“Great… So, what’s up?”
He gestures to the room behind me. “You not gonna ask me in?”
“No.”
He smiles. “I’m sure Miss Moss won’t mind.”
Huh?
I raise an eyebrow, but say nothing.
“No privacy, remember? You gotta learn to keep up — this is getting embarrassing.”
“Hey, fuck you, alright? What do you want?”
“We think you’re being hunted.”
“Yeah, I think so, too. What’s it to you?”
“Horizon gave you a job to do. My job is to make sure you do yours. Sometimes, that means I gotta give people… an incentive. Other times it means I gotta watch their backs.”
“And which is this?”
“The latter. For now.”
I step to the side and he strides into the middle of the room. He turns to face me and catches sight of Kaitlyn. He nods a polite greeting. “And you must be the therapist. Nice to meet you.”
She looks at me. I can see concern and confusion in her eyes. “Adrian, what’s going on?”
Pierce turns to me and raises an eyebrow. “Adrian, eh? You’ve told her your real name? Tut tut…”
I wave my hand dismissively. “She’s bound by confidentiality, so she won’t say anything to anyone. She’s not a threat. Anyway, I hadn’t told her anything. I was forced to when you stormed in here like a stampede of wild assholes… I had to say something.”
“Whatever. I’m here because you’ve got bigger problems.”
“So what else is new…? What is it this time?”
“Lily.”
I frown and actively avoid making eye contact with Kaitlyn. “She’s not a problem. I’ve been told to kill her, and I will. Admittedly, only because I have no choice, but even so — I will.”
“Oh, I know. That’s not the problem. The problem is we’re pretty sure she’s showing some initiative and actually hunting you.”
I take a breath. “Ah…”
“She’s found a way to hack into our network, which means she has access to the information received from the tracking devices. Which means she has eyes on every asset The Order has.”
“Oh…”
“We’ve been monitoring her movements, and we know she’s in a nearby building right now. I think it’s pretty obvious she’s making a pre-emptive effort to get rid of you.”
I pace back and forth, processing what Pierce has just said.
Kaitlyn steps close to me and puts a hand on my arm. “Adrian, what does all this mean?”
She didn’t hide the tremble of fear in her voice.
I stop and look at her “You need to… just… gimme a minute, alright? I’m trying to wrap my head around this myself.”
I carry on pacing for a moment, and then turn to Pierce. “I don’t understand why she would suddenly want to kill me. We were—”
He raises an eyebrow. “Friends? Adrian, she’s been in The Order a lot longer than you have. She knows how we work. She’ll know Horizon will give you the contract to take her out, and she knows you can’t turn it down, which means she knows it’s only a matter of time before you try to kill her. Fuck friendship, man. It’s just basic survival tactics.”
“Yeah, but she has the same device in her neck, right? Surely she knows that if she were to somehow take me out, Horizon, or you, or whoever, could just push a button and blow her head clean off her shoulders?”
He shrugs. “I didn’t say it makes sense, I just said it’s happening.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “Shit…”
Kaitlyn moves over to me. “Adrian, you have to tell me what’s happening! I don’t understand!”
I stand and face her and put my hands on her shoulders. “Kaitlyn, I appreciate this is a big ask, but I need you to trust me. Once I get you safe, I promise I’ll explain everything. But right now, you need to focus on the fact there’s a very dangerous assassin trying to kill me, and anyone who’s with me is just as deep in the shit as I am. I’m the only one who can protect you right now, so you have to stick with me.” I gesture to Pierce with my thumb. “Hopefully, this guy’s gonna get us out of here, and then I can get you out of the city.”
“But, Adrian, after everything you’ve told me about Lily, do you really think she would just try and kill you without at least talking to you first?”
I nod. “Everything I’ve told you about Lily is only half the story, I’m sorry. And yeah, under the circumstances, I think she would, because neither one of us has much choice in the matter. We either kill the other one, or we die.” I turn to Pierce. “So, what’s the plan?”
He gestures to his men standing in the hall. “Me and my team are gonna make sure you get out of here in one piece. You’re in no position right now to take her out. She has the advantage, so it’s my job to protect you long enough for you to get your head out of your ass and do your job.”
I go to say something, but stop myself.
I’ve always had this ability to make things… I don’t know… slow down. I’ve learned how to stay calm to the point where things seem to start moving slower than normal, which ultimately helps me see things other people don’t. It helps me plan my next move, react quickly, and find resolutions to problems others probably won’t even identify.
It also seems to be linked to my spider sense, as if my subconscious automatically activates the ability when it knows I need it. It only ever happens when shit’s hitting the fan… or when it’s about to.
I stopped myself from saying anything because the world is slowing down right now. The room is unchanged. The people in it aren’t doing anything different. But… yeah — there’s definitely a noise that doesn’t belong. It’s like a roaring, whooshing sound, and it’s coming from outside.
I turn to look out the window.
“Shit! Everyone move!”
I lunge to grab Kaitlyn by the arm and sling her through the open door. She stumbles and falls to the floor. I ignore Pierce and move to follow her, but I’m not fast enough. Time resumes its usual speed as the RPG hits the building just below the window. The impact shakes the foundations, like an earthquake. The thunderous explosion completely shatters the glass, hurling thousands of tiny shards into the room.
I grit my teeth. “Fuck!”
I didn’t make it out of the room. I was blown into the far corner by the blast, and I’m lying face down in agony. My back feels wet and sticky, torn to shreds by the glass. With the exception of the loud, constant ringing in my ears, I’m completely deaf, and my equilibrium’s all kinds of screwed.
What the hell just happened?
I push myself up with one arm and look to my left. Pierce is laying a few feet away from me, looking almost as bad as I feel.
I frown. Christ, it’s hot…
I look behind me at the window.
It’s gone. There’s a sizeable hole in the side of the building, and flames are climbing into the room. I shake my head, trying to clear some of the fog. Background noise is slowly starting to register. The crackling of the flames is prominent. I can also hear what sounds like… crumbling, maybe? And screams. Definitely screams…
Shit, Kaitlyn!
I turn the other way and look over at the door. I can see a pair of legs lying motionless, but nothing else. Man, I hope they’re still attached to someone…
I take some deep breaths, but because of the smoke filling the room, I start coughing. “Kait… Kait… Kaitlyn!”
I close my eyes and frown, summoning all the focus I can to drown out the extraneous noise.
I still can’t hear anything.
“Kaitlyn!”