Ok here is chapter 6. I would have had it out sooner, but I ran into a few problems. You know, all the usual stuff; Writers block, getting sick, plus almost every single computer in the house doesn't work. The only one that does work wouldn't let me open the file that the chapter was saved on. I don't know why. Anyways, on with the chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 6 Not all she seems

"Holy hell!" Mkenzie yelped as she stumbled backwards. "Whoa, hold on there a second." She said, holding her hand up defensively, the other still pressing the cloth tightly against her shoulder. She continued to back up until she backed into the cupboards behind her, now having nowhere else to go.

This is not going to end well. She thought, a frown crossing her face as she stared down the barrel of the assassins gun. Damn, this guy is smart. She mused as she eyed him, noting everything, from his stance to the way he held his gun. Yes, this guy definitely knew what he was doing. The one thing that puzzled her however, was the fact that she didn't know him. Who was he? She had written up hundreds of files on hundreds of assassins and had even, on occasion, taken the time to look up the files on assassins that had been written by others. Why then, didn't she recognize him? Then suddenly, she knew. Her line of work gave her almost unlimited knowledge of the assassins in the mafia's employ, which included their methods and how they worked. Hiring someone she knew meant that she would be able to anticipate what they would do and try to counteract it if she could. Armys knew this, so he had to hire someone she didn't know so she wouldn't be able to anticipate what he would do. Which meant that she knew absolutely nothing about this man.

Oh, I am so screwed.

No, no your not. Not yet. Come on damn it! You're better than this! You've been in worse situations before. Remember that one time in Germany?

I'd rather not, actually.

Ah, but don't forget, he doesn't hold all the cards yet. You may not know anything about him, but he also doesn't know everything about you either, and if you remember Armys' nasty little habit…

"You know," the man's voice interrupted her train of thought, "I'm rather disappointed. Armys told me you would be a lot harder to kill."

"Well, if you hadn't noticed, the circumstances aren't really in my favor, now are they?" Mkenzie said. "But, hey, I do think I should congratulate you."

"For what?"

Mkenzie smirked. This just might be her ticket out of here. "For being the first one here, of course." She saw the confused look flick across his face and continued. "Oh, yes, I forgot. Armys does tend to leave out important information like that. Anyway, I meant that you are the first assassin to come after me. Armys probably didn't tell you this, but he has a bad habit of sending more than one assassin after the same person."

There was a slight pause as the man studied her, probably trying to decide if there was any truth in her words. In the end however, he apparently decided he didn't care.

"It doesn't matter." He said coolly, with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Maybe not to you, but to the others? I think they might not like it. Assassins tend to get very irritated when someone else takes their job." She replied as she wound the cloth around her shoulder then tied it off using her free hand and her teeth. "And I'll bet they aren't too far behind you."

They both heard the noise at the same time; a soft rustling of footsteps on the carpet. The man's eyes flicked towards the entryway to the living room then, ducked backwards as a barrage of gunfire hit the wall, muffled by the silencer over the barrel.

"Vincent you son of a btch!" A man's voice screamed furiously.

"Friend of yours?" Mkenzie asked a slight smirk plastered on her face.

Vincent didn't answer. He leaned against the wall, eyes closed, listening. Another series of gunshots splattered against the wall, then, the soft click of a magazine being ejected. Vincent stepped into the entryway and fired. The man, who had just reloaded his weapon, didn't have time to move out of the way. Two bullets in the chest and one in the head ended the issue quickly. Mkenzie knew this was her time to act. As soon as Vincent turned and began to fire she leapt forward. He saw the motion and turned, but didn't have enough time to bring the barrel of the gun in her direction. A high kick sent the weapon flying out of his hands and into the living room, where it landed with a clatter next to the body of the other man. Another hard kick sent him stumbling backwards.

"Didn't I tell you? And he's not the only one." Mkenzie said as she slowly backed into the living room.

Vincent stood up and started towards her, his eyes never leaving her face. He was watching, waiting for her to make a move, and he already knew what her next move would be. She would go for the gun. It was her only chance and he knew she would go for it. He would let her pick it up, but she would never fire it.

Mkenzie paused next to the body of the other man. She looked down at it.

"Kevin Johnson" She said calmly. "New to the trade and not very smart I might add. Any idiot should know you don't simply empty your gun like that, and right out in the open too."

"They often make the mistake of overconfidence." Vincent said coolly his gaze never wavering from his target's face.

"Kevin did that a lot. To tell you the truth I'm surprised he lived this long, especially with the way he liked to screw things up." She laughed "You did Armys a favor I think; too bad you won't get paid for that one."

"No, but I expect to get paid for another."

She didn't answer. Vincent saw her gaze shift, for just a second, down to the gun at her feet.

Then she went after it.

As soon as she moved Vincent jumped forward, bringing out his switchblade at the same time. He spun her around and brought the knife to her throat. She dropped the gun and grabbed his arm, trying to pull the knife away from her neck. Almost simultaneously she kicked upwards and hit him in the face with her knee. Vincent jerked backwards and dropped the knife, but regained his balance quickly and swiftly kicked her legs out from under her. She landed on her back, rolled and the next thing he knew she had his gun in her hand and it was pointed at him. He backed up slightly and she stood up, her eyes blazing, and then she just stood there, unmoving.

