Leather and Lace (Available on Amazon)

Chapter One

Most people start by introducing themselves. Well I can't. You see, I was adopted as a baby, by parents who were really not parents. They were agents. They raised me differently to other children. Actually, I wasn't raised. I was moulded.
By the age of 5, I was fluent in Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Greek, and of course English.  Aikido, a Japanese martial art, Bando Thaing, an armed and unarmed combat native to Burma incorporating swordplay and fighting with knives, spears and sticks, & Krav Maga a practical and tactical system which teaches one how to prevent, deal and overcome all kinds of violence and attacks. By 10, I was already lethal. Now at the age of 23, I am perfect. I am the way they have trained me to be.

Of course now they realise what they have made. I'm too good. A liability so they say. So my boss, Santana has put a price on my head and at 23 years old, I have become a wanted woman, Expendable.

Never...

My name is Sacha – code name Hellfire, and this is my story.

TARGET: Christine Anne Ferris

ADDRESS: 23 Belmont Place, Stanford.

EMPLOYMENT: Detective

RE: Operation Silverstone

MODUS OPERANDI: Termination

Subject must be terminated. Payment of $500,000.00 will be deposited in your account upon termination.  Report back to Santana when operation is completed.

Good luck Hellfire.

Operation silverstone was a twenty billion dollar drug operation. Santana who was nick named Taipan, gave the orders. Detective Christine Ferris was a marked woman.  She had accidentally stumbled upon information about operation silverstone. Even though she had no idea what she was looking at, some people did not want to take that chance. So before she realised what she had in her hand, I was called in to clean up the mess. In other words, she was marked for termination. Christine was called with an anonymous tip to a warehouse on a dock. She was told to come alone. When she arrived a note was waiting there for her. Detective you have information that is detrimental to a lot of people. This information must not be recognised. Smile for the birdie. Christine looked up at me, that's when I fired, hitting her in the chest. I had wired the place with explosives the night before, so the place was ready to blow. What I didn't know was this was actually a double assignment. Another had been given the assignment to make sure Ferris was terminated and then me. Within seconds of my pulling the trigger on Ferris, another shot rang out. Sacha was thrown back into the wall. She'd been hit in the shoulder and her arm was burning. Sacha dropped down the ladder and ran for the exit. Two more shots rang out as she threw herself behind her car for shelter. "What the fuck?" Had Christine bought someone with her? Next thing she knew, there was a loud explosion. Her car was thrust into the air and Sacha thrown backwards into boxes. This was a professional hit. She was now the target. Still holding the remote detonator, Sacha pressed the button hoping the other agent was still inside the warehouse. The explosion was deafening, the fireworks amazing. The gunfire ceased. The job was done.

Sacha was known as the best for a reason. No one knew what she looked like. She changed her appearance so many times, that even she could not remember what she looked like these days. Sacha was known as the chameleon. People rarely used Hellfire now.
Four days earlier, she had intercepted an email. It simply read:

TARGET: Sacha King - Code name: Hellfire.

ADDRESS: Unknown

MODUS OPERANDI: Termination

Subject must be terminated. Payment:  $1,000,000.00.

So Santana wanted her gone. She figured as much after the last assignment. She was not supposed to survive it. But she did, and now Santana was pissed.
It did not take long to work out whom the email was sent to. A message was sent to her mobile within 48 hours of the email being received.
"Hey there Sacha, I'm back in town baby. Let's catch up. Call me."
It had been at least 6 weeks since she had seen Nick. They had been dating now for over a year. She was weary. The timing was off. Her termination email coming through 48 hours ago and now her boyfriend turning up on the doorstep three weeks ahead of schedule. She had missed him terribly, but he'd been away on assignment with no contact. That's just how it was with this job. The last time she'd seen Nick had been extremely pleasurable, more than she was sure this time would be. She felt sick. Had her boyfriend really accepted the assignment to terminator her or was his turning up merely by chance? She loved Nick. She really didn't want to have to kill him. But there would be no choice in the matter. In the end, it would be either him or her, a fight to the death.
So she returned the message knowing full well she may be walking into a trap.
They arranged to meet at a cute Internet café that served coffee and muffins. It wasn't far from where she was staying. 
That morning Sacha made up a bag with different clothing and a short blonde wig and a folder.  Then she got dressed.
She wore a long skirt with a split up to her hip, boots, and a cotton jumper that fell off her bare shoulders. She wore her long black wig and glasses. She looked hot.
She entered the café early and scanned the room. There was a rather nerdy looking guy at a table nearest the rest room. She headed his way.
"Excuse me, is this chair taken?" She asked in her sweetest voice.
The guy looked up from the Dungeon and Dragons game he had been engrossed in.
"Ah ah ah sure." He stammered.
Sacha sat down and pulled out a folder she had bought with her.
"I'm Lauren." She smiled.
"Colin." He smiled back.
Sacha had a perfect view of the door from where she was sitting. While engrossing herself in conversation with Colin, who she assumed was extremely please, to have a girl just talking to him, she watched Nick enter the premises. He stood at the door and scanned the room. His search bypassed her and he went and bought a coffee, sitting on the opposite end of the room. His eyes were peeled to the door. After letting him wait for 10 minutes, she told Colin she was running late to meet someone and had to make a quick call. She leaned in toward Colin and dialled the number. Her ear peace clicked when Nick picked it up.
"Oh Nick darling, I'm so sorry. I've been held up." She winked at Colin, who grinned and blushed.
From across the room Nick looked pissed.
"That's fine. Did you want to meet up tomorrow?"
"No, How about we meet in 2 hours. I should be done by then. I will call you and let you know where I am."
"Sounds great, See you in a couple hours then."
"Bye baby."
Nick clicked off, skulled his coffee and headed out the door. Sacha watched him walk across the road and stop at a vending machine for cigarettes.
"Colin sweetie, I have to go. But I'm so glad we met." She kissed him on his cheek and headed for the door.
She watched Nick walk through the park then enter a hotel. Sacha sat at a picnic table in the park and pulled out her laptop. Within seconds she was inside the hotels database. She searched Nick's aliases. Caleb Reach, Room 206. Nick had been using the same alias now for a long time. Thirty minutes later, Nick left the hotel, got into a car and drove away. Sacha entered the building and took the stairs to the sixth floor. The plan was to wait for Nick in his room. She walked up to the door of room 206 and reached out for the door nob.