Till Deceived Do We Part

I wanted to know what Jake was thinking, but I didn’t say anything. Now, if this was any other time, any other situation, I would have, but it wasn’t. Things were tough enough, and if Jake wanted us to know, he would have said something. But he didn’t, so for this time, this one time only, I was going to drop it. Though Flint didn’t seem as giving as I was, for after I left, he remained there.

I had many things I had to do, and I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. But first thing was first, I needed another gun. All I had was my backup, and with the way things were going, I was going to need more. So, with that in mind, I made my way to the gun locker. Only top assassins and Jake had access to it, everyone else had to go to Jake in order to retrieve something.

I pressed my hand on the scanner to the room, and then my eye to the detector. Once it was finished, and the door opened, I went in. The gun locker was massive. All along the walls, all the way up to the ceiling, there were shelves and shelves full of guns and any and all other types of weapons. There were also random islands scattered in the centre of the room, in which usually contained daggers or some sort of knife.

To enter any of them you had to do the usual scans, and a number password. To say the least, that number wasn’t easy to remember. I had forgotten it many times, and usually I had Zane to bale me out.

I headed towards the handgun section, and once there, headed towards the semi-automatic section. For the handguns, there were three common types. Single shot pistols, revolvers and my favourite, semi-automatic pistols. The semi-automatics have a single fixed firing chamber, making it possible for them to fire more than one round, which was the main reason why I loved them.

Each section of a section required the scans and the password. You couldn’t just open one and have the entire rooms supply open. The only person who knew the code to that, was Jake. Though part of me suspected Flint did too, for he was training to take over.

I did the scans then typed in the nineteen digit number. The glass case, which is a lot stronger than it sounds, slid out. The lid slowly lifted, revealing rows on rows of semi-automatics. All the different ones were displayed on the tops, were duplicates of one gun was stored underneath the display, for when you took the one you wanted, the next one would pop up.

I scanned the area briefly, not finding anything to my immediate liking. After a while I settled on a M9 Beretta. Not my favourite, not my standard, but it got the job done. I could use it just as well, even if I didn’t wish to.

After putting that gun away, I went to the automatics. If I had a hit on my head, I was pulling out he big guns. Literally. I opened the automatic gun casing and immediately found one to my liking. The XM177E2 + M203 40 mm Grenade Launcher. This gun was not only automatic, but semi-automatic. It also had a movable telescopic stock. It was like love at first sight.

After making sure everything was closed and grabbing a lot of ammo, I left. And once out of the room, my eyes landed on something that made my skin crawl. Hadn’t I seen enough of him, already?

“Flint.” I said, with a slight nod of my head. I adjusted the strap of the launcher on my shoulder, before walking off. What I needed was a hot shower, and then a conversation with Dane.

Dane. It felt like forever since I last talked to him, and the ache that reached my heart made me wonder how long it had actually been. Surely not that long... a day or so?

Flint had begun to walk beside me, his face set. “Vachel finished the examination. Jake and I are waiting for you to join us, to begin. Feel loved that we decided to wait, but for the record, I was all for leaving you in the dark.” I shot him a scowl, but part of me was pleased he was back to his old self.

I turned and followed him.

When we entered the room, my eyes first went to Jake, who was staring at the dead body, his eyes mixed with emotions, and as soon as I saw them within his eyes, I felt the emotions swarm me.

This man that now lay dead on our tables, had held Zane in his hands, held his life. He had been a part of all of our pain, a reason for restless nights and breakdowns. Because of this man, we were now missing part of ourselves, as if he personally ripped it out. He may not have been the main cause, but the pain alone that was brought because he helped was strong. I had never felt my breath leave from pain before today, and experiencing it for the second time in one day, did not improve my mood.

I didn’t like feeling so hollow, so alone. I didn’t like feeling like part of me was missing, and I really didn’t like feeling vulnerable. I hated it, and as the hours seemed to go on, it only seemed to get worse. To get more painful. My mind was already riddled with everything that was happening, and it took all my will to not shoot the already dead man.

“You seem pale, Andrayka.” The one voice I didn’t need to hear. The voice I would love to strangle. I caught the enjoyment in the voice.

