Nobu put his slippers on left the apartment, he walked down the hall and stopped at the elevator. He yawned widely and rubbed at his eyes. Stepping on the elevator, he hit the subbasement. It took only five minutes and he was back in the apartment, everything gone.
Going to his room, Nobu fell into bed. It had been a good day, a good hit. Hopefully, the van would be resolved, maybe he’d suggest she torture the driver and get more intel as to the other players involved. He smiled at that. He’d hate to be on the wrong end of Ima.
SIX
Haiden scanned the local news, the day after the incident, he found the article about the house in Waukegan. Reading it, he sat back, his hands twisted in his long hair.
“Son of a bitch.” He said and looked down at Jezebel who’d crawled into his lap. His hands went absently to her and petted the feline.
The place in Waukegan had been a human trafficking hub. Seven women had been rescued and four traffickers had been killed. It was unclear, the newsies said, as to what had happened and who had notified the police. He saw footage, looked like someone had taken it with their phone, he didn’t see any news crews around. He saw the women in the ambulances, and then another where four body bags were taken out.
“So, Jezebel, our girl is an assassin and a vigilante.” He lifted the cat and kissed her head and then set her on the floor. For some reason, he liked that. She appeared to be an assassin with a conscience as well as using her considerable skills to rid the world of scumbags.
“Shit, maybe she’d been doing this for a while.” He told Jezebel, who looked at him. She meowed and he grinned at her. She was a talkative hussy.
Going on a search site, Haiden typed in searches for like arrests or incidents of human trafficking in the Chicago area. He pulled out some paper and began writing dates and details of the articles he found. After nearly two hours, he sat back and whistled.
“Holy shit, this girl is prolific. Pedophiles, human traffickers, drug dealing gangbangers. Christ, and Lawbreaker wanted her dead. What a waste.” He told the cat, shaking his head.
I need to tell her. She needs to know, but how, he thought. He’d need to do it quick, if Lawbreaker put out another request, which Haiden was sure he would, then if not he, someone else would do it and have no qualms about it. Why should they, he hadn’t and would have killed her had he gotten the shot lined up.
That thought shook him. He didn’t know why. He didn’t know her, but he was getting to know what kind of woman she was. He liked that she stepped out of the mold of assassin and put dirtbags away. There was no help for it. He’d have to talk to her face to face. She had to know, she had to be warned.
He had to find her first however. The cat jumped into his lap and he held her up under her arms, looking at her jade eyes. She meowed and he kissed her head. Setting her in his lap, she rammed her head into his chest. Then he grinned.
“I think I should go door to door in the floors above looking for my kitty.” He told her.
It was a good idea, he could go to each door, ask if they’d seen his cat. Oh, the maintenance people let her out, and said she got in the stairs. Have you seen her? Oh, no? Well thank you. He got up and left the apartment and went up to the next floor.
An hour later he was on the eighteenth floor. He began working his way down the hall. On the sixth door the woman opened it and he smiled down at her, his eyes crinkling.
“Hi, sorry to bother you. I’m down a few floors below you.” He said.
“Hi, I know, tenth floor.” She said.
“Yeah. I know you don’t know me. And you have no reason to trust me, but I need to tell you something very important.” He said and watched her face. Her eyes were green, but then turned a darker hazel at his words. Her head tilted to the side as she scrutinized him.
“Okaaayyy. Tell me.” She said, her eyes narrowing.
“Please, not out here. May I come in? Please.” He said, holding his breath.
She looked behind her and he guessed someone was there, he saw her nod slightly and then stepped back, letting him into the apartment. It was a very nice apartment he could see, nice large windows that opened on to the cityscape. He’d love this place for his painting. He looked and saw a man, standing by a door, it was the same man he’d seen her with. The one that had a date that time in the elevator. He smiled and nodded, but the man didn’t return the smile, standing in place, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Please have a seat….?”
“Oh, sorry, I’m Haiden Barnett, and you?”
“Please have a seat Mr. Barnett.” She said, no nonsense. He had to remember that she was a killer like him and so he needed to tread carefully. She currently didn’t look like one. She wore Hello Kitty fleece pants, with pink fuzzy slippers and a pink top, with butterflies covering it.
He could not discount her just because she didn’t look like a killer. Not only that, but he would be giving up his own identity as well. It couldn’t be helped. Someone would kill her and for some reason, that really bothered him. She was good, really good at her job and he appreciated a true professional.
“Look, I
