by Sara Schoen
“The Night girl, sir?”
“Yes, her. I was tripped up for a while by the name change and relocation since we hadn’t kept a close eye on her, but the file was easy enough to peel open when I wanted it to,” he said proudly. I rolled my eyes at his words, from what little I heard about Ash I figured he paid someone a nice sum of money to let him peek in the files he needed. Little did that person know or care that they hadn't just put me in danger, but also my adoptive family.
He's going to kill more people. There would be more families like mine, dead and gone, and if the kids survived they could turn out exactly how I was. There was nothing particularly wrong with me, but I knew how it felt. The solitude, the depression, and the never ending pain. No one should have to go through with that, and I wasn't going to let them. Without another moment of hesitation I crawled away from Ash's office. I had to find a different place to make an attack, and the vent wasn't the right choice because I was in a compact location, which would easily be used against me. I needed a distraction, and to do that I needed to get out of the vents and into the house itself. There were guards everywhere, and they would definitely be in the halls, I just had to figure out how to get most of the people out of the building.
I couldn't start a fire or make noise inside of the house, because it would attract more people toward my location. I needed to cause trouble outside, and drag the attention to the perimeter of the house. The only way I knew to do that was to go back outside, but that wouldn’t be productive. I’d be trapped out there with them, unable to get back inside and into Ash’s office. I tried to think of anything I could do, but the only thing that was coming to me Rum’s advice. There was a wash of regret as I thought back to how stupid it was for me to learn her out-of-the-box training, but it could work here. Why do I always hate her training until I need it? I must be an awful person to mentor, I thought as I pulled off a vent cover and slid gracefully into a new room with the help of the armoire beneath the vent. She had taught me how to use reflective surfaces to cast shadows or lights. It wasn't used as a distraction normally according to Rum's teaching, but it was all I had and I would just have to improvise.
I glanced around the room to discover I had found a bathroom with a small balcony off it. It felt odd having a balcony off the bathroom, who wants to stand outside after a shower? Wouldn't you be worried about someone sneaking into your house from the balcony? I had done it. Maybe it's just me though, I thought as a smile curved onto my lips as a plan started to form in my head. I locked the door to the restroom so that no one could come in while I worked my magic and raided the room for all it was worth. There were wash cloths, towels, bars of soap, a few cleaning detergent bottles, and most importantly a standing mirror that I could use. It was going to be tough, but it was all I had, so it would have to do.
I set up the mirror just behind the doors that went to the balcony, and slowly pushed the doors open to give myself room. The mirror was readjusted for the sunlight and cast a bright light on the trees below. There were a few men that saw the light, but when they looked around didn't see anything suspicious. They only started to worry when I started to race in front of the mirror, creating a shadow on the trees. A few men grouped together and started to search the trees. While they were busy I was going to move to a different location to split up a few more of the guards, but something caught my eye.
Without any attempts on my part, the trees moved unnaturally as if the branches were experiencing a sudden pressure of someone jumping from one to another. I watched momentarily as the leaves would shake and the tree would lean slightly. I have to be seeing things, I thought. It was either that or the wind, because there was no way someone else would be here. No one else knew where I went except Tessa, and I doubted she would come here or send Demon and the team after me, but as if on cue a guard called that there was an intruder in the trees. There was someone here, and they were going to make the noise for me.
There must have been a radio call because a few seconds later there were heavy footsteps in the hallway that had me racing into the ducts again. I repositioned the mirror, knowing that if they saw how I arranged it they would know someone was in here, and unlocked the door. I climbed back onto the armoire and slipped back into the vent, feet first, with ease. Once my hands were into the ducts, the door burst open and I slowly and carefully replaced the cover as the man looked around the room. When he shut the door, I took that as the okay to move back toward Ash's office and finish this off.
I slowly traveled through the ducts of the mansion to an empty room so I could watch through the windows while I waited as the henchmen left the building one by one. After years of searching for answers was finally coming to an end and I was anxious to get it over with. Despite my long wait for this very day, I had to calm down. If I was too worked up, I would be sure to miss a step and get caught. This wasn't the time for that; I had to finish this now. I slid out of the room and into the hallway once the last guard was out searching for the intruder, and I made my way back to the head office. The building was a giant maze with hallways upon hallways and dead ends that kept turning me around. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps began to echo around me as I hurriedly tried to retrace my steps. The footfalls were a lot closer than they should be, and I was out in the open.
“I knew you would be coming,” a voice said from behind me as the cool barrel of a gun pressed against my temple. Instantly I froze, unsure of what to do as a pair of hands grabbed me and threw me backwards against the wall. The first part of my body to connect with the wall was my head. It slammed into the wall, reverberating slightly from the forceful impact, and instantly my vision started to blur. Then the hands released me, allowing my body to crumple to the ground in a heap as laughter filled my ears.
