The Innocent Assassins

by Pema Donyo

  We rushed out of the plane the moment it landed. Adrian carried Lucy out in his arms, her limp body nearly lifeless as we entered the headquarters. Scientists and paramedics swarmed around her. They carried her away to the hospital and whisked Adrian, Emma, and I into separate rooms for questioning.

  When I finally left the headquarters and headed back to my apartment, it was nearly three in the morning. I entered the elevator in a drowsy haze. Bright pink from a large flyer on the wall of the elevator caught my eye. The poster advertised an event happening the next day.

  Masquerade.

  ****

  “We are gathered here today to celebrate the years of service all of you loyal and dedicated Covert Operatives agents have pledged to us in missions. We would also like to recognize the many more years of service some of you look forward to as executives. I am sure you all think you’ve been in school for long enough,” Marty laughed behind the podium. The small ornament of a gun-shaped tassel dangled from his hat as he shook with excitement. “I am so proud of this year’s graduating class of Covert Operatives agents, and I hope all of you will cherish the time you have spent with us. I pronounce you graduated!”

  There was a huge roar of applause from the agents. Mini confetti canons blew colorful streamers into the air from both sides of the stage. The view of LA from the window behind the stage was breathtaking as the sun set, adding to the mood of celebration and festivity. Christmas lights twinkled from the Griffith Observatory on the right of the stage, offering Covert Operatives’ Class of 2013 their own special congratulations.

  “At this point, we would like to especially congratulate this year’s emerging executives. May we please call to the stage: Jenna Alaric, Jane Lu, Hilary Dunforth, Benjamin Clark, Michael Jacobs, Dave Payne, Emma Vanderbilt, and Mark Walden. Welcome again to the Covert Operatives family. Please give these talented individuals a round of applause.”

  I strode to the stage, my white graduation robes dragging against the grass outside of Griffith Observatory. I stopped next to Jenna on the podium and spun around to face the crowd draped in ivory colored robes. Nearly all members of the Class of 2017 sat before us. Behind them were other classes of agents who’d decided to attend the commencement, agents who’d come for the dance afterward, and executives who attended to add dignity and solemnity to the occasion.

  I spotted the open seat among the graduates. The bright white plastic chair shone between the sea of black robes as a haunting reminder of yesterday’s mission. Lucy was still being treated, and her wounds were being assessed. None of the doctors told me her exact condition, but they assured me she’d be all right in a few weeks. She didn’t deserve to be hurt.

  I gazed back at the crowd, hearing their compliments but not feeling worthy of such congratulations at all. Here was a class of highly-trained murder machines programmed to show no mercy when money was involved. And here I was, one of those who organized who they killed and how. Which of us was guiltier?

  “I also have another special announcement to make.” Marty adjusted the reading glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Among CO’s Class of 2017, it gives me great pleasure to announce we have a next-in-line Chief Executive Officer in our midst.”

  Whispers passed over the crowd. Marty paused for dramatic effect, mirth shining in his eyes. He cleared his throat, then yelled, “Adrian King!”

  Thunderous applause accompanied Adrian’s journey to the stage. His black robe, barely floating in the faint breeze, hid his shoes and gave him the appearance of gliding above the ground.

  Marty stepped away from the podium so Adrian could stand behind it. He grabbed the microphone and walked to the front of the stage. Adrian held up his hands to finally quiet the applause, then flashed the crowd his mega-watt grin. Girls batted their eyelashes and guys tried to memorize how to do their hair the same way as him.

  “Agents, I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to be serving as your leader in the future. But I want to be clear: There is no such thing as a successful agency without successful agents. I may be your next CEO, but this company is about you.” He sauntered across the stage, pointing at random spectators. “I want this company to serve your needs and make you feel safe. You put in so much hard work for CO, and it is time you were rewarded. You want more stability in your life; you want more peace.” He shook his head. “Many of you may have heard of yesterday’s failed mission and Lucy Hernandez’s injury. I can’t even begin to tell you how saddened I am over my friend’s critical condition. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure it never happens again.”

  Adrian’s back faced me, but I knew at who his next words were aimed. “I know some of you put aside other plans you had for the future in order to stay with CO. We all make sacrifices for this company, including me. I will not let you down. We are taking CO in a new direction under my leadership. I need your support.”

  The crowd murmured with agreement as he held them spellbound.

  “Why, you ask?” Adrian pumped his fist into the air. “Because the success of CO depends on you! The agents, the executives, the alumni. Our success depends on your contributions.”

  Another roar of applause followed as he finally set the microphone back in the stand. Chills ran up and down my spine when he turned around to stare right at me. Something in his gaze searched for affirmation.

  His words echoed inside my head until the dance started. The robes were discarded, and I changed into my black body-con dress. Adrian shielded my bare arms with his tuxedo jacket and guided me away from the dance floor. We walked behind the observatory, next to the balcony where telescopes aimed at the LA cityscape.

  His arm snaked around my waist, and the inky black of my dress blended against the black of his jacket and pants.

  I wasn’t sure how to bring up all my questions, exactly. I couldn’t just bombard him with information. He’d back away like a scared deer!

