The Thorned Rose

15

It took me four days to finally complete the program. To test it, I called up my mother, who taught me everything I know, to try and hack the system, and she said the barriers were rock hard. This is a woman who can hack into the pentagon whilst painting her nails, by the way.

"Fuck a rest day, the program is finished, I want to fly to Poland today, now," I stated, walking into the dining room where the family were eating dinner.

"Sav, we cannot go now, I know you are impatient, but join us for dinner," Fabricio gestured to a spare seat next to him. I really wanted to tell him to fuck off, but I knew if I was going to be assassinating someone, I needed strength, and that meant I needed food.

"We will fly tomorrow afternoon, and kill him the day after," Fabricio said, putting his large, hand over mine. I broke my hand out from under his, and grabbed my wine, finishing the half full glass, and poured another. I swear, if that hand-holding thing was more than reassurance, I would kill him. I have never had a boyfriend, I have never experienced romance, I have fucked a lot of men, but never more than once. I don't have time for that shit. Nadia has never had a boyfriend either, but her reasoning is she doesn't want to get someone wrapped up in our dangerous business. Fuck that, I don't care about that... or would I? I mean I always want to protect my parents and Nadia, but three people is so much easier to look after than four, or even the whole of the family of my significant other as well, what about their close friends? What about if they wanted kids? Have you ever seen a pregnant assassin? No, because most pregnant people don't have the agility, because they have a huge fucking bump, and also probably want to protect their baby form flying guns or knives in the middle of a fight. No, they wait till they have had the baby at least, but that is nine months of doing fuck all and sitting around, well the first few months you can do most things, but then just sitting around, whilst really heavy and hormonal, fuck that. Besides, I have my tubes tied, so I don't get periods, and can't get pregnant unless I go through another surgery to untie them. No damn babies, no damn romance, no damn anything. I would fuck Fabricio, there is no doubt that he is an attractive man, but I have a personal rule to not mix business with pleasure, it just gets too messy, not messy for me as I couldn't care less, but other people have all these weird feelings and shit that just are annoying, and it means they work differently around me and it's just stupid.

***

The plan was that I would intercept the head of the Polish mafia on his morning run, by bumping into him, and basically fight him, knock him out maybe. The guys would come and drag him into a van, we would drive somewhere, and torture him a little, try and get some information out of him, if we got information he would die, and if we didn't he would die. Either way, he would die. Everything went according to plan, and I watched as Fabricio, Dimitri, and the guy, who I now know is in fact Dino, throw punch after punch at Aleksander Koltun (the head of the Polish mafia in Warsaw). They were getting absolutely nowhere.

"My turn, you three, fuck off," I said as I walked into the room. They looked angry, and didn't move, but I crossed my arms, raised an eyebrow, and then grabbed my knife out of its sheath in my waistband, moving it around in my hands, and they left.

"Aleksander Koltun," I spoke in a cool, calm and collected tone. He looked up at me, blood smeared all over his face, his eyes red from crying and swollen from being punched, but his eyes looked sad, lonely, regretful.

"Who are you?" he spat blood out of his mouth and onto the floor.

"I am Phoebe Cardamom," when I said my name, it was as if I had just told him I was an alien or something.

"H- h- how?" I knew the three boys were listening, but this would only be news to Dino, and I trusted Dino, I hope.

"I know why you ordered me to kill Erasmo Pasquini, he stole from you, he stole children from your smuggling ring, I don't like child traffickers, so I was happy to kill Erasmo, but soon it will be time for you to go. First, I want you to answer my questions, where are the warehouses with the children in, and who are the men in charge of that operation?"

Aleksander then said something that completely changed my outlook on him as a person, "Phoebe, I know how it must seem, but you must know, we don't traffic children, or women, we despise those people the same way you do, that's why we steal them from the gangs in Warsaw that do, we have almost got it under control. The things we do to those men make the others terrified to do the same... We do keep them in warehouses, but with comfy beds and clothes, so we can find out where they live and send them home. Erasmo Pasquini and his men broke in and stole them from us, to bring them back into the sex trafficking lifestyle, for their own nefarious means. You must believe me. I can show you the warehouses, you can talk to the women and children, you can see the books we keep about who they are, where we are sending them back to and the price of their flight, we keep everything on record. I sent you to kill Pasquini because he is an evil man, and he deserved to die."

"Well," I turned to the one way glass where I knew Fabricio, Dimitri and Dino were watching, probably standing there with their mouths wide open, catching flies, I could only guess as I couldn't see them, "that is a revelation." I turned back to Aleksander, "are there any men you have currently who you need to kill, I have a lot of built up energy to kill someone, and I want it to be someone who deserves it, you know?"

"We have four locked up right now."

"Perfect." I removed his handcuffs, threw a wet cloth at him so he could wipe the blood off his face, and the three boys walked in.

"My sincerest apologies Aleksander, you must know it was an awful mix up, I admire the work you are doing," said Fabricio, holding out his hand for Aleksander to shake, if he decided he wanted to shake his hand.

"Well, Don Sandrino, I am not awfully happy about these events, or the bruises I have, and my men will be furious, but I understand, if I was a sex trafficker, I would deserve every one of those punches, and worse," Aleksander shook his hand, a sign of peace, "the only reason I will not kill you, is because you have her," he nodded at me, "she is a wonder, a marvel, an artist at her craft, and she has, unknowingly, murdered a lot of men I wanted dead, I owe her." They smiled at eachother, and smiled at me. I didn't do anything, I just did my job, he doesn't owe me, I got paid for them, but if it means he won't kill us all, I don't care.

"One thing, Aleksander, no one knows my identity, and I would prefer if you kept it a secret."

"Of course my darling, come here," he grabbed me into a hug. After he drove us to one of the warehouses and we met with some of the women and children they were helping, I got to murder on of the sex traffickers, and Fabricio and Aleksander struck up an alliance, to help him take down Domenico. Fabricio also donated one hundred million directly to fund the warehouses, buy the women and children clothes, and flights home, to which Aleksander planted a kiss right on his lips, not in a sexual way, as a thanks; it is quite a common gesture in the mafia.

"I am glad that turned out the way that it did, we have a huge new ally, and he is ultimately a good man. He is huge in the cocaine business too, and has offered to ship to us, so that we can gain more business, and stick up for us if it ever came to a final battle between us and Domenico," spoke Fabricio. Him and the other two spoke about business for the entire flight home, as I flicked through a magazine, paying no attention whatsoever. I don't need to know the intricate details of the business; I keep the security. They point, I shoot, easy.