Chapter Two: Debriefing.
My first stop after the armoury, to pick up my approved weapons, was Bella's office. Already on her desk, my shiv and two modified glocks were in front of her, laid out on her mahogany desk. She was sat there like she owned the world, which would have been a semi-correct assumption in many ways.
"Morning." I greeted her with a nod and my eyes focused on my weapons and then I rolled my eyes.
"Always with the weapons Jack. You upset the valets every time they go over your car." Bella smiled at me. I shrugged, I would continue to upset the valets every day and the longhaired blonde in front of me knew it to. The day I left the house without a considerable armament was the day that hell will have frozen over. "Go on, sit. Why you wait to be told anymore, I don't know. Remember, you don't have to be as formal around me as you do my husband."
"Thanks." I sat.
"So Carter is gone then?" She said leaning forward onto her elbows, her chin resting on her palms. Bella looked like a child about to be given a huge stick of candy and I was about to do just that.
"The bastard is dead. I double checked." I nodded. Simon Carter was a bastard, a real one. He came after James and Bella but tried to go through little Anna. He was a sniper, a damn good one. It was only luck that meant Anna hadn't died. But it was like Riddick had once said, if you've got a damn good sniper on your ass, all you can do is pray and try and stay under cover as best as you can, the rest is up to whatever god you believe in.
Wasp and I had taken the child and her nanny out to a nearby park, a park I've been going to with Anna for about two years, hell if we'll ever go again. That's what I get for getting into habits, I should know better, only no one has told me that yet and they probably never will.
Wasp bent over Anna to pick up the bracelet that she had dropped and couldn't find herself and got hit in the side, it would have tore right through the kid's liver if it hadn't been for him and more then likely there would have been a second shot if he hadn't pulled the kid under him when he dropped to the ground. Meant he had to have surgery but it also meant I got myself an automatic mark and I went to work with pleasure.
"Glad to hear that." Bella nodded. "Right between the eyes?" She liked to know the details of my marks, well, the ones that I got because of Anna. It gave her some sort of pleasure to know how they had died, I figured that that had to do with the fact that they had tried to kill her child. Maybe it's that mother's protective instinct…I dunno but then it's not my job to have issues with it.
"Right between the eyes but not before I put a bullet through his side. Perhaps not what Wasp would have thought of, but I figured that it'll do, I'm not quiet as inventive as he is." I shrugged as if it didn't matter at all. She laughed and I rolled my eyes.
"You might get along better if you were as inventive as Wasp." She shrugged, her eyes twinkling. But then she knew that not everyone could be an assassin and an artist on top of it.
"Yeah, yeah…doesn't work that way for me. I can't see a human body as a canvas yet." I stuck my tongue out at her and grinned.
"Another face to remember." Bella gave me a sympathetic look and my smile faded to a light frown. She was probably the only person in the world besides him that I'll take any sympathy from and neither of them give much or often.
"It was worth it." I clenched my jaw for a minute. I hated any person who tried to harm a child; I guess a little bit of Riddick's feelings on the matter had rubbed off on me. Mind, he just didn't like those people, I killed them, which of us was worse? "So who's my next mark and what's the deadline?" I was desperate for to get away from the conversation that got her asking about my mental health again. That was a conversation that I never liked having with that woman.
"You're off for a few weeks. I've been overloading you when you take into account your other job. Anna's safety has to be your top priority." Bella shook her head. "When it comes down to it, I need you to be a bodyguard more then I need you to be an assassin."
"You can't sideline me Bella; you need me right now, especially with Wasp out." I sat straight up in my chair and protested. "I can handle both of my jobs just fine. I have been doing for the last three years. You know Carter was a damn good sniper, those guys are patient, Riddick used to always say that…" Bella put her hand up to signal her wish for silence on my part.
"Don't argue Jack, please. I originally hired you as a hacker but you're a damn good assassin and I've used that, perhaps a little too much. The work is running you down and I might need that talent from you later. For now use the time to train and rest. Don't worry about the money, you'll still earn the assassin's wage." She said putting down my protests. Her word was law and I knew from the set in her jaw that she had made up her mind.
"I still get my automatic mark through?" I asked, my hackles rose at the idea of Markus or Ioan getting anyone who had threatened to take Anna out. That was my job. My job alone!
"You can take those but only those. They will be your only marks for the time being." Bella conceded after a moment's deliberation. "No more protests.
"I can handle that." I went to stand up as she opened her desk drawer. I thought I was being dismissed. Bella never actually was one to tell you when to come and go. If she liked you, she was comfortable enough to let you come and go around her as you pleased within reason.
