Lethal Combination

Through the glass wall where she can see the picturesque view of the city she is currently in, Ainsdale watches without interest as the cars speed along the highway, leaving a trail of light behind. A towel was messily placed on her shoulders and droplets of water from the tips of her hair fell on it. She could faintly see her reflection in the glass - a woman wearing a camisole and silk shorts was staring back at her.

She doesn’t have any visible cuts or wounds which will surely make her mother faint. She was careful enough not to sustain any because she was about to go back after staying out of her mother country for more than two years since the last time she was home. She didn’t want her family to see how dangerous her job was, even though they knew what it is she did just to quench her boredom.

Everything looked fine aside from the glaring bruise on her shoulder. Her fair skin is starting to turn dark and it sure is going to turn purple due to the damaged blood vessels caused by whatever it is that was forcefully injected into her during her last assignment. It looked like her body was rejecting it. She tried applying pressure on her bruise only to wince in pain.

She turned and looked around her room. The suite she’s staying at is engulfed in darkness. She never bothered to turn the lights on when the sun disappeared from the horizon. Her only source of light was from the moon that hangs in the night sky and from the lights of the surrounding buildings around her. She glanced at her smart watch on the bed: 23:00 was clearly on display. Her eyes then wandered off to the things lying beside them. Things that could very well give others the idea of what she does for a living.

She’s not a woman who plays with jewelry, fragrances and branded belongings. She’s not a woman who goes clubbing on a Friday night trying to flirt with some stranger, nor a woman who attends social gatherings on a daily basis to gain connection. No. She’s actually the type who plays with guns and knives, a woman who has actually killed someone without questions asked just because she was ordered to do so. The very last thing you’d thought her to be. Her salary is not on a monthly basis like a normal job would offer. Her job is, after all, something that can’t be considered normal. Ever since she joined the organization, she has been being paid depending on the level of danger her assignments had and how fast she could get it done.

The silence of the room was broken when her phone rang, which made her look over her phone.

“You have an incoming call, Ms. Castiglione. Would you like to receive it?” Her intelligence system which she designed herself notified her of an incoming call.

“Identify.”

“The number is registered with Drake Nikos. Shall I direct it to voicemail?”

She knew it was not his real name and, after digging for a while when she got back from her assignment the other night when her curiosity took over, she could literally steal his life right about now if she wished to do so. But, she can’t blame him. After all, with their type of job, she herself is known by the pseudo name she’s using - a name given by The Organization the minute they were contracted to work under it as assassins and spies who mingle among normal citizens of the country they were dispatched to until they finish whatever assignments they were given.

“Put him on speaker.” She instructed as she walked towards her bed.

“Aster…” was all he said, calling her by her pseudo-name, before he went completely silent at his end. It’s like he didn’t know what to say next.

“How were you able to get my private line?”

“Lewis.”

She tsked. Of course it could only be that man. She already half expected it.

“You really are his favorite, aren’t you? He made me beg for it a few months back when I told him I might need your assistance one day. I didn’t know I’d literally use it,” he then continued to explain.

Ainsdale couldn’t help but think about what happened two nights ago. She’s not supposed to get involved with the organization’s activities anymore because, as of last week, she’s no longer connected to them. She just couldn’t say ‘no’ when the director himself asked her for a favor, half expecting the worst which actually happened…

From the five-man team which was dispatched to infiltrate a certain site where they were preparing the vials containing an unnamed drug for distribution, she was only able to extract Drake out because by the time she arrived at the said place, she knew it was already too late. With much effort, she was able to take him directly to a car she hijacked which was parked not too far away from the building that is currently being engulfed by a raging fire.

She studied him as she immediately checked on his sustained wounds. There was no way he’d let him die on her watch. “I need to take you to the hospital,” she told him, knowing that his life was in danger.

Drake shook his head ‘no’. If only he could, he’d surely fight her if she insisted, but his whole body was starting to get numb with all the pain he was feeling in almost every part of his body.

“You need immediate medical attention. With the tools I have with me, I can’t guarantee that you’ll survive the night.”

“You know we c-can’t afford to be found out by the a-authorities. They’ll surely detain us after just one look.”

She glanced over their current state. Blooded, wounded and wearing all black attire. From a civilian’s point of view, they look like thieves whose plan to steal something went wrong. Drake mentioned a place almost in a whisper. When she checked the map on her watch, the place he mentioned was half an hour away from where they’re currently at.

“M-my family is there tonight. T-they will k-know what to do.”

“Can you last for another half an hour? That’s the nearest route I can find.”

Drake nodded. “I will live.”

