The Crimson Assassin

Chapter 2

She turned to see Ryan slowly getting to his feet. She walked over to him and offered him a hand. Ryan flinched away and awkwardly shuffled backwards; panic clear on his face.

“You...You almost killed me! Why?” Crimson started towards him once again, “Get… Get away from me.”

“I didn’t want to, it wasn’t like I had a choice.” Crimson said pleadingly.

“Everyone has a choice, especially over killing someone.” Ryan shouted angrily.

Crimson slumped to the floor, “I did make a choice, that’s why you’re still alive.”

“Yeah,” Ryan said, “But that was only a last minute decision.  It should be automatic. Oh my god, you’re a murderer. You’re a murderer!”

Ryan scrambled to his feet and ran to the door. Instinctively, Crimson tackled Ryan to the ground, grabbed some rope from her school bag and bound his arms and his legs so he couldn’t move.

“Why do you have rope with you?” Ryan asked, freaking out.

“Doesn’t everybody?” She asked, in an attempt to lighten the mood but it didn't work, “We’re not leaving here until you tell me why their is a contract out on your head by the government.”

“Wait, what?” A look of fear replaced the anger on Ryan’s face. “The government? The government wanted you to kill me?”

“Yes.” Crimson said in a matter of fact tone, “But I didn’t kill you and that means they’ll send someone else and trust me, they won’t spare you or your brother. I’ll help as much as I can, but we need to leave now, to get as much of a head start as possible. I can’t help though, unless you tell me why they want to kill you.”

“My brother, as well? He’s a goody two shoes, he won’t blow his nose without permission. If I knew why they wanted us dead, do you think we would have left home this morning?”

Before Crimson could respond, her phone rang loudly. She pulled it out her pocket.  The caller ID flashed, ‘Smith’. Crimson turned Ryan.

“Lay on your back with your neck to one side. Now. And look dead” She demanded, eying her phone.

She accepted the call, causing a holographic woman to stand on her screen. Her black hair was cut into a harsh bob with small, grey, pinpoint eyes.

“Grey,” She said coldly, “You’ve dealt with the target, I trust. Stone has informed me of your queries about why and informed me that he had to talk you round. Just trust the system in the future, asking questions can only cause trouble. Send me a mission report ASAP and make sure no one stumbles across the brothers' corpses' until the cleanup team arrives. Grey, dont mess up. Smith out.”

The hologram disappeared with Crimson’s sudden release of breath. She turned to see Ryan laying on the floor obediently.

“Ryan, all clear but clean up crew are on their way. We need to move now.” She glanced over her shoulder, “Okay, you need to decide fast. Do you trust me because you can just stay here to be killed if you wish, but if you choose to trust me, you need to trust me completely. It’s not just your life at stake, you know. It’s your brothers and mine also.”

Crimson held out her hand. A tense silence filled the air as Ryan considered  his options, “Ryan, as you said, it’s people’s lives at stake here, you shouldn’t have to consider. We don’t have time for questions now but if you trust me I’ll answer all your questions while we’re on the go, but either way, you can’t stay here if you want to live.”

Ryan sighed heavily, “This isn’t fair, but I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

“Okay,” Crimson said thoughtfully, “What lesson’s your brother in now?”