Amongst Thieves

CHAPTER TWENTY- Death of a Legend

'We have a job!' The assassin said with a happy smile as he jumped down the stairs the led to what Elinore now thought of as the common room.

'And why should I care?' she called over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off the page in front of her. 'Does it have something to do with why you are so happy about killing some random, innocent stranger?'

'I don't know about innocent but they certainly aren't random. Remember that thief I was telling you about? Our mastermind's favourite?'

Elinore snapped her head around to glare at him. 'Lohan? Of course I remember.' There was acid in her voice and the assassin didn't need to look to know her hand had fallen to the blade she insisted of wearing at her hip, despite his continuous objections.

'The one and only,' he replied in the same carefree tone. 'It appears whoever hired him has grown tired of the man, maybe he put his nose where he shouldn't have, it doesn't make much difference to us. The point is they have set up a false job to lure him in and it just happens to be at Trau manor, owned by a man who benefited quite a bit from your family's death. It can't all be a coincidence.'

'So you plan to confront him, find out what he knows and hope that it leads us to whoever killed my parents?'

'Precisely!' Métis beamed. 'And to top it off when I kill the unfortunate lad I will be back in our mysterious mastermind's good books. Chances are he will keep hiring me so we can get closer still. Of course it doesn't hurt that he pays well too.'

Elinore's face fell. 'You are actually going to kill him? He might not have known what he was part of. For all we know he is completely innocent.' She trailed off, knowing the argument was a weak one.

Métis gave her a bemused look. 'You haven't forgotten what it is I do for a living have you? Someone pays me, someone else dies. Innocent or not doesn't come into it. Besides, you didn't exactly seem fond of him when first I mentioned his name.'

'Well no,' Elinore muttered softly, 'but that doesn't mean he deserves to die.'

'Most people don't, and yet I am as busy as always,' the assassin said with a casual shrug. 'If you don't like it then give up on this vendetta of yours. He won't be the only one to die for it if you don't.'

Doubt only crept into at her mind at a moment before she pushed it away, burying it within herself along with the guilt that came with sacrificing another for her cause. 'Fine, but I'm coming.'

Métis smiled at the conviction in her voice. 'Glad to have you, but do try not to stomp around when we get there. I hear this guy is actually a half decent thief and I would hate for you to send him running off into the night.'

He smiled again at the now familiar glare she gave him in return.

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Callen almost laughed when he saw them, half a dozen guards milling around the front gate of the manse like lost children, not even watching the side of the building with the room that housed his prize. He was up the wall in seconds, hanging from the small windowsill by his fingertips; straining to hear even the slightest sound from within the small room. Confident he was alone he pulled his body up, supporting his weight on the sill with one arm while he slipped a thin strip of bamboo between the shutters to push back the wooden latch that held them shut. Slowly he pulled the window open, pushing his body above the windowsill and stepping slowly into the dimly lit room.

He made it three steps before cursing his own stupidity, turning back to the window in time to see a dark shape swing through it from above.

Like Callen the man wore lose fitting pants and a tight shirt, though they were a deep navy rather than the black the thieves were famous for. Unlike Callen his face was uncovered, free of both hood and mask, revealing a middle aged man with sharp eyes and a nose that must have been broken more than once. Above it all was the self-assured confidence of a man comfortable with death.