Chapter Nine
Ryan paced up and down the training ground and looked sideways at Jess as she languidly leant against the wire fence. He didn't like this part, it was a time when all the old recruits would have to go back and do demonstrations for the current trainees.
And in some cases it meant beating them senseless until they realised what their mistakes were. A lot of the others found it as a nice stress reliever, but Jess and Ryan still had their own memories of these demonstrations and it still left it's own bitter taste.
The requirements that you would be called in at least once every six months depending on the assignment load; in all the time they had been here they never had to do this, it had simply never occurred to the Company before. Jess and Ryan were the best in their year and were always at the top of the list for the assignments but now the Company was giving them a slow relaxation period that meant they had no other choice when they were rang up about this.
Ryan stilled himself and waited next to Jess, his fingers now coming up and twining within her hair, she was his beauty and he didn't want to even think now of a time before when they weren't like this. She turned around to face him and softly smiled, "you all right?"
He nodded slowly, they were still waiting for the others to come out and he didn't even want to think of the events ahead. Her hands came up and drifted through his hair and to the back of his neck, he couldn't help but shiver as she drew him near and his head came to rest in the curve of her neck, the smell of lavender caressing her body.
He planted small kisses along the crescent of her neck and slowly made his way up as he felt Jess' hand tighten on the back of his neck. A second later a sharp cough interrupted their escapades. A bit miffed, Ryan looked up to see their old training master looking across at them with his steely eyes.
Disregarding him, Ryan straightened himself up and kept his arm snaked around Jess's waist, around about ten stiffly uniformed recruits were stood rigid in front of them.
Their old teacher turned back to his recruits and shouted aimless commands; the fear of him had long gone from the both of them. The thing that these recruits didn't realise was that commander Ingle had never killed any one in the situations they would have to in a couple of years.
He was just a tool to put the fear of God into them and mould them into the palatable assassins that the Company wanted. Ryan had always remembered the assassins in the demonstrations and the way they were so arrogant and nonchalant around the commander when the others were too afraid to move without his command.
And like the assassins who had been there in his training he was going to keep that little secret to him self as well, the commander was the only one who could keep him in line when he was training and he already guessed he probably wasn't the only one like that.
"Recruits, this is Ryan Leoman and Jessica Thomson. They will be teaching you today, the same rules apply to them as they do to me, do not speak to them until you are spoken to and obey do you hear me?"
A chorus of 'yes commander' erupted from the group and with a stiff turn the commander turned around and exited the training grounds.
Ryan couldn't help eyeballing the recruits with a grim look, "we'll be helping you shine up on your attacks, which basically means you're going to going away with a lot of cuts and bruises. No one learns by sitting and watching, believe me, we've been through exactly what you're going through and you haven't even been to Japan yet," a mean streak entered his eyes and he couldn't help but tease them, "and oh what fun that was," he added dryly.
Shaking her head, Jess nudged him out of the way and surveyed the batch of 1991, the next batch after theirs and five years behind them. A group of twelve to thirteen year olds stood staring at them, this batch would have seen the assassins from their group before over and over, the demonstrations were held every two months until they spent the last two years of the training in Japan.
It would be hard on them like it was on the others; they had lost a couple of friends there that they had thought would last until the end. Japan was what they could never imagine.
"We'll split you up in two groups and change over after lunch, Ryan will be teaching you about his best talent," she couldn't keep a smile from her mouth, "well one of them anyway, he'll be teaching you about intimidation and the best ways of torture."
The recruits had barely begun puberty so she doubted if they'd get her sexual innuendo. "And me, I'll be teaching you about Katana's and swordplay. This will be useful, especially before you head off to Japan."
Jess had been the teacher's pet at the Japan training centre, she couldn't help it; Akiko had taken a shine to her and had even started giving her private lessons saying she had far more potential than the rest.
She did outclass all the others in her group but she could easily blame that on the one on one attention from her sensei and even getting a specially made sword for her that was made to balance with her perfectly. She was due to go back there in eighteen months time for the sensei's seventieth birthday, by that time this lot would be in full training there and wishing they weren't.
In all the years that the training centre had been set up in Japan she was sure that she was the only one who had enjoyed the time there. The sensei had reminded her of her father and she had an automatic friendship with him, she was the only one allowed to see him after the training hours were over. She still missed him sometimes.
She led her group over to the other side of the training group and stuck her tongue out at Ryan as he headed the other direction. She couldn't help laugh as he tried to make a funny face at her, leaving the recruits around them in bafflement. She supposed they hadn't seen two assassins flirting so much with each other before in public, Jess decided then on not to be so harsh on them.
