Lessons- SOHN

They say you should start your story at the beginning. But my story starts at the end. After five years of running from myself, my demons, and the people who were trying to kill me, I was finally free.

I looked at the black and white picture, studying the contours and angular features of his face. He was gorgeous. I wasn't looking forward to having to put a bullet between his eyes. Those haunting, soulful eyes that sent involuntary shivers down my spine whenever I gazed at them. Even through a colorless picture he still came to life, haunting my thoughts.

The stalking didn't help either. Never in my experience had I had such a strong reaction towards one of my targets. Not even when I walked up to Senator Lincoln and shot him at point blank range did I react. It was just another job, another payday. And another chance to outrun my enemies.

Turning my attention back to the scope set up in the window of the unfinished high rise, I watched the figure of Christian Grey face around his office, slamming his hands on his desk as he berated a brunette woman. I pulled away and flipped through the pages of my Moleskine notebook, finding her picture.

Leila Williams, Submissive #14

Laughing to myself as I scanned the page of notes, I realized he was a creature of habit. All of them usually were. He was a control freak and as I looked through the scope again, I couldn't help by clench my thighs together at the sight of him fucking Leila Williams' mouth.

What the hell was wrong with me?

Turning my attention back to my notes I quickly studied the thirteen other women I had managed to track down and photograph. All of them were brunettes with light eyes, and I hoped that I could use this as my in. Just breaking into this construction site was a feat in itself- security was tight and Christian Grey seemed to be a huge fan of state of the art security systems.

I pulled out my laptop and turned on my portable wifi system. Thankfully, it was converting cell phone data into wifi, giving me more privacy and security than any other type of internet connection. I pulled up the more complete files I had stored on my portable hard drive, trying to figure out how and when all of these women were introduced to the elusive Christian Grey. His hermit-like habits didn't make my job any easier. A public execution would be easy enough if he ever went out for longer than five minutes.

Unfortunately, I had to scratch the idea of killing him while he was running. His security team was smart- running in two groups. And he ran early enough and in empty areas where the direction of a shot would be easily be determined, especially by the former Navy SEAL, Jason Taylor. Frowning, I realized I had no information regarding Christian's acquisitions of his submissives. I was missing something obvious and I was pissed off.

Sighing, I packed up the scope and tripod, my computer, and notebook. Rain was starting to fall over Seattle and my visibility would be drastically reduced. Plus, I didn't need to torment myself anymore, watching him fuck another girl.

I slipped out of the construction site through the empty drainage system that led out into the main sewage system. The first time I had walked along side the current of rushing waste I vomited and vowed never to use the bowels of a city to move around. Unfortunately, it was the best option and I held my breath as I exited through a service door. No one noticed as I slipped out into an alley between two buildings.

Seattle was one of my least favorite cities. Granted, my stakeout spot was one of the best I had found in years, but the weather was making it tough to do the around the clock reconnaissance work I was used to.

Strolling into the cafe, I quickly paid for an English Breakfast tea and sat down. As a force of habit, I found a table against a wall, and made sure I sat with my back to it. I had a good vantage point of everyone in the cafe and I made sure I took note of the faces of all of the seated patrons, scanning for anything out of the ordinary before settling and making myself comfortable. I spotted him easily.

"Princess," he said, smoothly pulling out the chair across from me.

"Were you followed?" I asked tightly. I hated meeting him in public. It was too risky, like he was deliberately putting me in a dangerous situation so I would get the job done faster.

He scoffed at my question, lacing his fingers together. "What am I, an amateur?"

I rolled my eyes and took a sip of tea. "I think I found an in."

His eyebrows raised. He was surprised. "Already? It's been four days."

I shrugged. "Tell him that I'm working on it."

He nodded, biting his lip. "You always surprise me."

I smiled blandly. "I know."

"The police found your calling card on the senator. We'll drop off the cash," he whispered quickly, his blue eyes boring into mine. A long time ago, I would have been mesmerized and I would have allowed myself to be caught in his gaze.

"Good," I said evenly, taking another sip of the scalding tea. I had to leave my calling card. otherwise I wouldn't get paid. It was a simple system and it worked. The police thought they were tracking a serial killer at first, but it was clear as the bodies with the same blue stamp on their necks were piling up that I was contracted killer. I had been profiled as a man, based on my killing techniques and that gave me the best cover I could hope for. There was no way I could be mistaken for a man without dressing up for it. "I'll see you later."

