fog. Ian watched as she followed his gaze to the lot behind her. Slowly, she uncrossed her arms and her jaw dropped. Ian couldn't gather words to explain his shock. He was expecting to view the Holts all strangling each other, his bodyguards wrestling them, and hopefully, his phone lying somewhere away from the ruckus. He saw not one of those events. Everything was silent before him. There was no sign of a struggle or even a sign of existence.
Everyone was gone.
Again, special thanks to LW77 for everything you've done to help this story.
Next Chapter: Deception
