Unleashed (End of an Assassin Book 3) Read online

  Kaden let out her breath, and with it, the weight of years of suspenseful anguish. Somehow, that pain had been easier than seeking the truth. She preferred sleepless nights to an irrevocable loss.

  Lisa said, "He lived in a suburb in Minnesota until thirteen months ago. He took a while to find because they paid him under the table and he called himself Warren. The manager at the coffee shop was reluctant to talk—I had to show up before they even confirmed he existed. I don't know if it was because he wasn’t officially on the books or something else. With my prying, I can say that their Warren is your Aaron."

  "What did they say about him? Was he okay?" Kaden’s speech slurred slightly.

  "That he was a good worker, nice to have around, but he often seemed sad and too tired for someone so young. Unfortunately, they suspected he lived on the street and showered at a local gym."

  Lisa punched her in the gut with those words. Kaden wrapped her arms around her torso and whispered, "Where did he go?"

  "That's the better news. In the weeks before he quit, he became cheery. They thought he'd fallen in love, until one day, he said it would be his last week, but that he remained forever grateful they gave him a job when everyone else refused. He figured out his purpose in life. He left a different person. They liked him, but like I said, they didn't want to talk about him."

  "Purpose in life?" Kaden asked. Purpose didn't come from a relationship, it came from… a mission or values. Maybe he'd become a monk. She could see him being zen-like. "Okay, what else?"

  "That's all I have for today," Lisa downed the rest of her beer. "So..."

  "Payment," said Kaden. She dug for the thick envelope in her backpack.

  "An extra hundred, please. I gave them a Benjamin myself to talk."

  Kaden needed to leave, and fast. She obliged and raced from the table, yanking her hair with both hands. Once she hit the sidewalk, she believed it with her complete self: Aaron lived! A surge of relief split open the dam holding back her emotions. They broke free, and a warmth radiated throughout her body. She could hug that random young woman with a yoga mat slung on her shoulder. The harsh edges of the world softened, because opportunity lay everywhere and it would all be fine. Her legs wobbled, and she steadied herself on the building and looked at the cloudy sky.

  After a minute, the elation faded to be replaced by the other side of Lisa’s information: Aaron had severed Kaden from his life. What had she done that he didn't reach out? Why hadn't she been enough?

  Tears blurred her vision, and the deluge of questions and emotions drowned her conscious thinking. She smacked a palm on the side of her head as the sobs started flowing. She ignored the stares and headed home.

  Two days later, Kaden was sidestepping Omar's front kick when she noticed Moe standing in the doorway, watching with arms folded and head tilted. There wasn't a hint of the usual disdain until they met eyes. His eyebrows furrowed, and he said, "Kaden. Cori needs to talk to you now."

  She ran an arm along her hairline and huffed. "Now? I'm in the middle of teaching him something." That wasn't the entire truth—she’d instructed Omar to use only kicks to attack and defend. It made for some hilarious, awkward kicks, but also improvements to his precision and improvisation. They were having fun with it.

  His face darkened. "Yes, now. I'll see you in the conference room in one minute." He turned and walked away.

  Kaden asked, "Is he spiteful toward anyone else?"

  Omar, breathing hard, said, "Nope." He plopped down to the blue mat.

  "He's got a special place in his heart for me, I guess. Okay, well, don't let this cut your training short. Go spar with the torso trainer. Kinda looks like me, right?"

  Omar eyed the soft peach-colored half-man with a crew cut. "In many ways."

  Kaden laughed and walked two doors down to the conference room. She stepped through the open door to find serious faces on Cori, Moe, and Gina, a woman who worked both in the field and office. Before they were on the same side, Kaden had beaten her senseless with a baton months ago, but she was surprisingly neutral toward Kaden, probably because she'd beaten Kaden with a baton before that.

  Cori stood, peering at diagrams on the table. Diagrams meant an assignment. Cori said, "Close the door, Kaden."

  "We have a job. Sub Rosa is getting directly involved in shipments. Tonight they are delivering a large shipment to a billionaire. We cannot let this delivery happen. Besides the sizeable dollar amount attached to the order, we cannot let them gain the trust of international billionaires. Sub Rosa has been building this shipment for a month."

