Mission J

I frowned, gripping the towel wrapped around my body as I stared past the fogged up mirror at my somewhat disheveled reflection. My dark, pin straight hair was wavy and messy being still wet as I had just stepped out the shower. But it was the look of my skin that was giving me grief.

My lower left-side of my jaw was completely discolored, the corner of my lips cut from where I had taken the direct punch from Mr. Kapitán earlier. The skin was taking on a nasty shade of the palest green, a sure sign of a deep contusion.
Man, that Russian had a mean right hook.

I lifted my hand to my face and gingerly pressed my fingertips along the edge of my jaw bone. I winced at the angry flare of pain that shot through the whole left side of my face. This was going to be monstrous in the morning.
My eyes trailed down from my tender jaw to my throat. Grimacing already, I lifted my chin the slightest bit for a better look.

As if the punch to the face wasn't enough, I had two large tell-tale hand prints wrapped all the way around my neck, the perfect imprint of the thumbs overlapping across my throat where he had pressed down hard in attempt to strangle me. These were turning a beautiful shade of purple, yellow and red in places where most pressure was applied.
I tilted my head on one side, and then the other. Then I turned one way, and then the other, my eyes not straying from my reflection’s neck.
As I turned to one side, I caught sight of my right shoulder blade. The bruising was not too bad here, but that may just be in comparison to the top contenders on the other parts of my body. It was pinkish-purple in color, but no visible swelling. This must’ve been from when I was thrown against the wall.
I turned my back to the mirror and craned my neck as far as my sore neck allowed me to. I loosened the grip I had on my towel, letting it fall to reveal my lower back.

Surprise; more bruises, except this time there were scratches from when I was thrown down to the floor and kicked across the floor.

There were other causalities; my right side of the rib cage when I was kicked, the back of my head from making acquaintance with the wall a number of times, which was rather unpleasant when I was trying to wash my hair. My knuckles were also a bit cut up, from throwing my own punches on occasion here and there.

Did I mention I was the one who actually got out of the building walking?

I sighed, and pulled the towel back around my body to cover up what I could of the grim show. Jun wasn’t kidding when he said I looked like a mess. And that was me with my clothes on.

After we arrived at the hotel we were staying in, Jun had offered to buy me dinner. But I was in no mood to eat. I just wanted to shower and pass out, get as much rest as I could before I was to be shipped off to South Korea. Yup, that sounded just right.

I pulled the bathroom door open and stepped out. My skin reacted to the cooler air of the hotel room, and a shiver ran up my spine.
A wince escaped me as the shakes traveled up my back and hit all of my problem areas. How do I wince shivering and manage not falling apart?

I swore under my breath and approached my bed, passing the doorway that lead to the small lounge room of the hotel suite.
Just as I passed, something out of place caught the corner of my eyes.

“…K...”

I heard Jun’s voice carrying into the bedroom. And ooh, I did not like the tone he was using.

I wheeled around and looked out to the lounge area to find Jun standing there, staring at me. In one hand, he had the black jacket I had been wearing tonight, and in the other, he had the used needle.

…uh oh.
It had been in my pocket; I forgot to dispose of it properly.

“What is this?” he demanded.

“That, right there is an apparatus used in the medical field---” I started, the smart reply escaping me.

“Cut the shit, K.” Jun growled, cutting me off. “Was this what you meant when you said you ‘tended’ to a guy?”

I chewed on my lip, not answering him verbally. But that was answer enough.

“K!” Jun hissed at me, clearly pissed. “What the hell were you thinking?”

I shifted uncomfortably where I stood, clutching the towel tighter around my body. Ugh, I hated being reprimanded.

“Jun, I shot the guy twice. Not to kill him, but to keep him down and disabled.” I reasoned. “I wasn’t doing it to hurt him.”

“So you shoot him with painkillers?” he demanded.

“It was just a tiny dose of a duller!” I argued. “Just enough to last him the time the ambulance would have taken to get to him.”

“You know one thing we try to avoid is leaving extra evidence.” he growled. “Now with this close encounter, we have a potential witness to place you on the scene!”

“Uh, no... you don’t have to worry about that.” I said hesitantly, not wanting to really tell him.

“And why is that, exactly?” he demanded.

I fidgeted under his demanding glare.
“Because I added a bit of benzodiazepine to the cocktail.” I said.

Oh…the way his face dropped…

“You what?” he snarled. “K, come here.”

I scowled at him, not liking how he was treating me like a kid.

“No.”

“Why the hell not?”

“How’s ‘I’m naked’ for an answer?” I shot back.