Ainsdale sighed. She was left with no choice but to inject him with morphine to ease his pain a little before putting him in the backseat as she patched him up temporarily to stop him from bleeding out. She drove away from that place as she glanced at him through the mirror from time to time. “How can I contact them?”

With little strength left in him, Drake pulled out his phone from his pocket and gave it to her.

“Drake, who shall I call?” She asked but he did not respond, making her check on him through the mirror once again.

He was barely conscious and she knew he didn’t have any strength left to talk. It’s as if he was only conscious enough to stay alive. Upon reaching a junction, she turned right, going straight to the place Drake asked her to while evading all CCTV and check points on the road.

It was around a few minutes past one in the morning when she finally reached the place Drake told her to go to. She decided to park the car by the bay, which was as empty as a haunted place, to avoid any unwanted attention before she went into the back seat and checked his vitals. Fortunately, he’s still alive even though he is barely breathing.

With the small flashlight in her mouth, she immediately took out the first aid kit from her backpack that rests on the passenger’s seat. Not spending another minute, she gave Drake temporary treatment which would help him last the night.

Drake groaned in pain but held himself from screaming. Fortunately, he was only shot in his thigh and shoulder. He had a few deep cuts here and there but she could temporarily stop those from bleeding. If he’s going to die, it’s going to be because of blood loss from the gunshots he sustained. “The h-hell. Are you t-trying to kill me?”

“Shut up. I would have left you there to die if that was my intention. Now, be still.” She said as she did her best to stop him from bleeding to death. “I’m going to inject you with morphine again. It will help you withstand the pain since I’ll be taking out the bullets from your wounds,” she informed him afterwards as she pulled a vial from her medicine kit and a syringe.

“I d-don’t think I w-want to put my w-whole trust in you regarding that m-matter.”

“I’m a licensed surgeon. Don’t worry,” she said as she pulled out the medical tools she would need and Drake looked at her with unsaid questions in his eyes, probably wondering what a licensed physician would be doing in this kind of job.

But she is not only a physician if one talks about professions. She is a systems and computer engineer with a background in advanced robotics who got bored at some point in her life and enrolled at a medical school, which she abruptly passed with flying colors. And that was before she got herself involved with the activities of the organization.

She focused her attention first on the gunshot wounds and removed the bullets one by one before moving onto his deep cuts. When she was almost done, she reached for Drake’s phone and called whoever it was that called him last within the span of twenty-four hours and left the phone on speaker. Just as she finished bandaging him and tidying up her things, a voice which was obviously from a sleep-deprived person answered the phone call after it was redialled twice.

“Stefano, you bastard. Hai idea di che hora sia? (Do you have any idea what time it is?)" His Italian accent clearly resounds as he growls the words in irritation over the phone. She could not blame him. After all, it was almost 2am. “What do you want at one fucking fifty-eight in the morning? You maybe my cousin, but I swear I will put a bullet in your head the next time I see you if it’s not even important.”

“He has been shot and is barely unconscious. He’s in a navy blue Subaru XV parked by the northside bay of Eastbourne Central Park.”

A few seconds of silence passed before the man on the other side spoke. “And am I supposed to believe you? Who knows if you’re just the woman he picked up from somewhere tonight and has had a one-night stand with?”

She frowned. “Watch your words, stranger. I might kill you for that.”

The man on the other side had the audacity to laugh as if he took her words as a joke. “I would love to see you try, darling. Why are you with my cousin?”

“Because I just saved him from a certain death. You should thank me.”

“You are asking too much for someone I don’t even know, love. Would you be saying those words if you knew who I am?”

“I can find out who you are within twenty-four hours, steal your whole life and erase you from the world as if you never existed. It was a part of my job to do so after all, so I assure you, I am very good at that. But since your arrogance seemed to have seeped deep within your bones, I’ll let what you just said slide for this one chance.”

He laughed. His fascination and interest can be heard in between. “You have guts, amore (love). Who are you anyway?”

She ignored his question because she knew it would only lengthen their conversation. She put the phone beside Drake whom she had just patched up. “Your cousin needs to know it’s you.”

Drake breathed in deep before he spoke. “Alessio, be nice.”

“Shit!” the man cursed. He must have recognized his cousin’s voice even though it was only above a whisper. “What did you do this time?”

“Sabotaged assignment,” Drake simply answered as tiredness started to cope with him.

“Bring a physician with you,” Ainsdale suggested, because she knew Drake still needed to be checked for further medical management before she secured her bag on her back.

By the sound of it, the man on the other side immediately went out of his room after doing God knows what and started giving orders to someone. “Lucien, call Dr. Petrakis. Ho bisogno di lui! (I need him!)" Rushed footsteps and closing doors of cars could be heard from the other side before it ended with the engine of a car roaring to life. “Stay on the phone. We’ll be there in five.”