Once they were far enough from the group and she had gotten the recruits to help her get some of her personal weaponry from Ryan's car they had headed back in, depositing them in the furthest corner. For the first lesson, Jess got out her Katana and showed the recruits around her.
"I was given this from the same sensei who will teach you, this will slice through bone and any other material that will get in your way." She bounced it in her hand playfully, "there was one thing that the sensei told me and that was to always be aware of smiling, short bald old men," she couldn't help but smile, "a lot of the martial arts masters happen to look like that, especially after decades of training."
She had laughed when Akiko had told her that because it was the image of him to a tee, now whenever Karate kid was repeated on the TV she couldn't help but laugh.
Sheathing her Katana, Jess rummaged in the cloths and produced two bokkens. She turned back to the recruits, "now who wants to spar?" a tidal wave of hands erupted in the air.
Noticing a confidently stood young shifter near the front she motioned him forwards and threw him the bokken, he expertly caught it and stood opposite her.
"Your name?" she asked as she flexed her fingers.
"Beckett, sir." He said looking down.
Jess couldn't help but sigh, "my name is Jess and that is what you all will be calling me, well away from Ingle anyway," she had never like Ingle, a man with too much power and had no commiserations about using it.
"Beckett? I have eyes, look at me; you need eye contact in this," Beckett looked up and she smiled at him, "good."
"Now take a blow at me."
Hesitating for a moment Beckett looked uncertainly at her, his blue eyes wary but seeing the look in her eyes he threw himself in the swiping move with the bokken.
Without losing eye contact Jess blocked it and with a final flick the bokken flew from his hands and into the wire fence.
"Good first go, go pick up the bokken and I will teach you how to hold it."
Beckett nodded and headed over to collect it, looking over the six others in the group she turned around and uncovered six more bokkens out of the cloths.
Putting them on the floor she ordered the recruits to pick one up each, "now lamia, be careful, they may look blunt but with the right force any limb can be dismembered. So people please don't go brandishing them about and make sure no one's in striking distance."
She retook her place at the front of the group next to Beckett, "now hold your weapon out, yes that's good. Now make sure that it feels like an extension of your arm…"
For the next couple of hours Jess taught them the basics about the bokken and its training purposes and then she went on to her knives and her beautiful daggers that she had started to collect sometime last year.
"There are a lot of things you have to remember in this job and one of them is the public's fear. The people of our country have been bred to fear, they stay at home shining their guns and waiting for their attackers they've spent creating while watching the national news channel. The thing is, they're afraid of the wrong things. Afraid of the muggers, the rapists, the petty street gangs… they should be afraid of us and yet don't know of our existence, which is all to our advantage."
She held one of her small knives in her hand, it was made out of silver and was curved beautifully, the hilt engraved with linking dragons, "you need to twist their fears, especially if you need them to talk," a smile curved on her lips and the recruits watched her mesmerised, "having a telepathic partner helps, but it doesn't matter. You can see it in their faces; see it as you enter their homes. People's homes are their sanctuaries, their safe dwelling from the outside world that's filled with its hate and anger. You crossing over into their world with all you know and will eventually aspire. Has an effect to break any of our little citizens."
"Now," she sat down on the hard ground and looked at them all, "any of you have any questions because…" she looked at her watch, "we have ten minutes until lunch."
A girl called Karla at the back put her hand up, "is Japan going to be as bad as they make it out to be?"
Jess couldn't lie to her, "we lost two people from our group in Japan, just do what the sensei says and you'll survive. I did and I'm only human, it'll be easy for you lot."
Beckett put his hand up, "but how," he hesitated for a his golden eyes somehow searching inwards for the rest of the question, "the thing is we're nightworld and the last six years have been hell for us. You're survived here for eleven years and one of the best in your group and you're human, didn't you ever feel like giving up?"
She looked bluntly at him, her green eyes flattening to a lifeless green, "of course I did and I would have given up if it wasn't for Ryan and the others. But I had a lot to lose, my life and outside of this place I had nothing to live for. So I had to make things to live for, had to create ambitions and a loyalty to my friends, a loyalty that meant that I would never leave them behind and do something so stupid. We all have thoughts of giving up but then, what would all this hardship be worth? There's a point to this and in the end you'll finally see it."
Another hand came up, a girl who had stayed silent throughout the whole demonstration, "my name is Holly, I was um wondering do you regret any of the things you've done? Um, I mean with the killings."
