Chapter 4
She looked exactly the same as before. The whole kidnap and fight left her unchanged. I touched her cheek, warm under my fingers and whispered her name. I didn't really expect any reaction but I still had to do it, hoping that she was imprisoned in some nice dream, not in a nightmare. She looked peacefully enough to accuse the German of a lie and try to believe in it. Or I would go crazy.
I left her in the room scented with fresh flowers I had brought for her. Manx would come today to give us the first mission after a week. I supposed it would be something simple because Ken and Omi still couldn't be counted in. In fact, I was the only one who remained more or less unscratched by the whole incident. Omi had injured his arm during the fall and Kudou had got a long scratch across his back. The scratch wasn't serious but the constant whims about how his beautiful body was now deformed had almost made me kill him. But with this exception we really tried to get along with each other. We were lucky we had survived and we knew it.
I waited for Omi and Yoji in the car. They went with me to hospital for checking their injuries while Ken stayed home, his leg in plaster. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long before I saw them in a rear-view mirror. Omi looked cheerful as usual, his hand freshly bandaged.
Yoji took a passenger seat while Omi sat behind. I started the engine without saying anything and they also remained silent. That lasted only until Yoji wanted to light a cigarette.
"Knock it off, Kudou," I snarled. "This is my car."
"You shouldn't smoke at all," informed him Omi from behind.
"You two can be so boring," Yoji rolled his eyes but returned the cigarette into the packet.
"So keep it for more entertaining company," I stated.
"Yeah," nodded Omi. "Not everybody wants to suffer from passive smoking."
"Wise asses," murmured Yoji but he smiled.
When we arrived home Ken was watching a soccer match but as soon as he saw us, he turned the sound off.
I didn't believe this had happened, the hell just froze. Then I noticed that the match was probably in the halftime and that explained everything.
"So what did doctors say?" he asked, his own leg stretched as comfortably as possible on the couch.
I leaned against the wall, waiting.
"It's better than the last time," shrugged Omi. "It won't be healing long."
Yoji occupied the chair, looking quite satisfied. "Maybe I won't even have a noticeable scar. That's if I cream it often once it'll heal a little more."
"And how are you going to do it?" asked Ken. "It's on your back."
"Why, Ken, are you volunteering?" Yoji smiled wickedly.
"Suure," snorted the brunet, brown eyes shone with mischief. "Save it for your ladies. Just imagine how they'll be dazed when you strip off your shirt and offer them a unique chance to cream your back."
"Brat."
"I've heard that women like scars," remarked Omi.
Ken stared at him while Yoji started laughing.
"What's so funny?" asked Omi.
"Nothing at all," Ken scowled lightly. "Don't mind him, he's brain-damaged."
"Unfortunately, he is. I'm going to do my homework."
"You do that, kid," gasped Yoji, still grinning. Ken threw a pillow at him.
I headed to the kitchen to make tea. We had still some time left until Manx arrived.
The mission seemed easy enough – just get in, kill the target and get out. Number of bodyguards was also limited.
"Are you in, Abyssinian?"
I looked at her. While I still had some distaste for Kritiker I had to pay the bills again. By cooperation I could also obtain some information about Schwarz or might even run into them.
"I'm in."
"Good," she still wore a sour face whenever she spoke to me. Not that I mind it. I gave her one of my coldest look in exchange and she glared back.
"Soo," Yoji clasped his hands, "I guess it will be just me and Aya then."
She turned her attention to him, interrupting our glaring contest. "Yes, you two should be enough to complete the mission." She had prepared desks with more detailed information. "No need for a long preparation. I expect you to accomplish the mission during tomorrow's night. Good luck."
She headed to the doors, her heels ridiculously clicking.
Yoji smirked, watching me through half lidded eyes. "Let's kill the man."
Sakura came to visit me again. I was quite relieved to see her, she didn't appeared in our shop since the whole mess had started.
A half hour later I noticed that something was wrong. She didn't chat with me or with the other girls in the shop. In fact she remained silent.
"Is everything all right, Sakura?" I asked her.
"Of course," she smiled at me but that smile was crooked.
I noticed that Omi and Yoji were watching her intently. At an opportune moment, Omi took me aside.
"Don't you think that Sakura-chan is behaving strange today?" He looked concerned.
"She's silent."
