Till Deceived Do We Part

Flint was right, I had to cool it. I had to remain composed, or Jake would pull me for sure. Even with this hit I was as good as pulled, but I was counting on the factor that Jake didn’t have many people he could count on.

I slammed the door behind me as I left the lab. Flint was still inside, he was waiting for Vachel. He was going to keep an eye on Vachel, just to make sure he didn’t contaminate anything. We both knew if Jake recommended him, he would be fine. But I think it was a peace of mind thing. He needed to watch just to know for sure that Zane’s case was getting treating fairly. Truth of the matter was, we weren’t used to this. Yes, we have been trained to find people, but we rarely have to use the training. Our job is to do the killing, not the finding and preventing. That’s not what assassins did, and if it was any of the lower class assassins, this investigation would have been closed by now. It would have been looked into for a little while, before closing. But Zane was a top assassin, meaning he was one of the priorities. That was one of the perks of being a top.

I rapped my knuckles on Jake’s door, hoping that he hadn’t left. Even if he had, I knew he wouldn’t be sleeping. He wouldn’t be able to sleep with Zane missing, neither would Flint. I wouldn’t be able to, but even before he went missing, I wouldn’t be able to sleep very well knowing I couldn’t trust who was in the base.

It took a minute before Jake opened the door, and when he did, his face held annoyance. Had I interrupted him? Obviously. And when he stepped aside, I saw what from. Boris was sitting in a chair in front of Jake’s desk, his body now twisted to see me.

It took all my will not to do anything. My gut still blamed him for the attack on Jake, and as soon as I saw him, I got that jumping feeling in the pit of my stomach. The feeling you get when you missed a step, when you dodged a bullet, the feeling you get when your body believed another event was happening.

“What is it?” He asked, exhaustion etched in his voice.

“I need to talk to you.” I made sure he knew I didn’t want to talk to Boris, but judging by his impassive face, and how he tensed when he caught on, I knew it wouldn’t matter.

“I’m really busy, so unless this is an emerg-“

”It is... well, you’ll think so. I could care less, especially with Zane being gone.” He frowned before stepping aside, beckoning me in. I hesitated for a moment when realizing Boris wasn’t leaving, but stepped in nonetheless. Jake was stressed, I would try not to make it worse.

“He’s not leaving. Whatever you need to say to me you can say around him.” Except for the fact he was the one doing the betraying, but other than that he was trustworthy.

I shot Boris a glare before taking the seat next to him, which was the only other seat available. I watched Jake as he sat down in his chair, his body pushing it back so it was left on two wheels. He was trying to look relaxed, but the fact that his eyes had rings around them, and his face was extremely pale, gave it away. I couldn’t help but notice how his wrinkles stood out more, they always tended to do that when he was stressed. And that always scared me, because Jake wasn’t supposed to get old. It only meant he was getting closer to his death.

“Andrayka, what is it? I have a lot to do.” The normal Jake wouldn’t have been so curt. The normal Jake would have made small talk, gradually working up to what I wanted. And though I was desperate to begin the search for Zane, small talk with Jake would have helped ease my nerves.

“I’ll save the worst till last.” Jake’s frown deepened. “First, the folder information was wrong.” Jake’s head immediately shook, as did Boris’s.

“We both have been looking them over before handing them out. Personally.” Boris said. Well that explained it, Boris was now also out to kill me. Which made me wonder, was the hit from Boris or Dalton and Lincoln? Or both?

“I’m not wrong on this, Jake.” I said talking to him. I didn’t care what Boris said or did, I would not give him the same respect I gave Jake. “The folder said his friends were no threat. All of them had guns and none seemed to mind hitting the girl with one.” Jake didn’t say anything, neither did Boris. However, I did see Boris shift positions in his seat. Was he nervous? I think I got him squirming, which only proved more that he was the one. If only Jake would see it. But in Jake’s eyes, Boris was as likely to betray as Flint was. Flint was in second command, which meant he had Jake’s unconditional trust.

