The Assassin
Fuck, did she see me? I thought as I locked eyes with Simone. She was sitting yards away, sheltered by the walls of the restaurant she was dining in. Yet, her gaze traveled through the window and fell right on my position in my van.
I quickly looked away and pretended to scope out the building I’d parked beside. Although the windows of my van were tinted, preventing anyone from seeing through it, I didn’t want to feed into the intuition she was clearly feeling.
All week, I’ve stayed a few yards behind her, trying to learn her routine. Find a crack I could slip through. But, it hasn’t been as consistent as I thought.
She gets up early every morning to jog through a local park, but she hasn’t gone back to the FBI headquarters since the other day. Instead, she’s been busying herself running errands at the mall or the grocery store - and today a bridal boutique with her family.
I must’ve hit her head too damn hard on the floor the other night and her boss put her on the back burner. For all that, I might as well just have added an extra slam and turned all her lights out. It would’ve saved me a hell of a lot of time.
Usually, I wouldn’t mind taking my time hunting a target, especially one who gave me such a gracious view every morning.
But, Simone wasn’t on our schedule. I didn’t have the luxury of time to waste.
Ares could give us an assignment at any moment, and I’d have to temporarily drop this whole operation to complete it.
Sure, I could tell him about our little mishap, but that’d result in more trouble than I wanted to deal with right now. The sooner I took care of her, the less likely he’d have to hear about it.
My eyes wandered back to Simone, and I saw her conversing with her family again. Her once tense shoulders had relaxed and a small smile was painted on her lips. I noticed the only time it grew any wider was when she was looking at the woman sitting beside her.
I was surprised when I saw them walk out her house arm-in-arm together earlier. The vibrant colors of the other woman’s trench coat clashed dramatically with Simone’s simple black puffer jacket. I thought they couldn’t be any more different from each other.
But, watching from afar, I quickly noticed how well their auras twirled around each other. They always covered each other’s flanks, protecting their smiles from anything that threatened to wipe them away.
Maybe my initial thoughts were right. Maybe I could use this other woman to my advantage.
Buzz. Buzz.
I looked down at my burner phone, vibrating in the cupholder, and picked it up.
Maria was the only one who knew the number. She was surprisingly early for a check in.
Raising a brow, I unlocked the phone and peered at the text she wrote.
Unknown
Check the computer.
I climbed out of the driver’s seat and walked to the loading bay where our tiny colony of desktops lived. I logged into the main monitor directly in front of the chair.
Instantly, a few files popped up. A zip file with the federal bureau of investigations watermark and two software mirroring tabs. The former I’d been waiting on, but I was curious about the additional tabs. Curious, I clicked on them and nearly smiled at what appeared on the screen.
Wallpaper of Simone and the other woman with an abundance of tabs on one and a dark floral wallpaper with desktop icons on the other. Did Maria give me access to her phone and her computer?
Testing my question, I hovered over one of the desktop items. Beneath the cursor, a blue square appeared around the icon. When I clicked on it, the app opened and I could automatically see the last thing Simone had done inside of it.
My phone buzzed again before I could take a closer look at the contents on the screen.
Unknown
I’ll tell Miles you said thank you.
I almost smiled.
Maybe her fucking this hacker guy would come in handy after all. I knew he’d been doing good work for the Ruiz cartel, but not this good. Not only could I see what Simone was doing in real time on her electronics, but I could access all her information too. The surprise couldn’t be sweeter.
I watched as her phone screen came to life and the calendar app opened on the screen. “Dinner with the Ex” was typed into the title. A time and location quickly followed.
Hm, looks like she’s going on a date next Saturday.
My lips tugged at the ends as a lightbulb went off in my mind. Perhaps I wouldn’t have to wait much longer to get my hands on her after all.