by J. N. Chaney
I could already hear several of the younger children crying. They were scared and confused, an understandable reaction to seeing an armed group of mercenaries invade your home. Gods only knew what they’d said or done to them since their arrival.
“Shut the hell up over there!” shouted the soldier.
A loud yelp followed as the bench slid across the floor.
“Bren!” shouted a girl. “You hurt him! Bren!”
More crying followed, and this time, it was even louder.
“I said shut up, all of you!”
A boiling heat ran through my throat and chest as I imagined one of the kids getting smacked around or pushed to the floor. Without even seeing it, I was already livid.
I eased my way through the door. The hinges creaked enough to make a sound, but the children’s cries drowned it out. The kitchen was empty, no sign of the staff. Since the authorities had yet to arrive, I had to assume the adults were with the kids on the other side of the counter.
If only one of them had gotten out, this scenario would have unfolded quite differently.
“Is anyone gonna answer me? Ralph? Torey? Somebody?!” asked the man, his voice erupting from the dining area as well as inside the comm.
I eased my way closer to the counter. He was pacing back and forth between two long tables, children on either side of him. I could see the top of his head.
I touched the comm and cleared my throat. “Hello,” I said in the lowest voice I could manage.
He stopped moving, then turned towards the other side of the room. “Who the fuck is this?!” he shouted, causing several of the kids to flinch.
Witnessing the children’s fear pushed me into action. I raised myself up to my feet, extending my arm with the weapon it held, and fired.
He took the bullet in his shoulder, knocking him forward to the floor where he scrambled desperately to get away.
I leaped over the countertop, gun still aimed, and the children’s desperate and frightened screams were nearly overwhelming.
But at that moment, all of the noise seemed to drown itself, replaced by an empty song as total focus shrouded me. My eyes were set on the armored man with the rifle as he moved along the tiled floor. He swung his gun in my direction, but I fired twice and struck the hand that threatened to pull the trigger.
He snapped back, screaming in pain as the bullet tore his fingers apart. As our eyes locked, and I saw the fear overtaking him, I shot him in the knee, ensuring that whatever happened next, I could take my fucking time with him.
“S-stop!” he yelled, his dry voice cracking at the words.
I walked beside him, stopping when I had the barrel a meter from his forehead. “Drop the weapon,” I ordered.
With one hand shaking and bleeding, he tried desperately to remove the rifle from his neck. It took him some time to do it, but eventually, he had it off. I kicked it away from both of us and then narrowed my eyes on his.
The sisters and kitchen staff were already leading the children out of the building, and before long, the two of us were alone. Once I knew no one could see, I knelt beside the stranger and stared quietly at his trembling, sweating face. “You should never have come here,” I told him.
“We were only following orders,” he managed to say.
“Me too,” I said, placing the barrel to his forehead. “But I don’t take kids as hostages.”
He swallowed. “You’re gonna kill me, huh? Just like you killed everyone else. Fuck you, then. Hurry up, just do it and get it over with.”
I pressed the barrel deeper into him, biting my lip. I wanted to do it more than anything. He deserved it. We both knew it. No one would blame me.
The comm in my ear clicked to life. “Abigail?” asked a familiar voice. It was Pearl, and the sound of my name caused me to flinch. “Abby, are you there?”
I removed my finger from the trigger, easing the weapon back. “I’m here,” I said.
“I’m outside with a team. Stay where you are. We’ll be right there,” she told me. “Did you take any of them alive? Anyone we can question?”
I looked down at the man before me. There was still a man upstairs, locked in the closet. I could leave him alive and we could question him, find out more about them. I had no reason to keep this one alive, except—
Clementine’s face flashed before my eyes, and I remembered the way she killed that man on our first mission—sliced his throat in his own bed, and then the woman next to him. The bloodlust had grown in her like a cancer. Was I the same? Was I just like my sister?
I paused and slowly took a step back from the trembling man at my feet. His eyes darted between my pistol and my face, confusion all over him.
I sat on the nearby bench, letting the gun dangle between my legs, all the energy in me suddenly gone.
“There’s two,” I muttered, letting out a sigh. “I’ve got two survivors.”
By the time I made it home, Mulberry was already there waiting for me. He’d arrived on-world less than an hour ago. In that time, the authorities had been dispatched, and our team had long since vanished. Our government contacts would omit whatever details they needed to avoid implicating our group. Such an arrangement would require compensation from Mulberry, but given Mable’s safety, I knew he was more than willing to pay.
Our team had to break into three groups, each taking an alternate, snaking path back home to escape any detection.
I had gone alone, taking a cab to the middle of the city, walking around a shopping plaza, and then using the guild’s anonymous shell account, I used another public transport to travel the rest of the way. I’d asked to be dropped off a quarter kilometer from the front door. I’d made it back slightly after dark.
Mulberry went to me as soon as he saw me, and he gave me the biggest smile I’d ever seen on him.
“How’d it go?” he asked, but we both knew it was only a courtesy. He’d likely already gone over the drone footage, not to mention Mable’s testimony.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You already know how it went.”