  I twisted my mouth to the corner as I regarded his fixed gaze on the cityscape. No, there needed to be tact. I had to do this with poise. I had to be calm—

  “Look, I know you don’t want to tell me anything and you’re being all secretive and stuff, but I need to know what you have planned, Adrian, because I’m starting to get freakin’ worried about what you’re keeping secret from me!”

  Okay. Less tact than I’d wanted. A lot less.

  Adrian raised an eyebrow, but didn’t answer right away. He pointed at the twinkling lights of Los Angeles, the nighttime view which never failed to amaze me each time I visited the Griffith. “You see all those lights?”

  I suppressed the urge to tap my foot in impatience. Of course Adrian answered my panicky question with another one of his philosophical answers. “Yes, I see them.”

  “They’re all people. People without our skills, training, or resources. They don’t have anything we have. They have literally no advantage over us, except in one way.”

  “What?”

  “Family.” Adrian continued to study the cityscape. His eyes misted over into some glazed prediction of the future. “Remember the night on the dock? You said you wanted kids and a family. I can make your dream happen.”

  I blinked. He wasn’t talking about any future; he was talking about our future.

  His words tumbled out faster and faster, snowballing with the confident smoothness of a politician but the nervous enthusiasm of a scientist on the brink of a discovery. “Covert Operatives possesses a major problem I need to address.”

  “What is it?”

  “A lack of stability. People don’t feel safe. They don’t feel secure. They think a family will give them security. And that’s what we’ll give them.”

  “CO’s model is based around orphans and taking in kids from the streets. Kids who have nowhere else to go, who are at the mercy of society and government funds. Those are the kids given a second chance by CO.”

  “But it doesn’t have to be that way!” His eyes lit up. He grabbed my shoulders with a sudden fierceness
, and I almost fell over from the jolt. “We can’t afford to be stuck in the past in the 21st century. I will re-structure CO to be based around families. Agents getting married and having kids and building loyalties to CO which last generations. Kids will be ever more trained and loyal to the company, because their parents will be. It’s perfect, don’t you see? We’re building company loyalty and giving people the security they crave.”

  I shoved off Adrian’s arms like the touch burned me. My boyfriend was a madman. How could he not see how skewed his logic was? “Taking in orphans and kids from the street is the only redeeming part of CO, Adrian! They’re helping kids in terrible foster homes, kids like you and I. Why would you take away the sole redeeming quality of CO?”

  Adrian shook his head. “It’s a business. You don’t understand business.”

  My voice raised, and my hand almost did too—to slap him right across the face and knock some sense into his system. “Family doesn’t work for CO. We exist in an industry with no room for divided loyalties.”

  “Their loyalties will lie with CO.”

  “You can’t know that! These are the lives of people. You can’t control others.”

  “No force is needed. People will do this on their own.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  Adrian rubbed his lower jaw and averted my gaze.

  “You’re not a god, Adrian. Orphans and kids with parents who abandoned them – they’re not goods to be traded and sold!”

  “No one’s calling them goods to be sold and I never called myself a god.” His eyes flashed in anger and his voice stretched tight. “You don’t get it. I’d be preventing deaths. The current model we have right now…” He stopped suddenly. “Never mind. You wouldn’t understand.”

  “I am not a child!” Anger burst through my tone. “I’m your girlfriend and your best friend, and you need to tell me what is going on.”

  “Not all the kids are orphans.” He moved away from the cityscape and away from my searching look. “Some are, but some have parents who look for them later.”

  “The woman and man on the computer were my parents.” I leaned against the balcony for support. Before continuing, I took a deep breath. “What happened to them?”

  “They were killed.” His voice stayed flat. “They were murdered by CO agents.”

  The awful cry in the air, escaping from my throat, sounded bestial instead of human. It was a sound between a sob and a gasp. He knew all this time, and he didn’t care. “How do you know?”

  “Because part of my special missions include making sure all the existing parents are dead.”

  “And if they’re not?”

  “Exterminate them myself.”

  “You never told me.”

  Adrian pressed his lips together. I trembled to imagine how much else he kept hidden.

  “How many parents?” My voice sounded hollow to my ears.

  “Twelve, maybe. The last one was last year, in Russia. One of the CO agents was the illegitimate son of a CIA agent, and he was asking questions about where his son was. He was the one who introduced the CIA to CO. I killed him, no problem. His girlfriend tried to get in the way so I killed her too.” Adrian’s whole body tensed. “Then his partner tried to kill me. He got away, but no doubt left with his partner’s information about CO.”

  I swallowed hard. My fists gripped the balcony rail for dear life. “What about my parents?”

  “No, I didn’t kill yours.”

  An unexpected wave of relief washed over me. I knew, in the back of my mind, I should have focused on how he killed twelve innocent parents. Yet I couldn’t suppress the supreme comfort in knowing he hadn’t hurt mine. At least he didn’t kill mine.

  “Adrian, where are your parents?”

  “Mother’s dead.”

  I moved toward him, wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and embraced him with as much tenderness as I could.

  “I want you to be honest with me, Janey.”

