Chapter 3 (Explanations and Introductions)

I am no longer Stephanie Plum, Bombshell Bounty Hunter Extraordinaire, but Jessica Marriott, the 30 year-old owner of one-third of a night club called Ice. I am 5"9, blue eyes, half Italian, half Hungarian and have dark brown hair with light brown highlights on my wavy and almost straight hair. I have two best friends called Marissa and Andrea. Marissa is 5"7 with dark brown eyes and a red head with straight hair. She is American and the second owner of Ice. Andrea is 5"10 with light brown eyes and straight blonde hair. She is also American and the third owner of Ice. Marissa and Andrea had been in the same cell as me back when we were held in the imprisonment camp. No one else knows what had happened to us besides Margaret. Currently, I am living under her roof, working for her as was Marissa and Andrea.

Margaret was an assassin who worked for the government. She helped us recover when she found out what had happened to us. Lisa and Heather had also been in the same cell as us and escaped with us. Unfortunately, Lisa couldn't accept what happened to her and decided to take the easy way out. She had slit her wrists and I was the one who found her body. I don't know if Heather's fate was any better. She couldn't accept what had happened to her either, and broke down after she heard the news about Lisa. Currently, she's in a mental institution. Till this day, I always thought of my little sister, Alexia. Sometimes, I wished that I could trade places with her because she didn't deserve what she got in the end. She'll be in my heart forever, I love her dearly. It still saddens me that only me, Margaret, Marissa, and Andrea knows what ha happened to her. Alexia didn't deserve what she got. I made a vow to myself that I will kill that bastard. And make him suffer as he did to Alexia and us.

Margaret had trained me, Alexia, Marissa and Andrea. Not to be assassins, but to be able to survive in the world. And once in a while, we had helped in some government investigations. Margaret had taught us how breaking and entering, lock picking, bomb disarming, weapons, armory, self-defense, disarming opponents, and how to fight. She had also taught us five different languages; French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese (Cantonese) and Hebrew. I thought that French, Italian, and Spanish were reasonable, but had complained about learning Hebrew because it isn't common at all. I had stopped complaining when she told me that we have to learn it because it was uncommon so we can talk to each other in Hebrew without the enemy knowing what we are planning.

Have I ever killed anyone on purpose? The answer is yes, many times. Sometimes, it scares me that by pulling a little trigger, someone's life would end immediately and their importance would be gone and I am the one who did it. But when I think of what had happened to Alexia, I knew that they had deserved it, torturing people, ruining the lives of the victim and the victim's family and friends.

Right now, I was sitting in my office in Los Angelesreading the file of the target in my next mission. My heart stopped pounding after I opened it.

NAME: Jack Daniels
DATE OF BIRTH: November 16, 1967
AGE: 39
EYE COLOR: Dark Brown
WEIGHT (lbs): 203
HEIGHT: 74in. (6"2)
RACE: Australian
SKIN COLOR: White
HAIR: Short
HAIR COLOR: Blonde
DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS: None
OFFENSES:
--Rape (Suspect)
--1st Degree Murder (Suspect)
--Drug Dealing (Suspect)
--Imprisoning Women (Suspect)
--Assault (Suspect)
--Illegal Shipping/Selling Women (Suspect)
FAMILY: None
BACKGROUND: N/A

I looked up from the file and out the window. It was a full moon tonight. I remember staring up at the moon every night for eight months waiting to be saved when he imprisoned me. Jack Daniels is going to pay.