Author's Note: Hey, guys. Sorry this: a) took so long, and b) is short. I've been super stressed by and busy with school, and I've only recently had the mental capacity to work on updating my fics. Thanks for being patient, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Izaya wakes with a jolt and a deep inhale of breath, the hair on the back of his neck standing up in response to an unshakeable feeling that something is very, very wrong. For a moment, that feeling is exacerbated by the fact that he doesn't recognize his surroundings… but then he remembers where he is, which makes the cold, empty space beside him less than comforting.

Please tell me he's just in the bathroom…

Unfortunately, when he looks over at it he's disappointed to find it open, empty, and dark.

Shit…

The unshakeable feeling growing stronger with each passing second, Izaya glances over towards Magnolia's little blanket nest to discover the girl staring intently at the front door like she's expecting it to grow fangs and attack. Slowly getting up off of Shizuo's futon, he catches her eye and starts to raise his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture… only to let it drop back down when he remembers there's no need.

Is someone here? He asks in his head, unsure if he expects an answer or not… but he gets one nonetheless, the girl nodding slowly. Do you know who it is?

This time, he gets a shake.

Great…

He sighs, then starts silently making his way over to the door. Do you know where Shizu-chan is?

Another shake.

Of course not… that would be too easy.

He can hear footsteps on the porch outside, followed by a few rustles and the sound of what he assumes is a lockpick being put to use - staying low, he carefully retrieves his knife from inside his jacket and flicks it open, positioning himself next to the door in order to catch the intruder by surprise the moment they step inside. It's a good plan - or, at least, it would have been, had the first thing to come inside actually been the intruder - but when the door finally creaks open, it's only long enough for something small and metal to be rolled inside.

Huh? What the...

And that's when he hears the tell-tale hissing noise of gas escaping a pressurized container, his split-second of confusion replaced by panic the moment he realizes what it must be.

Oh no, oh no no no…

But it's a realization that comes too late, the fumes already causing his eyelids to grow heavy and his knees to give out underneath him. By the time his body hits the floor, he's already asleep.

Thirty minutes later…

When Vincent Pierce-Montgomery hired the man known as Jackal, all he'd been told about him was that he was a top-tier infiltrator and that he was rumored to have hacked into the personal computer of a famous network security company's founder and CEO. Without a name to go by, he couldn't do a background check first - but he's never been the type to take the moral high ground, and he's also not generally interested in getting to know anyone he doesn't have to, so he'd decided he didn't particularly care to try and find out more about his talented yet unpleasant new associate. As long as the job got done, he didn't care about the rest.

If he had bothered to do a bit more research, however, he would have discovered some rather interesting things… like the fact that no one knows how old Jackal is, or what his real name is, or where he's actually from. He would also have discovered the rumor that Jackal used to be a military intelligence operative, but was caught stealing from his employers and was forced to go on the run - and the rumor that he was let go from his former job as a computer repair technician for secretly going through his clients' personal files - and the rumor that he once tried to blackmail a former employer for 100,000,000,000,000 yen - and the rumor that he once tried to blackmail a completely different former employer into performing sexual favors for him - and, finally, the rumor that he was caught masturbating on duty when he worked for a surveillance systems company. What he wouldn't discover, however, is that those rumors were started by none other than Jackal himself - and that they all happened to be true (well, all but the military intelligence one, that one he made up.) The bottom line is, Jackal is not a good person. In fact, he'd be willing to admit that he's actually a very, very bad person - and he's fine with that, prefers it even - but one thing bad people are very good at doing is recognizing other bad people, and every interaction he's had with his current employer so far gives Jackal the distinct impression that Vincent Pierce-Montgomery is not the kind of guy you want to get on the bad side of. That's why, when Vincent had informed him he was to kidnap a certain individual, he figured it safer not to point out that procuring people was not part of his job description.

It's also why he currently has said individual drugged and bound in the back of his van.

"So… you're Orihara Izaya, huh?" He says, giving the unconscious man a onceover. Most of the people he's been hired to stalk ended up being (disappointingly) way less attractive in person than they were in pics and video, but this time it's the other way around; his harassment of the informant had just been to make him uncomfortable so he'd be more likely to make a mistake (and Jackal would definitely say that goal had been accomplished), but if he wasn't absolutely sure that Vincent would kill him if he tried anything too skeezy, he probably already would have. "I don't envy you one bit." He remarks, despite knowing full well that the other man can't hear him. "The boss is one scary-ass mother-fucker. Not even sure why… maybe it's just his posture, or some shit like that. I dunno… all I know is that I'd like to stay on his good side, you know? And that means bringing him what he wants - and what he wants is you. Nothing personal, right?"

Taking his burner phone out of his pocket, he dials up Vincent's number and holds the device to his ear… after a few seconds, he hears a click.

'Hello?'

"Hey boss, package secured. Ready to rendezvous."

'Excellent. I'll be there shortly.' There's another click, and the line goes dead.

Putting the phone back into his pocket, Jackal exhales and glances down at his captive. "Well, looks like the boss is on his way. Wish he'd told me how far out he was, though…" He crouches down, frowning as he studies Izaya's sleeping face. "I sure hope you're having a good dream right now, 'cause something tells me your life is about to become a living nightmare."

Making sure the zip-ties keeping Izaya bound are nice and tight, Jackal hops out of the van and starts preparing for his employer's imminent arrival.

.