Page 59 of Lay It Bare

Ash spoke through the open phone connection. “He’s coming.”

Alice gathered up the roll of tire-piercing spikes, stepped out of the trees, and threw it open across the driveway, keeping low. She disappeared into the brush on the other side. Ellisandre waited until the car with the agent turned in and then shot another stone into the light above the entrance. Alice threw out the second set of spikes behind the car, just in case he decided to reverse.

The agent wasn’t that observant. The front wheels of the car rolled over the front set of spikes, splitting the tires in multiple places all at once. He slammed on the brakes.

Ellisandre left their cover, approaching the driver’s side window, gun prominently displayed. They tapped on the glass. “Open up. We’re just going to talk.

The man swallowed visibly, his hands shaking on the wheel. He moved slowly, pressing the button on the side of the car door. The window rolled down.

“Both sides.” Ellisandre kept their voice in their lower registers.

The agent complied. His face matched the one Ellisandre had studied.

Alice approached from the other side and leaned in the open window, a gun also held between her hands. “Hiya!”

“Whatever you want, you can have.”

“That’s good,” Alice said, her voice shifted from her normal cadence and timbre. She tapped the inside of the car with the end of her gun. “Because I have a message from the Banshee of Berlin.”

The agent’s hands spasmed on the wheel. “She disappeared a long time ago.”

“Disappeared. Didn’t die.” Alice’s smirk could be heard through her mask. “I guess I don’t have to give any of the other names, then? Baba Yaga. Hand of Death. Widow Maker.”

Ellisandre internally rolled their eyes. Some of those monikers were certainly ad libs. She’d only given Alice two of those titles to use.

“I wasn’t born yesterday,” the man stuttered. “What does she want?”

“Take down the hit on Gang Junseo, the one you just posted,” Ellisandre said.

The man’s attention turned from Alice to Ellisandre.

“I can’t do that.”

“Check your computer,” Alice nodded towards the man’s bag on the front seat.

The man’s attention jumped back to Alice. She nodded. He reached for the computer slowly.

Ellisandre lifted the gun the man was hiding beside his seat from the car. He’d have a nice freak out when the weapon came up missing.

The man opened the computer. It turned on right away, images popping up on the screen in a cascade, all newspaper articles and underground memos on Ellisandre’s younger years. Ash had had fun setting up that little piece of theater.

He let go of the computer and held up his hands. “Fuck.”

“Just tell them who came for you. Your client will know what that means,” Ellisandre murmured.

“I’ll take it down, I’ll take it down. But that doesn’t mean they won’t keep trying.”

“Tell them if I see another hit, or smell an assassin anywhere close to Gang Junseo or any of his crowd, I will find them. I already know who they are.” Ellisandre straightened up.

“They won’t care,” the man whimpered.

“Then they can be the star of the next show, for all their friends to find. If I need to make examples, I will. But I would have thought taking Mikhail down was enough of a warning not to mess with The Residency and their friends.”

Ellisandre

On the plane back to Chicago, Ash confirmed the post was down. A warning had also been posted.

“There’s a second bounty that was posted at the same time,” Ash said. He turned the computer around. “That’s not anything related to Jun, is it?”