The Man between my crosshairs (girl X assassin)

Chapter 22/A phone call from space

After the meeting Zoe confirmed breakfast with Ryan at the hotel Cathy said she would meet them there. After saying good bye Zoe sent Jeeves off with Jerico. She did this so she could hold back and stalk Ryan and Cathy slightly. She watched from the shadows in the lower decks while they slipped laughing and chatting in self driving car. Zoe felt weirdly betrayed, angry and on the verge of tears. She was the assassin who had killed the Envairor of Kerble - this wasn't like her. She avoided the crowds and soon found her self alone in the metal space inside the belly of the Archigram beast. It suited her mood to be in her own company.

She walked along the deck back towards the hotel. While she did her phone rang. It was from deep space. Someone was paying a lot of money for this call it must be important.

"Mother?" Zoe said answering her phone "what happened to rule number one?"

"Which rule number one dear?" Mother said. The line wasn't perfect but given it broke most of the known rules of physics it was more impressive that it worked.

"Rule number one. Once the run has begun there should be no communication to the you know what' that rule number one" Zoe said.

Zoe paused. She had gone down a quiet back street. It was dark and the cleaning robots didn't work here much. Graffiti decorated the walls. Zoe thought she heard something but with the interstellar crackle of the phone line it was hard to be sure.

"OK Mother. I'm glad you've phoned. I have had a weird experience. I've been having.. I'm not sure how to explain things. Weird feelings."

"It's probably gas. In my experience most things can be put down to gas," Mother said.

"This man has turned up. I'd slept with him the night before but he's now dating the Styles Girl."

Mother paused "See nothing weird about that, it's gas."

"Now I hate him and want to kill the Styles girl. I can't stop thinking about him. It's stopping me do my job. My heart keeps feeling like it's either larva or made of stone. sometimes I can hardly breathe. Jeeves scanned me but the medical program says I'm normal."

Zoe looked aroun,d it was dark and you could hear the throb of the engines which drove the block's massive wheels. There were rows of doorways lined up like headstones but they were all grimly closed.

"This man what does he look like?" Said Mother.

"I'm not sure how to describe him, he has these amazing eyes. There is something about them, something safe yet dangerous. They are blue not lie sky blue but cobalt blue, no rather blue like pool of sea remember you took me diving in the sea off Adisabba ? That blue. It is funny were are going for the same room 404 - the one with optimal sniper path to you know what? I thought his eyes caught the ice blue of the glass.."

"Really and" Mother began "what does he do?"

"He's an interplanetary digital psychotherapist a machine shrink..." Zoe slow down in and paused "Hang on. Do you think he's a ghost*?"

"Dear he dropped a girl like you. You would have to do something pretty kinky to push him off. I'm talking a bucket full of rice pudding and wetsuit kinky. Sounds like he's targeting... any ideas?"

"Well, guessing I would say it would be the guppy. He turned up today did Styles's tour with the daughter. I can't think who else" Zoe said.

There were movements in the shadows. Around the rusted columns, eyes were watching her. Dangerous eyes. Zoe was too focused on the conversation to see anything.

"Dear." Mother suddenly got that slight pitch in her voice when something was upsetting her "OMG you know what this means dear? You're on a Napoleon contract, if you don't kill Styles you will be hunted down your self. If he hits Styles first you will be targetless. The Dark Orbits will say you will have failed. They will release a headsman to dispatch you for failure. Dear, you must kill the target immediately."

"Fuck" said Zoe. "Do I have to kill Ryan? This is the Dark Orbits. They can't send two sandmen after one job... can they?"

"There are other guilds - the company of the Unspoken. Some amateur could have licensed two companies to do the same hit. Or two people have ordered the same hit and the Dark Orbits council sent two assassins. I knew the bastards were surrendering too easily. I knew it was a trap. Oh, God. A Napolean hit. I should have realised. I should have guessed. I should have suspected something."

Zoe was slightly astonished Mother had hardly mentioned other assassin guilds. Zoe felt that some event had caused her to 

"Look no problem. I'll just tie Ryder up for a week or two in the bedroom do the hit. Drop him a big tip and he will forget about it," said Zoe.

"Unless Dear he's on a Napoleon contract too. If you've made him he could have made you. You've got to assume he's hot. Go Ghost protocol. You must kill him. Kill him now... Zoe.. Zoe your not talking."

"Kill Ryder?" Zoe said. It sounded logical but she felt she would have preferred to kill her self. This didn't make sense.

"Before he kills you," said Mother. The static filled the silence after her words. 

"I've got to go," said Zoe.

"Why?"

"I'm being stalked," Zoe said closing her phone down. The noise stopped as the phone stopped. Only then did Zoe wonder why Mother had broken protocol to phone her up?

Looking around the only way out seemed to be the doorway in the distance marked 'EXIT'. Zoe looked around and wondered about Ryder for a moment. Whatever she was feeling it wasn't gas.