One of our first and most important priorities was food and supplies while we were laying low. Kieshala, Jenny, and Kara would be trying to help with that by gathering from the ocean when they weren’t taking shifts laying with Maddie and Nat, but we didn’t feel that it would be safe to leave the lagoon, so that would limit what they could gather for us. We were mostly going to have to rely on whatever I could get while shopping.

Since we Naethari tend to eat more than humans do, especially me and Kara recently, it was decided that I would have to go into Havana for shopping trips every few days until we felt it was safe to move. Doing one massive shopping trip would just be too troublesome on my own and might get the wrong kind of attention. I also would try to spread the trips out at different stores, kiosks, and farmer’s markets throughout the city for the sake of caution. There was a problem that we would need to address though.

The first of those problems was that I would need identification of some sort, just in case. We couldn’t be sure if the identities that we had established for me when we had arrived in Havana might be compromised due to my association with Maddie when we were attacked. I was going to have to change my appearance for when I was in public, and that meant changing my ID to match it as well. So I was going to have to go see the guy that Uncle Jack got to create our identities last time to get a new one created.

Uncle Jack figured that the camera that tipped off our pursuers to Maddie’s presence was probably a security camera that Maddie and I missed seeing somewhere near where we had parked to do our shopping, which was why they had ambushed us there. It probably wouldn’t give them enough information to know where we were holed up, or even the general direction. They were obviously eager to catch her and get the information though, or they would have just set a tail on us instead.

That’s the problem with the military, everything is a strike operation, there’s no subtlety. Though I guess they could have figured that Maddie was experienced enough to detect a tail, and they would have been right about that. If we wanted to throw them off and point them in the wrong direction though, we would have to switch up tactics.

This was why I found myself shifted into the very same form I had been wearing when Maddie and I were attacked and driving a grey minivan, as I followed a very specific route that Uncle Jack had specified. They had probably gotten a good look at my face from the soldiers’ body cams during the attack, so I was probably now a person of interest to be added to their facial recognition searches. We needed to use that since they would likely be checking hospitals for Maddie. When they didn’t find her that way, they would likely assume that she was dead, and she would have been if I hadn’t given her my blood to start her transition into a Naethari. Regardless, it wouldn’t take long for them to start looking for me, Natalie, or Maddie’s known associates if they weren’t already, meaning every human in our group.

The route that I was following would take me out of the city in the near opposite direction of where we actually were, and there were a couple of new security and traffic cameras along it that could be easily missed by someone who had been in the city for a while. The idea was to get ‘my’ face seen on one of the traffic cams, and then the route would allow the other cameras to get glimpses of my route out of the city from a distance if the people keeping an eye on the feeds were clever enough.

After finding a quiet area to ditch the van, I hoofed it to a nearby motel on the outskirts of the city to rest in my natural form for a bit, eat something, and prepare for phase two. Our usual shtick so far had been trying to blend in as much as possible so we wouldn’t get too much attention. That was why we had used bland vehicles like black SUVs and the grey minivan, which didn’t stand out.

Now though, the plan was for me to avoid the attention of our pursuers by doing exactly the opposite and standing out as much as possible. With that in mind, when I finally left the motel in a cab after a two-hour rest, I looked like a completely different person. Rather than the amalgamation of various local girls that I had been shifting into previously to blend in, this form was meant to get attention.

I was now a tall, beautiful, and slightly busty Caucasian woman who looked to be in her early twenties. My eyes were blue, but I had kept my natural magenta hair color, as well as its length, to get more attention. My eyebrows were shifted to a dark blonde shade though, to indicate that the hair was a dye job.

To complete the image, I wore a pair of pink and black high-top sneakers, very short and tight denim cutoff shorts, and a bikini top in the same shade of pink as my shoes. The large shoulder bag that I carried would double as a purse and a place to keep my clothes if I should have to go swimming. It had some waterproof compartments inside where I was keeping my gun and all of the cash on me, and once I got my new documentation, that would be going in one of those pouches as well.

I stepped out of the cab and walked up to the entrance of an apartment building that had seen better days. Hitting what was hopefully the correct number on the intercom, I waited through the static-tinged ringing that followed until a man’s distorted voice asked in a Midwest United States accent, “Who is it?”

