Thick Blood

Chapter 7= Two More Assassins

Agent Brookes and I reached the edge of a vivid street, one that has always been captured painfully in my mind. Down each side of the road, were rows of family detached houses, each rather large with neatly trimmed gardens and mini-vans parked outside.

Right in the middle, was a poorly treated house. Slowly, it crumbled to pieces. The door was boarded up, and the windows smashed. Beams were falling away from the frame of the building. Unlike the others, the garden was mangled in a pile of thorn bushes.

Ignoring the building, Brookes and I marched up towards a nearby house. Briskly, I knocked on the door. Nothing happened. I knocked again. Nothing. Brookes rang the doorbell. Absolutely nothing.

I frowned. Agent Brookes must have been worried too because both of us peered through the window. Darkness. Then, a scream.

Without thinking, I smashed the window with my fist. Blood trickled down my hand as smashed bones cracked my knuckles. Headfirst, I launched myself through the pane of shattered glass. With Brookes' cry of warning from behind me, I  rolled straight into a living room.

Inside was dark and shabby. Shadows bestowed themselves on the saggy furniture. I looked around for any sign of life.

Voices hissed from inside the kitchen.

"Shut up!" Somebody scolded. "Anyone comes looking, and they'll find your body. Understand...?"

"Yes... Yes... Yes..." Trembled a woman.

"Good." A voice purred. "Now, give me the codes."

"Of course, Ma'am."

I didn't need to be a spy to know that that wasn't good news. I burst into the kitchen. Staring at me were two women. One wore dark clothes, and a hood shadowed her face. Chestnut hair dropped to her shoulders, and it was just a shade lighter than her skin. She held a gun, which was pointing at the stomach of the second woman. The second woman wore a white lab coat. A wave of dirty blond hair had fallen from her plait. Her glasses slid to the end of her nose. One eye was closed painfully, the skin around it was cracked, decorated in a purple glow. It was Rita Isaacs. It had to be.

The woman in the dark hood raised an unexpected eyebrow at me. She slid the gun up against Rita's head. I swallowed. "Make one move, and I blow her god damn head off. Understand?" The assassin snapped. I nodded. "Throw all your weapons to the ground." She noticed my hesitation, and pressed the gun harder to Rita's crown so I could hear the crackle of bone. Isaacs shrieked in pain.

Reluctantly, I tossed my guns and my dagger to the floor. Pleased, the woman smiled. "I know all about you. The famous daughter of Albus Sharpe..." Her voice was dry and crisp, yet I did detect a flicker of fear. I leaned inwards. "I'm sorry, but I know absolutely nothing about you... What is your name?" I asked playfully, pleased by her annoyed expression. "Call me Mya..." She instructed.

"Well...Mya...I don't suppose you are acquainted with a lady named Karla Wright?" I asked her brightly. Mya knew there was no point in lying. I already knew the answer. "I take it you are the reason she never checked in this morning?" She asked unimpressed.

I winced, faking sympathy. "Let's just say Miss Wright won't be checking in for work anymore." Furiously, Mya turned the gun onto me. "What did you do with her!?" She snapped viciously, pulling back the trigger slightly. I shrugged. "I'm sure you'll find out soon enough..." Mya hissed, choking on her anger. "You made a mistake Agent Sharpe, coming here all alone..."

I smiled as Mya went to shoot me through the heart. "So your boss does know I'm an Agent. In that case, shouldn't you know I never come alone on an assignment?" The woman frowned as realisation hit. She was too late. Her body collapsed to the ground, unconscious as Brookes stood behind her, a frying pan in hand.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Took you long enough. Interesting choice of weapon..." I held back my giggles as he twisted the frying pan in his hand. "What a lovely thank you." Brookes said sarcastically.

Eyes wide, I nudged Brookes. Stealthily, another woman dressed all in black crept in through the window. "How many of you are there?" I moaned. Quickly, the woman held Rita at gunpoint. I turned to take Mya's gun, but when I pulled the trigger, both Rita and the woman had disappeared. They'd vanished into thin air.

Cursing, I followed their route out of the window, but it was impossible to see where they had gone. "That's two assets in two days. What is going on?" Agent Brookes complained. He was right. Elite was even more secure than MI6, how did these assassins always get there first? They had to know.

My first reaction was the more obvious answer. That there was a mole inside Elite. However, very few people even knew of task force black, and those who did, I'd trust with my life.

Karla's callous words floated back through my brain. "She's a witch..."
My jaw dropped open as it came to me. "Brookes, get Mya into interrogation. No offense, but get Cameron to lead because he doesn't care about following protocols like you do." Agent Brookes raised an eyebrow. "And you?"

"I'm going to follow up on a lead." Before he could protest, I darted off into the distance. My heart pounded heavily. I had an idea.