Operative I

By:  Julie

One thing that I learned quickly when I first joined the squad was that appearances are deceiving.

We had eight men on our squad, including me. For the most part, we were all older, dark haired and mostly dark eyed, except for three boys who’d been there from before any of us could remember.

I’d been one of the last ones to join, and from what I could gather, and from what anyone, even Chris, who’d been there the longest of any of us—barring the three, of course—could tell, they’d been there always. They knew things that we didn’t, and they could do things that we couldn’t.

One incident that stood out in particular in my mind shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I know it seems strange to say that, but it wasn’t a part of the mission, the thing that burned into my brain the fact that these three blond, young, seemingly weak young men could, for any reason, kick ass and take names against an entire army of hired, armed men. It was a mistake.

It was like any other job: move in, get the goods, kill the mark, get out. Except for one thing.

On the way through the building, Trevor tripped the alarm.

The first sound I heard from anyone on my crew was a whispered “holy fuck” followed by a huge sigh. Then we were in action.

“All right,” Ashley said, narrowing his eyes at Trevor. “Now I guess we know who’s worth keeping and who isn’t. “Jacob, take Trevor and head back to the truck. You work with him and he is now a liability that I do not need.”

Trevor looked stunned. This scrawny little kid was telling him that he was a liability to the team? This skinny blond didn’t NEED him? Trevor opened his mouth to shoot off.

“Who do you think—“ Trevor began. The sound of a gun’s mechanics clicking into place cut him off abruptly.

“You fucked up the whole mission,” Heath, who held the gun steadily trained on Trevor’s face, said icily. The fingers of his free hand slid through his blond curls. “We don’t leave missions unfinished. Leave now or we’ll have to kill you.”

Trevor stared at them, opening and closing his mouth, while the alarm blared in the background.

“Jesus, Dan, will you please shut that fucker OFF?” Ashley asked, turning that ice on me, and I was almost afraid to move. Almost.

“Get out of here,” I heard Ashley say as I turned away and pulled the panel off the security module. I had the feeling that this would be a long night.

“And then there were six,” I heard Heath say. I also heard the footsteps pick up where the alarm left off.

“Shit,” I heard Ashley say, and then they had hold of my arm and were pulling me at a dead run deeper into the depths of the building.

“Now what do we do?” I asked once my arm was released and I was peeking out the window of a tiny little office that seemed quite a bit smaller with six men packed into it.

“Chris, you’ll have to take over Jake and Trevor’s job. I’m sure you can do that,” Wade, our final member, said, looking up from a blueprint that he’d pulled from his pack. Ashley was watching our reactions as he wrapped something that looked like it might have been tape around his fingertips.

“Did you have any doubt?” Chris asked. I saw Ashley stiffen visibly, knowing that Chris’s voice was high, and that even Chris’s whispers were loud, and that Chris’s voice carried. Heath was also looking at Ashley, an eyebrow arched, his expression blatantly saying that Chris wasn’t going to come out of this alive.

“Erik’ll have to complete his job on his own, instead of with Chris like we trained,” Wade said. My eyes turned to Erik, who was leaning against the wall, a nervous guy a couple of years older than me, his face now completely pigment-free—saying a lot for that kid. He was scared. I was sure that the consensus on him was that he wouldn’t survive the night either.

“O—okay…” Erik said, his voice cracking like he was really ten years younger than he was. He winced. Heath snorted.

“The rest of us will proceed as planned. Do not wait for the others to arrive back at the trucks. As soon as you complete your job, get the fuck out of here. Don’t worry about us.” Wade said.

How could these guys be so confident? They already knew that we were there.

We were all going to die that night, I was sure.

Chris and Erik hurried out of the room and down the hall, breaking to opposite directions at an intersect.

Wade grinned at us before leaving the room at a mad dash. I had no doubt that he’d get the goods if he got there first. But the question was, could he get there first?

“Stop worrying,” Ashley directed at me. I looked away from the window in the door to see him stripping off the heavy jacket that he’d worn against the icy cold of the night. We all wore them, standard issue, hard packed jackets that weren’t all that warm but would get by, and might even stop a bullet if the need arose.