"Don't go yet Jack, I have something that I'm sure you'll like." She handed me an envelope and I sat down again, turning it over in my hands. It wasn't marked so I looked at her blankly trying to work out what it was.
"Who's it from?" I asked, not sure I wanted to open it up. The last time she had done this, it was a copy of a letter that she had sent Imam, a letter that included a rather large cheque so that he could move his family into a more comfortable situation.
She had done it after I had told her about the year that he had taken me in. It was like she liked paying off my debts for me. I could have killed her for it if she hadn't been so well intentioned and I had paid her back every penny of that cheque, it had taken me a while when you took into account my other expenses but I did.
"Why don't you open it and find out?" She asked a smile of anticipation on her face.
"I don't like it when you do this Bella, it makes me damn nervous and that's not good for a person like me. I'm high enough strung as it is." I grumbled.
"Stop complaining and open the damn thing." She rolled her eyes at me as I turned the letter over a couple of times in my hands.
So I did, I opened it and pulled out a number of sheets of very grubby paper that had been written on boldly in black ink. I think I probably paled about twelve shades and then looked up at Bella shaking my head. "This can't be." I whispered. "This is impossible; I've tried to get this…"
"It is not impossible." She shook her head. "Nothing is impossible Jack. Read and I'll explain more."
"This isn't possible." I breathed, my eyes hungrily taking in Riddick's bold handwriting. It was in code, I guess he was wary of those I worked for and I don't blame him, so he chose to write with a code that only I would understand. Damn but it was an old one and I wasn't sure if I could decipher it anymore.
Jack (was scrawled at the top of the first page.) At least he could still spell my name normally; I hated what my name looked like in code.
I stopped and looked up. "I can't read this right now. It's going to take me too much time to decipher it and I've got to get to work, Anna's going to be pissed off soon if I don't show up and I can't be assed with her attitude today."
"It's a good thing you've got the rest of the day off. I figured you might need a little time to yourself so Anna isn't even expecting you." Bella answered her.
"How did you get this out?" I held up the letter in slight suspicion. "I've tried to get letters in there but they all get sent back to me with a letter saying that the prisoners are too high security to receive their mail, let alone send anything back to the outside world."
"I have my contacts." She shrugged. "I wrote him myself about you. That was what I got back. I hope you can make better sense of it then I could, I mean, I couldn't even make sense of the letter he sent with it for me."
"Let me look at it." I said and she opened the desk drawer all over again, dug around a little and handed me out the other letter. "Can I have a pen and paper too?" I cracked my neck and set to deciphering the letter, my face going bright red with the passing minutes and then I crumpled up the translated version.
"So what did it say?" Bella leaned forward looking at my fist, which held the crumple piece of paper tightly.
"Umm," I suddenly felt rather nervous. "Well, he wasn't exactly very nice." I gave her a weak smile and she raised her eyebrows. "Well, the basics of it was that he, umm, basically wants you to mind your own business and leave his to him and that that includes me."
"Really?" She looked a little shocked.
"He doesn't exactly trust people." I bit my lip. "Sorry, you went to all that trouble for nothing."
"Doesn't affect my plans that greatly. I wasn't doing anything for him after all." Bella answered but there was a little frown on her lips.
"How good are these contacts of yours in Butcher Bay?" I asked after a moment of silence.
"I wondered when you would ask that. They are very firmly on my payroll, don't you worry yourself about it. His authority over the bay is absolute, I can assure you."
"The warden?" Bella nodded. "So, hypothetically, you could get me in there?" I said, my hands trembling again. I suddenly felt quite sick.
"Hypothetically. If he wants you in there, if he's not being very nice about me, who knows what he's going to say in the wad of paper to you." She acknowledged and then shrugged. "Go home Jack, take a bath, relax, read your letter and be glad that you've gotten one no matter what it says, at least he cared enough to write whatever it is he has. I knew my letter would get in and to him but I wasn't sure if he would actually write back."
"The warden in Butcher Bay is female. Rachael O'Hare." I said standing up, the letter clutched tightly in my hands for dear life. Bella smirked. I had proved my knowledge to her again and we both knew it.
---
In lazy clothes a few hours later, I sat at my dinning room table, Riddick's pages of grubby letter to my left and a fresh pad and pen on my right that I was using to write out a fully comprehensible form of the letter. It took me a while to decipher parts for the simple reason that I hadn't practiced that particular code since I had last lived with him.
