I washed my make-up off and walked back out into the convenience store and grabbed a bottle of water and a pack of a gum. I paid for these and went back outside. I started up my old Mercury and took off for Quebec.
I sang along to the Rolling Stones while I continued to think about my list of assassinations. After Mike, I started to make my way up the ladder from least important to most important. I started with the men at the training camp and made my way up to the surgeons and scientists that enhanced my body. After those people, I started attacking the sponsors. This was a little bit more fun because I got to travel and use my many disguises.
Poor old Roscoe was the last on my list of sponsors. Now I needed to finish Project R off. I needed to kill Victoria Tompkins, Aro Basso, Carlisle Cullen, and James McCarthy. The four that started it all. First on the last list was Victoria. Women were easier than men to catch alone, especially if the woman was a part of a secret program. Aro would be fairly easy too. He had no family with him in Italy, just a lonely old man.
The other two, however, were a different story.
James, obviously, knew who I was and knew the very essence of my being. He knew things about me that I probably didn't even know.
Carlisle Cullen would be the hardest on my emotions though. He had a wife and two boys that were already grown up. He was a famous doctor in North America. He seemed like a decent guy. Just like Roscoe in a way.
I slammed on the brakes and pulled into an abandoned farm yard. I got out, breathing heavily. I burnt my gloves while I was out.
"Stop feeling guilty," I warned myself out loud. "This is what you need."
I felt the guilt and shame slowly leave my heart and become replaced with the icy vengeance. I nodded in satisfaction and got back in my car.
I sped off towards my sanctuary for a few days worth of rest and to track down Ms. Victoria Tompkins.
It only took a few days to get organized. Victoria was stationed in Chicago, living in an apartment near the government building. She probably thought she'd be safer with her peers right there, but, boy, was she ever wrong. This made my tracking job millions of times easier. I already had my favourite knife and some arsenic tucked into my purse, calling to me to use. I had turned absolutely lethal. How many people can say they have a favourite knife?
I took a few more days to build up my strength and pull some money out of my account. I was going straight from Chicago to Italy. I wanted to get the two easy targets out of the way as quickly as possible so I'd have time to concentrate on the physically and emotionally hard kills.
I left a message on my mom's answering machine from the Toronto airport, trying to lead the agency on a wild goose chase. I bought two tickets under my real name, Bella Swan, to the Northwest Territories and to Los Angeles. I hope they have fun with that, I thought with an evil grin.
Then I hopped in good old Mer and headed towards Chicago, already feeling closer to eternal contentment.
I got to Chicago and things proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated. Victoria Tompkins was always with a man. Not the same man, a different man every night. Either she had a lot of male cousins, or she was a big slut.
I had considered just killing one of the men that came home with her, but that wasn't right. I know, assassins usually don't have standards on who they kill, but I wasn't willing to kill innocent people.
Finally, after a week of sitting outside Ms. Tompkins apartment building, I found my opportunity. She was walking home with one of my fellow Project R agents.
Thank God it was one of the smart agents and not one of the brawny ones. He's have a decent sense of strategy, but not enough strength to carry it out. My strength and strategy were both well above average. This would be a piece of cake.
I recognized the man as Erick Yorkie. God, could this get any easier? He was the computer hacker of Project R. I rolled my eyes before crossing the street to Victoria's apartment. I wasn't wearing a disguise today. I was going to pretend that I was ready to be loyal again and then, as subtly as possible, kill them both.
I entered the apartment building and asked the man at the front desk where I could find Ms. Victoria Tompkins.
He gave me a confused look. Apparently Victoria was more of a slut than I thought.
"Apartment four-oh-three, floor four," he said with another confused look.
"I'm here sister," I said with a smile.
"Ah," he said, finally relaxing his scowl.
I smiled and went into the elevator.
I took a deep breath before slipping my knife into my jacket pocket. This could be a little bit more challenging than usual. I'd never taken on two people at once.
I got out of the elevator and quickly identified door number four-oh-three. I knocked quietly and waited, playing with my sunglasses.
The door swung open.
"Redbird?" Victoria asked, her eyes wide. "What-what are you doing here?"
