by J. D. Hale
Intergalactic Police Archives
Dangerous Criminals Wing: File Number 2582
Name: Kairee Dunham
Status: Saize’s Number-One Most Wanted Criminal
Home-planet: Saize (Half human, half Saizian)
Date of Birth: December 1st
Crimes: 299. (89 thefts, 12 murders, 102 breaking and entering cases, 64 hit and run cases, 32 public assaults)
Priceless Artifacts stolen: 89
Artifacts Reclaimed from her Possession: 0.
Previous Known Locations: Cairo (Egypt, Earth)
Unami (Neara, Saize)
Parentage: Adarian Dunham and Rhiannon Rhodes-Dunham
Siblings: (Sister[s])Bronwyn, Elaina
(Brother[s])Rowan, Izan
IQ: 256
Current Accomplice[s]: Rowan Dunham
Previous Accomplices (*murdered by Kairee):
Salwe Marks*
Lalita Moore*
Giana Lo*
Ronan Iman*
Salah the First*
Rowan Dunham
Attempts by police at capture: 251 (none successful)
Current Location: Unknown
Gender: Female
Age: Sixteen
June 11th 10:41pm
The Wythe Mansion, Unami, Planet Saize
I laughed a bit. Looking over the first page overview of my ‘newly-updated’ criminal record for the first time always made me smile. The police were so stupid, still having no idea that I was located in one of my permanent estates – one of many that authorities had neglected to find – on my home planet, Saize, a technologically advanced planet just outside of Earth’s Solar System. This favorite mansion of mine was larger than any of that on Earth – exponentially so. My mother, my twin brother Rowan and I had lived there ever since my parents split up. My father and other siblings – Bronwyn, Elaina, and Izan, lived in Egypt in my father’s home town of Cairo.
I was sitting in what I liked to call my Lair, a room filled with the plethora of priceless items that I and my brother had stolen from only the most prestigious places in the galaxy. The room was large and white, the carpet blood red. My massive oak desk was substantial, holding the latest virus-proofed computer imported from the capital.
For some reason, thoughts of Dmitri Ivanov – the Intergalactic Police Chief – came to my mind. Then, in only moments, I understood why. On the desk in front of me was a copy of the Saizian Technological, and Dmitri Ivanov was on the front page. He held a glowing orb with spindly black patterns across the side. Across the front in bold blue lettering was the word ‘Xeron,’ which meant almost nothing to me. I skimmed the article. It told of an amazing new piece of technology that would revolutionize the police force, with ridiculous and probably fabricated tales of mind reading, advanced code cracking, and teleportation. I threw the magazine into the trash and stared at some of my research, hardly processing any information.
Glancing down from the files opened on my desktop, I heard a knock at the door.
“Kai?” My twin brother, Rowan, said quietly, or rather what seemed quiet through the thick, vaulted door. Quickly, I got up and unlocked the first level of security. Behind the cherry wood sat a steel vault. Hundreds of security measures were welded into it. I scanned my eye, had my finger pricked, typed in the password – 2582-2693-1672-3491 – (the criminal registry numbers of myself, Rowan, and our parents), got a DNA scan by way of cheek swab, and finally unlocked the deadbolt with a series of keys that have to be turned within one second of each other, kept on my body at all times.
Rowan was standing on the other side, holding a large manila file-folder, an excited expression settled on his normally stoic face. His black hair was stark compared to my naturally bleach blonde tresses. Even in personality, we were very different. I was much more liberal than my brother, as I have chosen to get a tattoo every hundred crimes I’ve committed, while my brother would never put ink on his skin. But, even with all our differences, he was my closest ally, my most treasured friend, and he was nearly all I had in the world.
Nobody would believe we were twins was it not for our family’s trademark black eyes, cold and mysterious, and that we had the same long, lean bodies with hidden but immeasurably strong muscles stretched under pale skin – typical of any Saizian. The ultimate disguise, as any good criminal knows, is looking soothing and kind, when you could easily kill anyone – no matter how good or evil a man – in a matter of moments with your bare hands.
