Fury and Flame | 3

3 | 3

G I G I

      Things had been going well ever since the first target was hit. We'd found and killed two more Imperium assassins in the time after; they'd gone down easily and we'd left without a trace.

      With the money stolen from the victims' pockets, we'd been able to afford a cheap hotel room for a few days—a luxury compared to sleeping on the streets every night, where we had to take turns keeping watch.

      "Julia." I turned to face Neve, a frown on my face from hearing that name again. Everyone else had called me Gigi, but the nurses used my real name at the asylum. And now Neve did too, probably because she didn't like or trust me. That was fine, I didn't need to be liked or trusted. I didn't expect to be, either.

      "Your contact again?" My tone was even. We hadn't had another disagreement over her supposedly trusted contact, but I was still wary.

       She gave a stiff nod. "Our newest target is a twenty-five year old male named Blaise Uttam. His mission is to gain intelligence from a meeting some official is holding in his home. We get in, kill him and dump the body before the people inside realize what's happened."

      Suspiciously, I took in her strained expression. "Is there something else?"

      There was a hesitation. "No." A lie. I could feel the way her heart was pounding, could feel the rush of blood in her veins.

      I found myself changing the subject for the moment. "Where is it?"

      "At a ranch about twenty minutes from here. We can take a bus."

      I let loose a sigh. "My bow and arrows and your knives aren't exactly conspicuous. And I can't kill everyone on the bus to keep things quiet."

      With a sculpted brow raised, Neve muttered, "It's always murder with you, isn't it?"

      My desire for vengeance won out against precaution. Hoisting my bow over my back, I said, "Hopefully we'll be intimidating enough that no one will question us. If anyone reports us, I'll...deal with it."

      Neve stayed silent, apparently getting the message. As I stood by the door, ready to leave, she carefully hid her knives up her sleeves. Again, I was reminded that she was hiding more than just her blades. I didn't care about personal problems, but I would want to know if it affected me. After everything that happened, I hated secret keeping when it involved myself. Sooner or later, I would find out.

      As we rode the bus, standing in the back, I caught several pairs of wandering eyes on my bow and arrows. They snuck looks at our dark, worn clothing, I could feel it. But I stared determinedly in the distance, eyes forward and jaw set.

      Their confusion and wariness of us nearly made me smile. They were so preoccupied with the weapons I held, but they didn't know I was more dangerous. They didn't know I could let their blood pressure spike or crush their skulls without even moving.

      Wordlessly, Neve and I stepped off the bus and it drove off, the passing wind blowing our hair forward. Our shadows—made long by the low sun—stretched out far in front of us. Down the road was indeed a ranch with a large farmhouse right off the street. It would be easy to get inside unnoticed.

As we neared the house, a neighbor's dog ran up to us, snarling. My breath left my lungs—the racket could give us away. And if it came any closer, it could rip us apart with gleaming teeth. Its heart was pounding furiously. I raised my hands to prepare myself for the inevitable.

Neve held out a hand. The dog immediately balked, almost as if it could smell our intentions. Hesitantly, it came forward, sniffing the air surrounding us. As soon as it got close enough to Neve, it rolled over and put its legs in the air.