“Juliet is only thirteen?” I interrupt.
“Yes.”
I blink. “Thirteen is really young by Earthling standards.”
“Romeo and Juliet is a really old play. Back then, it was legal for a girl to get married at twelve and boys at fourteen.”
“Is that so?” I murmur.
“Yes, but that wasn’t the norm. Most got married later in life.”
My head is swimming. “How do you know all of this?”
She laughs, throwing back her head. “Would you believe it’s because of a target? I had to get close to a man who was a scholar of all things Shakespearean.”
“Why was he a target?”
“A woman wanted to meet him. It wasn’t a typical bounty by far.”
“You played matchmaker?” I guess.
“In a fashion, yes.”
“Why couldn’t she have just talked to him outright?”
“Because she wanted to lure him into a game of wits. It was, what for it, rather Shakespearean.”
I burst out laughing. “You Earthlings are so very strange.”
She giggles. “Yes, we can be, but we can also be callous, ruthless, and downright evil.”
Clearly, she’s back to thinking about John Doe.
I clear my throat. “The general, did she know about the poison?”
“Yes. Even better, if we stick around a bit longer, she’ll acquire it for us.”
“And then…”
“We’ll go back to my house, separately. You’ll wait an hour, and I’ll make sure that everyone can see that I’m there, that I’m back, it’s me. Then, you’ll give me the poison, and I’ll be dead.”
“But not dead dead, right?” I ask.
“Are you worried?” she asks, grinning widely.
“Why do you seem to enjoy the idea of you taking poison?”
“It’s not that I have a death wish,” she protests.
“Are you sure about that?” I grumble.
“Yes, I’m sure,” she says patiently. “I don’t want to die.”
“The poison will do what exactly?”
“It’ll stop my heartbeat.”
“How is that not killing you?” I demand. “No, you will not—”
“You don’t control me.”
“I know, but I think I might be more concerned about your health than you are.”
“What makes you say that? Because I’m willing to take poison that will make my heart stop?”
“Yes! Can’t we just pretend that I shoot you dead?”
"No. We need you to make the drop-off."
“You want me to give you over to John Doe.”
“That’s the whole point of all of this,” she reminds me.
“I know we have to get him, but to hand you over…”
“We can do it. Trust me.”
“I do trust you, but—”
“No buts.”
“Fine.” I cross my arms. “Did that Shakespeare guy have any plays or stories that weren’t tragedies?”
“Yes! He had some comedies! A Midsummer Night’s Dream is about fairies!”
“What are fairies?”
“They’re…”
Two hours later, I’m standing over Sophia’s body. Just moments ago, I drove up to her place.
She opened the door to her house, her hair back to its natural black, and she smiled at me real wide, rushing up to me, prepared to give me a kiss. We had to put on a show, after all, in case John Doe was watching us before and knew that we had sex. Of course, Sophia’s hoping that’s not the case considering she left with the blond wig and all of that, but we can’t be certain what all is going on with John Doe.
I pulled out the gun, and I fired.
Now, Sophia's at my feet, bleeding. It looks so very real, like I shot her dead. She took the poison before coming out, a risk, yes, since we didn't know how quickly its effects would start, but we were able to do everything without a hitch.
But, the bleeding… She told me that my gun had blanks. Why is she bleeding?
I can’t help it. I rush over to her and kneel beside her, feeling for the pulse in her neck, getting her blood on my shorts.
There’s no heartbeat.
The poison? Or did something go wrong with the blanks?
Did I really kill her?
My phone begins to ring. Earlier, when Sophia had been recounting to me the story of Hamlet—another tragedy by Shakespeare—someone else had called me, someone looking for Jerry, who was the gentleman I purchased the car and phone from.
The timing is too suspect, though, but how could John Doe know this number? If he does, his reach is incredible, and if that’s the case, he might even know about what we’re attempting here.
He couldn't have known, though, right?
But what if he did? What if I didn’t shoot her with a blank? What if he somehow got his hands on my gun and—
I’m being ridiculous, and the phone is still ringing. Before I can think better of it, I answer it.
“Tox.”
I blink a few times and straighten, glancing around.
“Didn’t I tell you that I would get in touch with you once the deed was done?” he continues.
“You did.”
“And you did your part. Congratulations. Tomorrow, you’ll be a homeowner. How does that feel?”
“It feels… ah… The body. Don’t you want to see the body? I, ah, what do you Earthlings do with dead bodies?”
The man laughs. “Ah, Tox. A mercenary with no heart at all. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous when you two became involved, but it was just a ploy for you to get close to her. You could’ve killed her in bed, though.”
"I thought I would have some fun first," I say, feeling a bit numb. This entire conversation feels surreal. This can't be happening. I mean, we got the poison from the general. How long is the poison supposed to last? When will she come to?
“I am not one to judge. Don’t you worry. I will get the keys to you tomorrow.”
“I changed my mind,” I blurt out.
There’s no response.
“I don’t want the house.”
“You don’t? Why the change in heart?”
“I’m a mercenary. I want money.”
“Why—”
“That house is too big for just me. Until I find myself a good woman and a…” I close my eyes. “And a better lay, I have no need for a house.”
