They had been driving for hours, the city had already sunk into darkness and the streetlights had come on. They, however, did not have any problem with the job which paid more than the regular extortion. The sedan was comfy and the whole ordeal had been a painless venture so far. It was going to be night soon and, in an hour, they had to return to the city. So far, they had been stopped three times and managed to go through without a hiccup. It was only a matter of time before the police stopped looking for this vehicle. It was still baffling how quickly they caught on to the sedan, going so far as to get hold of the vehicle number. They had plenty of moles in the department but none of them managed to catch hold of this information in time. Had they did, all this detour would have not been necessary.

“What is the time?” asked man in the backseat. His appearance had a likeness for Chandra. His hair had a mix of black and grey, which along with his wrinkled and sagging face showed how old he was. The finer details were very different, but the overall image was just close enough for the police pull over the car repeatedly, thinking they had caught their man.

“Check your own damn time! You are only pretending to be him, and I am only pretending to be a driver!” the driver shouted. He too was just about as old as the man he was chauffeuring, but unfortunately his facial features didn’t match that of Chandra, whom they were covering for today.

“Relax bro, this is just acting, and I am playing a part. So, I suggest you play the part too,” Chandra lookalike said.

“You crossed that line hours ago. I suggest you shut your mouth and sit. It will be over in another hour.”

“Damn right you are. Easiest money we have ever made!” he exclaimed, he had a big smile on his face and the driver could see it clearly from through the rear-view mirror. Though he was annoyed to his limit, he couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Interesting…” an unfamiliar voice spoke, “would you be kind to tell me how much?”

Neither of the men recognized the voice nor did they notice the other passenger sitting beside the decoy. He looked to his left to see a person, covered in black suit, calmly seated next to him. Their face was covered in a black cloth, hiding their eyes but showing of the big smile they had on their face. The driver couldn’t see anything through the rear-view mirror, so he was forced to turn back and see the mysterious figure hiding in the darkness of the car.

The two men nearly jumped on noticing the stranger so much so, the driver let go of the steering wheel, driving into the other lane and into the oncoming traffic. He recovered quickly and pulled the car back into the correct lane, just in time to not disrupt any traffic.

“Who the hell are you?” the decoy asked.

“Strange, I had the same question. Moreover, you look very much like some who stole a lot of people’s livelihoods,” she asked.

“Nara, stop the car!” he commanded the driver.

“Go ahead. Easier for me trash you silly. Only reason I am not, is because one of you is driving and his heart rate is not healthy,” she replied

The two of them froze in fear. They were not sure who this person was or how they managed to get into this car. The driver, Nara, remained silent and continued to drive.

“Good. Now then, I have one simple question. Where is he?” she asked.

“We don’t… know,” the decoy answered.

The smile that the stranger proudly wore disappeared, replaced with a deeply dissatisfied frown. “Really expect me to believe it?”

“No, really. We are just to drive around and have to return the car after a while,” the decoy replied.

“To whom?”

“Don’t know. We just know the place where we have to drop the car.”

This put a big smile on her face, ”well now that is all you had to say.”

***

The building sat in a quiet corner on the city outskirts. It was surrounded by low-income slums and warehouse. It in and self was a warehouse, whose many floors had been converted into living space for Irumani’s many ‘guests’. The night was slowly approaching eight. Men around the building had tensed up as they waited for a blue sedan to appear in the vicinity. All of them had dressed up, pretending to be workers of the warehouse, yet each of them was armed. They had been strictly instructed not to make any kind of commotion, not even if police arrived to raid the building which was very unlikely as they had already had a unit search or pretend to search through the building.

One of the men on the terrace of the building spotted the sedan appear onto the street adjacent to the building. He quickly slipped down and alerted the others, who prepared for the worst. The car took a right and entered the alley that lead to the entry of warehouse. The driver and decoy watched the men observing their every move as they entered the building. Gates closed behind them as they came to a stop. A man, dressed in bright red t shirt and torn jeans approached them before peeping into the back seat. He saw the decoy sitting in the backseat as expected, but he had a tensed face. The goon quickly understood something was wrong, but then the decoy quickly shuffled his eyes in the direction of the boot space. The goon casually walked over to the back, pulling out a pistol from underneath his shirt. He pointed it at the cover of the boot and short a fire right at the centre of the lip. A loud gunfire rang through the silent night, alerting everyone in the warehouse. The driver quickly unlocked the door to the boot. The goon lifted open the lip only to find the boot empty.

The goon walked back to the window when the decoy asked, “did you get him?”

“There is no one there,” he replied.

The decoy felt a shiver travel up his spine as his heart jumped to his throat. ‘Where did he go?’ he asked himself.

***

‘Never trust a con man,’ Monica told herself. She stood in the shadow of the slum that sat across the street from the warehouse.

She had gotten out of the car even before they entered the vicinity. Unlocking from the inside would have taken some talent but not for Monica, the great lock picker. From there it was a cake walk. The two men were too tensed, and age had waned their ability to hear. Once she had gotten rid of the car, she hoped onto the nearest rooftop. The slums, that are usually lit and buzzing with people laid silent and drenched in darkness today. It felt like it was nearing midnight when in reality it was only eight. Nevertheless, this proved to be a benefit for Monica who simply walked through the tight alleyways until she reached the warehouse.

