She was close enough to the hallway entrance that she could hear the guards’ conversation. She translated it to English in her head.
“Should we notify Veloz?” one said.
“No,” said the other. “You know how he hates to be disturbed at night. It’s probably just a bum looking to get out of the rain.”
“But what if it is the Angel?”
Sin heard the slide of a semiautomatic weapon snap shut.
“This is why we get paid. The last time we alerted him for nothing, he docked our pay.”
“You first.”
Sin crouched low in wait. She did not want to use her semi-automatic—at least not on the first guard. Even with a suppressor, there was still an audible noise.
She watched as the door creaked open and the muzzle of a gun poked through.
Her heart rate increased and a cool sweat began to appear on the back of her neck—an adrenaline spike.
Go time.
She lived for these moments.
The first guard slid in and hugged the wall to the left of the door. The second quickly followed and hugged the right side. The first―the one seemingly in charge—waved the other on. They stayed low and traced the perimeter of the room.
“If you are looking for a dry place to spend the night,” he yelled to no one in particular, “you are in the wrong building. Leave now and you will not get hurt.”
Sin listened to his bravado, but her eyes were on the other man―the less sure one. She eased her pistol into the waistband of her jeans and pulled her straight-razor from her pocket. With a silent flip of her wrist, she opened the blade.
She picked up a small rock and threw it at the open emergency door. The ping sound did not go unnoticed. The guard in charge told the other to stop moving. He then waited for any other sounds while he scanned the room with his weapon. “Go see if you can find the bum outside,” he said.
“You go see,” the other said in a shaky voice. “If not, I’m calling Veloz.” He held his phone in his free hand.
“Don’t call,” the first said. “I need this money. I will go check.”
Sin waited until the first guard made his way through the open door.
The second guard was timid in his movements. He put his phone in his pocket and slowly walked close to the support post she hid behind.
She heard him mumble something about the first guard being an asshole and then he leaned his back against the post. She heard the sound of a match strike and the smell of the sulfur drifted toward her, followed by the odor of lit tobacco.
Big mistake, she thought, he needs two hands to strike a match.
It would be the last thing he would ever do.
Sin slit his throat before he could exhale his first puff. Blood and smoke oozed from the gaping slice in his throat.
She ran to the open lobby door but had second thoughts. Instead, she hit the dirt and lay prone, gun extended and aimed at the back door. She heard the first guard before she saw him. He was complaining about finding no one as his shadow filled the door frame.
One shot to the forehead was all it took.
Sin dragged his body into the room and shut the back door as best she could before making her way into the lobby.
From there, she found the back stairwell, the one furthest from Veloz’s room. She figured most of the guards would be stationed as close to Veloz as possible.
Thankfully, she was right. She made it to the fourth floor before running into any resistance.
As she had on the previous three floors, she waited by the floor leading into the hallway. On the first three, she had heard no one and quickly secured the floor, before heading to the next.
This time it was different. She heard footsteps and voices. Her pulse quickened as the voices neared. She waited until they were so clear that she knew they had to be just on the other side of the door.
Both hands on her semi-automatic, she held it straight out in a classic shooters stance and waited for the door to open.
It didn’t.
Instead, the guards must have reversed their direction and walked the other way because their voices began to get softer again. More importantly, so did the sound of their footsteps.
As soon as the voices were faint enough that all she heard was murmuring, she opened the door, dropped flat on her belly, and plugged both. Their knees buckled and they hit the floor―dead.
Sin checked the rooms, expecting and finding no one, dragged the bodies into the stairwell, and made her way to the fifth floor.
The fifth and sixth were empty.
She knew she would find resistance on the seventh. Veloz’s hideout. Before ascending the stairs to the seventh floor, she removed the clip from her weapon and reloaded. What the hell, she said to herself as she pulled back the slide and chambered a bullet, if this is the last thing I do, I’m going out in a blaze of fucking glory.
Sin crept up the stairs to the top floor, trying not to even breathe if it wasn’t necessary.
Surprisingly, she didn’t hear any sound coming from the hallway.
This did not sit well with her psyche.
There have to be guards on the floor.
Sin looked at her watch―it was almost two a.m. She needed to finish this mission and be out of the building by daylight. She hated the idea, but she had to play a waiting game.
Approximately thirty minutes later, she heard the door to a room close. Listening with her ear to the door, she heard three distinct sets of footsteps. This is more like it, she thought.
The guards seemed to stay near Veloz’s room because their footsteps never got louder and they didn’t speak.
She gave them enough time to see if they were going to walk a sentry or just stay put. They stayed put.
From what Charlie had told her, the building