“You came in here willingly. I'm impressed, and astonished at how stupid you are, but thankful that you just made my search for you so much easier. You won't be leaving here alive, Miss Night. In fact, you'll be lucky to leave here in one piece. I've been known to get a little outlandish with those that have prevented me from finishing a job. You've evaded me for too long and now I will finally be able to get rid of the last piece of the Night family,” he said smugly. His voice was deep and threatening as he stood over me, casting an intimidatingly large shadow on my thin body. Even with my blurred vision I was able to make out his dark hair and strong jaw line. I knew his face instantly; I had seen him in the hospital after the accident. This is the man who ruined my life, come to visit me to see if I would die, and I had come to kill him.
Allowing my rage to fill my body, I pushed back my pain and hurriedly forced myself to my feet. “Why did you kill my family?” I asked, just before I lunged toward him, but was stopped by his bodyguard who hurriedly blocked me and shoved me back into the wall. This time I was pushed with so much force that my back cracked and sent a shooting pain up my spine before I fell to the ground again.
“Don't worry, you'll be seeing them soon, and you can have all your answers then,” Ash said, waving his hand carelessly as if he were discussing the weather. Sighing, he reached his hand into his pocket, and pulled out a knife. My eyes squinted as they tried to focus on the glistening blade. I could see the fear in my eyes reflected in the cold metal. This was not how everything was supposed to go.
I wasn't supposed to be caught and I wasn't supposed to be the one in pain; he was. A small yelp escaped my mouth as he stepped toward me. I wanted to run, but I was in too much pain and I couldn’t convince my body to move. Stepping closer to me, Ash grabbed a fistful of my hair in his free hand and yanked me off of the ground. Then, in one swift motion, he brought the blade up to my throat, applying pressure.
“You should have stayed away,” he murmured.
In response to his statement, I spit in his face, then watched in satisfaction as it landed in his eye and he winced in disgust. Luckily for me, Ash let me go so that he could wipe his face. Unfortunately, as punishment for spitting on his boss, his guard grabbed my shou
lders and slammed me backwards into the wall for the third time. This time, the blackness closed in from the edges of my vision until everything went black. All I could hear was laughter and footsteps coming toward me.
This is the end, I thought as my body went limp.
Chapter 31
I felt my head dip back suddenly, before I felt like I was falling and jerked from fear. It was as if I was trying to sleep and suddenly woke up because of a sound, the darkness was shattered as light finally made its way back into my eyes. Panic raced through me when I tried to move and felt restraints holding my hands in place behind me. Once the darkness had faded away completely, I was able to regain my bearings to see that I was back in Ash's office. I was backed up against the wall near the filing cabinets, and there was nothing for me to use in order to escape. Although, as I looked around the room I realized that they had left me alone and that would be their mistake.
A smile curved onto my lips as I tried to maneuver myself so that I could grab my knife with my bound hands to cut the rope, but quickly realized that was only able to happen in movies and television shows. No matter what position I contorted into, there was just no way to reach the knife on the side of my hip. I attempted to spin in the seat so that I could slide my arms up and off the seat, but that failed as well. If I made it out of this alive I was going to have to talk with Ms. De Luca and tell her that the knife sheath was too far from the waist band of my pants, and the fashion sense would have to be taken out as a factor of the design.
“Look she’s awake,” a voice rejoiced as the door opened. I glanced over to see Ash and Theo enter the room with four other large men that could easily throw me out a window without breaking a sweat. “Glad to see that Dennis didn’t do my dirty work on this one. I wouldn’t want you to go before I had a chance to talk to you.”
I stared at him, refusing to talk to him and trying to figure out a way to escape. There was a darkness in his eyes that caused my skin to prickle. He was dangerous, and I was in no position to mount an escape. It would take time, I had to play my cards right. Keep him talking, make sure that I had something up my sleeve that made me worth more alive than dead. I wasn’t even sure that was possible for a hit man. He was paid to kill people so everyone was worth more dead than alive.
“Leave,” Ash ordered, shocking everyone in the room, including Theo who looked as if he was about to speak out against the order. “I want to finish her with my own two hands,” Ash said as he waved his hand to dismiss his guards. There was a small sound from behind me as if someone was about to speak up again, but Ash cut them off. “Come back in an hour. She won't take that long.”
His eyes cut to me when he spoke that last sentence, allowing me to see that the cruel smile had reached his eyes and there wasn’t going to be a way out of this for me. At least, not without a few bruises, but something inside me knew that I wasn’t going to be that lucky. The men left the room, although slightly reluctant at first, leaving Ash and I alone in the office. Ash paced around the room for a few minutes, taking the time to open the filing cabinet that he had me set next to so that I could see the almost empty drawer. I heard a growl leave his lips as he eyed the drawer, and then turned back to me. The anger was prevalent in his eyes, but there was something else, something I couldn’t place.
“I'm honestly surprised you're still alive. I thought you would have killed yourself years ago,” he said, letting his words hit close to my heart because of how true they were. A shiver raced through my body, which resonated through me the longer he let his words sink in. How could he have known that I tried to kill myself? That wasn’t in the file and that hospital report was kept out of sight from everyone. “Do you know that I spent years tracking you down?” he asked, but continued so quickly that it was clear that I hadn't been meant to answer. “Clearly I failed, because you’re still here and breathing.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. The tone in his voice scared me, I could see where this conversation was going and I didn’t like it. There was a darkness that I could feel, a heavy pitch blackness that reminded me of my depression. It was hard to fight off, it was hard to breath, and it was hard to want to survive.
