Caeda: The Last Mark
by demented20
One more to kill...

Amaris Johanssen saw the red double doors looming in front of her and stopped like a scared child. "What am I supposed to tell your parents? Hello Mr. and Mrs. Redwine, your son's dating a contract killer who calls herself Caeda."

Russell took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You tell them what I already did, that you're a wonderful woman and an amazing artist." He smiled at her. "Now come on. I've never seen you scared."

Amaris had something to say, but didn't get a chance as Russell pushed open the door. Amaris stepped into the main dining area of the flagship Redwine's Steakhouse in downtown Chicago, but it wasn't set up for normal dining. The tables and chairs had largely been removed to allow plenty of room for the invitation only crowd of about 170 people to walk freely. The family had spared no expense to make this 'little' party very nice. Aside from the fine décor of the restaurant, there was wonderful food and drink set up around the perimeter of the room, floral arraignments that had been flown in, and live music, that started out as rather staid until a tall young woman was urged to sit in behind the piano.

Amaris looked around the room while Russell led her to one side. The restaurant was decorated with real art she noticed at once and not reproductions or mass produced fare. That appealed to the sculptor inside her. Russell's mother picked out the pieces, and she had nice taste. As varied as the art was, it was nothing compared to the people enjoying the party. There were people of all ages from 90 years old down to teenagers. There were people in tailored suits that cost thousands mingling easily with people in full on Goth regalia who normally wouldn't have been caught dead in a high brow place like Redwine's, but these people all shared something special. All were gifted. It would have been quite surreal to her if Amaris hadn't already known what drew these people to each other. She had to admit to herself that even stepping foot in this room was liberating.

"Is everybody in here gifted?", Amaris asked Russell.

"Yep. Every single person in this room is gifted." Russell had already explained that this gathering was one of the days that his entire family looked forward to. It had started out rather small, but it had grown to a date that gifted people all over the Midwest and Great Lakes marked on their calendars. Many people in the room came year after year.

"Since I'm your girlfriend, and your family hosts this event, could I get in if I wasn't gifted?"

"Nope", Russell replied unequivocally. "Ungifted spouses don't even get in. That's why my brother's new wife isn't here."

"I feel honored", Amaris deadpanned.

Russell just smiled at her and motioned towards a serving table. "There they are."

Amaris first saw Jeremy and Hayfa Redwine wearing aprons serving their guests. Jeremy Redwine was a tall spare man with a patrician-like air about him, but a very gracious manner. Hayfa Redwine stood next to her husband and at first the match looked odd. Her husband looked like an English manor owner, and she looked like a Moorish princess. Amaris could see Russell's resemblance to both of them. Russell held his girlfriend's hand and stepped close. Amaris' heart pounded in her chest.

"Russell!", Hayfa exclaimed and came around the table. She was so happy to see her son. All of her other children lived in the Chicago area, but Russell lived in NY.

"Mom, Dad", Russell began and pulled Amaris forward. "I have someone I want you to meet. This is Amaris Johanssen. Amaris, this is my Mom and my Dad."

Hayfa Redwine stepped forward and looked Amaris up and down, sizing up her potential daughter-in-law. Then she grinned and ribbed her son. "She's very pretty. Nice work, son. I think you're going to make your brother jealous", she teased in Darija, her parents' native tongue.

"Oh come on Mom!", Russell exclaimed.

"I'm just saying." Hayfa switched back to English.

"Saying what?" Amaris spoke several languages, but not the one they were speaking.

"That you are a wonderful young woman", Jeremy Redwine stepped in and took Amaris' hand. "It is a true pleasure to meet the young lady who has turned our Russell into an honest man."

Amaris smiled demurely. "You're kind to say so, Mr. Redwine, but it's the other way around I assure you."

"Call me Jeremy."

"I'll try."

"So how did you and Russell meet?", Jeremy asked.

Russell looked stricken all of the sudden, but Amaris kept her cool. "He caught me in the middle of a business deal, and then he tracked me down, Mr. Redwine", Amaris said with a smile as she told the truth, but left out the details.

"That's sweet Russell", Mrs. Redwine told her son.

"Yeah, Russell tracked me all over Manhattan and came to my apartment; of course I wasn't very receptive to his advances at first. He had to wear me down, but I'm glad he did." Amaris gave Russell one of her special looks. One of the looks that let him know that his love for her had pierced her hurt and made it to her heart.

Hayfa kissed her son on the cheek and wiped a tear of pride from the corner of her eye. "We'll talk later", Hayfa told Amaris.

"That wasn't so bad", Amaris declared after Russell's parents walked away.

Russell leaned down and kissed her quickly. "You were great. Why the hell were you worried? You handled it better than I did."

Amaris shrugged her shoulders.

"Let me introduce you to some people." Russell spent the next several minutes introducing Amaris to some of his friends and family. She met his older sister Monica, older brother Bradley, and his younger sister Cassie. Everybody was very nice to her, but Amaris had to make sure she wasn't overwhelmed. As she went along, she figured out the etiquette of this party. People never asked what a person's gift was or for a demonstration. Even if that wasn't done, Amaris had to remember that there might be someone in the room who could tell that she was a fraud. Lurking beneath Amaris' appealing shell lay a stone killer. She was determined to not let her past ruin her present and future, so after meeting Russell's cousins and a few more of his friends, she went off on her own.

The food was on tables set up around the room for the guest to help themselves. Amaris took up a plate and headed for a table filled with all manner of hors d'oeuvre. "We meet again", a voice said.

Amaris turned, but she knew who it was already. She felt the shape of the woman behind her and remembered it from a few months earlier. She would always remember that alluring figure. She turned to see Lisa Sanchez standing there with a smile on her beautifully exotic face. She was dressed in a velvety red gown that showed off her breathtaking figure. Amaris smiled back.

"You didn't tell me you were dating my fiancé's cousin", Lisa told Amaris while reaching for a plate.

"I didn't know Alonzo and Russell were cousins until after we met in the park. Alonzo seems like a very nice guy."