“What is it?” I wondered suspiciously, my eyes narrowing. His face was hardly ever settled with any expression besides his usual, almost bored but strangely determined face.
“Look at this,” He grinned, stepping into the Lair. I sat at my desk, he in the plush leather chair by the crackling fireplace, flames licking at a stack of old papers and wood. I took the folder from his hands and slowly undid the fastening. Inside sat a pile of papers, photos, and other supposed evidence.
“What is this?” I asked, completely suspicious of anything that my brother procured. Though I trusted Rowan more than anyone in the world, it was impossible to truly trust anyone but myself.
“It’s our next case. It was left on the front porch this morning.” He explained calmly.
We hadn’t been on a good case together in a few months and we were getting out of practice in our nefarious ways.
I shuffled the papers through my fingers, growing increasingly disinterested.
“This is hardly a case. And nobody knows where our house is, so how could-”
I was cut off by a slow, quiet buzzing. My eyes darted across the room, quickly scanning with hawk eyes and perfect vision for what I knew to be there, flying around the room.
A tiny, silver helicopter – hardly the size of my pinky fingernail – called a nanobug, was whizzing around my head.
“What is that?” Rowan asked, beginning to move.
“Stop!” I snapped, freezing every muscle in my body to an icy fortitude, “If you move, it will self-destruct.”
As I suspected, a red laser shot out of the front of the device, expanded, and scanned my eyes, then my brother’s. A shiny hologram appeared between us, and grew until a life size boy, about my age but much smaller, stood before us. He was so thin that he appeared to be drowning in his own skin. He was clearly from Earth, as he had deep tan skin. Nowhere else in the galaxy could this trait be found, not even a planet like Saize with twin suns.
“Kairee and Rowan Dunham, I presume,” The boy said, glancing between us, his voice, despite his appearance, regal and silky.
“Yes. Now, who are you?” I demanded, my voice intimidating and full of power.
“I’m a servant of a vastly influential mastermind, of whom you would be lucky to meet.”
Rolling my eyes, I groaned. Anyone who has the gall to call someone a mastermind in front of two of the most influential criminals in the universe is a bit too cocky for my tastes.
“I was told to arrange a meeting so that the three of you could correspond on his latest project.” The boy told us confidently.
I pondered this for a moment, locking eyes with Rowan as we had a silent disagreement. Nothing would make me happier than jetting across the universe to our father’s home planet to meet some cocky little bastard who wants to challenge us. But, my brother being his usual self, thought of how ridiculous and dangerous it could turn out to be.
“Hm.” I started, refusing to listen to Rowan’s ‘logic,’ “My conditions: your…master? Isn’t that a bit outdated?...will arrive alone, at a place of my choosing. He is to be weaponless. I will ensure that neither my brother nor I will bring any weapons of our own, not that we’d need them anyways. I
f I find that he is not alone and without a weapon, I’ll take matters into my own very capable hands. You wouldn’t want that, would you?” I batted my eyelashes, feigning nicety.
The boy’s eyes widened.
“No, of course not, ma’am.”
“That’s more like it.” I smirked, happy to gain the appropriate respect, “Now, we will meet tomorrow, in Cairo, Egypt, planet Earth, at the Hyatt Hotel near the city square. I expect for him to be there precisely at eleven o’four, no earlier, no later. You should be warned that you’re messing with two of the most powerful beings in the universe, and I notice everything. If a single thing is even minutely off, your master will become my latest victim.” I told him calmly, snapping out my hand and crushing the helicopter in my delicate-looking fingers.
“So, we’re really going to see this guy?” Rowan asked, interest clouding his already dark and harsh eyes.
“Can’t refuse this much fun.” I shrugged with a smile, “Was there a return address on this envelope?”
He shook his head slowly.