She watched the goon in a red shirt drive a bullet into the boot. Soon the place erupted in chaos as all the men surrounding the building began to scatter. This would have been a lot easier had the decoy did as she asked and stayed silent. Now, she had to take out all of them. She readied herself to make another leap. The street surrounding the warehouse was well lit, making sure no one can sneak in, so Monica decided to use speed. In one big push, she leapt across the street and onto a plate-form that stood in front of the building. On the plate-form was a goon, well-built and with a mean look, he noticed a black figure leaping into the air but by the time he could react, he felt fist slam into his gut. Pain erupted from his belly and shoot through his entire body. He let out a dull gasp and fell to floor unconscious.

“Bro? Where did she go?” the driver asked. The two were still in the car for about ten minutes, while the goons had scattered to look for the infiltrator.

“I have no idea,” replied the decoy.

“I am right here,” a familiar voice answered.

Their hearts jumped to their throats as they saw the stranger seated in the exact spot they first meet her in. The driver immediately looked around to find the place empty and unusually quiet.

“I have a hundred and one curses I would like to use on you, but I am a gentleman, and you are old. So here is what you will do. You will walk out of the car on your own and fall on to the floor and pretend to be unconscious like every other goon in this building,” she instructed.

It was at this moment they realized; they weren’t dealing with just an assassin but a force of nature. They did as they were told, quietly exiting the car and walking a few feet away where they noticed the red shirt goon lying in the darkness. They quickly got down and one fell on his back, while the other fell his belly. The ground was covered in moist sand. The two men were sightly happy they didn’t have to sleep on wet mud and now prayed it wouldn’t rain.

She exited the car and walked into the warehouse. Navigating through the maze of stacked containers, she found her way to the stairs that lead to the first floor. She felt the presence of seven souls, all of whom were on the first floor, guarding a hidden door. They were armed to the teeth and were prepared to massacre anyone they didn’t know. She took a deep breath and sprinted up the stairs.

The first floor was a wide-open space with beds covering most of the area, that was lit in a dull orange by a tungsten bulb. Three goons sat on the beds, playing a round of poker, one was half asleep on his bed, two others were busy gobbling up packed rice for their dinner, while the last one wasted his time away on his smartphone. All of them had at least one weapon at an arm’s reach, ready to fire anytime an intruder appeared.

However, when an intruder did appear they didn’t notice right away. Each seemed to be lost in their own work as Monica sprinted into the lair and came to a sudden halt right in middle of the room. The first to notice were the two who were in middle of their dinner. They quietly starred at her with food still in their hand, halfway from their mouth.

“Hi,” Monica greeted them with a big smile.

The two of them got on their feet, tossing the food away and reaching for their guns. But before their hands could reach them, Monica stopped them, grasping both their arms. She spun around, dragging both of them in a circle before letting the go. They came crashing down, one fell in between bed while the other slammed onto the ground with a loud thud. The three men who were busy with poke and the other who was busy looking at women on his phone finally looked away to see what the commotion was about, only to find two of their men on the ground and a stranger amongst them.

Monica quickly spun in the direction of the goon who was still sleep. She lifted her right leg before bringing down onto the goon, driving him into the bed and the ground below. He never even had a chance to defend himself.

The other four were left stunned, most frozen in fear on seeing a black hooded figure take out three of them in a span of few seconds. Reality set in fast as they watched her leap towards them. Two of them jumped away, while Monica grabbed onto the other and drove him into the bed. This one did not go down so easily, he instead reached out for his gun, grabbing it in time and brought toward her. Monica noticed this. She pulled him back up and lifted him into the air before tossing him in the direction of goon with the smartphone. The two crashed into the ground along with the chair the other was sitting on.

The last two had their hands on their guns which were aimed at her. Without a moment’s hesitation, they pull the trigger, sending two bullets her way. Monica, however, could see them coming. With enough time to react, she ducked underneath them and charged towards them. On seeing her charging for them, they began to unload the entire clip, but none of hit her as she had already covered the distance between them. She shot past in the space between them, with her hands stretched out. Each arm slammed into each of the goons’ stomach, lifting them into the air momentarily before being slammed into the ground below.

In less than thirty seconds, all the seven goons were on the ground unable to move. ‘That was easy,’ Monica thought as she walked towards the wall, away from the beds. It was painted sky blue with no visible markings on it. Yet, on the top, in the place where the wall met the roof, nine feet of the ground, was a small hook. Monica had to float into the air to reach but when she held onto the hook and dragged in, the blue paint began to peel off like wallpaper, revealing a hidden door.

She placed her hand on the door and felt the presence inside. As expected, the door was locked from the other side and only one lonely soul inside. The bolt clicked open, and the door swung in and almost immediately a shot was fired in the direction of the door, but it hit the wall on the other side. Monica had crouched down, under the bullet. Before the man in front of her could fire again, she leapt onto him, catching her arm in the process.

“Hello mister CEO, how about we talk before doing anything irrational?” Monica requested him kindly as she held onto his arm and his throat.