Lisa laughed. "Don't let him fool you." They both reached for the stuffed mushrooms. "So", Lisa began. "When are you going to let me use you in an ad campaign? I've got one ready to go. I have a contract with a make-up company that wants to tout its new eye shadow and mascara lines." Lisa was certainly persistent.

Amaris was about to dismiss the entire thing out of hand. She didn't want her face plastered all over the country, but then she realized that she was getting out of the assassination business. She wouldn't have worry about anonymity. She turned to face Lisa.

"I have a contract for a statue in Vermont, and I have a block of marble waiting to be carved, but this block won't accept any shape except yours. I've sketched the outlines of a dozen different women on this block, including my own, but none are good enough. So would you be willing to pose for me?"

"Sure", Lisa answered at once. She'd been an art model lots of times in college. "You let me use those eyes, and I'll pose for you."

Amaris smirked. "What about posing—"

"Nude?", Lisa finished for her. "Yeah, why not? I'm not shy. So do we have a deal?"

Amaris nodded slowly. "Yeah, we have a deal." Then the two of them shook hands. Lisa walked away feeling triumphant while Amaris tried to decide what to eat.

"You should try the caviar."

Amaris turned to see a tall stunning young woman standing next to her filling her plate. She was wearing a very nice dark green dress that didn't hug her figure just hinted at the perfection of her form underneath. "I think I will, since you suggested it. I'm Amaris." She held out her hand. The tall girl turned full on for the first time. "Wow, you have beautiful eyes, but I guess you've heard that before", Amaris complimented her. The young woman had the deepest bluest eyes.

She smiled. "Yeah, I've heard it once or twice."

"Do you know Lisa Sanchez? I'm surprised she hasn't been all over you."

She chuckled. "Oh she has been for the last couple years. I bet you've heard it though too."

Amaris nodded. "Yeah, but when I was little the other kids used to call me wolf eyes."

She laughed. "I was always taller than everybody else in my grade so I think they were afraid to call me names." Amaris noticed then that this young woman wasn't just athletic looking, she was actually in excellent shape. It was easy to see why other kids wouldn't mess with her.

"I'm Jan by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Jan."

Amaris and Jan grabbed drinks, Jan some tea and Amaris a glass of wine. The two stood, talked, ate and laughed.

"You were the one playing piano a few minutes ago weren't you?"

Jan nodded. "They made me. It seems that they have the same band play this gig every year. I guess there aren't too many gifted musicians in the greater Chicago area."

"You can say that again."

"Oh, that's not what I meant", Jan protested with a giggle and a smile. Amaris grinned and the two kept talking. It was during that conversation when Amaris realized who she was talking to. "Oh my God", Amaris said out loud.

Jan frowned and had a quizzical look on her face.

"It's nothing, I just remembered something", Amaris replied, but it wasn't nothing. Amaris realized that she was talking to the young woman who had been kidnapped and tortured earlier that year. This was the same young woman who the Broker had risked his life to save. Amaris had never expected to meet her, but here they were talking to each other and enjoying it. Jan had been through something horrible, but she was full of life now. Jan thought that she was talking to Amaris and she was, but she was also talking to the woman who had killed the man who had ordered her kidnapped, the man who had ordered her tortured to within an inch of her sanity. Amaris felt a connection with this young lady.

While Amaris thought about things that she wouldn't talk about, Jan was noticing a few things too. Jan could be a dangerous person, and it took one dangerous person to really notice another. It didn't take long for Jan to realize that Amaris was more than an artist. She wouldn't mention it or even hint at it, but she knew that Amaris was more than she was letting on.

While the two were talking, a young man came over. "How's the beef?", he asked in accented English. "Oh, I'm sorry did I interrupt?"

Jan smiled at him, and Amaris knew at once. That was the type of smile a woman only gave to someone very special to her. "Amaris, this is my boyfriend Avraham", Jan confirmed a second later.

The handsome young man took Amaris' extended hand and kissed it dramatically. "Call me Avi."

Amaris laughed. "You know there are a lot of couples here. I'm surprised. Did you two know that you were both gifted when you met?"

Jan and Avi looked at each other before Avi answered. "I knew, but she didn't at first, but we both knew that we were gifted before we became a couple." The threesome had moved from one table to another. There was already a young blond at this table. She was in deep thought pondering her next dining choice when Jan tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, Amaris, I want you to meet one of my roommates. This is Sara."

The pretty blond turned with a big smile. "Nice to meet you", she drawled.

"Your accent is so cute", Amaris gushed. This was so unlike her, but more like she used to be.

Sara laughed. "Isn't it though?"

Jan looked around for her other roommate, but shouldn't have bothered. A buxom brunette came up to the group. "I think I know you from somewhere", she said and looked at Amaris hard before snapping her finger. "I remember!"

Amaris racked her brain, but she couldn't place her.

"You aren't supposed to be up here", she repeated the first words she'd ever spoken to Amaris years earlier.

"Alisha", Amaris said a little too loudly once she remembered. The two hugged quickly. "It's good to see you. I can't believe you recognized me. The last time I saw you, you were a little girl, but I can see you aren't little anymore."

Alisha chuckled. "No, I'm not little anymore."

"You two know each other?", Jan asked.

Alisha nodded and explained how she had met Amaris at a gala ball several years earlier in Vienna.

"She actually let me touch a Michaelangelo statue, but then she told me that my German needed work." Amaris gave Alisha a wry smile.

"Well, your German's much better. I could have mistaken you for a Swabian."

After a while longer, Amaris walked around the room alone to get a closer look at the paintings and statues. She stopped by a table and took a glass of wine. It was excellent, but she promised herself that she would only have just the one last glass. "No way", she quietly observed with a smile when she saw a small plaster statue set near the entrance to the kitchen.

"Russell told me that you were an artist", Mrs. Redwine said as she came up.

"I try to be."

"Do you like that one?", Mrs. Redwine asked. After serving her guests, Hayfa was able to relax and enjoy herself.

"It's nice. Did Russell get this for you?", Amaris asked while looking down at the statue.

"Oh no, I bought it at a little boutique in New York about a year and a half ago. I don't know who the artist is because the shop owner had a thick accent, but I love it. Every time I look at this piece, I see something else. I have a hundred things that it could be."

