Slide II

Chapter Three

I watch as the old spy goes limp in the grasp of the twins Brett and Rhett Riley. The potent drug concoction will keep him out for days or until someone wakes him with the counter drug. It is among the many such drugs in the Unseen’s kidnapping kit.

Brett: Damn it, I thought you would monologue for sure this time.

He reaches into the pocket of his jeans and tosses a roll of cash to his twin brother, who catches it with a grin.

Rhett: Better luck next time.

Both men have been my friends for years since our time together in the Marines, followed by our careers as fixers for the criminal organization formally known as Label Black. They both just turned thirty and are 5’11, light-skin mulatto pretty boys who believe they are God’s gift to the female population. Brett’s callsign is Zoom, and Rhett’s is Ninja. While Rhett has settled down some thanks to his current relationship, Brett is the definition of the City Boy mentality, rarely sleeping with the same woman twice, and we consider it a miracle if he knew or remembered their names. Since both of them have received the genetic gifts of the Unseen Genetics lab, they are both even better looking now. They were built like sprinters before. Now they look like lightweight bodybuilders. On top of their improved looks, they are both stronger, faster, have insane stamina, have immune systems that would embarrass an ostrich, and heal incredibly fast. Their bank accounts have also prospered since both are now billionaires. They are two members of my four-man strike team, dubbed Squad Caliber by Unseen Operations.

I call them pretty boys, but honestly, I can walk into any room and put any man to shame with my looks. My name is Aries Archer, now but I was born Atlas Tsami, I am twenty-nine, the only biological child of Queen Eve, the leader of the Unseen, and she is the first member of the organization to survive the genetic process that is gifted in different levels to all members of the Unseen who survive the physical and mental grindstones known as the Schools of the Arts. She was the first to survive the change, but the results turned her into something more than human. No other Unseen had ever achieved results like this until I came along. My birth was not an easy one. My mother’s improved body came with an immune system that could shrug off cyanide with nothing to show for it but a sore throat. It saw me as a foreign invader and tried to kill me. So, I literally had to fight for my life from the time I was a fetus. I was born four months premature, under five pounds, unable to breathe independently, and had a heart defect. It was also the closest to death my mother ever came, but my birth only left her in a coma. This gave my father, Gail Tsami, the time and power he needed to do something truly monstrous that would ultimately save my life. He had the geneticists alter me. It took executing one of them to get them to do it. To date, I am the youngest to ever go through the procedure. Against all odds, I not only survived, but I also evolved.

The results are all of my mother’s strength, speed, and abilities, like her perfect memory and genius IQ, plus some. I can heal even faster than she does, and I can reshape my genetics, at will let me change most of my body’s features, not including my bone structure.

I spent the first seventeen years of my life as Atlas, being groomed to take over the Unseen. My mother’s idea of grooming back then was stripping my childhood of anything a normal child would have and replacing it with pain and violence. This produced the monster that was Atlas Tsami. Now, to be fair, many children suffered. The Schools of the Arts specialize in turning children, mainly orphans, off the streets into killers and spies who will be genetically altered into something more. But I can honestly say they are the lucky ones. The regime my mother put me through made the Schools look like a cakewalk. I actually attended the Tokyo branch and proved that point by graduating at twelve. All of this played a part in creating the monster that was Atlas Tsami. I lived that life for seventeen years until the night I finally went over the edge of what I could take. The night I executed my father and half of my adopted siblings for plotting to assassinate my mother with my own hands. It was the same night I left the Unseen behind for what I thought was forever, and Aries Archer was born.

Now, my life as Aries is anything but simple. I began it by joining the Marines, where I prospered and met not only my friends who have become like my brothers and three of the four women who would change my life. The first one is Alisa Wright. We met in basic and formed a friendship that turned s****l and evolved into something far deeper. The second and third are Tyana and LeKeisha Holden, who are married to each other but are new to a lifestyle called polyamory. We spent a week together where a lot of fun was had, s****l and otherwise, but a lot of conversations also had. I learned a lot about polyamory which is a lifestyle where everyone involved can have multiple s****l partners and full relationships that they are honest about with everyone involved. I soon became fully involved with both of them and when I got out of the military, they were the main reason I moved to Georgia after leaving the Marines. There I joined a vast criminal operation called Label Black which I will admit reminded me of the Unseen on a smaller scale. This was when I met Mae Jackson, a friend of Tyana and LeKeisha and, strangely enough, the wife of my new boss Ross Jackson. Things got serious between us as well, and with Ross’s blessing, I also began to date her. When Alisa got out, she moved to Georgia, and that was when I felt that my new life really began. I built myself a family that included the children and friends of my girlfriends. I had an apartment and a dog. It was as normal a life as I could ever hope for, considering I still killed for a living. Then, the Unseen found me. Weirdly enough, this happened because of my activities with Label Black.

A Triad boss put a hit on me with the low-level assassination wing of the Unseen. This led to them sending an operator after me. Against my better judgment, I didn’t send the operator back in a body bag. Deciding that I had too much of my family’s blood on my hand. Then, my mother showed up to Thanksgiving dinner and flipped my new life upside down. She outed me to everyone and then gave me an ultimatum. Either I could come willingly and bring my new family, or she would drag me back, kicking and screaming. I considered the third option of putting a bullet in her head, but ultimately, I chose Option A. Now, everyone is a part of the Unseen, and I am back to raising hell internationally.

