Rising Secrets

Prologue- Prior

It had been a tranquil morning in the wonderful, unchanging daily life of Gregory Frosz when the incident occurred. He had woken up, hugged his wife and children goodbye, and gone to work at the early hour of 5AM.

The hackneyed routine of working an office job went on until about 4PM every day, and from there, he would pack up and go home. Normally.

Today, however, Greg's heart nearly stopped the moment he walked out of the door to his office to find a gun pointed at his forehead. Which was, as one would expect, unexpected.

He exhaled slowly, peering down at the wielder of the weapon. It was a woman, sporting what looked to be a antique silver mask. Below it, a pair of large, peridot green eyes were just visible.

The nerves in his body tingled and his muscles contracted. He was set on edge, for the first time in ages, because he had a good guess to what this woman stood for. Fear washed over him in the form of a bucket of cold sweat, and he wondered what she might do to him, what she wanted with him... What she might do to his loved ones to make him cooperate.

She pressed the nozzle of the gun down into his smooth, ironed suit and gestured for him to follow her. Options so limited, Greg could only creep after her towards his building's back staircase at an agonizingly slow pace. He could not even make out the length of time it took for them to maneuver down the three flights of stairs to ground floor.

Exiting through the rear door was no less circuitous, with him walking slowly in front and the woman's gun jabbing into his tense back, right above his spine. The nozzle of the weapon seemed to press in deeper every time she took a step behind him.

Outside, Greg faced the woman again. He desperately took in his escape routes as she scanned cautiously for security cameras. Unfortunately for him, all of the employees had been informed on day one that the only outdoor cameras used by the company were in front of the building. Worse still, he recalled the fact that the supervisor rarely woke up long enough to even glance at the sleep-inducing scenes flickering over previously-mentioned cameras.

"You are Gregory Frosz. Affirmative?" the lady asked brusquely, apparently assured that no soul would ever witness their exchange. He nodded, and she spoke again. "You were previously employed as an assassin?"

"What business might you possibly have with me? I must clarify that I am now retired, done with anything related to the organization." His sense of dread rose like a high tide, for the woman nodded and continued.

"You have my sincerest apologies for being so barbarous in contacting you about this affair, however we require your assistance in a dire situation. Only someone of your caliber can 'handle' this target. Please be acquiescent and tell me that you understand." Swallowing and barely thinking, Greg made his decision. He resignedly eyed the gun and the woman, replying:

"I decline. I have quit this occupation and I have no plans of revisiting it." The woman sighed and reached a hand up to take off her mask.

"That really is a shame, Greg. I gave you a chance to take the easy way, being the old friends that we are..." She raised her gun hand and moved to swing down hard on Gregory's head. He made no effort to fight back, either, for he was stunned. The woman had not been a stranger, after all. She was someone he was well acquainted with indeed. Her name was Marilyn Lois, better known as the notorious assassin, Poisonous Lily.

Another vital tidbit of information: the Marilyn that Greg knew had kicked the bucket nearly fifteen years ago, permanently.

Apparently not, he supposed, as he fell into a dark abyss of unconsciousness.

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A/N: Hello! Welcome to the beginning of Rising Secrets! I'd like to mention that Gregory is not the main character, for any who did not catch on, and that this is merely some background info. Thank you for clicking on and reading my book, and I hope you enjoy!

-ocean