by Sara Schoen
“How does it feel?” he repeated.
“How does what feel?” I asked as the groan subdued and his smile slowly curled back onto his lips. I was playing with fire, stalling, looking for a way out. He would shoot me without a second thought, I just had to buy more time; just a few more seconds.
“Being so close to death,” he taunted as he pushed the gun into my temple again so the pain would erupt from my head again.
I didn’t answer, I couldn’t. The pain was taking up too much of my attention, so much that I could barely comprehend what he was saying. When I didn’t respond to his remark, his hands latched onto my chin so that he forced me to look at him. His eyes bored into mine and I felt fear race through me again. The darkness in his eyes seemed to take over everything. The anger, the joy of his work and the excitement to take me out of the picture. Although, when I felt the ropes loosen, I couldn’t prevent my own smile from rushing across my face.
“I wouldn't know,” I said as the rope slipped from my wrists, unbeknownst to him. I took one last breath and made my choice: to live and fight for those other families, including my own. “I have no idea what it’s like to be so close to death, but you will.”
His features changed, as I let the confusion caused by my words sink in. He was unable to speak when I forced myself out of the chair and dove into him. I used all the energy I had gathered and pushed forward, shoving Ash backwards into his desk, and eventually onto the ground. There was a thud when he landed, and a clanking of the gun as it landed somewhere in the room. I snatched the knife off his desk, and the flash drive he had set down as well. The protective instinct, as my mother had told me growing up, was the strongest of them all. In this moment, I knew she was right. I was going to protect these people and my family. I was going to fight for them, no matter what.
I got into the best stance I could, that didn't cause me to double over in pain, and prepared for a fight. When he got up, he immediately started to throw punches at me, swinging wildly and not really aiming for me. I followed the pattern of my fight with Raider at the agency, and watched his movements before striking. I ducked, then used the palm of my hand and hit upward to break his nose. There was a loud crack, which told me I had broken the bone, and a cry as he fell backward onto the ground.
The next few seconds went by in slow motion as I tried to locate the weapon that would end our fight. He grabbed his nose in pain and once my eyes left him in search of the gun, he hit me square in the jaw, flinging me backwards onto the desk before he started punching me repeatedly. I wanted for his motions to slow, but the hits kept coming, and in that moment when he took a second too long to hit me again I headbutted him. He staggered back as I got up, holding my head in pain, but he recovered quicker than I did. I took two quick hits to my face, but dodged the ones that were aimed at my rib cage and stomach.
I knew that getting hit in the rib cage or gut could cause more injuries then just the initial jab. Cracked ribs would be crippling, internal bleeding would be deadly, and the death would hopefully be painless. I jumped over his desk to put a little space between us, just until I had recovered enough to regain my bearings and fight again. There were a few passing seconds that we used to catch our breath until I moved to gain ground on him. Without a moment of hesitation, he launched a punch that I narrowly escaped. On instinct, I dove to the ground like I would have dived into a pool, and quickly placed my hands on the ground to give a place hold as I swung my legs into his side as I had done to Raider.
Raider hadn't seen it coming when I fought him, and neither did Ash. I landed a swift, hard hit to Ash's torso, and heard the air leave his lungs as my kick landed in a prime position. Once the hit landed, I tucked into a ball and rolled away from him. I popped off the ground and immediately went back to him, I couldn’t let him recover, and managed to hit him a few times in the jaw. But this time, Ash recovered quickly, letting the anger take over his body, before I could move away and started to throw punches again. I put my arms up as his fist sped towards my face, I cringed as it made contact with my skin.
There was no time to think, I slashed my knife wildly, hoping to keep him away from me at some distance. When he was a fair distance away due to my wild slashes, I landed a side kick to his legs that sent him to the ground. I stood stunned for a moment that I had managed to do that, but I soon realized that was a big mistake as he grabbed my ankles and pulling them out from under me. The knife fell out of my reach from my hands, and when I glanced over to him to see if he was coming for me I saw him eyeing the gun that lay astray from his grasp.
There was a tense pause before we scrambled to our weapons, wanting to get it before the other could reach it. The seconds were uneasy, the moments flew by and soon we were standing face to face with the other's weapon of choice. I had turned to see the menacing grin on Ash's face as he glanced at our weapons. Fighting me and now in a standoff brought him a sense of joy that was comparable to Raider's when he was beating me up; it terrified me. No one should ever be that happy to have to fight, much less kill, another person. He let out a soft chuckle as he eyed my weapon. I had brought a knife to a gun fight. That typically meant I was going to lose, but I was used to the odds not being in my favor, and this was just another instance that worked against me.
Ash stepped up to me while pointing the gun at my chest, a safe distance away from me, and waited for me to beg for my life. He took a few steps closer to me, until I could feel the chill of his breath on my face.
“Ready to die?” Ash taunted as he leveled the gun and gave me a smirk that would be etched in my memory forever. The menacing gleam in his eyes was accompanied by sheer excitement. He had won, or so he thought, and he enjoyed that though.