Aries: Like I said, places to be. Grab the package, and let’s go. Allen, are you all set here?

Allen is staring at the face he will wear for the foreseeable future on a mirrored plate hanging on the wall.

Allen: Do you think I can get hazard pay for this? I feel like this face alone is costing me my mental health.

I chuckle and slap him on the back as I pass with the twins behind me carrying the real Laurence Hancock.

Aries: I totally agree. I’ll put you in for double time.

Allen: You are the best, my prince. Sorry. Aries.

The respect for the royal family of the Unseen, Tsami is ingrained in every member of every other bloodline during their time in the Schools. So, I must tell most others I work with to call me Aries or Slide. Not, My Prince, Your Majesty, or God help me, Your Highness. Most still slip back into it unconsciously. Unless I don’t like the operator in question, in which case I can be a supreme asshole.

Aries: Remember to send in your clear code once we are gone so our people inside MI6 can get this place back on the grid.

Allen: Understood.

The twins and I walk out the backdoor and through the sprawling backyard of the manor before arriving at a forest trail that leads to a private road. Waiting there by an Audi A3 Sportback is the fourth member of my squad, Victor Bryan. Even before the genetic enhancements, Victor was built like a linebacker, and now he looks more like a tank with bulging muscles like armor. He is 31 and 6’4 with dark black skin. He always keeps his head and face cleanly shaven and has a voice that sounds like a growling grizzly bear. Despite his intimidating look and sound, he is the most soft-spoken of the group and likelier to talk us out of killing everyone on the other side of our guns when the mood strikes him. This and the fact that he is an avid churchgoer earned him the callsign Deacon. He is leaning against the car on a phone call.

Victor: Yes, baby, I promise I will be back for your birthday party.

He raises a hand in greeting and walks around to the back of the hatchback to pop the trunk.

Victor: I told you, baby, this is a business trip. Yes, Alisa and Rena are both here because they are a part of the business. They are having fun when not in and out of meetings with Aries.

Brett silently mouths “liar” at him as he and Rhett stuff Laurence in the trunk. Victor gives him a half-hearted smack in the back of the head.

Victor: I am a bodyguard, baby. I take my job very seriously, and I always have to be ready to act if anyone is in danger. Yes, I would love to have you wrapped in my arms but not while I am working. Look, I have to go. Aries is coming out of his meeting. I love you, too.

He hangs up, looks up at the sky, and sighs deeply.

Aries: Marco or Carter?

Victor: Marco’s needy ass, of course. I swear, you would think he is sixteen, not twenty-eight.

Aries: I told you; you could bring him. Not like Alisa or Rena would have minded the company on their shopping sprees and excursions.

Victor: I know, but honestly, I just needed the break.

Aries: I get it.

Brett: How the hell do you get it? You have between one and four girlfriends with you damn near everywhere you go.

I can’t deny that statement. Before last year, no one in my life as Aries Archer had ever seen the face I was born with. I wore another face and body for twelve years. They all loved me with both, but choosing between them was easy. So, I wear my real appearance full time now except for my violet eyes, which I change to deep brown when not on mission or in mixed company. Since everyone in our little mixed-up family left Georgia with one body and returned with a new one, most people outside it assumed we all had a litany of surgeries. Since none of us really cared about their opinions, we did not correct them. Me wearing my real face comes with one stipulation, because of the attention I get mainly from the female population, one or more of my girlfriends are always around to, as they put it, “make sure that a b***h knows.”. Unless I am going into a complete hellhole without at least a three-star hotel to put them up in while I wade ass deep into trouble, I always have a beautiful chaperone to come back to after I finish committing several crimes which would be considered international incidents if we represented any country.

Aries: And thus, I understand needing a break. Mine comes in the form of hanging with you assholes, usually while kidnapping the heads of international intelligence services and committing minor war crimes.

Brett: I will never understand the point of having steady relationships. s**t sounds stressful.

Rhett: We don’t expect you to. You are a w***e.

We are chuckling as we get in the car. I lift my shirt, pull the Glock out of the concealed waist holster, and slide into the passenger seat, placing it on my lap. Victor pulled it off, and I pulled out my phone. First, I type and send a message to the operators we will be handing Laurence. Then, I call Alisa.

Alisa: Hey, handsome.

Aries: Hey, beautiful. What are you up to?

Alisa: Just got back to the room from shopping. Now, I am having a drink on the balcony with Rena. Are you coming back soon? I miss you.

Aries: We are finishing up now. I’ll be back in an hour, an hour and a half max. Pick a spot, and we will go out for dinner.

Alisa: I already saw a spot. It is a pub called the Queen Diana. They serve this shepherd’s pie I want to try.

Aries: And if you like it, charm the recipe out of the cook.

She is a chef and is currently working on opening her third restaurant in Atlanta.

Alisa: You don’t know me, but yes.

Aries: Sounds like a plan, love bug. See you soon.