Amaris laughed. "It's a kid throwing a rock."

Mrs. Redwine frowned looking and seeing it even if she never had before. "How can you be so sure?"

Amaris grinned. "Because I made it."

Mrs. Redwine broke out in a wide smile. "Did you now?"

"I sure did. You bought it from a friend of mine named Jens. He sells most of my smaller pieces." Amaris talked with Hayfa Redwine for nearly an hour. Russell came over and joined in. After a little while, Russell and Amaris had found a seat next to each other, but before long Cassie came over excited. "Hey, there's a newbie. We're doing a linking to help him progress."

Russell jumped up still holding Amaris' hand. "Come on."

Amaris resisted. "A what?"

"It's amazing", Jan said as she hurried past to get to the middle of the room where the circle was forming. "You'll thank me forever." Jan was holding her boyfriend's hand. Avi didn't know what a linking was either. Amaris reluctantly went with them, but Jan was right. Amaris had never felt anything like it.

"I never knew that being gifted had so many fringe benefits. The rest of the world doesn't know what they're missing. That almost makes being different than everybody else worth it", Amaris told Russell while she walked into a second floor bedroom at the guesthouse at the Redwine estate in Kenilworth overlooking Lake Michigan.

"As if heightened awareness and walking up walls isn't worth it."

Amaris chuckled. "I've never gotten a thrill walking up walls like I got in that linking. I want to do it again."

"It never gets old", Russell said as he closed the door and pulled out a rack to hang up his overcoat.

Amaris plopped down on the bed and landed on the television remote. She turned on the tv as she kicked off her shoes. She frowned when she saw the news on and expectedly, they were leading with bad news. "Two men were found slain on the 14 floor of an apartment building", the anchor reported.

"12^th floor", Amaris complained then sighed loudly. "The news never gets anything right."

Russell's overcoat dropped to the floor when he turned to face her. "You didn't!" He looked destroyed. Somehow he'd allowed himself to forget that Amaris wasn't always the sweet playful woman that he'd fallen in love with. She was also Caeda, the killer. "How could you! I… I brought you here to meet my family. I brought you to my parents' house, and you you…"

Amaris jumped off the bed and took Russell by the cheeks. "I'm kidding. I'm kidding." She might have gone too far. "I don't know anything about that on the news", she assured him.

Russell took a breath to calm his racing heart. He finally smiled. "You have to stop doing that stuff to me."

Amaris pushed him playfully. "I don't know why you always think the worst of me. I have one more to do, and it's not here in Chicago. Besides, I would never do that to you."

"One more, then you promise you'll never kill another person."

Amaris sat back on the bed. "I can't promise you that."

"What! I thought you said—"

"I said that I would never take another contract as long as I live, and I won't", Amaris began in a calm tone. "But if someone hurts you or someone else I love, then their life is pretty much forfeit. I am what I am Russell."

Russell took her around the shoulders and sat down next to her. "I can live with that", he said softly while gazing at her face. "Just promise me that there is just one more contract between now and the rest of our lives together."

Amaris looked into Russell's eyes and nodded. "I have one more contract. He's some big time guy in the defense industry. I don't have much information on him, but I have enough to get the job done."

"I won't know when you're going will I?"

Amaris shook her head. "It's better that way. One day, you'll wake up, and I won't be around. Then I'll come back, and we can live the rest of our lives." Amaris said the words, but it scared her. She wasn't sure. How could she just go from what she was to what she wanted to be? She didn't have a clue. Russell and Amaris lay down in the bed next to each other and didn't talk about the contract for the rest of the night.

A few days later, they went back to New York and true to her word, one morning Russell woke up and Amaris wasn't by his side. She'd left a note on the night stand. At that very moment, he felt more alone than he ever had in his life. He knew that his sweet loving Amaris had become Caeda, but he prayed that he would never hear that name again when she came back to him.

Caeda had been scouting the office campus of CSB Systems in Bethesda, Maryland for several days, and she'd picked this night to complete her contract. On Thursdays her mark worked late, and this night was no different. His office looked out over the wonderful glass roofed atrium of the headquarters building, and he often kept his window slightly open to let it in the sweet smelling air. It had taken Caeda more than an hour to enter the building through a service panel that was under repair. She was inside the building watching her mark in the distance. Housekeeping came by and emptied his trash. He bantered with them, but he stayed and they left. He was alone with nothing but a desk lamp, ready for her to end his life, but there was a problem. Caeda didn't feel like Caeda yet. She felt too much like her regular self. She didn't have her hyper focused mindset. She couldn't block out stray thoughts, and she couldn't get her emotions out of her way. Caeda had to be emotionless to kill, but she hadn't tried to hurt anybody in months. That was bad news for a security guard walking his rounds. He wasn't a threat to Caeda's mission. Her mark's office was on the third floor and this guard's route barely had a line of sight to the window. There was little chance that this man would even see her if he looked in her direction, but Caeda needed to hurt someone. She waited until he passed beneath her then pounced.

The alert security guard never heard her or saw her. A blow to the back of his head made him stumble. A quick kick to the back of his leg put him down to a knee then an arm like coiled steel cables wrapped around his throat. He wouldn't have believed that an arm so slim could pour so much strength into the choke. Caeda bore down and the guard's eyelids fluttered. He tried to fight back, to flip her over his shoulder, but she had pulled his body into a backwards arc. He wasn't quite strong enough to pull her over, and she wouldn't let him twist his body. He tried to escape, but before his mind could form another thought, his vision darkened to black.

Caeda exhaled when she felt the fight go out of this man. It was a rush. She let the feeling of complete control wash through her. This man's life was in her capable hands. She reminded herself that she was the master of death. It came when she called. Like a stubborn switch, Caeda flipped off her regular self and let the darkness take over. She had to become Caeda completely before she let this man go. She had to leave her wants and fears and aspirations behind. She held her choke until she realized that she didn't care whether this man lived or died. At that very moment, Caeda let him go. He fell to ground, and she watched his chest rise and fall. She dragged him to a pole at the base of the building and handcuffed him to a pole. She used his hat to stuff into his mouth. With that done, she stripped him of weapons and communication devices. Her movements were quick and efficient. Not a single motion was wasted while she rendered this guard useless. It only took a very few seconds for the assassin to finish. By the time she left the man, everything else was out of her head. She had one more job to do that night.