The letter read:
JackWhat the fuck do you think you're playing at? (Hell, that caught my attention right away. What a way to start a letter) First off, did I not teach you what the words 'hide' and 'run' meant? (I flinched, able to hear his tone of voice in my head.) I can tell you now, five years too late, that it does not fucking mean back track to the building that you've just escaped from to find out what's goin' on! When did you forget to you use your brain?
I realise that you're sorry for what happened in there Jack, your powerful friend made it clear to me in her own letter that you feel responsible for getting me caught but it wasn't your fault so stop with the pity already, I didn't teach you to pity yourself so stop, I don't blamed you though I would have given you a damn good hiding for turning around and going back if I hadn't been caught. I hope you've learned to use your brain a little better since.
Interesting line of work you've chosen to get yourself into and interesting people to ally yourself with. I can see you being a bodyguard for a kid like that but I'm having a damn hard time seeing the assassin in you kid. (The tone had changed; I knew it the minute I saw the word kid. He always called me kid; it's how I knew he loved me.)
You could always handle your weapons well and I have no doubt that you would have used the skills I taught you well but you're not a killer. I saw the look in your eyes after I killed, I remember how you wouldn't come near me if you had the option, until I was showered and changed. If you really are killin', you must be crawling in your own skin. (He didn't even know how close to the mark he had hit. I could barely stand myself after a kill, once the adrenaline and the anger that I had been feeling had slipped away to nothing and I was left with the memory of a face and a kill. That was why Bella kept asking me about my bloody mental health.)
I want you to be careful Jack. I don't know how much you can trust this new employer of yours. Her old man was the type that went into backstabbing, how do you think her brother and his father ended up dead in the first place? Who's to say she'll be any different?
Greendales are backstabbers, watch yours carefully, I don't want to get out of here to find out you ended up with a knife in your back. (Get out! The way he wrote it, like he was more sure of that then anything. I could only hope it would happen. It wasn't easy escaping that place before he did it, it would only be harder now that he had.)
I'm alive and as healthy as you can be in a place like this. That's all you need to know on that point. The rest of the inmates are beginning to understand that they can't creep up on me in the dark.
The letter went on for a few pages, full of things to remember, reprimands for many things mixed with general ways of being affectionate. I guess that was just the only way that he knew to prove he cared.
I must have read the letter in both of its forms a thousand times before I put them away and sat back in my chair, my mind spinning out of control. Things were bad in there; he said it without actually saying anything.
Bella could get me in the Bay. If I could find a way to help him out, then I could get in and give him the information. That was when my plans began to form.
Three hours later, my eyes were beginning to hurt from the strain of staring at the computer screen. Stats were running through my head as blue prints and plans ran across the screen for me to study.
I had ideas, tons of them, most of which would be discarded before I laid a number out on paper. A lot of my plans were like that but I knew for anything to work it would have to be good, some of the best ideas that I had ever had and put together. It was going to take the best idea that had ever come into my brain to get him out alive or not get me thrown in there with him. He'd really kill me if I did that.
Bella's words were going through my head, over and over again. She had confirmed that she could get me into Butcher Bay, if only hypothetically. If I could get plans to him…I chewed on a fingernail as I looked through the guard levels of Butcher Bay.
My doorbell went and I pulled up the security camera feed that went from outside my front door to my security system. Ioan was standing there all dressed to the nines in a tux, to the rest of the world looking like he was made for the outfit and to me looking bloody uncomfortable. Ioan and I knew each other well; we generally got on well together and trained exceptionally well when we started pushing each other. If there was such a thing as a best friend in my like, he would be it; Bella kept trying to set the two of us up, it hadn't worked yet.
"Whatcha doing here dressed up like that?" I asked as I opened the door to him.
"No 'How are you?' or 'You're looking good Ioan' or 'Bloody hell you're fine, when can I next jump your bones?' I'm hurt Jack, I'm hurt." He put on a pouting baby fact and walked in. That's when I noticed the black drycleaner's bag in his hand and got suspicious.
"Ioan?" I closed the door and followed him through to my living room.
"You're not in the mood for fun?" He rolled his eyes and I gave him a hard stair. "Alright, alright." He shook his head. "I heard you were hungry for an assignment." He smirked then.
"Bella's forced some off time on me." I answered with a shrug.
"So there's this black and white thing happening tonight." He said.
"I can already see that and I also already see that you're going to it." I nodded. "So what's the favor that you're about to ask me?"