He gave me a chuckle. “I want to hear it from you. Mable said you did a fine job, but how did it feel?”
“Feel?” I echoed.
“That was your first time in the field in months,” he said honestly.
“Oh,” I muttered, uncertain of what to say. The truth was, I felt exhausted, and the call of my bed tugged at me. Still, I found I was somehow happy, not only for Mable’s safety and the joy I saw in Mulberry’s eyes but also for the success of my mission. It felt right, every part of it. “Where’s Mable?”
He frowned but only slightly. “She’s gone,” he said, sighing slightly. “She said to tell you thank you, but she had to leave. If I know her, and I’d like to think I do, she’ll find another church, maybe take another name. She knows the game well enough to stay out of trouble, especially after all of this.”
I could hear the sadness in his voice. The knowledge that he might never see her again was ever present in the back of his throat. I knew that feeling because I felt it with Clementine.
I reached out to grip his shoulder, and I hugged the old man with all the strength I had left. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
His arms wrapped around me, and he pulled me into his shoulder. He grunted, and I knew he meant the same.
A light tap at my door startled me awake.
I’d been reading, and I must have fallen asleep. The book was lying open across my chest, and I didn’t remember putting it down. I was halfway through the second to last story in the Tales of the Earth book, but I couldn’t remember where I’d stopped.
The mission must have worn me out more than I thought.
I checked the page number before putting the book down and standing up. I pressed the button to open the door, surprised to find Pearl standing on the other side. She looked more exhausted than I did.
“Can I come in?” she asked.
“Of course,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “What is it?”
She put the two glasses on my bedside table and poured some amber liquid into both. She handed me one and sat down on Clementine’s bed.
“So,” I said, eyeing the liquor in the glass suspiciously. “What’s up?”
She took a sip from her glass. “It’s been a long night. Mulberry’s not in the best mood, so I decided to hang out with you tonight. If you don’t mind, of course.”
I sniffed my glass and made a face. “What is this?”
“Bourbon. But they should have called it ambrosia, drink of the gods.” She raised her glass. “Bottoms up.” She downed what was left.
I took a sip and winced at the taste. My eyes bulged as the burning liquid went down my throat. “Ow. That’s just terrible. How do you drink this?”
She shrugged. “It gets better after five or six glasses.”
I sat down on my bed across from Pearl. “Are you drunk?”
She made a gesture with her hand. “About halfway there. I plan on going all the way tonight, though, if you get my meaning.”
“I don’t.”
She shrugged and filled her glass again. “You will.”
I inspected my glass and took another sip. I didn’t know why I expected it to go down any better, but I was gasping by the time it went down my throat. Pearl laughed and leaned over to refill my glass.
I took another drink of the fiery liquid. “Pearl, what’s Mulberry’s history with Sister Mable?”
Pearl leaned back on the bed, pressing her shoulder into the wall behind her. “They knew each other before they started this place. They founded it together, I suppose you could say.”
I leaned forward. “Together? I thought he built this place after she left him.”
She took another sip. “Oh, yes. They were equal partners in building this place. The fact that they were in love was a separate relationship, or so they liked to claim. The rest of us knew better, though.”
In love? I’d never known about that. From what little I’d gleaned by now, it was clear they’d worked together and had been friends, but to be in love was something else entirely. It redefined everything I knew about them. “I had no idea,” I muttered, trying to imagine them together, making eyes at one another. “Why did she leave?”
Pearl sighed. “I don’t know all the details. In those days, I spent a lot of time away, running jobs and training some of the newer recruits. Mable and Mulberry took care of the business side of things, giving out missions and targets. That’s not to say they didn’t still run jobs from time to time. In fact, that was ultimately the cause of why she left.”
“What do you mean?”
“She killed a little girl,” Pearl said, nonchalant as ever, and then took another sip of her drink. “Not intentionally, mind you, but it happened all the same. She and Mulberry took a contract on a man named Sordin Vae. They waited in his apartment, expecting him to be alone that night. He had joint custody of his daughter, but the intel said he’d be home alone that night. It was wrong, and the bomb they planted ended up taking both the target and his child out in the same awful moment.”
I said nothing.
“Everything changed after that,” Pearl continued. “Mable stopped going on jobs. Mulberry started changing the way he ran the guild. Higher standards all around, no more bombs, only precision hits. He really stepped things up.”
I took another sip from the glass. It still burned all the way down, but like Pearl said, it was getting easier to bear. I was feeling a little woozy, though, so I shook my head when Pearl offered to refill my glass. “Was she Number Two?”
Pearl nodded. “Still is, and she always will be, so long as Mulberry has his way.”
I smiled at that.
“She left a year later,” Pearl told me. “Went to that church and took her vows. It devastated Mulberry. He begged her to come home. The fact is, she was his heart. I saw it in him, just as I saw it in her. That’s why she brought you girls here. Even then, after almost ten years, she only trusted him. She knew he’d protect you like you were his own daughters, because she knew the depths of his love. That’s just the kind of man he is. He cares too much.”
