The Laughing Assassin [Assassin's Diary] (Siren Publishing Classic) (14 page)

“How could I say no to such an excellently phrased request?” Besides, she did want to fight an opponent she could give her all to. But she doubted that either of the men before her could provide the diversion she wanted.

Her agreement was all that was needed for the pair to back away and take opposite sides on the hard earthen field. She grabbed a blunt-tipped spear from the weapons rack. It had been a while since she had used a spear as her primary weapon, and her time away from using the implement should even up the chances of the men in front of her. She sauntered halfway between them and bowed to each corner once before she stood still and waited.

A wise man, i.e. her sensei and Master, once told her that a smart fighter let the battle come to them instead of instigating the confrontation, and the sage words always worked.

Red was the first one to attack. Somehow that didn’t surprise her, as speech was unimportant to a man of action. He feinted as if testing her reactions, first swinging with his left then countering back with his right hand. Both hits were easily blocked with her palm, and the taciturn man smiled. The tiny lifting of lips must have been a cue as she felt the air displace behind her.

She gave a swift kick back as she extended both arms forward and knocked Big Red to the ground. Toro was barely fazed by the kick since she could only put a fraction of her effort into it. But that was all right with her, as she planned to save her energy. They were attempting to work her endurance with the faster pace. But she could keep on this way for much longer than they could.

Let them find out, she thought.
I’ll soon see just how long the pair can keep up with me.

Jaden was on guard when Toro came at her again. He was a quick bugger, and she could hear the rush of the land from beneath his feet. Based on the way the air around her displaced, she could feel his next rally before he had even fully sprang into action. She knew that the next attack was a sweeping kick along the ground based on the scraping sound, and she jumped up. Her landing was tiptoed onto Toro’s skirting foot as it dragged over the earth. His surprise at her balancing act was a distraction that she used when her staff’s end rose upward to rap him briskly in the sternum.

She couldn’t bother to look, but she heard the blow, and the hollow thud of bone as it met wood let her know that her aim was true. He grunted and backed off as his partner came forward with his sword unsheathed. She bet anything Red planned on scaring her into backing away and into the irate Toro, but instead she dodged sideways to confuse him. She held the spear just above midway along the length and used the shaft to engage the light sword.

She rotated her wrist into an elongated ellipse and used her wood shaft to control the blade until the spearhead scraped over his knuckles. Jaden backed her engagement with Stein off as she could sense Toro had gathered his breath. Before she could take on the joint assault, she had to disarm Big Red. She rotated her wrist again, plucked the sword from his loosening grip, and splayed the blade to the other side of the field with a flick of her staff.

As a gift to Toro, she played a dirty move and let him grab her in a bear hug. The move was amateurish on his part for assuming he could subdue her with brute force alone. When he dragged her backward, she allowed him until she had enough range to kick solidly again. Her plan wasn’t to kick backward but to use Toro as leverage for a sleek KO.

Her right leg cut forward, and she let her frame drop into dead weight as the staff dropped to the ground. Her toes struck just below Red’s chin, and the blow sent him backward several feet over the packed dirt and scattered grass. She clapped her balled fists up at the moment her foot made contact with Red’s jaw, and her knuckles clapped Toro on the temples.

But she pulled the blow so she didn’t kill him with an errant skull fracture. He reacted predictably when he crumpled low, and she knew his head had to hurt like hell. She had been privy to quite a few of those blows before. They were almost debilitating enough to make the most cast-iron belly nauseous. Jaden picked her staff up and walked back to the stand.

Her attention was captured for a split second when she spied a flash of white amid the copse of trees and native flora, but she couldn’t see anything else.

Maybe it was a tropical bird, Jaden thought, but she shrugged the sensation off no sooner than she walked away from the wooden, weather-beaten weapons stand.

But before she cleared the bush secreting the field away from the rest of the compound, she left a few parting words behind. “By the way, it was nice meeting you two.”

Their response was a collective groan, and she laughed. Now seemed like the perfect time to make use of the grounds and get the lay of the land with a quick run.

What a Woman

Jonah was stunned to say the least. He expected her to be a skilled fighter, but not of the caliber he’d just seen. She’d beat two of his best in three minutes, including the elegant bow bestowed at each of them, along with her replacement of the staff back into its home on the stand. He only left her for a minute or two to shower off, and he may have been gone five minutes total.

When he came out of the room dressed in his preferred gym shorts and A-line tee, he had foolishly assumed she would be waiting for him. But true to form, she wasn’t. Jonah wandered back to the sparring field as a last-ditch effort in locating her. Somehow, he felt that she would be there. She was a woman of action as he knew well, but even then, he didn’t expect her to be trouble so soon. He would have given her until lunch at least.

When she took Toro and popped him in the plexus with the staff, he was stunned at how well she controlled the unwieldy stalk. It moved fluidly, as if the weapon were a part of her and organic to her nature. Her attacks were beyond simple skill. She was a virtuoso with her grace and agility. She knew her own constraints, and her mind had to run faster than quicksilver with the way she evaded her opponents. But the fight was over too quickly to see the full picture and make a catalogue of her weaknesses. Although from what he witnessed, she didn’t have too many faults to exploit.

Once she placed her spear back into the rack, he knew he had to go before she caught him spying on her. He turned and jogged back the way he came. It was time to go, put some distance between himself and her numerous enchantments. Half an hour later, he saw her come back and wondered what she had been up to. She was drenched with sweat, and her hair was plastered to her scalp. Now the locks were just long enough to tease her nape.

