Okay so, i have major time issues...sorry. But i hope you enjoy this chapter. It's not much although its got more action that the next chapter. I'm still working out some kinks. But anyways, LOVE this chapter. Its an order xD -waves elder wand- :O OMG i canNOT wait for HP 7 >:D MIDNIGHT PREMIER! WHOOT!
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“…shouldn’t have given her so much.”
“I can still fix it,” another voice said defensively.
“Do it soon, or she might die. Wait, shutup, she’s waking up.”
He was right. My mind started to clear up and I could definitely hear well. I felt my body and slowly, I opened my eyes. A pair of bright blue eyes were staring at me. Then I took in the whole face. Adrian.
“I’m leaving, take care of her,” the other voice said in a rush. I heard the door slam shut.
“How you feeling babe?” Involuntarily, I slapped him. “Ouch! I’ll take that as a ‘pretty good’ then.”
“Numagusha,” I grumbled.
“What was that?”
“Numagushi!”
“Oh, food.” There was some shuffling about and then a popping sound. I felt a straw forced through my lips. It was difficult but eventually I was able to take in a sip. One measly sip before it was taken away from me. I smacked my lips together.
“Where am I? What happened?” I spluttered. I took in the familiar white surroundings. I could smell the hygiene of the nurse’s office. There was a guilty look on Adrian’s face. That’s when it dawned on me.
“He poisoned me! Didn’t he?” I yelled in outrage. “That son of a…he poisoned me in gym, pretending he was helping. And then…and then!” I gasped, as I put the pieces together. “He had the nerve to talk about it in class! Why didn’t I see It before?” I mentally slapped myself. Adrian’s hand caught my wrist.
“Don’t slap yourself” Oh, I guess I didn’t do it mentally. “You’ll only make it worse. I had to feed you the best cure I could find before it was too late. The nurse was freaking out, she had no idea what to do with you. But the cure is only temporary, you won’t be okay for forever.”
“But I have and assignment afterschool,” I complained. “I have to be perfect or she’ll find a lion instead!.”
“You are perfect, Tanya,” Adrian said. There was an awkward pause. “I don’t want you to go but I know you have to. Lucky for you, I’m going too, so if anything goes wrong…”
“You’ll be around, I know.” I pushed myself off the cot with Adrian’s help. Only then did I realize just how wimpy I was at that moment. I’d been hurt way too many times this week. After some hesitant steps, Adrian swept me off my feet and carried me to the car.
“Slow poke,” he said, noticing my glare. He dropped me into the passenger seat of his convertible. Byron had given the two of us our own choice cars for everyday use. The black ones were usually for missions.
Adrian leapt over me into the driver’s seat and revved the engine. We sped out of the school’s parking lot. My eyes flashed to the green numbers set into the dashboard.
2:55.
“Drive faster Adrian!” I yelled. He hit the pedal and moments later, we were on the highway, zigzagging through the cars. We arrived in another small town built around a canal. We parked across the foot bridge. I jumped out, strolling along casually while waiting for Adrian to catch up. It was a beautiful day, warm but with a cool breeze.
Adrian linked his arm with mine and began dragging me across the bridge. We reached the other side of the canal and headed for a little alcove in the large hedges of the park. There was a bench that was occupied by a woman wearing a formal business outfit, the kind that screamed confidence and brusqueness.
The two of us approached her. She stood up and gestured for us to stay standing. Adrian draped his arm around my waist letting me rest my head against his shoulder. It was all an act. The woman before us plastered on a fake smile, setting her book face down on the bench next to her.
“I’ll be brief,” she said still smiling. “ Byron wants you to follow and terminate this woman here.” Sarah, that was the woman’s name, pulled out a file from her purse. “All the information is in this folder. Call this number when you get it done. And it better be done tonight.” With that, she walked off stiffly.
“Well, that was brief. How about we stay here for a while,” suggested Adrian. I nodded. We walked through the park until 4. We headed back to the car and Adrian drove us back to the cottage.
Inside the file, there were numerous shots of the target woman, in addition to her background, family, job, hobbies, and anything else that would be classified as stalker information.
I found out exactly what I needed to know. Adrian drove me to the café which the woman, Elizabeth, frequented. From what I gathered, Elizabeth had some unlawful knowledge that Byron wanted gone. That was where I came in. I had to terminate her. I stepped into the café 15 minutes before Elizabeth showed up. I ordered a coffee and took a seat in the farthest corner of the restaurant. I had a perfect view of the entrance. Adrian was waiting outside, pretending to be a passer by. A few minutes after I had settled down, Elizabeth walked in with a man. I cursed. She wasn’t making this easy. I waited for her to sit down with her man; I noticed they were holding hands. That made this even worse.
I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. She was just a target, I told myself. She doesn’t mean anything to me. Just a target, I repeated.
Elizabeth began flirting with the man; I assumed they were on a first date. Although I was surprised she wasn’t married at her age. She was in her late thirties, according to the file. Luckily, they sat close to my table so I could hear clips of their conversation. If they hadn’t, I would have had my headphones. They were connected to a radar that picked up specific sounds; it was disguised as an iPhone. It would have been more of a hassle.
