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I take a few calming breaths to center myself before I peer over the ledge and look down to see if I can spot their limo. I hope Dad told Mom what’s about to happen. She will kick his ass if he didn’t and lets her think he’s been shot. He informed me he would be wearing a vest so I should hit him to make it look more real than aiming above his head. He also provided me with the bullet, said it was a blank, and that it wouldn’t penetrate his vest. I, of course, checked when I put it in my rifle. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Fuck my life. The thought of shooting my dad is one I can’t comprehend, but I know that in order to be successful with this evaluation, I have to follow through no matter how uncomfortable I feel.
Peering through my scope, I watch as various limos and town cars pull up, depositing their cargo of the rich and influential people in front of the hotel where the gala is being held. Women draped in jewels and luxurious fabrics and men in designer suits and tuxedos linger about, talking and posing, while paparazzi stand on either side of the red carpet, taking photos for their various gossip rags and news outlets.
I scan the waiting crowd, looking for at least one of the five faces I memorized when I watched the security footage of them from Dad’s office. I now have names to put to faces. That was the least Dad could help me with, though he refused to tell me anything else about the team or explain their redacted file. I still know nothing about their specialties or skills, which puts me at a disadvantage compared to normal assignments. When I tried to call Dad out on it, he just shrugged his shoulders and told me he was testing my skills too. I honestly thought we were already past testing my skills, but I guess not, so here I am, with minimal information and hoping for the best.
Asian Hottie is Dayton Wexley and team leader for Team Basilisk. Nerdy Sexy is Lathan Campbell and their team tech guru, but Dad told me not to underestimate him, because he’s also a field operative. Latino Lovely and Hot Chocolate are Bishop Ramirez and Anders Brooks respectively, and the tattooed, pierced bad boy hottie with an attitude problem is Miller King. The other two team members who were not present had their names redacted. When I questioned Dad, he wouldn’t explain why. He said I didn’t need to know them unless I failed and had to join their team. I quickly shut up after that.
While I watch and wait, I pull out my laptop and try to hack into any radio feed that may be around. Teams usually work with ear comms, and I want to see if I can find their feed to give myself a little bit of an advantage. I shift slightly, trying to make myself more comfortable. I’m wearing my full-body armor today, which is bulletproof and all that other high-tech stuff. When Dad didn’t tell them it was their yearly test, I decided not to risk anyone getting trigger happy despite him telling them it’s capture and detain only. I know if I saw my leader and friend get shot, I’d be out for blood.
Finally, I find the right frequency and listen in to the chatter.
“Keep your eyes peeled. The director’s limo is approaching the entrance. I repeat, the director’s limo is approaching the entrance.”
I don’t really know their voices well enough to distinguish who is who.
“Anyone have eyes on the target?”
“How can we have eyes on the target? We don’t know what the target looks like,” one retorts grumpily. I can’t help but smile at the sound of their annoyance.
“The target will look like an assassin. Probably in all black and maybe with a mask,” comes the sassy reply. I’ve heard all of this chitchat before, and they haven’t said anything yet to impress me or make me think they are close, so this should be an easy win.
A muttered, “Asshole,” has me smiling as I pull down my ski mask and get into position. I track the arrival of Mom and Dad’s sleek black limo and watch as Dad hops out before offering his hand to Mom. She steps out, and flashes light up the area. I blink, holding steady, as they step forward and she greets the press. Mom’s dress is gorgeous, as usual, and befitting of her status, and my dad scrubs up pretty nicely in his suit. I smile at how good they look together.
This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for. Blocking out the chatter in my earpiece, I hold my breath as Dad steps back, allowing Mom to talk to the waiting press, before breathing out slowly, sighting up his right shoulder, and pulling the trigger. The shot is loud, echoing off the surrounding buildings, and I watch as the bullet speeds along its trajectory. I’m about to start packing my weapon away when my stomach lurches in horror as it hits my father and red blooms across his chest, soaking his white shirt under his tux, and he falls to the ground.
I’m frozen as the screams from the street reach me. That wasn’t supposed to happen. There should be no blood. That was a blank, I swear it was. Fuck. Did I just kill my dad? A crowd rushes to him and blocks him from my view as I lean to the side, pull up my ski mask, and vomit everything I ate earlier this evening onto the concrete.
