by Tia Wylder
I caught my breath as the elevator ascended to the top of the building. When I reached the top floor, I took the stairs to the roof. I emerged into pouring rain and roaring thunder.
The smartphone in my hand started vibrating. I swiped to the right and placed it to my ear.
“I’m here, are you on your way?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be there soon. Just stay out of sight.”
I hung up and placed the phone in my coat pocket.
“Zhang Wu! Stay where you are!”
I knew the voice, just not the face. It didn’t matter; he was death coming to finish me off. It was time I paid for my sins.
I heard his footsteps approaching, and I felt myself deeply conflicted. There was a part of me that thought I deserved this, all of it. I told myself I wouldn’t run anymore, that I would face the consequences with honor. Then I saw her face. Perhaps the last angel left in a world filled with demons.
You made her a promise.
Death was knocking at my door, howling my name.
Sorry, I can’t answer today, I won’t leave her alone in this world.
I turned and ran as gunshots roared through the night. The bullets passed by my ears, screeching like banshees. I approached the edge of the rooftop and looked down on the building adjacent to it.
Remember your training. Jump!
I leapt off the side of the building and passed over the city below. I tucked my legs into my chest and rolled as I hit the coarse surface of the neighboring building. The assassin behind me wasted no time in doing the same. He hit the ground as I climbed to my feet and ran to the edge of the rooftop.
The next building was too far. I couldn’t make it. I stood on the edge and looked down. There was nothing but darkness until the bottom.
“Nowhere else to run Zhang! Stand there and accept your fate!” the voice said.
I slowly turned around and looked my assassin in the eye. His face was all too familiar. It was my head of security, Guan Shu, someone I thought I could trust.
“You? I had my suspicions, but we’ve been together for years. Were you with them, the whole time?
He nodded. “They’re not stupid Zhang, they knew from the beginning.”
“I should have known. You’ve made a living out of stabbing people in the back,” I said.
He chuckled. “Don’t put this on me Zhang; you’re the one who dug your own grave.”
“Better me than the rest of the world, don’t you think?”
He checked his gun and cocked it. His finger curled around the trigger.
“One last question for you, old friend: where’s the drive?”
I smiled and closed my eyes. “If you have to ask, you’ll never find it.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Either way, you’ll never know. Goodbye Zhang.”
He pulled the trigger.
I should have died there. Perhaps I did, but the bullet didn’t leave the chamber. The gun didn’t fire because it was designed with an additional security measure. I knew I couldn’t trust anyone, especially those closest, so after being attacked in Tanya’s apartment, I switched Guan’s gun out with a different one while he was patching me up. After the encounter in Tanya’s apartment, I had to take measures to ensure he couldn’t betray me, if it was indeed him. No one else knew I was with Tanya; it was a simple matter of deduction.
Guan looked at the gun and took his attention away from me. I reached forward and hit him in the nose with a straight punch, hard enough to shatter it. He dropped the gun and it skidded across the rooftop in the rain. I ran to it as he clutched his bleeding face and picked it up.
“A simple but elegant design. The entirety of my security team has pistols that are manufactured with two safety switches; one in its normal place and one that is hidden. Both must be turned off for the gun to fire. I switched your gun with this one after you shot me in Tanya’s apartment. That was you, wasn’t it?”
Guan tried to explain himself, but his words were lost in thunder.
I aimed the gun at his chest.
“You would have done it execution style, yes? Two in the chest, one in the head?”
Guan continued pleading for his life as I fired two rounds into his chest. As he reeled in place, I fired the last on into his head and he fell onto the rooftop. I didn’t have much time, but I needed to make it look like he finished the job. I pulled out my phone, my wallet, my keys, everything I had that could identify me and kept only enough cash for a cab to the airport, and Guan’s phone in case they called to confirm my death.
I placed everything in Guan’s pockets and dragged him to the edge of the roof. Sooner or later they would know it wasn’t me, but the initial reports would say that I jumped from the roof, confirmed by the identification found on the body. It would be enough for us to get away.
I looked over the edge at the parked cars and the pedestrians below. With one decisive push, Guan flew from the building and soared to the ground below. I heard the crash as he landed on the roof of a parked car. The alarm blared as glass scattered across the ground. Nearby pedestrians screamed and shouted as I made my way back inside the building.
For now, at least, Zhang Wu was dead, and he took his secrets to the grave. Almost immediately Guan’s phone rang. I picked it up and remained silent.
“Is it done?” a gravelly voice asked.
“Yeah,” I said, “It’s done.”
“Good, report back for debriefing.”
The line cut out.
It was time to make my escape.
Chapter Eight
One Year Later
We never stayed in one place for long. Cancun, Argentina, Singapore, we were always on the move. We were married almost immediately, but we wanted to see the world before we settled down. When I found out that Tanya was pregnant, that time had come. We found a quiet place that didn’t appear on any maps and we built a home for ourselves.
It was another perfect day; I was sitting in the kitchen, eating eggs and bacon when I heard the thumping sound of helicopter blades. Tanya emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body.
“What is that? Did they find us?” she asked.
I dropped my fork and held up my hand.
“Just go hide; I’ll take care of this.”
I walked to the front door and pulled my pistol out from the bottom of the umbrella holder. I checked the clip and turned the safeties off as I opened the door. A round man approached with white stubble on his face to match the grey hair on his head. I recognized him immediately. He was my CIA contact, Franklin Pierce.
He held up his hands as the helicopter whirred behind him.
“I’m not here to hurt you, Zhang, I need your help. We all do,” he shouted.
“How did you find me?” I asked.
“That’s not important, what’s important is that those files you stole are no longer in hiding. Someone else has them.”
I shook my head. “That’s impossible, only I knew where they were.”
Franklin reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. He turned the screen toward me. It was an email containing all of the documents I stole. It came from an encrypted address.
“This isn’t possible!”
Franklin put the phone back in his pocket.
“That doesn’t matter now. If these documents go public, you know what it will do to the economy, hell they could even start World War III! You need to come back, you’ve dealt with these people before, you knew about this group before anyone else, and we didn’t listen.”
“I got out of that life,” I said.
Franklin stepped forward and laid a hand on my shoulder.
“Listen, all of your crimes will be forgiven; you’ll get a clean slate and a safe place for your wife. If we wanted to drag you in, we would have by now. You earned this rest, but now the world needs you. Don’t do it for me, or for yourself, do it so you can leave behind a world that’s safe for your son, or daughter, or any other children you have.”
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I looked behind me and saw Tanya standing in the entryway. Her hand was gently placed on the round shape of her stomach. I knew what I had to do.
I looked back to Franklin and nodded.
“Alright, I’m in.”