Till Deceived Do We Part

Everything was dulled. Everything was fine. How did I know? Well I didn’t, but it seemed like it was. Or maybe that was the effect of being awaken, after falling asleep happy. Falling asleep with a smile on my face had done wonders to my mind, and as the knocking at the door continued, I didn’t feel the need to kill someone. Or was that because of Dane, not because I wasn’t exhausted? Did it really matter?

“Hmm.” I mumbled, pulling myself to my feet and heading to the door. The knocking stopped and waited. It was Jake. I knew that immediately. Flint would have kept knocking until he dented my door. Jake was the thoughtful one.

I opened the door, and there was Jake. He looked slightly worried, and the rings around his eyes looked darker again. He also was favouring his left leg. His ankle must have been bugging him again.

“Are you alright?” I asked, without thinking. A frown flickered on his face before a smile came.

“You look better Drake. Did you get some rest, or is the medicine making you act nice?” I laughed at that, earning a worried glance from him. Maybe I was hopped up on medicine, or maybe I was just relaxed. Maybe I had just lost it. Who knew, but I was happy for once, and I was going to show it.

“I did get some rest.” My mind worked now, had he merely come up here to check on me? Or was there another reason? It took a moment, but after giving it some thought, I remembered what was supposed to be happening at night. But how long had I slept? “Are you here because of the meeting?” He gave a small, almost pained, smile.

“Yes. We’re starting early because there are some things that need to be discussed.” Judging by the look on his face, it wasn’t anything good. Could anything be worse than what was already happening? Somehow I doubted it, but by the look on his face, I was beginning to think that maybe it was possible.

Everyone was there. Jake and myself were the last ones to arrive, which didn’t seem to fit well with Boris.

Vachel, Remington and Hunter were all sitting on one couch, Boris on another. Flint was sitting in one of the single chairs, and I immediately headed to the other one. Jake didn’t argue as he took the seat next to Boris. He probably knew that as I may be able to tolerate the guy, he shouldn’t push it.

“Jake, are you sure she’s capable of being here? She’s taking this the hardest, maybe she should wait it out.” Not even a minute into the meeting and I was already at my boiling point. How did he do it? How did he always manage to spark my anger within a millisecond? It was a talent of his, a talent I really didn’t appreciate.

Jake answered for me, which was probably a good thing. “I appreciate your concern, Boris.” Concern? Hell no. That was definitely not concern. “But Drake is one of my assassins, so I know her well enough to know what she can handle. She can handle this, and no one is better suited for it than her. She has already done more than her share.”

That brought a smile to my face. In simple words, Jake was proud of me. I could read between the lines, and though the thought of him being proud of me in a time like now seemed highly irrelevant, it was soothing. I now knew I was doing good, and my screw up streak was slowly diminishing. Hopefully.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” Jake was trying to hold up a slightly happy note, but I know I saw, and I was sure Flint saw, the slight crease in his eyebrows. That was enough to give him away, but neither of us said a word. If Jake wanted to put on this show, that was his business.

Jake spent the first little bit explaining what I had told him. I could see Boris taking the information in, every little detail. That wasn’t good, but I wasn’t about to say anything. I was already warned to stay away from him, so I had no choice; for now.

“I have Andrayka and Flint assigned to gather information, and I would like all of you to contribute.” He was looking at Boris’s men as he said that. “You are all pushed to the limit, I know, but we don’t have any other choice.” He paused, his eyes glancing at me. “I would like to know all of your insights later on the anti-assassin case, however, Drake, I would like to hear the progress on my case.” Meaning the case in which Boris attacked you? I didn’t say it aloud, but I wish I did. I should have, I could have.

“I have leads.” Short and sweet. Not so much sweet, but at least it was short. One out of two wasn’t too bad. I could feel all eyes on mine, but the one that caught my attention was Hunter’s. He looked... thoughtful? I tried to read more from how he was acting, but I didn’t get too much. He was leaning slightly forward, his lips pursed, as if wanting to say something, yet not. In the end, he did speak, but I had the feeling that it wasn’t what he wanted to say.

“I have some ideas I would like to share with you, if you don’t mind. Maybe we could cross reference tomorrow.” I searched his face. There was definitely more.

“Fine.” My gaze turned to Jake who was watching me, he also now held a thoughtful impression.

“I think you two will make a good team, just please, Drake, don’t injure him.”

“Of course they’ll get alone, they’re both stubborn and hard headed.” I shot a glare at Flint, whereas Hunter laughed. At least some people were enjoying themselves, and as I looked around, I realized, they were. Well, the ones that mattered were. Jake and Flint were smiling, which was good enough for me. Things were slowly getting back to normal.

“Can we get back on topic?” Snapped Boris, earning Flint’s attention.

“Don’t get your panties in a knot.” At that I laughed. Jake, Flint and Hunter soon joined me, causing our laughter to echo around the room. It felt good to just let go, to let everything out. It felt as good as it did when I was laughing with Dane.

