Time passed her over as she lay under the water, her clothes made a strange noise under the constant pelting of the shower. The cold water was what woke her, a sever shudder ran through her entire body. Hunnigan opened her eyes and looked around the small space between the white, tile walls and the drawn white, plastic curtain. She was doubled in on herself, in a fetal position. Her joints and sides burned in pain as she pulled herself upright and onto her feet. Peeling her clothes off, she hung them over the shower rod, dropping a towel on the ground to soak up what drops of water missed the edge of the tub.
She towel dried off and walked through her apartment. It was day now, the rays of golden light streaked across the house. Her skin glittered as she passed through the shafts of light towards the computer. Another member of The Family had been found. He was not far, he also continued to work at the D.S.O.
So many cockroaches still scurrying around. He and his older, half-brother both worked in the same department: Public Relations. They were both scheduled to be at meetings this afternoon. She checked the time, the meeting was from 2:30pm to 5pm. A cold lighting bolt struck inside her. It was almost five already.
Hunnigan ran to the back of the house, slipping on a black skirt, a long sleeve black shirt and a beige dress coat. Her hair was done up in a high bun and she found a pair of heels that matched the coat. On her way out of the room, her eye caught the sight of the cream halter top and the burgundy pants on the bed. Her mind, just for a split second had betrayed her— had hypnotized her. For just a moment out of the corner of her eye, she was sure that she had seen Helena laying on the bed, leaning back, propped up on her elbows, watching Hunnigan as she dressed. The wicked trick of the mind stung at her eyes. She grasped the thigh holster and checked to make sure there was full tablets in each one then she slipped some tinted glasses on.
She rushed from the house and got into her car. Her PDA sat there charging. The engine turned over in the car and she threw it into reverse then tore off towards the D.S.O headquarters. She took many residence streets and back alleys to avoid the heavy traffic.
Once again, she parked her car some ways off. She sped through the security checks, no one even bothered to have her walk through the metal scanners or check her bags. Every guard in the place had been hired by her and knew that she would never bring a concealed weapon. Hunnigan forced a smile on her lips.
"Hello Ms. Hunnigan, how are you holding up?" Jeff, the current guard working the main security station asked her.
"I'm holding." Her heel tapped as she was forced into small talk while waiting for him to open the side door to allow her to bypass the metal detector.
"That is good. None of us expected you to stay away from work long… even with everything that happened." He lowered his voice as he pressed a button. The door alarm sounded as the door swung open for her.
"I am just here to pick a few things." She said coldly and rushed through the door. In the hallway she made her way to the stairs. She didn't want to be on the cameras of the elevator on her way to meeting room 21B. She stepped into the stairwell and slipped her heels off. Her hand ducked into her pocket and she readied the black out program.
Hunnigan raced up the twenty flights of stairs, pausing to catch her breath and pull back a few loose strands of hair from her the bun high atop her head. She straightened out her jacket and slipped her shoes back on her feet. She flipped the black out program on and stepped into the hall. Instantly, the red lights on the security cameras dulled and went out.
Through the hallway, she could hear people talking, it seemed to be Mandarin. She walked into the room and took a seat at the back, out of the sight of many of the people in the room, at most they got a profile view of a woman in sunglasses slip into the side room. She could've been any one of their wives for all they would guess.
The meeting continued for another thirty minutes. She grew restless and pulled off the jacket in the small, antechamber room she was now hiding in. The level of noise from the other room climaxed greatly then died down as people left. She called out to the two she had come for.
"Desmond Miles and Eric Leavenworth."
The two men exchanged glances and excused themselves from the rest of the group. One man was cursing in Mandarin because his phone could not get a signal. She smiled and stepped out from the room.
"And you are?" Miles asked, stepping forward. He was the younger of the two, but held more power.
"A representative." Hunnigan stated. "I'd like a moment of your time— both of you."
The two men had no choice but to follow her back into the slightly more secluded antechamber. She took long strides towards a window, the evening light poured in. It was a strategic placement.
"A representative of whom, may I ask?" Miles questioned, Leavenworth following behind.
"Someone who found out your secret—someone who exposed you." They didn't seem interested. She placed her hand on the first needle and punctured the tablet, then sent the needle towards Miles' neck. It struck the knot in his tie. The sun was in his eyes and he nor his brother were able to retaliate before she could pull the second needle and send it into his chest.
Leavenworth pulled a gun from his pocket and opened fire on her. She ducked under in the dark space between two windows. She imagined he would try to adjust his eyesight to see her but instead he just blindly fired on her. A bullet caught her left calf. She cried out in pain and took another needle from the holster.
In a less-than-graceful tumble, she rolled towards a cabinet that held a coffee maker. She pressed herself against the wall and placed her free hand on her wounded calve as she leaned over the edge of the cabinet and sent the second needle into the back of Leavenworth, who had been knelt over trying to attend his younger brother as the toxin surged through his system.
Hunnigan held her position until she heard the second man drop to the floor. In that time, she examined her wound. It was not a through-and-through, so the bullet was still in her. There was some blood splatter on the floor near the window. She looked on the cabinet and found just what she could use: Non-dairy, powdered creamer. Hunnigan scoffed and took it over to the area, sprinkling it about generously. She rushed back over to the men and began looking through their pockets. They moaned and groaned helplessly as the toxin coursed through their veins. She pulled the jacket off for a moment and used a clean needle to rip one of the sleeves off and tie it around her calve.
Miles had just what she was looking for, a small lighter. She stuck it between her lips then pulled a pack of the tablets from the back of the holster. The first needle she had thrown had not made it through the tie. She pulled it out and walked to the first wall, were both men could easily see her. She carved the symbol of The Family, the serpents intertwined.
Their pupils widened in recognition. She pulled the lighter from her mouth, lit it and tossed it at the creamer powder. It exploded violently, the flames spread quickly.
"Yes, I know you are both members of The Family. Murders that stole the love of my life from me." She stabbed the needle into the wall before turning back to them. "You killed my love, destroyed her. Now you will die." She crossed the room, her leg aching from the bullet wound. She pulled tablets from the container and stuffed it between each other their lips. Three a piece. They both began to shake and vomit loosely as she rushed from the room. She threw a chair on the fire to help it spread.
Outside, she could hear a fire alarm begin to scream. She rushed to the stair well and found people beginning to fill it, the mass of workers marching quickly and orderly down to the ground floor and out the front doors.
"Not again." One man complained. "I heard there was a fire last night when that guy was killed in his office."
"Wonder if someone else has been offed?" His friend asked. She pushed past them and crossed the open courtyard, switching off the black out program as she stepped off the property. Her car was were she left it. She climbed into the car and examined the wrapping on her leg. No blood seemed to have seeped out.
Her leg pulsed painfully the entire drive home. Once she got there, she once again climbed into her bathtub and soaked herself through her clothes. Falling asleep, this time she was crying from the pain in her leg, not the deaths of now three men on her conscious.