“Shut up, Boris.” Was all I said. If Zane had been here, he would have laughed. He loved my short temper, he said it made me who I was. And Zane’s idioticy made him who he was. How could the base go on without him?

Earlier this year one of the tops had been taken down. Jake liked to have five in total, but the numbers slowly diminished. Tops weren’t as likely to go down, but more targeted. The base went through lower class assassins fast, but it was never hard. Now it was. We were down to two tops, and both were grieving. When out last top assassin had went down, Raleigh, many had grieved, and I never truly understood why. I had liked him well enough, but I didn’t feel overwhelmed as I did now. I now understood what it was like to lose someone you cared about, and I hated knowing.

I was sure I had felt worse when I was younger, when I lost my parents, but all of those emotions were repressed. I may have been heartless in ways, but I did miss Raleigh. Not like I missed Zane, though. Of course, my feelings towards Raleigh could very well be the emission of guilt. It was my fault Raleigh was dead. My screw up.

It was his death, my screw up, that had been the first domino to fall. After that, it just continued to come down.

I never liked being in partners, but at certain times, Jake insisted on it. This mission was one of them. It was also my first chance to lead. I had made sure I had all the calculations right, all of the information; and I did. It had been planned down to the last minuscule detail. I had it all worked out, and though I didn’t care too much for working in groups, I was thrilled to see how it turned out. Mostly, though, I was thrilled because if it worked good, it meant I would be able to lead more missions. More group missions. Personally, I preferred to work alone, but at times you can’t always, and at those times, I would rather lead than follow.

Everything had been going fine. We had taken out the guards and swept the area twice, before heading into our main destination. To not get into all of the boring detail, we had the man cornered. Raleigh would still be alive... if I hadn’t hesitated.

I had never hesitated once, never stopped myself from killing anyone. Not even when they begged, or when they begin to cry for their lives. Never. But when the man I was about to shoot, spoke, I froze for a second. In that second, he managed to get a bullet in Raleigh’s head.

Jake didn’t hold me responsible for it, he said anyone would have hesitated. For when the man spoke, he wasn’t begging, or even taunting, he was asking us not to kill him in front of his son. At first I thought I had missed something, that I had not noticed a kid stalking around, but I didn’t; he bluffed.

And because of my one small hesitation, a man was dead. Because I, who was supposed to be leading the mission, hesitated, a man lost his life.

I had been the cause of that life lost, yet I still didn’t feel as bad as I did now. Maybe if was because I was closer to Zane, or maybe it was because this time, I didn’t get a chance to avenge him, and I may never get one.

“Vachel, if you will.” Jake spoke, ignoring both mine and Boris’s glares towards one another.

“The bullets retrieved from his stomach appear to be the ones Zane uses, according to Flint.” Even when speaking he seemed void of emotion. “Upon further inspecting bruises were found. Some weak ones are around his neck, where the majority of them tend to be in the stomach.” Zane. It had to be. Zane targeted the stomach. He said it was where all vital organs were, and though neck, head and heart shots do kill, the stomach kills in the way of the pain it causes. Stomach wounds can allow you to live if you get treatment, but according to him, you can cause them so much pain and allow them to live longer, yet no amount of treatment will save them. It all depended on where you hit.

When I thought of Zane, I thought of a stupid carefree boy stuck in a boys body. However, when I saw him as an assassin, as I was now, I thought of him as hero in a monster form. He may be ridding the world of the ones who deserved it, but he was also showing them what it felt like to be the ones on the other side of the stick, instead of the ones dishing the pain. He was horrible to them, yet in a weird way, it was better that way. It taught them lesson.

“The rain and weather have diminished a lot of evidence, and with the condition his body is in, there is no way to tell the exact time he died. My estimate would be from as little as an hour and half, to as long as six hours. He appears to have a double fracture in his left arm, and a triple in his right. This was done post-mortem. He has no ID, no phone, and nothing that can be traced back to anywhere. However, he does appear to have a small tattoo on the back of his right calve. It seems to be an original piece, and if looked up, it should be able to be traced. That will be able to give an ID to him.”