Coordinating the Kill

The numbness I felt last night dissipated this morning. I thought I'd feel guilty but I don’t. Does that make me monster? I do however feel high levels of anxiety. My entire nervous system is on edge, waiting in anticipation for Vicky to appear suddenly and run her blade right through me. 

This doesn't happen though. She didn't come find me last night either. I refused to let Eden near me last night and had completely isolated myself behind my locked door. This morning I was promptly greeted by Eden who forced me to open my door and insisted on treating my injury. He told me he had something important to tell me and I half expected him to tell me to accept probability of no longer being alive in the next few hours but he didn’t.

Instead Eden informed me to be present in the kitchen by 7 AM sharp and emphasized to not be late. He explained to me briefly that we were going on an assignment - to kill a target. He told me to stay quiet, nod when I'm given a task, and to not show hesitation. Curiosity kills me as we make our way to the kitchen. When we arrive, Selene and Frost are leaned over the kitchen table, navigating through their notes and tablets. Selene voices out simple orders to grab various blades, weapons, and equipment and hands them over to James who is packing these into separate bags.

Vicky enters the room and my heart drops. She is on the other side of the room and I note the white bandage tied tightly on her right thigh. It has bled through a bit and I suspect she has likely had to change it a couple times. It's a mystery to me if she knew what I had done after our last interaction and what she intends to do about it.

She pays me know mind and makes her way beside Selene and Frost. "Do you have the location?" She asks Frost.

"Yes and I've sent it to you," Frost says, not looking up and continuing to tap away on his tablet.

"Debrief us on the plan, Frost."

Frost looks up, hesitates for a minute, but says. "Arrival time will be 7:15 am. Target regularly goes for a run around this time and passes through a blind spot on the West Peak trail around 7:30 am.” Frost displays a map and enlarges the area of interest. He draws three circles. “We will have a person stationed at each of these spots. Person A will have the clearest opening for the initial throw. Person B and C will be there for backup. Once the target is deceased, we will commence blood collection.”

“Sounds good. James and Eden I want you on body disposal. Pepper and Jade will be my backup.”

Me?

“J-Jade?” Pepper asks. 

“Do I need to repeat myself?”

Pepper glances at me and then looks away. Ultimately she says nothing. 

***

It's a cold morning with a light layer of frost on the ground. The sun if peaking through the horizon colouring the forest in a subtle yellow glow. The area is relatively silent with soft sounds of rustling leaves and wind blowing through.

I clutch my thin black jacket closer to me and look away from my assigned monitoring spot for a brief moment. I can't lose focus. I have to wait for instructions. 

I've been given two blades, four throwing knives, rope, and a handgun. Eden said he would train me on how to use the throwing knives, rope, and handgun in the future so for the time being they were absolutely useless to me.

I've been instructed to use the handgun sparingly since the noise of any shot would draw attention. The idea is to be quick, quiet, and efficient. I’m learning that these kill plans depend on the element of surprise and isolation of the target. My hands are shaking. I breathe out.

I hear a terrible scream and dart my eyes back to the scene. Vicky is towering over the target. The target is a medium-sized man with a strong build. He's crouched down and desperately clinging onto Vicky's wrist with the large blade in it, forcing her arm still. A bloody wound is open near his abdomen. Vicky swings her leg and is able to trip him over and pin him down at the ground.

"Pepper. Jade." Vicky says. "Get over here."

My legs spring into action, racing over fast. Once I’m within arms reach of our target and Vicky, I observe the true distress on Vicky’s face. It throws me off-guard  

“How long have you been working for him?” Vicky says. She presses her knife into the man’s neck a tiny bit and a trickle of blood leaks out. The man grunts in pain. 

“Scared?” The man says. Vicky drives the knife further but does not seem to be trying to kill the man quite yet.

“Pepper,” Vicky says. “His legs.”

Pepper is by her side assisting in keeping this man pinned down. Vicky adjust her position so that she has a free hand to pull the gold pin off of the man’s jacket. I note the pin is shaped like a raindrop and the letter ‘F’ is marked on it  

“Where is he hiding?” Vicky says. 

“I will tell him you’re here,” the man says, smiling. “You can’t hide forever.”

Vicky’s face contorts. She takes her knife and drives it straight through the man’s left shoulder. The man yells out in pain and he shoves Vicky and Pepper off of him. 

The man gets up and Pepper is quick to throw two knives at him. One misses while the other scraps his left calf. He races past me. 

“Jade!” Pepper says. “The hell are you doing? Stop him.”

I don’t know what to do in this moment. He’s about ten feet away and without thinking I take a hold of my handgun and take two shots at him. To my surprise the first shot hits him. He’s crumbling to the ground. 

“Not that you idiot,” Pepper says, forcing my hand down. “You’ve revealed our location and exposed the job.”

“I-I,” I say. “I don’t know how to use throwing knives and I couldn’t think of what else to do.”

Pepper gets right in my face and slaps me hard. I feel my left cheek tingling and my head aches. I grab my cheek. 

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Vicky says. “He’s going to reveal our base location in this city so we’re going to have to relocate. Right now we need to evacuate the premises before anyone sees him and wonders who did that to him. If we’re lucky, he won’t be seen by authorities until later this afternoon.”

We make our way out of the forest.