“Obviously not.” I mumbled, “Someone this good wouldn’t put an address on something directly given to us, especially if he or she knows who they’re dealing with. It’s easy logic that if you give us an address, we’ll track you down. It’s that simple. I wish it wasn’t true, but the things inside of this are decoys, placed there simply to lure us into opening it. Our case is on a plane to Egypt,” I told him with an adventurous smile.
“Speaking of which, how are we going to get there?” Row asked curiously.
“One of the ships.”
Now, in the average, human garage, you might find a car or two. Not in the Dunhams’, though we aren’t fully human. In our garage, several intergalactic vehicles, only given to a few people, sat untouched. Some were sleek and fast, others bulky and hard to maneuver. Every person in our family has an intergalactic space travel license, all forged. My ship – given to me on my tenth birthday, before I was allowed to drive in the law’s eyes – was a little black and white starship called the Wasp. Fast and furious, it zipped from planet to planet in mere moments. If the people on Earth were to discover this technology, their world would be forever changed, finally thrust into the already bustling universe.
“So, who do you think this person is?” Rowan wondered aloud, cutting into the fond thoughts of my ship.
I considered that for a minute, using my extreme, vast knowledge to think about it. We had been given hardly any inkling of information, except that the messenger was a servant. So he must be wealthy, most likely from family money judging by the age of the boy. A criminal, obviously. But that doesn’t narrow anything down. These days, any and every master criminal’s got tons of possessions.
“No clue.” I lied.
He grinned, “That’s a first. Kairee Dunham not knowing.”
“Well, I’m sure I could find out if necessary, but isn't the element of surprise always so very intriguing?”
At that moment, before my brother could answer, a fist carefully rapped on the door.
Mother, I mouthed silently to Row. He nodded, a look of wariness coming over him.
I answered the door, going through the security measures tediously, taking more time than necessary in order to prolong seeing my mother.
Rhiannon Rhodes Dunham. My mother, though it was sometimes hard to think of her that way, was a notorious criminal in her time, training Rowan and me since birth. When she separated form my father, the training became even more rigorous as she poured herself into living vicariously through us. So, honestly, we tried to keep her at a safe distance.
I was a facsimile of my mother – from her 5’8” stature, matching to mine, to her pale skin and naturally bleach blonde hair. Though, much to her dismay, she has been growing willowy and emaciated with age, while I remain curvy and thin. Her black eyes slowly moved over my face, looking for anything that would give away something she could derive suspicion from.
She stood, austere and completely stoic in her temperament, as she looked over me.
“Good evening Mother.” I greeted her simply, not allowing even a trace of a smile to creep onto my face.
“What are you and Rowan doing in there?” She nearly snapped, holding herself back as her inquisitive eyes turned into slits. I felt as if she were reading my mind, though everyone knew that ability only exists in full humans, and even then it was such an unknown.
“We were just planning a trip.” Rowan cut in quietly, betraying no emotions.
“Which is?” Our mother asked, her eyes darting between us with all the sharpness of daggers stabbing into us.
“Rowan and I are going to Earth tomorrow, to meet someone.” I finished Rowan’s thought sternly, trying to imply a no-buts-about-it attitude as if I were the parent and she the child.
“Where on Earth?” She asked, one pale eyebrow rising.
“Cairo.” I enunciated slowly, keeping my voice low in an attempt to prevent her from noticing anything out of the ordinary.
“Egypt?! What business do you have there?” Her features were surprised and angry, wrinkled beyond usual in frustration and curiosity.
I understood her revulsion towards the idea – my father lived in Egypt. He had moved back to his home planet when they separated and later divorced a few years back.
“We have to go see a possible accomplice,” I reasoned.
“But, where will you stay?” She asked obliviously, clearly trying to ignore what was plain in front of her.
“I planned to go there for a reason, Mother. We’ll stay with Dad.” I told her, attempting not to raise my voice at all.
Her voice seemed to raise an octave or so as my mother demanded, “With your father?!”
