38 A Job Interview

"Ella Vondrasek. Earlier this year she purchased a black 2018 Lincoln Navigator, the very same car that both Waze and Ms. Yuka saw when they were being attacked by Ebony. Link Vondrasek has been linked with Ebony's activities, as found out by Collin and James. Considering Vondrasek isn't a very common last name, I'm guessing these two have some ties to each other, they're likely married or siblings. Ella is the hiring manager at a small cafe called Horoscope not far from here. They're currently hiring, so the plan is for one of us to go in there for an interview and somehow get some information on Ebony out of Ella. The question is, who should we send that will be our best bet at getting some information?" Alec sat back on his heels as he posed the question for the group.

It was the day after Alec and Waze had found out about Ella Vondrasek, and Alec had done some more research into her since then. The group had once more assembled at the park after school to discuss their plans. Waze had tried to tell them they probably didn't need to get together again, but everyone seemed excited to hold these meetings.

The group looked at each other and nodded, most of them grinning. Waze felt a bit left out of their silent decision. Duke spoke for the group.

"Waze should do it, obviously."

"Eh? Me?"

"If anyone can get information out of this chick, it's you. Out of all of us, you're best with your words. You can convince people to do practically anything. Plus, if things get sticky you're powerful and smart enough to get out of it." Duke grinned at Waze, who was still looking a bit surprised.

The rest of the group gave similar words of how Waze was the best option, and how she was the only one who could pull this off.

"Alrighty then, Waze. Have you ever applied for a job before?" Alec grinned at Waze, who just groaned.

Waze sat down at the table and filled out the application with the help of her chattering friends. Eventually, she finished filling out the packet.

"Ok, I've got my car today, so I'll take Waze home to put on something nice in case they interview her now, and then I'll drop her at the cafe. You guys can... I don't know do whatever I guess." Alec flipped his keys around his finger as he waited for Waze to gather her application papers up.

"Yeah... what are you guys gonna do?" Waze looked back at the group, who just gave her a myriad of grins.

"Norris is letting us use the training room early today. We're gonna do some extra training, especially for Collin and James. This is dangerous stuff, after all," Duke said.

"Although, we were playing around a bit earlier and it seems like the two of them are already pretty good." Marco nodded in their direction, and Waze smiled. Everyone seemed to be getting along.

"Alright. Let's go, Alec."

Alec pulled up to the cafe and Waze took a look at it. It seemed innocent enough, and it was likely that the shop itself had nothing to do with Ebony. Waze looked at Alec with determined eyes and they both nodded. She entered the cafe.

The woman at the counter took Waze's application and ran it to the back.

"If you want, you can wait around a bit for Ella to review your application. Oh, she's the hiring manager. If everything looks alright, she might take you in for an interview right now." The woman gave Waze a small smile, and it occurred to Waze how oblivious she was of the darkness hiding around her.

"Oh, sure I'll do that." Waze backed up and took a seat. So Ella Vondrasek was here. Their biggest lead was about to give Waze a job interview. She better not mess this up.

"Alright, you can come back now," the woman said after a few minutes. Waze merely smiled and nodded, before following the woman into the back, where she was directed into a side room. In it sat a woman Waze could only assume to be Ella Vondrasek.

She certainly didn't look like she was affiliated with a notorious criminal organization. The woman had soft black hair pulled into a side ponytail on her shoulder. She was small yet curvy, and generally friendly looking. As the woman looked up at Waze and smiled, however, Waze could see the look in her eyes wasn't normal.

"Ah, you must be Waverly McAllister, then?" Waze tried not to cringe as Ella spoke. She turned and shut the door behind her, quietly flicking the lock with her finger. Waze turned back to Ella.

"You can call me Waze. I prefer it, actually. It's nice to meet you." Waze reached out and shook Ella's hand before taking a seat across from her.

"Alright, so I'll just ask you a few questions." Ella flipped through some papers on the small coffee table between them. Waze gripped her purse and narrowed her eyes. This was it.

"I'll say this right from the start so we don't do anything unnecessary. I'm not here for a job interview." Ella looked up at Waze in surprise, but before she could speak Waze continued. "I know you're affiliated with the organization Ebony." Ella's eyes widened as her knuckles turned white gripping her pen.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure what you're..."

"Earlier this year, you purchased a black 2018 Lincoln Navigator. That very same car was seen at the scene of two Ebony related attacks. Link Vondrasek was also found to be affiliated with Ebony, and it's no coincidence you two share the same last name. We were able to track you down, but not him. I'm going to need you to tell me what you know about Ebony." Waze looked at Ella and waited for some kind of response.

Instead, Ella burst into tears.