[C h a p t e r 2 8]

- Present Day -

Amber sat leaning against the edge of her desk, staring at the shelves that lay to the desk’s right as she thought over the details of her newest mission. Standing up, she walked over to the bookshelf closest to the window, her fingers feeling behind the edge where a small invisible hollow in the corner of the second shelf lay. Her fingers connected with a small switch and the shelf suddenly clicked out of place, creaking slightly on its hidden hinges.

She pulled the now unlocked door open, revealing a secret compartment filled with an assortment of weapons, from the latest guns to finest swords. Amber looked on at the guns in slight distaste, having never grown to like the crude weapons. She never understood why men loved to use them so much, for she despised the way they blew messy holes in people. It was also too simple for Amber, for one could just stand and hide behind a wall, shooting at their enemy all day rather than face them head on with a blade. She reached forward for her favourite pair of daggers, fastening their sheathes upside down to her forearms before sliding the thin blades in. They clicked into place where they would remain hidden under her sleeves until she flicked her wrist to release them.

Gazing over the range of guns the compartment held, Amber picked her standard Colt M1911 from the group, ejecting the magazine to check that it was properly loaded. Although she despised guns, she had to admit that at times they were necessary. She picked up the gun’s holster and fastened it to the belt at her hip, placing in two spare loaded magazines in the spaces next to it. She then grabbed a short sword no longer than her forearm and fastened it to the other side of her hip before reaching for her last dagger which she hid fastened to her left calf. Although tonight’s mission appeared simple, Amber felt that she should still be prepared for the worst. A nagging feeling was gnawing away at the pit of her stomach, an unsettling premonition for the events to come.

As she was about to close the compartment, Amber’s eyes fell onto one particular silver tin she kept hidden in the back corner, similar to all the others around it. However, instead of holding items necessary to care for this stock of weapons, it held the memories of the little girl Xuan. Reaching for it, she opened the tin and the musty smell of age wafted off the contents within.

Everything was still the same as when she had last opened the box, almost nine years ago. The bird water whistle lay cracked in its cotton pouch, having dropped it the last time she pulled the box out. The handmade bear was still in good shape, locked in that tin for so long. Several bills were still left within the tin, a bitter reminder of the wallets she had stolen. But what caught her attention the most was the necklace Henry had given her all those years ago. Picking it up, she then closed the lid and returned the box to the corner, holding the necklace up before her eyes. She continued to study the heart pendant before her, suddenly deciding to pull it over her head. Ever since she had received the thing, Amber had not once worn the pendant for she feared that she would break it and lose it forever. But she didn’t care anymore; she wanted to wear it.

Raising the cool glass to her lips, she closed her eyes as she remembered the kiss Henry had unintentionally given her. She knew he must be feeling guilty that he had kissed a supposedly different woman in a place he felt was sacred to him and Josephine. Yes… she understood how he felt… It wasn’t that she wanted to torment him, but how can someone who is believed to be dead suddenly reappear? How could she tell him that she was  Josephine, the girl he missed so much? He would just glare at her in contempt when he found out what she truly was and the love he once had for her would become hate. Amber could not stand the hurt it would bring. No… she could never tell him. Not only would he scorn her but his life would be put in danger, for letting him know that she was Josephine would be the equivalent of telling him that she was Dawn. And that was what she feared even more.

‘Fear…’ Amber’s lips curved in a bitter smile. She was supposedly a fearsome assassin, supposedly devoid of all emotion and able to kill without blinking an eye, yet here she was, experiencing the very emotion she instilled in those around her. How ironic, that an assassin finally fears to take someone’s life.

Fate was cruel. And that was all there was to it.

Two men were waiting for Amber outside by the car, their hands in their pockets as they stared lazily around them. They straightened when they saw her arrive and a man the same height as Amber stepped forward.

“My name is Jackson and that over there is taehyun,” he said, pointing over at the other man who stared at Amber in arrogant disapproval.

Amber studied the pair in silence. The two men were new faces to her and she found it unusual that Lee Soo Man had decided to let her go with these two. Jackson seemed to be your average dull, obedient henchman and she could see that he accepted her for who she was. Taehyun, on the other hand, was a younger man and he continued to glare at Amber with undisguised dislike. She had a feeling the man would be a little hard to work with, even if they were responsible for different things.

“Kris is caught up in some other business so Lee Soo Man sent us over instead. I hope you do not mind, Dawn,” said Jackson, attempting to smile in a friendly manner. However, the smile soon faded from his face when Amber continued to stare at him coldly.

Amber then proceeded to step into the backseat of the car, ignoring the glares she received from Taehyun. The men soon entered the car after her and Jackson started the engine, driving the three of them away from the  Mansion.

The hour long drive proceeded in silence, the two men in front constantly glancing at Amber seated in the back through the mirrors. Although it appeared that she was staring out the window, Amber nevertheless noticed their glances and inwardly scowled. This was why she didn’t like working with unfamiliar faces. She didn’t even like working with anyone at all for that matter. People who meet her for the first time as Dawn seemed to underestimate her small appearance, doubting that she was the legendary assassin. And it was that very arrogant doubt that usually ruined her missions. But it was necessary for her to use accomplices tonight as her newest target lay hidden behind a fortress of the latest in security technology.

