Boxes & Smoke

“Strip,”

Carver acted as if he were shocked in place. In this business they live in, those kinds of things were never new to him. But this time, he needed to make an impression on the people here.

He pretended to be nervous, making his hands forcefully shake and his words stutter. “M’lady... I don’t think-”

“Stuttering are we?” Paisley said, smiling sheepishly.

You’ll be the one stuttering if I ever got serious about this.

“Didn’t you hear me? Strip,”

Carver began to unbutton his sleeves. He slowly did it to show his facade of hesitation. Which had stupidly worked on the lady.

Alexei

“I just killed this girl’s grandfather and now you want me to apply as her driver?”

“No! Not just a driver-- but a driver with a substance!” The woman wearing office attire beamed at him. “Listen, Alexe- Carver I mean, we must get close to our enemy to tear them down completely. And you’re the one perfect for the job”

“This is stupid”

“You’re our best assassin in the faction. So for our boss, you need to take this mission”

Carver approached the couch in the room and crossed his legs as he stared intently at the woman. Just one push and she might even kneel in front of him begging for his approval on the job.

“And what do I get in return?” Carver continued.

“The boss would grant any of your desires. Let it be money, recognition, a rise in position-- anything”

“Those are the same things I get whenever I complete a bounty”

Carver was never fond of the driver application in the first place. He might be the faction’s best assassin for all he cares, but that doesn’t mean they needed to send the same man for a ridiculous job.

“I do not get why you would take me for the job, where I murdered the old man of the house. It’s a complete idiocracy to do that. They could track our main headquarters and would wipe out the organization. And by that time, I would be dead”

“No one could do it but you,”

“David could. His hands were an expert to wheels and stuff where I’ve lived my whole life targeting people on their heads”

Melissa sat down beside him. She met his eyes while Carver returned the look in the most uncaring way. “Listen, Alexei,”

“Code names are meant to be used” Carver answered.

Melissa reached for Carver's hand. “They’ve been tracking down the killer of the Schleifer, and we needed to take extra precautions. Once they’ve known that this killer is a part of our organization, we would have a hard time fending them off. So we needed someone to act as a spy to gather information. And with that, you could sabotage their plan. Because, we could estimate that at any time soon they’ll declare war on every organization, including us”

Carver batted her hand away, “Isn’t that what we all wanted? Rage war between the mafia. And let the underworld know who’s at the top?”

Melissa heaved a deep breath. “If a war were to happen, our organization would be at a disadvantage. Even if we got you in our faction. The moment you’ve killed the head of the Schleifer, that had already hinted at an upcoming battle. And we needed to be prepared. The Schleifer mafia is not easy to deal with, they have connections internationally. So, we needed to sabotage that and be the first ones to cut their connection to neighboring organizations and take it to our care instead.”

“And me applying as this girl’s driver would play a major role in making that happen?” Carver is beginning to think yet he was still quite frustrated that he had been pulled to the job.

Murdering the boss of the Schleifer is a big play in his cards. But it seems as if the faction had disregarded that and still made him take the fucking application. Seriously? He wanted a break. A break such as killing minor drug lords instead of this spy thing.

Melissa nodded. “If you applied as her bodyguard, you’ll get caught. You need to act like a normal person this time. Once you’ve taken the job, we’ll do the rest. We’ll cut any possible connection that could be tracked to your real identity. ”

“And if I found something? How would I be able to contact you without their suspicion?” He followed Melissa as she stood up and began to check something on her laptop.

“Travis would be right up to that. You need to send a signal, and he’ll meet you”

“Again, Melissa, that’s utterly stupid” Carver fixed his sleeves and reached for the glass of alcohol on the table in front of him.

“It’s not. Our best tactician had planned everything on this part.” Melissa said, hiding her smile.

“The best tactician, I know no one but Sarah” Carver emptied his glass. He felt the hot liquid running through his throat. And it’s pleasure for him.

“My sister had entrusted me with her wits!” Melissa argued. Long gone were her pleading eyes for Carver. Though the man didn’t reply to her. “So, would you take the application?”

“Do I even have a choice?” And yet, Carver must be honest to himself, that this is the first time he has accepted a stupid mission.

It was always him watching his target from a scope and pulling the trigger. After that, he would vanish from the site and come back with an expected headline of a dead body on television. He had done countless bounties, and everything had fallen into success. He had only failed once before.

Melissa beamed a smile at him again. “Then, sniper no more. Say hello to…”

Before Melissa could finish her sentence, Carver stormed out of the room.

Carver stood on the enemy base. He wore decent white sleeves and stood firmly in front of the new head of the Schleifer mafia. He was asked several questions if he had the guts to be a part of this world. To which Carver had been dying to say ‘yes sir. If you could excuse me I could demonstrate the resolve right now, just give me the name of my target’ but he stopped himself.