“It’s Naiya MacArthur, Jack sent me,” I responded, trying not to show my impatience. It was still very hot outside and I had bought six bottles of chilled water at the motel, one of which I was currently draining when the voice spoke, not that it was chilled anymore. As for my name, I used the MacArthur name because that was Mom, Dad, and Maddie’s last name. With how I looked now there was no way that anyone would believe that my last name was Chan, and Soulsinger certainly wouldn’t work either.

“Yeah, I was expecting you, come on up,” the voice replied, abruptly followed by the buzzing of the door. I quickly opened it and then made my way inside and up to the third floor where Pat Norris and his wife, Novia, lived. Pat was an old contact of Uncle Jack who had gotten married and settled down here in Havana a few years ago. He still took the occasional work forging documents though, and the documents that we had gotten from him before had been good.

I approached apartment number 303 and tapped gently at the door. The door opened almost immediately and a stocky man of average height with ruddy brown hair who was dressed in a baggy hoodie and jeans ushered me inside. There was a bulge in the hoodie, and I could smell metal, gun oil, and gunpowder. I ignored it and stepped inside. If I needed to, I could take him down before he could use it, but things would go a lot faster if he felt secure.

As soon as the door was closed behind me, he pulled the gun to point it at my head. “If Jack sent you, what’s the code phrase?”

At least I was expecting this. Uncle Jack had mentioned that Pat could be a bit paranoid and twitchy. I sighed, carefully took a sip of my water, and turned to look straight down the barrel of the gun at him. “What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

He visibly relaxed and lowered the gun. “You’re a cold one, ain’t ya? Hardly batted an eye there. Jack said that you’re one of Max’s girls, so I guess that makes sense. Max and Clara always were cool under pressure. Did you bring the cash?”

My response was to produce an envelope from my shoulder bag and hold it out to him. “Ten thousand, as agreed. Sorry about the rush job, did you get the photos and the other files we sent?”

Pat took the envelope and, after giving a satisfied grunt at the contents, he motioned for me to follow him into the kitchen. “Yeah, I got them. I just got done putting the finishing touches on the documents. You’re good to go, ‘Jessica’.”

When we entered the kitchen, I saw a variety of documents spread out across the kitchen table. There was a California driver’s license, passport, birth certificate, social security card, Cuban Visa, and various travel documents, all under the name Jessica Danvers. The passport showed my current face and hair, though the other photo IDs used pictures of this form with blonde hair instead. Everything looked good and ready to go and worked for the fake background that we had given him to work with.

“Thanks,” I said as I gathered up the documents and put them in one of the waterproof pouches in my shoulder bag. “It was good doing business with you.”

I paid the cab driver and once I was out of the cab I headed straight for the interior of the large garage where I had been dropped off. By day, they did mostly legitimate business doing repairs and modding cars, but at night, the place was a chop shop. I hadn’t met these guys personally before, but they were connected to the local crime ring that Dad and Uncle Jack had been doing business with for our various less-than-legal needs since arriving in Havana. We had gotten some of the vehicles that we used through them and hired some of them when we needed extra bodies.

I walked up to the counter and smiled at the guy who was there flipping through a car magazine as I said, “Hi, I’m here to see Sandro, Jack sent me.” He was tall and lanky, but his bare arms showed definite muscle tone. His hair was long and tied back and I couldn’t see much of his face until the guy looked up from his magazine and his jaw immediately dropped.

“Oh… I… hola señorita. Jack send you? I… umm… take you to the office, Sandro is there.” He offered as he quickly scurried from behind the counter to lead me through a door and into an office. “Jefe, some chica here to see you. She says Jack sent her.”

Sitting behind the desk inside the office was a large and muscular Latino man with short-cropped hair and a goatee. He had a long scar on his right cheek that added character to a face that I supposed was otherwise handsome and wore a simple black t-shirt and jeans as he stood up to greet me. “Hola, Jack usually comes himself, with that big guy, Max, or that redhead.”

