by T. C. Clark
“I can see you’re confused by me,” she said, grabbing his hand. “I don’t know if we are going to die today. I decided last night that I didn’t want to protect myself from you anymore. You hurt me, Aidan, more than anyone else has in my life. You just fell out of love with me one day; you have no idea how damaging that is to someone’s confidence. But for now, I can’t pretend that I don’t still love you. Even if you don’t feel the same.”
“I didn’t fall out of love with you,” he admitted. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “My parents were good people who were filled with love and dreams for me, but they were awful with money. They’d been struggling for a while when my aunt called and told me they’d lost their house. That job offer, it came with a huge paycheck and an enormous workload. I knew that I needed to go home, and I knew what you would do if I did.”
“Aidan, I would have gone with you if you gave me the choice. You were my whole world,” she said with tears in her eyes. He leaned down to place a gentle kiss on her head and continued his story; he needed her to know the whole truth.
“I know you would have followed me, Anita, and I wasn’t ready to admit that I needed you, too. I took that job and my parents came to live with me. I didn’t want you giving up anything to follow me. I didn’t know if things were going to work out then. I was just a kid trying to take care of his family. I thought for a long time I was protecting you by letting you focus on your dreams. When I saw your success, I felt like it validated my choice. I thought to myself, you would never have entered that program if you’d left to come after me. Now I know I should’ve taken you with me, we could have figured everything out together. Honestly, I think I was afraid of how much I was coming to need you. We’d probably have two kids by now if I hadn’t been such a coward. It took me a while to learn what you meant to me, but nothing could make me walk away. So I want to be clear; if this ends, it will be because you want it to because I’m here to stay.”
She looked at him for a moment. Anita had never been one to hide her emotions and he could see that she wanted to believe him. He would have to show her he meant it. He sealed his promise with a kiss and pulled her into his arms. He held her against his chest and prayed that everything would be okay. They stayed that way for a while, locked in each other’s arms.
Lily finally broke them apart and told him to get ready. They arrived at the hospital and were immediately greeted by Yoel and his two soldiers.
“The patient is inside,” he said, looking at Lily and Sandy suspiciously. “You’re sure you can trust them?”
“We’re not the ones holding the guns,” Lily said, moving to stand between them. “Could you stop wasting time and clear us to go in? As soon as she’s done, we can remove her from here. I assume that’s what you wanted.”
Yoel scowled at Lily and she merely smiled back. At this moment, he looked years older than he was. Anita stepped around Lily and placed a hand on Yoel’s shoulder. She ignored the frown on Aidan’s face and focused on him.
“Aidan trusts them, so I trust them. They’ll get us out, but you need to focus on keeping you and your friends safe. Don’t forget you have a little girl waiting for you at home. I have them to protect me. You just stay alive, Yoel. I’m serious. Please stay alive.”
Yoel nodded, but his face remained expressionless. He walked over to clear their team. Aidan followed him. He had some words for the man responsible for dragging Anita into this.
“If you have anything to do with this, I will find out and I will fucking destroy you,” Aidan said through gritted teeth.
“I love my country, and I’ve served it well, and this is the first time it’s failed me. I think I was manipulated into bringing Anita here. The only reason I called her is because I wanted a second chance. But she was always yours, even though we both know you don’t deserve her. And now I have to depend on a man who deserted her to protect her. Because I have to finish this mission and protect a patient who sacrificed his family to save millions of people. Don’t ever question my loyalty to Anita. You just make sure you don’t fuck up again because if you do and I survive this, I’ll get her back and I’ll never let her go.” Yoel walked back to their group and nodded at his men to let them in.
Aidan couldn’t deny Yoel’s words. He was speaking the truth. He’d seen it plainly in his eyes. They went in to talk with the patient. He was a quiet man with sad eyes. He told them his story and why he chose to aid their military; he also told them what his interference cost him.
Manil wanted the surgery because he felt like he still had work to do in his country, and that’s why he’d leveraged his information for more time. Anita was right; this man deserved their help.
For all of the stress that was around Manil’s surgery, the procedure was uneventful. When they finished up, Aidan went to update the chart on the third floor while she placed an order for steroids and anti-seizure medications for his post-op team. For a moment, she thought that everything would be fine. Maybe Lily and Sandy’s contact had gotten it wrong.
She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t see the man who snuck up behind her. He wrapped one thick arm around her neck and squeezed tightly. He moved so quickly that she didn’t have time to react. Her vision started to blur when he let out a scream. He let her go and she dropped to the ground violently coughing. She turned and saw Lily.
Lily blocked his punches and then kicked him in the gut. When he lunged for her, she slit his throat with a scalpel. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the act that shocked Anita the most; it was the easy way Lily delivered the blow and the calmness in her face as she did so.
She moved towards her and Anita automatically scrambled away. Aidan had tried to make her understand what Lily and Sandy were, but it was one thing to hear it and another to witness it firsthand. This woman could kill her easily and just walk away.
“Do not panic. We don’t have time for it. Breathe through your nose, collect yourself, and follow me,” Lily said in a calm voice. “I’m not your friend, I’m better than that because I would die protecting you. You have to trust me now.”
