Metanoia

Chapter 26

The wind blows in my hair as I lay on the uncomfortable floor of this apartment complex's roof, my sniper ready and aimed at the large floor to ceiling windows of my target's hotel room. A poor decision from a man that has a ten million bounty on this head.

Ivan always assigns me jobs that don't require hand to hand combat. 

He's says it's because I'm 'the best shot he has' which is true, I made it through his gruelling training process in half the time of his other assassins but I think it's because in his own fucked up way, he doesn't want me getting hurt.

We've spent everyday together since he came and took me out of the dungeon and offered me a deal. I could leave with my life intact if I worked under him as an assassin.

It was a hard decision to make, at the time I couldn't even fathom taking another human's life, but things change and now it's like second nature.

Even if I wanted to change my mind and run off into the distance somewhere, I wouldn't make it far without being blown into pieces.

Once you become an assassin for Ivan, that's all you'll ever be.

His team of surgeons insert a chip into you that acts as a tracker/explosive and if you stray too far away from your mission post or you take an extortionate amount of time to do a task, you're done.

The chip is placed in such away that only a highly skilled professional could remove it, I've watched numerous people bleed out from attempting it themselves.

My target comes into view as I take my shot. 

The glass shatters as civilians on the street look up towards the spectacle. Not only until I see his brains splattered across the white carpets of the hotel room floor do I make my move to leave, grabbing a drain pipe and descending down the building.

I slip on my motorbike helmet and blend into the crowd, making my way to my bike as the sound of sirens approach.

I climb on and speed off, not daring to look back.

Once I make it half way back, I pull out my phone and text Ivan that the job is finished and I'll soon be arriving. I suspect he already knows this but he likes when I update him.

I make it back to the compound and park in front of the enormous mansion that rests in the centre. 

All of Ivan's workers, including assassins sleep in bunkbeds in the barracks but Ivan insists I sleep in the house with him.

You could say we have a kind of fucked up relationship. 

After years of torture, I was weak and feeble so when Ivan started training me I did everything he said, following him like a mindless soldier in the hopes that I would never be sent back to that horrible place.

Over the time we spent together he became fond of me, he confided in me about how the Italian mafia had killed his only daughter in a rigged explosion after his wife had betrayed him and given them access codes to the building.

We bonded over the shared experiences of having a loved one betray you and by being wronged by the Italian mafia. That day we vowed to help each other seek revenge and ever since then he's been mentoring and nurturing me as if I'm his own daughter. 

In some ways he's the only family I have left.

I walk into the house and the smell of my favourite meal, spaghetti carbonara immediately floods my endorphins. 

"Ah Sin! Join us my girl," Ivan exclaims upon seeing me enter the dining room. He's sat at the table with a guest, a man I've seen many times before but have never bothered to learn the name of.

I sit down at the table, immediately digging into the mouthwatering meal that's laid out in front of me. "You remember Victor right?" He asks, chewing into a piece of garlic bread. 

Ah Victor, that's his name.

"Of course," I reply.

"Well, we were just discussing your next mission is two day's time," Ivan explains.

I drop my fork and look up at him. We have a deal were I only have to go on missions once a week if I agreed to do extra training, that way the amount of lives I actually take is minimised.

"I know, I know," He says, sensing my agitation, "but this is an important one, this is it Sin."

It take's me only a second to realise that he's talking about our revenge on the Italians. I look at him curiously, beckoning him to explain in further detail.

He explains that three years ago he sent my eldest brother a picture of my mangled body after a particularly bad beating and burning as well as a severed finger. 

My brothers being the idiots they are , didn't think to run a DNA test on it and held a rushed together funeral for their 'dead' sister Darcy.

In some ways they were right to do so, they were indeed never getting their Darcy back.

Ivan continues explaining how ever since then the Italian mafia have been slowly declining. They're still the most powerful but Lorenzo's leadership has become sloppy and unorganised.

"So you would need to pack tonight in order to be ready for your flight for tomorrow, what do you think, are you up for it?" He questions.

Normally there would be no choice because if I didn't do it he could just kill me and send someone in my place but this mission is different. He's counting on my unique relationship to the targets which means for once, he needs me.

I realise him having my favourite meal prepared was just another way of buttering me up before asking for me to do this job, now that I think about it he has been on his best behaviour all week.

"Yeah, I'm up for it," I reply whilst excusing myself to my room.

"Great!" He says, clapping his hands together in excitement. "Oh and Sin?" He calls out as I approach the door. I turn my head to face him.

"No survivors."