  Kaden chewed her lip for a moment and said, "What's in the shipment?"

  "We’re not sure. The key objective is to stop the partnership."

  "I see. What are you asking of me?"

  "You, Moe, and Gina will hijack the products en route. Come look at these diagrams of a train."

  Moe stepped back as Kaden approached. The diagrams showed long, rectangular rooms. In most rooms, pairs of seats lined the car and created an aisle down the middle, obviously passenger cars. Cori pointed to a diagram which was mostly open space, save for a few chairs, tables, and a bar.

  "See this car? It's not usually private, but tonight it'll be private and empty. Moe will brief you on the rest in the car. There's no time."

  "No time? I don't like hasty plans."

  "The task isn’t easy, but it is simple. You have twenty minutes to get ready. Don't forget Goose."

  Kaden huffed as she headed back to the training room, which held her change of clothes. She had promised to help take down Sub Rosa, and Cori's determination made sense. Didn't mean she had to like it.

  In the darkness, Kaden could just make out the mountainous landscape dragging by. As she sipped her tea, she noticed her aching jaw—she'd been clenching it. She wore jeans and a plain black T-shirt, both just loose enough to conceal the knife at her waist and a small knife in her boots. Unknown factors were minimal on a moving train, but hasty plans were risky by nature. That Benny had been the one to pull the floor plans helped a little.

  "Ladies and Gentlemen, the dinner car is ready for you. Find it two cars toward the front. Please join us at your leisure." The server bowed his head and left toward the front.

  The man next to Kaden grumbled, "About time. I'm starving." The car occupants shuffled their way out of the car, leaving a wake of dirty glasses and toothpicks on plates of former hors d'oeuvres. Kaden gulped her tea.

  When the last customer left the car, she and Gina made eye contact from across the train. The martini glass in front of her had only two untouched olives. She wore a long-sleeve, pale-pink cocktail dress with a slit for mobility. Expressionless, she stood from the plush chair and walked toward Kaden and the door to the private car, ruffling through her purse.

  Moe's form darkened the doorway as he strode in. His eyes darted around the room before meeting Kaden's. He was nervous. Kaden sighed as she realized that Vigilant Citizens needed her because they were amateurs at direct action. Even against Kaden and Benny, VC always used brute-force attacks, not stealthy ones.

  Kaden walked to the back once Moe had passed her. The device Gina had placed over the doorknob made faint clicking noises. An orange light glowed on it. Moe and Gina stared while Kaden looked toward the front door.

  The orange light turned green. Gina yanked the device off and put it back in her purse. She handed black fabric gloves to Moe and Kaden.

  As they pulled on the gloves, Moe said, "Remember, she doesn't want us using guns unless we can make the shot." He screwed a suppressor onto a .22 handgun. "We don't know what's in those packages, so we can't risk them being explosive or poisonous. Kaden, since you're last, make sure you close the door once we're in. Everyone ready?" Sub Rosa's defense was a total unknown. Best case was a car with a single package, worst case was a bomb rigged to blow upon opening.

  "Yep," Kaden replied, adrenaline ticking up and craving the action. Goose climbed from her pants pocket onto her shoulder.

&nbs
p; Moe whispered, "Thirteen minutes before the next stop."

  Gina's hand shook as her hand reached for the doorknob. She shot one last glance at the two of them before busting into the car.

  Small cardboard boxes were stacked along the walls, almost touching the ceiling. The small aisle meant multiple rows of boxes and a whole lot of product. At the other end of the car, in a small alcove in the cardboard wall, two men sat in metal folding chairs playing cards.

  One man said, "We asked for no one to bother us."

  The other sprang up from his chair like it burned. He placed a hand on his waist, and Kaden caught a glint of steel. If the opponents were comfortable shooting, so were they.

  Moe’s gun was already in hand. His shot whumped, and the man yelped and grabbed his arm. The other stood, outstretching his arm, and suddenly a cloud of mist reached toward them. They became formless shadows behind the cloud.

