Page 59 of Assassin: Part 1

“I’m going to be killing the Bratva Butcher.” I say it so casually that at first they don’t react.

Then they gape at me. “By yourself?” Reaper gasps. “That’s not fucking possible. He’s the big boss of assassins. People have tried to kill him so many times over the years they finally gave up. And you think you’re going to do it alone?”

“I never said I was alone.”

“What, you have another team we don’t know about?” Hunter demands. “Then why the hell aren’t they helping us too if you think it’ll be so easy to kill him?”

“I never said it was going to be easy to kill him.”

“Then why aren’t you working with us to get him in that school and blow him up in it.”

“Because he won’t be there.” I guess now is the time to start giving them a little extra information. I can sense they’re getting pissed. Not that I care, but I have no desire to find new people to run this operation at this point. “The Bratva Butcher has been called away from the school. It’s the time to get the school cleaned out and kill him when he’s not on home soil. Simple.”

“And you might end up getting yourself killed in the process if he figures out you’re after him,” Reaper snaps. “Then what?”

“Then we disband and go about our normal lives,” Hunter states, shrugging. They smirk at me. “Or we fight for who takes over.”

“I’ll be dead, so I don’t care. But none of that is why we’re here right now. We have less than a week to get this done. After tonight, there is no changing course. It has to work.” I look at them all, cold, determined. “And if any of you decide to fuck me over, then you’ll be joining the Butcher. Do your job, and when this is over, we’ll have delivered a major blow to some of the biggest criminal syndicates in the world. From there, we move to the next phase.”

“The one where we get targets on our backs?” Reaper mutters.

“Targets that will make it clear we aren’t to be fucked with. None of them are safe, and if they don’t toe the line, they will answer to us,” I state.

They all smile, dark and satisfied.

“I can get behind that,” Hunter agrees. “Does that mean we need to get robes and daggers and shit now? That’d be pretty cool.”

“I vote for a creepy lair somewhere too,” Reaper adds, smirking. “The plane is nice, but killing the pilots all the time is going to lower the pool of people we can rely on to fly the damn things.”

“I’m already working on it. But that’s for later. Right now, we’re going through our plans one more time before we land. No mistakes.”

It takes another hour before everyone feels confident that we’re in the best possible place. When we land, Reaper and Hunter leave, drifting seamlessly into the darkness of the trees.

I turn when Enforcer, who is really Mishka in a very well-crafted disguise, like myself, walks down the steps from the plane, dragging the lifeless body of the pilot behind them. He glares at me and tosses the body into the woods. Did I mention the landing strip is in a heavily populated predator area? That body will be gone in a few hours. Long after we’ve left.

“We might have some problems with them when this is over,” he mutters, glancing at the trees where Reaper and Hunter have disappeared.

“We’ll deal with it then. You ensure they’re gone. I’m going to destroy the files and clean down the plane.”

“The plane you stole from a certain Pakhan who’s going to kill you the next time he sees you?” he taunts before he stalks into the forest.

I smirk. I think he’s starting to come around to liking me. I mean, he kind of flipped out when I told him what I did, but then he wisely saw the humor in the situation. Which reminds me, I have a little present to get ready to send to my pet once we fly to our next destination.

Giddy and calmed down from my jealous rage, I head inside to start cleaning. After all, I wouldn’t want my pet’s plane to be a mess when he gets it back.

My plan is finally coming together, and in only a few short days, I’ll be able to see my pet again. I’m kind of looking forward to seeing what he’s going to do when I get there.

23

LANE

TWO DAYS LATER

“What’s your plan exactly?” Mishka asks as I make notes on the board in front of me. With too many moving pieces to leave to chance, we are in our gear, ready to move at a moment’s notice.

I turn and give him a bland stare. “Did you get knocked in the head coming in here earlier?”

“No, but I almost fucking fell to my death. You didn’t tell me that I actually had to repel down here. A fucking cave, Lane? Really? Could you get any more insane?”