Oh my god, I think I just killed my dad.
Wiping the back of my hand over my mouth, I pull the mask back down as the chatter in my ear has me unfreezing.
“The shot came from the building over there. Why in the fucking hell didn’t we have eyes on that building?” I hear one of them scream, and I quickly pack my gear, throw it all into the bag, and race for the fire escape. Compartmentalizing my emotions is a priority right now until I can get to safety, and then I can address them.
“We ruled out that the angle would be too difficult,” one of them shouts. I can hear the guys breathing hard as they run. I can’t take pleasure in knowing I outwitted them by choosing a location they didn’t think could work, but clearly it fucking did.
“We underestimated Phantom. Fuck! Percy warned us about this...” When I get to the fire escape, I look down and see there’s already someone climbing up, so I run back to the stairs leading down the inside of the building, and when I yank the steel door open, I can hear more than one coming up that way too. Fuck. I look around to see if there is another way out. The next roof is close by. I guess I could leap to that one and use that fire escape. My hesitation at seeing my dad go down is going to be my downfall.
My decision is taken away from me as the door to the inner stairwell bangs open and two men come out. It doesn’t take long for them to find me in the shadows, and they are too close for comfort. Dropping my bag, I run for the next roof. It was just going to weigh me down, and the laptop is a burner with nothing to give away who I am. I’ll be sad about abandoning my favorite rifle later, but again, there’s nothing that gives away whom it belongs to.
“Freeze, motherfucker!” one of them screams, but I ignore them, pumping my arms as I sprint to get away. The sound of a gun firing reaches my ears, and I brace for impact. It hits the back of my shoulder, but because of the body armor, it doesn’t do more than hurt like a bitch and cause me to stumble slightly. I know I’ll bruise from the impact, but I can’t stop to look back, it will just slow me down even more, so I keep running. Why did I have to pick such a wide building? I’m close to the edge when I look up. On the other side, on the rooftop that I want to leap to, stands a man who’s pointing a gun right at me. Double fuck! I’m going to have to fight my way out. My adrenaline increases. Even though I know this isn’t real, they don’t, so this is going to be rough.
Skidding to a stop, I whirl around and prepare to fight, but I’m slammed to the ground as someone tackles me. It’s all I can do to stay quiet as the air whooshes out of my lungs. Rolling, I try to get on top of the person who has me pinned, but it’s not easy. I buck my hips up to try and dislodge him from the full mount position he has me in, but he’s all muscle and difficult to move. Shit, this is not going as planned, so it’s time to improvise and let my instincts kick in. Reaching down, I pull my knife out of my sheath and slash back in the hopes that it might loosen his hold. I don’t want to hurt him because he’s just following orders, but I really need to get out of here so I can check on my dad.
My ploy works, and he leans back far enough for me to get him off. I pull my leg out from under him and use his body to push myself away with my foot. I quickly roll to my feet and take up a fighting stance. I’m now surrounded, with a gun trained on me from the other roof and the three men on this one with me. They are all wearing masks, too, so I don’t know who is who. In the dark, they all look the same. I’ve had worse odds before and made it out alive, but I have a feeling these guys are much better trained than the ones I evaded previously.
“Dude, you’re surrounded, there’s no way out of here,” one of them drawls with their gun pointed at my chest. “Come quietly, and we may be able to make a deal,” he lies.
I scoff, knowing he’s full of shit, but I don’t respond. Right now, silence is still key in protecting my identity.
“Like fuck we’re going to make a deal. This scumbag just killed Percy. I’m going to make it my job to see he gets the chair.” The one who tackled me gets to his feet and pulls his sleeve back, showing me that I did actually connect with him. He has a shallow cut through a tattoo on his forearm that’s oozing blood.
One of them actually shot me, so a little slice shouldn’t make him cry. It’s the least they deserve after the killer bruise I’m going to have on my shoulder. Clearing my head, I focus back on their conversation as I try to plot out my next move.
“Yeah, but we need the intel on who hired him first. We have to get him back to headquarters. Protocol dictates that if Percy is down, then Theseus is to be notified, and he’ll fly in from the London office.”
Fuck, that’s just great, Uncle Theseus is going to piss himself laughing when he sees I got caught, though that will probably change once he finds out what I did. Dread runs through my veins at the realization that there’s no coming back from my massive fuck up.