“…I think I’d like to see a little more of that,” the man said. I almost gagged. Then I realized it wasn’t what I thought it was. Elizabeth turned a book around so that the man could read it.
“See here, Derek? That was my favorite part. It’s so funny!” Elizabeth laughed. She was about to pull her hand away when Derek caught it. He planted a quick kiss on her hand, staring up into her eyes. It seemed, for a moment, they were in their own world.
And then she pulled her hand away, tucking it under the table and wiping her hand on her pants, as if disgusted. The man wasn’t bad looking, so it took me a while to understand why she pulled away. She had recently divorced, and she was still trying to pull herself back together. I listened to their conversation some more before finally making my move. I stood up, leaving my half empty cup on the table with a five dollar tip under it.
I walked past them then froze. “Oh my Gosh!” I exclaimed. “Aren’t you like Elizabeth Meddler? Like the author who wrote Innocent Minds?”
Elizabeth laughed. “Yes, I am, I didn’t know my book was read by a younger audience.”
“You have no idea. Me and my friends love it! I’d love to talk to you about it sometime. Actually, how about now? I’m free, you’re free,” I blabbed.
“Well, actually –”
“I’m sure your husband won’t mind, will you? I’ll only borrow her for a few minutes. It’s really nice weather outside, how about we talk outside for a little bit. I just have a few questions about your book. Well, no, I have a lot. But I can ask my more important ones.” I pulled her out of her seat and dragged her to the door. She gave a quick goodbye to her date, telling him she would be right back. I felt a pang of guilt for the man, but I pushed to the back of my mind.
Elizabeth finally relaxed and I let her arm go as we walked around the café. I was debating on going into the bathrooms but then I realized it would be obvious who had done it. I figured it would be easiest to do it behind the dumpsters in an alley a couple of buildings over.
“I know this great place we can talk. There’s a short cut through that alley over there, it is a little creepy but I’ve been down that way a thousand times. There are no hobos or anything.” I hoped that my overly enthusiastic tone would throw her off.
We entered the alley and I found my mystical dumpsters. Just as we passed it, I dropped my phone.
“Oh, hold on a minute.” I bent down and reached for my phone. Instead, I stuck my hand into my boot and pulled out a knife and silent spray. With excessive speed, I sprayed the cloth in hand and whipped around to cover Elizabeth’s mouth and nose with it.
Her eyes widened as she tried to scream but within moments, she went limp in my arms. I pulled her behind the dumpster and with a quick thrust, jabbed the knife into her chest. I searched her clothes for her phone and finally found it in her shirt pocket.
I searched for Derek’s number and gave him a call.
“Elizabeth? Where are you?”
“Hey, Derek,” I said, imitating Elizabeth’s voice perfectly, if I do say so myself. “I’m really sorry for leaving, I’m really exhausted. That girl asked so many questions about my book, it was like an interrogation. She was really nice though, seemed to really love my book. Oh, I’m going off topic. What I’m trying to say is that I’m going home, I’ll make it up to you another day. I’m really sorry.”
“Oh, okay. That’s fine,” Derek said, although I could hear his disappointment. “How about Tuesday? We can go out for a proper dinner then.”
“I’ll have to check my schedule. I’ll talk to you later,” I said goodbye and hung up. I dialed the number Sarah had given me and confirmed the target was eliminated.
I threw the phone on the floor and crushed it into pieces under my boot. I picked up my phone and sent Adrian a text telling him where I was, even though he had been watching me closely. I had no doubt he was just around the corner.
I dropped to the ground, hiding behind the garbage cans but keeping an eye on Elizabeth’s body. I was certain she was dead, but I had to make sure she wouldn’t wake up after I knocked her out.
There was a scuffling sound and Adrian appeared above me. We waited fifteen minutes, standard for knock out gas, before Adrian helped my up. I had had this nauseous feeling for the whole mission and after killing Elizabeth, I was wiped out. Adrian, determined to help me, carried me down the bustling sidewalk to a parking lot of a shopping mall. It was about five minutes away but it felt like forever. Especially because of all the eyes that looked at us like we were the cutest things ever.
“Young love,” an old woman said to herself as we passed by. “I remember when John carried me like that. Although that was before Harry found out I was having an affair…”
I glared at Adrian hoping he would put me down. I wasn’t all that weak. Just tired. The ride home wasn’t very long either. Adrian dropped my on my bed and sat down next to me.
“You feel okay?”
“Yeah. I felt bad for Derek. He really liked her.”
“Don’t think about it, Tanya. He’s not our problem.”
“I know,” I said, turning on my side to face him. “But I can’t help feeling bad about it. Even for the woman. How did we get into this, Adrian?”
“Well, Byron did tell us to meet Sarah.”
“That’s not what I meant.” I sighed. Adrian reached out and rested his hand on my cheek, staring at me thoughtfully.
“I know what you meant,” he said finally. “I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t being careful when I got hired. And I doubt you were either.”
“And that’s what they’re teaching us now.” I turned away from him and stared at the red numbers of the clock on my nightstand. For a while the numbers were unfocused and then they became clear. “Shit.”
