Hearing a beep, Elizaveta glanced at the screen on Felix's phone. It only showed a 95% charge, along with the app notification that prompted the alert. It was sitting on the side table with her phone, which was next in line for the charger. She then glanced back at the computer station, where her boyfriend was furiously typing away and staring at the screen.
"Any luck, sweetie?" she asked.
"No, not yet," Lovino replied, "Does Maddie really need 15 minutes to answer a damn phone call?"
"Her friend must be extra chatty today," Elizaveta guessed, before hearing the apartment door open. She leaned forward from her resting position on the couch, and watched as Feliciano entered the kitchen and went straight for the coffee pot.
"Buongiorno, Lovi, Liz," he greeted as he pulled out a mug and poured himself a drink, "How is everything today?"
"Disastrous," Lovino bluntly replied, "That fucking Russian screwed up."
"What are you talking about?" Feliciano asked, "What happened?"
"When Ivan shut down the cameras last night, he missed a few of them," Elizaveta elaborated, "They have clean shots of Ludwig and Madeline in front of the vault, and probably have some of us too. The police have already confronted Ludwig, he chose to go rogue and make a run for it."
"Dio mio, that is definitely a disaster," Feliciano gasped, "Where is he now?"
"We've sent Natalya to pick him up at the skytrain station," Lovino answered, "She'll take him straight to that safe house she's preparing. It would probably be a good idea for the rest of us to join them there."
"That doesn't surprise me at all, that heist felt too easy," Feliciano remarked as he walked over to look over his brother's shoulder at the computer screen, "What are you looking at there?"
"The remote access program, I'm hacking the bank," Lovino explained, "I'm trying to find whatever security camera recordings there are, and destroy them before the police can claim them as evidence."
"Idiota, you'll be the death of us!" Feliciano immediately scolded, as he reached over and unplugged the USB drive from the tower.
"What the fuck, Feli?" Lovino complained as the program closed itself out, "I was trying to clear us out of harm's way, you just ruined my work!"
"Not only was your work futile, but you might have screwed us over even further," Feliciano reprimanded, slamming the USB down onto the desk, "If they have screenshots of Ludwig and Madeline, then they'll have the rest of us too. The evidence has already been found, it's too late to change it. Also, Ivan never promised that this USB program was untraceable. For all we know, the police might have discovered the existence of this program being set up for remote access. If they have figured that out, they might already be trying to trace it to us!"
"Okay fine, we don't use it anymore," Lovino backed down, "You don't need to yell at us, it was Madeline's idea."
"Madeline?" Feliciano repeated, "What part of this was her idea?"
"After Natalya left, Maddie persuaded us to load the program," Elizaveta clarified, "She said we could easily track down the security camera recordings through our remote access. She should be back in here any minute, she had to answer her phone just as we got into the program."
"Madeline just left the building," Feliciano corrected, "She left the other suite with her stuff 5 minutes ago, saying that she needed to return to her own apartment and run some errands."
"She's gone?" Lovino gasped, "She promised us she'd return when her call was finished!"
"If that's the case, I might need to turn your day from bad to worse," Feliciano proclaimed as he pulled an item out of his pocket and held it out in his open palm for his brother to see, "We now have several reasons to believe that Madeline is a double agent."
Lovino looked at the item in Feliciano's palm, before an alarmed expression took over his face.
"That's impossible," Lovino denied, crawling off his chair to open the small safe below the computer desk, "They should both be locked up."
"Yes, they should be," Feliciano recognized, "This might be a third one."
Her curiosity piqued, Elizaveta rose from the couch to take a better look, before Feliciano moved his hand to show it to her as well.
"One of the vials?" Elizaveta checked as she took the item and hastily read the label, "The ones with the sleeping serum? Shouldn't this be in the safe with the other one?"
