Chapter 4: Deep inside.

Sherry had a look at the handful of papers that covered the modest writing desk of their room. A map of the island stood out among them, stretched all over the dark surface and notably featuring Gin's picturesque scribbles and handwriting. She could roughly tell how recently every single one of them had been made solely from the shine of the red marker ink.

'Do we have everything here?' she asked, her gaze still fixed on the many papers as she read them superficially. 'Every last detail we ought to know?'

'We do,' Gin answered with a shake of his head. Bent down towards the small table, the long ponytail he wore his hair in fell down his side like some sort of veil, framing his head in a silvery glow. 'Every address, every routine of our target's, every single information that could be relevant to our mission is here.'

'Are you sure no one will hear it? I know you'll be using a suppressor,' the girl added before her boyfriend could reply, 'but will it be enough? I mean, what if someone hears the shot, even if it's not that noisy?'

'It will be pretty late,' he argued, 'and the area where we'll kill her is usually deserted regardless of the time of the day. This town isn't that populated, after all, and most of the inhabitants of those particular streets either moved or died within the last ten years. The few that remain are elders. From what I've heard from the baker and others, most villagers avoid that area, as it's very lonely – our target merely uses it as a shortcut on her way back home after work on Thursdays and Fridays.'

'And that's when we'll attack her.'

'Yes. Do you remember the plan?'

'We get to the street and situate ourselves in our hiding points at ten to five,' she recited. 'Then, by ten past five, she appears. I seize her from behind, you come out and shoot her and I move away and let her fall dead on the pavement. Then we take her wallet, which we will later get rid of, and run away.'

'I think you should take your "basic kit" just in case,' Gin added with his gaze on the papers, as if he were talking to himself. 'You said you brought a kit with some drugs in case we needed to poison her, didn't you?'

'It would be too risky,' Sherry replied. 'Think about the autopsy – we would be busted in the bat of an eye.'

'They have no reason to suspect of us. As far as this island's police know, we are just a couple of tourists…'

'I'm not saying they're going to suspect precisely of us,' she clarified. 'But remember that we want to give the police a boring case so they don't investigate much. It must look as if the author had been a mere mugger – and when did mere muggers start carrying sedatives and other drugs around, if I may ask?'

'Alright, alright,' he sighed, finally raising both his gaze and head so as to look at the girl that stood beside him. 'Nevertheless, I think it would be better if you brought it. You carry some first-aid items in it too, don't you?'

'You think we could need them?' inquired Sherry, slightly worried. Gin would never ask her such thing if he lacked a reason… 'Is she that dangerous?'

The boy seemed to notice her worry, and so he started gesturing in the way she knew he did when trying to calm her down.

'We'll be okay,' he spoke. 'I'm cautious, that's all.'

'What did she do, by the way?' the girl asked, trying to change the subject. 'When she worked for the Organization, I mean. You haven't told me yet.'

Her tactic seemed to succeed – as soon as he gave him something else to think about, Gin's face quickly lost its worried look and adopted a more relaxed one.

'Pretty much the same as I do,' he finally responded. 'Only that she was… let's say, more of a rifle person than a pistol person.'

'Are you implying she was… a sniper?'

'Picture me with a rifle instead of my Beretta,' the boy explained. 'That's (roughly) it. And, of course, her rank was much lower.'

'But what does that all really mean to us?' Sherry inquired. 'Does it mean we should expect her to shoot us dead from the bank she works in? Or that she may have recognized you from her days in the Organization, and even be planning how to kill us at this very moment?'

To her surprise and relief, Gin let out a giggle at her questions. With a shrug of his shoulders, he gave her a smile and answered:

'I don't think it'll mean anything at all. First of all, she never met me – her rank wasn't high enough. And second, she is very unlikely to dare to attack us. When and where would she do it? It would be too risky. Remember she's quite well known in this town – the entire place would know it at once if she did anything out of the norm. And I believe shooting two "tourists" with a rifle is one of the things that people here would consider to be out of the norm.'

Sherry nodded and folded her arms.

'I hope you're right,' she muttered. 'She's pretty well known, that's for sure. And she seems to get along with everyone. I don't think she wants them to learn about her past or to see her as a criminal – it would surely ruin her reputation here. Her perfect reputation… and her perfect life…'

But she couldn't keep on. As the rest of her speech came to a halt in its way up her throat, she looked at Gin for no reason she could put into words and their eyes met. And for a single moment she knew they were thinking exactly the same – that they envied Rukuma, no matter how much they tried to pretend they didn't, for she had reached their ultimate, most desperate wish: she had escaped the Organization and now lived happily away from its evil spider web.

She had conquered the freedom they had never had.

As if suddenly aware of their own thoughts, both Gin and Sherry looked away at once with the ashamed attitude of a child trying to hide the consequences of their misconduct. Gin let go of the marker he had been holding and stood up straight. An awkward silence reigned in the room for a painful while, until Sherry finally unfolded her arms and shrugged.

'There will be no problem at all. For what we know, she has no idea about us,' she commented with a tone as casual as she could.

'You're right,' Gin added, awkwardness still perceptible in his voice and attitude like a faint echo. 'It will all go well. There's no reason to worry.'

'Not at all.'

Sherry looked back at her boyfriend and their eyes accidentally met again. In the most complete silence they held each other's stare, reading their own lies on the other's face.

Author's notes:

¡Hola! Hello! Hallo! こんにちは! Salut! Here comes Sherry Furude once more, ready for attack!

First of all and as I always repeat, thank you for reading this far! it really honors me more than words can express that you find my work to be worth your time and attention. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Actually, it took me quite long to make up Gin and Sherry's plan on how to kill Rukuma. It couldn't be too suspicious, it had to look simple to the police so they wouldn't investigate too much, it had to be effective... and, maybe above all, it had to make sense with the fact that they are the ones assigned to do it. When I started working on this request, that was my main "problem" and question: why Sherry had been sent. She's a scientist - no less, but no more. Her work is mostly intelectual and she isn't likely to know very much on hand-to-hand combt or guns. In the end, the main reason they are the ones sent is that they're both very brilliant. Also, Sherry brings a kit in case they need to drug their target. During the development of the fic I considered various murder options, including pushing Rukuma from a high place (preferably into the sea; I really liked this one), a fire, a car "accident" or even suffocation. I really racked my brain!

I guess I don't have much more to say. Thank you again for reading. If you find any mistake (of any kind), do not hesitate to tell me. And if you simply want to talk about the fic with me, I also encourage you to do so! I will be more than glad to answer your questions or read your opinions on the story.

Lots of love and see you next Saturday!

Sherry F.