Caeda put her palms flat against the wall and climbed up the sheer surface towards the third floor. She came up slowly and glanced through the open window. Her mark had his back to her. She took a quick assessment of the man. He was big. The numbers in her file didn't do him justice. They had put this man's weight at more than 240 pounds, but the file had left out that he was also more than 6'4" and in good shape. He had coal black hair with a little gray at his temples and a clean shaven jaw. He was a man used to being in control, but on this night he was going to lose ultimate control. Just like the guard, this man's life was in her hands. Unlike the guard though, this man was going to die.

Caeda ducked down again as the man got up and walked around his big antique desk to retrieve something from a table. She peered up again, and he still had his back to her. Caeda came up fully and worked her way into the window opening. She reached down her leg and pulled out her silenced .22 pistol. She didn't want to make this last contract linger. All she had to do was shoot him the back of the head and be done with it. She'd always thought that her last mark would be different. In her fantasies, her last mark had been the one to take her pain away, but no. This man's life was going to end like all the rest.

The mark reached down and pulled up a book. It must not have been the right one because he put it down and casually picked up another. He hefted it a couple of times. Caeda raised her gun and aimed it at the back of his head. There was no hesitation as she put her finger on the trigger. It was only a manner of heartbeats now, but not many because Caeda's heart wasn't racing. It was just another contract. Her finger curled around the trigger. This man's life was over.

The mark's breath was caught in his throat while he stood with the book in his hand. He lightly brushed his fingers along the edge feeling the spine. He felt the weight in his hands and knew that this was his last chance. His life was now measured in seconds rather than years. He had to act. With Caeda's gun trained on him, the mark took a firm grip on the book and threw it over his shoulder as hard as he could.

The book flew at Caeda like an end over end missile hitting her gun before she could even react to move it out of the way. The book hit so hard that it knocked the pistol from her hand. Annoyance mixed with Caeda's surprise while her left hand snatched her ka-bar knife from its sheath. The mark dove to his left, seeking shelter behind a chair, but Caeda jumped into the room landing on the mark's desk. With the angle changed, the chair was no longer protection. She gripped the blade and pulled her arm back. The mark's face turned towards her. He could see the black clad assassin raise the knife. He reached behind him and picked up a plaque. No sooner had he grabbed it, than he threw it at the assassin. Caeda had to move to avoid it. Now she was more than annoyed, she let her knife fly, but the mark had moved. The ka-bar buried itself into the side of the wall where the mark had been.

He was very quick for a man his size. Caeda's other hand was moving. She was quick too, and still not worried. It wasn't unusual for a mark to try to save his life, but this man wasn't going to get away. She pulled out her whip. She pushed the button and flicked her wrist. Six feet of razor embedded steel cable uncoiled. Another flick sent the deadly contraption at her mark. She knew that even a simple impact by this whip would rend flesh to the bone. She expected to hit him in the back as he ran for the door, but this man wasn't running away. As the whip arced over head, the mark grabbed a big trophy from the table and held it out in front of him with both hands. Caeda's whip sliced through the plastic and thin metal of the trophy, but at the center of the trophy there was threaded steel rod. Her whip couldn't cut through that. It wrapped tightly around it, the end of the razors biting into the steel and grabbing hold. Caeda pulled back, removing any slack, but she shouldn't have. When the mark felt the tug, and the secure connection between the two of them, he pulled.

Caeda was snatched off the desk, taking everything on it with her as she flew towards her mark. The only light in the room fell to the floor upside down but kept shining, casting eerie shadows on the ceiling, as Caeda sailed towards her mark. She let go of the whip reluctantly and twisted her body in the air. She lined up and extended her legs. Her boots hit the mark in the center of his chest using his own strength. He went down taking picture frames and trophies with him as he tried in vain to stay upright. She landed on her feet, standing over him like she'd done to so many marks in the past. She pulled another throwing knife. This man had made this last contract interesting, but that was about all he had done. He hadn't even made her sweat. She let the knife fly. The assassin hadn't seen the mark's right hand moving. He grabbed hold of his shadow box and held it out in front of him. The knife broke through the glass and the back of the wooden case. The mark's eyes opened wide. The wood had barely saved his life. He swept his leg towards her.

Caeda flipped in the air and landed on his desk like a cat. The mark scrambled up and took a step back. He looked around the room, but the assassin was never far from the center of his sight. She was a terrifying vision of beauty and danger, the likes of which he had never seen. Caeda herself didn't make a move for a few heartbeats. He was closest to door. He would probably make a run for it, but he didn't. He stood his ground. Caeda wondered why, but she didn't take too long to try and figure it out. She decided to end this hand to hand if she had to. She attacked him without mercy.

A feint high made him raise his hands to block, and she delivered a blistering kick to his midsection. He slid back from the force of her blow. He hadn't had time to recover before she kicked him again. Her legs moved faster than most people could move their arms. Each kick was so perfectly placed and timed, but with a quick burst of his own the mark caught her leg at the end of a kick. He pulled her leg up, using her knee as a fulcrum so the flexibility of her hips didn't come into play. He lifted Caeda's body off the ground then swept her leg and drove her to the ground. She hit hard enough to knock some air from her lungs. His bulk loomed above her, but Caeda simply wrapped her legs around his body and delivered a series of whip like punches to the center of his face opening a cut on his cheek. The last punch made his eye water. He lost a little grip and Caeda pulled her body free. She was on her feet in a blink while he was still on his knees. She pulled her leg back and kicked the mark in the side of his head. He fell over to his back. This time she was on top.