“I’m not worrying,” I told him. He rolled his eyes and adjusted the high neck of his sweater, looking for all the world like a guy ready to go out and party rather than an haired assassin on a mission to kill. I’ll admit that I looked him over. From his blond hair to his funky looking boots. Damn those were some weird ass looking boots.

“Dan,” he said. “Follow us, but stay in the shadows, stay out of sight. Don’t make a sound and don’t fire a shot unless you are specifically told otherwise. NO exceptions.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding my head. Heath discarded his coat and looked out into the hall.

“Clear,” he said. I was sure that they had to be able to hear my heart pounding. I was terrified. It wasn’t my first mission, but it was definitely my first time to be on a mission so badly botched as this. The sound of Ashley’s gun clicking as he removed the safety sounded like a clap of thunder directly overhead.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Our footsteps echoed in the halls as loud as any alarm could be. It was as though we were announcing our presence. Suddenly, Ashley came to an abrupt stop.

In front of us was a railing. We were above the floor we needed to be on. Ashley shot Heath a look, and the other man shrugged. This hadn’t been in any maps that I had seen. Heath started to climb up onto the railing, intent on jumping down. Below us lay our target. Surrounded by guards and a laser-tripped alarm system. Ashley pulled him back.

“No,” he whispered, his voice breath and little else. “Alarm.”

Heath frowned. Heath looked annoyed. Heath loomed over Ashley, who stared at him, indifferent. I felt like crying. I wasn’t ready to die.

“Take them out,” Ashley told Heath. “Dan too. Take them all. Cover me. I’m going down. I’ll get her, you two meet me outside.”

Before Heath could make a response, Ashley was up on the railing, and jumping for the darkened chandelier that hung above the room below. It was almost like a movie.

Except that the chandelier came free from the ceiling and crashed into the room below. Heath took aim on the guards and opened fire. I tried to get the safety off of my own gun, but found my fingers weren’t working. My eyes wouldn’t move from Ashley.

The chandelier swung to the side as it crashed to the floor. But when it shattered on the marble, Ashley was nowhere to be seen. I could hear a girl screaming, and more shots rang out. My eyes found the source of the shots that did not come from beside me. Whatever Ashley had wrapped around his fingers had him stuck to the posts of the massive four poster bed that stood near where the chandelier had fallen. It was for grips, I now knew.

Guards were coming at him from all sides. The safety came off my gun and I opened fire. Ashley dropped his gun on the ground and planted his feet right in the face of the two closest. I could hear bone cracking as they flew backward and connected with the floor.

Then he had the girl, a piece of fluff wrapped in billowy white silk, and was on the move. Heath jerked me away from the rail and we were on the move also, rushing through hallways and out of the building.

But the trucks were gone.

“Fuck,” Ashley shouted. He apparently no longer cared if anyone knew where we were. I looked around. I at least wanted to know where I was when I died.

But I spotted our ticket out.

“Come on,” I said, pointed, and we were off across the grounds at top speed.

I jerked the door to one of the cars open and slid inside. Ashley tossed the girl to Heath and slipped into my passenger side, leaving Heath to the other car.

Both were sports cars. Both had been worked on. They had power.

Ours didn’t have keys.

“Fuck,” Ashley said again, and this time, his voice rose in the middle of the word, sounding like he were somewhere on the verge of screaming and throwing a fit right in the middle of the grass. Heath tore ruts in the grass on the way out.

“Well, at least we got the job done,” Ashley said. “Sorry I got you killed, man,” he said, and I looked at him sharply, my hands thoroughly occupied beneath the dash.

“You didn’t get us killed. Trevor did,” I replied. Ashley shrugged. I kept working. Almost…

“I’m only twenty, you know.” Ashley said, looking across the grounds at the lights in the building. At the lights that were running toward us. “I thought that I’d live a lot longer, you know?”

“Mm.” I said. Just a little more.

“Guess I was wrong,” he said. They were shooting now.

“Shut up dammit!” I shouted at him. The car roared to life. “YES!” I cried, and floored the gas, making nice little partner ruts to Heath’s as we roared off the grounds.

