Collateral

Chapter Three - Arsen

They pulled up to a skyscraper-esque building after almost three hours of trying to get through the usual New York City traffic and the panic over the previous events they'd seen on the news. 

"Welcome," said Reyna, ducking past a crowd of protesters, "to the headquarters of the third ADAM team. ADAM stands for Advancement, Development, and Modification. And the subjects of their surgery are grouped into three different teams. We're part of the third team." 

Arsen had almost forgotten about the surgery, with everything that had gone on. "We?" He asked, his attention piqued. 

"Yes. Why else did you think I warned you?" 

Arsen grinned. "Oh, this is so cool." Reyna gave him a sharp look. 

"It's not. Come on, you'll want to impress these guys." Reyna took his hand and pulled him to the entrance, with sliding doors. 

Inside, there was a group of a dozen or so men in business suits. 

"I don't feel like I'm impressing them," Arsen murmured to Reyna, feeling out of place in his plain clothing.

"You'll be fine. They all started like this," she murmured back. Then she raised her voice to address them all. "This is Arsen, he's new." 

The tallest one, south Asian with shoulder-length dark hair, examined Arsen. 

"Yes, I can tell," he said. 

"Be nice, Magnus," scolded Reyna. Arsen was surprised at how loosely she spoke to him, whose posture even demanded respect.

"Know your place, Reyna," was his only reply. Oh, so that's how you want to play? Arsen thought furiously. 

"Why don't you?" Not the best, he knew, but the only thing he could think of at the moment.

"What did you say?" Now, Magnus towered over him with narrowed brown eyes. "You know who I am?" 

"Magnus, apparently. And a jerk." Arsen didn't blink and neither did Magnus. 

"Let's all calm down and remember why we're all here," interjected someone. Arsen glanced and saw that one of the men had stepped forward. He had a distinct Hausa accent that dripped over each syllable. "Everything is good, right, Magnus?" 

Magnus grunted in some caveman language but nodded his assent. Arsen gave the stranger a surprised glance. 

"Watch yourself," Magnus muttered as he passed by. "You don't want to end up on my bad side." The men dispersed as quickly as they had come together. 

"You didn't need to do that," Reyna said. "I can stand up for myself." 

"I know. And I'm confused about what just happened."

Reyna sighed. The same man who'd calmed Magnus down returned. 

"I'll tell him what's going on if you would prefer that," he offered. Reyna nodded. 

"That'd be nice." 

Up close, Arsen realized the man looked only a few years older than him. In the suit, he'd looked in his late twenties. 

"I'm Daren," he said, walking two strides ahead of Arsen. "These guys are all my friends." He gestured at the scattered men.

"So am I one of your friends?" Arsen questioned, considering that he supposed he was now one of 'those guys'.

"That is yet to be decided."

Arsen clicked his tongue and nodded awkwardly. "Yes, it is." Daren gave Arsen a sideways glance and then smiled slightly. 

"I like you. You have, what is it you Americans call it? You have guts. I have not seen anyone speak to Magnus that way in a long time." 

"So who else did?" Arsen asked. "Speak to Magnus like that, I mean. And why is it so illegal to do that?" 

"Me, and he's the boss around here."

"You seem like pretty good friends," Arsen said. He would think that they'd be enemies. Daren just laughed. 

"He's cold with everyone. But if you ever get to know him, Magnus is really not that evil. I would even say he's a good man somewhere. He just doesn't trust easily." 

"Sure," Arsen said doubtfully. 

"But back to the current issue; I'm sure you know that the First Lady was assassinated today." 

"I'm aware."

"Team Three has been given the task of hunting down this assassin." 

"We were--excuse me; I didn't know that we were supposed to be conducting a manhunt. Why me?" 

"Did you sign the papers?" Daren asked. Arsen nodded. "Then that is why." 

"But I-" 

"Here's what we already know: the killer is a hitman. We're looking at ex-military snipers or spec ops and the sort. And this hitman was hired by someone close to the President with a grudge against him or some personal problem with the First Lady. If they wanted Douglas dead, he'd be dead. Someone in the government, perhaps, or close to the President, otherwise the sniper wouldn't have been able to get a good vantage point." 

Daren stopped abruptly and turned around, hands held behind his back. His intense gaze made Arsen nervous. 

"You are the newest member of Team Three and already have made Magnus angry. I recommend you gain respect if you want to stay alive here." 

"How would I do that?" 

"Catch the assassin," Daren answered. "And get revenge for Ilana Douglas. Prove yourself worthy."

"How's it feel, being an official member of Team Three?" Reyna asked. Arsen shrugged. 

"It's a lot to handle, I guess. By the way, do I have to buy a suit? Because I don't have that much money." 

"The government likes to keep these things under the radar. And probably, but once the pay starts rolling in you won't have to worry about money." 

"We get paid?" Arsen asked in disbelief. Reyna rolled her eyes. 

"Everything's so much more appealing to you when there's money involved, right? Anyway, just to warn you, you don't want to clash with Magnus. He's the captain of our team, and though he may be a jerk, he's seriously tough. Part of me wants to respect him but the other part won't let me." 

"What did Magnus do to deserve respect?" Arsen asked. 

"Used to serve in the military. Ex-SEAL sniper." Arsen's ears perked. 

"So did he know President Douglas or his wife?" 

"Well..." Reyna hesitated, thinking. "There was that one time when there was a rumor that he and Ilana had an affair, which is probably why he's edgier than usual. It took forever to get CNN off Magnus's back. The media had a field day with that one." Then she looked at him in realization. "You think he killed Ilana Douglas!" 

"It's a possibility, isn't it?" Arsen countered. "And the affair, it gives him a motive."

"It was a rumor, first of all. And don't do that, Arsen, you don't know any of them. You can't just point fingers in the dark because you disagreed about something. It doesn't look good, you know, showing up and accusing the most respected person here on the first day." 

"It'd be stupid to rule it out," Arsen said. Reyna shook her head. 

"Magnus may be a jerk, but that doesn't make him the killer."

"So can you say where he was at the time of the assassination?" 

"He... likes to be alone." 

"So you can't tell me where he was?"

Reyna snapped, "You have to stop these accusations. It. Wasn't. Magnus."

"Maybe we should let a jury decide that," Arsen replied with a firm sense of determination in his voice.