She had her head back to keep from his long arms away while she went in for the kill, but he pulled his big fist back and punched her in the stomach. Her abs were always tight in a situation like this, but he hit like a sledgehammer. It slowed her down, and he had time to get his other arm free. He put both hands on her torso and pushed her off with all his might. Caeda's body flew up like she was a little child. She righted herself and landed on her feet, but he was up too. He charged at her throwing a jab followed by a tight hook. One punch grazed her hood covered cheek. She knew it was dangerous, but she pulled in close to him and drew her last knife. In the darkness, while both of their bodies touched, she stabbed up towards his liver. Her hand stopped when his fingers closed around her wrist. Caeda was strong for her size, but so was he. There was no way she was going to stab him from this position. She spun away from him and threw her legs up. Caeda flipped until she was inverted. While she was upside down, she wrapped her legs around his head. Gravity started pulling them both down. Once she felt him starting over, she used her own muscle to add power to it. He landed head first on the floor. She had to sacrifice her knife though. He'd twisted it from her hand while she'd done her maneuver. She didn't need it anyway. He laid face first on the floor. His muscular back and shoulders still looked dangerous, but Caeda wasn't afraid. There wasn't much she was afraid of. She was out of knives though, but this man's neck would break like anybody else's. She straddled him then went to a knee. She took his head in her hands for the intense burst of strength it would take to beak his neck and finally close this contract. His arm moved suddenly and he turned a little. He took her under the shoulder and she saw those big muscles flex hard. He pulled her as hard as he could. Her entire body rocketed forward. She didn't have far to go. The crown of her head slammed into the custom made cabinets located against the wall. Her head broke through the door and the shelves behind it until her head cracked the back of the cabinet. It was her turn to see stars. She moaned and rolled to her back.

The mark was on his feet now. She could tell that he'd been playing possum to gain an advantage and now he had it. He reached down and took her by her skin tight outfit. With a mighty roar, he picked her up and threw her across his office. She smacked the opposite wall so hard that she knocked pictures off the wall in the office next door. She moaned again. She was tough, but he wasn't through with her yet. He dropped knee to the center of her stomach as he came down then took her by the throat. His big hand nearly wrapped all the way round Caeda's slender neck. His face was hard, but he squeezed her neck even harder. Caeda came to, only to feel the sensation of her neck being compressed. She didn't panic though despite the pain. She really was mad now. She took his wrist with both her hands then threw her left leg over his shoulder, twisted her hips and pushed her legs straight at the same time. The mark was forced off of her and onto his back. It only took him a moment to recover so Caeda let go and rolled away. The man jumped to his feet. All pretense of injury was gone as he moved to his left to get away from two overturned chairs. He threw one out of his way with a quick violent motion. This man stood toe to toe with her without giving an inch or making a move to escape. Even in his white business shirt, suspenders, and expensive slacks, he looked as dangerous as she did in her skin tight outfit. His hands hung down by his side at the bottom of bear like arms and bull like shoulders. His face was already swelling, but he looked the assassin in the eye as she cleared the last of the cobwebs from inside her head. Like excellent chess players, they were both thinking several moves ahead. Each looked at the other for the slightest weakness. Then she attacked.

She ran to her left, put her boot against the wall and kept running. She ran along the wall until she was even with her mark. She pushed off and spun in air. Her foot hit the man in the side of the head. He was only able to partially block it, but he didn't go down. He stepped into her and unleashed a devastating hook that took her in the ribs. Her body contorted from the powerful blow. He backed it with a cross that exploded against the side of her head. Caeda spun away from a third blow and put a sharp elbow across his cheek, then two quick blows to his kidney. The mark ducked and pirouetted like a man half his size and squared on the assassin. He snatched at her suit grabbing a handful near her collar. Caeda pulled away leaving some of her suit behind. The mark moved forward and Caeda came to meet him. Two masters were locked in deadly combat. Caeda peppered him with quick precise punches while trying to stay out of the way of his blows. She hit him in places that he didn't even think to guard like his quads, causing involuntary muscle contractions. He stumbled on some debris. She darted to her right and then at him. He reached out for her, but she somersaulted over him. She landed at his back and kicked him before moving in. She took him just like she'd taken the guard a few minutes earlier. She wrapped her arm around his throat. She knew she had it sunk in good from the outset. He stood up with her hanging from his neck. She girded herself for his attempts to bash her into the wall, but he didn't. Instead he spun in a circle so quickly that Caeda's legs were being forced parallel to the floor. She had to clamp around his hips to keep her body down. Then he had her. He took her right ankle in both his hands and twisted her foot so hard that Caeda let out a small cry of pain. Then he put a quick elbow to her ribs and another. She was forced off his back. He jumped away from her coughing and gasping for precious air. His face was beet red, but he turned and saw the assassin again. She was doing damage, but also taking it. She knew that in a battle of attrition he would win. She was fighting a man who knew as much about killing a person with bare hands as she did because he skillfully blocked her every attempt to disable and kill him. He guarded the places on his body that he knew needed to be safe, all the while testing her ability to do the same. Caeda used her inhuman quickness to keep him from landing a debilitating blow. Inside this relatively small room her quickness didn't amount for much, but she used it now. She ran at him and dodged a blow. She twisted her face in effort and delivered a bone jarring kick to the side of the mark's already swollen face.

Blood and sweat flew off his head, and he staggered like a giant. Caeda pressed her attack, kicking him again and again. She could see each blow breaking him down. Pain showed on his face, but he wouldn't give up. Caeda could always see the instant someone knew that they were beaten, but this man wasn't beaten. He hadn't even tried to get away. She respected a man who held his ground. This last mark was certainly a worthy adversary. She had never been taken so far just to kill one man. A punch to his jaw put him against his desk. He put his hand against the desk to push himself up. She came in and caught a devastating left hook that she hadn't seen coming at all. He hit the side of her head with enough force to knock over a horse. Caeda flew against the table. The mark back handed her down to the floor.

He reared back and pounced on her. He drew his fist back and punched her in the side. Caeda's body twisted from the pain and blood bubble to her lips. Then like chopping down a tree, he hit her again, more blood and pain. He worked his way up her body like an expert grappler would. Caeda reached up and grabbed two handfuls of his hair and pulled his head down to her at the same time as she brought her head up. Her forehead hit him in the bridge of his nose. He pulled way, but she hit him again in the same place. Caeda swept her legs around and it took all of her strength to rotate him off of her. She got to her feet, slower than before. He was up too.