She looked at her watch. Five minutes. They must be just around the area. She glanced at Drake, who opened his eyes and stared at her. In an almost whispered voice she said goodbye.

Drake couldn’t protest because as fast as she treated him, she was out of the car along with all of her things in a blink. Leaving only the sound of a closing car door behind. She moved swiftly as if she had never been there with him in the first place. He doubted she had even left a finger print there.

No one but Lewis was supposed to know who she was. That’s how it always has been and that’s how it’s going to be. The only difference is that there is now someone aside from Lewis who knows what she looks like…

“Of all everyone enlisted in my contacts, did you really have to call the one that you shouldn’t have?” She heard Drake say when her thoughts came back to the present.

“What?”

“What if he didn’t come?” He continued. Obviously so stressed out about something that he only knew.

She sighed. “Well he did, didn’t he? That is why you are alive whining because of the choice I had to make,” she said, but before he could retort, she immediately changed their topic. “Regarding the rest of your team, I - ”

“Its not your fault,” he cut her. “Why were you there anyway? We weren’t informed of your involvement in Black Lake. Don’t your assignments only involve assassination and target termination? It has never been rescue and extraction.”

“Yours is a different case. I was asked personally by the director to do team extraction as a favor though I was only able to get you out.” Drake remained silent and so she continued. “Your team was planned to be disposed of at Black Lake. Lewis sent me there to intercept after he found out that your orders were fabricated to appear like they came from the organization.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Your assignment was staged to have you killed because you all have something in common - knowledge about a certain drug which the higher ups in the government who were involved in its production didn’t want to be leaked out. After all, it would be the end of them once they were found out, so they had to silence everyone who knew and your whole team knew about it. Do you get the picture?”

“How did you come to know all this?”

“I know a lot of things.” She answered vaguely. “That’s how I survived this life.”

She detached the screen from the keyboard of her laptop before she clicked a few tabs on it to enter her intelligence system’s mainframe.

“We can’t have those who wanted you dead know you’re alive. Things could get complicated. And your life will be put at risk. I didn’t save you that night for them to hunt you down until you were on the ground void with life.”

“Welcome!” AVI’s automated voice greeted her.

“AVI, I want you to search every image, information, recorded videos, voice recordings, fingerprints… everything that could link to Drake Nikos and categorize them.”

As per her request, files after files from different websites on the web and private servers suddenly appeared on her screen with the help of her intelligence system, which she named ‘AVI’.

“What are you doing?” Drake voiced out his concern since he could clearly hear her at his side. He knew she was capable. He just doesn’t know to what extent, because she always worked alone. She rather liked it that way, so she could work freely without concerning herself with other people.

“I’m about to erase your existence. The part of you who works in the organization. It’ll make it easier for you to go back to your old life.”

When the files she needed were displayed in grouped files, she pressed a few tabs to erase every trace of him on the web and every server there is around the globe. And just like that, one after the other, everything is erased and marked with ‘files unavailable’. Those which she deemed needed to be retained were marked as ‘KIA’.

“You don’t know who I am before any of this.”

“I’m sure the life you had before was much better than your life that I’m about to erase.” She countered because she already knew who Drake Nikos really was. He is Stefano Arcane. One of the heirs of the renowned Arcane family in Italy. “Have you already forgotten who I am? I know exactly who you are.”

“What about you? If they learned about your involvement in that incident, and I’m sure they will… the higher ups will surely come after you. They will never leave you alone. You’re the greatest threat to them and they won’t stop until you’re six feet under.”

“I think I’ll survive. I can always be someone else if need be. And if that doesn’t work, I can always come back and finish everything,” she answered.

Not a second later, she heard another man’s voice on Drake’s end. A familiar one at that. He was speaking in Italian and Drake answered back using the language.

“That was my cousin,” he said when he got back to her.

“Oh. The rude one.” It wasn’t a question. She actually made sure to make it a statement.

“Attento, amore. (Careful, love.)" Drake’s cousin said on the other line, making her stare into her phone like a creature from another world was about to come out of it. Did Drake put her on speaker? “I can hear you.”

Yup, he did.

Her eyebrows rose. “Nice. I actually wanted you to hear me say it.”

Drake lightly laughed after his cousin said something in Italian, but the latter said it so softly that it made her unable to hear it clearly.

“Goodbye, Aster… or whatever your real name is. And thank you.”

“Live, that is all I’m asking you.”