  Gina swore as she dropped to the ground, hand over her eyes. Kaden brought her arm up to shield her face, and her skin burned. The mist was high-quality pepper spray, but it had nothing on Kaden, pumped on adrenaline.

  "Get that one!" Kaden barked as she passed her colleagues. She brushed past the man creating the cloud, a canister of pepper spray in each hand, as she ran toward his partner. She had to trust that they could handle a man with pepper spray. The man going for the gun hadn't shown fear or surprise—he was Kaden's problem.

  She sped up as she reached him. He squinted through the mist to find Moe, ignoring the petite woman barreling toward him. His assumptions gave the perfect opening for a hard running punch to his cheek. He jabbed her in the nose, so quickly it must have been an instinct.

  They both stepped back, but Kaden recovered first. She grabbed a box and smashed it on his bald head. Something inside crunched as the cardboard folded. He stumbled back. Kaden approached for the kill, but he swept her off her feet and swung the gun toward her.

  As she fell, her right arm reached for the knife at her waist while she threw her left arm behind her, then used it as a spring to flip herself belly-down. She landed hard on her knees and held the knife with the sharp edge on her pinky side, the grip for the strongest downward force. She slammed the knife into his left sneaker, and he roared.

  From all fours, she threw her weight into the man's knees. The man howled again as his knees hyperextended. He collapsed, butt and head crashing into the floor, and his useless legs tangled Kaden.

  When Kaden abused people's knees, their minds usually blanked at the unbearable pain in their legs. This guy brought the gun off the floor.

  A red laser appeared on the man's forehead, and he dropped the gun and let out a scream of terror. Kaden watched in a fascinated horror as steam rose from the spot. His head fell back and he was still.

  Kaden collapsed on his legs and rolled to the side, kicking cardboard boxes to plant her feet. The pepper spray fanatic was facedown on the floor, knife protruding from his back.

  Goose stood in the hole in the cardboard wall that Kaden created when she used the box as a weapon. He had waited for the perfect moment to use his laser.

  She said, "Badass, Goose," and held her hand out to the mouse.

  “Thank you,” he replied. He leapt on her hand and ran down her shoulder and back into her pants pocket.

  A thought came to Kaden. "Wait, what about these boxes?"

  Moe was huffing and knocking boxes over to get to a wall, and Gina whimpered, holding her eyes.

  Moe said, "We need to toss them out the windows."

  Kaden laughed. "Seriously?"

  Moe didn't smile back as he pulled a window open with a grunt. "Seriously. Our vans will collect the goods before the next train comes. Get moving. Eight minutes before the next stop."

  Kaden rolled her eyes and started knocking over the boxes. Her feet were in a sea of them as she yanked open the window. With a glance back at Moe, who flung them out two at a time, she sighed and copied him, feeling ridiculous. She flung two boxes out the window and didn't see or hear them land in the darkness.

  As she grabbed the next two, she stole a look at the label. Official-looking words filled one side, and the largest words read, "BCG." After making sure the other two faced away, she snapped a picture and flung it out the window.

  Two days later, Kaden sat on a lawn facing the Shoot the Star booth, blending in with those resting on the cool grass. Sub Rosa would be involved in a six-digit MDMA deal, near the games at one of the busiest amusement parks in the country.

  For three hours she watched for any event or person that seemed out of place, but only observed the ordinary medley of an amusement park: laughing and crying children, the occasional quick screams and thunder from a roller coaster racing above the booths, and the smell of burgers frying. Her stomach rumbled.

  She was bored and didn't appreciate the undefined goal and boundaries of the assignment: gather information, act only if cover can be maintained. So far, she'd only gathered that the milk bottle pyramid was a total sham, because even direct hits usually left a bottle standing. She zipped up her purple hoodie, because the autumn day dragged into late afternoon. This was a waste of time.

  A couple that had already won the medium stuffed elephant twice stepped up to play again. Kaden sat up straight, because they were emptyhanded. Kaden had written off one animal disappearing, but two was odd. Either they had invisible children to hand the gifts to, or they dumped them somewhere, but why do that?

