The Laughing Assassin [Assassin's Diary] (Siren Publishing Classic) (6 page)

“Of course. But decisions made in haste are repented at leisure. And that’s if you’re lucky.”

“I already thought about the logistics, and really this is for the best.” The silence spoke volumes, as if Stein mulled over what just occurred. Jonah could only imagine what the team had to say about this entire operation. First, he kicked Toro off his usual duties, and now, he had wrested Stein’s job away, too. But Jonah went with his gut, and something told him that he was the one who would work the best with Jaden.

Although there was a part of him a little lower that didn’t want another man to touch her, even if for a covert op. “She wasn’t quite what you expected, huh?” Stein’s usually dry tone was lightened slightly with a warmer note that was as close to laughter as the man was capable of. No one that Jonah knew personally had ever heard the man so much as chuckle. At best, the funniest of jokes would get a grin to cock up the corners of the man’s mouth and maybe a huff of breath. But that was about all.

“No, she was much better.” And damn if that wasn’t the truth.

To Fap is…To Masturbate

Jaden knew the handsome man was something more than he presented himself as. She was good at reading people, but his desire to fuck her got in the way of her attempts of discerning what he was after. When she realized she was being sucked under his spell, she cut him off at the knees. She couldn’t let him get too close. He was fishing for something, but what?

He wasn’t a G-man or a garden-variety spook. That she could deal with easily and alone.

But this? He was one of the best-trained men she had ever seen. Every muscle his body owned was under his control, even when hers were shot. The way he kissed her hand made her lower half wet, wanting, and that thought made her angry beyond belief. How in the hell after ten years of celibacy did her hormones pick now to go into overdrive?

Because he’s the only man that can give you a run for your money, Jaden. That’s why.
She knew her intuition was right. It had been years since any person could best her. She worked hard for that honor. To know that no matter the situation she could handle herself. To know that she could never be fucked with without serious consequences and repercussions to the persons that did so.

Damn it, Jaden thought. She wanted him more than she ever knew was possible to want a man. If she hadn’t swiftly taken control and pushed him away, she wasn’t going to be responsible for what she might have done given a little less air and the slightest of possibilities.

But even with a pile of hard work a half hour later, she still felt the acute spark of need, and her body wasn’t going to stop its complaints without a little quid pro quo. Her back to the wall, she did what she always had when her body made sexual complaints. Jaden rubbed two fingers briskly over her clit and held her frame upright with one foot propped onto the ledge of her desk.

There were few preliminaries. She didn’t need or want them. But it was a shame that even with the extra fodder for her imagination, her orgasm was shallow and left her more sexually starved than she was to begin with.

Although, it did take the edge off enough to make her feel at equilibrium once again.

She barely had time to finish her impromptu masturbation session before she heard the back door open and close with a slam. She could hear Kris putter about for a moment. Most likely the girl was fumbling with her usual full assortment of books and such. For once, Jaden was grateful that Kris was a bad student. There had been too many lessons where Kris failed because she was ill prepared for a surprise attack from full hands. But today, Kris’s inability to be ready at all times gave Jaden the moment needed to get back in unruffled order.

“You ready to go yet?”

“Nope.” Jaden sighed. “Not yet. I’ve gotta get this order in tonight. Otherwise we are out of sugar and molding chocolate by Tuesday. Not to mention that even if we got past those hurdles and made doughnuts, there wouldn’t be flour for them on Wednesday. So yeah, it’s going to be a few more.”

Kris grimaced at Jaden’s phrasing. Doughnuts were far from her assistant’s favorite thing to make. Although, they both found they could eat the freshly fried dough by the dozen and want another when done.

“Okay then, I guess that means I’ll let you get on that. You wanna hit the dojo tonight? Or are we doing something else?”

“I’m not telling. It’s a surprise.” Jaden knew if she told Kris what she was thinking, the girl would conveniently vanish.

“Oh, goody surprises.” Kris scowled as she said it, but that was okay.

“Don’t sound so sad. It’ll be fun.” Not for Kris, but Jaden would love every minute.

“That makes it even worse. Every time you say that, my back hurts for the rest of the week.”

“But think about the massages we could have tomorrow, Kris. It’ll be worth it, I promise.”

“You said that last time, too.” This time a snarky look accompanied the words.

Kris didn’t know it, but tonight was going to be awesome. Jaden had to admit, she was a little addicted to working her body to the maximum. The adrenaline rush was better than an orgasm in her opinion. Kris had a fear of heights, and tonight, she was going to take her through the wringer on the ground then they would go rock climbing in the dark.

Then when they made the summit, they would make a small campsite and ride the night out in the wild. When they left in the morning, Kris would have to climb back down in the dawn light. They could then run the three miles back to the Jeep and head back for their luxurious day of girl pleasures.

The trip to Stone Mountain would take a few hours. She was borrowing a plane complete with pilot from a friend of a friend, and they would parachute to the ground and hike to their rendezvous point before they would get to actually work out. All in all, if Kris wasn’t a whiner, they could have a great night. Then in the morning, she would be able to drive back to town in the Jeep she requested for delivery by seven.

Kris did complain, quite a bit, but after a while she got the point that Jaden wasn’t playing. Either she got with the program or her feelings were going to get hurt. Kris wasn’t going to get the chance to tag along on an op if she refused to move past the discomforts of her own body. If nothing else, Kris really wanted to work on an operation. It was all the girl spoke of after she learned what Jaden really did. She took to everything else like a duck to water, but the physical part of operation was paramount. It didn’t matter how well she could shoot if her gun was a liability in a situation.

