Chapter 13

Antonio had been on guard duty for a while when he saw the silent man approach. He straightened and moved away from the wall he had been leaning against after he noticed the key's in the man's hand. There was only one likely way that Christian could have lost those keys. He didn't know what kind of reaction to expect from Phoenix's friend, but it was not for the man to take up a fighting stance.

"I mean no harm." Antonio said, as he held his hands out in front of him, palms up and empty. The gesture was one used by the Black Dragons in approaching each other after an intense situation. It took time for them to stop reacting to a threat, so it was considered dangerous.

"Is she safe?" Antonio asked, knowing that he spoke to the only person to have seen her recently. It was a relief to him when he saw the man nod. The confirmation was important even though he knew that she must have given him the keys herself.

Antonio took a few minutes to observe his company while he undid the lock on the door. He noted that the man never completely relaxed his guard; eased it slightly perhaps, but kept a state of readiness. It was nothing unusual to Antonio, Phoenix was one of the most guarded individuals he knew.

Hector had found her quite by accident when he turned the corner in the corridor and was greeted by a knife at this throat and a gun to his head. There was a cold dead look in her pale icee blue eyes that he had only seen a few times before. One did not apprach her wihout caution when that look was in her eyes. He stayed completely still and quiet for a few minutes before she pulled away. It was a sign, a warning to not get in her way. She would do whatever it took too see her mission acomplished, using any means necessary in order to do so.

"I understand." He whispered softly with a slight nod to her.

"Do you really, Moby? I don't think you do, not any one of you truly understands the situation. I'll sell my soul without hesitation and kill everyone in this compound to protect them. If this is to be my fate, my purpose for existing then so be it. I'll use what I've been given. I know now there's no way to wash away the blood on my hands." her voice never went above a whisper but her tone and infliction spoke volumes for her sincerity.

"Shana..." he wanted to help her, to find a way to ease her pain. There was nothing he could say or do to accomplish that. So he did the only thing he could do for her: change the subject to focus on the matter at hand.

"You should hurry, if you wish to put some space between you and Christian."

"You're right of course, Moby. My first priority must be to distance myself from Christian. After that is accomplished, I can deal with other things." she said softly as she turned away from him. He saw her fingers brush the silk wrapped hilt of her sword, the blade was something she could trust in and control in an uncertain time.

'It is a well known fact that she does not trust easily; none of us do. In this situation, the only one she actually trust is herself. Especially to face Christian. She will not risk their lives to do so; for the sole reason that she trusts them as much as she trusts herself. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who possesses this knowledge.' Hector thought to himself as he followed her through the corridor.

Antonio had guided the group of ninjas outside of the complex; all he needed to do now was wait for Phoenix to show up. Jean had joined them a few moments ago; he was drenched from the rain he had been running in. It had been raining for the past few hours, he noted with some trepidation. The fastest way to leave here was to head east and cross the river; which considering the conditions had most likely risen above its banks. Not that it mattered any to her, the weather would not change the plans she'd made.

Two dark shadows detatched themselves from the surrounding darkness of the building. They moved with slow deliberate steps; like a pair of predatory cats stalking prey. Hector flanked her as Jean and Antonio moved toward them.

"Antonio, Jean." she said softly.

"Phoenix." they both returned the acknowledgement.

"Report." Her tone was quiet and clipped as she turned to Jean for the response.

"The river is rising. Banks are overflowed in several places. Terrain is muddy and should be considered treacherous, despite that the river remains the best option." Jean stated, swiftly and concise. As Jean finished his report; she turned to the tall African American next to her;

"Hector," she prompted him.

"I can guarantee you fifteen minutes, posssibly thirty. Any longer would be..." he did not get a chance to finish as she cut him off with a wave of her hand before she spoke.

"Impossible. Fifteen minutes would require luck, Hector, and none of us rely on luck. Give me as much time as you can, but don't put yourself at risk for it."

"As my lady wishes." he answered with a bow.

"I wish you would stop that." she told him as her hand once again brushed the hilt of the blade at her side. The three Dragons noticed the gesture. Athough she looked calm, that gesture belied her worry and they knew that.

"We should leave now." she said to the ninjas, dismissing the Dragons from her attention. Hector reached for her arm to regain her attention.

"Will you be okay?" he asked. When she did not answer and fixed her gaze on the sky, he spoke again.

"Pheonix..."

"I will complete the mission my friend. Of that there is no doubt. However the answer to your question remains to be seen." she answered, turning away from Hector to address the ninjas.

"We need to hurry. There is not much time." She said swiftly, turning from them to lead the way to the river.

For their part the three dragons exchanged a look ot concern between each other and towards their female comrade. A look that went unnoticed by the ninjas for the most part, but one did notice.

She was different here among the Black Dragons then she was with them. She was aware of it just as much as they were; even more so in fact. They were a part of her current objective and little more in the eyes of the Black Dragon assassin. That was what she was and always would be. She knew now that there was no way to gain redemption, not for everything she'd done. There was no forgiveness for her not for that.

Since she was fated to this shadow existance of spilling other's blood, the best she could do was spill blood in order to protect others. Christian, once an ally, had threaten the lives of those closest to her. He was one who should have known better than to make such a large threat of himself. He had spilled blood of one most important to her; she intended to respond in kind. The most important person to Christian is himself. Earlier she might have hesitated to kill him for the sake of the past, but now she knew she should not hesitate.

The sting from her still open wounds are a minor annoyance, discomfort was easily ignored in the face of an far greater problem. Her vision kept becoming blurred and it was becoming difficult to focus on anything. At first she had thought that it was because of her wounds, and then she noted the numbness that was spreading through her body. It was alarming to her as it would be to any of the Black Dragons even though they would recognize the effects.

Christian had injected her with a potent mixture of sedatives and relaxants that had been made especially to bring them down. Alexei as team medic had administered it to her and the others many times before in order to keep the wounded out of the fight. Alexei had complained that they were notoriously bad patients and that she was the worse one. After the first few times she had started fighting the effects and often the fighting would finish before she sucumbed to it. Once she had started that it did not take long for the others to follow suit.

'Normally in top condition a Black Dragon could function for three days straight with only minimal food, water and rest. I was already operating at less that half of that, but now thanks to Christian I'm waning even faster. At this rate, I may not even make the river. But that's okay by me, my goal still remains Christian's fall. I will eliminate the threat by any means necessary.' she resolved to herself in her mind. She considered her life to be a small price to pay to keep them safe from Christian. If she had it her way no one would have ever known the existance of the Black Dragons.

While she was preoccupied with her thoughts, her right hand brushed over a small bush leaving blood on a couple of the did not notice it with the rain drenching everything she would not have noticed any additional wetness. However when one is in hostile territory, paying attention to even the slightest thing could mean the difference between life and it should not have been no surprise that what she had not seen, had not escaped the notice of her companions.

tbc

Thanks for reading. Let me know if there were any mistakes. MS Word's spell check did not work on library computers.