I smiled. "I decided to re-declare my loyalty to Project R. I've been bored out of my tree for the past few years."
"Oh-h, do come in," Victoria said, stepping to the side.
She was nervous. That was good. And her apartment wasn't cramped. There was nowhere for her or Yorkie to hide.
"So, where have you been all these years?" she asked, slipping in front of me. I saw that her hair was slightly awry. Her and Yorkie had been doing something dirty....
"Mostly in Quebec," I said, looking for any signs of hidden camera. "It has a certain... je ne sais quoi, feeling to it." I smirked and turned to face her. "How's Project R been going?"
"Very good," Victoria said, looking down at the counter she was leaning on. "We've only lost one of our members, Tyler Crowley, to a mishap in Korea. At least he took a dozen foreign spies down with him."
I nodded, pretending to be impressed. There were no cameras that I could see, but it didn't matter. I needed to get out of her quickly. My plane left in an hour.
"Who else is in the apartment, Tompkins?" I asked, taking my sunglasses off and looking her straight in the eyes.
"What do you mean, Redbird?" she asked, trying to look innocent.
"I know there's someone else here," I said, giving her a cold glare. "Your doorman told me."
Her eyes widened and she swallowed loudly. Now she was really nervous.
"It's just another agent," she stammered. "His flight got delayed and he asked if he could spend the night."
"Who?" I repeated coolly.
"Roger, Agent Roger," she said quietly.
I smiled, mocking delight. "Ah, Yorkie. I haven't seen him since Assassin's Camp. How is he? Or can he tell me himself?"
"Uh, sure," Victoria said. "Roger! Redbird is here and she would like to see you!"
Yorkie emerged from the bedroom looking thoroughly guilty. I smiled at him, clenching my knife tightly.
"Yokrie," I said with a nod. "How are you?"
"Fine, thank you," he said quietly, looking at the ground. "And you?"
"Just Jim Dandy," I said, smiling. "How's the hacking going? Before I left you were working on an FBI computer. Those buggers wouldn't leave us alone, huh?"
Yorkie nodded with a nervous smile. "Yeah, I hacked them pretty quickly. But ever since Cullen became head of the bureau, we've been working together."
"Cullen?" I asked in surprise. "As in Carlisle's son? Since when?"
"Yes, Emmett," Yorkie continued. "Just last year. And Edward, Carlisle's other son, is a top dog in international affairs. We see a lot of him down at the office."
"I bet," I said, still surprised. Over a year ago? Why hadn't I been keeping tabs on the FBI? Jesus, I needed to get my act together. Later, I reminded myself.
"Well, I best be off. I have a flight to D.C.," I said quickly. "I'm meeting James there."
I went for Yorkie first. I shook his hand with a friendly smile.
"Take care of yourself, Roger," I said. I grabbed my knife and pulled him into a hug, shoving the knife through his stomach.
He groaned before I shoved him away.
Victoria looked at me in horror and I smiled evilly.
"C'mon, Tompkins, can't you give an old friend a hug?" I asked.
She backed into the counter behind her and tears filled her eyes.
"See you in hell," I said before stabbing her in the throat. She'd be dead soon.
I checked Yorkie's pulse. He was already dead. I quickly washed my knife in the sink and shoved my gloves down the garbage disposal. I left my jacket on Victoria's coat rack; it didn't matter if they knew it was me, and left the apartment building.
I smiled at the doorman and he gave me a worried look. Hmm, I wonder why.
I hopped into a cab and called a tow truck to come and pick up my Mercury. I'd pick the old girl up when I got back.
We arrived at the airport just in time to board. I threw my knife out before entering my terminal and then boarded the plane without any trouble.
I was off to Italy to finish another person off. But I couldn't help but to notice a very attractive man with bronze hair and emerald green eyes staring at me.
Ah, and the plot thickens! I know, I know, I said I wasn't going to be posting anything else until 2009, but I finished this unexpectedly, so I posted it. Hope everyone enjoys and Happy (early) Christmas Eve!
Just to clear some things up: Redbird is Bella's agent name. Yorkie, Eric, and Roger are all the same person, Bella is just getting back into using Project R slang. It seems confusing, but it's not really.