Boris was red in the face by the time we calmed down, and just to add to my amusement, I shot him a wink. His eyes seemed to swell as he stuttered for words, earning another chuckle from me.

“Enough! Jake, how can you can laugh in a time like this?” Jake’s smile slowly vanished. As soon as his did, mine followed.

“Everyone needs an outlet, Boris. But you’re right. We have more pressing matters, and we all need to get some rest.” He let out a breath, rubbing his eyes for a moment. “You guys remember Palmer, right?” Yeah, I did. He was the man in the safe house, needing to check in with his guards for everything. He was the man I was determined not to turn out to be like. But how did he come into the picture? “He’s dead. The place was blown. All guards included are gone, and there’s no trace of anything. Firefighters were called to the scene, and according to the report I got faxed, this was one heavy bomb. Blew out two houses either way on both sides, killing fifteen innocent bystanders.”

Jake fell silence, and no one dared to say anything. Not now. I felt a wave of guilt hit me. Here we are laughing, enjoying ourselves, while our comrades, our assassins, are being picked off one by one. As Zane is being tortured and as we are being more targeted. This wasn’t right, and we had to step it up. We had to stop them, and I was sick of putting everything aside. I was going to try my damned hardest to figure it all out... after meeting up with Dane. If I’m going to have to step everything up, when I’m already almost dying from exhaustion, I was going to need some sort of release, and Dane would do that for me.

My hand instinctively rubbed my bandaged arm, which was beginning to sting again. I would have to get some more medicine for that, but now I had to pay attention.

“The information on Palmer is still coming in. I’ll share what there is tomorrow, but for this moment, I’d like to have a moment of silence. In respect to Palmer. He was a dedicated assassin who was targeted due to his skills. He will be surely missed.” Jake’s eyes were on me the whole time, and I couldn’t help the squirm my stomach suddenly did. That easily could have been me, it might still end up to be me. I had a hit on my head, and I was targeted for being a top...

All heads bowed down, including mine. I may not have a soft spot for killing people, but when it came to people who had some traits similar to mine, I couldn’t hide the remorse I felt. I was heartless, I was callous... but I did have a soul. Something that I had to prove now and then to Flint.

“May you rest in peace, Palmer.” Murmured Jake. We all lifted our heads, and I sent a glare at Boris. My anger was coming back, and at the moment, Boris seemed like a very appealing outlet. “Now I would like to hear all of your insights on this matter. Boris, why don’t you start.”

Boris figured that Lincoln and Dalton were playing the field blind turkey, as in they were just making it up as they went along. Which we already knew. He also figured that the attack on Jake was from them, only it was meant as a scare, as a warning. I figured he was just trying to cover his tracks.

Vachel had nothing to say, but Remington did. He figured that though Lincoln and Dalton are having this “anti-assassin” attack, it wasn’t about assassins. It was about our specific group, for if it was about assassins, they wouldn’t be targeting just out base, when there are plenty more out there. For the base where Boris and all of them came from, wasn’t being targeted at all. So for now, it was just ours. That could either mean we were first, or that it was about more than what we thought.

Hunter agreed with Remington, with the side fact that he figured that they weren’t targeting our base, but me. Now that had gotten my attention. Hunter figured that the attack on me was meant as a warning, a lure, and an attempt. He figured that Lincoln and Dalton knew they wouldn’t get lucky sending only one man after me, but figured they’d give it a shot. And if the man screwed up? It was a good warning, and a distraction that caused enough emotions to be spilled, to have another attack. This time on Zane, and with Zane, they got their lure. Hunter also pointed out that they could have went after any other assassin, and even Flint agreed that when Zane went missing, he had been in a more likeable place to be attacked. They had targeted Zane specifically, they had targeted someone close to me.

Flint agreed with Hunter on this, but he had a lot to add. He said that This wasn’t about an anti-assassin attack at all, for that was the cover. He figured it was about revenge. Revenge on me for surviving, and revenge on Jake for saving and keeping me. Zane was just a pawn, as was everyone else. They didn’t care about assassins. Sure they loathed them, but who didn’t? Being an assassin meant being hated. But Lincoln and Dalton weren’t the ones who would target assassins head on unless they had a real reason. And they didn’t. But what better way to strike panic, then leading people to believe that the whole base was under attack? Granted, it was, but for a whole different reason. According to Flint, he figured that they were trying to scare us and get us antsy. They wanted us looking over our shoulder twice before going to the bathroom. They wanted us jumping at every little noise, and they wanted to watch us squirm as the men we worked with us almost everyday, began dropping dead like flies.

I had already added my input to Jake, so I had remained quiet. But that didn’t stop the thoughts from swarming my head. We couldn’t prove any of this, but it seemed highly likely. Even Jake seemed to agree with it all. It was smart getting all of our thoughts out there, for once they were, they all seemed to combine. Everything seemed to click more, but now the question was, how did we prove it? How did we make sure it was true and end it? Those were the award winning questions that no one knew how to answer.