“The Scientist wanted a bond between their killers but they didn’t want the bond the three of us formed. They believed my death would sow enough dissension that they would always be able to control us. If they waited until we were adults, it would never have worked.”
“I’m ready to face the Patron.”
Maybe she should have thought about this some more. She was lying on the side of a hill that was nothing but dirt. No trees, no flowers, just dirt. It was at this moment that she realized she was a little squeamish. There was a bug crawling on her leg or was it just in her mind. Either way, it was freaking her out she wanted to stand up and start patting herself down to get it off of her.
“Calm down.”
Why was his voice so soothing?
“I’m trying. Covert operations are all new to me.”
Mick had designed the outfit she was wearing. He told her that they were born with the ability to make clothing out of the natural components of the Earth. The best part about it was the clothes would blend better than anything they could buy, and since it was of the Earth, she didn’t have to worry about the dirt clinging to her when she stood. Now if he could only do something about the bugs.
The black pants fit like a glove; she was beginning to think Mick liked how her ass looked. She caught him looking more than once, and these pants left nothing to the imagination.
“Why do you think he came back? The Patron left the earth not wanting Ash to track him down, so what would bring him back?”
“The elaborate trap he has waiting for us. Let’s go spring it.”
That didn’t make her feel good at all. The most she could do was nod her head as she tried to crawl as silently as Mick up the hill.
At the top, there was a large compound laid out before her. Guards rounded it every fifteen minutes along with the modified dogs they used. The dogs were clones; she could tell by the longer fangs in their mouths as well as the bulkier bodies and longer legs. But the real giveaway was the eyes. They were orange; the color allowed them to see perfectly in any weather day or night. They had bigger ears making it easier for them to catch sound and they loved to kill. A cloned dog could kill a two-hundred-pound male in perfect fighting shape in three minutes. The dogs in front of them had all gone through genetic modification since they all looked alike.
When she studied clones, she made sure to study all the variations.
“How are we going to get past them?”
“The old-fashioned way.” He gestured to a bag he brought with them.
She turned her head and lifted a brow. He smiled at her.
“Just trust me. There’s a reason you don’t feed dogs synthetic food especially not your watch dogs.”
They laid there until the guards made another round. The weather started to change, a low-lying cloud layer came in bringing with it fog.
“Mick, are you doing this?”
“Just making sure his vid screen doesn’t pick up anything.”
He tapped her and indicated for her to follow. Together they made their way down the hill. He pulled her behind a large brick wall as the guard came around. The dogs began to bark. Not one, but what sounded like all of them.
The guard laughed. “Looks like we got intruders. Go get them, boys; I’ll call for clean up the next time I come around.”
She could see them sniffing the air. Slobber began to drip from their mouths highlighting the sharp teeth; there were five of them, and they were all focused on her and Mick.
“Mick, maybe you should take whatever is in that bag out and save us.”
“Not yet.”
One of the dogs growled and went down on his front legs. He’s thinking about how best to kill us. Jaz’s mind went crazy with thoughts.
The dogs surrounded them snarling and acting like they were going to jump out at them.
“Come closer,” Mick said softly, allowing his voice to touch each one. “They haven’t been nice to you.”
The dogs came a little closer, weary of Mick but his voice was captivating them.
“What are you doing?” Jaz whispered never having seen dogs act like this.
“Healing their minds. Humans think the only mind that can be broken is theirs. They’re wrong.” He slowly slipped his hands into the bag and brought out a large piece of meat.
“What’s on that?” She was more confused than ever.
“Something we designed to be able to transport raw meat and keep it fresh.” He took out more large pieces of meat, unwrapped them, and placed them away from him.
“Eat,” he whispered, “the meat is safe.”
The lead dog went over to the meat and sniffed before he finally took a bite. His howl brought the others running. They each began to eat ignoring Mick and Jaz.
Mick canted his head, and Jaz nodded and followed him over the compound staying low.
“How did you know?”
“The Patron cares about two things: accumulating money and saving face. A male like that doesn’t care about his staff, and that goes for his four-legged staff.”
They were at the door. Mick raised his hand and allowed the heat from it to overwhelm the sensors. The door sprung open.
“Won’t he know we’re here?”
“He’s been expecting us and I don’t want to disappoint.”
They walked into the foyer, and a cage dropped over them. Mick never touched the cage; he simply took a seat and drew Jaz down in his lap.”
“Visitors.” The Patron’s lead assassin walked out. He was the one that made the rest tremble in their boots.
“Nice of you to come and visit as well as bring the lovely clone with you.”
“When the Patron sends you an engraved invitation, it seems rude to ignore him.” Mick gave him a pleasant smile.
“Ahh yes, so you did get our little calling card, but you didn’t send them back.”
“They were scared they would be tortured to death. My heart went out to them, so I provided a simpler and much kinder death.”
“More’s the pity. I was looking forward to relieving some frustration using them. It seems you will have to do. You do know that she,” his hand stretched out towards Jaz. “Has been scheduled for termination or harvesting, the same thing. The Patron doesn’t like it when his plans are interrupted.”
“I have heard the Patron is known for throwing tantrums,” Mick whispered as if he had the hottest piece of gossip. “That can’t be true, such a fine cultured male.”
“Give me the clone.”
“If you want the female, come get her.”
“Bring me the dogs.”
A younger assassin walked in with the dogs.
“Sir,” his voice trembled.
“Who are you?”
“Doyle, sir this is my first day on the job.” The young man was trembling, his black hair falling into his face.
“Unless you want it to be your last day, you don’t address me unless I call you understood?”
“Yes, sir!” He released the dogs and slowly backed away.
The lead assassin pointed into the cage. “Tear the man apart, bring me the woman.”
The cage lifted and the dogs took off charging them. They bumped into their backs until Mick finally raised his hand and petted them.