I could pretty much feel Ashley stop breathing when the car started. I heard his breath catch in his throat, and then he shrieked with surprise.

Everything had gotten fucked up, but we were almost out, almost free.

Almost.

“Do you hear that?” Ashley asked suddenly. And yes, I did hear it.

“Sirens,” I said.

At first, they were far off, but gradually, their sound grew louder. They were coming at us.

No. they were stopped in the road, sirens blaring.

“Fuck!” Ashley shouted a third time, and this time, it was a desperate sound. “They’re blocking the fucking road!”

“I can see that!” I screamed back at him. I turned the wheel as sharply as I could without flipping the vehicle. The tires squealed and we fishtailed, almost out of control. Ashley was saying “oh god” over and over again under his breath, digging his fingers into the edge of the seat next to him and the dash ahead of him.

Adrenaline surged through my veins and I laughed. At Ashley, at this situation, at the demons that roared from the mouth of hell that we were quickly speeding toward. Ashley would turn greener every time I took my eyes off the road.

And then…

Everything was dark, and quiet. There were no sounds except for the growl of the car engine, the whirr of the road beneath our tires, and the sound of our own breathing.

After a few moments of silence: “Pull over.”

“Why?” I asked. I didn’t even slow down.

“Because I’m going to throw up after your driving!” Ashley cried.

“You are not,” I said, turning my head and looking at him, daring him.

“Watch the road!” he cried, slouching down in his seat. I grinned and turned back. And all was silent.

For about two minutes.

“Where’d you learn to do that stuff?” Ashley asked. “Hot wiring and driving like that?”

“You uh, don’t wanna know,” I told him, not looking at him.

“But I do want to know.” Ashley said. “None of the other guys on the team have ever been able to do shit like that. That’s why we have to have new guys come in so often. Guys get caught, guys die. Because they don’t know shit like that. You saved my ass.”

“Look, you don’t want to know where I learned this shit man, trust me.” I told him. I was not about to tell him about it.

“I’m sure. I kill people for a living, Dan. Wherever you learned that, it doesn’t matter. I’ve always done worse.”

“Then you don’t need to know.” I snapped. “What does it matter, anyway?”

Ashley shrugged. “I was just curious. I think it’s hot.” He said, then turned away from me to look out the window.

Yeah. Hot. Right.

Wait. Back up the thought train. He just said it was HOT that I knew shit like that? Hot like a good thing or hot like… hot like sexy? Hot like it turned him on?

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Hmm?” he said. He didn’t turn away from the window.

“You said it was hot. What does that mean?”

“What does it sound like?”

“Well…” I said. I so did not want to jump into that. What if he really didn’t mean it like that? The kid was an assassin. It probably wouldn’t bother him to kill me.

“Well what. I think it’s hot.” Ashley said, turning back. “It turns me on. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. The kid was pissed.

“I’ll bet that you left a cute little girlfriend back home, didn’t you? You gonna call her and tell her that you killed people tonight? You gonna tell her that one of the head operatives hit on you afterward? And that the operative is a guy? And—“

“Shut up,” I snapped. He glared at me, his lips parted, his breath sharp, rasping, angry. “I did leave a girl back home. But I’m not going to call her. I’m not going to talk to her at all.”

“So you’re just going to laugh at me behind my back.” Ashley said. Stated. It wasn’t a question. I was slowing down, pulling over to the side of the road.

“No,” I told him. But that was all I said. His face was flushed with anger, and adrenaline from the race earlier still rushed through my body. The adrenaline from the fear that we were going to die. Heat from embarrassment rushed over me as I thought about the way I’d felt when I’d watched Ashley being bad-ass earlier, jumping from the balcony, being a hero, even though he was the bad guy.

I stopped the car on the side of the road. Parked it. Turned to Ashley.

“Is that really what you think I would do?” I asked, my voice low.

“Yes,” he said, his eyes just as cold as they had been when Trevor had thrown the alarm, seemingly hours before, but what could only have been minutes.

“Get out of the car,” I told him. He looked rightfully confused.

“Why?” he asked.

“Do it!” I ordered.