Anita shook her head to clear the building panic. She counted the tiles on the wall until she started to calm down and stood up. She tried to ignore the blood on Lily’s hands and arms as she followed her out of the room, and she refused to look at the man crumpled on the floor.
Lily stretched her back and then walked forward. Another man entered. He was twice Lily’s size, and this time he was wielding a wicked-looking knife. He ran to them, and Lily met him in the middle of the hallway. She moved as gracefully as a bloodthirsty ballerina, and a few seconds later, he was dead.
Anita screamed when Lily took the dead man’s knife and threw it at Anita. It whizzed past her head and sunk into the chest of a man standing behind her. She gasped when she realized he was holding a photo of her and Aidan.
Lily walked past her to the man writhing on the ground and pulled out the knife with dispassionate eyes, then finished him off. They both stilled when they heard gunshots below them.
“Aidan!” she yelled. He was down there. God, he better not be dead.
“He’s fine. Sandy will protect him. He is as skilled as I am. He will get him out. Let’s move.” Lily stood and wiped off her weapons. She handed Anita the knife and pulled out her metal necklace with the metal pen and removed its casing. Two razor sharp, thin blades were attached to the top. Of course, they were weapons.
They walked past the operating room and she saw Yoel and his team removing the patient. The medic she’d briefed was with them. She caught his eyes and nodded at him. She could feel the pain there; he wanted to protect her, but he also needed to finish his mission. She wished she had the words to make him feel better. But all she could do right now was follow Lily.
“Why don’t they have guns?” Anita asked the first stupid question that popped into her head.
“This floor has oxygen tanks. I was sure the men wouldn’t risk blowing themselves up. We are supposed to m
eet out back. We brought in a third person to help us. If something happens to me, head there. There will be a guy waiting. Do not wait for me, and don’t try to save me. The man’s name is Dmitri; you can trust him.” Anita nodded her head. She couldn’t actually speak because if she opened her mouth, she was sure she would throw up.
When they got to the hall, they found three men waiting and, with a cold expression on her face, Lily got to work…
* * *
On the second floor, Aidan and Sandy were under attack. Sandy pulled Aidan behind him as masked men moved into the room. As they entered, Sandy fired a shot and somehow every bullet found it’s target.
Aidan knew what Sandy was. Hell; he knew his code name was the Sandman, but he’d never actually seen him at work. He was merciless in his kills. Before he could blink, he’d taken out ten men. By the time he ran out of rounds, they were at the door, and he pulled out two knives from his boots.
One by one, he went through each person that came close. They used the doorways to hide in until they were close enough for Sandy to strike. He’d left Aidan with one gun to protect himself. When they got to the door, two men came in, and for the first time, they had skill. Sandy deflected one while the other moved in with a machete. Without thinking, Aidan fired at the man. He’d always been good with guns; his father had taught him how to shoot when he was ten years old. But there was a world of difference between shooting a target and killing a person.
Sandy fought with the other man for a second before he elbowed him back against the wall and stabbed him in the neck. He pulled the knife through his neck, and the man hit the ground with a sickening thud.
Sandy walked over to the guy Aidan shot and finished him off.
“It was him or us.” The Sandman didn’t do comfort, and Aidan didn’t expect it. As shocking as all of this was, he would kill anyone if it meant protecting Anita. This man could have hurt her next. He kept that thought in the front of his mind as he followed the big Russian down the stairs. There was a trail of bloody bodies all the way down.
Sandy smiled at the handiwork. “That’s my girl,” he whispered after they stepped over the last one. When they opened the door, a body flew in. It took a moment of tussling before Sandy realized the person attacking him was Lily.
Aidan saw Anita and he ran to her. She hugged him fiercely. Her eyes were wide and slightly glazed over with shock, but she was holding it together. They moved out the back. As they made their way across the back lot, shots fired out over their heads. Every man who stepped out of the building to follow them was gunned down. Lily and Sandy pushed them on, and they ran quickly to the parked car. Another blond man walked out; he was almost as big as Sandy.
“Dmitri, perfect timing,” Lily said with a smile.
They jumped into the car. Lily told them to keep their heads down. Dmitri handed guns to Lily and Sandy. Aidan held Anita as the car drove away. Gunshots and yells sounded from the building. Anita prayed hard for Yoel and his men.
Silence reigned in the car as Dmitri drove on. It took them four hours of driving and three stolen cars to get to their safe house. Aidan and Anita weren’t allowed out of the car until it was parked in a small covered garage.
Anita jumped out first and ran into the tiny house. She searched through the bare rooms until she found the bathroom. She made it in time. She retched over the toilet. The medical side of her brain knew this was her body’s reaction to the adrenaline and the stress, but knowing that didn’t stop her stomach from throwing a fit. She stilled when she felt a hand on her back
“It’s going to be okay, Anita. They are good at this type of thing, as you no doubt saw for yourself.”
“They had our picture and not a picture from now. It was a picture from when we were at university. That means they know about our families and our friends. What the hell are we going to do? Why didn’t I just say no?” she cried.
He pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried. “You couldn’t say no because you are a good doctor and you were trying to help a patient. We will figure this out.”
She forced herself to calm down. She didn’t like crying, and panicking wasn’t going to solve anything. She needed to figure out what was next so she could prepare herself.
“I’m sorry. I’m okay. All of it hit me at the same time. Let’s go see what they want to do.” She stood and held out her hand for him.
He still looked worried, but he didn’t stop her from heading back in. Dmitri, Sandy, and Lily sat around the table talking. They went quiet when they walked in, and Anita was sure whatever their plan was, they weren’t going to include them.
“So what happens next?” Anita asked.
“We put you on a plane home. You did your part, you helped that man. Now, the next step is up to us.”
“No, what’s the real next step. I need to know,” Anita asked again. She knew they weren’t telling her everything.
“Anita, you don’t really want to know,” Sandy said. He went to the fridge and grabbed some water bottles and passed them out.
“We go back in and we wipe out their unit. That’s the only way any of us walk away from this clean,” Lily clarified.
“You said Eraj is intelligent. How do you get into his compound without getting hurt?” She looked at all of them for an explanation.
“That’s what we are figuring out right now,” Dmitri explained, pointing to the maps on the table.
“I want to help. I have to try to help you. I started this.” Anita looked down at the table and tried to make sense of the hand-drawn maps.
“Okay, you can,” Lily said, earning scowls from everyone else. She reached over and patted Anita’s hand. “But right now, you need to go upstairs and get some rest. We are still stuck in Sri Lanka with at least one psycho looking for us. We can’t move from the safe house right now. You just did a six-hour surgery, and then you were brutally attacked. You need to sleep. We can talk about this tomorrow.”
“She’s right,” Aidan said, wrapping one arm around her. “Let’s get some rest and then we can figure out a plan tomorrow.”
Anita was too tired to argue. Aidan took her upstairs and they settled down in the first room they saw. Her hands were shaking so bad that he had to help her undress. Anita focused on keeping her shit together. The bedroom was the size of a large closet, but it had a bed with a decent-looking quilt. They washed their faces and then snuggled under the covers. Her mind was racing with so many thoughts, she was sure she wouldn’t get any sleep. She told him so, and he just smiled.
Aidan pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. He positioned her on his chest and tightened his grip. Gently, he coaxed her to sleep with sweet words and the rhythmic sound of his heart. He waited for an hour before he got up and went back downstairs.
Lily and Sandy were packing a bag. He’d thought they were going to do this when Anita had asked them about their plans. He’d seen the look that passed between the two assassins. There was no way they were going to involve them.
“You know you have to take me, right?” Aidan asked when he entered the room.
“Is Anita asleep?” Lily asked as she zipped up her book bag.
“She is. You really like her, don’t you?”
“I do. Which is why I’m not going to let her misguided sense of justice get her killed.”
“She isn’t wrong. You’re not going to get in without a reason. I’m sure you’ve thought about that. You need to take me as a bargaining chip. You’re assassins. It wouldn’t be hard for him to believe that you decided to take the bounty for yourselves.”
“And you think he’s just going to let us walk in and walk out after we killed all of his men?” Sandy looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“No, Sandy, he’s right. We aren’t going to walk out. The plan is to get into the compound and kill everyone who is a threat. If we contacted him and told him we would exchange Aidan for the money, it wouldn’t be suspicious. Trades like that happen every day in our
world. You could go in with Aidan, and that will leave me time to execute the rest of the plan.”
“Why do you want to help us? I know we saved your life, but we could still do this without you,” Sandy asked.
“I don’t care about me. You saved Anita. I owe you guys. I need this to work as much as you do. I don’t want Anita in danger for the rest of her life, and anyway, if anything happened to you two on this mission, she would never forgive herself.”
“And you think you being with us will change the entire outcome?” Sandy laughed.
“I don’t think it will hurt,” Aidan said, picking up one of the bags. He didn’t kid himself. This was going to be hell. But he wasn’t going to die—not here.
Lily pulled Dmitri aside and they talked quietly for a moment. He nodded and pulled out two packages.
“I’ll be here acting as backup. When you get to the area, release the drones on the east side of the building,” Dmitri said. He moved forward to place a hand on Aidan’s shoulder. “I won’t let anything happen to Anita. You have my word.”
“She is going to be so pissed at you for leaving her here,” Lily said as they made their way back to the small car.
“Yeah, but she’ll be alive, and that’s all that matters.” Aidan got into the backseat and ducked down. He wasn’t a man prone to praying, but he was starting to get used to it. He talked to God for a moment. He had to come home. He wasn’t going to leave Anita again.
* * *
Anita opened her eyes with a feeling of dread weighing on her. Aidan wasn’t in bed. She threw on her clothes and ran downstairs. She searched the house for signs of other people and found only one other person inside.
Dmitri sat in the corner in front of two large computer screens. He’d set up some sort of monitoring station, and he was watching the screen closely. He didn’t turn around when she walked inside.