“I had no idea,” I said, my eyes dropping to the floor.
“No, I don’t suppose you would,” she said. “Love is something for adults, and it makes them crazy and sick, all at the same time.”
“I hope I never have it, then,” I said, thinking that it sounded rather painful.
“Don’t say that,” Pearl said, and a slight smile poked through the side of her lips. “As hard as it was for him, I know Mulberry would never trade his time with Mable for anything, whether in this life or the next. She made him the happiest he’s ever been. As his friend, I was glad to see him so incredibly, stupidly in love.” Her eyes rose to meet mine. “And someday, Abigail, I hope to see the same in you too.”
17
The alleyway was dark, and loud music from the nightclub next door vibrated through the walls. It was only a couple of hours from sunrise, but the music didn’t sound like it was going to be ending anytime soon.
I crouched down in between two dumpsters, twisting the silencer on my pistol, waiting for my target.
Jeremy Breen. That was the name of the man I was waiting for. Over the year or so after I’d helped Sister Mable, Mulberry let me switch between intel and normal fieldwork.
Breen wasn’t the kind of guy that our organization usually went after. Our bread and butter were thugs and self-styled kingpins. Breen’s company caught him embezzling money on Crescent, in a neighboring system.
One of the CEOs—someone that apparently had a lot to lose if this came to light—sought us out to deal with him. Quietly.
He had secrets, though. The kind that the company wanted to bury too. The kind that made Mulberry think that this was a job for me. He didn’t tell me as much, but the fact that he presented the job to me personally was revealing.
A few weeks of surveillance had revealed Breen’s fondness for perversion. He visited the same kind of establishments in each city he went to. We didn’t usually dig into targets’ vices, but the fact that each of these places had a common denominator led to a deeper study. What was revealed made me sick. It also told me why Mulberry offered me the job.
When we interrogated the owners of these establishments, each one of them agreed that Breen liked them young. Too godsdamned young. When Mulberry told me about the job, I took it. He hadn’t even offered it to me yet, and I’d taken it. It was mine.
All I had to do was wait. I closed my eyes, rubbing my temples with my free hand. The music inside was starting to get on my nerves.
After another ten minutes, I heard a vehicle come to a stop just outside the alley.
I had brought a drone with me on this mission, and it was currently flying half a kilometer overhead, sending a magnified visual into my mask’s eyepiece.
The man just arriving was an infamous drug dealer, Jack Reeth, also known as The Jack of Knives. He’d made quite the name for himself, here on Crescent, and he’d since become the go-to source for smuggled arms and drugs across half the planet. He wasn’t my target, but he was here to meet with Breen, which opened up the possibility of clearing the streets of two problems at once. Sure, they’d only pay me for one of them, but who was I to turn down a little charity work?
I dragged the slide on my pistol back, slipping a round into the chamber.
“I have the goods you wanted, but this is way off what I usually make, Breen,” Jack said. “It’s going to be double the usual price. Last minute delivery fees, you know.”
I could almost hear the smile in his voice.
“Fine. I don’t care,” Breen said, slurring his words. “Just tell me that you have enough for a party.”
“Red splits, wild grass, and a few dozen Michaels,” Jack said, pulling something out of a small black case, small enough to fit in his pocket. “Careful you
don’t get caught in there. And remember, you say my name to anyone, I’ll kill ya.”
Breen chuckled. “You’re a good friend, Knives.”
“So long as I get my money, sure,” said Jack.
My knees were beginning to strain in this position, so I shifted my weight a little. In doing so, my foot brushed against the gravel. It was quiet, but loud enough for them to notice.
Shit.
Jack paused, and I could see his attention shift to the back of the alley, even from my drone’s camera.
Looks like I have no choice, I thought, clutching my pistol.
I stepped out of hiding and raised my gun. I wasn’t ready to kill Breen yet, but I did want his attention.
“Hey, who the hell?” asked Jack.
I fired twice, hitting him in the chest and stomach. He fell to the ground, dropping the box of drugs into a small pool of rainwater.
Breen raised both his hands. Even from this far away, I could see him shaking.
“Hey, look, man,” Breen said, probably because of the mask I was wearing. “I’ve got money. Lots of it. Just take it and the drugs! Whatever you want!”
I tilted my head at him, keeping the weapon trained on his face. I slowly walked by him, towards the fresh body of his friend and dealer. Kneeling beside him, but still with my gun on my target, I quickly rummaged through Jack’s pockets. I stowed his credits and wallet, making certain to pull out every pocket.
“Yeah, that’s it, buddy,” said Breen. “Just take the money and leave me alone. I barely even know this guy. You can have my cash too!”
“Thanks,” I said, getting back up. “But I’m just taking this to make it look like an amateur did this. Can’t have the police thinking it was a professional, you know.”
“O-oh,” said Breen. “S-sure, right. You got it, man. Just don’t do anything—”
The first shot ripped through his throat, making him stumble back. The second broke one of his ribs. The third splattered brains into the air behind him, all before he had a chance to put together what was happening.
