The Assassin's Assistant

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Life changes fast.

We walked into the secret room. It was full of all kinds of technology. Computers, printers, TVs, cameras, and panels spanned all around the room.

“Not as good as the old one,” said Lux, unimpressed.

Britt sighed. “I tried my best.”

This was only my third time in here, and I still got overwhelmed by everything. Lux may be bored with the room, but I was amazed. The room’s contents probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Obviously the Underground pays well.

“Well, why don’t you two grab something to eat? Get me something, too. I just need to file an end of mission report and do some research.” Britt looked at Lux when she said the last part.

“Okay, sure.” Lux looked at me. “You okay with it?”

I nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

We walked out of the studio and down to some take out place. All the while, I studied Lux. How calm she was. How the mission didn’t seem to bother her at all. The way she was acting, you would’ve thought that this was just a normal day. That she didn’t just kill someone.

‘Stop it,’ I thought, ‘just give her a chance. It is what it is. Get over it.’

We decided to go to a small restaurant. We got our food and ate in silence. Finally, Lux spoke up.

“I don’t want you to hate me because of my job,” she said. I didn’t respond so she continued. “Look, we’re going to be working together for a while, so you being a baby about it isn’t going to help anyone.”

“Okay,” I saw shocked by how sincere I was. I really did want to move on.

Lux looked up at me with a face of surprise. “So we’re good?”

“Yeah,” I said. I looked out the window. The sky was dark, probably around 10:00, but the city lights illuminated the streets. “What did Britt mean by ‘research’? I saw her look at you when she said it.”

Lux’s finger circled the rim of her glass. “I recognized somebody at the party. She worked for Bexx, the company that caught me. Brittany probably wants to find out why she was there. People in the Underground don’t just go around attending each other’s parties. Either Bexx has allied the charity, or we stole their plans.”

“Yeah, I don’t really understand this entire Underground thing,” I said. “Why does killing the leader of a business bring it down? What’s the point of your job?”

“Wow, you’re talking about my job without scrutinizing me,” Lux said dryly. She shook her head. “Killing them doesn’t bring the business down, but it sure sends it into madness. It’s like… cockroaches. You can cut its head off, but it’ll still live. It just has a whole lot of trouble getting food.

“As for the Underground and how it works, I still don’t have all the details worked out myself, but I know that if you’re small there, you’re small in the business world. If you’re on the top there, then you’re a business giant." She looked out the window, her fingers drumming on the table. She was quiet for a moment, before continuing.

“The Underground is pretty secretive. They don’t want consumers knowing how it works, because then it won’t work at all. That makes an assassin’s job a whole lot easier. If a boss is killed the company just has to deal, really. They have to cover up the tracks and move on. Some companies squeal, but they fall apart.

“Most Underground companies like to use fake bosses. You’re told that Bob is the head of a company, when it’s really Larry. It makes it easier for the companies to cover assassinations.”

“So I take it that no bosses ever last wrong,” I said.

“No, some are untouched. My boss has been the CEO of Yestall for years. Like I said, the Underground is a weird thing. It helps if you just don’t think about it,” she gave a slight smile, trying to brighten the mood.

I smiled and made a mental note to be easier on Lux.

We got Britt a sandwich and left. On the walk back to the center, Lux’s phone started to ring.

She took out her cell and looked at the caller ID. “Brittany.” She answered the call. The longer she was on the phone, the more confused she looked, but she didn’t say anything. When she hung up, she said, “I swear, Brittany is going schizophrenic. She said ‘be careful’ and ‘go straight back to your apartments’. She's so scared that I'll get caught again. It's like, I'm not a child.”

“Well,” I said, “at least we’re done for the night.”

“Finally,” Lux sighed.

We walked in opposite directions. I went to the corner to get on the subway, and she went back to her apartment.

* * *

After my classes the next day, I took the subway to the Center. Lux and Britt were already there. Lux was buried up to her neck in paperwork.

“Hey,” I said as I walked in.

Lux muttered, “Run.”

Britt came charging at me immediately. “Finally, you’re here. I have some papers I need you to do.” She pointed to a mess of sheets piling the keyboards and counters.

“Whoa, where did that come from?” I couldn’t see most of the panels through all of the mess.

“Well,” Britt started, “we’re being over clocked. Turns out that it wasn’t the best thing to do; taking out that charity. Apparently, as Sir only decides to inform me of now, it was suppressing a large number of rising competitors, and now I have to take all of them out too!” She gestured wildly around her.

I walked over to a stack of papers full of names and addresses. “You have to kill all of them?” One had been enough for me, but seeing the list made my stomach churn.

Lux spun in her rolling chair to face me. “That’s what I said. It seems extremely over powered to me. I think that we should just have a sing-along and talk about how we all should be friends.”

I laughed but Britt rolled her eyes. “Stop it! You are not helping!”

I saw Lux cross her eyes as she spun back to face her papers, and I let out another laugh.

Britt obviously didn’t see it, and turned on me. “Jason, please! This is serious! I need you two to help me, and if you have any ideas better than a sing-along or mass murder, I’d be happy to hear it.”

I knew I was pushing my luck, but I said, “How about a dance party?”

“Why do I hire teenagers? Please get me when you have a useful suggestion.” Britt turned and walked out.

Lux made a face at Britt as she left.

I smiled, “We seriously should help her out.”

Rolling her eyes, she said, “Yeah, I'll leave the gifted one to think up the plan while I hold my sing-along,”.

“You have more experience,” I retorted.

Lux sighed and bit her li[, “Well what do you suppose we do?”

I held my hands up in surrender. “Cross our fingers and hope that the bigger company takes them down?”

“Yeah, let's just sit with targets on out foreheads and wait for the big boys to take care of it. Seriously, Jason? That's just stupid.”

“So, what now?”

Lux started spinning in circles on her chair. “Wanna go get smoothies or something? I haven't eaten all day.”

I slooked around, "Won't Britt be ticked? We're supposed to be working.”

She snorted, "Yeah, like she'll evven know. Again, Jason, stupid. If she's not here to stop us, why stay?"

Well, you can't argue with logic.

We got up and left the Center. As predicted,  Britt had completely left the studio. We entered the busy streets and were busy trying not to be trampled by passerby.

I was so distracted; I almost didn’t see the them.