Into the Fire

“This guy is taking forever to show.” Thought Ash. It’s a dark and cloudy day, great for sniping. Ash could feel the cold wind coming from the South and brushing through her hair. It was wet on the roof and it was about to rain again.  Ash did not want to get rained on before she went to see James. He’d called a few times and ask when she would be at the coffee shop. He had been waiting for a few minutes before he even called.
“Is it going to rain?” thought James. Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Ash looked at her phone to see who was calling. It was her boss and he probably wanted to know if she had killed her target yet.
“Hello?” said Ash
“How did the mission I sent you on go?” asked Val, in an irritated voice. Someone probably missed their target and was spotted.
“The guy hasn’t shown and I’ve been waiting for 2 hours.” Said Ash starting to get irritated at how late the guy was.
“Are you sure? It was reported he was supposed to be there 3 hours ago.” said Val in a confused tone.
“Well as I’m still here waiting… he is clearly not on time.” Said Ash irritated.
“Well when you get your target report back to me.” He said coldly.
“Yes sir, I’ll call you as soon as I’ve got my guy.” She said irritatedly. Ash hung up the phone. Looked back through her scope. There he is. The sound of the shot blended with the thundering in the grey and cloudy skies. She had hit her mark as always. It went in on one side of his head nearly nicking the top of his ear and going cleanly through his skull leaving an Identical hole on the other side of his head. She had to move fast so the targets bodyguards didn’t spot her. It’s not like they could, she was 200 meters away. She put the rifle away and walked to the roof door and made her way to her motorcycle so she could go meet James.
He heard the Bing of his phone going off. It was a text from Ash. It said, “Sorry I’m running late. My client showed up late and we didn’t finish until a few moments ago. I’ll be there soon I am only 5 minutes away.” James’ heart fluttered when he read that she was close and would be there soon.
James had been in love with his best friend for many years now and was trying to plan a way to tell her. He was planning on doing it today. “A few minutes after she shows up I’ll tell her” he said. He could hear Ashes motorcycle engine roaring. He got so excited when he saw her parking her motorcycle. In James’ head… her hair looked so long and pretty, he felt like he could feel her soft, silky, thick wavy brown hair in his hands and was so overcome with his imagination that he didn’t see her sit down in front of him with her coffee.
“James! James are you listening?” said Ash.
“Huh, oh sorry what were you saying?” said James.
“I was saying how great you look. Have you been working out?” asked Ash
“Yeah I have. I’m glad you noticed.” Said James a bit surprised she had noticed that. It had only been a week since he started working out.
“Do you remember when we were little and we would wrestle?” asked Ash a little smile creeping across her face.
“They were good times weren’t they.” said James.
Ash had a little flash back to those days of her childhood. Her mother in the kitchen cooking and her father in the living room sitting in his favorite chair reading the day’s paper. Her and James running up the hill through the fields and to their secret hideout. They had fallen asleep under one of the many cherry trees she and her family owned.
She snapped out of the past when James waved his hand in front of her to get her attention. As soon as she’s looking back his way he blurts out that he has feelings for her and wondered if she felt the same way about him. Ash surprised needed a few minutes to think about and process what James had just said.
“So what is your answer?” asked James.
Ash couldn’t find the words to say that she had to think about it for a minute. After a few minutes she replied, “I’m surprised. I don’t really know what to say.”
“It’s fine if you don’t feel the same way that I do.” Said James a little sad.
“NO! I mean no, I never said that I don’t feel the same way I just need a moment to grasp what you have said exactly.” Said Ash
“So what is your answer?” asked James again.
Ash knew how she felt but, because she was curtain if James knew what she did for a living her would hate her and never contact her again. She had to She had to think of how to tell him.
“You don’t have to say that you can return my feelings.” James stated.
“It’s not that! I like you too it’s just that what if you found out something bad about me. Would you still have these feeling or would you resent me. ” said Ash staring straight into James’s face to see his reaction.
“So just to be clear you like me too?” asked James all excited like.
“Yes and I have for a while but you had had a girlfriend at the time and I didn’t think that you would return my feelings.” Said Ash embarrassed.
“I only got a girlfriend because I thought that you didn’t like me like that and you just thought of me as a friend.” Said James his face turning the color of a tomato.
Both start laughing and talked for a while. Before they knew it the coffee shop was closing for the day. They went to Ashes house and continued to talk and when they ran out of things to say Ash asked James if he wanted to stay the night because it was really late. Of course he said yes. He had taken a cab to get to the coffee shop so Ash handed him her spare helmet, and they went to her place. When they got there, Ash went and got him a blanket and pillow. It would be too weird to have him sleep in her room. Ash realized she hadn’t called her boss and told him that she finished the mission. She pulled out her phone and called Val.
