Chapter Fourteen

CHERRY

"We're heading back? But we haven't finished cleaning up our loose ends here yet." I push back my long blonde hair, fixing myself up with foundation, false lashes, and other makeup necessities.

"We got the orders straight from Secretary; something big must've happened over at headquarters." I look in the mirror seeing Tech wearing his tailored suit jacket, the brown color bringing out the rust hair hue he bears. His mechanical arm easily holds the buttons but struggles to work with his muscular left hand. I hold open my right gray eye as I place my last contact in, able to see adequately out of both eyes again.

"What are we supposed to do with the bodies in such a short time? We can't exactly take them on the ferry with us. Unless you think we can stuff 12 bodies into three suitcases without them smelling or leaking halfway." The pink lipstick finishes off the sweet, innocent look I love going for.

"We're not taking the ferry to the island to fly back over. Raven is picking us up here." I hear the footsteps of the other brother walk into the room. After his shower, Fog walks out of the steaming bathroom with a basic T-shirt and shorts. His wet hair makes his dirty blonde hair seem like a medium brown as it cascades over his brown eyes.

"What?" I turn away from the mirror, looking at the fraternal twin brothers with disbelief. "What in the world happened while we were gone?" I lean against the vanity in the cheap hotel room, my pink silk slip sliding up ever so slightly with my movements.

"Who knows, but if it requires us to be there so soon, it must be bad." Tech finishes buttoning up and tidying up his suit as Fog dresses himself up to look more the part. Niasteitn holds itself up to a higher standard, with more rich families than poor, so it's essential we dress up nicely when we're out and about. Even if the room we currently reside in is a dirt-cheap motel. "Ah, Fog, do you have the prosthetic hand?"

"I put it in your nightstand drawer last night. As much as I love making these prosthetics look realistic, I wish they would last longer, but to get the feeling of skin right takes away from the longevity of these creations." Fog sighs out disappointed, his dress shirt and trousers hanging loose on his body. "Anyway, still begs the question: what do we do with the bodies?"

"We could just leave them here and dump a mystery case on the police force of Niastien. It's not like we actually live here or like we'll leave a trace of our actual identities here. They think Cherry is some poor woman who lost her belongings on a cruise over here, and some pathetic rich snob picked her up. Given the coordination between the three of us, she has an alibi for every murder that occurred in the last few weeks." Tech responds. The suggestion to ditch the bodies as we flee is tempting, as I hate the labor that comes with hiding a body. The previous seven we already got rid of, but it's ridiculous how far out we have to drive without arousing suspicion.

"Yeah, thanks to me disguising myself as her pretending to be asleep while she was out killing. That man is a creep; he came in at least ten times a night to watch her sleep. Ugh." Fog shivers dramatically, and I hide my laughter behind the back of my youthful hand. "Once we're out of Niastien, they have no reign over us anyway. Although if we don't get away with it, it will make future missions much more difficult. Still, we can't just leave them here. Even if it doesn't trace back to us, it's better if people think they went missing rather than murdered."

I sigh, "Yeah, I guess you're right. You'll have to be on lookout again as Fog and I go back and forth delivering bodies to their 'graves.'" As I start getting dressed in more proper attire, I can't help but wonder what could have happened for us to return so urgently. But it doesn't matter how much I think about it; we'll find out soon enough. I just hope everyone is alive– that's something I always worry about on missions abroad, that by the time I come back, one of us will no longer be here.

***

The enormous ArrowSpring building greets my silver eyes as Raven pilots the helicopter to the rooftop, and even with the muffs over my ears, the entire ride has been too loud for my liking. As we come to a landing, I see a familiar false red-head waiting for us as the building is bathed in the setting sun. Ashe! Everyone likes to tease him a lot; granted, there is a lot to tease about, but I wish everyone would treat him better. He brings so much to the team, and I feel like he doesn't even know how valuable he is– He's the little brother I wish I could've had growing up. Once Raven gives the all-clear to disembark from the copter, Tech and Fog get off first, then each offers a hand to help me out, and I graciously accept. "Ashe!" I run up to the artificial red-head, pulling him into a gentle hug as he adamantly tenses away from my pull, but I don't let him go. "Are you alright? Raven said you were injured out on assignment the other day."

"Is that all she told you? What's she doing?" He places his hands on my shoulders, gently pushing me away as he looks around for the short-haired girl.

"She's completing the safety check for the helicopter. And, yes, that's all she told me, but I'm sure more is going on since Secretary wouldn't bring us back over for one person being out of commission." I place a hand on my hip, ready to hear the full explanation for our return. I take a good look at Ashe, noticing it's his left leg that seems to be injured. He bends his knee to not put extra pressure on it, leaning slightly to the right for support.

