I don't own the Secret Saturdays. I don't own Leonidas Van Rook. I don't own the Grey Men (in general.) I do own Vadoma, Aeron, Solés, the bouncer, and the thugs that Van Rook found alive.

Episodic, not meant to be Alternate Universe, blah-blah-blah.

Anywho:

Timing: a month after chapter 6. (He did say they'd be gone for a month, didn't he?)

New Job

The job may not have been bad, even by his standards, but it still left him uneasy. He was not used to being unable to weed out his employers' secrets, and it troubled him that he hadn't figured out what interest Solés and her people had in that dig.

But he and the boy were nearly home, and Vadoma would not thank him for arriving in such a mood. He tried to get his mind off his paranoia while they flew overhead, so he thought instead of his new paycheck. The actual pay should be wired to one of his many accounts sometime next month. Meanwhile, what would the family want to do with the bonus?

Vadoma would insist on adding to the garden, of course. Her family had some fascination with green, growing things, but Vadoma's interest bordered on obsession.

Many of these plants were imported, and had to be restrained, lest they take over the native wildlife; beyond that, Vadoma preferred to let them grow naturally, without the human perception of order.

Even through his thermal scanner, he could see the beauty of her garden. Here were the saplings they'd planted three years ago; there was the pond, full of the waterweeds she'd imported from Ireland. Inside the house was her prized—

His visor went blank, and he stopped short. Had his scanner malfunctioned? He glanced back at the garden; no, it still detected signs of life, but the house seemed to be a void. He quickly adjusted the sensitivity until he detected even those snakes that snuck in from the gardens.

There were no other signs of life, not even the slightest warmth to suggest something that had recently cooled. According to his scanner, there hadn't been any life in that house, but for the snakes, for more than a week.

Aeron snickered over the radio. "What's up, old man? Didn't know you were the daydreaming sort."

Leonidas shook his head. He flew down into the cover of the trees, and Aeron followed him. "Wait here. Something isn't right."

To his surprise, Aeron actually obeyed him. Leonidas crept towards the house; though the scanner indicated there was nobody about, he'd prefer not to take that chance.

Several possibilities flashed through his mind.

There could be a barrier, something to prevent him from detecting their life-signs. Why, he couldn't imagine, though it was possible.

But the snakes showed up.

The family could be waiting, somewhere, to surprise him.

But Vadoma knew he didn't like surprises; the last thing he wanted was for his training to take over in the middle of something so completely innocent. And anyhow, where could they be?

They could be....

He shuddered and refused to think of that possibility. He would not even consider it unless he found evidence he could not ignore.

He reached the house, and found that the windows had been smashed in and the doors torn off the hinges.

He stepped inside and fumbled for a light switch.

He stared at the blood covering the wall.

He ran to the nearest room, one of the servants' quarters, and stared at the destruction within. He checked every room.

He found the evidence that he could not ignore.

Here was his father-in-law. There one of Vadoma's sisters. Here was their oldest servant. There the maid whose previous employer had kicked her out after getting her with child. In this other room was her child. His mind kept track of the slaughter, independent of conscious thought.

They were all dead. The whole family, the servants and their families, pets, everything and everyone...was dead. They'd been slaughtered like animals....

No, not like animals, some detached part of his mind corrected. Animals are given more respect than this. The house may as well have been a war zone; it was the sort of carnage that many in his profession were wrongfully accused of perpetrating.

That detached part of his mind noticed that someone had cleaned up recently—things and bodies had clearly been moved around after the massacre—but no part of his brain could fathom a reason for it.

He continued to search the house, and finally ended at his and Vadoma's bedroom. Hers was the only body he hadn't found.

—

He left Aeron with an old couple, the next street over. He instructed Aeron to contact his mentor's family, and to seek them out if Leonidas did not return. He didn't want to trust anyone right now, but there was no help for it. He simply could not bring the boy with him on this hunt.

Once he'd gotten set up a few years back, Leonidas had immediately begun worming his way into Russia's criminal element. He'd never told his mentor about these people; the man was a gentler sort, and would have been heartbroken to know of his protégé's secret side. Leonidas certainly would not have involved his family.

He'd hoped never to truly involve himself with these people, but there was no longer any choice.

It took the remainder of the year and the better part of the next before his hunt turned up any prey.

—

"The man is absolutely terrified," the bouncer said as he led Leonidas through another tunnel. "He says that the people in his gang have been disappearing every day, and he thinks someone is trying to kill them all off."

"I couldn't possibly imagine why," Leonidas snarled.

The bouncer paused and looked at him. "It isn't you they're afraid of," he said, and was silent for the rest of the trip.

Even that remark was not enough to cut through Leonidas' anger; he held his temper in check with just a thin shred of reason, with the knowledge that revenge would not help him find his wife.