“Very well. I do want to see her body up close.”
I try to swallow, but there’s a lump in my throat. “I guess I can wait here, but you’re going to deal with the body. You aren’t paying me enough for that.”
“I can add a little more to the stack. I’ll be there in an hour.”
“An hour?” My heart begins to race. No. That’s too long. The poison won’t work for that long.
Will it?
“You got somewhere else to be?” he snaps.
“I do,” I retort. “You aren’t the only one I’m working for.”
“Fine. I’ll be there when I’m there.”
And he hangs up.
For whatever reason, I call up his number.
He doesn’t answer.
I hope, I really hope, that Sophia and I didn’t make a huge mistake by trying to trick John Doe, but what choice did we have?
If something happened, if this all goes down wrong, I’m going to kill John Doe myself.
16
Sophia
It’s the strangest sensation, being dead. I don’t exactly know what I took and how it works, but my heart, it isn’t beating.
I’m dead.
But I can still hear.
Why the general has this strange kind of medicine, I’m not sure. She mentioned that it’s for coma patients, for inducing medical comas, and she said that if I took this dose, I would be out for long enough, that I wouldn’t need anything else to come back.
But she never said just how long.
Or that I would remain con
scious the entire time. Lose dose thing, maybe? I don’t know, but this is weird.
I’m going out of my mind just lying here, waiting. It doesn’t feel right to be here. I have to consciously think not to move, not to flinch, but I don’t have to hold my breath.
Because I’m not breathing.
And I don’t need to.
How is this possible? I don’t understand, but it’s fine. It’s all good. I’m not a zombie or anything like that. It’s just… weird. Unsettling. Bizarre.
I’m lying here in wait, ready to pounce, get up, and kill someone.
My heart should be racing from adrenaline, but that’s not the case.
Wait. Can I even move? The whole medical coma bit. Damn. I can move, right? And I won’t be all sluggish, right?
General Janius Jackson had been a little too tight-lipped about the poison. I get that it’s not something for the general public, that it’s a need to know kind of thing, but now, I’m starting to worry a little. What if she’s in on this? No way. That’s impossible. I’m paranoid.
My nose itches, and I instinctively wiggle it. Damn. I can, which is great, but I also shouldn’t be moving.
There’s the sound of heavy footsteps on rocks and the grass. Tox. He’s pacing. He’s been on and off since he got off the phone with John Doe. I really hate this. I think I’m going to go out of my mind with—
There’s another sound, that of tires on rocks and grass.
John Doe.
Or maybe he had a goon come instead. I wouldn’t put that past him. The bastard—
“You do good work, Tox,” a deep voice says. An impossibly deep voice. A voice I recognize.
Silver Hair.
John Doe.
He’s here.
“You might want to check out my good work,” Tox rumbles.
I do my very best to hold still. The packet I placed inside my clothes to release blood onto me was a nice touch, if I do say so myself. I shut my own eyes as soon as I went down, but before I did, I saw the look of shock on Tox’s face. Maybe I should’ve warned him about it, but he’ll survive. Oh, maybe that was why he was pacing. He was worried he actually killed me. I hadn’t thought of that. I assumed his pacing had been from wanting John Doe to hurry up and arrive. That’s why I would’ve been pacing if I could’ve gotten up and paced.
Footsteps approach, and fingers touch the side of my neck. I don’t know how the blood is circulating throughout my body with my heart beating. That’s the entire point of a heartbeat, after all, but it is.
He's pressing his fingers down harder than Tox had, and that's when I make my move. My left arm has been underneath me this entire time, gripping a dagger, and I sit up, forcing John Doe back slightly. Even though my arm has a bit of pins and needles sensation, I go to stab him.
He blocks the blow, squeezing my wrist tight, bending it unnaturally. I jerk, trying to move my body in such a way that I can tolerate the pain and not drop the knife, but he doesn’t let me, still on top of me from when he bent over to check my heartbeat.
Tox mutters a curse, and he rushes over. He must’ve been too afraid to shoot John Doe in the back, but I’m not in the way. I’m not blocking the shot.
“What is this?” John Doe snaps as he jerks me to my feet, still holding onto my wrist, bending it yet, making me his human shield. “You two are in cahoots together, aren’t you? Why, Kurian? You know I would’ve paid for that house for you. I had a whole list of jobs for you, people I wanted you to take out, but no. You had to go and screw things up by falling for this whore.”
“Who are you calling a whore?” I ask angrily.
“Oh, don’t act as if you’re innocent.”
I can just twist my neck enough to see him sneer.
“Who else did you want killed?” Tox asks.
“Who else do I want killed,” John Doe corrects. “Don’t you worry about that. I’m going to kill you both, and—”
“No, you aren’t,” I say.
He gives up on holding my wrist and snakes an arm around my throat to choke me, but I manage to get my fingers in on his arm so I can yank his arm enough so that I can breathe.
Yes, I’m breathing again. Whether or not it’s because I need to, for oxygen, or because I’m doing so because of force of habit, I don’t know, but I welcome in the fresh air, and then I go down onto one knee.