“Not really. How about you?” I responded with a smile as his expression changed to pure anger. There was a flicker in his eyes that sent fear through my body, and without warning I lunged forward and let the blade pierce his chest. The gun shot went off as I shoved him backward, as far away from me as possible, and exploded a hole through the door behind me. The knife was lodged in his chest, and I had nowhere to go without a weapon. I hoped it was over, but he hadn’t given up. He slowly rose to a sitting position and let his hand rise to point the gun at me. I was frozen for a few seconds as he spoke.
“I'm amazed you had the courage to fight, but it ends here. Good-bye, Miss Night,” he said as my thoughts raced violently through my head. I had no weapon, it was stuck in his chest and there was no way I would get lucky again to take the blade from his chest before he shot me. His finger moved toward the trigger. Time was running out. There was nothing I could fight with, except his own weapon, I thought. If I was going to die, I was going to make the best of this chance I had. I zig-zagged out of aim repeatedly, keeping light on my toes, until I had reached him and put my hands on the gun. “What are you doing?”
“I’m saving lives,” I cried as we fought over the gun. Even in his weakened state he was stronger than me. I wasn’t going to be able to turn the gun on him unless I somehow gained power. Without much thought, I bit down on his arm until his grip loosened on the gun and I was able to pull it from his grasp. The thoughts of those families, those kids, my families and my pain were madly bouncing around in my head. I couldn’t let him kill them, and so I made the choice to kill him.
My hands wrapped around the gun as if they knew their place and found the position that Ash had been holding it in. His threats towards the other families raced through my mind. It made shooting him a little easier. The trigger was easy to pull, there was no resistance as I pulled it. There was a loud bang, and the gun recoiled in my hand once the bullet left the barrel. I left out a shocked yelp, not expecting that amount of kickback from a small weapon, and dropped it to the ground.
I looked back to Ash, who had been blown back into the floor, to see the darkness leave his eyes, but an emptiness replace them. His mouth hung open, the breath gone from his lungs. His chest remained unmoving, but what got to me was the blood. Ther
e was a thick blot of blood in his chest that was pooling onto the shirt. It was slowly seeping into every portion of his shirt, and a few streams came from his open mouth. I felt my stomach retch at the sight, and turned away. My hands were shaking violently, and there was nothing I could do to make them stop. There was a cold hand trailing up my spine as I realized what I had done. I had killed someone, I had gone to his level and killed someone. While he was far from innocent I couldn't stop the dread and horror from rising through me. There was no part of my mind that thought I was capable of that. It was defense, it was clear that it would only be one of us. There was a clear choice, and I had chosen to live, but that meant I had ended his.
What do I do now? The words just kept repeating in my head as my thoughts raced wildly. His men would come up soon, only to see me standing over his body and covered in his blood. What do I do? Then they would exact revenge, and I'd be as good as dead because I couldn’t think clearly. What do I do now? Now, I have to think quickly, to save the other families, and myself. I have to take the files with me and get out before his men noticed anything amiss. Although the question remained, if I got out with the files and the backups, didn’t get caught by Ash’s men and made it to safety, what would I do then?
Chapter 34
I stood over the mangled body with a mix of disgust and sick pleasure. My whole body was shaking with fear as I glanced around me. The room was covered in blood, it was spattered on the walls and all over the carpet and furniture. It made me want to be sick, I could feel my stomach clenching in a warning as if I was about to throw up in disgust. I tried to control it, but I could see some of the splatters slowly traveling down the window pane behind where Ash had been standing and my stomach retched again, although, even at the scene I’d felt a twisted smile curl onto my lips despite the cruel scene around me.
The man that had killed my family was now dead; he could no longer hurt anyone else, but now I was in danger. There were footsteps slowly making their way over to the office. Each thump of their boots on the ground sent a shiver of fear through my veins. The blood would cause an instant panic, and when I was found alive they would kill me. I tried to ignore the growing bile in my throat as my stomach retched again, but the scene would forever be painted in my mind.
There was blood dripping from my hands and knife as I yanked it from his chest; simply glancing at it was threatening the contents of my stomach to erupt. I looked into the broken mirror behind me and gasped in horror at the marks on my face. I had long gashes across my face that were oozing blood and bruises from what skin I could see in the shattered remains. I would be lucky to have them heal and not leave a scar, I would need a miracle to get out of here first before I started to worry about that. The room started to spin slightly as I stumbled toward the file cabinet to help me remain standing. How much blood had I lost in the beating? I wondered as I heard a branch hit the window. Instantly, my stomach turned to knots and my heart stopped beating momentarily; it scared me to think that his men had come back already. They had to know something was wrong, but I wasn't going to be able to face them and make it out of here alive.
I had killed their leader, but it had to be done. It was either him or me, and he gave me no other choice. He could have let me go. I would have left and never returned, I told myself in an attempt to make me feel better for killing a man, but it was a lie and I knew it. I would have returned eventually, but at least I would have been better prepared. I had no idea what I was getting myself into by coming here. I had been more focused on revenge then my own safety. What this man was doing to people all over the country was disgusting and he had to be stopped, he couldn't kill anymore and he wouldn't scare anyone ever again. Although, his men could still come after me. They would become worried when he didn't meet with them in the hour he had promised them, and I could only hope that I would be gone before then.
