Assassin

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

     "You can't do that," Emmie began, as Taiven began to make his way to the front of Alex's car.

     "Get in the car, we have to go," Taiven interrupted, turning abruptly to stare back down the street.

     Emmie glared at him, immediately heading to the back of the car, to open the boot and let Alex out. "Or what?" She asked, as the owner of the car they had been about to take appeared on his doorstep. "You'll shove me in the boot too?"

     "Tempting." Taiven replied, tossing the man's car keys back to him, heading for Emmie as he did so. "I don't think you'll be very comfortable though." He added, as a loud bang, followed by flames leaping in the air from the direction they had come, caused Emmie to strop in her tracks.

     "What was that?" She asked, her eyes on the flames they could see over the tops of the houses.

     "That was our signal to leave." He answered, grabbing her by the arm, moving her rapidly around the car to the passenger door. "Get in," he said, his eyes flicking between her and the end of the street. As soon as she moved to get into the car, Taiven ran around to the drivers door. Dropping into the drivers seat, reaching for the key in the cars ignition, Taiven slammed the drivers door.

     Emmie dragged the seatbelt over her shoulder, closing the passenger door quickly, half turned in her seat to look out of the back window. "Is that them, have they found us?" She asked, as Taiven started the car, took a quick look around at the cockpit, and pushed down the clutch. "Can you even drive?" She asked, suddenly aware that he had placed her in the passenger seat.

     "Just acquainting myself with the controls," he replied, "I can operate any of your modes of transport, they are all fairly rudimentary." Placing his hand on the gear stick, he eased the car into first, letting out the clutch, he lowered the handbrake. The car moved forward smoothly, heading for the end of the street.

     "What now?" Emmie asked.

     "We get the hell out of here, hope they follow us, then we try to lose them so I can get you to somewhere safe."

     "We want them to follow us?" She asked, incredulously.

     "How many people do you think will die if they don't?" Taiven asked her. "My job is to terminate the Thiassuns, while keeping the presence of our alien cultures secret. If I can't keep that secret, I minimize the exposure. Any exposure has to be eliminated, whether I am forced to wipe memories, encourage people to believe witnesses are insane, or remove the exposed. Thiassuns just kill, they have no rules."

     "If you are supposed to be so bad ass, why are they following us, shouldn't they be running? What do you mean 'remove the exposed?"

     Turning left at the end of the street, Taiven put his foot down on the accelerator. "I have a feeling they are after you." He answered. "As soon as I got close to you, during the fight earlier, I could smell female Thiassun. I noticed one of the Thiassuns sniffing you, heard him letting the others know that you had been close to the female they are looking for."

     Emmie turned her head to look at him, her eyes wide. "What female?" She interrupted. "That's impossible, I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if I'd met one of those things before."

     "That's what has me puzzled," he replied, as they neared a left hand turn that joined the road they were on. "Unless her mother isn't Thiassun, and she resembles her mother rather than her father." He added.

     "Who is her father?" Emmie asked, as they drew level with the turning.

     Glancing left, Taiven saw the car just as Emmie stopped talking, he swerved to the right and slammed his foot down on the accelerator. The drivers side of Alex's car slid along the side of a stationary van, the car racing towards them clipped the passenger side tail light. Taiven kept the car moving forward, despite the knock that tried it's best to tap the car sideways.