The Shadow Circle

Chapter-3

Your search for 'blast radius of Porsche Cayenne' has yieled no results.

The disappointment I felt was gutting. Why hasn't someone figured the blast radius of a Porche Cayenne yet? Plus the asshole-like way it was parked...

Any who. I found the firecrackers within five minutes. I even managed to snag a lighter from Mr. Rodriguez's desk after he had to leave to attend to some 'affairs' because he had no time to 'waste' for my 'teenage drama'. I contemplated leaving that lying bastard a 'gift' but decided it would be a pathetic waste of one of my three firecrackers.

I'd tell Arianna about the spineless asshole later. For now, let's see if I can get out alive. I snuck around the garden and into the parking lot. One guy was smoking a cigarette, the other had left the car on with no regard for how the burning petrol accelerated global warming or contributed to the entropy of the universe.

I lit the fuse on one of my crackers and rolled it around the corner. The men didn't notice. I didn't recognise them either. I shut my ears tightly as the fuse burnt out. There was a moment of hushed silence as the fuse went out. Did the fuse go out? Did it even reach the gunpowder inside the firework? Had it been too long since I bought it? Should I check?

Bang!

Apparently not.

Fortunately the gunpowder was a bit damp, which I was hoping for, because it emanated a thick fog of smoke. I heard rustling and cursing, a lot of cursing. There was no recognisable accent, much to my misfortune. I heard footsteps approaching.

Quick, Kes! Run!

I took off to the next spot. The hassled thumps of my heart resonated with my feet as I ran across the parking lot, behind the cars. Man number one was out of the way, that left one more. I had two more crackers left. Wasting no time, I lit the second one and threw it away from the cars.

I shut my ears as it went off with a loud bang.

With his partner out of the way, man Number two had to see the what the commotion was on his own.

And that's exactly what he did.

I felt a smirk creep on my face as I ran away from my hiding spot. The gates loomed in front of me. I could run, I could get out and I'd be safe.

Or I could see if they had left any evidence in the cars, a name, maybe? It would be useful if I could get in touch with Dean Cavilleri's family.

Risk it.

I hesitated for a second more before I blocked away all my thoughts as they nagged me on what could go wrong if I picked either option. I ran towards the car, in his rush to see what was wrong, Man number 2 had left the door open and the car running.

I quickly ducked into the car and shut the door, locking it. I felt a lot more safer then. I began to ravage through the seats for something, anything really. Any clue as to who those men could be. Did they not have any social sense? Even I knew that knocking on people's doors when they're supposed to be home alone was horror movie shit. And I had the social skills of a serial killer. Hopefully not the mindset of one though, now that could be a problem.

I checked under the seats, accidentally bumping my head against the steering wheel once or twice, but I was already nuts, a bonk on the head couldn't do much.

I really should have worn my spectacles but between setting off firecrackers and avoiding potentially dangerous men, it wasn't on the top of my priority list. I wanted contact lenses but Ari said they were easily breakable and could cause damage if used by idiots, so she got me these hideous black rimmed glasses that covered half my face and claimed they were 'idiotproof'. They weren't. I could still see idiots everywhere, only with more clarity.