Take a Shot

Failure

I took a deep breath, dropping a hand to my knife. The leather-wrapped handle comforted me, callouses on my hands matching the grip and twine of the strips. I'd wound this one myself, after nearly a year of the Triad trying to teach me how to do the handles so they wouldn't bite. Personally, I didn't mind the bite, but they insisted that bite in a handle made handling the knife harder.

I shook off the feeling of foreboding, pressing my back to the wall and inching forward. As I came around the corner, I peered at the corner opposite me. No dancing shadows, which meant we were likely in the clear. I looked back over my shoulder. My companion for this trip was pulling his hand to his mouth in a yawn, which dropped as he realized I was looking at him.

"Huh?"

I grimaced, hissing, "Keep it down, dipshit." He scowled at me, but kept his mouth shut, though not without a roll of his eyes. I clenched my fists, looking back into the opposite corner. I couldn't hit him. The Triad would kick my ass if I failed this mission again. I motioned forward. "I'm heading across the way. Wait for my signal, then follow me. I'll need a boost into the duct, then get lost."

"Yeah, my pleasure." Matthew fake-saluted and slouched against the wall, crossing his arms.

I regulated my breathing by force of habit. It was time to calm down and focus. I took a quick look at my watch. 12:46. 14 minutes until the men broke for lunch. 16 minutes until we had our hostage. 23 minutes until we could be back in the chopper, and 1 hour, 23 minutes before we would be back at the castle. It was way too long to be spending with this useless joke, but as long as no one knew we were here-

"Emerald, I thought you were leaving."

Pricks of anger rushed across my skin. Sparks of my magic snapped unbidden between my fingers. I whipped my head to glare at him, and he blinked, moving backwards a little. I narrowed my eyes as I pressed my ear to the wall. I heard the low, hushed voices inside, as I had both times before this. It sounded like they hadn't heard us. Good. Geechis himself might show his face just to specifically ream me out if we had scared them into silence again without successfully nabbing our target, for the third time I'd been put on this mission.

I sighed, turning away from my black-haired partner and back to watching the corner. One of the shadows had shifted...I peered closer at it, scooting closer to the edge of the wall. What was up with that? I held my hand out backwards, and a pencil landed in my palm. I knelt down on the red, scratchy carpet, rolling the pencil. The shadow didn't move. I looked back to Matthew, nodding towards the pencil. He raised an eyebrow. I nodded again, more forcefully. He rolled his eyes as I stood back up, and he shimmied his shoulder before heading after the pencil. The shadows stayed solid. Matthew made it to the edge of my eyeline and scrambled hopelessly after the pencil. I pursed my lips. Nothing moved. But he looked up into the hallway with a smile.

He was gonna fuck this up.

"Hello there! You haven't seen a pen fly by here, have you?" I stayed silent and still. He was going to fuck this up, and Geechis was going to kill me personally. Who was he even talking to? I must have been right about there being a guard to the room, though. But why was he speaking?

He stood up and walked out of my eyeline. I could burst a blood vessel. Where was he going?! I was point! He was going to get himself killed. I wasn't even going to get back to the castle because this dipshit was going to get us both killed. Holy moly I was in it this time. I would never, ever bring a partner on a mission again, two person or not. Running point was way too much work. I was going solo for the rest of my tenure with Harmony. If I even got out of this one alive, that is.

Maybe I could salvage this. I pressed my ear back to the wall. The voices had stopped. I could've slapped myself. He had scared them into silence. And now they would break for lunch quietly, and I wouldn't get a chance at our target....William? John? Some generic name. Not like I would need it, really, but...Jim? Jack? Jackson. Jackson! Gods, I really needed to get better with names. It would make my interrogations easier. I needed to nab Jackson and bring him back to HQ. He would be easy, I hoped. No bodyguards, no magic; an easy mission. Why there were two of us, I would never know. And why him?