Chapter Ten

"I know what you are." The statement was easy and Ivy seemed to choke on the tea she had just been delicately sipping.

She gathered herself together miraculously well and straightened her posture, "I don't know what you mean Mr Richards."

Kyle smiled, he might be old but he wasn't stupid. His eyes seemed to linger on twitching fingers and up to her face with her pale blue anxious eyes. If she was going to carry this off she would have to learn to conceal herself more, this was a despicable disguise.

Looking down he rubbed his right wrist and tried to flex his aching bones, "I looked into your past, got the whole file of it in my office actually and things just didn't add up so I did some of my own digging." He paused, merely for effect and watched as her eyes flicked about the room.

"You were brought up in the right area, went to the right schools. Knew all the right people and things were just too right. And then I remembered a conversation I was having with one of the executives a few years ago. Saying that a vigilante group were re-emerging and were opposing the nightworld council by encouraging the relations with human and even opening this witch circle up where humans could join as well. I just merely scoffed at him and said how very much trouble that were going to cause themselves…"

"Mr Richards I don't understand why you're…"

"Shhhh," he interrupted, "you soon will. But as the years went on I heard some more tales and even some facts as well and the more I heard the better established they were coming and also better run.

The thing I heard was that they have a finger in every pie and liked to know what was going on and then my thoughts ran to our little company and how immoral that they would think it was… kidnapping children? What would they say? And that was the time I came across your name. Do you have any idea why I chose you to take over my job?"

"No Mr Richards," she was sinking into her self now and Kyle could see it, she knew he knew and was waiting for the execution order.

"I saw the same steely look in your eyes as I did in my eyes when I was younger, when I first entered this job. But that look brought me more miseries than I can count and then I began to see a different side to you, the unsure side, the side who would always look behind her as she walked along the corridor. Circle Daybreak have a habit of having a non-violent attitude and then I thought that they'd like to probably stop this type of company and the only way they could do that was from inside."

"Mr Richards, if I could explain…"

"Please don't," he said as gently as he could, "the problem being in my job that having a conscience can only get in the way. For years and years I was fine, but something happened and I fell off that cold, steely wagon. I won't tell anyone about this little conversation and my little theory as long as you do something for me."

"What would that be Mr Richards?" he could hear the worry in her voice.

He couldn't help but sigh, "stay where you are, you'll be having my job in a matter of days and the knowledge of what I know will be going with me but I want a deal and unless you carry it out the Company will know straight away who this insider is."

"Name it and I'll see what I can do."

"You take down the company from the inside and everything will fall down, I can even give you pointers but something has to be drawn up now, the assassins, all of them will not be harmed. They're just innocent bystanders…"

"They're killers…"

"Who'd probably love to be doing something else, you take the control centre down and the assassin won't be having any orders coming through and that's it, no company and the rest can go and live on their lives, knowing that the company aren't a few feet behind them tracking them down…"

"I don't know…"

"Listen Ivy," he was losing his patience, "these were innocent children ripped away from their families, tell that to your sympathetic daybreakers. They were broken so they could do what they could do, broken by fear and hate, all they need is a reason and they can be better people. You can take down that company without even needing to hurt one of those assassins."

"I'll get in contact with headquarters and propose it to them."

He got himself up and made his way to the door, opening it he turned around, "if the answer is no, don't bother getting in contact with me, just disappear… for your own sake just run as fast as you can."

Doctor Peretz leant tiredly against the nurse's station and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Only four more hours to go and he would finish and off home for him. Not that he didn't love his job, he did, he had a fiery passion that so many lacked these days but the workload had been big today and the hospital staff had been near non existent.

Mrs Fenella was still pacing the corridor and he felt sorry for her, she had been here all year pacing the corridor waiting for a bone marrow donator that would match with her sons. None of her family had matched so now was the long and desperate wait for a match, he shook his head and rested it on the counter just for an instant.

His eyes closing for just a second, he was sure it was just a second, he could feel all his muscles relax and all he wanted to do was just… his head shot up as a nurse called to him from down the corridor. Massaging his aching temple he looked down the corridor to the nurse running towards him.

Shannon, now how many sweet dreams had he had about her? Not musing on the thought he walked slowly up to her and met her halfway.

"Jason, there you are. I know you're really busy doing all the work Greg's meant to be doing but we've got a patient in the observation room downstairs. She's got a concussion, she's stable now but we've sent her for a x-ray, a scan, you know the normal thing."

"So you want me to look at them?"

Shannon eagerly nodded, "that'll be great," she looked beside them to Mrs Fenella, she was a well known in the hospital now, "as long as everything is fine up here of course."

Mrs Fenella smiled, "Kieran is asleep, we're fine here."

"Good," Shannon turned back to him, "now the patients name's Jessica Thomson..."

Mrs Fenella went a subtle shade of white, "did… did you say Jessica Thomson?"

Shannon went to her side to steady her, "yes I did, do you know her?"

Mrs Fenella took a deep breath, "how, how old is she… if she's eighteen…"

"Yes, yes she is, a pretty thing she is as well, she's downstairs with her boyfriend. I can take you down to see her if you like?"

Mrs Fenella shook her head, "I, I need phone my husband, maybe later."

Shannon left Mrs Fenella as she took off down the corridor and passed the patients details over to Jason, "now she's not the most talkative but everything is there that you need to know."