I clambered off my bed, startling Adrian. I ran into my closet, pulling the door open before I crashed into it. I remembered that Koda said wear casual. I pulled out a nice, purple shirt that was tight at my ribs and loosened up into a few ruffles. The neckline was fairly low, so I debated on wearing a tank underneath. I decided against it at the last minute, remembering the heat of today. I grabbed a pair of dark skinny jeans and slipped them on, forgetting Adrian was in the room.
A pair of hands slipped around my bare waist causing me to jump. I glanced over my shoulder to see Adrian grinning. He rested his head on my shoulder and continued to stare at me with his silly smile.
“You’re just trying to tempt me aren’t you?” I realized at that point I was only wearing my jeans and black bra.
“Maybe I am,” I whispered, spinning around so fast that his hands moved so he was still holding me. I leaned my face close to his, pressing my bare stomach against him. I brought my lips a centimeter away from his own. My lips twitched at the corners when I heard his breath catch. He was staring down at me, clearly at a loss for words. Without any warning I brushed my lips against his, placing my hands on his chest. Suddenly he was sprawled on floor at the foot of my head.
“Dammit,” he muttered, rubbing his arm.
“Hey, it’s fun messing with you,” I laughed.
“Considering our relationship, that was almost like a full out make out session,” Adrian said, standing up. I slipped on my shirt and walked over to my dresser. I found a few bracelets that matched, as well as a pair of earrings. With a few flicks of my hands, I had my hair in a nice half-ponytail. I applied a thin layer of mascara and dark purple eyeliner that made my eyes pop, in a good way.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” I said. I planted a proper kiss on his lips and was back at my dresser applying my clear pink lip gloss before he could even utter a sound. He stood frozen, wide-eyed behind me. I was pretty sure he stopped breathing.
He shook his head, smiling. “You’re right, that was much better. Where are you going, anyway?”
“Koda’s taking me out today, remember?” I glanced at the clock again.
6:59
“He should be here soon. Why don’t you act brotherly and wait by the door. You know, so you can interrogate him.”
“People don’t kiss their brothers like that,” he laughed. I threw a book at him. “Okay, okay! We’re more like friends with benefits.”
I released a nail polish bottle in his direction which he caught with ease. “If you tell anyone that we’re friends with benefits, you will never get a girl to spend the night with you because you’ll be a missing a vital appendage to have kids! And we’re not friends with benefits,” I yelled just as the doorbell rang.
“I wonder if Koda would still take you out if he knew our relationship,” Adrian said, waggling his eyebrows.
“Don’t you dare!” I shrieked. He ran for the door, at the same time I jumped him, making sure he didn’t reach the door before I did. I tackled him to the ground and we began rolling on the floor as both of us tried to get to the door faster. Our hands were all over each other, in a non-dirty way, and finally I kicked Adrian in the side. He rolled onto his side, clutching it tightly. I stood up and dusted myself before opening the door.
“Hey, Koda!” I smiled. Koda looked me up and down.
“Wow, casual looks really good on you. Although,” Koda said, shooting a glance behind me. I heard Adrian snickering. “I think you might be missing something. Not that you’d need it if we spent the night together. Less clothes.” He grinned.
“I’m not forgetting pants, am I?” I asked, glancing down. I did recall putting them on.
“You might want to aim your eyes a little higher,” Adrian said. I spun around to glare at Adrian for still being here, when I noticed what was in his hand. He continued to laugh as my look of anger turned to shock, then back to anger. I lunged towards Adrian, grabbing the bra he was dangling. I don’t know how he got it off, but I was pretty sure it was when we were racing for the door.
I kneed Adrian, grabbing my bra, while Adrian fell to the floor. I put it on quickly and marched out of the house, past Koda. When he didn’t follow me, I turned back to face him. He was gaping.
“Is something wrong?”
Koda shook his head, “No, but I wish you hadn’t put it back on. You might not have needed it.”
I smiled, then laughed when I saw Adrian’s dangerous look behind Koda’s back. “Let’s go, Koda, before Adrian decides to punch you.”
Koda walked with me to his car. I almost collapsed when I saw it. I’d always loved hummers and this one was beautiful. Adrian and I had always been riding those sleek cars like our Lamborghini, but a Hummer was just so different and so…perfect. I turned to Koda.
“Can I drive that sexy car?” I pouted for more effect. “Please?”
Koda laughed. “How about on the way back. You don’t exactly know where we’re going.”
“Hey! My car is sexier!” Adrian yelled from inside the house.
“Shut up, Adrian!” I answered. Koda opened the door for me and I jumped in. The engine roared to life and we were off. Koda flipped on the radio.
“…the show goes on all night, till the morning we dream so long, and nobody ever wonder when they would see the sun up…”
“I love this song!” I sang along with Lupe Fiasco at the top of my lungs. Koda joined in as we drove down the stretch of highway. It wasn’t until a half hour had passed before I realized something.
“Where exactly are we going?” I asked, pausing in the middle of my bellowing.
“You’ll have to wait. It’s a surprise,” Koda grinned. I sunk into my seat. I was already nervous. Surprises plus Tanya equaled bad.