Hidden and Silent (SpyxFamily)

Chapter Twenty

        Yor woke, instantly alert to every sound and movement as her bleary eyes opened to the ceiling. Rain fell softly on the fire escape by the bedroom window. Anya breathed evenly in her sleep. The room was by no means loud, she heard nothing of alarm outside, and she wasn't sure what had woken her. The lull of drowsy warmth tried to pull her back under, but something nicked in her brain, unable to let her rest.

She sat up and checked on the kids sleeping on the bed. She and Loid had insisted that Demetrius take it and the children slept soundly on either side of him. With little to no floor space to comfortably settle in the living room, Yor and Loid didn't mind sleeping on the floor and they had rolled out mats on opposite sides of the bed.

Seeing Anya safe and sound, Yor tilted her head and tucked her hair behind an ear, listening for anything amiss. All was silent. The apartment was quiet on the other side of the bedroom door and yet Yor couldn't leave it alone.

She had felt this before. The unsettling twitch in her brain that told her not all was right. The danger that lurked beyond the illusion of safety and stillness. A disquiet that reached into her bones and urged her to be on her guard despite the warmth nestling in the apartment against the cold outdoors and the blissful peacefulness ensconcing her and her loved ones.

With noiseless motions, she removed her blanket and crept to the door. She held an ear to it and tried to quiet her beating heart in her head. She so very much wanted to leave the bedroom to investigate, but she made herself wait a moment longer for any sound. She was glad she did as her trained hearing picked up on something in the main area.

Someone was here.

Weightless steps passed over the floor like a wraith, undetectable to those who couldn't feel the subtle shifts in the floor and the sound of friction that no matter how one tried to erase, could never truly be completely smothered. And as Yor assessed the situation, she determined there to be at least three invading the apartment.

They weren't thieves. They moved with graceful stealth that Yor knew only herself to exceed and her features fell heavy with dangerous understanding.

Her knives flicked out from her hands.

Yor glanced to Loid who had risen to sitting on the opposite side of the room from where Yor had been sleeping and maybe it was the look on her face that made him understand and nod. With a dig under his pillow, he withdrew his pistol and Yor turned her attention back to the door, or rather what waited on the other side, as Loid carefully woke the kids from their peaceful slumber.

It was too bad they had to wake them. Yor would have liked to take care of business before anyone even knew, dispose the bodies, and return to bed without anyone ever having to worry. But she couldn't risk the smallest chance that things could go badly and catch the kids unawares in their sleep. They could be taken away or hurt before they even knew what was happening.

As Loid joined Yor at the door she was met with a welcome feeling of companionship. She was used to handling things on her own, but she liked working with Loid. They had made a good team infiltrating the lab and, like that instance, this one felt more important than anything else. When she is assigned a target, she is protecting her country. But right now she's protecting her family and, though they were not in an ideal situation, her heart thrummed with love for her adoptive daughter and a warmth for her husband who had provided that relationship. Who had given her this family to protect in the first place.

The intruders were stalking closer and Yor held up three fingers to her husband. He indicated he understood and they double checked that the children had moved to the side and out of the door's line of sight when it would open.

Yor shared a curt nod with Loid and they burst out of the bedroom.

The attack was immediate. The three assassins were clearly not expecting the Forgers to be aware of their presence, much less charge at them, and Yor's knife was barely deflected with a shing by a woman that she didn't bother profiling. That alone toldYor how good she was. To be able to defend herself against the Thorn Princess was no small feat. Keeping control of her adrenaline, the quick of Yor's eyes observed the important parts of her opponent. The neck. Her temples. Her gut that would bleed out with a stab of her knife. Her hands that carried a single edged sword licked with poison if the faint smell trailing after the blade as it swung near Yor's face was anything to go by.

Loid's gun didn't last long in his hands. As adept as he was, his training was not that of an assassin and it was swiftly disabled, though he dodged the following attack. Yor spared a tenth of a glance to the weapon he narrowly avoided. In each of the enemy's hands, a handle was attached to blades on either end and they curved sharply to form an overlapping circle that didn't quite touch. It rendered the firearm useless when it sliced it in two like a block of soft butter.

Loid was unarmed.