“Yes. We’ll leave at eleven tomorrow.” I dismissed her quickly, giving no choice in the matter.
“I’ll see you off then,” She said, turning away from me as she, like all of us, hid her emotions expertly. I watched her walk away, her body rigid with controlled anger before I locked the door and returned to my brother.
“As I said, we’ll depart at eleven from the Wasp. Wear sunglasses – our eyes are a dead giveaway. And we’ll both have to wear something…inconspicuous. What we’re wearing now,” I gestured to his suit and tie, and to my killer combo of a formal black dress and sexy red stilettos, “might stand out in a civilian tourist town.”
“I agree. Now, we’ll just have to find something besides the usual,” He said, his blank expression unwavering.
“I’ll reconvene with you at eight,” I said, knowing that eight o’clock was late in our family, but stepped out of the room before reconsidering, locking everything behind me.
The main entryway was white marble, with a dark wood staircase leading to our bedrooms. I sauntered up the stairs quickly, my stilettos clicking against the wood. At the top, I turned left down the long hallway to my room. I pushed open the door, had my finger pricked, and walked in. My room, unlike the rest of the house, was black as pitch with a dark gray carpet. I kept another desk up here, this one glass, which held the same files as all of my computers. If necessary, I could terminate the files with one click (and several passwords and protocols). A floor to ceiling window was behind my bed, but curtains were drawn tight over it, the only light showing was the glare from long, bright white fluorescents hanging from the ceiling.
My bed was warm and inviting, and I quickly drifted off to sleep.
June 12th 5:16am
The Wythe Mansion, Unami, Planet Saize
I woke up before my six am alarm, and yet I was up after my whole family. We, as criminals (and Saizians, I suppose), tended to rise early and stay up late. I quickly stalked down the steps and into the kitchen, where Row was tapping his watch and finishing breakfast.
“Good morning, Kai.” Rowan smiled and kissed me on the cheek – the international Saizian sign of friendship and greeting, “So, if we’re going to meet this person, are we really going to be weaponless?” He asked, clearly worried. Tho
ugh my twin could take any person with his bear hands, both of our strong suits were in weapons, as that’s where most of our training was focused.
“Of course not. Our weapons will simply be better concealed.” I explained rationally.
The hours passed unnoticed until it was nine o’clock and I was preparing for the day.
I looked in the mirror, staring at my sleek, Saizian body. My muscles flexed over strong bones. I stretched my arm across my chest, watching my deltoids bend and move, pulsing under my pale skin. I could feel two hearts thudding under my ribs, the best of Saizian muscles. Even though I had hundreds of organs, as varied and strange as the galaxy itself, my hearts were the most useful. They allowed me to lose monumental amounts of blood and sustain injuries that would kill a lesser being.
My mind shifted gears to clothes. Instead of what I would have chosen – a form fitting red dress and spiky black stilettos – I wore jean shorts and a black T-shirt. It was ridiculous; I could hardly believe that people wore this sort of thing every day. I slipped on a pair of Converse, impractical shoes lacking proper grips and arch supports, that I had picked up from a market downtown displaying classic Earth fashion, and tied my hair back into a ponytail. I stared at myself in the mirror, mildly annoyed that I didn’t look more like a civilian. I had the striking, pure Saizian features of my mother’s side of the family and my home planet – full lips, large and wide eyes, high cheekbones – and most of the time I could use that beauty to my advantage, but in this case, it would work against me. My face was recognizable in every part of the universe, much to my chagrin, plastered across the universe with the words Danger! Do not apprehend! scrawled under my most unattractive picture. I wore only light makeup since all my classic picture depicted me in my classic deep red, hallucinogenic lipstick. My own invention, the lipstick line caused a victim to experience horrible, deranged psychotic episodes before passing out, often going into a short comma. Peachy and dangerous lipstick, glittery mascara and golden eye shadow adorned my face after only a few moments.
