05

“Take me to Hawkthorne academy.” She demanded, she even tossed extra money at the driver, suppressing any further protests. He reversed the cab and entered another street. They were driving farther and farther away from the city.

“If you wait here. I’ll give you an extra 100 pounds.” She said as she closed the door, the driver nodded his head and rolled up the windows, keeping the heater on.

The boarding school she was walking towards was a beehive of activity, they were having a football game, she stood behind the benches hoping to catch a glimpse of her sister and there she was dribbling past her opponents and towards the goal post. She was the reason Shawty had taken up this deadly trade.

Emily Shelliot was like a sister to her , they had been friends raised in the same orphanage until they were separated, the adopters had only wanted a child, months later her uncle found her and took her to his home. Until she ran into Emily again, beaten and bruised on the street by her adopted family, that was the first time Shawty had ever taken a life. They went on the run and since then she had been the girl’s guardian. The job paid for Emily’s schooling and other luxuries.

Emily scored the goal and the crowd cheered, Shawty was the loudest, she waved her hands trying to get Emily attention. The girl saw her and she ran towards Shawty with smiles.

“I thought you said you couldn’t visit until the end of the month.” Emily whispered as she hugged Shawty, her head neatly rested on the older girl’s bust.

“I was finished with the client very quickly and I still had time before I clocked into the office. So I thought I would have the opportunity to come see you.” Shawty said warmly.

“Tell me about the client this time.” Emily said cheerfully, she loved hearing about her sister’s job as a bodyguard.

“Well he actually tried to drug me and then he wanted to sleep with me,” Shawty admitted and then laughed. “But I straightened him out. He was very arrogant. A big shot. But eventually he came to see my point that our relationship was purely professional.”

“That’s so amazing.”

“Yeah.” Shawty replied a little downcast, she hated lying to her sister but there was no other option plus she wasn’t lying, she was officially a bodyguard working for Zerodyne, they just gave other off the clock jobs.

Several of Emily's classmates had begun calling her name, and they were planning on celebrating their victory.

“I should go,” Emily said, she twisted the single braid her hair had been tied into. “I’m sorry. Wish we could talk more.”

“No, it's fine. You should go with your classmates to celebrate. You deserve it “ Shawty said with misty eyes. She hated when she had to leave so soon.

“When will I see you again?” Emily asked, she bit her lips slightly.

“Soon. Hopefully very soon.” She extended her hand for a fist bump and Emily met it with hers, this was their secret greeting. Simple but it meant a lot to them.

She watched her return back to her classmates, they gave her head pats and shoulder slaps and she talked incessantly while laughing. She seemed happy.

I want to keep her that way. Shawty thought to herself, the cab driver hammered his horn, breaking her out of her thoughts.

“I wonder if anyone would miss a rude cab driver like you.” She muttered under her breath and entered the cab.

“Zerodyne. Floor it.”

As they drove away. Shawty wiped a single tear.

The doors swung open and Shawty entered the longue codenamed “The front desk”, the receptionist greeted her but she ignored him, she also ignored the men who was staring at her ass, these were the stooges, guys who were paid to pretend as customers here to hire a bodyguard, the real office was several floors up, she entered into the elevator. Her ascent to the main office was quiet, the elevator didn’t stop to pick anyone from the other floors.

It stopped and when she stepped out, she was instantly immersed into a bustle of activity. Assassins from different countries were taking orders and leaving to complete her mission. Some of them who respected her extended a quick hello before leaving, the others just ignored her. Warmness and familiarity was heavily frowned upon, so she briskly walked towards her boss office, on the door label was engraved the name Leonard Briggs, he was the leader and founder of Zerodyne and a man Shawty dreaded.

She pressed the door handle and readied herself for another tense debriefing, what she saw surprised her.

“So I need a well trained bodyguard to shadow me. They should be inconspicuous. Be able to blend in with the crowd. I’m going to be moving a lot these coming months.” Frederick rattled on and drank from the wine glass given to him.

Leonard, a tall man with a military buzz cut, listened intensely. None of them acknowledged Shawty yet but she knew that Leonard noticed her.

“I think that’s doable. We have several candidates that you can look over.” Leonard said, as he kept writing.

“No need,” Frederick said, he finally turned to face Shawty. “I’ve already decided who I want.”

Leonard cocked his eyebrow in curiosity but said nothing.

“It's settled then,” He said, getting up and extending his hand to Frederick. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

As Frederick left the office, he gave a wink to Shawty.

“Small world.” He said to her as he left the office.

“Since when did we allow non-clients up here?” Shawty asked as she sat down.

“And a good morning to you too.” Leonard said professionally, he dropped his pen and his lifeless Greg eyes bored into hers.

“Why was he here?” Shawty asked.

“Where did you meet him?”

“At the nightclub. Where I took out Roderick.”

“No. You took out Target 8021. You have to learn to dehumanize your targets. It makes it all the more easier to take them out.”