He came at her even though he was once again closer to the door. The mark's big shoulders were hunched forward and his head tucked in low as he slowly closed the distance between himself and the assassin. Usually Caeda liked a challenge, but she was ready to get this over with.

They met again, both trying to gain the advantage, both trying everything in their arsenals to kill the other. They mixed potentially deadly blows with normal strikes. Caeda dodged one of his hooks and delivered an uppercut that made the huge man stagger. She didn't let up. She kicked his knee then delivered another kick to the pit of his stomach. When he was bent over to her height, Caeda hit him in the side of the head with a powerful kick that took a tooth right of his head. Blood poured out of his mouth. The mark caught his fall with his hands on the ground. He curled into a ball and rolled away from her. For the first time, it looked like he might make a run for the door. Caeda paused to see if he would. She could feel one of her throwing knives to her right. If he turned his back, she would kill him easily, but he didn't. He stayed, and they went at each other again. During the melee, he caught Caeda with a solid blow. For Caeda this fight wasn't her usual lioness against a gazelle; it was a lioness versus a lion. She realized that her mark hadn't left this office because it played to his advantages and not to hers. Caeda worked with quickness and surprise. The surprise element was gone from the beginning, and inside this relatively small room, her quickness meant little. In here his strength was king, and he knew it. She was holding her own but taking lots of punishment in the process.

They looked at each other as only two people locked in mortal combat could. He wasn't the first mark to look into Caeda's icy eyes, but he was the first to see something other than complete control. She could see that he wasn't afraid to die. He had taken Caeda to the edge of her skill, training, and stamina. He'd taken her to the place that she'd always wanted to go. Caeda had lived only to die. She began to wonder if this could be the end of her miserable existence. Had she met the man who's skill matched her own, her true last mark? She could find out. All she had to do was follow where the mark had already gone, take the next step and walk out over nothing with him and dangle over hell.

Caeda balled her hands into fists and circled to her left a little, looking for a weakness, or a moment of indecision, but there wasn't one. He was a machine. Caeda realized that it was time to change her strategy. She wasn't bound by the same rules as her mark. She put her hands against the wall and used her power pulled herself off the floor. Caeda climbed up the wall and out of her mark's reach. She went all the way to the ceiling. She could only imagine the disbelief that he was feeling, but she was wrong. His eyes widened for a moment, but this man was used to seeing people do things that normal people couldn't, and it cost Caeda.

He simply reached out and grabbed the heavy wooden chair to his left and swung it like a club. Caeda felt the chair coming towards her, but she had nowhere to go. The chair broke across her back and ribs. She fell to the floor, and the mark was on her. Caeda grunted and struggled to roll away, but he had her controlled. He worked his body up hers until she was pinned beneath him. Then like an ancient giant, the mark pulled his arm back before slamming his fist into Caeda's rib.

She yelped from the first blow. His arm was already up again. This powerful blow fell in the same spot and Caeda felt bone snap and her cartilage tear. Her movements were more desperate now, but her mark was in control. He pinned her arms beneath his knees. His bulk towered over her. She was on her back with broken ribs and blood stinging the inside of her mouth. Then he reared back and hit her in the jaw. The world spun, and she had to fight off unconsciousness. Then he hit her again. She blacked out for a moment and felt her jaw dislocate.

Caeda's mind raced for solutions while she tried desperately to free herself. She kicked her legs and tried to move her arms, but his position was perfect. On the ground this man was better than any fighter she'd ever gone against. Her lithe flexible body didn't even present him with any problems. He knew how to counter movements that men usually couldn't do. Caeda knew that one more punch might put her out completely. With a last burst of energy, Caeda got her left arm free. She grabbed a handful of her mark's hair and slammed his head into the corner of the table. He swore, as another cut opened up. She drew her fist back and punched him in the nose. That made his eyes water and his grip loosen just enough for her to get her other arm free. Then she took him by the shoulders and bucked her hips. The mark's weight went forward. A hard push from her legs got him off of her, and over he went. He knocked the rest of the objects from the table. He hit hard and curled away from the pain in his lower back when he landed.

Caeda's mind worked to figure out a way to kill this man. She realized that she hadn't known enough about him, but that didn't matter. She had to find a way. He was just as focused on her as she was on him. He studied the only part of her face that he could see, her eyes. He saw determination, but then he saw something else there, recognition. A change came over her. He moved forward, but she backed away.

Caeda had only seen eyes as blue as his once before. They were crystal clear despite the beating, sharp and intense. She noticed the cleft chin, shape of this man's jaw and realized who this man was. This was all wrong. 'How could this happen?', she wondered as the mark took another step. 'How could she have been so stupid?', she thought to herself as the mark took another step closer, but he was no longer a mark to her. This was all a horrible mistake. She started to say something, but he attacked. He came at her with fatal intent, but Caeda backed away faster than he advanced. She took one more look at this man then jumped out of the window. He ran to the window in time to see Caeda land like a cat three floor below and hurry off to the shadows.

He sighed and slumped against the window sill thankful to be alive but shaken at the same time. His body wanted to collapse onto the floor in pain, but this wasn't over. The assassin had left, but she might come back for him. He couldn't risk that. He couldn't let her get away. He searched through the absolute mess of his office and found his cell phone. He dialed a number and waited for the answer.

"Hello", a tired voice answered.

"Marty, this is Jack Caufield. I need a favor."

"Jack! What the hell is going on, you sound like shit!", Colonel Martin Stewart yelled. He was suddenly very awake.

"I can't explain, but do you have access to the networks?"

"Of course I do."

"I need you to search emergency room databases within a fifty mile radius for new admittance's."

"What am I looking for?", Marty asked as he turned on his monitor and the lamp next to his desk at home. He was directly linked to his office at NSA headquarters at Fort Meade.

"Caucasian female, early to mid 20's about 5'7", light blue eyes."

"Ok, I got it."

