Assassin's Diaries, Mission 1

Hazel does whatever job she wants. Most people would kill for that. Except for the fact that she actually kills people. . .

       Hazel slid her laptop onto her lap as she lounged on her couch. It was early in the morning, early enough that almost no one else was awake. The sun had just started to peak over the tall city buildings.

       She logged into her work email. It was untraceable and under an alias. She had only a handful of new emails. No spam. She opened one of the emails and read it. It was some important government official wanting his mistress killed so she wouldn't talk. She deleted it and opened another one. That one was offering her ten thousand dollars to assassinate the head of Guild Inc. They are a company who develops weapons to sell to the government. 

       This was interesting, she thought. She read on. Apparently, he was authorizing and selling weapons to foreign countries. A sly smile grew on her lips. The sender of the email is a current employee who did not want to be the whistleblower. She emailed back, asking for a deadline.

       The reply came quick and simply, before Friday. That should be easy enough. It was only Monday. She searched Guild Inc. and scrolled through it's homepage. They were offering small tours. Sure it didn't show much, but it should make for a good start.

       Hazel closed her laptop and bounded off to her closet. The tours started at ten and were quite expensive, but with all the work she had been doing lately, she could afford it. She pulled on her sweetest and most innocent looking sundress. It was a light pink lacey strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline. She tugged on a white sweater and a pair of sandals.

       There was a warm breeze blowing down the sidewalk. Warmth covered Hazel like a blanket. She loved the summer months. The streets were empty except for a homeless person here and there. They left Hazel alone. They were smart.

       Before going to the building she stopped at a twenty-four hour café. They barista greeted her with a smile. She was a regular customer. She waved, "Hey Hazel, you're out pretty early."

       Hazel sighed, "Work. But, hey, it pays the bills. How have you been, Lacy?" Hazel and the girl had become sort of friends. They never hung out, but seemed to talk almost everyday. Lacy knew her order and started making her coffee.

       Lacy frowned, "I dumped my boyfriend. He was just using me for my roof. Guys are so arrogant and stupid. I figured out he was cheating on me with like three different girls. He is such a pig."

      She handed her the coffee and gave her the bills. A part of her felt bad for Lacy, but another part of her had seen it coming. The guy really had been a pig and very disrespectful to Lacy. Hazel had wanted to break his collar bone. She put on her concerned expression, "Oh, I'm sorry. That's terrible. But don't worry, you'll land on your feet in no time."

       Lacy smiled, "Thanks. Hey, what do you do anyway?" Hazel could tell the question had been bothering her for a while. She knew it most likely would. Of course, Hazel knew she would have to lie if ever asked. She even had a lie planned.

       "I'm a consultant. I help people with their problems." By creating problems for the police. She smiled at the thought of the uniforms chasing their tails. "I'm going to go sit over there" She told Lacy and walked away from the counter.

       She sat down and started drinking her coffee when two police officers walked in. They were detectives. They weren't in uniform, but Hazel saw the badges and guns strapped to their hips. One looked to be in his early thirties and the other looked only a couple years older than Hazel herself. She tensed. She never liked being near cops. They ordered their coffee and the younger one started looking around. His gaze fell on Hazel. She could feel it on her face and looked up to meet it.

       They watched each other for a moment before he whispered something to his partner and walked over to Hazel's table. He smiled at her, "Hello, I'm Liam. You are?"

       She smiled with a tad of sarcasm, "Not interested in cops." He looked offended and intrigued at the same time. She mentally groaned, Can't this guy understand she isn't interested. She looked away from him.

       Liam didn't take the hint and sat across from her, beaming. "You're very observative. That's a good quality. I think we should get coffee sometime. I mean, you like coffee, I like coffee. I think it was meant to be. Perhaps we're even written in the stars."

       At that, she laughed aloud. Hazel stood, "I'll have to pass. I'm late. And if I don't get to work, my unemployment papers will be written in the stars." She grinned at her own joke and walked away from him and the table.

       The tour was excruciatingly boring and dumb. The only helpful thing it offered was a layout of the building and there the helpfulness was limited. Besides, if she had any hope of killing the CEO, Noah Lambert, she was going to have to find him during his personal time.

      She walked towards a couple of employees talking. Their expensive suits told her they were some what important. They were talking about some party Mr. Lambert was throwing. That would be the perfect opportunity. She could get to him with dozens of other guests. The police would go through hell interviewing all the witnesses/suspects. She would not be in either group.

       Back at home, she went through her closet. She only had a couple dresses nice enough to help her blend in at the party. She picked out a regular black knee length dress and a pair of black flats. She would blend into the background but blend into the people at the same time.

       She did more research into the company and the person who hired her. The person, Oliver Campbell, seemed clean. She emailed him the account to send the money. And within an hour she had the first half. She researched the company. When she put all the evidence together, she understood Oliver's concern. The Guild was getting almost three times the amount they should be making with the US government on their tab. They were illegally selling weapons to foreign countries.

       Around eight she got ready and headed to the party. It wasn't hard sneaking past security. They were amateurs. In no time she was walking about the room, looking for Noah. A lot of people came up to mingle and flirt with her, but she just moved on. She wasn't there to socialize.

       Then, a hand gripped her arm. She turned but couldn't see his face. Hazel tried to pull away, but his grip was like iron. She didn't dare call out or make a move in front of all these people. So she let him lead her out into the garden.

       Once alone, she jerked out of his grip and reached for the knife strapped to her thigh. She held it, ready to attack. She still couldn't make out his face. It was being covered by a hood. He flexed his fists. There was complete and utter silence between them. She knew he was going to try to kill her and he knew she would defend herself from the unknown assailant.

       He surged forward. Hazel quickly dodged him and using her leg, she kicked his out from under him. His made an oof sound as he fell onto his back. She brought her knife down toward his chest, but he caught her hand and forced it away. She smiled at the small cut she had gotten on his forearm. He grunted as he tried to disarm her. Her knife slid across the room. She was overcome with rage. Using her right fist, she punched him right in the jaw. He fell onto his side and the impact made her hand hurt.

       Hazel picked up her knife and was about to finish him off when Noah Lambert stumbled into the garden. He was obviously drunk. Hazel saw the opportunity and took it. She threw the knife at his chest. Noah was to clumsy to move so it stuck in his chest. He let out a gasp and stared at his white shirt as it became soaked with red. She ran over to him and pulled the knife out. She disappeared out of the garden, leaving them both.