“Ryan and Grayson. You two will be partnered up for this mission.”

——————

Ryan’s pale eyes flickered as he made his way to the lieutenant’s office. He pondered hard, the fact that Grayson and him had to partner up sent a shiver down his spine. Swallowing it all down, he gave a stern knock on the lieutenant’s door.

“Come in.”

Ryan’s heavy leather boots thumped against the ground as he entered the room. A coffee smelling, blindingly white room, with an ugly green sofa in the corner and the desk which his higher up was sat at.

“Ah, Ryan,” said the Lieutenant, her delicate voice matched with a warm smile. “What can I help you with?”

Ryan glanced at the floor with a sigh.

“I was just wondering,” he said slowly, running a hard through his hazelnut hair. “Why was I paired up with Grayson?” (He realised his tone sounded accidentally rather cocky so he added quickly,) “I mean, no offence at all, but couldn’t I have been put with Reyna for this mission? We’ve taken all the other Anta cases.”

The lieutenant’s fuzzy hair bounced as she stood up.

“What makes you think it’s an Anta case?”

Ryan went to speak but the lieutenant gave a small chuckle and carried on.

“Well, well, it is. Detective Connors is a — let’s say — an intelligent individual. I feel you two will work well together … if you’re willing to let the past go.”

“But Reyna—“

“Yes, I agree. Reyna is also one of our great detectives, you and I know that personally. And I know what happened in the past was wrong — terribly terribly wrong — but for this specific case against Anta and Tylo I really need Detective Connors’ help on it.”

He realised how she referred to Grayson as formally as she could and how she spoke to Ryan and Reyna as if they were her good friends. It gave Ryan the feeling that she had still held a grudge against Grayson.

Ryan paused and fiddled with the silver key in his pocket before answering.

“All right. I’ll do it.”

——————

The world around Ryan whirled violently as he arrived at his destination; Anta’s hide out. It wasn’t very much of a hideout, given the fact that it was covered in sand, but nevertheless, it was one. There were many houses made out of sand, and one that stood out, menacing and daunting, it was at least twenty feet taller than all of the other houses.

Ryan ripped his wrist from Grayson’s grip as he plummeted two feet from the air and fell to the ground with a huff. Grayson landed on both feet onto the soft sand.

“It takes a bit of time to get used to it,” said Grayson quietly and beamed at Ryan with his sparkling pearly white teeth.

“Yeah, yeah, thanks for the warning.” He replied sarcastically.

Tylo and Anta had been working with one another for a while, Grayson had explained as he picked up the grains of salt and examined them, and that it was most likely that Tylo was using Anta for his deeds, his duties,

anything he could snatch an opportunity on.

“Tylo has been a nuisance for a long time,”

said Grayson as he made his way through the endless row of houses until he reached a small hole in the sand.

“What’s this?”

“Entrance to their hideout.”

“So you mean you’ve planned this?” said Ryan astonished, as he slid down the hole, the thick gold particles clinging to his eyes.

“It took me a long time,” Grayson replied as he climbed low and slowly. “But if Tylo finds out, we’re dead—“

“Shh!”

Ryan clasped his hand over Grayson’s mouth quickly. There were loud clacking noises in front and above of them, matched up with a cold and snide-like whisper.

“It just doesn’t seem to work,” said the voice, sounding rather feminine, as the floor clacked loudly again above the two.

“Well,” said an even lower voice. “We can try, after all, he’s on our side—“

Grayson plugged Ryan’s ears with his fingers quickly. After a few seconds, he released his grip and continued to slowly crawl.

“They could sense us…” he said slowly. “There’s this thing— it’s called, uh— dark manipulation and it tricks your mind into thinking bad thoughts.”

“That’s weirdly complex,” whispered Ryan.

“Oh, look, the entrance! Get up, quick!”

A large trapdoor in the sand opened up as they climbed out slowly.

Ryan knew that this was finally it.