Usually, uncle Jack handled the business with Sandro and his people, sometimes with Dad, but Mom, Maddie, and Aunt Carmen had all met with either him or his people at least once. This would be my first time meeting him. Technically I wasn’t officially part of the family business, and with it being so hot they had elected to allow me to mostly stay home and in the pool when they didn’t need me for something like the operation to bring down Pierce. I had only really been with Maddie when we were ambushed because she wanted to spend some quality sister time. If I hadn’t agreed…

I tried not to think about that as I replied with a shrug, “Well, they need to lay low for a bit.” They didn’t need to know anything more than that and it was something that they could probably understand. “I’m Naiya, the redhead is my sister and Max is our dad. Anyway, while they’re laying low, I’ll be doing the opposite since I’ve kept out of sight until now. I have some work to do and I’ll need some wheels, something fast and flashy.”

He looked surprised for a moment and then thoughtful before he suddenly grinned and gestured for me to sit as his underling left the room to let us talk business. “Oh, I got just the thing, you’ll love it. I was modding it for my girlfriend until I caught her cheating on me, so I’ve been looking for a buyer. So tell me, Naiya, just what kind of work do you do? Can you handle something like what you’re asking for?”

“I work with Jack and my dad, so the jobs vary,” I replied as casually as I could as I took a seat. I might not actually have worked with them before we came to Havana to have the practical experience, but I did have the training. “I can do disguises well if I need to, and I’ve been trained to fight and handle most weapons since I was a kid. Don’t worry about me, I can handle fast cars. My sister and I learned to drive when I was twelve and started driving offensively when I was thirteen. You never know when you’re going to need a wheelman.”

Sandro’s face practically split in half from the grin he was now sporting. “You got that right; a good driver is worth their weight in gold. If you’re looking for work while you’re here I can always use someone with skills.”

I wore a pensive expression for a moment to look like I was considering it before shaking my head. “Thanks for the offer, but hopefully we’ll be moving on once we deal with a problem or two. Until then, it is probably best for me to avoid anything that could attract any police attention. I just want something fast to cover all my bases, just in case I get found out and need a getaway car. The car is clean?”

He looked disappointed but he seemed to understand and nodded. “Keep me in mind if you need to make some quick cash,” he finally offered before nodding. “Yeah, I actually got this one legally and was modding it for my girl to get into racing. It’s a Toyota Supra MK IV kitted out with a roll cage, NOS, high-temperature brake pads, and all-weather racing tires. I replaced the suspension and turbochargers, tuned the exhaust and engine, and installed a short-throw shifter. I’ve put a lot of time and work into it, but I’d be willing to sell it for one hundred K American.”

“Let me have a look, and if I like it then I’ll take it,” I agreed. With the two million we had gotten from Pierce, along with our other funds, we weren’t really hurting for cash right now, so I was willing to look it over. So long as it was the opposite of low-profile and could serve as a getaway car if I needed it to, I would be a happy girl.

Sandro led me out of the office and to one of the garage bays that contained the Toyota Supra that he had mentioned. It was painted bright pink with black racing stripes and decals on the sides. A good look at the underside and under the hood showed that Sandro had done good work on it. I wasn’t a fan of the violet undercarriage lighting, but the vehicle was definitely an attention-getter.

When I finally finished my inspection and turned the key in the ignition, the engine roared to life before settling into a gentle thrumming of the engine that was reminiscent of a kitten purring. I revved the engine a bit to get a sense of it before finally turning off the engine and stepping outside to smile at Sandro. “I’ll take it. I’ll give you one hundred and twenty-five K for it, in cash. One hundred for the vehicle and the rest to keep quiet if anyone asks about us.”

“You got it,” Sandro replied with another face-splitting grin. “You people been good to us since you arrived; you paid to work on our turf, hired our people, and brought us some good business. If anyone asks, we never heard of any of you.”

“Thanks, Sandro,” I offered in genuine gratitude as I fished the small satchel filled with stacks of American hundred-dollar bills from my shoulder bag and counted out his payment. After that, all we needed to do was have him sign the ownership papers over to my current alias and I could be on my way. I was glad to have that over and done with since I was starting to get hungry, and I had some shopping to do.