How to Raise an Assassin

CHAPTER 25: FORGIVENESS OR RETRIBUTION?

Emotions swirled like a tornado inside me. Confusion, hatred, surprise, betrayal, all spiraled inside me as I clutched Ash closer to me. The Mayor walked casually forward, and with each step he took, the closer I held Ash.

I wanted to end the Mayor. I would be doing my father a favor. Perhaps he was right, the Mayor was the enemy.

All I could muster was the word, "Why?"

The Mayor stopped just short of us. He snapped his fingers and the lights in the cargo hold came on, revealing the Mayor's navy-blue suit with a pin of the City of Chicago's flag buttoned onto his left breast. "I think you know why Zaslay."

"No," I shouted. "I don't know why a father would do this to his only child!"

"It seems the emotions have gotten the better of you," the Mayor observed cockily like a doctor holding up a clipboard and evaluating my condition. Then he reached into his breast pocket and unfolded a piece of paper. He studied it and smiled before showing it to me.

Ash's name was written on it in my handwriting.

"The fourth stage is where we lose the most recruits," the Mayor said folding the paper back up and stuffing it in his breast pocket. "They simply can't contain their emotions long enough to listen."

The Mayor paused as if waiting for my reaction. I so desperately wanted to kill him. No man who tortures his child to near death should be left to breathe another whiff of air let alone run an entire metropolis.

Then I felt Ash's hand reach up and grab mine. It was coated in blood. It felt cold. I looked at him and his face, still bruised and battered. He shook his head in a manner that pleaded with me to restrain myself. Now was not the time, his face read.

I breathed three deep breaths. The Mayor will get what's coming to him. Sooner or later, I'll get him for hurting my...my best friend.

The Mayor walked in a line like a guard protecting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. "When I received word from Monet that the only name you wrote on the list of those you love and wish to protect was my very own son...well I didn't really know what to make of it at first. Was it a ruse to get back at us? Was it a way to protect your family?"

Then he stopped pacing and turned his head towards us, studying how I cradled Ash in my arms. "Or was it that you truly cared for him?"

He continued walking back and forth as he spoke. "I gave Monet the authorization to go ahead with stage four the way we usually do for initiates, much to her objection. Yes, I knew this meant having my son tortured to near death, but I had a feeling he would understand the importance of having the daughter of our rival gang falling head over heels for my son."

I looked down at Ash and he looked back at me and he held his finger to his forehead shakily, and then to his lips, making a silence gesture. Silence your mind and listen, he seemed to say. He was right. If the Mayor had some weird ability to read minds through body language and gestures, then I couldn't give away any reason for him to do something even more stupid and dangerous based off of what I was thinking.

The Mayor looked upon me with a serious face and asked. "Now, Zaslay, do you wish to move onto the fifth stage of initiation? I must warn you that it only gets tougher from here. But if you still wish to murder my sister-in-law, it looks like you have no choice but to see this through."

I didn't want to move on. I didn't want to join an organization that proclaimed to help the poor and helpless and yet kidnaps people and tortures them just to prove one's loyalty to the program.

Then I looked down at Ash and realized that he was still in it. He was still fighting to join this organization even after completing stage four. And wherever Ash was, I had to be there to make sure he was safe. I won't lose him like I lost Noa.

And at the end of all of this, I will sort out getting even with the Mayor.

I kept my mind a blank and responded with a simple nod as I sniffled to try and get myself under control.

Then the Mayor did something unexpected. He knelt down on his knee and bowed his head. "Zaslay, I know you wish to enact revenge for what I have done."

A reflection of light seemed to bounce into my eyes from the side. I turned towards the source and found nothing. But the reflection was round. It could've come from a watch, a ring...or a scope.

We weren't alone.

"I place myself before you to enact your revenge. Do to me as you please."

He was allowing me to get back at him. Would it be that easy? I laid Ash down and stood up. I looked down at Ash and his eyes widened with terror. He didn't want me to leave his side. He knew what would happen.

And so did I.

If I so much as laid a finger on the Mayor, snipers and armed gunmen would mow me down before I even made contact. That reflection of light was from a gun scope. This cargo hold was teeming with armed guards waiting for any excuse to put me down.

This was why most people didn't reapply after stage four. The Locusts simply killed those who didn't submit themselves into forced forgiveness.

I walked closer to the Mayor. Ash grunted as he turned to his side. "Zay..." he said weakly.

I silenced him with a single hand. I got within striking distance of the Mayor, and then stopped. I knelt down on my skirt, my legs buckled beneath my bottom. I tried to get a good look at the Mayor. His head was down. I couldn't touch him because I knew I'd be shot. So, I summoned him.

"Mr. Mayor," I called.

He slowly raised his head, his face not betraying an ounce of emotion on him. "Yes Ms. Mata."

"Today, I choose to forgive you," I said aloud. Then I painted a message in my mind that even a non-mind-reader like the Mayor could understand. "But if you ever lay a finger on Ash again, I won't forgive you a second time."

The Mayor smiled and stood up holding out his hand. "You're moving onto stage five."

I took his hand, smirking too, because he didn't know that I never truly forgave him the first time.