"There's more. She's going to have these injuries…"

Jack waited until Marty called him back. He'd found her. It turned out that the assassin hadn't quite made it 40 miles. Jack was already in his Tahoe, but now he knew which way to go. Jack wasn't the sort of man who wanted to live having to look over his shoulder. This was going to end tonight.

Caeda had ditched her hood and her gloves and anything else that made her look like an assassin except for her slightly torn skintight body suit. She couldn't help that. She'd wanted to make it to New York, but coughing up blood had changed her mind. Then the pain increased to levels that even she couldn't take. The staff at the world renowned Johns Hopkins had gotten her into the emergency area quite quickly. They'd fussed over her and asked her lots of questions. Caeda had only answered a few of them. She never told them what had happened to her. Her mind was somewhere else. Despite the pain, Caeda was troubled. The information on the mark had been completely wrong. It had said that her mark had no children and that he had no military or paramilitary training. Something was wrong, but Caeda had more pressing problems. She sat on the end of the bed. The staff had told her to take off her clothes, but Caeda was too stunned, disappointed, angry, and sore to put on the gown.

Outside the examination room, the staff at the hospital was rather busy for a Thursday night. There had been two shootings in Baltimore and a bad accident on the freeway. With all that, the staff was talking about the young woman sitting meekly in examination room 4. It was easy to see that she was usually a stunner, but her face was swollen, and she had a dislocated jaw.

"Domestic?", one of the nurses asked another.

"Could be", her friend replied while she checked the chart on a little boy with a high fever.

"You know who she looks like", a male nurse said as he came to the station.

"Who?"

"Dr. Breck."

The two women looked at one another. "She does. She looks just like Dr. Breck."

"Who looks just like me?", the prettiest physician at the hospital asked as she came to check a chart.

"Oh, its nothing. There's a possible domestic victim in exam room 4 who looks like you", one of the nurses said.

Dr. Julia Breck was about to laugh it off. She often got compared to every good looking woman who came through the ER, but she got curious and lowered the chart. "Does she have really light eyes and short hair?"

The nurses frowned. "Yeah, that's exactly right."

Dr. Breck frowned. "What's her name?"

"She didn't give one, but she's beat up pretty bad."

Dr. Breck's face turned pale. "Give me her chart."

While the staff was discussing, Caeda was wondering what to do. She knew her body well enough to know that something was wrong, but at the same time she was too close to her mark. By now he'd probably called the police. They would be looking for her, but being caught here was only a distant worry. Her biggest worry was leaving some evidence behind. That was the reason that Caeda decided that she should probably leave, but before she could force herself to get up, she felt the curtain behind her move. A large man stepped from behind it. She knew better than to turn around. He must have been back there the entire time. That thought chilled her to the bone because she realized that this was indeed the one. Caeda had killed many trained killers, but this was truly her last mark. He'd beaten her at her own game. He pointed her own suppressed Beretta at the back of her head.

"Don't think about moving", Jack warned and came closer. "Who sent you?"

"This is all a mistake", Caeda tried to reason with him.

"There's no mistake", Jack hissed. He'd created so many enemies in his lifetime that he couldn't keep count. "You came to kill me, but the tables are turned. Now there's suddenly some mistake. Tell me who sent you."

Caeda suddenly understood what it was like to lose control of death and of her life. It was a barren and debilitating sensation. "I was hired through a contract with a third party, not face to face."

Jack knew what that meant. "What does the contract say?" Jack had to speak slowly because his mouth was very swollen.

"It says that I am to eliminate John Caufield at a place and time of my choosing, but if I had known who you were, it never would have happened. I—"

"Shut up", Jack ordered and Caeda obeyed. The tip of her suppresser was only a few inches from the back of the head. "Where did the contract originate? The guilds will usually tell you that." Jack had already figured out that he was dealing with a top notch professional, but he had to make sure.

Caeda wondered how he knew about the guilds, but she didn't have time to think about it. "Italy. The contract originated in Italy."

"So that's it then." His body relaxed, and he put his finger on the trigger. She knew what that meant. This man was as much a killer as she was. This wasn't the first time he'd held a gun to someone's head, and it wasn't going to be the first time he'd pulled the trigger. Caeda hung her head.

It wasn't hard for her to understand how her life had come to this. For the last several years she'd hoped to meet the mark who would take her pain away by ending her life. Caeda had lost so much in her life, her parents, her bothers, her foster family, and her fiancé, but now she was losing her future. She'd been rushing headlong towards this very moment. Here it was, the moment of her death, and she didn't want to die. She wanted to live more than anything else. She's wasn't going to give up just yet.

"You don't understand", Caeda tried again. "I had no idea who you were. I met your daughter Jan..."

Jack cracked Caeda with her own pistol. The blow to the back of her head made her entire body hurt. She stifled a cry and blinked back tears.

"Keep my daughter's name out of your mouth", Jack warned ominously. "She's got nothing to do with this." He bit down hard. All of his old emotions bubbled to the surface. All the things that had made Jack a legend in his own time were there at this disposal. His ability to shut himself off from everything and do what had to be done was the reason he'd lived.

Caeda could feel the gun at her back and his finger on the trigger. A killer never put their finger on the trigger unless they were going to pull it. This was the end, and she knew it, so she raised her head up. She wasn't going to die like the broken child that she had been. She squared her shoulders and waited for the end. It was amusing in a way. She'd always thought that she'd meet her end to a cutthroat in a darkened alley, but instead she'd die at the hands of a businessman in a hospital.

Her heart ached for Russell. She'd hoped to start over with him but should have known better. Life had never cooperated for her. Her plans with him were doomed from the moment she started. She knew how much it was going to hurt him to find out about her death. That thought alone nearly made Caeda fall on her knees and beg for her life, but no. She'd killed too many people for that. Caeda wasn't going to beg or even ask for a reprieve. A killer's death was all she had left to offer herself. She let her mind fill with good memories while Jack's finger pressed in on the trigger.

Jack looked down the sights of his gun, but he didn't need to. It was a simple thing to do, pull a trigger. He'd done it lots of times. She'd planned to do to the same to him. He had no reason to spare this assassin's life, but something nagged him. He could have just ignored it, but he didn't. Just like her life was in the balance, so was his. In a split second, Jack Caufield made up his mind for better or for worse. "I'm not the man I was", he mouthed silently then took his finger off the trigger and started for the door.

