Assassin's Assignment

Chapter One

June 29, 20–
2:05 PM
-*-*-

Vanessa Martinez exited the cramped white room while silently reminding herself not to slam the door behind her. As she walked along the carpeted floor of the narrow hallway towards the elevator, she heard the muffled voices of her colleagues who were undergoing their quarterly check-ins by low ranking Mercier officers in the closet-sized rooms being used.

The elevator doors opened when she stood in front of its doors, she stepped inside and pushed for level G. The woman then leaned herself against the cold wall with her hands shoved into the depths of her leather jacket's pockets as she stared at the bright numbers that gradually counted down from six to G. The elevator door opened to reveal the spacious lobby of Mercier. The limestone walls were of a creamy white color that made the white marble floor appear shiny; the high-rise ceiling beholding an expensive Bethune crystal chandelier. The front of the lobby was full of windows that promoted the scenery outside Mercier's walls: the wide assortments of Dahila, Lantana, and Lavender flower's against the Bermuda grass made the flowers seem more vibrant than they intend, the stone fountain spilled out its clear blue water and in the heart of the fountain was a small temple of "Angel's-tears" flowers. The small flower's innocent cream and soft yellow colors made the flowers look gracious as their head's drooped down towards the bottom of the fountain's waters.

Vanessa walked out of the elevator and scanned the Mercier lobby, she settled her eyes on the low-set leather armchairs that looked out towards the windows. There was only a lonely brunette seated among the armchairs, reading a magazine she most likely picked up from the glass coffee table. Vanessa looked away and turned her attention towards the coffee bar that was ten feet away from the middle-aged receptionist's desk, her eyes meeting with a familiar man's eyes. His pink lips shaped into a smile at the sight of her. Alexander Knight waved as she walked towards the coffee bar, taking the empty seat next to him. "I thought you'd never get out of there, Vana." He let out, sliding her a cappuccino with cinnamon coating the milk foam, some of the foam falling over the brown mug.

"I thought so too, I don't think the officer liked me too much," Vanessa said, wrapping her hand around the mug and taking a slow drink of the coffee. Alexander studied her as he spoke.

"Well you aren't exactly the warm type, " Vanessa rolled her eyes, setting the mug down and wiping her upper lip of foam. Alexander had a slight smile plastered on his attractive face when Vanessa turned to him, his chocolate brown eyes appearing innocent. His cheekbones were set high and aligned with his strong jaw and pointed chin, his sun-kissed skin complementing his tussled brown hair that had streaks of blond. His navy button-up shirt tightened at his biceps and the top button was left undone, revealing his collar bone that had glimpses of the beginning of his tattoo of a black star.

Vanessa knew about all of the tattooed stars that covered his body, they were cover-ups done to hide the scars caused by Mercier assignment's. It was not required for Mercier workers to hide their scars. In fact, most assassins choose to display the scars of their wounds as a reminder that they survived. However, there are those who decide to hide what they've endured.

"Not everyone loves me as they love you, Alex, " She replied, raising the brown mug to her lips and taking a slow sip, allowing the liquid to burn her throat.

Alex bit his lip and thought out his words, "I'm flattered, Vana, but if you said you loved me yesterday I would've canceled my date with Jenny tonight." Vanessa's eyes grew wide and began to laugh as she kept her mug wrapped around her hand.
"You're kidding! There is no way in hell you're going out with Jenny, " Vanessa scoffed and Alex rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smile at his closest friend.

"Sure it took some time," He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to form a convincing story, "but she agreed to go out tonight. Something about trying something new." Vanessa took a long drink of her coffee as she starred at him intently, trying to find anything about him that told her his story wasn't completely true