The League

Chapter 3:

Chapter 3:

The next morning, Anton and I made our way to the scene of the crime. The police had already cleared the area, marking it off with caution tape. Despite it being the scene of a crime, there were no security guards around to make sure that the scene remained uncontaminated. I quickly disabled the video cameras before heading inside.

“Did you see where they came from?” Anton asked.

I shook my head. “I was too focused on the target.”

“You're rusty,” he remarks. I knew that he didn't mean it as an insult, but rather a warning. Still his comment bothered me.

“I already know that,” I tell him through gritted teeth.

Looking around the area, he scans for exits and entrances. “My guess is they slid in through the front door along with everyone else.”

I scanned the room. One entrance in the front, same one I had used to get in. Two exits that would take you into alleyways. Then there had to be another one for staff to enter and exit the building easily.

Suddenly something caught my eye. I backed up until I was in the shadows. Walking around the scene in the shadows, I continued to stare at the ground. Finally I reached the clearest point. I took a moment, taking in everything before motioning for Anton to come over.

“What is it?” he asks as he moves to next to me.

“The head of a lion,” I point out the pattern the stain glass window above made out on the club floor.

“So this hit wasn't a coincidence,” Anton says.

Hearing voices, I push him towards the exit. “We have to move. Now.”

Moving with the stealth that had been beaten into us, we slid out of the club and back into our car. Grabbing my phone, I took a picture of the club and it's surroundings.

“We'll come back tonight,” I tell him.

“Oh so we're heading back into the lion's den.” he teases.

I roll my eyes at his childish humor. “Can't you take one mission seriously?”

“No, because I know you enjoy my jokes.” he says with a matter of fact tone. “Besides, we weren't even supposed to do a recon now. I was told to come here, watch you and make sure you didn't do anything stupid.”

“Instead of doing what you were told you helped me do something stupid by breaking into an active crime scene. Glad to see you kept your morals.” I cross my arms over my chest.

“The Viper is gonna have my ass when she gets here.” he groans.

I sit up instantly. “You didn't tell me Alkina was coming.”

“The twins and Angel are coming.” Anton says.

The Viper is his little pet name for Alkina. Of course, he'd never call her that to her face. She spits more venom than anything, hence the name. She'll strike without any reason. Not to mention the fact that she's wicked fast and deadly. The perfect code name for the lethal assassin.

“When are they expected to arrive?” I ask him.

He looks at his watch. “Two hours from now.”

We headed back to the hotel room, grabbing lunch as we went. At the room, I straightened up as best as I could. The last thing I needed was my superiors seeing my undergarments laying about. Anton, he's already seen me naked so I didn't have to clean up for him.

“Calm down, they know what your room is like back at the compound,” Anton says, laying across the bed.

I sigh. “It's different. We're meeting here. It's not like we'd normally have a debriefing in my bedroom.”

He gives me a smirk. “Yes, we'd normally be de-dressing.”

Throwing a pillow at him, I groan. “Seriously, grow up.”

Pulling me down on top of him, he gives me a quick kiss. “I think....no, I know, that that's what you like about me, Natasha. I think you like it when I don't take anything seriously.”

“Keep it in your pants, Manchester.” Alkina's voice fills the room.

I turn to see that she, Zelene, and Angel had entered the room. They were dressed in civilian clothing. It was odd to see Alkina and Angel dressed in jeans and t-shirts. They looked so out of place in their clothing. I'd come accustomed to Zelene wearing average clothing around the compound whereas everyone else in the League typically wore either work out clothing or tactical outfits.

“Oh, let them have some fun, Kina.” Zelene tells her sister. “Everyone needs some from time to time, even you.”

“They can have fun on their own time,” Angel reminds her.

“Angel's right,” Alkina says. “Right now we must get to the bottom of this. Do you have any new information?”

I filled them in on the club. Anton pulled up the club's sight on his laptop. Sure enough the lion's head stained glass window was featured on the site. The symbol of the group clear as day for all to see. I spoke through the original mission, everything that I had memorized from the file I had been given. Nothing in the file had given any hint that Amoll Jenkins was apart of a larger group.

“So where do we go from here?” Anton asks.

“We fine the head of the lion and cut if off,” Alkina states as if it was as simple as that.

Looking at the site, I click on the info button. While reading through the info about the club I spot something. A familiar face smiled at me from the computer screen.

“This may be more complicated than that,” I tell them.

“Why? What is it?” Zelene asks.

 I pointed to the man grinning on the screen. “That's Alvin Voltaire. He's wanted in fifty-three countries, two continents, and by multiple terrorist groups. Do not underestimate that smile, he's more dangerous than you can believe. I should know, he's the one who trained me.”