As soon as I heard the muted steps fall onto the landing, I was up. I picked up my gun and slinked behind the door in a matter of seconds. When a hand fell on the door's handle, I held out my gun in front of me, ready to pull the trigger as soon as a threat appeared. There was a slight hesitation before the handle gently shifted to remove the lock and open the door. Whoever it was hesitated again, clearly unsure of what they wanted. I wasn't, if they were a threat to me, they would not be seeing the top of the hour.
"Honey, I don't know where you are, but could you not kill me?" My baby's voice filtered through the silence of the room, and I let out the breath I had been holding and moved from my hiding spot, gun still raised.
She let the door go and it swung inward, revealing the luscious beauty that was my girlfriend, who raised her hands, head tilted, looking curiously at my gun. She had been with me long enough to know that would be my reaction to her surprise, hence the hesitation. She had a cute pink outfit in a color I would never be caught dead in, a short, tight mini skirt with a matching crop top. Her raven black braids had a patch of white at the front, the latest hairstyle, or so I was told. I was never one to care about my looks, not to say that I was lacking in any way. I had turned plenty of heads my way thanks to her magical styling skills.
"You know the only way I could ever kill you is with pleasure!" I winked at her, trying my best to sound flirtatious, but her repulsed face told me how badly I was failing
"I don't know what that was, but let's never do that again. Get your fine ass in the shower because we are leaving in exactly ten minutes whether you are dressed or not."
If I didn't know her well enough, I would have called her on her bluff, but we had been working together far longer than we had been dating, and I knew for a fact that she would drag me out by my hair when her timer went off. She was, if nothing, a stickler for time. I took a quick cold shower, not too keen on cleaning myself, it was intended to wake my body up. In less than two hours, I would be sweating and covered with someone else's blood if I was lucky or my blood if I wasn't. I was out of the bathroom in three minutes and dressed in two. She looked at me with disapproval but said nothing. She would have the luxury of acting as bait while I bare-knuckled men who were less chivalrous than I liked.
As soon as I was in the car, I began to inspect the weapons that had been laid out on the back seat for me. I went through each one of my four guns, inspecting them for any signs of damage. There would be no time for mistakes once the mission began. The car was silent as I completed my life-saving ritual up until the last gun before the rustling of papers and the tapping of keyboards ensued. There was a pause in the muted chaos, causing me to look up from shining my knife to find my baby looking expectantly at me. As soon as she had my attention, she resumed her typing with her left hand while her right held out a paper for me. On it was a man I had never seen before but probably had to kill before the day ended.
"That is our target for today. He is a well-known associate of the Mexican cartel, and his death will create the gap we require to infiltrate the organization. He will have three security personnel with him, but his compound will have exactly fifteen well-trained mercenaries. I finally got a clearance on that drone I wanted, so if all goes well, I will take out at least ten of them, giving you a fighting chance. He has a meeting at his villa later this evening, but he will be dead by then. You will have exactly an hour to get to him and eliminate him; mistakes like last time will not be tolerated."
I couldn't help but admire the dry monotone she used while addressing me when on a mission. My passionate girlfriend who curled my toes just as much as I curled hers was gone replaced by an agent whose only priority was to complete her tasks, casualties be damned. That was one of the reasons we worked out as a couple, we had matching traumas and coping mechanisms, a true match of the ages. I saw a flash of concern flit through her face before her mask of indifference slid back into place. I leaned in close to her so our driver, another agent who was likely there as the backup, couldn't hear what I was about to tell her.
"Don't worry, babe, you know I can't give your cranberry sauce up, I will be back to continue where we left off before you ran out on me last night." I sat back and the satisfaction of watching her cheeks flush, and in that moment, I fell for her a little more. That was all the encouragement I needed.