The bouncer brought Leonidas into a secret storehouse. Such places were normally full of drugs, or weapons, or money, or the loot from whatever other crimes these people chose to dip their hands into. This night it was empty, but for a single man and what few garments he slept in.

He stunk of one who hadn't bathed in months, his clothes were filthier than he and couldn't even be called rags, and he looked three-quarters starved. Clearly, mortal terror was not very good for his health.

"Hey, mongrel!" the bouncer called out. "Got a visitor for you."

The pathetic creature glanced up at the call and cringed. "Ha—have you come...to k—kill me?" he forced between chattering teeth.

"That all depends on how you answer my questions," Leonidas growled at him. The bouncer got food for both of them, then left Leonidas to deal with this on his own.

The first thing Leonidas did was ask questions to ensure that this man was one of those he was looking for.

He was.

The...creature told Leonidas all about the job he and his gang had taken. His obsession with the details of the slaughter suggested one who had once taken pleasure in causing pain. His attitude suggested that now he was mortally terrified of meeting the same fate.

When he told of how they had tied the one woman to a bed, and had taken turns with her, Leonidas wanted to tear the man apart on the spot. It was only the reminder that he didn't know where Vadoma was that forced him to stay seated.

Leonidas tried to find out what had become of the woman; he took care not to reveal his anger or the reason for it. But the monster before him didn't know. He explained they'd had orders to stay put when they finished and wait for further instructions. They quickly chose to ignore that order; they'd expected the law might try to interfere, but not some Black Ops assassin!

Running away, clearly, had not helped them any, as this creature's gang found themselves targeted by the very people that had hired them. This monster though he might be the only one still alive.

Leonidas thought this over; the monster didn't know any more about Vadoma's fate than Leonidas had. That remark about the military intervention could be useful, but he wasn't certain what to make of it.

But maybe....

"You said you were hired to kill these people," Leonidas said, "but you never told me who hired you."

The monster looked suspiciously at Leonidas. He shook his head. "Uh-uh. You don't tattle on these people. Worst thing you could do is betray their secrets."

That remark sent a chill down Leonidas' back. Betray their secrets...? He tried to shake it off. Many people made a big deal about keeping secrets.

He smiled. "Seems to me they want to kill you, anyway. If you tell me who it is, I could ensure that they will not harm you." He shrugged. "If you keep quiet...they'll find you soon enough."

The monster's eyes went wide. He glanced around to see if anyone was listening. He leaned close.

He didn't actually know much about these people, didn't know names or anything, but he'd managed to get a look at them when his gang first accepted the job.

They were all these weirdoes wearing grey trench coats. He described a few of them...and Leonidas recognized the descriptions.

Leonidas was glad that the mask hid his expression. The questioning would not have gone so well had the monster seen his shock.

Solés...and her people? They ordered my family slaughtered? Had that whole job at the dig site...just been to get him out of the way...for this?

It took him a moment to realize the monster was still talking to him. "Hey, uh, Mr. mercenary, why would you want to protect me, anyway? I mean, not that I'm complaining, or anything, but I can't pay you. What do you get out of it?"

Leonidas started laughing hysterically. "When did I say I would protect you? Keep them from harming you, yes, but protect you?"

The monster looked at Leonidas like the mercenary had lost his mind. Maybe he had. "So...why did you ask me...?"

Leonidas drew his knife; this monster knew nothing else of use. "To avenge my family." The knife plunged down....

—

Leonidas Van Rook had never before been known for being vindictive, but the corpse was arranged so as to leave no doubt that he was sending a message...and no doubt who that message was for.

He continued his hunt and found three more thugs associated with that slaughter; they didn't know any more than the first. He dealt with them in the same manner.

But in all that searching, he never did learn Vadoma's fate. She had felt bad about that job; she hadn't wanted him to take it, but he'd taken it. He'd assumed, as had she, that she was afraid of losing him. Never had he imagined that he could ever lose her.

He returned home to his family's graves. He apologized to them for breaking his promise to Vadoma, but explained that he had to find out what had happened to her. He had to find some way to avenge the rest of them. Only then could their spirits truly be at rest, or so he told himself.

He imagined her spirit was there beside him; he felt like she might forgive him for wearing the mask again.

He donned the gear of a mercenary again, and left to continue his hunt.

Thus ends the "New Job" arc. We'll leave Leonidas (and Aeron) on his own for a while; in the next chapter, and for a while yet, we'll look in on Doyle and see how he's faring.

By the way, because of perspective issues, calling the mercenary "Leonidas"—be it narrative, dialogue, or author notes—worked well enough for my purposes.
However, due to perspective issues, I predict that, with occasional exceptions, he will be referred to as "Van Rook" from here on out. Heed my warning.