The Restless

Chapter Two: Assignment

The task assigned to me was an assassination. I leafed through the documents, my fingers slowly healing. I came to a slightly crumpled piece of paper, and read it carefully. It showed the name and general information of my target, a morbidly obese billionaire who was wanted for the murders of several Russian spies. "Why couldn't they have hired MI6?" I muttered to myself, rolling my eyes. A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts, and I turned to face the door. "Who is it?" I asked.

A woman in her early thirties appeared and smiled at me. "Hi Mia. It's nice to meet you. I'm Natalya Solomina." She said, her thick Russian accent cutting the air like a knife. "May I come in?" She asked.

"Sure." I replied, smiling weakly. I kept a hand near the gun in my pocket, wary of the stranger that entered my room.

She smiled briefly, before stepping into the room. She closed the door behind her. I eyed her hands, watching her every move. "Have you been informed of your assignment?" She asked, but I couldn't concentrate; something about her felt wrong.

"Y-Yeah." I muttered, trying to force the words out. It was her name; it reminded me of a mission I completed a while back. I lost so many friends then, and it still hurts to this day. "Have we met?" I asked quietly, unsure of what was coming next.

"No....I don't think we have." She replied, confused. "What makes you say that?"

"Your face seems familiar..." I muttered, dismissing the question with a wave of my hand.

She nodded, still confused. "Regarding your assignment......" She said, taking out yet another white envelope from her bag. "We'll be keeping an eye on you. One wrong move could blow the operation and kill us all." She explained, handing me a box. "This box contains the best part of a nuclear bomb." She said. My jaw dropped and I recoiled.

"Seriously? Why have you got it in your handbag?" I exclaimed, jumping up off the bed. "Don't you have a giga counter or something?"

"You don't need one with this." She said, smirking at my horror. "It's a fake. A dummy to show you how it'll look." She muttered.

Once I'd recovered from my shock, I crept over. "So this is what'll be coming with me?" I asked, grabbing my glasses from the table beside me and slipping them on. I examined the box.

"The lead will be six inches thick, meaning the radiation will be virtually undetectable. You'll be going in undercover." She said, handing me some ID. "A professional scientist, working for her own target."

I scowled. I've had many different fake jobs over the years, each and everyone of them reflecting my best talents. This mission would be the hardest I would ever do, and they send me in as a scientist. One of my unfortunate flaws.