“Fine,” he snapped. “Fuck you too, man.”

He did get out of the car, as did I. But he began walking further down the road, in the direction of the compound, in the direction that we were headed.

I walked after him, and shoved him back, shoved him against the car.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked, his eyes wide, filled with fear. I know that in that moment he thought that I was a survivor of a pervious job, ready to kill him for the things that he’d done.

I didn’t say anything, but jerked his hands up above his head, held his wrists against the hood of the car, held his body down, pinned it with my own.

He didn’t struggle, I had to give him that. He thought that I was going to kill him, but he didn’t cry out, didn’t struggle, didn’t try to fight back. He just accepted it.

“Are you scared?” I asked him, my face not and inch away from his.

“Yes,” he whispered, his voice a different kind of ragged.

“Why?” I asked him, my eyes locked on his, unwavering.

“Because I don’t know why you’re going to do it. Because I don’t know who you are.”

“You don’t fear death?”

“No.”

That didn’t surprise me in the slightest. He was young, but he’d seen death, had dealt with it first hand, and had provided it to many.

I shifted my weight to my other foot, shifting the way my body pressed his down. His eyes widened more, now in surprise, and only now did he struggle, bucking his hips, if only to rub against my own. Only now did he break free.

He launched us backward onto the asphalt of the highway and we rolled, and ended with me on top. I smiled, although it was probably more of a smirk, and leaned down, intent on pressing my lips to his. But that didn’t work. He squirmed out from beneath me and pulled me to my feet.

“That’s not hardly the way I do things,” he told me. And then I was the one being shoved against the hood of the car.

Oh. Okay.

Some time between the articles of clothing flying (Ashley’s gun holster was this nice, soft leather, which I guess it would have to be, because he didn’t wear it over his pants) and well…. There were ins and outs and tongues and hands and fingers in places that they didn’t belong, not to mention other body parts, and he tied my hands up with his holster, which was nice, sort of, even thought I didn’t much like being tied up, a vehicle pulled up to the side of the car.

It wasn’t a police car, thankfully, although I wasn’t sure at the time whether I’d have preferred that to the actual compound truck that carried Heath and Wade, sent to look for our dead bodies, no doubt.

I panicked. Ashley ignored them. They waited.

My body also ignored them. My brain was frantically telling them that there were people watching and that it shouldn’t have been doing what it was doing, but the phone was apparently off the hook. I exploded in a great sticky mess, and Ashley’s hands came off of my wrists so that he was able to brace himself on the car.

“Can we go back now?” Wade asked, sounding bored. Heath tossed us a towel.

I stared up at the stars above us as Ashley untied my hands and wiped himself off. I heard the soft jingle of the buckle on his belt as he pulled up his pants and zipped them. His fingers snapped in my face.

“You can stay here all night and freeze or you can come back with us.” Ashley said. I hadn’t even noticed the cold. “But if you stay here, you can’t drive this car.”

I nodded slowly. I understood. Just give me a moment…

I heard the truck start again. I panicked, and I’ve never cleaned up and dressed so fast before. They’d left the front seat for me.

I heard a match strike and smelled a cigarette flare to life. The voices that issued from the back seat were low, mutters, indiscernible words. Wade was silent as he drove, as though he too were listening.

“Why?” I heard, clearly.

“Because it was there for me to take,” came the reply. “Because he started it.”

“MM.”

Were they talking about me? Was it Heath that wanted to know why? Why would he have wanted to know why?

“Don’t be mad,” I heard. This was clearly Ashley, the voices no longer so low that they blended. I turned, but I could not see them.

“I’m not.” Reply.

“You know why.”

“I do know why.”

“You’re mad.”

“I am NOT, dammit.”

“Are too.” This last in a childish voice.

Heath laughed. “I’m not. I swear it.” He said.

“You’d better not be lying.”

I heard the definite sounds of two people kissing, shifting, sliding together in the sure comfort that only a longstanding couple could have.

I felt sick.

That was when I learned that appearances could be deceiving. A skinny kid could take on the world, and a hot partner could turn back to his lover in a second.

I learned first hand.

And it made me sick.

Read Operative II