Episode 6 #2
“They’re frightening.” Alice shivered. “But they help, sometimes. Some more than others. When Dana and I were running, I felt like I was in one of those stories. I kept thinking about Morgan le Fey and the Morrigan. I know they’re not the same, but those stories were what I was thinking of.
I’d just done something that put me outside what is expected of a woman.
I thought I’d left that man to die. And he deserved it, but I didn’t know what would happen when we stopped running.
I didn’t know if anyone would believe me.
All I knew was that I wasn’t letting them have Dana and I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
And Ash. I knew I had Ash. I didn’t feel nice, or safe, or sane.
I felt wild and exposed. There were things I could do then that I don’t know if I could do today. ”
“Except that you would, if you had to. That’s what the mythology shows us. What we become, when the crucible starts to close,” Ellisandre said.
Ash frowned. “Not everyone is good, when you’re pushed into a corner. Some good people start looking bad.” He looked away as he finished speaking.
Alice put her hand on his arm. “But you are.”
And so are you, Sevastyan, even if you hate yourself.
Ellisandre had to look away. Alice and Ash were the next generation.
They had their own story. And it would play out over the years, as all stories must. For now, it was time for the next chapter of Ellisandre and Sevastyan’s story.
They needed to gather their courage and do as he had asked.
Break him open. Use the drugs that he’d given them.
Even though they hated the very thought.
It was one thing to have someone kneeling at their feet in ropes.
They were with the person then—the two of them walking a path of dominance and submission, trust and exchange.
This drug, this cracking open of Sevastyan’s psyche, though, this was a path they were going to have to walk alone.
Sevastyan would be there in form and shade only.
His self, his reactions, his push and pull and willing servitude would be gone.
He would be truly will-less.
And without Sevastyan’s will, without the animation of an aware human soul, Ellisandre was going to be truly alone in their domination.
They were going to be walking towards the light, unable to hear his footsteps behind them, like Orpheus and Eurydice. Alone, they were going to try to break open the safe that contained the secret that kept them locked apart.
Hunting Thaddeus Kramer had been a good excuse. Perhaps even a valid one. But an excuse all the same.
They were afraid. Afraid to break him. Afraid to do something unforgivable. Afraid to crack his trust.
Ellisandre
The plane landed on a busy private charter strip.
Two rental vehicles waited for them: a moving van with almost no windows and a four-door sedan.
Finding out where the agent was—the one who had posted the hit jobs on Sevastyan and Jun— had been easy with the additional information Sevastyan had provided.
The agent worked in the city and drove back to his country estate late most evenings.
Alice drove the sedan and Ellisandre drove the van.
Ash stayed in the van after Ellisandre parked it on a convenient service road half a mile away from their target.
Alice picked Ellisandre up in the sedan and they drove away, parking the second car in the trees and walking a mile to the driveway of the agent who’d posted the bounty on Jun’s head.
They left several cameras mounted along the road as they went, the feeds going back to the van where Ash was monitoring them.
Was it overkill for a mission this simple?
Yes. But it was a safe training mission.
Both Ellisandre and Alice wore dark, baggy clothes, masks, and winter hoods. At first glance they blended in with what any sane person would be wearing outside during a cold winter.
Alice shivered a little as they approached the driveway. “So, now what?”
“We disable any cameras that might see us.”
“How? Won’t the cameras see us as we go up to them.”
“Sling shot.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Ellisandre reached into their backpack and pulled one out. “I’m a very good shot.”
“How do you even get to be a good shot with that?
“Lots and lots of anger. And nothing else to do.”
Ellisandre crouched in the bushes beside the road. Alice got down beside them.
“Find the cameras,” Ellisandre directed.
Alice scanned the space. She pointed out the two obvious ones on the gate and gestured towards the agent’s house, which could almost be seen through the trees. The driveway had a tight curve for privacy, putting a heavy stand of pine between itself and the road.
“Don’t worry about those cameras. We won’t show up well enough to matter.”
“Do you think the cameras on the neighbors’ side might see anything?” Alice nodded across the road. Like many rich neighborhoods with large plots of lands, the driveways were staggered so none of them were directly across from each other.
“Probably not, but we should take these two out and then check the angles.” Ellisandre raised the slingshot and pressed a small stone into the leather pocket. One ping, then two, and both cameras were down.
“That’s a lot quieter than a gun,” Alice whispered.
Ellisandre nodded, smirking.
When the cameras were clear, Alice checked in with Ash via her headset.
The feeds for the two cameras they’d left behind were up and running, and Ash was utilizing a program that could read the license plates of cars as they passed.
With any luck at all, he’d be able to give them one or two minutes’ heads-up.
“You could do this whole thing without us, couldn’t you?” Alice asked, crouched down beside Ellisandre in the dark.
“I could.”
Alice laughed a little. “So this is another training thing, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
Ellisandre turned to look at Alice fully. The young woman’s face was mostly covered, but her eyes were visible and soft with honesty in the moonlight filtering down from above.
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?”
Ellisandre leaned forward, checking the screen. Sevastyan’s name, info, and general location were right there on the screen. His public persona as an art dealer and his criminal persona both.
They took a snapshot and sent it to Sevastyan.
A few moments later, Sevastyan texted back.
Unease settled into the pit of Ellisandre’s stomach.
Rei