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"There it is!"

Tory cursed Vik again under his breath. The guy had erratic luck similar to a protagonist. Sometimes it made him reach for the stars. And other times, it'd force him to make his way through a sea of misery.

And Tory was dragged in every one of those instances. Especially if they involved misery.

The truck got close to a seemingly abandoned house, located near the end of a service road. It was a sophisticated, suburban, two-story house that looked simple at first glance. Like a house from a bygone era frozen in time.

The house wasn't visible from the main road. The aerial recon bot could not find it either as it was hidden under a giant tree that covered most of its presence.

The only reason Vik could see this house was that he was driving through the same service road. He had found something he could count on when he wasn't looking. One had to say Tory was onto something when he said Vik had the strangest luck.

The duo liked the fact that there were no neighboring houses. Vik and Tory stopped the truck and walked around the house on foot to confirm that there was nobody inside.

The duo then barged into the house without a second thought. They checked the entire house and found it to have a few items they could use while hiding here.

Plus, the house had an underground garage for them to park the truck in. They first opened the garage door and parked the truck, which was their metaphorical smoking gun.

"This place reminds me of our first job that we did as a team, Vik. Haha! You were such a noob back then."

Tori's condition was stabilized by now. They had raided Aunt Avril's cold storage and taken a pack of beers out before boarding the truck again.

They both cracked open not-so-cold ones and conversed while taking sips. Tory was in the mood to tease Vik about his rookie mistakes in B&E. But the latter retorted with his go-to jab:

"Says the guy who was punked by me the very first time we met."

Fernando always became speechless after Vik reminded him how they met. The former couldn't resist cursing his partner again for his taunt that he still had not found a valid response to.

***

Tory and Vik didn't start as friends at first. They were both hustlers. The latter was more than 10 years younger than the former. But when it came to conning people and having street smartness, Vik had Tory beat fair and square.

This was a story from five years ago. Fernando was selling a contraband item one day when he met a young boy who wanted to buy it off him. The former thought the latter to be too green to do shady business like this. So he quoted an unbelievable price.

Of course, Vik was infuriated. He haggled with Fernando and reduced the price by half. Fernando showed displeasure from the outside while selling the item for the price they agreed upon. But he was all smiles from the inside. That's because the price was still a lot more than what he had previously anticipated.

Tory's celebration, however, didn't last long. Who knew that the money the kid used to buy the item from Fernando was even faker than the item itself? The scion of Torres lived through the exact range of emotions most of his customers were used to feeling that day.

That was the very moment when Fernando finally got to experience the true meaning behind an ancient proverb that said: Karma is a bitch!

But the thing Ferni was angry at most was the fact that he, a veteran con artist, was conned by a greenhorn. The kid's forgery of encrypt-chip money was so convincing that he couldn't find anything wrong with it until it was too late.

The kid was about to leave the Ainazi city-state. But Fernando managed to get the wind of it and caught him.

Of course, a serious fight ensued. In response to the spectators' calls, police were called, and both of them were arrested for disturbing public order. The punishment was a month in jail for both offenders.

Fernando was assigned to the same hole as the kid, which resulted in some fighting and cursing each other. Finally, when they were both beat up and couldn't make it through another physical or verbal duel, they called it a truce.

Now all they could do was stare at each other. And that got both the guys talking. Fernando realized the kid had a range of talents despite his small age.

The budding hustler and Fernando had become good friends by the end of their sentences. Fernando invited him to his house on a whim. The young hustler didn't have a place to stay after all.

And the kid too saw no reason to refuse. Fernando accompanied him to his house for a day or two.

But days turned into months and months turned into years. The duo ran various plots and schemes on people during this time. They were involved in a lot of close calls and that helped strengthen their bond.

By now, Fernando considered the kid as a younger brother he never had. And the kid too thought of Fernando as someone he'd at least try to listen to. Vic would never say it outright, but Fernando knew that he saw him as his only family.

That kid was none other than Viktor Vladimir. The five years they spent hustling together had strengthened their bond beyond the bond between blood brothers. And that had made them almost inseparable by now.

It was Vik who started calling his partner Tory instead of any of his usual names. When Fernando Torres asked, he told him that Tory just bodes well with his Vik. As in Victory!

Viktor was creative that way.

***

"So what should we do now, Vik? Should I contact my guy to get some info on what's happening now?"

Tory asked Vik while sounding dubious about his idea. Unsurprisingly, it was immediately rejected by the latter.

"Don't. You'd fok everything up. By now they must've started tracing the calls of every known contact of ours no matter how isolated they might seem from us.

Calling any of our known contacts is akin to announcing our position. We need to manage things from our end without involving a third party."

Vik said and sighed as he added.

"We are on our own for a few days. And I'm serious about being off the grid. We won't contact anybody till we are in this house. Not even those speed dial numbers you have with the names "Mamacita1, Mamacita2, and so on."

Vik narrowed his eyes on Fernando after he dished out his warning. The latter coughed and cleared his throat before responding.

"*Cough. I know that. But I can't just sit around without knowing what's going on."

Fernando said and looked around the house that seemed unoccupied for years on end. He then slapped on his not-so-flat tummy before addressing his major concern.

"How about food and stuff for our stay here in this ghost villa? We need to get a few things here if…"

Vik knew Tory would bring up the food issue. So it didn't take long for him to reply.

"We have fast food that will last us two days. We'll figure something out after that."

Victor Vladimir turned towards the truck monstrosity they had just parked before voicing his intentions.

"More importantly, Tori, aren't you curious about what's in the truck?"

Vik's blue eyes seemed to shine brightly after saying that.