Well, what are you waiting for? Shoot him!

I…I can't.

You can't? Yes, you can! Just pull the damn trigger!

No, I won't go back to that.

It doesn't matter what you want. Whatever you try to do, it will always be a part of you.

Vincent watched her for a moment, and then smiled. She couldn't shoot him. However she tried to threaten him, she would never pull that trigger. He took a step toward her. "Put the gun down Juanita."

Mkenzie's jaw dropped. "Excuse me? Drop the gun? Are you insane?"

"You won't pull that trigger; I can see it in you eyes. You won't do it. You write files on assassins, you might know how they work, but I doubt you even know how to handle that thing."

Mkenzie scowled and chewed her lower lip. "You must think you're really smart, don't you?"

Vincent's lip twitched slightly. "Like I said, I do this for a living."

"Ah, but didn't Armys tell you?" She retorted, as she slid back the hammer on the weapon. "So do I."

Vincent reacted faster than Mkenzie did. He reached his hand out and pushed the gun to the side. Reflexively, Mkenzie pulled the trigger. Vincent twisted the weapon out of her hand and slammed his fist into the side of her head. She stumbled and fell, but with the adrenaline rushing through her veins she recovered quickly and lashed her foot out, catching him in the knee. Her hand touched something metallic and she hastily snatched up Vincent's switchblade. Her hard kick had slowed him, but only slightly and she had about three seconds before he recovered and shot her. Three seconds was all she needed. Mkenzie flicked her wrist and the switchblade flew from her fingers. Her aim however was spoilt by the fact that she had used her injured arm. The knife sliced across the side of Vincent's neck, not enough to kill him, but enough to make him stumble backwards and trip over Kevin's body. Mkenzie saw her chance and leapt up and sprang for the door. She didn't like the idea of running away, but Mkenzie wasn't stupid. She was injured and knew that she could not hope to win this fight. Especially if she couldn't make herself kill him, even if she got the chance. She tore open the door and ran. As she entered the hall a bullet whizzed by her head and hit the wall. By now the adrenaline rush was wearing off, but even though she was weak and dizzy, she somehow managed to reach the lobby a head of Vincent. Frantically she looked around, and suddenly she saw her means of escape. Marcus' keys were still on the front desk, where she had seen them earlier. Hastily she snatched them up and ran to the door to the parking garage. Please be somewhere close, she prayed. Luck was with her this time. Almost as soon as she entered the garage she spied the blue Honda nestled between a red Volvo and a black Toyota. She hastily unlocked the door, expecting Vincent to enter at any moment, then threw open the door and climbed in. Her hands were shaking so hard she could barely fit the key into the ignition. No idea how the hell I'm going to be able to drive this thing. She thought when she finally got it started and pulled out, not paying attention to the small noises coming from the trunk.

Vincent swore violently as he jumped up and raced after his target. He entered the lobby, his sharp eyes searching, completely ignoring the couple staring at him in terror. He hesitated for just a moment to consider which way she might have gone. There were more options than he liked. The front entrance was the most likely choice, but there was also the elevator, the parking garage and two emergency exits. He paused, and then saw the trail of blood that led toward the garage. When he entered the garage he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The blue Honda that he had put the little girl into was being driven away; driven away by his target. Vincent raised his gun and fired rapidly into the back window of the car. The glass shattered and there was a cry of pain, indicating that he had hit. However, it apparently hadn't injured her enough, because the vehicle was still rapidly disappearing from sight.

For a long moment Vincent just stood there staring at the place where the car had disappeared, her last words still ringing in his ears.

So do I.

Juanita Montoya was an assassin? He had been through her entire file and that information had not been in there. Why hadn't Armys told him? She had worked for him for seven years, he would have known. That little tidbit of information was not something one simply left out. But, wait. Juanita wrote the files for most of the assassins under the employ of the mafia, which meant that she would have had access to her own file. She could have deleted it. However that still raised the question; did Armys know or not? That was what he was going to find out.

Vincent turned and started back towards the apartments; he had left his bag in the room and needed to retrieve it before the police showed up. He stopped for a moment a glanced back for one last look at the place she had left.

"Enjoy your freedom while it lasts Juanita." He said coldly, "This is far from over." Then he turned and left.

Oh yes, this was far from over, but first Armys had some explaining to do.

Ooooh, did you like this chapter? It was so hard to write. Well tell me what you all think. Was anyone disappointed?

Review Replies

Piper: Oh yes, Mkenzie is in a lot of trouble, and unfortunately for her, it's only going to get worse.

SpadesJade: Ah, sorry to make you wait so long (I had some problems, especially with the computer). I hope you weren't disappointed with this chapter (it was really hard trying to keep Vincent in character. I hope I did a good job though.)

Laurenmlbc: Well I tried to update as soon as I could, but I had some trouble. But don't worry the net chapter will be coming real soon.

Cleric7: I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I hope you liked this one too.

Nicolina: Well, now you know how she got away. Unfortunately for her, she won't be out of trouble for too much longer.