“What’s the second thing?” He asked, and I could hear the dreading in his voice. I decided it would be best to be blunt, to not beat around the bushes.

“I have a hit on my head.” Now, I expected Jake to be mad or worried, but I didn’t expect the extent of his emotion. First, his body made a loud thud as his chair fell backwards from his shock. Second, his fists slammed into the table, his voice yelling what?! Third, his face went even paler, except for his eyes which seemed to shine more, anger mixed in them. This anger I knew wasn’t directed at me.

I also didn’t expect Jake to throw the mug on his table. Jake had never been the one to lose his cool, never the one to show so much emotion. He was always composed. So seeing him like this made my worry slightly.

I moved towards him, having stood when he had fell. His fists were clenched and down by his side, his head now hung with his eyes glaring daggers into his desk. Boris had moved to the edge of his seat, watching Jake with feigned worry.

I moved closer before speaking.

“They have lowlifes who don’t know what they’re doing after me. I’ll be f-“

”No!” He growled, his head lifting. “First Zane, now you?!” He shook his head again, his breaths coming out deep. “You and Flint aren’t allowed to leave. That’s an order, a direct one.” He unclenched his fists and looked me in the eye. “I have no choice, Andrayka, I’m sending you to a safe house.” I opened my mouth but he waved me off, trying to shut me up. But I wouldn’t shut up on this, I wouldn’t allow my life to be decided without my input.

“Jake, Zane could still be alive. He needs me, he needs Flint. We’re the only ones, besides you, that stand a chance of finding him.” Boris opened his mouth angrily, but I continued talking. “I may have a hit on my head, but with the betrayal going on, no where is truly safe. Let me help find Zane and settle everything down, and then we can decide what becomes of me.” I let out a breath. “Jake, you know I’m loyal to you, but if you send me to a safe house, when Zane is gone, when Zane needs me, what do you think I’ll do?” His eyes met mine, and I could see that he knew what I would do. I would break out, and me being my stubborn self, who managed to climb half way up an electrical fence, would find a way. I always found a way, and I always would.

Jake fell silent, and for a moment, we both just stood their, our eyes met. Only when Boris cleared his throat did Jake pick up his chair. I sat down as he did and shot a glare at Boris. His frown deepened and he was about to glare back when Jake spoke.

“Boris, if you could give us a moment?” I didn’t bother hiding my smile. Boris took notice to it and sent a glare my way, but all that did was aid in making my smile grow. His body stood, after a moments of hesitation, before it headed towards the door. Once he reached it, he paused.

“We’ll finish our chat later,” Boris said, shooting Jake an annoyed look. I immediately sobered. What were they talking about?

My gut still told me to keep my eyes on Boris, but now I had a bigger urge to watch Jake instead. He was stressed to the max, and the last thing he needed was someone he trusted making a move to hurt him. I had to be there for him, like he would be for me. Like he was for me.

“Andrayka,” he said letting out a breath. His eyes met mine and I could see the fear. See the stress, see the worry. I could see it all, and it frightened me. Zane was gone, yes. I had a hit on my head, yes. Jake was showing fear... no. That wasn’t right. That was what stung, what brought my own fear bubbling to my throat. “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know how we’re going to manage. We’ve always pulled through somehow, always shot by any and all obstacles in our way, but now...” he let out another breath before breaking our gaze. “I don’t think we can.” He held a hand up as I opened my mouth.

“The worst thing about all of this is how sudden it hit. It’s a real reality check. We weren’t nearly as prepared as we should have been. It’s my fault, and I take the blame fully. But I won’t allow more deaths on my shoulder than possible.” He paused, this time longer.

I felt as if I couldn’t breath. My fear was now drowning me, and only because Jake was losing it. If he couldn’t hold on, how was I to? If he couldn’t handle it, how could I?

