Deadly Lover

1. Witness

Myra

I hadn't meant to witness such an incriminating scene. I had studied the plan for this night thoroughly, reciting every course of action under my breath by candlelight in the darkest hours of night. I couldn't afford to make a mistake, or to be misled by the fools with me. This was my chance. I couldn't afford to make an error.

The captain had given us four weeks to be prepared. I was aware that the officers had known one another since the academy, and that they had many complaints about being grouped with me, and I didn't care. In fact, I was sure that I had tricked one of them before, and that was why he never tore away his glare from me.

By the time the moon waned, and the sky was empty, I knew the plan too well to think of anything else. Four men stood at my sides and two behind me, making sure to keep silent as I stretched out my nimble fingers, shaking the cold numbness out of them before reaching into my old coat.

Two slender sticks of steel with small hooks at one end twirled between my fingers with precision before they squeezed into the keyhole of the old warehouse door. I counted down from 14, a number I had deduced to be exact after years of rehearsal, and a familiar click echoed in the night when I reached zero.

The men pushed through the heavy door before I took a step, the metal of their pistols twinkling from the small flames of candles as they stalked through the immense space of the warehouse. They ventured into the darkness, uncaring of the dim spotlights of the candles giving them away.

I finally stepped in and closed the door soundlessly. It took practice as well as trial and error to discover the most conventional way of closing a door without making noise. I found that it worked best when I twisted the handle and held my foot against the base of the door and slowly pulled it back into its frame.

My footsteps couldn't be heard over the thuds of heavy boots scouring the warehouse, but it would be impossible to hear me regardless. I had trained myself in stealth better than the academy did with those men, and that was why they needed me. They had their pistols, and I had the shadows.

The candles warmed my features, revealing me from the darkness. The flames flickered lowly as I stalked closer, unaware of my presence until their smoke twirled between my index finger and thumb.

I continued with the task; extinguishing candles one by one until I reached the end of the massive space. When I reached the final candle, something shined in the corner of my eye.

I looked over my shoulder at the door. Unopened, untouched, clean. I could tell by how much the steel handle glowed from the candlelight. My gaze slipped to the six men investigating, squinting at the walls along the warehouse, before looking back at the door. The light caressed my cold features, including my lips that twisted into the smallest of smiles.

With a careful flourish, I whisked the candle between my fingers and crept to the door. The door made just as much sound opening as I closed it behind me, turning to the narrow hallway.

I let my eyes roam the empty walls as I slowed my pace. My trained gaze picked out every crack, every crevice that something could squeeze into, but no space was big enough for what I was hoping for.

When I reached the end of the hall, there was another door. Not as clean as the last door; the edges were worn, and the handle was stained. The brown pigment splotched across the handle, and I reached into my right pocket. The captain had tried making me wear gloves, but I was adamant that they would only distract my, which was true, but I would also never accept something from a person in uniform.

The handkerchief, as it has done many times before this night, wrapped around my palm with the lilac G  facing the ceiling. I grasped the door handle, slowly pushing it down. This was the only room in the entire warehouse with a trapdoor; I hadn't mentioned that detail when the captain reported on the building.