He doesn’t want to come down with me, but I shift him up and over my shoulder. He doesn’t release me, and we end up rolling, my back to his front, but his arm is no longer around my neck, and I scramble to flip over and back away. I’m not sure about grappling him. I think I felt the pressure of a sheathed knife on his leg when we rolled, and I don’t trust him to not have more weapons on him. Close quarter combat like the grappling would require would mean that I could be a dead duck in seconds if he gets out the knife and stabs me.
Of course, I have a few other weapons on me too, but no gun. I might be able to get the upper hand with grappling, but there’s not just me here. Tox can help. He—
“We’ve got company,” Tox says bitterly. He’s moving his gun, sweeping it, and I notice two other thugs. They’re climbing out of the trunk from John Doe’s car.
Guess Tox’s more lookout than backup. Damn.
“You were going to take Tox out,” I accuse John Doe.
He tilts back his head and laughs. “Is that what you think? No, actually, Sophia Clyde, that’s not why I brought them along. I have my own bodyguards now. Things are too close to coming together for me to risk it. After that stunt you pulled with Ali Khan, I have no choice but to have bodyguards with me at all times.”
“What’s coming together?” I ask.
“You don’t need to know,” he snaps as his bodyguards come on over toward us. They’re hulking brutes, built like tanks. I think they might be twins. But as they approach Tox, they look like Pomeranians compared to the Kurian’s Great Dane.
Tox fires a shot. The bodyguards don’t appear fazed at all, and they bring out their own guns.
Shit.
I go to run around to the back of the closest bodyguard, but John Doe reaches out and grabs my arm. I yank my arm up to free myself, but he’s slowed me down enough that the bodyguards get off their own shots.
Tox is hit, but he doesn’t go down.
He returns fire, and one of the bodyguard grunts and falls. His gun tumbles from his grasp onto the ground.
I never stop moving. I'm behind the still-standing bodyguard, and I grab around him, hugging him tight, squeezing, trapping his arms by his side.
“Go ahead!” I scream to Tox.
He fires.
I feel the thud of the bullet hitting the bodyguard.
He makes for a good bodyguard. His body guards mine, and I can feel the shift in him as he dies and becomes dead weight.
I release my hold on him, and he slumps to the ground. Quickly, I grab his gun, but John Doe has the other bodyguard’s gun in one hand and a knife in the other.
“You two want to live?” John Doe asks as he backs away toward his car, again not a centuricar. “Let me go, and—”
I line up the shot and blow out his back tire.
John Doe scowls at me and shoots. I fall to the ground to avoid the bullet, luckily avoiding the blow.
“You two aren’t going to let me leave, are you?” he scowls.
Tox steps forward. “We killed your bodyguards. Why don’t you just surrender already, and we can—”
“You can what?” John Doe snaps. “You want to kill me!”
“We don’t have to,” I say slowly as I climb to my feet. He keeps shifting his target, pointing the gun toward Tox and then me and back again.
His eyes are wild, and he’s breathing heavily. He underestimated us, but I’m worried. Tox is bleeding for real, and I don’t know how much blood he’s lost. Will he be all right? His blood is blue, not red like Earthling’s. I doubt he can have a blood transfusion from one of us, and yes, there are Kurians who live on Earth, but I don’t kn
ow if any of them are nearby, and my heart is in my throat. I do not want him to die or risk his life.
So, yes, I’ll consider making a deal.
“We can’t let you walk away,” I say, risking a step toward him.
“Not a step closer,” John Doe snaps. “Neither of you!”
We form a triangle—Tox, John Doe, and me—and I’m a little closer to John Doe than Tox is. A shot from this short range would go in and out of him to strike his car.
Tox and I both halt where we are, but we both have our guns trained on him. Tox looks comfortable holding the weapon. It’s a bit unnerving. Has he had practice with it? He did shoot the bodyguard even while under fire himself. It’s impressive.
He’s impressive.
But we’re at a standoff, and I don’t know who’s going to win.
17
Tox
“Not a step closer,” John Doe snaps. “Neither of you!”
Sophia and I halt, and I grind my teeth. I want to end this man, but I’m grateful for all of the training my mom drilled into me. I might not have wanted to be a soldier for Kuria, and my mom might partially be to blame for that. She used to hand me various weapons from Earth and train with them, shooting at various targets. When she met my dad, they were both captains, but she ascended a few more ranks above that. With the Novans, there are officers, captains, and then just the one commander. And then the overlord, of course.
All of those hours of practice I hated, but I really am glad for them now.
“We can hand you over,” Sophia calls out. “You don’t have to die.”
“And what do you think the Global Countries of Earth will do with me if you hand me over?” John Doe snaps. “They aren’t going to throw a parade in my honor, that’s for sure.”
“No, but there might be a funeral procession.” Sophia smirks.
I shake my head. She's antagonizing him! She's a fighter, through and through, but I'm not so sure that a fight with words is for the best right now. It might be best for us to just shoot him.
Shoot him.
I’ve been shot, and it’s not fun, but I’m fine. I can handle this. The pain level isn’t that bad, all things considered.
Mesmerized by the Alien Mercenary Page 10