Omi nodded, rubbing his hand nervously. "Be careful, Aya-kun. She can be under his influence again."
I frowned, the thought didn't occur to me. Even though I assumed this wasn't that case, we had to be cautious. I returned to the work and Omi joined us a while later. With a frown I spotted his swollen pocket. He took his darts.
I looked at Yoji but he didn't pay any attention to me, flirting with girls. But when he glanced at Sakura from time to time, there was sorrow in his eyes. Suddenly I realized that Sakura was watching her carefree schoolmates with an expression I would once have had if I had been a more open person. She wasn't one of them anymore.
Yoji and I helped each other to get over a wall and jumped into a large garden. It was late in the night and a rapidly approaching storm helped us to cover our movements. According to our plan, we should avoid the guards outside the building. Provided that we managed to kill the target in silence, there wouldn't be a necessity to fight with the whole security.
I had some doubts about whether we can manage it. We would need a great speed and Yoji was injured. But both a Kritiker's doctor and the man himself had convinced me.
The wind was getting stronger, in the distance I heard a first thunder. I looked at Yoji beside me, barely recognizable except of his hair, and nodded. Time to go. We moved carefully, from shadow to shadow, each movement perfectly synchronized.
A smell of freshly cut grass… first drops upon my face… his breath when he reached a brush and got closer to me…
I felt alive.
The guard in front of the house turned his back on us and began to walk away. I waited another second before closing the short distance between my spot and the building. Yoji followed me shortly after. He smiled at me, in the dark I saw the flash of his white teeth, before focusing on opening the door, while I kept alert. Kritiker provided us with the number code so we got inside in no time.
Now the harder part of the plan arose. Without detailed knowledge about where the target was right now, we had to search the house. We also couldn't cut off the building from the electrical network, it had its own spare generator. It would have alarmed the security, if both of them suddenly were not been able to supply the energy.
We heard approaching steps and managed to avoid the first guard, quickly hiding in one room. For the second time we weren't so lucky, the man took us in surprise. He just stood behind the corner, watching the storm outside. Turning his head a little, he saw us, face freezing in shock. The sound of his falling body was drowned out by a thunder.
I didn't brother to sheath the sword again. Now it was only matter of time before someone would find the body.
Moving quickly but carefully, we were in the middle of the salon, when two men entered it from the opposite site. There was no time to hide, and they saw us almost as the same moment as we did. I jumped forward, focusing on the one, who was nearer to me. He tried to pull the gun out hastily. I put all the strength into one blow, for he had to die without a sound, and nearly decapitated him.
A deafening gunshot, Yoji's face twisted in pain. For a moment I thought that he had been shot, before realizing that expression was caused by his damned back. He quickly released now a lifeless body from his wires and looked at me, his face blank again. The guard missed him, but the damage was still done.
I turned without any words, running to the bedroom while Yoji headed to the study. The stairs, turn to the left, a shadow in the right…
I jumped to the side just in time to save my life, sharp pain blossoming suddenly in my left arm. The smell of gunshot and burned skin. Hot blood on my hands when I almost cut his arm off. He screamed, dropped the gun and tried to hold his limb in the place. I killed him without hesitation.
"Abyssinian, are you all right?" I heard Yoji in my headphones.
"Aa." I was breathing heavily from the shock and pain, but clenched the teeth and regained the control again.
"The target is terminated."
"Understand, go to the back door." I made for that direction too, not sparing the briefest look to the corpse on the floor.
"Roger."
According to our information, there should be only eight guards, so four remained.
"Four left," I said into the mike, my voice calm and cold.
"Three," he answered.
I descended the stairs and moved to the corridor, when I heard Yoji's "shit" and then again gunshots.
"Stairs," I said quickly and jumped to the site of door, hoping that Yoji would manage it. In the next second passed me, the pursuers hot in his heel. I killed the first immediately and Yoji got the second. Third came to a halt, his eyes wide at the sight of one of his commander dead and the second struggling for a breath, caught in the wires. He turned around and tried to escape. And died with his back on us.
Covered with blood I headed to the entrance.
Outside raged the storm almost as violently as my own anger inside me. The air smelled from ozone, fresh and sharp.
It was sheer luck we survived the whole mission relatively unharmed and I began to be tired of relying just on it.
It was time to change that strategy.
