H.U.S.H

Crucifix, Mockingbird and Pandora

We made ourselves comfortable as Sahara shrugged out of her jacket. I was at the end of the couch on the floor spinning a knife between my fingers, noticing the concerned glances thrown my way by each of the girls every so often. It was an annoying habit that I couldn't seem to shake. Hayli was sitting actually on the couch with her legs tucked under her and she was unconsciously twisting her fingers keeping them lithe. Henna was in the armchair in the corner and was fiddling with her hair. Once Sahara was comfortable she sat in the computer seat and began to tell us what she found.

"Well, it seems to me they're from a board of some kind. But the guys we met were nowhere near the top dogs. It was clear they were following orders." Damnit, this was all adding up with my previous criminal life before I cut off.

"Did you get which one?" Henna asked when Sahara paused.

"Mumbles and riddles. I heard three names that could be the company but none ring a bell. Crucifix?" She made it into a question.

"Killing technique." I interjected. "Disable the leading hand and both legs, and then a head shot to finish it."

"Too much information, Uno. We would have settled with 'killing technique'." Hayli stopped me. "Yet I don't see how that would be relevant in a conversation."

"They were talking about the shots Uno fired at the time. Was it in any way similar?" Sahara said turning to me. I thought about the shots I fired.

"I guess to an uneducated eye it would be. But I was aiming at the thigh, upper arm and just beneath the ribs. Maybe because we moved too quickly the mistake could be made." I looked down and acted it with my fingers. Bang, bang, bang. No I was sure it wasn't that technique I was using. Add that to the fact I couldn't think of a contractor with that name, it must have been their mistake. "That's not it."

"Right. The next one was Mockingbird. Anyone got anything on that?" Mockingbird to me meant another assassin but he was probably locked up or dead by now. He was very sloppy and never cleaned up after himself.

"Mockingbird's a thief." Hayli spoke up again. "He's renowned for being able to steal secrets. I met him a while back and he said he would never move against us knowingly. So I doubt he knows what he's doing it for."

"They have said in the info that we would be joined by a group of other criminals." I dug out the three photos. "Any of these?" I passed them to Hayli and she nodded at the second photo of a boy with dirty blond hair cut jaggedly around his jaw line and a fringe that fell across his left eye.

"That's him. So he is working with us." Hayli seemed almost happy by this fact. Henna picked up on it.

"Little crush there Hayls?" She teased.

"No." Hayli denied out flat. "He's competition, that's it."

"Back to my point!" Sahara called out over their little argument. "The last one must be it then." We all leaned forward in anticipation. "Pandora."

"Bugger." I whispered under my breath. How did they find me? I was using a different name and I had taken measures with my hair and outfits to be careful. I had never used Chaos and Silence with them nor any of my most used weapons. So how did they find me?!

"Uno? You OK?" Henna asked leaning forward to look at my face. I was staring at the floor. That part of me was dead now. Time to come clean.

"Ok guys. I know who they are and they know me. I used to work for them as part of an elite group. There were four of us; we were all assassins. Two boys and two girls: The jack, the queen, the king and the ace. We never knew the others real names. The jack of diamonds was a poison expert and was slowly immunising himself against all of the poisons he knew. The queen of hearts was a dagger worker. She worked by luring her prey and then killing them. The king of clubs was a swordsman and the best I have ever met. He was also mute. Then there was me. The ace of spades: the gunslinger. We were all 15 at the time and the best killers you could find." I laughed quietly under my breath.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sahara asked before I continued.

"I quit and left that whole lifestyle behind. I haven't seen or heard about them for two years. I thought they would have left me alone by now. I'm Uno now, not Ace."

"So what does this mean for you and why did you quit?" Henna moved in to ask her questions.

"I quit because I had no freedom, no choice. I was a pet to Pandora and towards the end I wasn't willing to be any more. If I was a pet before, I became a stray then." I sighed. Here was the hard bit. "And this most likely means... I have to leave Hush."