If You'd Let Me

Chapter 18

The business partner saw me first, because I stood behind the target, and got out of his chair, staring at me.

The target turned around and screamed. I moved my hand down to my sheathed knife.

The partner moved to the door.

I unsheathed the knife and threw it at him just as he reached the door. It missed him by an inch, but it was enough to scare him. That had been the point. I never meant to hit him, he just couldn't sabotage this mission. He got the hint, loud and clear.

He moved away from the door, eyes on me, hands up in surrender.

I looked at the target, while keeping the other man in my peripheral vision. The man was shivering, because I was everything he feared — justice and repercussion. He knew what he'd done and that he was gonna pay for it.

I took out another one of my knifes and approached the target calmly. He was screaming and trying to get away from me to the door. But before he could reach it, I jumped over the desk and tackled the target with speed and ease only experience and a lot of practice could cause.

I straddled his back, pinning his arms to the side. I looked up at the witness. He hadn't moved, still watching me surprised. Wise decision. Running was a bad idea with someone like me giving chase.

The target was struggling against me, but it would be futile. I stood up and pulled him up with me. I wasn't really feeling like a messy murder tonight, so I would just get it over and done with. I stabbed him in the gut, making him cry out in pain.

I watched the other guy from my peripheral vision. He was calmly observing the situation. I hadn't expected him to react any differently.

I pulled out the knife and threw the target to the wall. He slipped down the wall and sat with his back against the wall, a hand over the stab wound.

He hadn't even asked me who I was, he already knew who we were.

"Please don't. Let me right my wrongs," he still dared to beg.

Like I believed that bullshit. We were infamous for our work and he should have known that he couldn't escape us.

I stabbed him in the throat for good measure, right in one of his carotid arteries. He'd die a very quick death. He was a lucky man, I wasn't often this merciful. Tonight I couldn't be bothered to do more than the bare minimum though. I wanted this over and done with.

I wiped the blood off on the man's clothing and sheathed the knife. I would clean it properly back at HQ. I stood up and turned around to the witness. He hadn't moved.

I approached him and he moved into a defensive position. I ignored his fighting stance and walked right past him unfazed and pulled the knife from the door. I sheathed it, while holding eye contact with the witness.

He was tense as he spoke up, "Fiat justitia."

Let justice be done.

I smiled underneath my mask. It was what Haimas between each other muttered instead of good luck. It was also used in case a former Haima ever came in contact with a Haima. The sentence meant that the person is or was a Haima and therefor untouchable. Active and retired Haimas alike are untouchable by another Haima and the witness just made himself off limits.

I grinned. Not that I had planned to hurt him. He would keep quiet about what happened here this evening. It was in our code. I nodded at him, showing I understood the message.

I looked at the dying man behind me. There was no saving him. He'd already lost too much blood.

I approached the witness and pulled out my phone. He tensed at the gesture, but calmed as he saw it was only my phone. I opened the notes app and typed out 'alibi?' and showed it to him. I refused to talk out loud, it would reveal my identity.

"I'm caught on camera entering this building," he answered.

'Footage will be erased' I typed out and showed him.

"Even my entire visit here this evening?"

'Consider it done' I typed and showed him. Taking care of loose ends was my job and we couldn't have him investigated.

He's a Haima, active or retired, either way it could lead back to the organisation and we couldn't have that.

"How long do I have before the cameras start working again?"

I showed him the phone, which said '10 minutes'.

He nodded, "Alright Red. It was nice meeting you, but I must go."

I smiled at the name. We called each other that when we didn't know someone's code name. I nodded and watched him leave.

I checked the target. He was dead.

I hauled myself up through the window and climbed over the ledge onto the roof. Once on the roof, I took a second to think of all the loose ends and how to tie them together.

"Target terminated. Flanna, within 10 minutes there's gonna come a guy out of the building. Let me know when you spot him. Over," I called over the comms.

"Copy that. Over."

"Hong, erase all the footage of the witness being in the building during the murder. We don't want him to end up being a suspect. Over."

"On it. Over."

"Ready to head out. Car be ready to move. Flanna meet up at HQ after you've spotted the guy. Over."

I waited for their affirmations, before I leaped over the alley again where I met up with Carmine.

"We're meeting you guys at HQ," Car said over the comms. Then we were on our way.

A few minutes later, Flanna said through the comms that she'd seen the guy and would meet us at HQ in a few.

While we waited for Flanna to arrive, I tested my ribs. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, they were starting to hurt again. Jumping across buildings certainly hadn't made it any better.

After Flanna arrived, we got debriefed.

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