Planet Heist (The Dunham Archives Book 1) (26 page)

I ran at her, lightning fast, and kicked her in the shins. She was becoming so toned that my toe got bruised slamming her. Jabbing her in the stomach with my iron fist, I scowled ruefully. Iesleen was just as grimly determined, returning every hit with dangerous pre-cision. My elbow made shattering connection with her jaw, and she looked woozy for a moment, but then crushed my ribs with her forearm. The wind was knocked out of me, and I wheezed. Surprisingly, Iesleen didn’t soften. She grabbed me by the crook of my elbow and slammed me onto my back. I jumped up, still panting, but managed to knock in her collarbone. With her left arm, she punched me in the mouth, crushing my lower lip into the sharp points of my teeth. Blood dripped down my face and pain flashed up. Of course, I still managed to smack the side of her face with the flat of my hand. Iesleen frowned and punched my neck. My gag reflex kicked in and I doubled over, blood drip-ping onto the mat. Iesleen jumped up and slammed her knee into my back, and I fell to the ground. Her heel connected with my side, and she pinned me down – her elbows on my shoulders.

I spat out a mouthful of blood and smiled a ghastly smile.

“Congratulations. You’re the first person who’s ever beaten me in a fight.”

She helped me up and I leaned heavily on her, still hurting from another massacre.

“In a week, it’s the big day.” I grinned tiredly.

“Your teeth look so disgusting.” She laughed and pulled the blue bottle from the rack near us. I learned something extremely unpleasant when I swished it around my mouth. The taste of the healing gel was a mix between something sweet with a load of chemicals, and murky, fishy pond water. I made a mental note to try not to hurt my mouth again.

Iesleen and I parted ways. She to the living room to see Rowan, and I retired to my room to brush my teeth.

The following week was a storm of madness. Ross was trying diligently to train as hard as he could, attempting to make it to my high physical standards. Though his arms were weak as a little girl’s, his mind was even stronger than mine. His will had jumped so high that he could do almost as much as Rowan and I without trying. I was utterly awed by him every day we spent together.

Iesleen continually strived to beat me, but had thus far only crushed me once. She could punch holes through a computer screen, and always kept her knuckles bandaged. Her own will wasn’t yet as strong as Ross’s, but still impressive enough to close doors and move boulders. And every single day she pulled out a new hat that was totally ridiculous and never failed to make me smile.

My twin brother’s abilities have stayed relatively the same. But I had noticed some-thing changed in him. Every time he was near Iesleen, his hard façade seemed to fade a bit and he was exceedingly at ease. He almost…flirted with her. It was strange to see some level of romance between my brother and Iesleen. But, I had to admit, I completely approved if they ended up in a relationship. The two people in the universe that could crush me in a fight were bound to have some sort of chemistry.

As for myself, I had been cramming as much information as possible – on everything from the new Intergalactic Police Chief, Az Salus, to the Xeron and everything guarding it – into my brain as quickly as possible. I memorized the patterns of the tunnels and all the measures of security necessary to get into the building. Apparently, there were DNA tests, eye scans, blood drawings, and all sorts of questioning.

I was more than looking forward to the challenge.

In other news, Ross and Iesleen had finally been discovered in the public eye. I had taken them out for an exercise in recognizing members of the Intergalactic Police Force, and a fight broke out. One of the higher-ups had decided I was too dangerous to be wandering the streets and made the idiotic attempt to arrest me. Cameras showed up almost instantly showed up when Iesleen and I started destroying him in a fight while Ross rewired his car so the officer couldn’t get away. Police later took Iesleen and Ross’s blood samples from the scene and identified them as ‘two average teens from one of the most average places on Earth working with the most dangerous teens in the universe.”

July 10
th
7:00 am

The Wythe Mansion, Unami, Planet Saize

We had traveled this morning to my favorite mansion for one reason and one reason only: everything I would need to disguise four people was there. Ross had spent a good forty five minutes when we first arrived studying the gravity-defying architecture of the mansion, and gawking at almost every detail. Iesleen and Rowan had trailed behind Ross and I, laughing and chatting excitedly.

