She laughed more than a little put out by how direct he was. "And I should be flattered by that?"
He licked his lips, "No... Well of course no but I..." He rolled his eyes cursing his own stupidity. Women did this for him he was not meant to do the chasing mainly because he was horrible at it, something he was proving beyond any doubt. "Maria I just want to talk to you."
She smirked, "Talk just talk?"
The doors opened they had reached her floor. He walked behind her following her to her room. He organised his thoughts and opened his mouth to say something suave which would salvage the situation but when she looked at him her icy blue gaze cut those words to pieces leaving him armed with only the truth. "I'm not going to bullshit you Maria. I never do this; I never try to sweet talk women or hit on them mainly because I can't pull it off. But you walked away and honestly, coming after you and looking like a fool was stupid but letting you walk away without even trying would have been unforgivable."
"Before you started blathering on in the lift I was going to invite you back to my room for a drink or something."
"I don't want a drink."
She pushed open the door and looked back at him over her shoulder, "Are you coming in?"
Rauf had lost count of the number of times he had yawned and it was starting to irk him. "Is this boring you Altaïr?"
He kicked a piece of paper to see if anything worthwhile was on the other side, "Don't be stupid Rauf I'm tired not bored."
"I slept like a baby those beds are so comfortable. Maybe you should go back to hotel and get some rest then come back when you have something to offer the task at hand."
"So this is what you two get up to while I'm out working hard."
Altaïr lifted his head to see the bottom of Malik's black coat move past his head, "Yes you know full well we can get no real work done until you arrive."
"Staying behind to meet with Dom was well worth it Altaïr, he had some stills from a traffic camera near the site. It is definitely a woman we are looking for."
"Did he get any shots of her face?" He stood up unable to contain his excitement; finally they had something to go on.
"Nope none of her face."
"Then how is it clear it's a woman we are after?"
Malik opened his holdall and pulled out an envelope, "Take a look."
He pulled out the black and white stills, "Yeah that is a woman!" Rauf's curiosity was piqued by their comments he angled his head to take a look.
"Yes a woman, very nice one too by the looks of it."
Malik took the pictures back and used them to slap Rauf across the head, "She is killing members of our order and you say she looks like a nice woman!"
"I didn't mean she was nice I just said she looked nice and fuck you Malik you are normally the first one to comment on a nice body!"
The talk of a nice body dragged Altaïr's mind back to the previous night, "There was a storm here last night none of the flights made it out she might still be here."
Malik checked his watch, "It's after twelve now she will be long gone but there is no harm in one of us going to the airport to ask around."
"I'll go perhaps the fresh air will give me some energy."
Altaïr made his way to the car, ducking under some police tape on his way to it. The airport was only a short drive from here he would be there in no time. As he drove he let his mind wander back over the events of the previous night and the English woman who had captivated him with one glance.
She stepped out of the car onto the wet pavement, her black boot heels managing to avoid most of the puddles forming without any effort on her part. She was going to be debriefed after her latest mission, a simple sniper job no personal contact and no begging for mercy. She had done these meetings many times but this time felt different, she felt different and the face which had been an almost ever present in her mind was there to remind just in case she ever forgot why.
When the man at the front desk nodded to her she thoughtlessly returned the gesture not even stopping to growl at him for leering at her. She kept her eyes in front watching the modern sign on the far wall come closer to her. Everything in here was grey or glass; soulless and clinical just like the agents they churned out, just like her.
She pressed the button for the lift which opened instantly, of course it did very few of them used this lift only the lucky ones important enough to have access to the top floor. She kept her back to the glass as she waited the 30 seconds it took for the doors to open again. She paused for a second and made her way to her boss, the man who had taken her from being a homeless 15 year old to the monster she had become.
She passed his secretary without bothering to offer a greeting the woman never looked up from her desk, she wasn't supposed to. Her hand was already turning the handle on the door to enter before she realised she hadn't knocked, 'Oh well it's done now.' She stepped into his office and watched him try not to react to her disrespect.
"Maria you are a little early have a seat while I get out things ready."
She dropped into the black leather chair across from him and waited for him to stop shuffling his papers, "Whittaker we need to talk."
"Yes of course we do. That was a nice clean job is Stuttgart in and out with no complications."
She leaned forward and licked her lip curious as to why it had taken her so long to despise this cold hearted bastard. "You send me to Gibraltar with misinformation, the wrong names and the wrong numbers. I know I'm supposed to be prepared for surprises but give me a fucking chance would you?"