He nodded and stood up, hesitating for a second before striding out of the coffee shop without looking back.

I sighed and slumped against the back of my chair. As the number of kills reached double digits, my boss was becoming more and more impatient for me to move on to the next target. The faster I worked each target, the faster they expected me to be finished. And I couldn't lie to Ethan. He knew how to read me like a book. I still hated myself for making that mistake.

I grabbed my tea, knowing that I wouldn't get any work done in this cafe. It was too exposed for my paranoid mind and I couldn't focus.

Walking was not a leisurely activity for me. I always felt eyes on me, whether it was someone just glancing or happening to look my way, it set off alarm bells in my head. I sped up, taking a different path towards the motel I was staying in, looping back and doing a heat run before ducking into the entrance and bolting through the small office towards my room.

I locked the door, shoving my trusty doorjamb in place and checking it before taping the curtains closed so they wouldn't move. I wasn't taking any unnecessary risks. Ethan would do that for me. I grabbed the orange bottle of Xanax, taking one in the hopes it would calm my nerves enough to let me sleep for at least four hours. Waiting for it to kick in, I set up my computer on the beat up desk.

Computers had always been objects of interest for me. When I was little I was fascinated by keyboards. I sighed as I remembered my father's instructions.

"Computers will be really important when you get older, Annie. If you know how to manipulate software or break things virtually, you'll be able to access anything."

For me, at the age of five, I was fascinated. As I got older, Raymond Steele taught me everything he could. When I had surpassed him in skill, I had devoured books on theory and codes, growing and learning as the internet grew at an exponential rate. But it wasn't until a few years ago I revealed my skill my boss.

I cracked my fingers, and logged onto the main Grey Enterprise Holdings, Inc. website. I frowned as I pulled up the IP address, realizing that it was blocked. Rolling my eyes, I knew I was underestimating Christian Grey. he was up to date on anything technical- hell hacking into the camera system and putting the tapes on a sporadic loop to erase my presence took me a few days of running constant programs to jump through his firewalls. This CEO wasn't like any other targets I had ever tried to hack before.

I felt calmer, slightly drowsy and I let the program run, pulling off my jeans and shoes and climbing into the bed, hoping for a few peaceful hours of sleep that wouldn't be interrupted by blood and screaming.

The pinging sound roused me from my fitful sleep. I was drenched in the familiar cold sweat, but somehow, every time I woke up, I was shocked by it. My computer screen was flashing and I hopped out of bed. Grinning at the eight digits at the bottom of the screen, I finally had the IP address. I checked the time, thankful that I hadn't slept longer than six hours. It wasn't healthy, but I needed to make the most of the time I had. Especially if I wanted to settle into this kill without rushing it.

I changed into long athletic leggings and hoodie before pulling my hair into a messy ponytail. Running around a city at midnight wasn't the best of idea for a woman, but I wasn't exactly an average woman. Just to be sure, I tucked my taser into the back of my leggings before stashing my computer under my bed and locking the room before tying the key to my shoe with the shoelace.

I set a fast pace, heading towards the apartment building, Escala. Christian was a creature of habit and this was one he wouldn't break. I spotted his secondary security team running about a block in front of me, and I knew they were going to loop back around. I began to cut through an alley, frowning when spotted the fence. I really wasn't in the mood for climbing, but this was a perfect opportunity. Quickly scaling the metal and braced myself as I jumped down, ignoring the sting of pain on the soles of my feet from the impact. I ran forwards, reaching the end of the alley, listening. I was pleased that they hadn't rounded the corner, giving me some time to get into position.

I ran to the corner of that block and waited around the corner, listening for him to approach. Bracing myself, I started jogging in place to keep warm and to make my sudden appearance seem more natural. Hearing the heavy footfalls, I sped round the corner and straight into the hard body of Christian Grey.

This idea has been bouncing around in my head for months, and I finally wrote it down. Please let me know what you think and if I should continue! HEA (don't worry).

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Also please check out my other stories, The Jungle and The Ride if you like the crime/romance/drama stories!