I opened the file cabinet and grabbed the remaining large files of his victims before I could talk myself out of saving others instead of just myself. I listened closely as I attempted to find the best way out of this building. There were no sounds, the footsteps from before gone and nothing around me so far. Shredding would make it obvious that the fight was over and Ash was done with me, so if I wanted to save these people I had to bring the files with me. A heavy sigh left my lips, and a silent tear streamed down my face as I hoped and prayed that somehow I could make it out of this alive.
I tucked the remaining files under my arm as I put my knife back in to its sleeve on my belt. There was no way I was going to be able to make it out the front door of this house, or even through the ducts again. So I only had one choice, I thought as I glanced toward the balcony off his office that I had used to get into the mansion. I took a deep breath as if that was going to help me balance and relieve the dizziness, and slowly moved toward the balcony.
From the windows I couldn't see any guards on the grounds. My best guess was that they were pulled in tighter for security when they realized they had an intruder. The bad news was that I wouldn't know where they were until I was right on top of them.
“Boss, open the door,” a voice called as they jiggled the door knob, trying to open it.
I glanced below me to make sure no one was on the grounds beneath me. I was going to have one shot at this, otherwise I wasn't sure I would be able to survive a second attempt. If any guards saw me attempt to make my escape, I would be as good as dead. My only hope was making it to the tree line before they saw me. I tucked the files under my shirt and tucked it into my pants before jumping from the balcony toward one of the large decorative trees near the home, and grabbing onto an extending branch.
My fingertips had barely managed to grab a firm hold, but I made it, and now I was stuck dangling from a tree. Suddenly I wished I had done more double bar workouts in gymnastics so that I would be comfortable off the ground, but I would have to settle for what I had at this point. Glancing down, I noticed a few lower hanging branches that would assist me in getting down so I wouldn't break my legs in the process. I let go of the branch I clung to and clumsily fell onto a branch below. When I dropped down to the next lower branch as I heard a loud pounding above me.
They must be trying to break down the door, I thought as I sped up my branch jumping. As quickly as I could, I dropped safely to the ground and looked for Ash's men. I saw a few racing toward the house, but most were heading to the front of the home and I took the opportunity to escape. I pulled the files out from under my shirt and put them under my arm so that I could run better as I waited for an opening. The rest of Ash's men soon emptied the back yard, and I raced toward the tree line before Ash's men found him dead, and called for a manhunt. My steps were clumsy, and my legs faltered while I ran from exhaustion and the beating, but I was going to make it if it killed me. There were voices sounding behind me, and a few gun shots, but from what I could tell they weren't aimed at me.
I slipped into the tree line as the shots started being fired in every direction. I glanced back to see a large group of people racing from the building. I smiled, knowing that they would never find me as I went deeper into the trees and foliage. I could be difficult to find, especially since I didn't want to be seen. Playing hide-and-go-seek with a thief was never a good idea, especially when the thief was fighting to survive. They would never find me, and they would never find the files I had stolen from them. My file was gone and so were a few of the other families files, except the dozen I had recovered and the copies on the flash drive, and they were safe as long as I stayed alive.
I just had to get out of here to keep them safe, otherwise Ash's men would have the files again and the families would once again be targets. I turned on a heel and started to race further into the tree line, going deeper and deeper into the trees until I had to stop to rest. Running had never been my favorite form of exercise, and even though I could run if needed, I preferred not to. I guess that would have to change if I stayed with the agency, I thought sourly as took a moment to catch
my breath. I took this moment to look at some of the files I had, knowing them as people would motivate me to protect them as if they were my family. I would do anything to keep them safe, even if it meant my own life was at risk for strangers. A few of the people I was devoting my life to now were Jackson Reeves and Katya Petrov. Jackson lived in Georgia before his family was killed in a car accident that only he and his sister survived. The description tickled the back of my memory for a moment before I realized that this must have been the guy Ash was talking about finding while I was in the ducts. I flipped to Katya's life in Russia, she was a dictator’s daughter and most of the information on her was her schedule and description. The other papers were in Russian and I was unable to interpret them. These two would have never been likely to meet, yet they still had one thing that brought them together; the only thing to connect them to each other was Ash Crest.
“I promise you both, these files will never be seen by anyone with malice again. I will find a way to keep you safe,” I promised, mostly to myself than to them, as I shut the files and got ready to move again. My breath was still heavy and my chest was tightening even at the thought of continuing to run. I was about to start when a branch above me cracked and a body landed gracefully in front of me.
“There you are, Night Stripe!” the angry voice said. I straightened up quickly in shock and ready to fight if needed. I pulled my knife from its sleeve and held it out, pointed at the man's chest. I hadn't registered that they had used my code name and not my actual name until the words echoed in my mind. I took a deep breath and relaxed once I realized it was Demon, but I didn't miss the anger in his eyes caused from me pulling a weapon on him.
