Hitman's Tenet

Chapter 5

I walk down the spiraling stairs, and step up to the steel doors. It's midday, and I had some free time.

"A! It's me, Jay." She's in front of the doors, arranging her equipment. Her face flies up towards mine, and she freezes.

"Who are you?"
"Very funny A, you know who I am." I decide to play along. "I'm your fairy godfather, sent to you from the twinkling stars." A's hand goes to her gun, pulling it out.

"Wrong answer," she responds dryly. I jump up and pull myself up to another flight of stairs, my heart sinking. "And also, my name isn't A."

I jump from staircase to staircase, saving me the time of running up them. I hear gunshots below me, and I grimace. This isn't A.

I make it out of the staircase's room, and scale the nearest tree. Disguised by the foliage, I try and catch my breath. It's hard to breathe, with my heart feeling like it's going to beat out of my chest.

What happened?

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I come into the vault room, ready for my shift. Right away, I know something is wrong. Iva's arms are crossed, and her mask is off. She's fuming.

"Hey!" I wave, and Iva puts her hands on her hips. "What's wrong?"
"Is the name Jay familiar to you?" I flinch, and rub my arm nervously.

"I didn't think anything would come out of it..."
"Come on. Don't tell me that you, of all people, didn't think that anything bad would happen because of this."
"Iva, really."

"No, Amber. I mean, if he's working for a guild... there's no telling how dangerous this could get." I go silent, and don't move for a while. Then I pull off my mask and look at Iva, tears pooling in my eyes.

She's confirmed my worst suspicion.

"I overhead The Chairman talking about a guild trying to steal the gem," I mumble.
"And you didn't think to tell me?" Iva's shouting now, and I looks away, face torn.

"Do you think it could be him?" I asks quietly, so softly I can barely hear myself.

But Iva hears me, nodding, and fiddles with the gun strapped to her hip.
"There's no way it can't be him."

I sit down on the cold marble floors, contemplating my options slowly. Iva left a while ago, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Do I shut him out? Demand the truth? Capture him? ...Do nothing?

I can't think at all, and when I look up, I see the secret entrance opening up. Feeling a flicker of happiness that Jay came to visit, I smile to myself, but I realize what I need to do and my heart sinks.

Jay comes climbing down, jumping from a staircase to the one below, instead of walking down the steps.

"Hey!" He waves, from a flight of stairs above me, giving me a thumbs up. "Feeling better?" Numbly, I nod. "You don't look better." My hand goes to my gun, and he takes a step back from the edge of the stairs.

"Jay... are you trying to steal the gem? Jay, I don't even know who you are. I've never even seen your face, and..." My words come out muffled and shaky, and my hand trembles against the chilling touch of the metal gun.

"A." His voice is hard, and he takes another step back from me. "You ask who I am, and yet you haven't even told me your name. I don't know anything about you either."

I take my hand off the gun, and he runs.

I watch him climb back through the opening, and the mechanical door closes, shrouding me in darkness.

"Amber," I whisper. "My name is Amber."

I'm in my orange dress again, attending another ball. The Chairman decided to do an reveal of his prized gem, and me and Iva have to attend.

My heart isn't in it tonight, and Iva can tell. She looks conflicted, unsure whether to comfort or scold me for my actions. We say nothing to each other, and the silence is so loud.

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I confronted Crow about my emotional turmoil earlier this evening, telling him about everything except A. He told me that I should still go ahead with the plan. So here I am.

My eyes still search for A, instinctively, even though I know she won't be here tonight. I see Amber and her twin, though they won't be seeing Arthur. Jay will be attending tonight instead.

It's time.

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It's noisy, and the only thing people can talk about is the famed gem.

"It must be so beautiful."
"I absolutely must see it."

I fidget with my dress strap, unwilling to believe that this make people think that The Chairman's gem is real. But the more I look around, the more the hopless sense of dread fills me. He really is getting away with this.

Breaking away from Iva, I walk to the snack table. I survey the room, hoping Arthur is here, and I see him towards the left side of the room.

He's holding the same drink he had last time we met, but his blue eyes are ablaze. His steps are quick and surefooted, and he goes over to talk to a tall man, with raven hair and sharp eyes. I decide against talking to Arthur, instead grabbing some food, and walk back to Iva.

"Esteemed guests," The Chairman booms. He walks up onto a platform I hadn't noticed before. Behind him, men carry over a giant velvety box.

"Ladies and Gentleman, privileged guests of honorable status, this is the night." I cringe at the words he uses uses butter up the other guests, but it seems like it's working on them. I can see the nobles all have a smile on their faces.

The Chairman launches into a prolonged, drawn out speech of the uniqueness, traits, and immeasurable value.

After a while, my legs get tired, and Iva yawns beside me. She fans herself, and rolls her eyes at The Chairman.

"How long do you think he'll go on?" She asks me quietly, and I whisper back.
"Maybe-"

"And now for what you've all been waiting for... the grand reveal of my prized gem!" The Chairman's practically yelling now, and Iva rolls her eyes again.

"Took him long enough to get to the point."

The Chairman strides over to the velvet box and unlocks it with a key around his neck. Then, he quickly flips several levers into a complex combination.

And he opens the chest.