Jess gulped, "we learn not to regret as you will learn and most of you already have, but it's hard, especially when it includes children. But you do it because that's what you've been trained to do and you live with it like everything else… right, one more question."
A different hand shot up and she gained eye contact with a black eyed boy sitting near the front, he had somehow gained her attention through the lesson with his deep eyes and had made sure she learnt his name, Laramie began to speak, "have you seen your family yet? I mean they said we could when we got to adulthood and became independent, but it sounds unlikely we will."
She shook her head, "I've kept away from them, violence isn't altogether accepted in the human world as it is in the nightworld, but people in my group have… a couple of people. It's hard, explaining what happened for the last elevens years can be a bit of a mouthful but some find that it's worth the effort."
"Do you?" she looked at Laramie then and the answer must have been in her eyes because then he just slowly nodded as if understanding something and he turned around.
She got herself up, "you lot better go for lunch, Ryan will be teaching you for the last half of today. Have a nice break and I'll see you around."
Jess watched them walk off and stood by the sidelines as Ryan finished showing his audience some special sensitive parts on the body you could use to your advantage. Within a second he turned around and smiled at her and excused his little audience.
They were left alone in the training ground and a chill went down her spine as the memories of the children's screaming filled her ear.
She blinked and looked at Ryan, "how was your lot?"
"Good," he came up to her and put his arm around her waist, "they were a bit afraid of me, but what can you expect?"
She nodded at him and headed for the canteen, away from the recruits and the haunting memories of years not so distant. "We only have a few more hours and we can go home, I think we need to talk to Kyle about getting more work."
Ryan shrugged, "we could or we could spend all our spare time in bed?"
A faint smile touched her lips, "but what would people think?"
"When have we ever cared?"
And as they had requested they were given a couple assignments the very next day. It was in the next city and not exactly the place Jess wanted to be but she handled it with ease and opened the folder with the details enclosed. Kyle had already briefed them on the basic details before they left, it seemed petty; an ex-husband wanted revenge on a cheating wife and best friend.
Unluckily for the wife, the husband had powerful contacts in the nightworld even if he didn't know it and had employed discreet services. The assignment would be completed tonight and the execution of a nightworld turned Daybreaker would be taken care of the very next day, by the cover of night of course.
Jess looked over to Ryan, who she had conned into driving again.
"Can we keep away from the east side of the city?"
"Sure, any reason?"
"I have family there and I don't want them to recognise me. After our last experience with family members I just want to give the whole capture scene a miss this time."
Ryan's glare was full of daggers, "that's not funny."
"I wasn't saying it was," she shrugged, "I'd just rather not get involved in their lives is all."
Ryan didn't say anything to argue with her statement and carried on driving in silence. He had never taken a stance in Jess's life when he had always let her stay by her decisions. She would realise later on if not if it was the right one.
They had gotten themselves a room at the best hotel in the city. They would have worried about drawing unnecessary attention. But this was just another city and people died all the time and would they really suspect two supposive rich kids having a naughty couple of days in a hotel?
People were gullible and they had nothing to worry about. By the evening they had already settled and had clad loose clothing as they exited the hotel and made their way in their company car as they drove to the neighbourhood of the first target. It looked like it was the poor area of the city and they made sure that they found themselves the next middle class neighbourhood where they could park their car.
Taking off their outer clothing they got out of the car, clad in black with weapons and equipment in their small backpacks on their backs. They walked the distance in partial silence, talking when necessary and keeping their eyes out for any suspicious behaviour.
Half an hour later they made their way to the building where their assignment would be carried out, having already been unsuccessfully mugged with ultimate failure by a gang of youths they had come out unscathed but still concerned that they would be noticed, but why would guys like that go up to the police and say they had been assaulted, how would they explain the circumstances? Jess loved the modern day law system.
Kyle stopped for a moment and stood outside in the chilly air, the end of the summer was drawing near. The winter ached him to the bone these days and couldn't wait to get back to the compound and his well- heated room.
He knocked on the door in front of him. He had ended up in the nice part of the neighbourhood, the place with the little white picket fences and large green lawns.
Ivy Jenkins answered the door; all Kyle could do was smile at her as she tried to hide the visible shocked expression on her face.
"Evening Ivy," he muttered, "I figured we need to talk and for your own safety I thought it was best that we did it in private."
Kyle patiently waited as Ivy's brain ticked over, in the end she stood aside and motioned him in; he nodded at her as he made her way past her.
"If I were you I'd put the Kettle on, we have a lot to get through."
The assignment had been easy and Jess had a little skip in her step as they made their way back. Yet the problems first arose when they were half way back and making their way through another dark alley when the attack happened.
