Braydon stepped out first and I reached up laying my bag on the ground followed by the wooden box. When I jumped up grabbing a hold of the side, I saw why Braydon hadn’t helped me. He was being held at gun point by another man. I rolled my eyes and continued to stand up. I shut the hatch with my foot and then twisted the latch off. There was no way I was allowing them to enter my house.
“We’re only here for the girl. Back away and no one else has to get hurt,” the man said in a deep voice.
“And why would you want me?” I asked him as I slowly put the hood of my vest on.
“I don’t have to answer that question,” he scowled.
“Oh but you should. I mean I’d like to know why someone keeps trying to kill me.”
“Kill you? We are here to eliminate you. The things you’ve done have warranted it.”
I watched him as best as I could. Braydon was trying to block me with his body and I didn’t like that one bit.
“I haven’t done anything. I think you have the wrong person,” I told him as politely as possible.
“So you didn’t kill Two-hundred fifty men?”
“They were criminals and had taken her by force. She wasn’t the only one there. I was witness to it,” Braydon told him. Was he trying to get himself killed?
“Criminals? She doesn’t work with the Federation of Assassin’s.”
Okay so now I was confused. Dean was the head of the FOA in this region. There would be no way on God’s green earth that he would order a hit on me.
“I think you may be mistaken, because I do.”
The statement hung in the air. I could see the slight hesitation in his actions before his jaw tightened and he called us both liars. He aimed the gun and I motioned with my fingers on Braydon’s back that when I hit three for him to drop to the ground. I counted out with my fingers and we both hit the ground as I turned over him using my blade to cut the trip wire beside me.
The man had paused long enough when he watched us drop down that when I cut the line he didn’t see the battle ax swinging toward him until it was too late.
I hated the thought of killing an innocent person. It wasn’t his fault that someone had given him false information. If he had just stopped long enough to listen this wouldn’t have happened.
I knew he wasn’t dead though but would die soon if he didn’t get help. Just like I knew there were others in the woods with us somewhere. I could hear them running our way and watched as Braydon grabbed the gun off his side and pointed it just as another one found us. This gun didn’t have a silencer on it. I couldn’t tell if my ears were ringing from being so close to the shot or if it was still echoing through the woods.
“Hood up and keep running. Don’t stop.” I told him as Braydon took the duffel bag from me and grabbed both handles of the box. It left me free to defend myself, as well as him and I had every intention of doing just that.
When faced with a choice of life or death, I choose life. I don’t like killing exactly or the thought of dying but at times it has to be done. So I had to do what it would take to get him back to the vehicle, safe and sound, even if it meant me dying in the process.
I gave him a head start-unknown to him. I watched as he ran full force and knew he would reach the vehicle sooner than I thought. I stayed only a few feet behind him because I could hear someone making their way toward me. The stinging in my back and shoulders let me know they were out for blood.
I stepped aside and hid behind a tree as Braydon cleared the last of the woods and went toward the SUV. I hit the last trip wire and watched as steel gates began to lower around the woods. I didn’t have long to make it out.
“Stop!” I yelled as the man came up behind me.
“I don’t want to do this. I haven’t done anything wrong. Someone has told you lies. I work for Dean Sterling,” I told him as he stepped out of the bush.
“Dean Sterling is dead. He has been for over a year.”
My eyebrows shot up and my eyes widened at words this man was saying. How could they think Dean was dead?
“You’re wrong. Dean isn’t dead. He’s the one that’s been protecting me.”
He didn’t believe me. I could see it in his eyes as they stared at me with hatred. Then something dawned on me, if he thinks Dean isn’t in charge then who is?
“Who do you work for?” I asked as he began to circle me.
“I was trained and employed by the man in charge of Federation of Assassin’s in the US.”
“The whole entire US huh? That’s funny. And whoever it is, is lying to you. He knows I’ll just end up killing you because Dean is still alive and still in charge. That’s why the academy was established in this area, because he is here.”
“Academy?”
“Yes. There’s an academy that trains young assassins. I’m a student there. I was kidnapped and tortured for information about it as well as information on another assassin. I killed the men that did it.” I lied. That wasn’t the reason I was kidnapped but no one had to know the truth.
The gates were down and I could hear Braydon along with everyone else screaming for me. I knew it wouldn’t be long before they tried climbing the fence and if they did, it would give them the shock of their life.
I grabbed my phone and dialed Dean’s number.
