Mercenaries

8

As we sat in the car, I watched as Hayden pulled a knife from her purse and start playing with it. "Do you EVER put that away?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No."

"Why?"

She looked at me. "It was my dad's before he died when I was 15. He was in the military. He left it to me in his will, as well as a teddy bear and his house."

I just stared. Huh. Okay...

"Im sorry if you didn't want to discuss it," I said.

She shook her head and looked out to the window. "Its fine."

Nodding, I looked down. No wonder why she is so cold sometimes. She is probably afraid of getting too emotionally attached to someone, and then having to deal with the pain of losing them.

"My dad left when I was a kid, too," I admitted after a while of silence.

She sniffed and opened her bag to put the knife away. We had started to pull into the huge driveway.

.....

The place was gigantic inside. Probably over 100 people were there.

"Holy crap," I heard Hayden mutter, and I grinned.

"How the heck are we supposed to find a single person in here?!" I said, looking around.

She shrugged. "Let's just be completely inconspicuous for now, and just work from there." She looked around, and made a disgusted face.

"What?" I asked, looking around as well.

"A bunch of rich twits. How can they drink that stuff?" she asked, looking around.

I tried to see what she was talking about. "What, champagne?"

She nodded. "I mean, for god's sakes! It looks like piss and burns!"

I had to cover my mouth to stifle a laugh, biting my finger in the process. "Didn't know you could be funny."

She looked over at me with a smirk. "There's a LOT of things you don't know about me. But yes, I can be funny and act like a normal human being sometimes."

I shook my head, chuckling. "God, what did I get myself into."

She laughed. "Come on blondie," she said, taking my hand and walking me through the crowd.

"Ugh, you two. Just kiss already and be over with it," Jack said over the comms.

"Ew dude, gross!" Hayden hissed.

"You're sick!" I said.

"That, I am," Jack said.

Hayden stopped in her tracks, looking at the top of the stairs. "There," she said, pointing.

I looked up where she meant. Sure enough, I saw a pretty suspicious looking guy at the top, speaking to someone on his phone. He then walked away further upstairs.

"Let's go," I said, holding her hand and jogging as we walked through the crowd. Looking around once we reached the stairs, we bolted up, running.

.....

We stood against a wall on a corner. The man was standing just around the corner, talking with another.

Hayden looked at me and pressed her finger to her lips. "Be quiet," she mouthed. She then straightened up and walked around he corner.

"Hi, do you know where the restroom is?" she asked innocently.

I could hear the guy smirk. "Ain't up here," he said, walking towards her. Just then, she punched him right in the jaw.

I ran over and grabbed my gun, pointing it to the remaining guy. "Who do you work for?" I demanded.

"None of your business," he said, grabbing his gun and shooting at me, but I rolled to the side just in time.

"'GYVER!" someone yelled. I looked to see Hayden being held from behind by the guy she punched, him dragging her away although she moved around like mad.

"HAYDEN!" I yelled, running after them. Just as I moved, I felt a pain in the back of my head and I was knocked out.