Just as she asked the question, Lovino swung the safe door open and reached in, so Elizaveta and Feliciano turned to watch. Lovino pulled something out, and looked at it in his hand. He then turned to the others and displayed two vials in his palm, with a terrified expression on his face.
"The two from last year were still in the safe," Lovino hesitantly confirmed, "Fratello, where did you find this third one?"
"On the floor in the spare bedroom," Feliciano reported, "The only way it would make sense is if Madeline got Ludwig to drink it."
"That's ridiculous," Elizaveta refused to believe, "Why on earth would she use that on him?"
"I have no idea, but the fact remains that this is the same serum that Antonio gave us last year," Feliciano argued, "Madeline ditched her SIM card as soon as the busts happened last year, and still hasn't said where she hid for those six months. She's been in contact with those bastards all this time, even having Antonio's phone number handy. She was the first to vote in favour of last night's heist, and she even proposed the accepted cash split. Now that Ivan has blown the cover and things are looking dire, she has run off again. All the signs point to her pulling the wool over our eyes. Madeline is working for them!"
Elizaveta froze in shock as she considered Feliciano's compelling arguments. Madeline had indeed hidden some truths from them over the year, but had she really taken it to this extent?
After a few moments of shocked silence, Lovino tilted his head skyward in apparent frustration and huffed.
"Elizaveta, send Natalya a text to get the address for the safe house," Lovino calmly ordered, "We'll tell Katya to close up shop as quickly as possible, we need to go into hiding immediately."
Just as Elizaveta went to grab her phone from the side table, an alarm sounded from the computer. Recognizing it as Katerina's special pager, she and Feliciano immediately came close to watch as Lovino went back to work on the computer. The screen quickly filled with the security cameras set up in the cafe downstairs, where three special guests were sitting at a table and waiting for Katerina to bring some coffee.
"You're kidding me," Lovino groaned, "The police commissioner and the Attorney General are here? Along with the JCI head of security?"
"Today of all days too," Feliciano added, "Liz, send Natalya the code blue."
Elizaveta quickly rushed to grab her phone from the side table, before returning to the desk to watch over Lovino's shoulder.
"Yao and I are ready for anything here," Feliks paged from the kitchen, "We're listening closely to whatever happens."
"You boys be ready for trouble," Lovino replied into his own microphone, "Katya, stay calm and act natural."
Elizaveta started up her messaging app just as the live feed showed Katerina reaching the table.
"Welcome to the Phoenix Cafe, gentlemen," Katerina greeted, with the sound picking up on the wire they had sewed into her apron, "Can I get you menus for food to go with the coffee?"
Elizaveta pulled up her messaging with Natalya, and quickly typed CODE BLUE before sending.
"Actually, we are here on business today," the commissioner declined, "You are Katerina Arlovskaya, are you not?"
"Yes I am, Commissioner," Katerina replied, "How can I be of assistance?"
"You can tell us what you can about these people," the JCI head of security demanded, opening a folder with papers for her to look at, "Specifically, the circumstances under which you last saw each of them."
As Katerina reached over to spread the papers across the table, Lovino had the camera zoom in. Once the view was close enough, they spotted the faces of Madeline, Toris, Antonio and Ivan displayed on the files.
"I'm not sure how many times you've now insisted on showing me their faces, but I still have no idea where to find these boys," Katerina answered, "Madeline's face is an interesting addition to the pile, I will admit."
"Perhaps you could call out your husband to speak to us then," the Attorney General proposed, "That way, we can also ask Yao about his involvement with last night's heist at the Bank of National Commerce."
"Holy fucking shit, they know about Yao," Lovino cursed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Katerina lied to the guests, "Yao and I spent last night watching a Lord of the Rings marathon in our apartment."
"We have security camera footage of your husband in the bank's vault, along with the rest of your employees," the Commissioner claimed, before turning to look at the JCI head of security, "Vash, where in the building is the USB drive?"