“I believe Zane is still alive. I really do. I only wish he wasn’t. They’re going to try and bait us with him. They’re going to use him as bait, as the hostage, to get to us. But I won’t sacrifice anyone else, Drake, I won’t. And I hate knowing that Zane is sitting there, most likely getting beaten, knowing that we won’t come. That we can’t. He won’t be mad, I know that. That makes it worse. He’ll accept the fact we’re leaving him to death, knowing that’s what we have to do. What we must. And that feeling I can’t stand. But what choice do I have? Send you, you who already have a hit on the head? Send Flint, who won’t stand a chance against all of their men? There’s nothing we can do.”

My lungs burned. I couldn’t breath. This wasn’t happening. Flints words had stung horribly, but this was worse. Far worse. How could he expect us to just sit back and wait for Zane to die? How could he?!

I wanted to be mad at Jake, for even suggesting not doing anything, for saying we couldn’t do anything, but I didn’t have it in me. Jake was dying on the inside. He was killing himself with the knowledge of all of this, and I knew if it was me, I would have self destructed already. Or I would have rushed head in to get Zane, both in which wouldn’t have ended well.

If I was still young, I would have screamed until I got a trial run with the mission I wasn’t allowed on. I would then do it, and if I died, I would do it again and again till I passed with flying colours. But now? I didn’t have nine lives, and no matter how many times Flint called me catty, I wasn’t about to get them. I wasn’t about to get more than one chance. How was I to pass with flying colours, if I didn’t know what the mission was? If I didn’t know all the facts?

That hit me hard in the face. Maybe we were going at this wrong. We were surveying where they were, trying to figure out where they were going. But what if they weren’t going anywhere? Weren’t following precautions? They had yet to, and as far as I could tell, they were doing anything to get what they wanted. And that’s what hit us hard, the fact that they were willing to do anything to get what they wanted. It wasn’t common, it wasn’t called for, but that’s what they were doing. So to figure them out, we had to think about what wouldn’t we do, right? Sounded simple, but I knew it would be far from.

“I’m not trying to scare you,” Jakes voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “But I believe you have the right to know. I also believe that you are old enough, and mature enough, not to rush into this. You need t-“

”Look at all angles, all possibilities.” I said, cutting him off. I was eager to let him know my thoughts, for once I felt that I had outsmarted them. That plain ol’ anger prone me, had figured out something they missed. “They’re doing what all assassins won’t do, would never even try. They’re playing through the fire, and because of that, because we think no one with a brain would even consider it, we can’t plan their next move.” For instance, if someone wanted to get to Jake through the base, they would start hitting of the weakest assassins, slowly going up. They wouldn’t take out a top assassin, who has a GPS car; they wouldn’t stomp on a girls chest, and they sure as hell wouldn’t go straight to the top. Straight to the anger prone ones, the ones who would surely go after them.

But that’s what they wanted. They wanted us after them. They were baiting us.

I shared that new insight with Jake, who was still trying to process what I had previously said. When the last word left my lips, Jake was up and pacing. Something he did often when he needed to think. Granted his pace held a limp to it, it was still reassuring, at least some of the old Jake was still there.

“So,” said Jake slowly, “we’re doing exactly what they want. We’re reacting how they want us to.” He gave a small nod. “It make sense, not particularly smart, but it makes sense nonetheless. Now that we know how they’re acting, all we have to do is figure out their next step and to do the opposite. If they begin to get angry, they’ll lose their cool. They’ll be the ones who will be desperate to bait us again. They’ll do whatever they can to get to us, so...” he trailed off, his face lighting up. He stopped pacing and turned straight to me. “We can bait them. They’ll be desperate to get back on track, that they won’t realize that in reality, they’re being the ones baited.

“But we’ll have to look at everything, and I mean everything. They don’t act by the books, so we’ll have to know every low, underhanded thing, that they could possibly do, and be ready for it.” He smiled now. “Good job Drake. Now all we need to do is get the little details. I’ll inform Flint, if you’d be kind enough to begin the information gathering.”

Jake was back and better than ever. But as I went to leave, he stopped me again.

“And Drake, our hostage is ready for you. When you’re through with him, do as you see fit. Kill him, let him live. Your choice.” My choice. I loved those two words.