"My mark is at this black and white thing and I know for a fact that he has a thing for other people's wives." He answered bluntly. "I need bait and I don't want some green little pretty thing that will freak out when it comes to crunch time or actually fuck the dude." He said. "Then, after the guy is dead, we can head back here for a little while, open a bottle of champagne, have a little celebration of our own." He put a very expensive bottle down on the table, a cocky as shit grin on his face.
"I forgot how horny this got you." I laughed as he pulled me close to him and joined me in my laughter.
"So you in?" He asked kissing the end of my little nose.
"I'm in and perhaps other things can be arranged afterward but I want a favor in return alright?" I grinned at him.
"What favor?" He asked, still not releasing me, a puzzled look on his face.
"I got some news tonight. I'm going to be getting my ass in Butcher Bay and I wouldn't mind having someone to watch my back while I'm conducting my business." I answered.
"And you trust me to watch your back?" He looked at me sceptically.
"I do indeed." I nodded. "So you in or what?"
"I'm in." He nodded. "But we take this idea to Bella got it."
"Yeah, I got it." I nodded. "So hand over the dress in that bag and lets go." He grinned suddenly at me as he handed the dress bag over and I blew him a kiss before making my way to my room.
---
"Now remember, don't give him so much encouragement that you look desperate and all you have to do is lour him back to his apartment, you don't have to give him any shit…"
"Shut up Ioan. I have been bait before now." I snapped as I fixed simple diamond drops in my ears and took out my eyebrow bar and lip ring, placing them in the black bag that I had with me.
"For him?" Ioan looked over at me and I could hear the tone change in his voice immediately. He didn't like Riddick, not because of what he had done in the past, I could have easily understood that, but because of me. It never made Ioan comfortable the way that I would suddenly get quiet and sullen because of my memories of him or that fact that I felt guilty for something that wasn't my fault. He blamed it all on Riddick and therefore hated the man.
"Yeah, for him." I nodded, a knot forming in my stomach. I missed him.
"You have to move on and stop beating yourself up over his shit." Ioan shook his head.
"It's my shit too and I'm not beating myself up over it, it's just hard to be out here when he's in there." I answered him as I reached over and laid my hand on his arm. Ioan was defiantly the closest thing that I had to a best friend. "So let me make sure I've got this straight. My name is Mrs. Rebecca Stevens. My husband's name is Anthony. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature. I've been married for three years and as of late our relationship has been a little rocky. Besides lit, I like rock climbing, and gorge walking."
"You got it babe and don't forget the diving trips that we take." He nodded as I strategically placed a small tear shaped diamond on a long white gold string so it was sitting in the cleavage that my push-up bra created.
I had to complement Ioan on his dress picking. It was along black evening gown with a plunging neckline and an open back with the black straps criss-crossing up my back and over my shoulders to fasten the dress. It clung to my upper body and hips, showing off my figure before flowing loosely down to the ground.
Ioan parked his car outside of the function hall and opened his door as a valet opened mine and I stepped out, walking around the front of the car to take Ioan's arm as he handed his keys off and the valet drove his car away. Ioan led me up the steps into the ballroom and suddenly we were surrounded by throngs of people dressed in black and white.
"So this is the old wife Anthony." A man in his late forties came up to them with his supermodel looking wife on his arm and shook Anthony's hand. I smiled my best greeting at him.
"Hardly old John." Ioan answered him with a laugh as John took my hand and kissed it. "John, my most beautiful wife Rebecca, Rebecca, Mr. John Hawk." He made the introductions.
"My wife Maria." John introduced his wife.
"Nice to meet you." I offered her my hand, which she looked at disdainfully so I left it drop back down to my side.
"Charmed." She said tight-lipped and I had to consciously stop myself growling at her in return.
"Anthony, Anthony, Anthony." A man with dyed black hair sidled up to Ioan and clapped him on the back. "She's a jaw dropper, she is. Been hiding her eh?" He said, I stiffened and was silently glad when Ioan draped his arm around my waist and drew me close to his side.
He looked down at me, like a man proud with himself and smiled, winking at me. I knew that look; it meant that I had just met my mark. 'He's not your mark!' I reminded myself as I extended my hand for him to take.
"He's been hiding me away in the kitchen. He has this stupid, old fashioned idea that, that's where women belong." I said haughtily.
There was polite laughter all round. I smiled and laughed with them but I knew that I had just caught my man, okay, Ioan's man's attention. It was clear enough through my gentile jib of a joke that Mrs. Rebecca Stevens was not a woman happy in her own marriage.