How to Raise an Assassin

CHAPTER 42: A WAY OUT

It was well after midnight when we hopped back into the car and Xavier drove us to the hive. I had lost trust in him knowing that he called my father to let us know where we were. Of course, he was probably doing his job, but I felt betrayed. I asked if he could take us to the hive without being a snitch.

He was quiet for a second before apologizing. I didn't accept it.

Ash and I fell asleep in the back on the way there. We were both exhausted from the long night. But my dreams seemed forever haunted by images of Noa.

I was six. Noa and I were at an amusement park riding the ferris wheel. Yet, I was watching this like a film. In fact, I was in the next carriage over, watching as Noa pointed out Lake Michigan off in the distance followed by a highway, rows of trees, and even some skyscrapers from downtown Chicago further away. I excitedly pointed at our estate, and I remember saying, "I can see our house from here."

"Simpler times," I heard Noa's voice echo next to me. I looked and saw him dressed in the suit we buried him in. Black jacket, his favorite blue tie, and his bangs parted to show his eyes, glinting with a pearl-like shine.

I was stunned into silence for a second. In the other visions, Noa was either scolding me, or wasn't even acknowledging my existence. Now he was just being...normal.

Then I thought about my father and what he had done to him. I started to tear up. "Dad...he..."

Noa nodded. "He gifted the father with the shotgun used to kill me, leaving a note saying that he might need to use it soon."

Hearing it come from his mouth just shattered any lasting leashes holding me back from fully wanting to see my father get buried alive. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

Noa sat back as the ferris wheel came to a stop at the top. It swung in the wind and the creaking of the metal made it sound like the capsule would come off its hinges. I know it was a stupid question to ask a dead person why they didn't tell me who killed them, but after all the visits he made to my head, he might as well have dropped the major news.

"You had to find out for yourself. You had to see who our father really was. He's not a monster. Monsters scare children. He's a villain convinced that what he is doing is virtuous."

Noa paused and looked out across the distance. I followed his line of sight and saw him staring at our estate. "The problem is, part of what he's doing is virtuous. He has helped many people get up off their feet. This he has kept as a secret from us. All we saw was the killing. All we were taught was efficiency and loyalty. Deep down, dad knows that what he is doing is horrible. But he feels it's his duty to enact a Darwinist approach and cull the vulnerable in society."

I didn't care how virtuous he thought his plan was. It was still evil. "How do we stop him?"

Noa sighed. "Father is very powerful. I believe he's not doing this alone." He then looked down at his suit. "I've seen father kill once. He took me on one mission to a gang accord. Multiple smaller gangs were going to converge together to compete with the Reapers for territory. He kept me in the car. He swooped into the house and it was like watching a dark cloud descend on the place. He was out in seconds. All that was left were rumors that the Shadow of Death had passed through the house."

It was true, I had never seen my dad in action before. But from what I've heard, he had never failed a contract. This was the same man who managed to intimidate the President of the United States by sneaking into the White House.

"So," I summarized. "He's unstoppable?"

Noa shook his head. "Everyone can be stopped. But I fear right now isn't the time. You will need help from unlikely places Zay. You can't do this alone."

"But how can I involve others in this," I said thinking of Ash. "It's not their problem."

"I don't know all the answers," Noa admitted looking out at Lake Michigan. "But I was told that only with unexpected help will you be able to stop him."

"Told? Who told you these things like they could see into the future?"

Noa smiled and faced me. Sunlight pierced through a layer of fluffy cumulus clouds and radiated him from behind. "Heaven is such a wonderful place Zay."

I wanted to blow a raspberry and laugh. Noa, a murderer, in Heaven? Even if that place existed there was not a fat chance in Hell anyone from our family would belong there, even Noa.

But Noa was being serious. His eyes sparkled like stars. His smile was so genuine it looked like he had found something that made him want to keep smiling forever.

"How?" I asked. "How can someone like us end up anywhere that isn't Hell?"

"There's always a way out Zay," Noa said. "Sometimes it's labeled clearly. Sometimes you have to carve it yourself."

"But you've killed so many people. Dad said you were basically flawless with your assassination contracts."

Noa placed his hand on my arm. It felt like a cool summer's breeze off of the Lake caressing the hellfire from my body. "There's more than one way to make a person disappear Zay. Dad taught us that the only way was to kill. I carved my own path and worked on convincing people to flee."

Then he sat back and the light in his eyes dampened a bit. "Sadly, there was one death on my hands. It happened on my seventh birthday."

He didn't need to explain. It was the same trick our parents pulled on me...a false mannequin.

"His name was Che," Noa said. "And he forgave me."

We were silent for a couple of seconds as we stared out towards the forest of trees in the opposite direction. "And the others?" I said. "You spared them all?"

"I told them to run away. If they didn't, they would certainly die by the hands of an assassin. Many didn't believe me, so I showed them the contracts. When they recognized who was after them, many didn't need any more convincing. Others wanted to call this in to the police and get back at them. But the police were tainted with dad's money. Once they realized they had nowhere to go, they accepted their fate. I had a guy who was good at getting new documents for my contracts."

He leaned forward towards me, distracting my view of the scenery around us. "But I always had to level a harsh threat. If they ever resurfaced again, they will most certainly die, and it would likely be me who would deliver the blow in order to save the countless others who went into hiding accordingly."

I was frustrated at myself for not thinking of this. Sure, it would've been extra work to make sure that the victims stay "dead" and never found, but it would've been a heavy load off of my conscience.

I thought back to the night that Noa died, when I failed to pull the trigger to end the boy. Noa tried convincing me to do it, and then in the end he ended up killing the boy.

Noa didn't even need me to voice my questions. He read the doubt off of my face. "I was glad you hesitated Zay. It showed that you were human after all. As for the boy," Noa said leaning towards me and placing his hands on my right shoulder. "Your eyes were closed, much like they are now. You didn't see that all I did was put the boy back to sleep."

I felt him gradually pinch my shoulder, the same technique I pulled on the sanitation workers at Cosecha Meadows, taught to me by my lovely older brother. I heard the younger version of Noa and I laughing in the next carriage while it shook in the breeze as if pointing out the irony.

"Train Zay," my brother's words started to slur a bit as the light around me started to blur. "Get stronger, and when the time comes, you'll know how to stop our father."

The ferris wheel shook, grinding to a start, as I closed my eyes.