She looked even more beautiful from her exertion, and he desperately wanted to kiss her again, then taste the sweat on her flesh with his fingers and tongue. The daggers her eyes threw at him were enough to keep him at arm’s length.

Only for now. Soon enough, it’s game on, Ms. Bishop.

There was no expression she could make that would keep him away for long.

“Hello, Ms. Jaden. Would you care for a glass of water?” Although with as much sweat as she was covered in, he would drink straight from her and thirst no longer.

“No thanks, Jonah. I think I would like a shower first.” The thought of her under the water was enough to make him playfully respond back.

“Need any help washing your back?” He wished, but he wasn’t surprised when he heard her response back. “You wish.” She chuckled softly, the gentle laughter enough to make him forget her refusal, and he couldn’t help but to do the same.

“Sure do.” He could tell she was miffed that he got the last word in, but he also noticed her reaction to it. Her back tensed, but she continued walking away as if he or his words meant nothing to her.

But that was a lie she commanded her body to broadcast. She did desire him and maybe as much as he wanted her.

She just won’t admit it.

Once she came back downstairs, her hair was bound from view beneath a scarf she tied around her head in the African style. It made her a diminutive Nefertiti, and he loved the look on her for some odd reason. Her head was held high, and he had the odd urge to unwind the scarf to make her mad enough to jump for it. He shrugged the desire off as they had business to attend to. The few members of the team still on the island were ready to meet their latest coworker.

Usually when a new teammate arrived they would have a slight hazing session, but he had the feeling Jaden’s wouldn’t last very long.

“I hope you are doing well after your spar this morning.”

“Quite well, Jonah, thank you for asking.”

“We have a meeting in ten minutes at the main house.”

“Lead on then.”

She followed him without issue, but he could feel her gaze assess him somehow and hoped she didn’t find him lacking in any way. It was hard to get a woman’s respect as it was. With this woman, there was no way she would desire him if she found him lacking. But he shook the unwelcome thought away and led her inside. He wondered what she would think of his compound.

The entire space was crafted to his specifications, and the workings of it were his brainchild.

Jonah squinted and tried to imagine how she would see the area around her. For some reason that he couldn’t explain, he wanted her to appreciate what he had created with his imaginings and find it as beautiful as he’d envisioned at conception. The house was plantation style because he liked the wide-open feel of a good southern porch, and he enjoyed the comforting feel of the layout. The furnishings were purely island-esque, and natural woven fibers abounded. There were odds and ends here and there, an antique sextant next to an equally aged globe. When they reached the study being used as a meeting room, he stopped before he opened the door and let the duty at hand intrude on their intimacy.

“Jaden, I know you have many skills. But the people you are about to meet are in a class of their own and will exploit any weaknesses that they find. I want you to understand me. They are all good people, but life as a killer will make anyone jaded.”

She smirked at his verbiage.

“And what makes you think that I’m not filled with ennui here either? I chose my handle for a reason, Jonah. Don’t forget that.”

“How can I? But I just want you know that I will not let anyone hurt you.”

“Well, you’re a few years and several ops too late for that, Jonah. I don’t need anyone’s protection and certainly not yours.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you. I just want you to know that—”

Her huff of breath quickly cut him off at the pass. “What? That the big man can protect lil’ ole me? Oh, pishposh, Jonah, I’ve taken care of myself for too long to stop now.”

“As you wish, madam.” He opened the door and let her inside first and then shut the study door behind him.

He took his usual seat at the desk and watched Jaden get in where she could fit in. The space wasn’t small, but he housed a fair sized library and not enough furniture. Jonah saw how she refused to take any of the open seats and stood off to one side with her back in the corner nearest the door. There were only five members present. Three of his away team members were out gathering data in the field, or in Dayna and Johannes’s case, on kitchen duty. But there were enough people to cause trouble in his paradise and with the woman of his dreams.

Armand and Juliana were on the small leather love seat. Toro and Stein were in wing chairs that, while sturdy, appeared too small for the large men’s comfort. Anatta was left on the expanse of the large sofa alone as was her preference, and the others let her take the most cushy seat in the house because she was crazy. As in lithium crazy, but she made the best covert weapons he’d ever laid hands on, and it was the only reason she was still a member of the team.

There was many a day when Anatta first arrived at the compound that he wished she would fall off of the edge of the world. There were more fights, caused by her, within the very first month she arrived than the team had at the inception of the unit altogether. If there was an end to the earth where dragons roved and ate the unwary, she could find that spot and base jump into it face-first then kill everything in sight. The aggressive woman had too many issues to count, and she hated all men with a vehemence that he couldn’t quite understand. He knew her history was filled with horrors, but she had never said what those were, and he would never ask, either.

She only gave him his due respect because she knew he could kill her without breaking a sweat. It made him crazy at first, when she went from being disgusted with him based on his gender to lust for him after one quick spar. There were a few days he was sure the Israeli beauty would attempt to rape him in his sleep, and that was the main reason he moved to the carriage house to begin with. Then he found the distance and solitude there were preferable to the bustling inside, so he stayed permanently.

And for those reasons, along with a few others he didn’t want to even think about again, Jonah wasn’t surprised Anatta was the first to open her mouth and complain.

“And is this the newest member of the team? She doesn’t look like much to me.” Jaden’s response spoke volumes, although she only gave a mere lift of one perfectly arched brow.

“Yes, and that is the reason for our meeting today. I wanted you all to meet her. This is Jaden.” He pointed to the back corner that she held up nonchalantly.

“Like I said, she doesn’t look like much to me.” Anatta was too snarky, and he knew that Jaden was going to snap if the snide comments didn’t end.