"It was unplugged three minutes ago, but it should still be upstairs," the head of security reported, "It's in the one-bedroom apartment on the second floor, in the corner of the living room area."
In unison with the twins, Elizaveta's alarmed gaze dropped to the USB on the desk, and realized that Feliciano's suspicions were true.
They had fallen into a trap.
"We all need to get out of here, immediately," Lovino announced in the microphone, before bolting from the computer chair.
Elizaveta finally snapped out of her shock as Lovino grabbed her wrist, and she immediately burst into action with the twins. Not bothering to stop for shoes or coats, the trio barreled through to the apartment's door, and rushed through the hallway. As they sped down the stairs, they could hear shouting in the kitchen, followed very quickly by gunshots.
Lovino was first to reach the bottom of the stairs, and halted at the wall-mounted key rack by the back door. Elizaveta stopped beside him, and peeked around the corner into the kitchen. Feliks was using the back counter as a barricade, choosing his moments to rise and shoot his gun. She couldn't see Yao, but could tell that the officers were aiming towards the left at the front of the kitchen.
Feliks rose to take his shot, and Elizaveta could only watch as his choice had been the wrong one. At first, he simply appeared to freeze in his movement, and his posture relaxed. As his body fell backwards towards the ground, Elizaveta saw the bullet wound in his forehead and the blank stare in his eyes. Before she could see Feliks hit the ground, someone had grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the scene she was witnessing.
Elizaveta turned to look in the direction she was being pulled, and saw that Feliciano was guiding her out the building's back door. She watched her feet as she went down the steps to the pavement, only to nearly bump into Lovino when she reached the bottom. Elizaveta finally looked up to see that the police had created their own barricade, blocking off every exit. After shifting side to side in alarm, her gaze finally focused directly in front of the trio, where Sergeant Gilbert Bielschmidt stood waiting for them with his gun ready to fire.
"You three are surrounded, there is no way out of this," the albino officer called out, "Put your hands to your heads and surrender."
Elizaveta froze in her place, unable to decide how to react. Feliciano was the first of their trio to move, and put his hands to his head.
"He's right, you guys, we won't escape this time," Feliciano urged, "Just go along with it."
Elizaveta gave in and gently raised her heads to her head, and watched as Lovino did the same in front of her.
"Fuck it," Lovino cursed, "We surrender, Gilbert."
"Smart move, you guys," Gilbert allowed, lowering his gun and pulling out a pair of handcuffs, "Bella, Raivis, help me arrest them."
Elizaveta took deep breaths to calm herself down as Gilbert approached with two other officers. The albino motioned for the female officer to take Elizaveta, and for the younger male officer to take Feliciano, before talking to Lovino.
"Bring your hands down in front of you, please," the female officer requested.
Elizaveta complied, and allowed the officer to put the handcuffs around her wrists. She began to lead Elizaveta away, only for Gilbert to reach out and halt them.
"I do have one immediate question for the three of you," Gilbert inquired, "I ask this not just as a police officer, but also as a concerned elder brother. Where is Ludwig?"
"We sent Natalya Braginskaya to pick him up," Feliciano revealed, "She will keep your brother safe."
"Braginskaya?" Gilbert verified, "How do you know that name?"
"Natalya explained everything to me last night," Feliciano elaborated, "I can tell you what I know about Mathilda's case, and anything that possibly connects us to it. In exchange for my cooperation, I want you to lessen the charges against my family and friends."
"It sounds like you and I are going to have a long talk then," Gilbert accepted, "Come on, let's get the three of you to the station."
As the female officer pulled her away, Elizaveta gave Feliciano a concerned look, to which he replied with a reassuring nod. He clearly knew something about what was going on, and apparently so did Natalya. Elizaveta's mind swarmed with questions as the female officer guided her into the back of the police car.
Was Natalya's real last name Braginskaya instead of Arlovskaya? If it was Natalya's real last name, then was it Katya's as well? Why would they change it?
Who's Mathilda?