“Marissa what are you doing? Get out of there now!”
“I need you to tell me who you are and what you do,” I stated into the phone as I put it on speaker.
“Why?”
“Please?”
“My name is Dean Sterling. I am the head of the FOA in the eastern region. I run the academy for assassins, training them to become the best; which is what you are.”
The man’s faced paled. I could see his hands shaking. I could see the fear in his eyes. He believed me. I may actually have a standing chance.
“I’m sorry Marissa. I have to do this. I don’t have a choice. He’s already said he will kill us if we don’t.” His hands steadied and he raised the gun and aimed it straight at my head. There was no way I could react in time without causing him to go ahead and shoot.
“You don’t want to do this. Don’t become a cold blooded killer.”
“I already am,” his eyes were filled with sorrow. The sadness was overcoming him. I closed my eyes, I didn’t want that to be the last thing I see.
The shot never came. I opened my eyes to him lying on the ground. Blood was pouring out the back of his head. My mouth fell opened as I gasped.
“Get out here, now!” Dean was pissed.
When I turned I could see Zavier just on the other side of the fence with Dean’s gun in his hand and a deadly look on his face. His eyes were darting around checking for more.
He nodded to me and motioned for me to leave. I nodded back and took off running as fast as I could manage. I used a tree to propel myself toward another and continued until I was high enough to flip over the gates without touching them. I landed on the other side and didn’t stop. I could see the trunk still open as Braydon and Zavier had abandoned everything in an attempt to get to me.
“In coming!” I yelled as they turned to see me. Sage’s eyes went wide as he leaned down in the seat. I grabbed the back and dove forward landing in the middle row of the SUV. I lay down and tried to catch my breath as they finished what was needed to get us out of there.
After everyone was in the vehicle and we were on our way, Dean began to ask questions.
“Do you know who the he was the man referred too?”
I shook my head.
“But?”
“But I know part of the reason they’re after me,” I stated. I really didn’t want to have to tell them here and now.
We were a good way off from the house when Dean stopped the car and stared at me through the rear-view mirror.
“It’s safer if you tell me here.”
I took a deep breath and released it. God I pray they forgive me for this.
“The ma
n said that whoever it is; is the head of the FOA of the US. They said it was because I killed Two-hundred fifty men. These men don’t know the facts, just what they are being told. But even when I proved it to him he still wanted to take my life in order to save his.”
Everyone was quiet.
“But you haven’t killed anyone, well at least not that many,” Gabe said as he turned in the passenger seat to look at me. I looked at Dean in the mirror; he gave me a weak smile.
“Yeah Gabe, I have. I wasn’t in a car wreck, I was kidnapped. But if you don’t mind I’d rather tell you about it after we’ve unpacked and had breakfast, I don’t want to lose my appetite.”
“You lied to us?”
“No. I did,” Dean informed him.
“Marissa hasn’t ever talked about it. This will be the first time she’s ever told anyone what really happened. The fact that she would tell it for you should say a lot,” Braydon just stared at Gabe. I watched the reactions of each of the guys. Lorik was staring out the window. Gabe was looking at me but lost in thought. Sage gave me a sad smile but Zavier looked like I had really hurt him.
I guess in a way I did. It wasn’t the fact that I had killed people, it was the fact that we had always promised to never lie to the other. And I broke that promise.
I couldn’t stand looking at them. I turned my head and began looking out the side window. I had to grit my teeth to try to stop my lip from quivering.
“It’s alright. It’s going to be alright.”
I knew Braydon was trying to be helpful but it just made me want to cry even more. I had to set my jaw and grit my teeth even harder. I balled both hands into fists and felt my nails dig into the palm of my hands.
Gabe must have still been watching. “Was it that bad?”
I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t respond. I was afraid of moving an inch for fear of breaking down in front of all of them.
“We almost lost her. They didn’t think she was going to pull through when we got her to the hospital,” Dean whispered but I knew they had all heard.
I couldn’t stop the lone tear from betraying me as it rolled down my cheek. I still wasn’t ready to talk about this. I didn’t care if I never gave Dean a full report. I didn’t want to face it. I had lied to myself since I awoke days later but now I had to face the music and it scared me.
I felt a soft touch on my face and looked out of the corner of my eye to see Zavier pull back. He never said a word or even looked at me again. This was going to be the hardest thing I think I’ve done since the day it happened.