Rose's Thorns

Chapter One

 The music from the speakers blared loudly. I glide past the bodies dancing in Ace club to my target–the Red room.

“Rose, there are five men in the room. Retrieve the hard drive and leave no witnesses” Colonel Jacob voice fill my ear through the hidden earpiece I am wearing.

“Yes sir”. I steady the tray of Hennessy in my hands. I approach Tony and Edward the bouncers that guard the Red room.

“Order for the guests” I lean in and whisper into Tony’s ears. He's the more gullible one. I've worked at the Ace club for four months, gathering intel on Smoke, the leader of a drug cartel in Lagos.

“They don't want to be disturbed” Edward grunts. It's all w front, I see the way he looks at me when he thinks I'm not looking.

“Eddie calm down. I need to get lucky tonight” I rest my hands gently on his shoulders. “Who knows you might get lucky too”

“You have 5 minutes” He unlocke the door and let's me in.

There are six men instead of five. The Intel is never wrong, but I can't signal Jacob right now.

I drop the drink on the centre table gracefully.  I recognize smoke, with a burn scar on the right side of his face. He is signing some papers with the sixth unaccounted man.

“Mr.Amaechi, it was nice doing business with you. We expect the contracts done by May”.

I scan the room for the black briefcase he is to exchange with Brutus, the right hand man of another notorious cartel. Dirt and information the military needs to sentence them.

I move with the bottle to pour a drink for Brutus who tapped his glass asking for a refill. 

“It's a pleasure working with you.  The Granite always delivers, there is no worries” the man is surprisingly young. I'm curious to how he met someone like Smoke. He has a sweet smile, it makes me feel he didn't deserve to be here. I swore to protect the innocent, but I haven't always been able to.

“Rose,  what's your situation” Jacob’s voice interrupts my thoughts. Too bad, orders are orders.

I smash the bottle against Brutus’ head and stab him in the neck. I take his gun and in few minutes the others are down.

Bang! A gun goes off behind me and I feel a sharp pain in my back. I turn and find Smoke standing, and I shoot him in the head.

 I reach Smoke and pull the briefcase from the table. I clean his bloody thumb and unlock the box. The hard drive seats in the middle. I take it and close the box.

The room is sound proof and my team tech specialist Ajayi told me I would have 5 minutes from when I entered for him to disable the cctv. 

“Ahh..” I hear a groan behind me and turn to shoot. Mr.Amaechi is holding his heading as he tries to sit up. I squeeze the cold metal of the gun, but I can't pull the trigger.

I tuck the hard drive into a strap around my thigh under my short gown. I see his black file bag on the floor and pick it up. I drag him up without wasting time. A pieecing pain in my back remind me of the bullet lodged somewhere in my spine.

“Give me your jacket” I say to him.  He hands it over quickly. I hope it would cover up the blood for as long as we need to get out of here. 

“You weren't supposed to be here. There is another door that leads to the inner suits. You will pretend to be a client and we will slip out” I say quickly.

“What? I… I can't. Are you crazy? You just killed these people! Why should I trust you?” his eyes darts to the limp bodies on the floor.

I hold his chin firmly and turn his face back to me.