[Dealer’s Choice pt.2]

—LOCATION UNKOWN—

𝘈𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘸? Her vision remained dark, an abrasive texture rubbing against her face roughly as her body was thrown from side to side. Much later, battered and bruised, she was finally tossed onto an extremely hard surface. She resisted the urge to shake off the light ringing in her head that resulted from the landing. A similar thud landed beside her with a muffled groan.

Kyrha had feigned unconsciousness since reawakening during transport, relying solely on her senses to better understand her situation. Though the ride over to this unknown destination was rough and definitely bumpy, suggesting a more remote location, she hadn't heard the sound of waves and seagulls, nor did she smell the heavy fragrance of earth and plants. She immediately crossed off ports and wooded areas. However, she noted what sounded like endless tires crushing gravel and the murmur and blending of walking voices as they reached closer to their destination. This contradicted the illusion of isolation created earlier. The honking cars and abundant chatter of outside noise soon dimmed after the sudden crash of a heavy gate closing. The car entered and pulled to a stop. A strong sense of déjà vu washed over her.

Sure enough, as she lay on the freezing floor, blindly inspecting the thick layer of dust with her tied up hands as the cold of winter slowly seeped into her bones, she heard two deep male voices speaking from a short distance away. Russian. The voices reverberated, bouncing off the walls and echoing in the open space. They exercised no effort to keep their words hidden. They had probably assumed they couldn't understand any language other than their mother tongue—after all, in this day and age, most couldn't without the aid of the innovative ear and mouth 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 created by Geneticsys that allowed for simultaneous translation and interpretation. But she was a polyglot, with Russian being one of her learned languages. A vital piece of information the opposing group hadn't known back then or now.

As she listened to their conversation, her blocked eyes flashed darkly. Hearing mention of her parents and the phrase "Solaris Initiative" swept away the final doubts. This wasn't just familiar, she felt she was reliving an unsavory memory from her distant past. But for what purpose?

She thought back to what she could remember last. She could almost recall a feeling of drowning, but her mind felt strangely at peace. After hearing Ace's voice within her thoughts hint at this trial leading to a possible opportunity, she surrendered willingly. The flowing current felt like a warm embrace, seductively drawing her deeper, before she blacked out completely.

She recollected her thoughts. 𝘈𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺? 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵.

An audible beeping soon interrupted the men's conversation. Hearing a phone go off in the short distance, she remembered what happened next. Just like in her memory, whatever the person said on the other end of the line, it had caused both men to leave the room to who knows where.

She concentrated on the fading voices as they traveled down a long corridor before disappearing entirely behind the quiet click of a closed door. She waited for seven more minutes to pass. When silence continued to greet her, she moved into action.

An image of a beautiful woman with soft dark curls and her signature golden hoop earrings flashed in her mind, eliciting her first genuine smile since awakening. Sadly, it was hidden behind the burlap sack. Following the teachings of her resourceful Aunt Ruth, she listened for the pop as she dislocated her small thumb, slipping her hands from the threaded rope before removing the cover from her head. She breathed in a deep breath of abundant—if not slightly stale—air.

As expected, it was the same warehouse filled with stored goods and merchandise as she remembered. The fine layer of dust spoke of how long the sealed boxes had been left there. She glanced around the massive room, confirming that the kidnappers were not present at the moment. With that confirmation, she looked down at her young body and the small shivering bundle still masked next to her. Even when she saw that both their bodies were the same size as Ace's in 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦, she was not surprised. After all, this fell in line with the memory of her and Roman being kidnapped as children.

The reason was a ridiculous one, as is the case in most such circumstances when threatening the family of government officials. What was worse was although her parents were important diplomats heading the project that the group behind the kidnappers wanted to stop, they didn't actually have the power to make that call. So all of this was truly...useless, pointless, an absolute waste of everyone's time. But it nearly resulted in the loss of two innocent lives. Suffice to say, there was hell to pay when the twins had been retrieved and the matter settled.

Free now, she made quick work of Roman's binds. Though she wondered why he hadn't released himself like in the past, she assumed he might have still been unconscious this time. It wasn't until she pulled the hood covering his head off that a frown pulled her expression down. His face was flushed a deep red, and when she lifted an eyelid, his eyes remained unfocused and dull. At her touch, she nearly jerked her hand back at the scalding heat of his skin, but when he nestled in closer against her cold palm, she stopped herself.

Differences between her memory and the current situation were starting to show. Her calm eyes finally rippled with a hint of worry. He hadn't run a fever when they were confined here before. With Roman's condition, they couldn't resolve the kidnapping in the same way they had originally. Those extra days would more than likely take a severe toll on his body, which could lead to an undesirable effect on his mental state in reality. After all, even if this recreated memory was just a bunch of digital data at heart, she knew he wasn't. Now that some of her choices had to change from here on out in order to expedite their escape, she knew she wouldn't be able to rely solely on her memory of the events.

Picking up her aching body, she slowly made her way to the stored cargo deeper within the room. She stepped into the lightly cast shadows. Taking a closer look at the sealed crates, she read the Russian labeled on the sides. Inspiration hit her when she saw most contained high-proof spirits.

Even though she hadn't confirmed if the exact location was the same, from the clues she had gathered, she understood a key point of information. In fact, she knew they were still in the heart of the city. The bumpy backroads previously taken had helped the kidnappers to keep a low profile. They wanted to hide in plain sight. She would use this to her advantage. A plan had fully taken shape in her mind. After mentally running the probability, she knew it would work. If not, she'd 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 it work.

Returning to Roman's side, she checked on him again. Taking off her light grey outer coat, she laid it under him, trying to give him as much comfort as possible. She fought the chill that brushed against her with only her thick sweater to act as a barrier. Unconcerned about the change, she knew the men who had taken them wouldn't have paid enough attention to remember how they'd been wearing their clothes. She could just throw the coat on her shoulders again when they came. Her assumption was soon proven true.

Hearing a door open in the distance, she threw the sacks over her and Roman's heads, grabbed her coat, and wound the rope around her wrists to resemble its previous position. Mere seconds had passed after she huddled against her twin's body when one of the men re-emerged in the vast room. The thumps of his footsteps finally ended when he reached them. He snatched the cloths from both their heads, revealing their disheveled hair. He stood up straight again, his height like a tower compared to theirs. Kyrha feigned squinting her eyes to the warehouse's lights. Before either child could say anything, a large bottle of water and two packaged sandwiches were thrown to them. The bottle hit Roman hard in the gut. Kyrha's eyes narrowed dangerously, dyeing her copper eyes a dark red as she took in the man's sadistic smirk at the little boy's pained grunt. The violent greeting woke Roman up.

The man continued looking down on them and ordered in heavily accented English, "Eat." Sure enough, it was more intimidating when Russians spoke English instead of their own tongue; but the twins were calm, their breathing even, though their expression's were dark. Having delivered the food, he quickly left again—not interested in babysitting the brats. After all, what could two little kids do?