  The attendant set up their bottles. The man wore a baseball cap, an open plaid shirt, and khakis, while she wore black jeans and a maroon sweater. Both blended in with the crowd. He made a big show of winding up, threw, and with a direct hit, all three bottles clattered to the floor. After a quick kiss, they picked the neon green elephant and walked off.

  Kaden stood and murmured, "Goose, it's impossible for you to follow them, isn't it?"

  "I'll be spotted."

  "Right." Kaden stretched upward and bobbed away her stiffness. "Can you find a hidden way to the entrance? Following them from there to their car should be easy, if that's what they're doing."

  "That's possible. I can use the storm drains."

  "Let me walk you to one."

  She walked through the grass and stood on the curb by a drain. "There you go."

  Her leg prickled as he crawled down. Her nose guided her to the burger stand.

  Ten minutes later, she sat in the same spot, munching on a burger that didn't taste half as good as it smelled. A lumbering man with a huge mole on his temple stepped up to the game booth. He was empty-handed, but he had also already won today. He won again and picked a neon green elephant and walked in the same direction as the couple.

  Kaden stuffed the rest of the burger into her mouth and chewed with bulging cheeks. The worker was about Kaden's age and well-groomed. A goatee gave volume to his thin face, and it looked surprisingly good on him.

  A man in a Cavaliers sweatshirt sipped loudly on a gigantic soda and sat too close, jarring her from her staring. Even though surrounded by a constant din, that noise was damn abrasive. Perfect time for a bathroom break.

  Minutes later, she stepped out of the bathroom exit and paused at a post to her left that read, “Employees Only." Since this building was at the end of the row of games, she ducked past the post and curtain. The space was a huge hallway, the backs of games on either side of her. The dings, alarms, and shouts were disorienting, but she zeroed in on the area four games to the right. She pushed past mountains of cardboard boxes full of supplies and prizes. This unappealing space hiked up her anxiety, since she couldn't hear anyone approach. A roller coaster rumbled past, shaking the floor.

  She examined the open boxes, searching for neon elephants, but found stuffed birds and trees and tacos. A box that was less dusty than the rest caught her eye, and she tore it open.

  Ding ding! The elephant was velvety and squishy, nothing amiss. Feeling like a monster, she sliced it open. Cotton sprung from the cut, and she stuck her hand in through the
itchy fluff. Her hands brushed soft plastic. She gripped a corner between her fingernails and pulled to find herself holding a little baggie of pills containing white powder. Her mouth dropped, despite this being what she looked for.

  She stuffed the cotton back in. Hopefully, Goose hadn't left their five-mile communication radius. “You don’t happen to sew and have sewing supplies, do you Goose?”

  “No.”

  She crammed the elephant deep in the box and scuttled from the employee area.

  She hustled into the bathroom and hid in a stall. “Goose,” she whispered. “How about an onboard lab? Can you analyze these pills?” They were white, but so was baking soda.

  “No.”

  “Fine.”

  She gawked at the pills for a moment, and she stuffed all four in her bra and the empty baggie in the trash. She waited for the water to get hot before washing her hands.

  Now to mine for information. The lawn crowd thinned, and she sat about twenty feet away from her original spot. Five minutes later, Cavaliers Sweatshirt Man sat to her left, without the dreaded cup. She stared at him, and he smiled back. He had a crew cut and oak-colored skin, and was frumpy, with a protruding belly.

  “Great day here, huh? Got a favorite ride?”

  And now he talked to her through her obvious suspicion and unwelcoming vibe. Kaden frowned and said, “I prefer sitting here.”

  “Tried any of those games?”

  She looked away and couldn't keep the annoyance from her voice. “Not yet.”

  “Oh? Are you supervising your little brother? Sister?”

  “Yep.” Was there a kind way to ask someone to get lost?

  “Good,” he replied. “I’m a family man myself. I lost my family, though.”

  “Shouldn’t you be looking for them?”

  “I mean I lost them. They’re gone.”

  What a statement, and to a total stranger. Poor guy must be the epitome of lonely, coming to an amusement park to be surrounded by people and chat with random ones. Kaden softened and said, “Sorry to hear that.”