Part-229

  Lemon swallowed. "But why—"

  "Don’t ask questions," Rahat cut him off. "This is bigger than you. James is of io us, but we don’t want him knowing that. Your job is to observe. Do not make tact. Do not provoke him. And above all, don’t screw this up."

  Lemon was stuhere art of him that wao push back, to ask Rahat why he was suddenly so ied in James. But he knew better than to question orders from someone like Rahat. If Fire Fly had its sights set on James, then Lemon had no choice but to ply.

  "I uand," Lemon replied, trying to sound as fident as possible. But inside, he was filled with questions. Why would Fire Fly care about a high school student like James? And what exactly was James involved in that had caught their attention?

  Rahat ehe call without another word, leaving Lemon to process the situation. His aoward James hadn’t faded, but now it was tempered with caution. Fire Fly was watg, and that meant Lemon had to be careful. He couldn’t a his impulses, not when there were rger forces at py.

  The Shadow of Observation:

  Back at school, Lemon tried his best to follow Rahat’s orders. He kept his distance from James, watg him from afar, but his hatred was difficult to tain. Every time he saw James, memories of his suspension and the public disgrace he had suffered resurfaced. James, along with Ryan and Sourov, had tiheir activities—hunting down online scammers and hackers like it was a game. They were good at it, too, and that only made Lemon angrier.

  Lemon knew he couldn’t directly watch James all the time. It was too risky, especially if James caught on. Instead, he decided to rely on his two gang members, Tony and Mark—both of whom had also been suspended alongside him for their roles in the scams. Tony and Mark were loyal to Lemon, and they shared his hatred for James. But Lemon made ohing clear to them: they were to observe only, nothing more.

  "Don’t eh him," Lemon instructed firmly, sitting with them in a secluded er of the schoolyard. "Just watch. Report bae at the end of each day. But don’t get involved, no matter what."

  Tony, the rger of the two, frowned. "What if we get a ce to teach him a lesson? Just a quie, you know? No one has to know it was us."

  Lemon shook his head. "No. We ’t risk it. We’re on thih the administration as it is. One wrong move, and we’re out food."

  Mark, always the quieter of the two, nodded in agreement. "Alright, boss. We’ll keep an eye on him. But it’s hard not to want to smack that smug look off his face."

  Lemon uood the se. Every fiber of his being wao make James pay for what he had done, but Rahat’s orders were clear. Fire Fly had bigger pns, and if Lemon wao stay in the anization’s good graces, he had to follow them to the letter.