I studied the blueprints that had also been presented to me, which not only contained the schematics of the house but also the positions of the guards as well as where my target would be. My baby was nothing if not thorough. I couldn't help but wonder if today was the last day I would walk out of my house, and sadly enough, that idea spurred me to do my best. I knew I would die in the field, it was only a matter of time but I would be damned if my life did not end on a legendary note. 'she gave as much as hell as she received' were the words I wanted written on my stone. There was no love lost between me and this life, but if I were to die, I would rather die fighting, it was all I had ever known.
"We are here."
I glanced out at the trees surrounding us, and I was immediately wary. Of course, they could not drive right up to the man's villa without being spotted, and these trees provided sufficient cover, but it was also the prime position for an ambush. My baby rolled down the window and flew her drone out, which she used to scope out the area first. When she was satisfied, she motioned for me to proceed, and I finally got out of the car. It was a warm day, the sun was shining brightly, and there was a gentle breeze in the air that carried with it the tropical scent of freedom. In the distance, I could hear a bird calling out, but the woods surrounding us remained silent save for the barely audible rustling of the leaves. This was a good day to die.
I crept up to the house, wary of my surroundings until I saw guards in view. The drone that had been circling above surged forward, and a few seconds later, the four men at the gate fell, dead before they even had a chance to draw their weapons. The drone flew past the guards, and I silently waited for her to give the signal so I could proceed. Her voice came into my ear a minute later.
"Eight guards down. I am stalking the rest without risking the drone getting sighted. The front is clear, and Robin has disabled all the security cameras. He will guide you into the house."
I walked out from behind the tree I was hiding behind and moved as fast as I could while crouching relatively close to the ground. The smaller I was, the harder I was to target. I ran straight past the dead guards straight up to the closed front door. I took a deep breath before pushing the door past another dead guard at the entrance, careful not to make any alarming noises.
"One of the other men saw the drone and alerted the others. There are two heading your way now, they will be on you in exactly five seconds," Robin, our backup, called out from my earpiece.
I took shelter behind the living room wall just as I heard footsteps bursting through the now-open door.
"We have intruders in the house!" one of them called out, probably saying the words through their two-way radio to alert the guards in the house.
I waited quietly, watching their figures approach through a mirror that was hung opposite where I was crouching. As soon as one came into view, I shot at him, the bullet going through his head. I launched myself from the wall, grabbed onto the falling him, and dragged him to me using the now limp body as a shield. I aimed at the remaining man and sent a bullet through his skull before someone shot at me, the bullet grazing my shoulder. The burst of pain served only to sharpen my senses as it turned around and took down the man barreling down the stairs, but not before he pumped two shots into my human shield.
"The drone is down and two more men are approaching from outside!" Robin called out
I wasted no time going up the stairs and made it to the top landing in time to have a bullet whiz past me. However, I had higher ground and a better view of the men even when lying on the floor. I wasted no time in putting them down. Up here, I had the advantage, but only from the men below I was vulnerable if another personal guard on this floor came. I glanced at the door as if guided by instinct in time to see a man peep out, and I shot at him but missed. The door opposite where I was lying down was open, so I threw myself into the room. There were no windows here, so they couldn't target me from outside, which was the only good part. I had also successfully trapped myself in a room with only one way out.
I immediately started looking for another exit, but there were none, no vents in sight, and no time to find my secret door, although there was no chance of there being any. My only chance was to outshoot everyone, and standing there panting from exhaustion, my shoulder bleeding, I never felt more alive. I pulled out the almost empty magazine and replaced it with a full one. I whipped out my second gun, ready as I would ever be.
My curtain was roughly pulled aside to let the light in, the glaring brightness grounding me. Sunshine stood with hands on her waist like a disapproving mother, and I couldn't help the laugh that burst out of me. She shook her head, not amused, before signing breakfast and then briskly walking out. The storm had cleared and the sun was shining as if nothing had happened. I did not have to go outside to know that the sand was almost dry and the concrete was, without a doubt, dry as well. Storms in these parts were brutal, but their effects were short-lived. It didn't matter how long it raged; a few hours into the next day, the blazing sun reset everything back to how it was. I dragged myself reluctantly out of bed, hooray! I got to live through another excruciating day.