Chapter 2: Partners

Somebody snitched. That one was obvious.

“How did it get out if you haven’t left your location, then?” Rica asked a fellow agent.

Currently seated amid a tension-suffocated room, Anna sat silently as the two repeatedly threw each other under fire for a piece of information strictly prohibited to be publicized that reached the media, thus making it to thousands of headlines in just a matter of a few hours.

“I-I don’t know, Rica!” The agent, who was a few years younger than them, was subtly freaking out. Anna could tell from his fidgety hands and the heavy drops of sweat on his forehead. Who wouldn’t, anyway? This will reach the Minister in no time. “I just dozed off for, like, five minutes and I woke up to see the transfer complete on the monitor! It’s not my fault!”

Anna scoffed, having to hear enough of his stupid excuses. “That’s entirely your fault. You slept while on duty and completely brought down your guard, leaving the Ministry’s archives open to any hacker. Had you not been hungover that morning from drinking too much last night, you wouldn’t have passed out and left our files exposed.”

He paled. “H-How did you know I…I drank?”

“I saw your credit card’s transaction history,” she simply replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You need to apologize to the Chief before the Minister,” spoke Rica. “We can’t help you on this one.”

Their fellow sighed. “It’s fine. I’ll be suspended but I’ll be alright…I hope.”

“Suspended?” Anna repeated, her eyes following his retreating. She lowered her voice, making sure he won’t hear before raising a brow. “It’ll be worse than that.”

“Shh!” Rica placed a finger on her mouth as she neared. “Don’t tell him that. He’ll just be more nervous.”

They both watched him leave, silently muttering a ‘good luck’. The Ministry never takes it easy on punishing their agents, especially when they did something as dangerous as this.

“We still have one last exam in two hours,” she added. “Then we have to gather another update with Rioteco in Florida. Let’s go?”

The week passed by like a flash. For Anna, manslaughter, and torture is a common things to witness daily, sometimes commit. In her line of work, there is no gore she can’t handle. She’s seen it all. One may be fooled by her angelic features and never think about what that face does for a living.

This was her life.

And this is fine.

She merely blinked when the blood splattered across her face. She casually wiped it away and walked out of that building. She had just finished a solo mission that took her months to finally get close to her target and leave without any trace. While wiping her pistol, she stops to look at a man in a hoodie, stealthily moving across the block with his back to her. She noticed he was eyeing her vehicle. Her eyes squinted to have a glimpse of his face that hid under the hoodie but the darkness of the night was covering it.

Who is this man?

He had a big build, muscular too. Despite that, his moves were light and fluid. He looked almost experienced. She quietly hid behind a light post, watching him slowly inch her car and when he almost succeeded lock picking her car, she cocked the gun and aimed it to his skull – making sure he feels the coldness of her pistols nuzzle.

“What do you want?” She coldly asked, the freezing deadpan tone of her voice sure to send shivers down a normal person’s spine.

The man froze but didn’t say a thing. They were locked in close-range combat if ever he fights back. But he didn’t. She frowned when the man chuckled.

“Sorry, I thought this was my car,” he said, his voice ringing a bell in her ears. Anna’s brows twitched but she didn’t open her mouth to say anything. How he, an assumed civilian, manages to chuckle amidst a gun pulled to his skull is beyond her. The man casually walked away with his hands in his pocket and even faintly whistling.

Her eyes followed his back until he turned a street and disappeared from her sight. Her suspicion never disappeared. As quickly as she could, she took a zip lock bag from her trunk and slid her pistol inside. She made sure the nuzzle would come in contact with his hoodie for the machine to be able to trace him. A few days later, another frown creased her forehead as she received her pistol in a new zip-lock bag.

“We’re sorry, this DNA doesn’t exist,” the researcher she asked a favor from shook his head. “I don’t know how it’s possible as well, but we couldn’t look for the owner.”

“But you recorded it, right?”

He nodded.

“That’s alright. Thank you, though.” They bid their goodbyes as Anna released a sigh. They couldn’t trace it because his DNA doesn’t exist in this world. They’re the most credible people she can go to look for DNAs and yet they couldn’t do it. Who was that man, then? Was he just an imagination? No, it couldn’t be. Suspicions and baseless assumptions arise and cloud her mind even during school. She couldn’t focus because of that hooded man that tried to picklock her car. What if he was just a beggar? But that was a branded hoodie, for sure, and he smelled far from a beggar. Not that they should have a specific smell. Besides, if he was a beggar they still would be able to trace him.

She’s sure it wasn’t a mere accident. He acted too stealthy only to mistake a car. If she is his target, then why her? She has mastered the art of blending her whole life. Nobody would take an interest in her. She trained to be invisible, yet how did he see her?

“…and Divina Anastasia.”

Her ears perked at the mention of her full name. Right. She was still in school. The last she understood was that the professor was announcing partners for their thesis, the final requirement of every degree. Anna failed to hear who her partner was but when her blockmates stood up to near their partner, she knew her partner will just come to her. She looked up when a pair of shoes stopped in front of her seat.

“Hi.” His deep voice surprised slightly surprised her. He was a tall, lean guy who dresses properly in a white dress shirt and a black tie with black slacks. His wavy hazelnut hair was barely given attention as it remained slightly tangled and looked as if hand-combed. He looked…decent, at least.

“Hey. You are…?”

“Max.” He nodded at her.

Seriously, this man keeps surprising her. Most men would shake hands with her whereas he would casually nod. Holding back a chuckle, she smiled and nodded back.

“I’m Anna.”

He looked around before pulling a nearby chair. He leaned back and looked down at his wristwatch as if waiting impatiently.

“Can you send me your email?” He asked, not looking at her.

Although confused, Anna still nodded even if he wouldn’t see it, and grabbed a piece of paper. He could just ask for her number and text her since that’s more convenient, but alright. She wrote her civilian address on the paper and gave it to him.

He took it as the professor announced the end of her subject, urgently standing up.

“Great, I’ll mail you whenever.”

“W-Wait…”

Before she could utter anything, he was already out of the room with his long and fast strides. She could merely follow his pace. For the first time since she could remember, she was rendered speechless.

With her mouth hung open and her hand suspended in the air, she looked around and realized what he said. ‘Mail her whenever’? Did he think their thesis would take only a day’s work? And when did he ever ask for her permission to take the lead and decide without her?

What…What a jerk.