“I’ll be taking them with me when we leave.” He stood up and placed Jaz within the circle of the dogs. “Protect her.” He looked each one in the eye before he turned to walk to the assassin.
The assassin paled for a minute as the dogs stood around Jaz making sure no could get close to her.
“What did you do to my dogs?” he demanded furiously.
“Kill him,” he spoke to the dogs, “or I will kill you.”
Soft growls came from the dogs as they looked from Mick to their owner but they refused to move.
“You want me dead?” Mick said softly, drawing the assassin’s attention back to him.
“I’ve heard about you and your brothers. I know you don’t do mates, so why this one?”
“That’s the thing about listening to rumors. Most of them are wrong.”
He threw a knife coated in poison at Mick who fell to the floor allowing it to pass over his head. A section of the floor burned where the knife touched it.
“I see you have some nice toys.” Mick pulled the laser pistol attached to his belt and fired it at the assassin catching him on his side.
“Do you know why I send my assassins out while I stay here?”
“So you don’t talk your opponents to death?”
He pulled a laser pistol from his boot, catching Mick unaware as he turned to check on Jaz shooting him in the back of the knee knocking him off balance.
“There are no opponent’s worthy of my skills. When I saw you trigger my trap, I knew that killing you would be a feather in my cap.”
“I’m still going with the talk them to death answer.”
The assassin raised his laser a second time but this time, Mick was faster and shot it out of his hand. He reached for the dagger that was sticking out of his boot.
A look of satisfaction flared in his eyes as he tested the dagger reacquainting himself with its weight.
“Perfect, I get to kill you with my bare hands.” The assassin came at Mick with his dagger intending to plunge it in his back.
Mick flipped to his back, used one leg to push him away while using the other foot to kick the dagger out of his hand. He jumped to his feet and moved back allowing the assassin to get on his feet.
“What’s your name?”
“John, and a good question. You should know the name of the man that’s going to kill you.”
He threw a second knife at Mick following up with a roundhouse kick that led into a punch. Mick rolled from the kick and deflected the punch.
John’s eyes darkened with rage but he kept a smile on his face letting Mick know that he was in charge of the situation.
“After you’re dead, I’m going to kill her before I turn her body over for harvesting.”
Mick flinched, John’s blows hadn’t affected him but his words painted a picture of Jaz dead. His anger led him to knocking John’s legs from under him with more force than he intended. He backed up giving himself time to calm down.
John smiled, feeling more in control of the fight. An angry opponent was a sloppy opponent. He had used this technique more than once and was sure it gave him the upper hand.
John came at Mick rushing him, trying to keep him off balance. Mick deflected the knife once again aimed at him and knocked John to the floor.
John smile when he turned his head, the laser was at his fingertips. He picked it up, thinking how sweet his victory would be. Blood ran from his busted lip, and he limped a little after he stood up, but he was coming for Mick. He walked up to him pointing the laser at his temple. Mick never made a move to stop him. Jaz bit the heel of her hand to keep from crying out.
“Do you know what I am? I’m an assassin. What made you think you could walk in here and live?”
Mick turned to look at him, his eyes redder than the fires of hell. “Do you know what I am? I’m a killer constructed that way down to my DNA.” He grabbed the hand with the laser and squeezed breaking each finger one at the time. John buckled as he threw threats at him. Telling him in detail what he would do to his mate when he caught her.
“How many have you killed?”
John’s gaze took on the light of a lunatic. Someone who lived to kill. “More than I can name.”
“Where’s the Patron?”
“He’s watching. He’ll kill you.” His voice was loud, not with panic but with victory.
“Good, he should see you die.”
John blanched when he realized he wasn’t going to win after all. He looked around trying to find a weapon.
Mick raised the laser and placed it at his temple and pulled the trigger.
He looked around the room and smiled. “We’re coming for you.”
Mick killed him. There was no remorse on his face, no sadness; he didn’t even look like his death fazed him, and he was her mate. Her internal conflict went through the roof. How was she supposed to justify his death? John, he even had a name now.
John was going to kill you. That little voice whispered in her head, and she knew it was right. Still seeing a man’s brains blown out wasn’t an easy sight to come to terms with.
Mick came to stand in front of her. He waited until she finally lifted her head to look at him. Her arms were around one of the dogs as she squeezed tight trying not to cry.
“I’m a killer, Jaz, that’s what I was created to be. I’ve killed for thousands of years. I can do it in my sleep. You’ve seen the monster that resides within me, but you missed something, Jaz.”
“What did I miss?” She didn’t care what she missed. Nor did she care what he thought he was because she wasn’t giving him up. She trusted Mick with her life.
“You missed the tenderness and gentleness you brought into my life. I’m a killer, and you’re the safest person in the universe. I will never hurt you. Look at the dogs. A little while ago they would have torn you apart, now they’re begging for your touch. Animals can change. They will still kill; they simply won’t kill you.”
She petted the dogs once more before she stood and walked into Mick’s arms.
“What do we do next?”
“We find the Patron because nothing but death will stop him.”
“Mick, where is everyone? His guards, protectors, other assassins?”
“They are here in the shadows. John told them not to attack when we entered the house, and now they are watching us. The Patron believes he can defeat us and doesn’t need his assassins.”
“I’m surprised there not attacking.”
“I just killed the best assassin the Patron had along with the ones that came after you, Jaz. Some people, even assassins, care about their lives.”
She took his hand following his lead. The foyer that they were in was large with wood floors that gleamed to a high shine. Wood was a natural substance which meant it was very expensive. That the Patron had the kind of money to do his floors in wood spoke of the wealth he commanded.
Mick stopped turning around to look at the young kid—Doyle, who held a laser pistol in his hand aimed at him.