The second she cut the line off, she asked her intelligence system to immediately connect her to the person she wanted to talk to next. Her friend and former superior.

“Lewis,” she acknowledged when he answered the call immediately. “I have the data you needed.”

“Did you find anything else?”

“Yes. And I’m sure you won’t like every bit of it.”

She pressed a few tabs on her screen and sent the files she was able to get a hold onto directly to Lewis’ personal email. “Please check your email. It should be there by now.”

There’s a little bit of shuffling sound at Lewis’ end. For a little while, he remained silent. “My God!”

“Those were the ones involved in Black Lake.”

“How did you even get a hold onto all of these?”

Her eyebrows furrowed as if Lewis was saying such nonsense in front of her. “Did you really have to ask me that? Of course, using illegal means.”

“They’re someone who holds high positions in the government, Ains!” Lewis whispered, not believing what he saw.

“Yes, I’m aware of that.”

Sure, Lewis held a position in the organization where he could control the information coming in and out, and he could issue orders without anyone asking why. But he cannot go against political officials who have connections with more influential people without risking anything.

“We can’t have them arrested without solid evidence. And we can’t have them assassinated without raising suspicions. Most of them knew about the organization and what it does in the shadows.”

“And those who knew about us made sure to dispose of your agents by fabricating an order to dispatch them. That itself is treason against our codes. I can have the evidence if needed. In fact, I can have enough to make them wish they’d never done it in the first place. Seventy-two hours, Lewis, and I’ll be able to pin them all on the ground.”

Lewis was speechless as he racked his brain on what to do with the situation next. The profiles Ainsdale sent him were known political figures. They have power beyond measure, so they can’t afford to rush things with sudden decisions. They have to consider every possible outcome or else the organization’s whereabouts will come to light and people will know of its existence and what it does. And if ever she decides to do something in the situation herself, he’s sure it is going to cause damage.

“Or would you rather have me come after them one after the other?” She asked, uncaring. “It’s not like I haven’t taken a life before. As long as the case of Black Lake is hanging, I am going to be directly involved even though I’m not already connected to the organization.”

Lewis knew she was not bluffing. She’s the kind of person who will kill innocent people when needed if it means her target will be taken down with them. She was ready to kill a few innocents to save a hundred more. She knew she had sinned and she carried the burden alone with her head held high.

But then, he was not sure if something changed in her. After all, she had already decided to leave that kind of life for only one reason. The very same reason she entered such a dangerous job in the first place. She was bored and wanted a new life.

“They represent the country, Ains.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that.”

“I….” he sighed. “Let me see what I can do. Be on standby.”

“Of course. And another thing. I’d like to let you know that Drake Nikos is alive.”

Lewis sucked in an air of breath. “But the reports that came in this morning, which, might I add, were made by you, stated that all of them were dead.”

“Drake is alive but he will be declared KIA along with his teammates who didn’t make it out. I want every record you have with him erased, those that are printed. I don’t worry about the ones saved on removable drives since they’ll be automatically deleted once the drive is being used.”

Lewis is worried. More so, he fears that she will do something to those who were involved in the incident on her own. He knew she was more capable of doing that. In fact, it will only be easy for her if she decides to just eliminate them.

She is an assassin. A ghost trained to kill by the organization which takes no sides, yet it has ties to every government. Its sole purpose is the training and conditioning of professional killers. They are made experts in every aspect of combat and programmed for one purpose - to kill. Though she may be a woman, he knew she was the best at what she did. If she wanted to, she could take down the organization herself, burn it to ashes along with the people that run it. So, taking down the people involved in Black Lake will be just an easy task for her if ever she decides to put the laws in her own hands.

“I want your word.”

“After twenty-four hours, everything regarding Agent Nikos will be burned to ashes as well as he will be declared dead. I give you my word.”

She had to smile at that. “Great. Another thing, there’s this type of drug I took from the ones who ambushed Drake’s team at the site they were deployed at. Please have it examined.”

“What drug?”

“Not sure. But the ones who ordered the disposal of the whole team were involved in its production. It’s a liquid type. An injectable one. Both the report regarding the incident, the drug, and a blood sample will be at your doorstep tomorrow morning.”

“Blood sample?”

She pondered for a moment and decided not to tell him that it was hers. He will surely not let her off his radar if he learns that the blood sample she sent him actually belongs to her. There is a high possibility that Lewis will detain her in one of their safe houses if that happens. “Yes. The blood has been tainted with the drug. See what you can find about it.”

“I’ll have my researcher look into it first thing tomorrow.”

“Thanks! I’ll give you all the evidence you need regarding the ones involved in Black Lake as soon as I have everything. Goodbye, Lewis.”