How to Raise an Assassin

CHAPTER 49: EPILOGUE - A FALLEN SON

Monet almost fainted when she got the call right in the middle of welcoming a new batch of recruits to start their path to becoming a member of the Royden Hive.

She had Devin take over while she rushed out the tattoo parlor, shoved her way into her car, and rocketed towards her brother-in-law's house, praying loudly along the way that the news she had received simply wasn't true.

She came to a sudden halt outside Dex's house. Ambulances and media were surrounding the place. Police tape wrapped around the property to keep people from the scene of utter carnage. Bodies laid outlined in chalk around the floor. Body bags were being loaded to a truck like cargo.

She was sleepwalking at this point. There was no way this could be anything other than a nightmare. She pushed passed the journalists clamoring at her for answers. The yellow tape was lifted for her by two officers who stood motionless with their heads down. She pushed open the front door and found homicide detectives photographing the entire place like the family would on Christmas day. She found the dining room, once garnished with such fine porcelain plates used for Thanksgiving, were now shattered on the ground. The table rested on its side and as Monet came closer towards it, she peeked over the border it divided between chaos and misery.

There laid her nephew, his throat slashed, dried blood covering his tie and dress shirt, his pupils dangling in death's grip.

Monet held her hand to her mouth. She tried fighting back those pesky tears. Tears made her look weak. But she couldn't help feeling debilitated after seeing the boy she cared about most slaughtered.

What was the point of being a leader of a revolutionary organization if she couldn't even use it to protect the person she cared about most? She made a promise after her sister's murder that no one else in her family would suffer. She made a promise to her sister that if anything were to happen to her, her baby boy would be safe by her side.

She couldn't keep those promises.

A couple of men came and lifted Ash into a body bag. Monet didn't say a word but stopped them as she knelt by Ash's sweet face. She stroked his hair and made a promise she would take to her grave. "I'll end them all. Starting with the girl who got you into this."

"We have a pulse," Monet heard a medic shout. She turned around to find her brother-in-law not far away. It was as if she hadn't even noticed he was there. She took to his side, watching as his eyes fluttered open, his mouth leaking with blood, his chest oozing with it.

He fought the pain to turn his head around the room and take in the scene. His eyes immediately locked onto his son.

It was like watching Dex die a second time. He fell backwards breathing rapidly. The medics tried to calm him down and stabilize him.

But he kept on muttering. "She promised me..."

As if realizing that Monet was standing there for the first time, his eyes locked onto hers. "Monet..." he huffed. "Find her."

Monet nodded and reached down towards her phone. She pulled up a secure application that scanned her iris to confirm it was her. Then she typed in her target's name.

A map of the world opened up. Each second it zeroed in on a signal blinking in Africa, west Africa, Nigeria...

Lagos.

It looked like it was time for the Locusts to spread to Nigeria.

***

To the world, Dex Dayton, the progressive mayor from the city of Chicago, was dead. Assassinated in his home, his short career in politics was over.