I remember it was pouring and cold as fuck outside. And that for two and a half hours, I stood next to a fucking payphone waiting for it to ring. Finally, it did and it was the Operator who asked me what I was willing to give up to live this life.
Without hesitation I said, everything.
“Understand me,” she warned. “You are forfeiting family, friends, love, and choices in your own future.”
Truly, it was too easy. “Understood.”
“Then what should I call you?”
Closing my eyes, I said, “Phoenix.”
“Phoenix,” she repeated proudly. “The first, the eternal.”
Hidden by the shadows from the semi-trucks, I palm my weapon just as he palms his.
He’s been around a long time. Over the years we’ve even been known to put our differences aside to have a drink. Thinking on it now, I’d say we’d done that three times.
None of which I enjoyed. Actually, I didn’t much like the guy.
And now he was here to collect and his interruption annoyed me.
“Giving it all up for pussy,” he laughs. “We’re middle men, Phoenix. We kill, we conquer, we deliver death. We don’t love.”
I wasn’t drawing this out by explaining my reasons. Instead, I simply say, “For her, I do.”
“No,” he insists. “You don’t. You can’t. It isn’t possible. It isn’t possible because you made the fucking rules!”
“Crow,” I sigh in annoyance. “When she is in my arms the beast is quiet.” When his eyes go wide, I forge on. “It is possible to feel love because for me, she is love.”
“God dammit,” he snarls. “Ten million for her, Phoenix. Ten! You know why? Because they know the moment she’s eliminated, you’ll come back. Just kill the bitch yourself and come back!”
“I come back and the price on her head dissolves?” I counter. “Bullshit. I’m out, Crow. Now, I only kill for her. Do you understand me?”
“You’ve become a cautionary tale, brother,” he says shaking his head. “A lot of years means a lot of money. All of us amassed riches we can’t spend, have luxuries that mean nothing. Killing the woman you love won’t be easy for me, but I’ll do it because to maintain balance it has to be done. Fuck, Phoenix don’t you see? I’m doing this for you!”
Suddenly, Crow stiffens and I knew why. With a knife to his throat, Finn gives me a sheepish look and says, “Sorry, but I got impatient.”
As Crow attempts to move, Finn warns, “I’ve slit forty-two throats, asshole.”
“So, this is how it ends,” he rolls his eyes. “You partnered up to pick us off one by one? Never pegged you for a coward.”
I tried to stow my features but couldn’t. Letting out a laugh, I ask, “You think I’m setting you up? I don’t give a fuck about the rest of you. I want out, I want her, nothing more.”
“What is with you guys and partners?” she asks with frustration. “And, why is Nix having a partner a bad thing?”
“How in the fuck did you sneak up on me?” Crow asks Finn who wasn’t budging.
“I’m light footed,” she chirps.
“If I wanted you dead, female, you’d already be dead.”
“Not true,” she counters. “But I’ll let it slide if it makes you feel better.”
Locking on me he asks, “Who does she work for, Phoenix?”
“NSA,” she says confidently.
“What the fuck?” Crow yells, but stays still. Smart man.
“National Stunt Association,” she adds. “We’re a union and everything.”
“She’s a fucking stunt woman?” he asks, and I saw the confusion in his eyes.
“She is,” I agree. “Though she’s had more training than all of us, combined. So, I’d think twice before moving.”
“Can I show him my favorite move, Nix?”
Locking on Crow I ask, “Now do you see?”
Glancing at Finn, his face softens a degree and when he says, “Yeah, I see,” I nod to Finn, “Show him your move, Kitten.”
Issuing a hard strike to the side of his head, Crow goes down and Finn shrugs saying, “It’s called the gall bladder 20. Pretty bad ass, right? Pressure point fighting is kind of a hobby. I wasn’t sure it would even work, but hello knockout! I would look adorable in a belt with my name on it, just saying.”
“A lesser man would find you terrifying,” I praise her. “Lucky for you, your aggressiveness just makes me hard.”
Giving a curtsey, I growl her name and demand, “Get your ass over here.”
Sauntering up to me, I take her neck in hand and warn, “You ever put yourself in harm’s way like that again and I’ll –”
“Shut up, Nix,” she interrupts and before I could say more her mouth crashes into mine.
In the middle of devouring her, Crow grates out, “The others won’t be so easily convinced.”
With her arms around my neck, Finn arches her back, stares him down and says sweetly, “Then the others die.”
But there was nothing sweet about it.