Kyle POV

    Ring.

    Ring.

    Ring.

    Ring.

    "Hello?" I groaned into the phone, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

     "Valenti! Finally! Why aren't you up? Its already eleven am in your time zone."

     "What's your point? Wait, who is this anyway?" I asked in confusion.

     "This is Charlie," he said simply.

    My eyes widened and I cursed under my breath. I just had to be awakened from a great dream about a certain red head to talk to one of my "employers".

    "When and where?" I questioned, praying I didn't have to go too far.

    "New York City. You leave today, but the hit will take place tomorrow."

    "What? Great, just great. Who am I supposed to take out?"

    "I'll discuss that with you tomorrow. Just know that she's a very dangerous enemy of our boss."

    She? I've never killed a woman before. I guess there's a first time for everything.

    "And how much will Mr. Finnegan be paying me?"

    "That'll also be discussed tomorrow. You better get a move on. Your flight leaves from Albuquerque in two hours. The reservation is under a Thomas, Dean. See ya in New York."

    I mumbled my good bye and hung the phone up.

    "This is just what I need," I moaned and rolled out of bed.

    While I rushed around packing my things as quickly as possible, my dad came to stand in the doorway.

    "Where ya going?" he asked, though I think he already knew my answer.

    "Camping."

    Dad nodded. "That's what I thought. So, where are you going camping?"

    I just shrugged.

    "When will you be back?"

    "Two, three days tops," I replied, looking anywhere but him.

    "Buddha sure takes up a lot of your time."

    My excuse whenever I went "camping" was that I needed to connect with Buddha and clear my head. I glanced back at my father and knew that it was time to play my least favorite card.

    "It helps me feel at peace about mother," I said with tears in my eyes.

    Just as I knew he would, Dad immediately softened. You see, Mom died six years ago when some asshole broke into our house. Being the obnoxious twelve-year-old that I was, I pissed the guy off and he shot at me. Only, Mom jumped in front of me and took the bullet. She died almost instantly. Naturally, Dad had no problem letting me go camping if I was upset about her. I kinda feel bad about using that as an excuse, but oh well.

    "Well, I hope you find your trip relaxing."

    "Thanks, Dad," I said and gave him a hug. Then I picked up my things and ran out to the car.

    "I'll call you in a day or so from a gas station or something to let you know I'm okay," I called and drove off.

    I hauled ass to the airport and made it with time to spare. I boarded and took a seat by the window.

   

    "Who the hell do you think you're talking to? I'm your boss and I will be spoken to with respect!" a woman's angry voice said from behind me.

    I turned around to see a red headed girl my age talking on a cell phone. I couldn't see her face because her gorgeous hair was down and created a sort of curtain around her face. She didn't sound too happy, though, and the guy sitting next to her looked pissed. He made me nervous- he was really built, dressed in all black, plus he had black hair and these really creepy green eyes.

    "I don't care!" the woman said in a deadly tone. "Just know this: the next time you conveniently forget to gas up my private plane and I am forced to ride on a commercial flight, there will be hell to pay. Don't mess with me, Ronald."

    For some reason, I wanted nothing more than to go comfort the angry young woman, but the look the big guy shot me was enough to get me to turn around. Something about her reminded me of Allie. I know I shouldn't be thinking about Allie-I mean she's married to someone I can't compete with and has had a child with him. Still, I really like her. Hopefully I can deal with just being friends.

    Anyway, the rest of the flight passed without incident and I got off the plane looking around casually for the red head. Alas, I couldn't see her anywhere in the crazy NYC airport. I sighed, collected my luggage, and hailed a taxi.

    "Where to?" the guy behind the wheel grumbled.

    "The Plaza," I replied with a grin. I always stay at the Plaza when I have a job in NYC.

    When I walked into my room on the fourth floor, I nearly had a heart attack. Sitting on my bed smoking a cigarette was none other than Seamus Finnegan, my "boss".

    "M-Mr. F-Finnegan, what are you doing here?" I stammered.

    "I've come to discuss the details of your job."

    "Oh. I thought Charlie said that we were going to do that tomorrow."

    Seamus waved his hand dismissively. "Charlie's an idiot. Besides, this is a big hit and I want you to be fully prepared. If you don't succeed in killing this woman, I'll kill you with my bare hands. Got it?"

    I could only nod.

    Seamus began to pace the room. "Do you know who any of the other bosses are, Kyle?"

    "N-no. You're the only one I know of."

    He nodded. "Well, there are five bosses all together and one of them, the one I want you to kill, is THE boss. She rules over all of us. Granted, she only became boss today because I had her brother killed, but she's been a pain in my arse since she was fifteen. My informant tells me that she will be attending a meeting with Daniel McIver, another boss, tomorrow at a warehouse downtown. That's when I want you to kill her."

    "How will I know who she is?"

    Seamus grinned at me. "Simple, she'll be the only woman there. Kat is the first woman boss in history. There won't be any other women there. If, for some odd reason, there is, Kat is short with long, bright red hair, and bright green eyes. You can't miss her."

    I nodded and he showed me where the warehouse was located and we discussed tactics for an hour, then he left. For some reason I felt really uneasy about this hit. Normally, Finnegan wanted me to kill someone who had killed someone in his family. This is the first time my target hasn't been a killer-as far as I know, at least.

    The next day I grabbed my bag that held my most trusted rifle and caught a cab. I got out three blocks from the warehouse the meeting was to take place and made my way over there casually. Once I was sure that no one was watching me, I jumped on top of a dumpster and then jumped onto the fire escape. When I was inside, I positioned myself so that I had a clear view of the front door and could go back out onto the fire escape easily. After two or three hours, the door opened and McIver and his men came inside. A few minutes later, I heard another car pull up and sure enough, in stepped a beautiful red headed woman. She was wearing black leather pants, a white spaghetti strap shirt, and a black leather trench coat. She was absolutely stunning. I shook my head as the thought passed through it. I wasn't supposed to be checking her out; I was supposed to be preparing to kill her! I picked up my gun and was about to aim when I heard another gun cock and felt the barrel of a handgun being pressed into my neck.

    "Drop it," a low voice growled.

    Normally I would have fought, but for some reason I did as I was told and dropped my weapon.

    "Good lad," the voice growled again and hauled me up, leading me downstairs.

    He threw me into a chair and two other men swiftly tied me to it.

    "Who was your target?" the voice demanded and I was shocked to realize that it was the same guy I'd seen on the plane with the red head. That's when I knew that I'd been on the plane with the woman I was supposed to kill. I suddenly had a very bad feeling about all of this.

    "I asked you a question!" the guy yelled.

    "Th-the w-woman. I was supposed to kill the woman boss," I stuttered, knowing that I probably sounded like an idiot.

    As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I heard the distinct sound of high heels heading in my direction. I stared at the door as it came flying open. It was the red head. Our eyes meet at the same instant-

    "Allie!" "Kyle!" we exclaimed at the same time and then everything went black.