They finally arrived outside a white modern styled mansion. Compared with Lee Soo Man’s palace, this mansion seemed like a tiny house, covering perhaps only three acres. Jackson drove them past the front gate then into a side alley two streets down, where they finally came to a stop. It was then that Amber finally spoke.

“Taehyun; how long will it take you to override Their security system?”

Taehyun glanced back at Amber through his mirror. “About ten minutes. All I have to do is hack into their security mainframe and it should be a breeze from there.” He then continued to study Amber, smirking slightly. “I would have assumed the great Dawn would have at least read the briefing prior to undertaking the mission.”

Amber continued to glare at Taehyun, despising the man even more. “Then rather than explaining the whole process to me again, why don’t you get started?” she said in an even tone that barely masked her anger.

The smirk on Taehyun’s face suddenly disappeared, turning into a small scowl. He then reached down in front him, picking up a laptop he had kept down there. Opening it, he then began typing furiously, seemingly with a little more force than was required. After eleven minutes, he suddenly stopped his typing with one final tap on his keyboard.

“There. You now have roughly ten minutes before they realise what’s happened and another five after that before they manage to bring their system up again.” As he turned around to glance behind him at Amber, he was shocked to find that she had already disappeared.

Jackson, noting the older man’s look of surprise, turned to glance at the back seat. “She’s gone! When did she go?”

Taehyun shook his head disbelievingly. “I don’t know.”

Amber was over the wall, her face covered by a black satin mask that hid the lower half of her face as she crouched behind a large shrub. A security guard strolled by, his radio cackling loudly with static. After he passed her, Amber hurriedly ran from behind the bush, treading softly all the way over towards the pool where she then lay low against the hedge that ran alongside it. Another pair of security guards jogged by and Amber briefly overheard them mention something about the cameras and lasers being down. She cursed silently under her breath at Taehyun’s lousy work. He had said that she had a total of fifteen minutes, but only three of those minutes had gone by. Now, she only had two choices: retreat or continue. If she was to retreat, Lee Soo Man would definitely be displeased with her and it would become harder to kill the man. However, if she were to continue, it would still be difficult as there seemed to be a dozen guards roaming the grounds. She closed her eyes and silently counted to three, finally coming to a decision.

Once the two guards had disappeared, Amber ran over towards the back of the mansion where the kitchen was located. There, she quickly ran into the kitchen, speeding her way swiftly through into the main building beyond.

She suddenly heard two guards talking around the corner in front, and Amber ducked into the storage cabinet beside her. When their heavy footsteps passed her, she then opened the door slightly, checking to see if anymore were coming. The coast clear, she stepped out and began to run off again, veering a sharp right as she silently ran up the steps.

Contrary to what Taehyun had accused her, Amber had read the mission brief before hand and she now had a map of the mansion imprinted into her mind. Just like when Lee Soo Man had found out everything about Josephine, Lee Soo Man had been able to find out everything about Kim hyunwoo. The man was a fairly stubborn business man, refusing to comply with his business partner’s decision to sell the company to a foreign investor. Apparently, the arguments had steadily begun to increase in hostility, thus resulting in Dawn’s latest job. According to the information Lee Soo Man had given her, Kim Hyunwoo would have been in his study for another hour until 1 AM but since the guards have become suspicious, Amber guessed that he would now be locked down within his bedroom, perhaps with a bodyguard or two for protection.

Amber hid behind the corner, noticing the guard she had thought would be there standing outside the door to Hyunwoo room. Flicking back her left wrist, she ejected one of her thin daggers and pulled it out with her right hand. Taking careful aim, she threw the dagger through the air, her aim perfect even in this gloom as it lodged itself in the man’s throat. Feebly, the man’s hands went to the dagger but he was dead before he even hit the ground with a thud. The door behind him suddenly opened and out emerged another man. But he was too slow to see Amber swipe her short sword across his throat, having barely enough time to even raise his gun to aim at her.

She then had barely enough time to retreat back behind the wall when someone began firing shots at her. Swearing slightly under her breath at the noise, she reached for her gun and pulled it out, holding her short sword in her left. When a break in the shots appeared, Amber then rounded the doorway and began firing at a third bodyguard within. Then, still walking forwards, she located the old man leaning against the closet door, staring up in fear at the assassin who was approaching him. Without a second thought, Amber slashed the blade across his throat and the fear in his eyes was no more.

As she was about to leave, Amber caught the faint sound of sobbing from within the room. Spinning on the spot to pinpoint the noise, she soon found that it came from inside the closet. Kicking her dead target out of the way, Amber threw open the closet doors to find Hyunwoo’s wife and his ten year old daughter holding each other tightly, sobbing furiously in one another’s arms. Caught off guard by the sudden image, Amber stumbled backward in stunned silence, dropping her short sword in the process. But she was not so out of it as to not notice the sound of footsteps pounding up the staircase outside. Picking up her short sword, Amber hurriedly went to remove her dagger from the first man she had killed and returned the two blades to their sheaths. However, while she was at the doorway, the first of the security guards had finally reached the top and they saw her, drawing out their guns to fire at her blindly. Amber quickly pulled her head back in, kicking the dead bodies out of the way to shove the door closed, locking it.