He dropped his head and looked at her over the rim of his thin gold glasses, "There was no harm done, you adapted and dealt with it."
"She was pregnant Whittaker and she begged me to spare her life."
His shoulders dropped as he relaxed, for a second there he thought she was going to cause a drama about their lines of communication or something; must be her time of the month. "The first thing I taught you Maria was never to let them beg. They will say anything to get you to let them walk away you know this why is this even an issue after seven years?"
She hated how far from the table she was there was absolutely nothing close to hand to use as a crutch and she knew this weasel was watching her every move for any sign of mental distress. "I need some time off."
"Oh for fucks sake Maria so you killed her, what do you think that makes you unique? Would you care to join me for a stroll through the records to see how many of our agents were pregnant or good Christians or paid their fucking taxes?" He got out of his seat and moved around the table to sit on the desk in front of her, "You are better than this I know it. Fine you need a few weeks off take a holiday or sit in front of the TV but it won't change the facts Maria it will all still be waiting for you when you get back."
She moved further back into the chair not liking him encroaching on her space or his disapproving tone. "It bothered me as soon as I pulled the trigger, I haven't been myself since. When I got back I asked you to give me some time off and you said one more mission then we can give you all the time you need."
"How much time do you need?"
"I want out."
"You want out, just like that."
She sat forward, "I've done more than my fair share. I believed you everything you ever said made sense to me but it doesn't anymore and I will not go on killing for something I no longer have faith in."
He took her hand and led her to the couch in front of his huge window, "You no longer have faith Maria?" He waited until she was settled then he began to recite a speech he had given to countless other agents on the edge of a complete breakdown. "What we do is priceless you know that, our goals go far beyond anything humanity could obtain if we left them to their own devices. What the assassins want is to maintain the status quo, to leave the world and the people inhabiting rotting in their petty worthless greedy lives." It was working, he was preaching to the choir with their mandates he knew she believed in them but now for the hard part. "That woman you killed, Karen she had been with the assassins for 5 years in that time can we guess how many of our agents she located or how many of our plants she helped them sabotage?"
She made no reply and wouldn't look directly at him, Christ he was in real danger of losing one of their best operatives here! "Grayson told you about the team of assassins chasing you; does that have you rattled because we can keep you here Maria, safe and sheltered?"
Her fist slammed against her thigh, "They are chasing shadows I don't care about them Whittaker I care about... Oh fuck this, are you going to at least give me time off?"
He made his way over to his desk keeping his back to her until he could get his features under control, he didn't want her to see the sadness he was feeling. "Okay we have just got news from our mole, there is one more job Maria I won't shit you it's the biggest ever but if you can pull it off you can go. I'll throw you a retirement party right here in this office."
They spent the next half hour going over the basics of the job and to his eternal surprise she handled it like the Maria of old, the girl he had trained and honed to be one of the deadliest weapons he had ever had the pleasure to control and when she left he felt real regret that it would probably be the last time he would ever see her.
He drummed his fingers on his desk and spoke out loud as he often did when he needed a second opinion since there was no one else's opinion he trusted who else could he talk to? "No choice really she is ruined now. I've seen that look too many times not to recognise it might as well let her go out with a bang, we might get lucky and she might actually manage to kill the old bastard before his fanatics cut her to pieces."
Maria sat on her chair looking at the folder on the table, it had been there for the past four months and she found herself opening it at random times wincing every time she saw the woman's face smiling back at her from her picture. Karen Mathers, 28 years old born and bred in Gibraltar and an assassin. She dropped the cover back down and lifted the coffee cup to take a sip. 'Stupid woman why the hell did you ever join that misguided band of zealots?'
The only other article in her whole flat that served no functional purpose was a small photo she kept on the table beside her bed. It showed the smiling face of a young girl with not a care in the world but that smile was extinguished forever when some drug hungry cretin had cut her throat for nothing more than a cheap mobile phone and shitty piece of costume jewellery. She was fourteen when her sister was murdered and her life spiralled out of control after that. Her poor parents had enough shit to deal with they couldn't handle hers and in the end she had run off with some spotty faced boy who promised her the world but in the end left her homeless and penniless.
Whittaker had found her just as she was beginning to make a name for herself as a shoplifter and offered her something far more fulfilling and until she met Karen Mathers she had never looked back now looking back was all she could do; there was no future for her any more.
She lifted her bag and made her way to the car. A short flight to Paris and then, well then she wouldn't have to worry about nightmares.
A/N I hate where I went with this I want to tear down the last two chapters and make everything pretty
I think this one needs to be binned sorry :(
