Seth and Zoa quietly crept up the stairs in the tall building. They never saw or even heard any other person. It wasn't uncommon that no one else would be where they were hired to do a job. People were out creating an alibi. But for some reason chills ran down both of their spines.
They finally reached the tower and stopped in front of the door. They both leaned their ears on the door but couldn't hear anything. She shrugged and grabbed the handle. The door didn't make a sound. They looked inside and saw the setting of a bedroom. Their target had to be in bed. They moved inside the room when the door suddenly slammed behind them. He ran back to it and grabbed the handle.
"It's locked," he said.
"No one's in here," she said.
A weird whistling like sound started and they both looked around. Gas was coming in from ventilators in the walls.
"It's a trap!" He yelled. "Cover your mouth and nose."
They both pulled their shirts up to cover themselves. He ran to the window but it was locked too. He had to break it. They needed to get out or they would be dead. He ran to a rocking chair in the room, picked it up, and smashed the window with it.
"You wanna jump down?" She asked.
"I wanna make it one floor down. Tie the sheets together," he said.
She tied the sheets together while he kicked out enough of the broken glass for them to climb through. She secured one end of the sheets to a pillar and ran to him with the other end. He jumped up in the window and started climbing down first. He reached the floor below him and kicked the window as hard as he could. It took several kicks before it finally broke. He kept kicking until he could reach an arm through and open it. It wasn't locked like the one upstairs. He got inside and stuck his upper body out of the window to look up at her.
"Climb down. I got you," he said.
She climbed down and he helped her inside the room.
"You're bleeding," she said.
He looked down and saw some of his arms between his gloves and shirt had been exposed and cut, and shrugged. It was just a bit of blood from the broken glass. He could deal with it later. He moved over to the door, opened it, and then quickly closed it again when he heard people moving around. He caught a glimpse of the first man moving up before closing the door and noticed he wasn't wearing a gas mask.
"I don't know how many there are but there are several," he whispered. "Guess this is why they were adamant on not doing this job with a gun."
She took a gun out and smirked at him.
"Good thing I never listen," she said.
He smirked too and showed her his gun as well.
"Me neither," he said. "But right now we need to get out of this room as well. They're gathering outside. My best bet is they're waiting for the gas to clear out before moving in there to see which one of us are dead up there."
"Which one of us?" She asked.
"We were double booked on purpose. We were supposed to take each other out, or at least one of us was supposed to kill the other and then go up there to die," he said.
"We won't fucking die!" She growled.
"Not a chance," he said. "Follow me."
"Do I have any other choice?" She asked.
"You always got a choice but I'm the safest one," he winked. "Let's go, Zoa."
He climbed back up in the window and grabbed the sheets.
"Gotta climb back up," he said.
"Do you wanna die?" She asked.
"No, I wanna make it to the other side since they won't see that one coming. We gotta move quickly while the room is still full of gas. They're not wearing masks so they won't enter yet. Hold your breath when we're close to the window just to be safe," he said.
He climbed up first. He placed his feet in the broken window and reached up to grab the gutter. He pulled himself up on the roof. He lied down flat on his stomach and reached his hands down to pull her up as well. They climbed up on top of the roof and sat there for a moment.
"We're gonna climb to the tower on the other side and go down that way. That side is a mirror version of the side we just walked up in. We know how that looks and I bet you got a photographic memory like me. You can flip that around easily in your head. You didn't make it in this business for this many years if you weren't smart," he said.
She grinned at him and then suddenly grabbed him behind his head and leaned closer.
"If I'm gonna die tonight, I want one last kiss," she said.
She kissed him and deepened the kiss, and he welcomed it for the few seconds it lasted. She broke the kiss and they both smirked at each other.
"And when we're out of here alive and safe, I want more than that," he said.
"Cocky ass," she said.
"You've heard of me," he grinned.
They started moving down the roof on the other side. They both looked over the edge and down at the window belonging to the left side tower. It would be a long and nasty fall if one of them slipped.
"No sheets," she said.
"I got this," he said.
"You keep saving my ass. You should have gone into the medical field," she said.
"I believe in assisted suicide," he chuckled.
He maneuvered himself around so he was hanging with his arms up on the roof.
"I can't kick hard enough in this position and I don't trust the gutter to hold me up long enough. Any chance you can assist me with a bullet?" He asked.
"I only have ten," she answered.
"Do you ever miss?" He asked.
"No," she answered.
She leaned over the roof and aimed her gun close to his feet. She fired once and the glass shattered around his feet. With the glass already damaged and broken, he could kick out the rest. He cut himself again as he moved through the glass but once again he didn't care. He leaned his upper body out of the window and looked up at her.
"I got you," he said.
"This is not like on the other side where I was holding on to the fucking sheets," she said.
"I won't drop you. I promise," he said.
"The irony of putting my life in the hands of a hitman," she said. "Here goes nothing."
She moved around and started lowering herself. She felt him grab her ankles first and then he systematically moved his hands up her legs the further down she got. He wrapped his arms around her thighs and held on tight.
"Let go," he said.
"Fuck my life," she said.
She let go and felt him pull her inside the tower with speed. He landed on his back with her on top of him.
"This won't be the last time tonight you're on top of me," he said.
"We'll see," she smirked. "We still gotta get out of here alive."
"That's easy. All the idiots are on the other side looking for us. We'll take them from behind," he said.
"I bet you love taking someone from behind," she mumbled.
She pushed herself up but he grabbed her and pulled her down for a kiss.
"I fucking love it!" He growled. "I'll show you later."
"I thought I was going to be on top," she said.
"I last more than five minutes, sugar," he said.
"No pet names," she wrinkled her nose. "I don't like them."
"Fair enough," he grinned. "You can get off me now."
She stood up and reached a hand down to pull him up as well. They both quickly went over their weapons to make sure everything was the way it was supposed to be.
"Ready?" He asked.
"You know we're not getting the full payday for this," she sighed. "At least we got half up front."
"We'll survive. Like I said, you're a smart one. I doubt after this many years in the business that you actually need the money," he said.
"True," she grinned. "I'm in it for the thrill of it and because I'm damn good at what I do."
"Me too," he grinned back. "So let's go show these motherfuckers who's in charge."