“The adoption made it hard to find you,” he explained. “I was told you died in the hospital and stopped looking. When I heard you were alive I went looking and there was no longer a record of you, but I have my ways of getting people to talk and most times it’s not pleasant for them. It took a while to find someone who knew what happened to you after being admitted to the hospital, but everyone has their price and some can even wipe away the guilt that they know they are sending someone to their death.”
Death; another shiver resonated through me at the word. That’s what my life had become because of him, one long line of death. He had either injured people to find me or killed to discover me. Someone had given him my information, and that meant he knew the Rickers, he could find them and kill them just to watch me suffer.
“It’s amazing what people will do for money. It’s also astonishing that James Ricker happened to be going home the night of the crash. I normally stick around to make sure the job gets done, but I couldn’t have witnesses and had to have my men leave without double checking. I don’t get paid to kill people I wasn’t requested for after all,” he added as if that would make his line of work the slightest bit better. “From the police report I learned that he pulled you and your brother from the accident. Your brother died in surgery, and you lived.”
“It wasn’t worth living,” I whispered, but it had given him exactly what he wanted. He wanted to know what would hurt me the worse, and my families were the way to do it. I would die for my family, I would protect them as they protected me, and I would do it again and again no matter what.
“You have two new brothers, I heard that Leslie had always wanted a daughter.” My eyes grew wide and my mouth dropped in shock as he reiterated information about my family as if he knew them personally. “How’s middle school for your brother? It’s so hard being bullied, but with a sister like you, so protective and angry at the world, you put that kid in line and he doesn’t take it from them as a normal kid his age would. And Alex, he’s so worried about you that I’m not sure he has a life outside of caring for you. It’s almost as if he sees it as his job to protect you from everything else. He protected you from James when you made that little escape to the cemetery. The memorial for your family was touching I hear, by the way. Sorry I couldn’t make it, I had other matters to attend to. Other families to break up,” he said with a smile.
My hands clinched into tight fists as I tried to fight the emotions racing through me: fear, anger, shock, and everything in between. He knew so much about my adoptive family, and me. He had been watching me, but he hadn’t killed me, just tortured me with the possibilities of what he could have done and what he did.
“What made you kill my family? Why us? What did we do to you? What did I do to you?”
“You? This has nothing to do with you. The only reason you're here now is because you came here on your own. I would have eventually gotten rid of you, that’s true, but it wasn't high on my priority list. I have other families to break up and other people to get rid of,” he said with a heavy breath. “Otherwise I don't get paid, and I enjoy being paid big money for such little work.”
“Little work?” I asked, letting the venom drip from my words. My anger was hitting dangerous heights the more I heard him talk about his work. He took such great pleasure in killing, tearing apart families and all just to get paid. I could feel my anger rising the more I thought about it. There was no reason someone should take such pride in a life of murder, and he wasn’t ever going to stop. The anger was starting to gain more power of me as I started to shake. The thoughts of those families, any family that could become a target of him, having their loved ones ripped from their lives and following the same path I did, it was too much bear. I had to stop him, even if it killed me.
“You killed my family!�
� I screamed suddenly, shocking myself at the threatening tone my voice had taken. “You killed other families, other people, and other people's friends! You killed them! You took their life from them and you call that little work? Their lives meant something to someone, and you took them from those people. You call that little work? They mattered.”
“Those people were bugs on a windshield compared to some of the people I have had the displeasure of working for and meeting. You haven’t seen a sliver of the dangerous world we live in. Anyone can stumble onto something they aren’t supposed to know, and then I get the call to take care of them. They knew too much it’s that simple, but if you're asking if my conscience is killing me because I murdered those people, well I’m not sorry to say the answer is no. It's a job, someone has to do it, and I get paid well to do it. What would you do for a million dollars?”
“I wouldn't kill for it!”
“You wouldn't kill me to get paid?” Ash asked curiously as an eyebrow lifted up slightly and his smirk returned to the corners of his mouth. “I highly doubt that.”
“That's different,” I said. “You killed my family. I would take great pleasure killing you and I would do it for nothing. I would free the country from you.”
His smirk turned into a smile at my words, and eventually the smile broke into a laugh. What the hell was so funny? I wasn't joking, this was the most serious I had been on a matter in my life. He killed my family and was planning to kill others, I would kill him to protect those families. Yet he's taking it as a huge joke, as if I'm a child saying I'm going to grow up and be a unicorn. There was no reason for him to take this so lightly, if I could reach my knife right now I would kill him without a second thought. My eye twitched, I knew that was a lie. No matter how angry he made me I would have a conscience, unlike him. I knew it was wrong to kill him, even for the right reasons. I got cold feet back at the compound with Tessa and Jax. I couldn’t do it then, and Tessa stepped in when she realized it, so how could I expect to do it now?