"Yeah…" He looks down after I mention him being down for the count. Is he upset with himself? Sure, he could have been more aware during whatever assignment he was on, but at the end of the day, it's not his fault for getting injured like that, right?

"Sorry, was that rude of me?" I look sincerely into his amber eyes and reach up to fluff his hair. "I hope no one has been bullying you since I left." Tech and Fog finish talking to Raven as she continues to make the rounds on the helicopter, making their way over to where Ashe and I stand.

Ashe shakes his head as the men stop right behind me. "Nah, everyone's been… Well, that doesn't matter. I'll bring the three of you up to speed on what's happening."

"What about Secretary?" Fog asks, and I'm curious too. I thought, if anything, Ashe was just here to greet us, and then we'd make our way down to Secretary ourselves to be brought up to speed.

Ashe hesitates as he begins to speak, "She's… she's not seeing anyone right now. Only giving orders via Fox."

"Why–?" I begin, but he cuts me off.

"You'll understand why in a second." Ashe motions his head for us to follow him to the elevator doors, and the three of us follow. It feels weird having the youngest one between us four leading us around and filling us in on what's been occurring. I give a look to the twins as Ashe pushes the button down to the 13th floor, and they just shrug back to me, unsure of the situation at hand.

***

"...Ivy…" I breathe out. I look at Tech and Fog, and Tech stares blankly at the floor with his fists clenched around the bar at the back of the elevator to stabilize himself. At the same time, Fog covers his mouth with his hand as he stares intensely at the ceiling. "...I had no idea…"

"None of us did, except for three," Ashe states blankly, his eyes void.

"Who?" Fog probes and Tech looks up expectantly for an answer.

"Sec, Fox, and Shadow," Ashe responds calmly.

"...Then aren't they suspects?" Tech speculates, his rusty hair covering his brown eyes, making it hard to see his emotional state. The three men in the elevator with me joined Unit 47 around the same time as Ivy, so the four of them share similar training experiences and are all around the same age. They're able to relate to one another in some capacity, and even though none of us exactly hang out in our spare time, I could see all of them becoming overprotective of her.

"What?" Ashe asks, not out of surprise but more as an indication for Tech to repeat himself. The elevator dings, signifying we made it to the designated floor. Ashe hobbles out of the elevator, and we greet the bodyguard stationed on this level as the rest of us follow suit.

"Wouldn't they have access to more information about her, Ivy's whereabouts, her living situation?" Fog continues the train of thought for Tech.

"... But… why would any of them do that?" I question, trying to understand how or why any of them would do something like that. Fox just doesn't seem the type to care and would be somewhat intimidating against other opponents. Secretary… She made a contract with us, a pact, that she would protect and provide for us as long as we do as we're told. Shadow… I personally don't know him too well, even though we've been on the same team for most of our contracts, but he seems very close to Ivy.

"Maybe they got into some trouble they couldn't get out of and set up Ivy as a sacrifice." Tech surmises, but honestly, I don't think any of us care too much about our personal lives. If one of us was caught, there must be some other leverage the perpetrator must be holding in order to make them do something like this. Someone else may have a family on the team. Tech and Fog are siblings… but they've been stuck with me in Niastein for the past few weeks. Raven seems like the most likely candidate in my eyes for betraying her team… but I was present for her torture and interrogation training, and she's a solid rock.

Halfway into my racing thoughts, Ashe balances his own idea out loud. "Shadow would never; he's practically in lo–" But I cut him off. Even if what Ashe is saying is true, it doesn't matter. There are way too many other factors to take into consideration.

"None of us would do something like that. And, If anything, Secretary hiding away shows how personally she's taking this. She probably doesn't have the confidence to face any of us right now. It was probably in Ivy's contract that her family would be protected, and now–" This time, my thoughts are cut short, and Tech brings up a valid point.

"Well, if that promise is broken, does this mean her contract is void now?" We all pause in the hallway, just a few meters away from the infirmary room Ivy rests in.

"If that's the case…" Fog pauses, thinking through his following words.

"Wouldn't she have the chance to sell all of us out? In a plot of revenge for her family being destroyed." Tech points out. "If we're having a hard time theorizing what happened, imagine her state of mind. She's probably blaming everyone, including herself. We've seen it before in the field where people go crazy after something like this. Even if we didn't do this to her, and even if we want to help her, she might–"

Ashe grumpily scratches his head and replies, "Now's not the time to think about us–"

"Isn't it? Our lives are at stake too. How do you know that nobody else has family here? If she decides to break off from the organization…" Tech trails off, and I can see the pain behind his eyes. He doesn't want to accuse Ivy of doing something outrageous, but…

"We could all be at risk." I bite my lower lip as Fog finishes out the statement, his sandy hair moving with his head and brown eyes looking away from the rest of us. The four of us stand silently, wondering if we should enter Ivy's room, yet when the door violently swings open.