Collateral

Chapter Ten - Arsen

"Tell me exactly what he said," Daren ordered. 

"It was some kind of acronym or something. I've been trying to figure it out," Arsen replied. Calix and Damon were monitoring Magnus' conversation with Tisdale. So far, it'd been one-sided.

"So what did he say?" 

"Uhm, I told him I could find the real assassin with his help and he said, 'reverse five, Yankee, golf, echo, Romeo, X-ray." 

"That's the NATO phonetic alphabet, Arsen," Daren sighed, his head in his hand. "It still leads back to those letters, though." He went silent, thinking.

"Daren?" 

"Hush," Daren snapped. "I'm trying to think." Arsen fell silent. Daren's eyes lit up. "'Reverse five'. I should've known. Arsen, it's no acronym. Reverse five, those are the instructions." 

"So..." Arsen trailed off, still lost. 

"The letter Y, go back five. And then G, E, R, and X. You just go back five. Get me a pen and paper, now." 

Arsen scrambled off to find some and handed them to Daren, who started writing instantly. 

"There's your code," Daren said, showing the paper to Arsen. It read, UCANT

"I'll put the assassin behind bars. Justice will be served, the truth will be out." 

YOU CAN'T.

Why not just tell Arsen there, why code it? And what did it mean? Arsen had never met Frank Tisdale before. What couldn't he do?

Put the assassin behind bars? And why not? Arsen was capable. He found Tisdale, hadn't he, and hadn't Tisdale confessed? Maybe not alone, but he had his team. And then, Frank Tisdale had said he was a g*n for hire. And he needed to finish one last job. 

And who was Myla?

"Are you listening, Arsen?" Daren asked. 

"Sorry, yes. What were you saying?" Arsen was snapped back to reality. 

"You said you'd find the real assassin. He said you couldn't. Why do you think that is?" 

"I don't know," Arsen muttered, "he doesn't believe in me?"

"Think, Arsen!" Daren snapped. "You can find the killer. You just can't take him down." 

"Uh, 'course I can. Why wouldn't I be able to?" 

"Arsen, you really are an i***t. We said it was probably a hitman, yes?" 

"We did."

"So what Frank Tisdale is saying is that the employer, he's untouchable. He's protected socially. If you try to take him down, it'll be you who falls." 

"So we're looking for a person who holds power? Government, an influencer?" 

"I don't know, Arsen. But we should tell the others." 

Rhian, Lincoln, Adonis, and Hunter were all behind the two in an instant. 

"Tell the others what?" Rhian asked innocently, his eyes piercing and dark.

"That, um, I'm buying pizza," Arsen said weakly. "So if you wanna come to eat some then my house is open." Oh, his father was going to be furious. "I mean... I mean, at Reyna's house!" Oh, Reyna was going to be furious. Rhian stared Arsen down. 

"Sure. I'll be there at eight."

"Same," echoed Lincoln and Adonis in unison. 

"If there's pepperoni, I'll be there," Hunter said finally. 

"Good. Great." 

"I won't be coming," Daren decided. 

"Oh, but it'll be so much fun," Hunter drawled. 

"I expect Magnus won't be coming, either, and honestly, I never liked you three."

The four looked amongst themselves in confusion. 

"There's four of--" Hunter started. 

"Yes, I am aware." Daren turned and started walking away. Arsen sniggered.

"Shut up," Adonis snapped, looking angry.

"Sorry," Arsen lied. "Shall we see how Magnus is doing with his suspect?"

"I don't like you," Adonis muttered, bumping his shoulder as he walked by. 

"Yeah, the feeling's mutual," retorted Arsen. 

Arsen shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked at the concrete sidewalk. It was past midnight but Arsen couldn't sleep. No one ended up coming to Reyna's house and for that, Arsen was thankful.

If this insomnia thing was going to become normal, he seriously needed a permanent fix. 

At night, the streets of NYC were quieter, with headlights lighting up the streets and his favorite 24-hour internet cafe blinking softly in the background. 

In a split-second decision, he made his way over to order a coffee.

There was a handful of people sipping their drinks while intently staring at their laptop screens. Oh, no. Arsen recognized one of those faces. He moved away. Or did he?

They hadn't kept in touch. 

A boy with a mop of curly black hair looked up as if he could sense Arsen's eyes on him. Arsen quickly turned around and started walking away briskly. He was sure that the boy in the cafe hadn't gotten a good look at his face. 

Yet, their eyes had met and locked onto each other for a half-second. And there'd been recognition in the boy's gaze, a tiny flicker of hope. Arsen hadn't looked long enough for that to turn into betrayal, but he was sure it had.

Arsen shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, hoping the footsteps behind him didn't belong to who he thought they did, yet the gait and sound (soft and quick, but not too rushed) were the exact same.

A hand on his shoulder made him spin around. 

"Arsen." The boy gave him a small, tragic smile, trembling with a dozen emotions at once, not all of them good and not all of them bad. The guilt washed over Arsen like the Dead Sea, salty and barren. 

"Ari," Arsen said in a soft voice, unable to return the smile. "I didn't know you were back in town." 

"Never was out. I don't think I could ever leave this place. It's my home. It's all I have." Underneath Ari's gentle tone, a finger pointed.

"Yeah." The word came out as an almost inaudible whisper. Then he steeled himself. "Yeah. Me too, this place is my life." He meant for the words to be an apology but his pride wouldn't let the words out. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The time for apologies was over now and the disappointment showed clearly in Ari's eyes.

"I just wanted to let you know, I guess, that I've moved on. You know, I've got a boyfriend now. I think I want to marry him." 

"That's good," Arsen whispered. "That's good. I'm happy for you, really." 

Ari studied him for a moment. "You were right," he said. 

"About what?"

"Before. You said that we were never going to work out, not in the long run. You were right and I see that now. I just wish you wouldn't have strung me along for so long. I wish you would've told me you only thought of me as a friend before I got too attached. I wish we could've been more than what we were, even if it were only temporary." 

I wish that, too, Arsen thought. I wish we could've been more, but it never would've worked out. We're too different, even now. 

"Would it be weird if I told you something?" Ari asked. Arsen shook his head. "It wasn't even your fault. I just held on for way too long. 'Course you'd think it was weird, I would if I were you. So I don't blame you, not really. I would've done the same thing."

Internally, Arsen was screaming that it wasn't Ari's fault. It wasn't in the slightest, it was his because he was selfish to let Ari hang on. But outside, he stayed silent, kicking at the ground and not looking up.

"I guess that was all I wanted to say," Ari finally managed. "I might see you around, but New York's a big city." 

Arsen raised his face to see Ari's. Bathed in moonlight, the teardrops that clung to his eyelashes seem to glow. 

Do this, Arsen. Do this one thing, he ordered himself, offering his hand to Ari for a shake. Ari stared at it and only hesitated for a moment before pulling Arsen in for a hug. 

"Ari, I'm... I'm so sorry," Arsen whispered. 

"Yeah, it's alright. It's been a couple years, it's alright. I just wanted to face my ghosts one more time and say goodbye."

"Goodbye, then," Arsen said.

"Till next time. I have a feeling that I'm going to see you again soon."