Elsie
Paul Vincent was a stout guy, his greying hair and the wrinkles surrounding his eyes telling of his old age. He reminded me of a Sergeant Major, the stern steel of his eyes and the way he made sure to dominate the room. Nonetheless, he was a good guy, that much was obvious.
“Good to meet you, Elsie. It’s an honour.”
Taking his outstretched hand, I gripped it tightly. “An honour?”
Nodding, he settled in the chair opposite me, a small table separating us. Euan sat beside me, and in a way, it felt like an interrogation. “Your reputation precedes you.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Most think we’re just myths.”
He smiled, leaning back in his chair. “We take it upon ourselves in the agency to know everything there is to know. Although we didn’t specifically know who you were, we make it our business to be aware of what goes on in this world. We acknowledged the fact that your organisation existed, but you remained under our radar, and we could never pinpoint just who, or where, you were. I find that extremely sharp and skilful, Elsie. That’s why I’m excited meeting you, and hopefully, working with you. The agency needs exceptionally talented people like yourself and your colleagues.”
He seemed genuine enough, but that didn’t mean an association would be possible. “While that all sounds simple enough on paper, Mr Vincent, the actual venture might not be that easy to accomplish.”
Nodding, he stared straight at me. “I’ll be honest, Elsie. Frank Reynolds isn’t the kind of man I would be comfortable working with. I don’t find him as honest as he needs to be to work with the service. His lack of loyalty is also a concern. I can’t have liabilities in my team, and even though he may be the best-skilled fighter I’d have on board, he wouldn’t make any assignment straightforward. Reynolds caters to his own needs, and that doesn’t make him a team player.”
“So, how would this work?” I couldn’t believe I was even considering this, yet the truth of who Frank really was couldn’t be hidden under my gullibility any longer. I had to accept, as much as I had leaned on Frank over the last twenty years, it was only because he made sure he was the only pillar of support we all had. As hard as it was to find out you’d been manipulated for so long, it was also liberating to see it for the first time.
“Firstly, we need to remove Frank Reynolds.”
I clicked my tongue. “From?”
“From everything,” he answered candidly.
Biting my lip, I laughed. “I don’t think either of you realises how hard that is. You seem to think it’s unproblematic, a simple procedure. Frank is the epitome of why we’re called Weapons, Mr Vincent.”
He smiled, and picking up a remote control from the table, he pointed it to a screen that was fixed to the wall and pressed play.
For twenty minutes, we watched the carnage I had created at Peter’s house. Paul had obtained every single bit of footage, from the cameras at the front of the house, right through to the one in Peter’s office.
When it had finished, he turned it off and looked back to me. “I don’t think I need say more.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “Have you ever seen footage of Frank fighting?”
“No, but…”
“You think what I did in Peter’s house was skilful, that was nothing on Frank. The man is un-killable, maybe even immortal. No one has ever managed even to get a bullet in his flesh!”
Euan sighed as if disappointed with my dispute. “Have you ever tried, Elsie?”
“Well no, but…”
“Exactly. You sat there, on video, and said ‘I am the ultimate Weapon.’ How do you know you’re not? How do you know you can’t take down Frank if you’ve never tried?”
I looked at him and then to Paul, who lifted his eyebrows at me. “Put it this way then,” he said. “Frank is already out for you. So, if he doesn’t take you down, you’ll take him down. Does any of this conversation even matter? It doesn’t change the fact that Frank wants to eliminate you. You either stand back and allow him to kill you or you fight. There will only be one winner, the one who fights the hardest. The one who has more to fight for!”
“We all have something to fight for, Mr Vincent. It just depends…” I broke off, relaying my words over in my head.
“We all have something to fight for…”
And we all did. I just needed to make them aware of it.
***
“What the hell, Elsie?” Ebony stared at me with wide eyes when I pulled a chair up to the table at Benny’s and plonked myself down on it. She glanced around the room. “What if you’re seen?”
“What if I am?” I shrugged, unconcerned. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
Tears filled her eyes, and she grabbed my hand, but unable to say the words, she just shook her head and took a large gulp of her drink.
Taking a drink of my own, I placed my glass down on the table and passed her the file.
She frowned in curiosity and opened it.
I watched the many emotions cross her face, my heart going out to her as she stared with shimmering eyes at the photograph of her family.
She looked at me, her mouth opening and closing, then turned back to the photo and ran her finger gently over her mother’s face. “She’s beautiful.”
I smiled, nodding and wiping a stray tear of my own away. “She really is.”
Gulping, she grimaced and squeezed my hand tightly. “I’m so sorry I didn’t trust you. I should have.”
“It doesn’t matter, if I hadn’t seen Sally for who she was, I don’t think I’d have believed you if you’d told me either.”
The doors burst open, and Tehni rushed through them, her eyes wildly scoping the place until she saw me and made her way over. “Are you fucking crazy?”
“Most probably,” I answered, passing her her file the moment she sat down.
Ebony and I were silent, giving Tehni time to allow the fact that she still had a family sink in.
Without saying anything, she lifted her eyes to mine. Weapons were recognised for their ability to be completely cold and merciless. We all flaunted that brutality in our eyes, and as Tehni looked at me, I knew by that cold look in her eyes, that she was eager to quench that thirst for violence that bubbled under her skin.
“We need to find Felicity if we’re going to do this,” Ebony announced. “It needs to be all of us.”
I swallowed and lowered my eyes. “Felicity is gone.”
They each snapped their heads around and stared at me in confusion. “Eh?”
They sat and listened, shocked, upset, and saddened as I enlightened them. Their heartache was as potent as my own, and the worry that reflected in their eyes also matched mine.
“I don’t know where she is. Although I sent her away so Frank couldn’t get to her, it was also for selfish reasons. I’m still not sure how I feel about her betrayal, and, if I’m honest, I don’t know if I can trust her with this. But,” I lifted another file up and sighed. “She also has a family that she doesn't know anything about.”
“One day,” Tehni said with sadness. “She’ll return, and we’ll do what we can to help her.”
Taking each other’s hands, we leaned over the small round table and put our heads together. “Sisters,” I murmured. “It’s finally time to have a life.”
“To life,” they both echoed, before Ebony finished, “And to the end of Frank Reynolds’ life.”
‘His or mine,’ I thought to myself. It was as simple as that. Like Paul had said, there would only be one winner, and whichever way that went, the future was about to change, and not just for me but for every Sister at Three Blades.
I wasn’t just fighting for my life, I was also fighting for my Sisters’ lives, and I prayed to God that I didn’t let them down. They deserved to be free and if their freedom cost me my life, then at least I could rest easy knowing one death had been worth something.