Now, we were all in my closet, looking around nervously.

“The Institute opens in two hours, and we’ll be ready. Rowan, you’re first. Iesleen, Ross, you can leave.” I told them. The two shuffled out and Rowan stayed behind.

I got to work on the most important task – giving him fake blood samples. I had spent hours last week creating latex fingerprints and ‘collecting’ blood samples. I had simply dashed from planet to planet, fighting people until I collected enough blood for all the tests. On the counter in front of me sat four jars filled with blood – each labeled with one of our names – and I lifted Rowan’s. His was taken from a Native Neoli, and I’d sent out for perfect replicas of their parts. Carefully – so, dreadfully carefully – I used a syringe to inject less than an ounce of blood into the latex print. I coated it in prosthetic glue and held it, for about thirty seconds, to Rowan’s right index finger.

“They’ll ask for your dominant hand. Give them your right, since the man I took this from was right programmed. Now, stay still while I fit you with a new face.

A classic Neoli has a long, thin nose like an icicle and almost non-existent lips. First, I blended his skin with face crème to make him have an almost blue hue. Then, I applied the nose, made of malleable plastic that held extreme resemblance to skin. While I was at it, I trimmed his hair and gave him a bald cap, already toned to match the Neoli skin coat.

“You look ridiculous.” I grinned, and he smiled back.

I handed him a bag packed with everything he would need to get his disguise off.

“I’ve left clothes on your bed. In the front pocket are your identifications. Go change and meet us downstairs. Send in Iesleen, she’s going to love her disguise.” I told him.

A few moments later, Iesleen trotted into the closet.

“I’ve planned a great disguise for you.” I said, and she smiled, still looking nervous.

“You’re not going to make me look like an alien, are you?” She grimaced.

“Actually, no. I've planned out a completely human masquerade.” I replied.

She exhaled, obviously relieved.

It took only a few moments to transform her into an Italian-looking beauty. I had chosen a beaked-like, regal nose. It took a little longer than necessary to thicken her eyebrows, since I had to glue on every hair. Her blood sample was from a real Italian, descended from royalty.

“You’ll need contacts, only since your eyes are different colors. That would be a dead giveaway that you’re not from royalty. Look at the ceiling without tilting your head.”

She looked up, and I inserted brown-tinted contacts into her eyes. She blinked a few times and shook her head.

“Brilliant. There’s a red dress in you closet with golden trim – your identification is in a matching handbag.”

Iesleen looked in the mirror and smiled.

“Are you as excited as I am?” She laughed.

“More, I assure you.” I giggled back, “Send in Ross.”

She plodded off and a little while later, Ross came in.

With Ross, I got right to work, trying not to start talking. I knew that if any superfluous chatting went on between us, I would be distracted for the rest of the day.

Somehow, I already knew someone that Ross was almost identical to – the mayor of my home city, Unami, who was currently out on inter-planetary, top secret business that not even the Prime Minister knew about. Ross hardly needed any disguise at all. The only thing truly necessary was a pair of dark brown contacts to go over his caramel eyes. It had taken longer to get them than normal because Ross required prescription contacts (the Mayor of Unami has 20/20 vision, Ross…doesn’t) instead of just color, like I was used to. It was a bit of a challenge to get in his contacts.

He flinched when I put the first contact in, and it took four tries to put in the second one. But, eventually, he looked perfect. The next thing to do was make it look like he was in his mid-forties, instead of his late teens. It was simple to give him laugh-lines and thin, spindly crow’s feet. I made the crown of his hair back an inch, as if he was losing it.

“There’s a pinstripe gray suit and a blue tie in your closet. The identification is in there, along with a makeup remover to take off you age lines.” I ushered Ross away quietly.