It would have been easy if it was the ignorant thieves from before but now they were out numbered and equally skilled. Eight darkly clad people surrounding them, blocking the two retreats and squaring both of them up.
Jess just sighed and glanced over to Ryan, "Ninja's I guess."
"You guessed right," one of them replied back, Jess couldn't tell them apart they were all hooded and all looming in on them.
"Who did we piss off this time then?"
But no one answered them and they went all straight in to attack, with the first two Jess was fine she had knocked the first's head against the wall and the second she had struck his knee cap with her foot and had broken his leg at a very ugly angle. The thing was that they weren't playing fair and being as stupid as the rest and attacking one at a time, the last two were keeping her busy blocking moves.
She pushed one back and elbowed the other, but the first one was back again, she lost balance as one tried to grab hold of her arm and she twisted to get out of it, she swung back and cracked her head against the wall behind her, she didn't only hear the crunch but felt it.
Ignoring the pain and shaking her head to get the dizziness out of the way she jumped back up and broke one of the ninja's arms and then kneed him while he was distracted. The other one being obviously concerned because of the state of his companions hastily came in for an attack, Jess blocked him and then head butted him, it didn't improve her head ache but he stumbled back and looked at her shocked.
From what she could call shocked from just being able to see his eyes. She shook her head, in disdain and also to get the light feeling out of her head. She rushed forwards and rammed his head against the wall opposite. A healthy crunch followed and he fell to the ground.
Ryan just walking over his last fallen ninja came over to her and she motioned him so they could get out of the area as soon as possible. She followed him and they made their way to the car, as soon as they were there Jess fell into her seat and couldn't help stopping her eyelids from drooping.
Ryan knelt in front of her, "I saw you fall, are you alright? Let me see it."
Jess lean forward as far as she could and bent her head down, she had already felt the blood trickle down her neck a while ago and knew that it wasn't good.
She could hear his intake of breath, "how do you feel?"
"Sleepy," was all she could mutter.
All she could feel was Ryan get her up and hold her there, "you have to keep awake, ok? Are you hearing me? Jess talk to me, you might have a concussion."
Her eyes opened and she tried to get everything into focus, she glanced beside her and watched Ryan get out his cell phone.
After a couple of rings Ryan began to speak, "this is Ryan Leoman, on assignment 6853H. We've had a hitch, the assignment has been carried out all well and good but we got attacked afterwards." Ryan sighed and someone prattled down the other end, "I know, I know. But these were nightworld ninjas and there were eight against two, Jessica Thomson has been injured, she has a head wound and a likely concussion, if we drive back to the compound its likely she'll lapse deeper, we need a local hospital and we need it now. I need permission."
The prattling noise sounded again on the other end and Jess had to keep on blinking, she found it helped to kind of keep things in focus. Ryan sighed, "I know, I know. We know all the excuses, thank you and I'll report back later tonight."
He ended the call in a huff and shook Jess slightly as her head started drooping down again.
"Hon, are you listening to me. The hospital is a five minute drive, you get back into the car and keep on talking to me alright."
She nodded faintly, he glared at her and she cleared her throat, "yes Ryan."
"Good."
They got back in the car and Jess tried to prattle on, "and then I said ooh, la, la and she looked at me funny. Ryan I can sing you a song if you want?"
"Anything Honey," he muttered as he tried to cut his way in front of a delivery van.
"Ok, I like this song," she cleared her throat theatrically. "Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are…
"Jessica, not that I don't like your song and the originality of it… wait a second," he finally found a stupid parking space and rushed out and pulled her out of the car. Jess followed having no idea what she was really doing but knowing that she felt really tired and that no matter how much she blinked she couldn't get the haze of grey out of her vision.
Her mind had degenerated back fifthteen years and she once again had a ten second attention span. Half dragging her in, Ryan plopped her against the desk in the emergency room, the nurse looked up and glanced at him and then again. Ryan wasn't ethereally beautiful for nothing.
"Can I have help here?" his voice was on the edge of panic and Jess looked at the pretty nurse, "we were mucking about and my girlfriend fell back and slammed her head against a wall, it's bleeding like anything and I think she's got a concussion. Jessica! Jessica!" Her wandering attention came back to him and she yawned again and passed out on the floor.
The nurse was shouting and people were picking her up taking her to a separate room. A doctor tried to stop Ryan following him in the examination room; Ryan just pushed past him and glared.
Jessica was going nowhere without him and he didn't care if protocol forbade him or not. He now suddenly knew that he should have done more so this had never happened.
