Chapter Two #2
“Whoa, I come in peace, I promise,” the stranger, Hangman, said. He held up his palms, his ID card still within one of them and a guild-issued backpack slung over his shoulder. “They said to expect your suspicion.”
“Close the door and drop your belongings,” Charlotte snapped, not moving an inch.
“Alright.” Obediently, Hangman did as he was instructed, hands still held up.
“Kick them over here.”
He did as Charlotte asked and she bent to snatch his ID card, scanning her eyes over it.
Whilst she studied it, Hangman’s gaze drifted to me and when he grinned at me, I flinched.
A frown furrowed my brow. He was a pilot?
He was so tall and wide. I’d seen my fair share of dangerous individuals in this business – everyone was in great shape, but Hangman was on another level.
He was handsome too and I grew frustrated with myself for even having noticed.
I scowled at him and averted my eyes back to the laptop.
“Relay, check this out for me?” Charlotte threw the card to me and I caught it, flipping it over to reveal the card number embossed in the glossy surface. I pulled up a piece of software I knew would hold the answers I was seeking and quickly tapped in the ID number.
In an instant, Hangman’s profile appeared before my eyes and I scanned the information.
Theo Hutchings, codename Hangman. Age thirty, six foot two, one-hundred and three kilos – that tracked.
I had no doubt that the man standing before us was at least that…
I cleared my throat and scrolled a little further to see his background, noting that his personnel file had only been created a day prior.
Under ‘Occupation’, ‘Fighter jet pilot’ was written.
“He’s legit,” I said, holding the card out for Charlotte.
The assassin lowered her gun, slipping it back into its holster. “You’ll have to pardon my rudeness, but you know how things go, hm?”
“No sweat, I was forewarned not to expect the warmest of welcomes. I’m your pilot.” Despite the informality of the way he spoke, his accent was decidedly plummy, to the degree I found myself wondering if he was gentry.
“What did you say your codename was again?” Charlotte asked, busying herself with tightening straps on her suit before slipping her hands into a pair of gloves.
“Hangman.”
“Ominous.”
He flashed her a handsome smile. “Fitting, too. You’ll find out why soon enough. You must be Aquarius, no need for introductions there, but—” When Hangman’s eyes darted to me once again, I grew tense.
“Relay, intelligence,” I replied, praying my voice didn’t shake.
Hangman’s gaze roved over me in a fashion I wasn’t sure was entirely appropriate for the workplace. “Pleasure.”
I grunted in a non-committal manner, fixing my eyes on my screen and pretending to ignore how he continued to watch me from across the room. I needed to get a grip on myself. This was not the time nor the place to be developing a crush, no matter how compelling I found this new stranger.
“How soon can you be ready to leave?” Charlotte asked, stooping to grab her helmet from beside me on the sofa. She tucked it beneath her arm, popping her hip.
“Give me five to get into my uniform,” Hangman replied.
I stared at my laptop, fingers faltering on the keys as I saw Hangman whip his t-shirt off over his head, revealing a strong chest and prominent abs.
I tried to recall what I was supposed to be doing on the screen, but my mind fell blank.
Against my better judgement, I found my eyes on him. God damn…
Hangman wrestled himself into a skintight compression shirt that made my ears feel hot. Before I could look away, he caught me watching him. In a rush, I returned my attention back to my laptop, but not before I’d seen a cocky grin on his face. I didn’t dare look up again.
When Charlotte leant in, I flinched. She held eye contact for a moment, a knowing smile quivering at the corners of her mouth. Her hand dived into my backpack and she pulled out another earpiece.
“Here, pop that in.”
As Charlotte tugged her helmet on, Hangman tilted his head and wiggled the soft, silicone casing into his ear until it was comfortable. Without hesitation, I opened the comms channel between the three of us.
“Testing, one, two,” I said, monitoring the outputs of each of the earpieces. Perfect, no glitches.
“Jesus,” he sighed, turning to Charlotte. “How do you get any work done with him in your ear like that? Talk about distracting.” Hangman asked, casting me a heated glance, stretching his neck out.
I floundered, unsure how to respond. Thankfully Charlotte laughed.
“You get used to it, I promise.” She tugged her face covering up until it was just her brown eyes on view, sparkling with mirth as she gazed at me. “All good, Relay. Loud and clear.”
A notification pinged on my screen and I faltered. The mission dossier. I clicked the pop-up and an email from a scrambled address appeared.
Share with Aquarius.
That was the only instruction, and I ran my hand through my hair. “Aquarius? Have you got your Infolink system booted up?”
Charlotte held up her forearm, sliding a leather covering off a slim flexiscreen strapped to her.
This system was relatively new, the most expensive piece of tech I had ever worked with.
It was like a tablet on steroids, feeding my system information about the woman beneath the suit and enabling me to share with her in return.
My screen blinked and the charts that had been blank a moment before burst to life.
I scanned my eyes over the information – Charlotte was in good shape, her heart rate was steady, her core body temperature within acceptable parameters, her blood oxygen saturation perfect…
I forwarded the email to Aquarius’s Infolink address and pulled the document up.
Not Ian Keller, but an important associate.
Alroy Garcia – an infamous drug lord. We’d gotten wind of Ian meeting with Garcia, both in Colombia and London.
He was potentially the last man to have seen Ian before he’d disappeared underground.
He had to know something. This mission wasn’t an assassination as much as a retrieval.
The Guild had instructed Charlotte to kidnap Garcia from his mansion home on the outskirts of Bogotá, torture him for information and neutralise him once he was no longer of use.
It sounded simple, but I knew it was anything but.
Charlotte swiped her fingers over the screen on her arm, her eyes darting back and forth as she read the attachment. She faltered and her gaze jumped up to meet mine.
“Looks like we’re heading to Colombia.”