Ablaze , ᶦᵛʸ

c.11

"We have no choice but to go get Carmen," Emlyn put in her ten cents that no one gave a shit about.

Ivy, Zack, and Player exchanged glances, trading conversations by their glares. Did they have some secret language or something? Most likely, because after a few minutes of complete silence, Player spoke up. "Obviously they want Emlyn. We could give her, trade her for Carmen."

"Sure," confirmed Zack. "Let's go get our Carm back!"

"Um, what? After all we've been through, you're going to hand me over to the enemy?" Emlyn said mock dramatically, swiping the back of her hand over her forehead and sighing.

"Emma, I'm sorry, but we have no other choice," Ivy told her, sounding somewhat apologetic to Emlyn's surprise.

"We can't do that. What if I'm important to them? Didn't Carmen say that herself?" Emlyn pleaded, trying to save her own ass. Who knows, maybe VILE was worse than these guys, maybe they were better. But she couldn't take her chances. It was too risky.

"I don't know if there's another option. I've scanned the cafe with what cameras I could wire through but any evidence of Carmen being there? It's all wiped clean," Player mumbled, pressing his lips together in exhaustion. "If they see Emlyn, maybe. . . They'll appear. Only, we can't actually trade Emlyn. She made a fair point. Carmen seemed convinced that she plays an important role in VILE, and we can't gamble with this. Here's my plan. We bring Emlyn there, inconspicuously hiding some guards—"

"That we get from where?" interrupted Zack. "I mean, I did take a karate class when I was nine but then our free coupon ran out and my mom cancelled my lessons." He sighed. "Karate Instructor Joe wasn't the best teacher, but he said we'd be using those throwing things soon but I never got to try them out."

"You mean nunchucks?" Ivy asked. "Oh yeah, I think I remember that. You begged mom to reenroll you and she kept saying no."

"Until we found that other coupon from your rewards program a few months later," Zack countered, smiling as he reminisced. "Joe quit by then though. Too bad."

"Yeah. Now that we're talking about it, I really wanted that free karate lesson, bro. I did not appreciate you stealing my coupon!"

"Okay, improvisation will have to do, I guess. Zack and Ivy will tail behind Emlyn at a safe distance while her ex tries to barter with her, while Emlyn wears an earpiece and instructs us  to where Carmen is. Sound good?" Player interrupted, leaning his head on his elbow tiredly.

"Perfect. What could go wrong?" Emlyn complained.

"So many things!" Ivy said enthusiastically.

***

"I do not like this. Like, at all," Emlyn muttered as she took a swig from her whiskey, wiping her lips with her sleeve. They had returned her whiskey with the promise that she'd cooperate with the mission.

Though Emlyn had plenty incentive already.

She was determined to know what happened to Jasmine and also, if she was okay. There was this throbbing in her guts that had told her Jasmine was in trouble, and this was plenty confirmation. Working with the enemy? She wasn't sure who the enemy was exactly, but either way, the fact that Jasmine was involved in this shit did not sit well with Emlyn.

Plus, the warning from the hotel she'd stayed in previously kept echoing in her brain. It was stupidly simple and yet Emlyn comprehended it with a single blink.

She knew Jasmine better than anyone else.

And she knew that whatever happened to her— perhaps this wasn't of her own free will.

"None of us do, Emlyn," Ivy answered into Emlyn's ear, through the ear piece comms that connected all four of them. Emlyn was pleasantly surprised that Ivy had remembered her name.

"But you have to do this," Player agreed. "Now everyone shut up, and let Emlyn do her job."

Choking down her saliva, the young woman stood on the pebble paved street, staring across the street. Few people sat outside to dine. A vaguely familiar shape sat at the farthest table outdoors.

Jasmine.

Emlyn kept repeating a silent mantra in her head, trying to remain calm as she walked and readied herself to confront her ex girlfriend who was most certainly involved in some kind of danger.

She swallowed nervously, and Player whispered into the communications, "You can do this."

Since when did they care about her?

Oh wait, they didn't.

They were using Emlyn to get to Carmen.

And that was fine.

Totally fine.

After all, she'd only known them for less than a week, ever since they had dragged her unconscious body out of a van that Carmen had used as a kidnapping vessel.

Essentially, Emlyn was saving her kidnapper.

Yup.

It was kind of fucked up.

Despite that, Emlyn felt a slight requirement to do this. The tug at her insides, like strings, that told her, someone was in danger. Bullshit, it might be, yes. But, she had to do anything she could to save them. Make that two people. Carmen and Jasmine.

Emlyn was determined to rescue the both of them from whatever this was supposed to be. So she stood, shoulders squared, and slowly approached the table with a ready mindset. "Hey Jaz. Been a while, huh," she said, immediately internally slapping herself at the awkwardness that she'd initiated.

She did not want her first interaction ever since the two broke up to be like this. But here they were.

Now, she was unsure of what to expect. Maybe a rom-com moment where the ex couple exchanged silent, longing glances of tranquility for several minutes until Jasmine would grab her and they'd embraced in tears, confessing that they both loved each other and breaking up was a mistake— but instead, the words that greeted her felt like a hard slap in the face. It was not at all what Emlyn had pictured would happen.

Jasmine simply pointed to the chair. "Sit down," she said coldly. "We have a lot to talk about."