Melissa had told him to act normal. And so he had managed his best.

After a while of questioning, he’d also been brought to a room and tested. But Carver knew too well not to show the extent of what he could do. And with that, he gained some bruises which were not fitting for him. The session lasted for 2 hours.

“You passed,” The head of the Schleifer said. The presence of the man was intimidating, and only his voice was all it took to make his men stand firmly on their guard. But Carver didn’t mind in the least. He knew someone who was more terrifying. And for the sake of substance, he’d killed this man’s father so there was no purpose in hurling to his feet.

He was taken to the mansion’s parking lot. The gate opened into a vast area of expensive cars and motors. They instructed him not to use any of the cars unless it was ordered or given permission by their lady.

When everything was set and he was told of everything he needed to do in service, they led him into a hallway back to the mansion again.

The mansion was built of old architecture, yet it still has a modern touch. Though, as he is, Carver didn’t pay much attention.

They walked through and turned to a corner. After the 2-hour session, the head of the Schleifer left them for a while so he was left alone with two of his men.

The two men knocked on the door.

“Let him inside,” a woman’s voice said.

Now, this is the part that Carver disliked. Girls are fine, but they somewhat bother him. He didn’t know why they didn’t just mind their businesses. He was never great at dealing with their likes. But Sarah is a different matter. He could go all day talking with her if given a chance.

The door opened and the two men ushered for him to go inside. When he creased his brows at them, that’s when he realized that they wouldn’t go inside with him. He wanted to ask, but they just shrugged.

’Leaving the Schleifer’‘s daughter with a notorious killer might be a great thing for them,’ Carver thought to himself.

Carver entered inside. The room was wide. Columns were lined with purple curtains and a king-sized bed was in the center. The woman sat in front of the mirror. She stopped putting on lipstick and turned her head towards Carver.

Carver heard the door closing behind him. And he locked eyes with the woman. There was silence. But he was never bothered by any of it. His eyes remained on the woman, waiting for her to at least speak.

“Were you the one?” she said.

Carver bowed to her. “At your service, madam” He tried not to cringe at what he said. If given a choice he’d pull a gun and immediately shoot this person in front of him. But the thing is, he’s weaponless. Except for a pocket knife to cut some apples. That’s the least he could bring, as stated by Melissa. Oh, how he hated her plans.

The head’s daughter approached him. He was about to raise his head but he suddenly stopped when he felt the woman’s hand on his cheek. She’s the one who raised his head and made him stare at her again.

The lady’s eyes searched around his face. While Carver is stopping his urge to slap her hand away. How he dislikes it when someone touches him without any consent.

“Would you do anything for me?” She said, her eyes piercing through him. But Carver only replied to her stares.

‘I don’t even know you yet. And for a girl, your hand stinks’ he wanted to say. But he erased the thought. “Yes, m’lady”

The woman smiled. Her white teeth peeked through her scarlet lips. “Do you like women?”

Carver wanted to roll his eyes and slice her through with the knife. “Very much” at the moment, he wished that he sounded at least truthful or sincere. After all, if all women are like Sarah, then he didn’t need to lie a bit.

The lady laughed. She removed her palms from him, to which he had been relieved. “I know you’ve heard my name already. But I’m Paisley Anthomedea Schleifer, the heiress of this manor”

“It’s in my great pleasure to serve you,”

“As you should,” Paisley sat on her amethyst sheeted bed. She closed her legs as her eyes remained on Carver. “Your name?”

“Xios,” he muttered. Stating his code name would be suicide and stating his real name doesn’t also seem right.

“Such a strange name,” Paisley said followed by a playful laugh.

If Carver had disliked this job way before he had even accepted it, right now he despised it as much as he despises three-year-old kids.

His eyes remained on her. It’s been too long and they didn’t break each other’s eye contact. And Carver isn’t as dumb as Melissa to not know that this heiress is trying to read through him.

“Strip,”

Carver acted as if he were shocked in place. In this business they live in, those kinds of things were never new to him. But this time, he needed to make an impression on the people here.

He pretended to be nervous, making his hands forcefully shake and his words stutter. “M’lady... I don’t think-”

“Stuttering are we?” Paisley said, smiling sheepishly.

You’ll be the one stuttering if I ever got serious about this.

“Didn’t you hear me? Strip,”

Carver began to unbutton his sleeves. He slowly did it to show his facade of hesitation. Which had stupidly worked on the lady.

When he was about to unbutton the last one. Paisley’s phone rang. She went through it, caressing Carver’s arm when she passed in front of him.

After what seemed like short whispers of Paisley through the other line. She went to him again.

“Let’s save this for later,” She said, pecking a sudden kiss on his lips.

Fucking gross. Carver nodded at her as he locked his buttons back.

“Your first task is now at hand, follow me, my dear Xios”