“I am reporting about the mission from this morning” said Ash
“Tell me how it went and leave nothing out. I need to be sure to have a very detailed report from you.” Said Val.
“I waited for three hours on the roof of the building across the street that I would have to say had as many as 40 floors, he was 2 hours late, when he showed I shot him clean in the head and made sure his men didn’t see where the bullet had come from and I put my gun away, and made my way to the garage where my motorcycle was so I could make my get away. I went around the city to make sure I wasn’t followed. That is all that happened, Sir.” Ash stated coldly like it had been a regular day and not like she had shot someone. If she told him she went to meet a friend right after he would kill her.
“Good. So you made a clean get away and no one saw you?” asked Val.
“No, Sir.” Said Ash.
“your next target is a man by the name of James Page. Think you can get the file from me tonight?” asked Val. With this weird smirkish voice.
“No” Ash said calmly like it was the truth.
“You know what will happen if you disobey me, do you not?” said Val a little angry that she had not found her mark yet.
“Yes, I understand the consequences if I do not find my mark.” Said Ash.
“Good, now go to bed and call me in the morning. I’ll have the file ready for tomorrow but, I have something for you to do while you look for “Him”. It is very important that you call me tomorrow.” Stated Val angrily and he gave off this chill over the phone.
“Good night.” Ash said and hung up her phone.
She got dressed in her pajamas and tried to sleep but she kept thinking about her mission. How was she going to kill her best friend after them confessing to each other that day? How was she going to tell him that she is an assassin for the government? She got the job after graduating from college. She was very happy about getting a job for the government but little did she know she was going to become an assassin. She was trained the day after she got the job. After completing her first mission she was told that she was being assigned to Val, the head of the attack unit, and very powerful. That night while lying in bed she was trying to plan a way to tell James that she killed people for a living and had been assigned to kill him as her next target. ‘This is going to be hard!’ thought Ash before drifting off to sleep.
The next morning, she woke to the smell of bacon, homemade hash browns, and fresh coffee. She came into the kitchen to find James had made them breakfast and as soon as he saw her he couldn’t help but smile. He was so happy that Ash felt the same way about him. ‘Nothing could change the way I feel about her. She looks so cute in her pjs!’ James thought.
“You look good!” said James.
“You look good too.” Said Ash. “Breakfast looks amazing! I bet it tastes just as good!”
“I’ve only ever cooked for myself.” Said James.
“Is it done?” asked Ash.
“Almost I need to flip this hash brown over and it will be all done.” James said happily.
“That’s good. I’m starving!” Ash exclaimed. James flipped it over and put it onto the plate.
“Let’s eat!” said James.
After breakfast Ash called her boss. Turns out he just wanted to rant about how bad his assistant is at her job. James took a shower, but after he finished his shower and brushed his teeth he realized he didn’t have any clothes. He went into the living room where Ash was watching cartoons.
“Do you have any clothes I can wear?” asked James. Ash was surprised at how fit and muscular he is. He looked so good she forgot what he had asked.
“uh, what did you say? I was a little distracted!” Ash said staring at his abs.
“Haha, I asked if you have any clothes I can borrow?” said James pleased that his looks could distract Ash from thinking straight.
“Ya let me go grab them for you.” Said Ash. Grabbing her phone, she quickly took a photo of James while he stood watching the TV. She forgot her flash was on and James quickly turned to find Ash taking pictures of him with her phone. Ash jumped up and ran for her room with a bright red face. James just stood there laughing. She came out a few minutes later with clothes that were his exact sizes.
“Here.” Said Ash.
“Thanks, these fit perfectly!” James said surprised.
“Ya I know.” Said Ash nonchalantly. After getting dressed James said bye to Ash, and asked her out on a date that night.
Later that day Ash was deciding what she should do about her assignment. She had been thinking about this for over an hour. ‘Ugh what am I going to do?’ After about a day of thinking what she should do, she finally decided she was going to disobey her orders. She called Val and told him that she couldn’t kill James and that she would take any punishment. Val said he would call her back later that night in a very disappointed tone. When he called her back she answered the phone and it was James! He found James!
“Guess who I met today. Your good friend and soon to be dead boyfriend. In 10 hours I’m going to kill him and then come for you. Unless you do something.” Said Val aggressively
“What do you want me to do?” asked Ash
“I want you to come kill him, but if I see any weapons I’ll kill him and then I’ll kill you. You will use the departments weapons.” Said Val aggressively.
“I’m on my way.” Said Ash. At that moment she knew she was going to have to save James and kill Val.