Intrepid Hearts

10: Claustrophobic

ZIRA'S POV
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.
12TH JANUARY, 2022

"Breaking news, The Citrine Hamilton Intelligence Agency are now the second best intelligence agency on the charts of the United States of America!" Aira read out loud from her phone before the cafeteria was filled with cheerful laughter and noises here and there.

"Today's lunch is on me guys! Enjoy yourselves!" One of our senior shouted over the cafeteria as more noise was produced.

"Mr Arman called for you." Aryan announced as he strutted into the cafeteria. I couldn't control the excitement that rushed over me.

This was it.

The moment I've been waiting for, for so many years.

I looked over to my team. They were the only ones who knew my secret so only they knew how happiness resonated through me at the moment. The three of them all gave me thumbs up while I looked sideways, scratching the nape of my neck. Holding back the grin that almost escaped was hard but I still did it.

I slipped my hands inside my leather pants pockets leaving out the thumbs as I cleared my throat. "Nobody should touch my chicken." I ordered lowly. That was just a defensive mechanism because I hate it when people see through me. It makes me sick. Especially when I'm excited or happy. I know, I'm weird.

Without waiting for a response, I made my way to the Boss's office with Aryan trailing behind. "Excited huh?"

"You can't even begin to imagine." I replied in a low tone. I lifted my hands and knocked on the door before the door slid open by itself on Mr Arman pressing the door's control button from inside.

"Good morning—-" he cut me short by rising up to his feet as he approached me. This way he was only few feet away from Aryan and I.

The corner of his lips curbed into a proud genuine smile. "Miss Zira Sa'eed...." He started off, the enthusiasm his tone held almost gave him away. The way he gazed at me made my toes curl underneath my boots. This wasn't an employer being proud of his employee kind of gaze, it was an Uncle being proud of his niece kind of gaze.

"To say I'm proud of you will be the biggest understatement of the decade. You led your team to victory and proved all odds wrong. Which only implies how much you wanted your dream to come to reality!" He was right. The one thing on my mind all through the mission was my dream of avenging my family's death and nothing else.

I smiled. A real one. But remained in my at ease position with Aryan grinning from ear to ear by my right.

Mr Arman returned back to his seat while playing with his pen as he usually does before spitting out the bomb. I've grown so used to his actions, postures, how he thinks and his gestures. "It's time, Miss Sa'eed. It's time to exact your revenge." His eyes narrowed at mine fiercely. Truth me told, I'm still unaware of how I'm still able to control the joy in me. It amazes me how there was something other than my love for Aryan or my passion for guns and vehicles, that made my soul happy.

"You can't even begin to imagine how overwhelmed I am, Sir. So are we going to attack them or burn down their house like they did to ours, or——-"

"Seriously? It's not easy as you think it is. It's way more than that."

"What are you implying?"

"I'm saying these people murdered your entire family, committed arson, forgery, and took over your family's entire fortune, yet you assume ordinary death is avenging everything? Come on, Zira. You're more brutal than that!"

"But Mr Arman, what else could be possibly done?" Aryan was the one with the question this time around. And I thank God he asked because I'm clueless at the moment. Curiosity was creeping beneath both our skins.