  “Always,” I lied. “But why? Why are you doing all this to be CEO? What does it matter?”

  He pulled away. Shock and disbelief stared back at me. I felt him slipping away, like a tether between us had been severed with my last two questions.

  “What is this about? Is this about power?”

  “What…” He ran a hand over his nose, his mouth, down his chin. “This is about working hard for something. This is about me working hard to give you the future you want!” He grabbed my wrists. I struggled to inch away from him, but he held me in place.

  “You think this is easy?” He gritted his teeth. “You think it’s easy for me to kill people every day and keep information from you to keep you safe? I’m doing all this for us. I’m doing this to protect you.”

  I stopped struggling. My body slumped in his arms, nearly as lifeless as Lucy’s the day before. “You sure made it sound easy during your speech today.”

  He scoffed. “It was politics, Janey. Trying to win over people and get them to respect me so when I do come into power they trust me.”

  “And how am I supposed to trust you?” The cold night air whipped in my face. A sudden gust of wind loosened the curls from my bun and the tendrils whirled around me. “Politics? Coming into power? This isn’t you.”

  “This is me. This is me now.”

  I shook my head. “You’re not the same Adrian I met all those years ago. Maybe we’ve changed. Maybe it’s time for us to…” But I couldn’t finish my sentence. “You told me you didn’t care whether I was in CO anymore; you said we’d stay together.”

  “But none of it matters anymore. You’re an executive; I’m CEO.” Adrian fumbled for words as his cool exterior crumbled. “Don’t you get it? We’re going to take over CO. We’ll be so powerful together.”

  “This isn’t us. We used to be closer,” I murmured. “This relationship used to be something I missed.”

  “Jane...” His voice faltered. “Janey, you don’t mean it.”

  “No. I do. You have me in these…” I stared down at his hands around mine. “Chains! You have me chained to you. Just like you’re planning to chain agents to CO for their entire lives.”

  Adrian dropped his hands. How many times had he clutched me and then let me go, like he was afraid of his own strength?

  His voice was quiet. “Don’t do this. Not again.”

  Tears trailed down my cheeks like a vision of my future with Adrian: only downhill from here.

  I tried to tell him with a look, tried to express my guilt and desperate need to make him understand. Espionage or no espionage, this wasn’t working. Something was breaking. I couldn’t bring myself to put it into words; I wanted him to understand through my gaze.

  But either he wasn’t trying to interpret it or he refused to accept it, because he kept shaking his head and whispering things like, “We’re going to keep trying,” “We have to try to make this work,” “I’ll try harder,” “Don’t give up, just try.” I felt overwhelmed by the apologies.

  When was I allowed to give up?

  “Remember how it felt when we reunited? When I saw you, and you saw me. You missed us.” Adrian ran his hands up and down my arms, but I inclined my cheek away before he could try to kiss me. “Jane!” He broke away from me and kicked a trash can next to us, denting the metal inward and forever destroying the shape of the can.

  But it wasn’t enough. He picked up the trash can and threw it over the balcony, sending the tin crashing down the hill. He searched for something else to dent, to throw over his shoulder and destroy. But the only other object around him was me.

  “You frighten me,” I whispered. The wind whipped so loud around us, I wasn’t sure if he heard me. Someone had turned up the music from the dance floor. The song was sorrowful, as if commemorating a death.

  “It’s so hard now. It’s difficult all the time. Love isn’t supposed to be like this! All we do anymore is accuse each other and argue.”

  “Look, you’re tired. I get it. I told you a lo
t of information and you’re not sure how to feel about it.” He shushed my attempts at a reply. “Think about what I said, don’t get back to me yet.” He backed away, like he was afraid of what I’d say if he stayed longer. “I’m going back to the headquarters.”

  “Adrian, this isn’t…” But he’d already left before I could get another word out.

  I stood there alone, staring out at the LA city skyline. There was nothing more beautiful in the world than looking at LA nights from the Griffith Observatory.

  And the most beautiful spot in the world had been ruined.

  I shivered as another cool gust of air attacked my shoulders. I drew Adrian’s coat closer around me. We’d joke about spending our lives with CO when we were kids, but those days were before there’d been anything romantic between us at all. We were no more than partners for CO then, friends from the same foster home, linked by a hatred of foster parents and a love for excitement. But we hadn’t wanted power. We hadn’t demanded control over others.

  I need to get away from here. I needed to leave. The sudden sounds of the music rising in volume again spurred me into action. I raced down the hill of the Griffith Observatory, past the mountain hiking path. I ran till I was out of earshot of the music, until the few sounds I could hear were the crickets and the sound of my own hard panting and my furious heart beating.

  I shut my eyes. The full moon bathed me in purifying rays. If only there was a way to erase my memory at this point, I thought with bitterness. If only there was a way to float along a ray of the moon and return innocent, without having the history of killing others or failing in a relationship or espionage. If only it would all stop and allow me to start over.

  “Left the party early?”

  I jumped, almost screaming. I calmed myself at the last moment, my hand pressed over my thumping chest as I stared at Tristan with wide eyes. “How did you find me?”