“K, this is serious. I’m not kidding.” he said. “Just come out here.”

“Jun, I got it; it was a stupid risk---”

Jun swore and stomped his way over to the bedroom. I backpedaled, fast.
“Jun,” I said, my tone warning.

“Just what the hell were you thinking? I mean, what the hell are you doing carrying something like this on you?” he yelled as he drew closer and closer. “Do you have any idea what---”

He stopped at the doorway, freezing mid-rant. I frowned, disturbed by his sudden behavior.
“…Jun?”
His expression was stiff, not moving from the blank expression that had taken over his features.
“…Uh, Jun?”

Finally, he showed some form of life as his left arm slowly lifted from his side and trailed along the wall. He then flicked the bedroom light on.

I grimaced, the bright light too brilliant for me.
“Dammit, Jun.” I grouched, shielding my eyes. “Please, just turn off the light.”
I had only had the bedside lamp on so I had just enough light to move around. My head had been pulsing in an annoying headache. Clearly, it hasn’t gone away.

I heard Jun swear again, and the next thing I know, he was pulling my arm down away from my eyes.
“What the hell…” he murmured, his voice hushed and bewildered.

“What?” I demanded, squinting through the light to look at his face.
Then I saw that his eyes were trained to my neck.

Oh.

I self-consciously reached up with the free hand and tried to cover my colorful throat as casually as I could. Of course, energy well wasted.
“K…” Jun said.

His hand reached forward, one hand landing safely on my shoulder. His hand was warm against my bare skin. The other hovered around my neck, not making contact.
He didn’t say anything as he inspected my bruised neck. He gently lifted my chin up with his other hand, tilting my head left and then right, just as I had in the bathroom.

“Christ, K, what happened to you?” he demanded.

My head was pulsing again, this time, my ears ringing with it. I was getting slightly dizzy.
“Jun,” I said. I grabbed his hand from my face and forced his attention back to me. “Jun.”

“What?” he said.

“My head…I’m feeling a little…” my eyes fluttered a bit and rolled back. I swallowed hard, my brows scrunched together as a pain found its way smack-dab middle of my forehead.
“…Ow.”

“Did you hit your head?” he asked, the doctor mode kicking in.

I shook my head, trying to think.
“Uh, I don’t know…I got my head shoved against the wall once,” I recalled. I winced at the unforgiving light. “Uh, twice?”

Jun let out an aggravated growl before he literally picked me up and swung me towards the bed. He sat me down and leaned forward a bit so we were staring eye-to-eye.
“Stay here,” he ordered. “And don’t fall asleep.”

So I don’t slip into a coma induced by some potential head-trauma, yea, I know. But a coma sounded pretty good right about now.
Jun gave me a warning look before he wheeled around and stormed out of the room, leaving me there in a daze and half-naked. At least he had the decency to turn the lights off on the way out. Well, if I can’t sleep, then I guess I’ll find some clothes.

I had managed to get into a pair of loose fitted pants and was trying to find a shirt when Jun came back with a first aid kit. He must’ve seen my back too because he let out a hiss.
“I know, I know.” I said without turning around. I gave up on the brassier and shirt and settled by pulling on the bathrobe. “But I swear; it looks worse than it actually is.”

I sat down on the bed as Jun came over and pulled an insta-pack ice pack from the kit. He cracked it once over his knee and kneaded it in his hand.
“Here,” he said, lightly pressing the cooling ice pack to my jaw. “Ice it and the bruising won’t be as bad tomorrow.”
I held the ice pack to my face as he directed as he moved on to pull a small penlight out next.
He clicked it on and passed it over my eyes, which I did not like in the least bit. He put the light away and reached up and felt along my scalp softly.
I hissed when he hit a certain spot on the back of my head.
“There you go, a concussion and a fat lump on you head.” he said. “How are you feeling?”

Uh, ginger was a good word right now.

“Humph,” I grunted, slightly irritated. I kept the ice pack pressed to my jaw and I scowled. “I look ridiculous.”

“It’s better to look ridiculous now than horrific tomorrow.” Jun said. He sat down next to me and handed me another ice pack. “For the back of your head.”

I sighed, and took it from his hand and slapped it onto the back of my head. Which wasn’t a great idea, considering.
I winced and shifted the ice pack on my head to the right position, this time more gently.

“Go ahead and lay down.” Jun told me.

I pulled my legs up onto the bed and propped myself up on the headboard. I watched as Jun gathered and repacked the first aid kit before he set it aside on the bedside table.
“So,” he started, turning back to me. “Can we talk about tonight?”