Jess yawned and was about to poke the back of her head again as Ryan slapped her hand away.

"Leave it alone," he ordered.

"But it aches."

"What do you expect? Maybe it'll stop when you stop poking it."

She stuck her tongue at him, she had been given ten stitches and was told that she needed to be in here overnight and take it easy. So that now meant that Ryan would have to do the last assignment by himself. Jess couldn't help but feel apprehensive for him.

A doctor in a white overcoat came in and smiled at her, he must have been in his mid twenties and looked like he was near the end of a very long shift, she couldn't muster a smile back so she just waved.

"So you're our little concussed one, now can you lean forward so I can see your head please?"

She did as he asked; she had woken up about an hour ago, her head being stitched up and an anxious Ryan peering across from the corner.

The doctor stepped back, "you can sit back now," he went back out of the door and called one of the nurses, he came back in with a folder and produced her x-rays. "Now all looks fine, you'll have to stay overnight. I'll be getting one of the experts upstairs to be looking at your scans later on and get back to you."

Ryan stood up and shook his hand, "thank you so much, I was really worried."

The doctor compassionately patted him on the back, "no worries, it can be a bit of a shock sometimes when things like this happens to the people you love. I can speak to the nurse if you want and you can sleep overnight."

Ryan beamed back, "yes, that would be great."

Looking at Ryan, Jessica coughed, "maybe you should go back and get some clean clothes," Ryan was still wearing his all in black clothing, they had told the nurses they had just come back from an amateur dramatics lesson. Thankfully they had been satisfied with that.

If not they weren't really sure what other lie they could come up with, they couldn't just drop the casual line, 'oh we've just been out assassinating people and we had the insolence of getting attacked on our hasty retreat,' for some reason she didn't really think they would be that cooperative in her treatment.

Ryan came up to her and stroked back some hair, the doctor still near the door chatting to one of the nurses.

"Are you sure you'll be alright here on your own?"

She smiled at him, "I'll be fine," she pulled him forward and kissed him, "now be a good boy and get me some decent clothes for when I get out, my last are a bit blood stained." He pulled back and was just about to leave when she called his name.

He stopped dead midway to the door and turned around to her, "Yes?" "Ryan I love you."

He beamed back and came over to her bedside and kissed her again, "I love you too, now sleep and I'll be back before you know it."

He didn't want to leave her and Jess would have let him stay if they were in any other different situation, but he would have to phone back the Company and give them a up date of their situation and make the arrangements for the assignment tomorrow. Hopefully the ones that had attacked them would learn their lesson this time and leave it alone.

She didn't fancy another demonstration of tonight. She watched as he left and the doctor came over and took her pulse, "do you want some pain killers for your head."

Jess blinked and shook her head, "no, it doesn't hurt that much, just aches."

The doctor laughed, "you're much braver than I am, I'd be dosed up by now, I'm not one for pain."

All she could do was pretend to laugh with him; her pain threshold level had gone up many levels since the Company had recruited her. They always had that precise manner of being able to get the most out of you and that was mainly with pain and a lot of psychological digging, once you had got used to one brand of punishment they would put it up a level just so they got a reaction each time.

The doctor made his leave and Jess nestled down in her bed and let her eyes half close, she'd feel better when Ryan got back. Anyone could walk into her room now and was open to any type of attack if the black clad ninja guys knew she was here.

But the black clad ninjas weren't the next lot of people to walk in the room, a woman in her forties with greying black hair and creased clothes stood precariously in the doorway. Jess's eyes automatically widened and she sat herself up, so tonight was going to be a bit more painful after all.

As the woman slowly came forward, Jess couldn't help but notice the man behind her, someone she didn't recognise but she instantly categorised as human and harmless. The woman stopped a foot away from her bed and tears fell silently down her face.

"Jessica?"

"Hello Mother."

Kyle waited patiently in his office, his fingers tapping a beat against the top of his desk, the dark varnished wood feeling cool and smooth against his fingers. The news from the office had come in ten minutes ago. Jessica had been harmed and was in a public hospital.

Couldn't those two keep out of trouble for more than a few weeks? He would have written a note to reprimand them, but he knew it wasn't their fault, they were being targeted and the Company had no idea why. Ryan's family had been in the spotlight for a while but they had been under surveillance ever since Ryan and Jessica had been released and they had stayed to themselves ever since.

Something was definitely going on and it couldn't be the day breakers either. They weren't likely to send Ninja's after their assassins; they were a non-violent organisation, well in most situations anyway.

A list of their competitors would be drawn out and the most suspicious would be put under surveillance and at the extreme, be extinguished.

One week and he would be able to clear his desk, not having to deal with anything like this anymore and he'd be able to wave his job goodbye, but only if Ivy went along with her part of the deal, if she could get her superiors to go along with it that is.

He was weighing all his hopes onto that girl and feared that she wouldn't be able to carry them out, what would happen if she didn't turn up for work tomorrow? What would he do if she disappeared like he warned her to do, he would have to stay here then.

Stay here for even longer and choose another pitiful candidate out of the milling sheep out in the office area. He only now hoped that Ivy would be able to do something worthwhile for once.

When did just one human have a chance to take down a multi- millionaire assassin company? She would be reigned a hero in her Daybreak home and if not?

She'd just be another one who had failed an assignment, but this time she would have let thousands of more die in the hands of the Company's assassins.