During this time, the girl saw that Amber was now distracted so she broke out of her mother’s grip, furious with the grief of having just lost her father. She blindly jumped onto Amber’s back and began clawing at her face.

“You monster! You killed daddy!” screamed the girl.

Amber finally managed to throw the girl off her and she gave a firm slap to her face to calm her down. Luckily, her mask had remained tightly affixed to her face but a small glint in the girl’s hand suddenly caught her eye. It was the necklace Henry had given her. The girl had managed to rip it from her neck.

Noticing Amber’s eyes on her hand, the girl quickly hid the necklace behind her back as Amber lunged for it. Furious, Amber was about to lunge for it one more time when the guards began throwing themselves against the door. Glancing between the girl and the door, Amber closed her eyes in frustration as she made her second on-the-spot decision for the night. Hurrying over to the balcony, Amber managed to reach the rail and climb over it just as the guards broke the door down. As they stormed into the room, Amber was no longer nearby, having quickly lowered herself down by dropping nearly a meter above the ground after hanging from the bottom of the balcony.

She quickly ran under the cover of the balcony as another volley of shots was sent down at her, stray bullets shattering the potted plants nearby. Amber then quickly ran along the path, heading towards the closest fence. Two guards suddenly appeared to cut her off and with a quick flick of her wrists she dispatched them with her hidden blades. Then, climbing up over the wall, Amber finally made her way up out of the mansion and sped all the way back to the car.

Taehyun and Jackson turned around in surprise when she suddenly jumped into the back of the car, panting heavily from her exertion. Glaring at the pair, she commanded, “Drive.”

Without any hesitation, Jackson started the engine and soon they were speeding away down a quiet freeway. Amber suddenly moved forwards in her seat, gripping Taehyun roughly by the hair as she held her blood stained dagger to his throat.

“I should kill you right now, you good for nothing son of a ,” she said in a deadly voice, her rage barely suppressed.

Jackson glanced over warily at the scene next to him, swallowing nervously as he tried to crack a smile. “Hey… Why don’t we all try to relax, Dawn? We shouldn’t kill each other now, should we?”

“Shut up and keep driving unless you want me to slit your throat first,” snapped Amber without looking at the other man. She pulled her dagger in closer to Taehyun’s throat, drawing a small trickle of blood. “You said I had fifteen minutes. Why did they find out so soon?”

Taehyun glanced nervously between Amber’s hand and her masked face. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he answered nervously.

Amber’s eyes curved slightly in annoyance. “Wrong answer,” she said as she pressed the blade slightly closer. “Try again.”

“I-I honestly don’t know!” he shouted, panicking. He was truly growing frightened of the woman behind him. “May-maybe they were doing some kind of check and found out that the cameras were playing a loop!”

Amber’s grip on her dagger tightened slightly as she then removed it from Taehyun’s throat, only to stab it into the hollow behind his right collar bone. He let out a painful shout as Amber finally released him and sat back in her seat.

“Did you not anticipate such a thing? This was obviously a careless mistake on your behalf. And I wouldn’t remove that blade unless you have the desire to bleed to death,” she snapped as she saw Taehyun move to pull the blade.

Taehyun glared at Amber’s reflection, grunting heavily under the pain as he returned his hand to his side. Jackson on the other hand, had grown pale, his grip tightening visibly on the steering wheel. So this was the legendary assassin, Dawn. No wonder so many feared her. Judging from her foul mood, it seemed she was upset at having had to face an army of armed guards by herself. Then again, she had every right to be pissed.

But that was not the only thing Amber was upset about. Now that the drama had passed, she was left to ponder the events that had passed merely minutes ago. Perhaps her decision to continue with the mission had been a little too rash. Maybe she should have retreated, but that would have just made it harder to kill the man later. However, deep down Amber knew that that wasn’t really what she thought. She had wanted to get the kill over and done as quickly as possible, no matter what the outcome. But she couldn’t say that this was the result she had wanted. Finding the girl huddling in her mother’s arms had also caught Amber off guard, the image reminding her of the times her mother had comforted her during those nights after she killed her stepfather. With that in mind, she could not bring herself to kill the pair. But when the girl had managed to steal her necklace, Amber had indeed grown angry at the girl, yet that was still not enough to make her kill the girl. Now, apart from the whole mission being a mess, Amber had lost something important. It was the first time she had ever worn the necklace and she had lost it. But, what troubled Amber even more was the fact that Henry would almost certainly see the necklace, only to recognise it as Josephine’s.

tbc.

 Happy Valentine Day ;)  Okay, the killer chap is out (that is NOT intended to be a pun). Actually, after I posted my last update,  Anyhoo, most of you can probably guess what gonna happen in the next chapter...

Next Chapter:What happens after Dawn's bungled mission...

PS: I just realised, this is the first time Dawn's made a proper entrance into this story and I made her stuff up her mission, lol