I looked at my handler, who had calmed down considerably. Typical Jun; care before discipline.
I sighed and pulled the ice pack from my face.

“Okay. I’ll tell you everything.” I said. “It started out fine; I found Larionov, and caught up with him in his office...”

So I started telling him from the start; how the job started off according to plan. I told him how I had broken into the professor’s office and hid for ambush before he came back. And how everything had been going to plan until the team of four got to the building.

“Larionov then told me that he had an appointed check-in time, and he had missed it by about twenty minutes. That triggered an alarm with the syndicate and they sent over four guys.” I said. “I waited for the data to be copied before I left. By that time there were already two guys in the emergency stairwell.”

“You could’ve aborted the mission.” Jun suggested. “That was extremely risky.”

But I shook my head.
“If I had, they would’ve killed Larionov. He would be revealed as the source of the leak and he would’ve been taken care of.” I reasoned. “If that were to have happened, all the evidence would be gone. And the girls may have been killed off to prevent anything from leading back to the Bratva.”

Jun hummed, his brows scrunching in deep thought.
“That is true,” he agreed. “But why were you carrying that syringe?”

“It was supposed to be for Larionov. The original plan was after I got the data I needed, he would get a shot of the duller. It would leave him in a buzz, and the benzodiazepine would have taken care of the memories of me ever being in his office.” I explained. “When he woke up, he would think he just fell asleep at the desk.”

Jun was frowning, listening to all this.
“It was a good plan,” he admitted. “It would've erased the possibility of him being spooked.”

“That was my thought exactly.” I said.

Jun seemed to be processing everything I just told him.
“So, what happened next?” he asked.

“There was a fight.” I said. “I knocked out the pair in the stairwell quickly. One of them I used as bait for the other two.”

I described how I pulled one of the guys half way into the hallway from the stairwell and dropped him there before I took cover for ambush.

“The other two already had their guns drawn. The captain of the group had a silencer; he was prepared to kill Larionov.” I said. “I got the leader down temporarily and disabled his partner with two shots using his gun. The rest of the load was emptied in random shots across the hall before he pulled me off.”
I shook my head, trying to think.
“I don’t remember much about what happened next but the next thing I know, the guy had his hands around my neck choking me.”

My fingers reached up to my throat and touched the skin.
“I kicked him and punched him between the eyes for good measure.” I said.

Jun was lying down across the bed, his arms folded behind his head. His expression was still deep in thought.
“That was when you treated the injured guy.” he said. “He just let you stick him with a needle?”

I shrugged.
“He didn’t trust me at first, but he must’ve been in considerable amount of pain. I suppose he thought either I was telling the truth or I was going to kill him anyway.” I mused.

“One flaw though.” Jun said. “That man’s in the hospital now. By chance they end up running a blood test---”

“The drugs won’t show up in the system.” I said.

Jun went to protest but I cut him off by bringing up my hand.
“I put in a mild masking agent into that dose. Larionov has chronic back pain from a skiing injury few years back. He should still be taking those painkillers on occasion.” I said. “By the slim chance he ends up taking a drug test in the near future the masking agent should make it seem like he was taking his prescription. So blood test or no, there will be no traces inside that man that would loop back to me.”

Jun nodded.
“And they would actually have to be looking for a needle mark to find the injection site.” he said.

A shrill ringing suddenly broke out from Jun’s pocket, causing me to wince. He sat up, reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He flipped it open and stared at the screen.
“Archer just checked in. Extraction went smoothly and she erased all images of you going into the building from the security cams.” he announced.

I nodded.
“Tell her I said another job well done.” I said. “Where is she now?”

Jun hummed, snapping his phone closed.
“Who knows? She’s off somewhere, traveling the world, I suppose.” he mused, before turning back to me. “Are you doing okay?”

I blinked, confused at the question.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked.

“Well, this job was stressful. Physically and possibly mentally.” he said, looking concerned.

I rolled my eyes and gave him a half smile.
“I’ve taken worse hits, Jun.” I said. “I’m doing fine.”

My handler and guide eyed me carefully before he patted my knee.
“Okay then.” he sighed, getting up from the bed. “Be ready by 6 tomorrow morning, just in case we get the call that soon. I’ll leave some pain meds out on the table for you with some food I brought, just in case.”
He started to leave but then he stopped.
“Oh, and ice.” he ordered.

I lifted the ice pack in my lap in a mock cheer and pressed it to my face unceremoniously. He gave me a look before he walked out the door.
I waited for the sound of the door closing before I let out a heavy sigh. I lowered myself onto my back let the drowsiness take me.

I’ll be alright. I always get back up.