Caeda was dizzy with disbelief. Everything was such a blur that she couldn't even form a complete thought. She was at the jagged edge of her courage and stamina. Caeda's entire body had shaken with anticipation and fear while she'd prepared to die, but now he was walking away. This man held her life in his hands, and she dared not risk hoping that he would give it back. Why would this man let her live? Her mind screamed that this was tactic or a trick. Killers didn't get mercy.

Jack put the gun in his pocket and felt something poke his leg. He reached in to pull out the annoyance. He paused for a second while he looked at the contents of his left hand. It belonged to her. Somehow during the scuffle it had been torn off. He must have snatched it up when he'd snatched up her gun. He closed his hand around it and reached for the door.

"I don't want to see you again", he said without turning then pulled open the hospital door. "You left this." He tossed the contents of his left hand onto her lap and walked out.

Caeda watched him leave. Her heart beat like a rabbit's while she waited for the door to close. When it did, she exhaled, but couldn't believe it. She should have a hole in her head. She should be on the floor bleeding and dying. Finally she looked into her lap to see her mother's worn, slightly misshapen St. Jude Medal looking back up at her. Caeda picked it up in her trembling hands and held it. Before her mind could make sense of anything, the door opened and the resident physician for this area of the ER walked in. As soon as Caeda saw her, the dam of her emotions broke and her tears began to flow. She was so racked that the doctor had to keep her from falling to the floor.

Dr. Breck wrapped her arms around her sobbing cousin just like she had done fifteen years earlier. "Amaris", Julia whispered softly with the utmost concern.

"I don't deserve to live!", Caeda cried.

"What happened to you?", Julia asked as she got a closer look at her cousin's injuries.

"Just let me die, Julia. He should have killed me. He should have put a bullet in the back of my head! Why didn't he just kill me?!?", she wailed.

"Don't say that!", Julia pleaded and hugged her tighter. "Let me help you."

"I don't deserve help. I'm no good trash. I should have been dead a long time ago!"

"Amaris, get yourself together", Julia began sternly. "I love you like a sister, and if you ever cared about me at all you'll stop saying that." Julia could see that she'd broken through, but she figured that she would. Julia knew her cousin very well despite the fact that Amaris had been keeping Julia at arm's length for the last several years. "Will you let me help you?" Caeda nodded and calmed down a little. That allowed Julia to get to work.

Julia put her cousin through a series of tests that showed that while she was beat up, Caeda wasn't in danger of dying from her injuries. The tests took a while, and despite her other work in the ER, Julia was right by her side. Caeda calmed down during that time. Her intense fear of dying had turned into giddiness at being alive. She went through the tests without a single complaint. Julia had hardly seen her cousin so accommodating. Part of it was that Caeda was feeling more than a little guilty for pushing her cousin away for all the last several years. In her mind, Caeda had believed that she was protecting Julia and the rest of her cousins, but now things were looking a lot different. Julia was protecting her.

One of the hospital social workers caught up to Dr. Breck while she was going to check on a little boy who had burned himself with grease. "Do you still have the probable domestic violence patient in the ER?" The question startled the doctor for a moment. Julia switched her train of thought quickly. "Umm, yeah. She is."

The stiff looking man pulled out a laptop. "The nurses said that you seem to have a gotten her trust. Did she give you her name?"

"Not yet", Julia quickly lied.

The administrator nodded slowly. "Can I see her?"

"I have already addressed her jaw. It wasn't as bad as it looked. You can see her just as soon as I finish with her ribs."

"Thirty minutes?", he asked.

Julia nodded. "Yeah, that'll be fine." Dr. Breck hurried to the little boy's room to talk to his mother. After that, she went to exam room four. Her cousin was lying staring up at the ceiling, not paying attention to much.

"You have to get out of here", Julia announced as soon as the door closed. "The social workers are going to bring the cops to see if you're a domestic violence victim. Caeda put her legs to the floor wincing in pain as she did so. "Can you get out of here without being seen?"

"Of course I can", Caeda told her cousin who believed her. Caeda took off the hospital gown and put on her black assassin's outfit. Her body was covered in painful looking red, blue, and black bruises, but she moved quickly despite it all.

Julia pulled out her pad and wrote down her apartment number. She held it out for her cousin, but Caeda only looked at it without taking it from her hand. "Just wait for me there. Here's my key."

"Julia, I don't need the key to get into your apartment."

"I won't argue that point. Just promise me that you'll wait for me."

"I'll be there."

Julia looked satisfied. "I probably shouldn't ask this, but how are you going to get out of here?"

"Just like this." Caeda stood on the table and pushed up a ceiling tile. She hopped up and her fingertips touched the concrete above. She fought back the pain in her side to pull her body up smoothly and powerfully into the space between the ceilings.

"Show off." Caeda looked down and winked before her boots disappeared into the wire and pipe dominated space. She lowered the ceiling tile and she was gone. The only evidence that she had ever been there was a neatly folded hospital gown on the bed and the series of test results in Julia's hand. Before the doctor could leave the room, the social worker came in with a police officer.

"Did she leave?", the administrator asked with disbelief when he saw the empty room.

"She must have slipped out", Dr. Breck said, trying to sound surprised.

"Did you ever get her name?"

"Nope. She never said."

Julia left the room quickly before the social worker could ask more questions because Julia knew full well that her cousin wasn't the victim of a domestic violence attack. Julia had personally witnessed her cousin beat up seven bikers at the same time without getting hit once. Whatever had happened, it hadn't been domestic violence. Julia just hoped that it wasn't more trouble than her cousin could get herself out of. For the first time in her life Caeda wondered the same thing.

She exited the building from a low roof and climbed down. She never saw the car parked near the emergency exit just like he didn't see her. The driver picked up his two way radio when his partner spoke. "Target two acquired. Moving in to eliminate", the partner said.

"Copy that. Staying to confirm target one's death. This is too easy. I thought they were the best."

"Even the best have to die someday."

comments encouraged: dem2@hotmail.com