What if Kris couldn’t shoot her way out of the problem? Then what could she do?

Jaden felt that it was imperative to make Kris understand that she needed to be able to fight for her own life with every dirty trick the world could offer her. If every problem could be solved with a bullet, then Jaden had shot enough already to murder every bad guy on earth three times over. But more often than not, she found that she couldn’t solve things with brute force. It took finesse and planning. There was no need to waste time with bullets when a knife was silent and more efficient.

Jaden had done it all and then some.

“I hurt, Jaden.” No surprise, even Jaden’s fingers felt a bit raw from her climb up. But then Jaden refused to use anything to facilitate the trek either.

“Kris. Originally, I told you that life with me would be hard, but if you wanted to stay, that you had to learn as much as possible about what I know. There is a reason for that. My life is one of physical trials and tribulations, Kris. I kill people without remorse and live to laugh another day. Anyone in my life, by default, has to be just as strong as I am. I can’t afford to have any weak links in the chains of my world. I would give my life for you.” She paused to look Kris in the eye and see that she understood before she would continue. “And you know it. But I refuse to let people hurt others, and that means that I am always at risk. If you’re too weak to take what I throw at you right here and now, there’s no way you could endure what someone who truly wants to hurt you could dish out. You know where the door is if you want to cry uncle.”

The words were harsh, but Kris had to truly understand how imperative it was to either accept what life was for her now, or the girl would have to make her own way in the world.

Kris was strong enough now to defend herself against any normal adversary. It was the abnormal ones that Jaden worried about and the reason she kept her fledgling close to the nest.

Kris only rolled over in her bag and wept slightly, even though there was an attempt to muffle the sounds. But Jaden’s years of espionage had honed every sense well, and she heard the tiny sobs emerge from her charge’s throat before their subsequent burial. She knew Kris’s shoulders and hands had to be in major pain, but the only way to make her stronger was to work her.

Better now when she was with someone that loved her, than at the hands of someone who would use her pain as a weapon against her. It wasn’t that Jaden didn’t feel the ache, but she had learned to ignore almost every discomfort, from gunshot wounds to broken bones, and still fight to live another day, moment, or even second. That was the point of the whole exercise, and one day Kris would thank her.

Better this way than the way she was forged into a killer. Nearly any torture was preferable to that.

Jaden had learned throughout the years that if she loved people, they tended to die, and this young woman was not going to be the latest ghost in line of many that kept her from sleeping at night. Especially not after she watched the girl grow up into a woman before her very eyes.

The next morning, Jaden and Kris stretched their achy muscles to begin the descent back to flat earth before it was time to jog back to the waiting Jeep. She was primed and ready for anything. Kris was still a bit puckish in attitude. Jaden tried to normally be sensitive and empathetic to what the girl had gone through, but she had to make her understand the world wasn’t a pretty place. There were worse things than could be imagined, even those beyond what Kris had seen, and plenty of people who didn’t have any scruples about who they killed. Or how.

“I’m sorry for being a brat, Jaden.” It was the first words to come from Kris’s mouth the entire morning.

“It’s okay, Kris. You have the luxury of being a brat because I give it to you. When I was in your shoes, I didn’t have that option. I had to take whatever was given to me. I fought for every scrap I ate. I fought for small things that you would take for granted. Hell, at that point all I wanted was the right to wear clothes or own a pair of shoes without fighting for them first. For that reason, I would never begrudge you the right to complain.

“Do you know that every night after I finally earned sleep that I wished for only that right? To be able to say no. No, I don’t want to muck animal stalls at dawn so that I can eat a single egg for breakfast? That I could say no to someone who wanted to use me as a tiny punching bag?”

“No, I didn’t, Jaden.” The expression Kris made scrunched her lips sideways then back again. “But then again you’ve never told me the whole story, even after all these years.”

“There is a reason for that. Even now when I wake up I feel thanks just for the fact that I can sleep where I am comfortable.”

“But you sleep on the floor!”

“Yes, I do. But now it’s because I choose to. As long as I am in this business, I will continue to do so. I can’t afford to become weak in any way.”

“But why would that make you weak?”

“Weakness is nothing more than being complacent. Or becoming too comfortable with the status quo. Don’t forget that.”

“Will you tell me now?” Kris stopped, as if she was afraid to ask for more. But the silence only lasted a moment before the girl forced the courage to query again. “What happened to you, I mean?”

“Yes.” But Jaden didn’t know where to start or even where to end the story of what happened to her that fateful day so long ago, even when it felt like yesterday. Her throat closed up, and she knew that it was going to take a bit longer to relax enough to even speak about it.

They were silent for a long time, and Kris seemed to understand her need to take her time. They were halfway back to the airport when she began talking again.

“It started twenty years ago…”

* * * *

July 1992

Her last memory was of her father was at her birthday party just the month before. Dad had just given her a new bike and a Michael Jackson CD. She had a picture of him laughing when she couldn’t blow out the trick candles.

Just a few days later, he was sent away, yet again for some secret government operation.

Serena’s dad was in the military and spoke several languages, including a few Chinese dialects. The only information he would tell her or her mom was that he was given orders to translate for a series of meetings between delegates from a few different countries and he would be gone for a month or so.

The meeting was a secret from all but the highest chains of command, and her father opted to leave them at the base housing in Texas while he was away, even though it was summer and Dad could have taken her and Mom with him.

But the clandestine gathering was leaked somehow, and one local terror cell decided to take advantage. Everyone in attendance was kidnapped and ransomed back to their respective countries. All but her father. Since he was the lowest in rank he was used to make a gruesome message.
Pay up, or this is what will happen to your leaders.