My own disguise took a lot more work. The nose I put on was similar to an oriental Earth person’s nose, only much more flat. All my skin, besides what would be covered by my clothes, of course, was blended lavender and striped with dark blue – the coloring of a teenage girl from Daxa, a planet near Saize. Contacts that made my eyes murky orange were the next step. I filed down my fingernails and painted them bright yellow.  Temp-orary hair dye that would wash out with a little water made my hair bright purple. The final detail was applying glistening yellow lipstick to my full, pink lips.

I had decided a while ago when planning these disguises that I wouldn’t bring any weapons. The only thing truly necessary was my lock-picking kit, which I had found an extremely creative place to hide. Most Daxan girls end up wearing braces throughout their teens to fit in on other planets, as they naturally had very sharp, crooked teeth. So, I had rigged a set of snap on braces so that the universal lock picking tool fit on the roof of my mouth. Hopefully, they would notice the braces and not my dagger strapped under my billowy black dress. That was the goal, anyways.

I grabbed a little, clear bag with black satin handles and packed a load of disguise removing materials in it. Lots of makeup remover, nail polish remover with cotton balls, a miniature hair dryer disguised as a thick pen, and a few tools used to remove the braces and fake nose. I also packed in completely valuable space fillers into the purse. A nail care kit – including scissors and a file – would double as tools in any situation. Varieties of pens, pencils, and notepads went in next. My set of bobby pins, a bottle of clear nail polish, and small hand fan all got pushed into the bag. I packed in my healing materials, knowing they would be vital. In each bag that I had given out was a flashlight. Carefully, I packed Az Salus’s collapsible sword into the bag, hidden so no one would see it.

Looking in the mirror, every detail was flawless. I looked so much like a Daxan girl that I almost believed it myself.

As I put all the disguise materials away, excitement continued bubbling up.

It was almost killing me.

July 10
th
8:30 am

The Institute of Technology, Kaito, Planet Saize

I gripped the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles were bright white as I drove to the Institute. Rowan sat next to me nervously, drumming his fingers against his legs. It made me smile to see him this nervous. Ross and Iesleen drove in two other, separate cars, as Ross had recently told me him and Iesleen had their driver’s licenses. It took a while to teach them how to drive a Saizian model, as ours were very different, zero-emission vehicles with completely estranged steering systems from Earth’s. The only thing that was similar was the fact that they had steering wheels at all.

I had granted Ross a sleek and shiny, black Lita X60, my personal favorite model, and Iesleen received something similar to an Earth Ferrari: a Tham Simplicity. It was a bright blue convertible with fantastic white leather interior that she would love driving. Thams always had smooth handling and were about as aerodynamic as it gets.

Anyways, the streets were clogged today. In front of me, a police cruiser merged. The license plate read ‘IPC 001.’ I grinned to myself. The plate meant Intergalactic Police Cruise Number One, where the Chief of Police would obviously be. It seemed that a little meeting with Az Salus was in order later this morning.

I followed the Police Chief all the way to the Institute of Technology. Iesleen was behind us in her car, and Ross behind her. The first sight of the Institute was brilliant. It was a massive curved structure with a great spire at the top. The whole place was glittering blue glass inside of stainless steel. It was a true marvel to behold.

I parked on the far lot and stepped out.

Around the perimeter of the building were guards, each loaded with guns and super-powerful electric handguns that shot out to-scale version of lightning bolts. They were checking out and frisking every person who came in. Metal directors ringed all the entrances, and staff was going through bags by hand.

So, it turns out the Saizian government feared me more than it liked to admit.

Ultimately, I decided, it was a good choice to bring only small bags. Ross had a brief-case with legitimate-looking folders and papers. Iesleen had a designer gold handbag, I held a bag made of the clear tree-leaves on our Saizian property, and Rowan had on a typical backpack of a Neoli – leather and wool held together with silver pins. Each held identification and things that seemed like they fit. The bag checks would be a breeze.