Hitwoman

Chapter 10: side job

(Aramis)

7 AM

Aramis looked down at the blank paper in front of him. He was supposed to be writing a Eulogy for his father, but he couldn't. He was ashamed of what was occupying his thoughts. Aramis had woken up on the boat with Eden next to him. There had been a very deliberately pillow placed between them but she was curled up in a hall and her hair was falling into her face. She looked less deadly and more....cute. Aramis shuddered.

"Where is Eden?" Cairo stepped into the room without warning. So deep in his thoughts, Aramis almost fell out of his chair.

He looked up at his older brother, "How should I know? I don't babysit her."

Cairo went to turn out of the room, but he paused, "How are your wounds."

"Healing slowly," Aramis mumbled.

In two steps, Cairo was at his side. He put his hand on his brother's shoulder, "You can admit that you don't feel good. We've got hundreds of men under us that can take on your jobs."

"Ouch," Aramis shrugged his hand off his shoulder, "Way to make me feel important."

Cairo tipped his head back and laughed, "You know what I meant." His gaze slid over the empty piece of paper but he didn't say anything. Aramis was grateful. His brother knew they struggled in their own ways.

"Why did you want Eden?" Aramis asked.

"A job," Cairo said with ease. They had had Eden for two days and he already acted as if she were apart of this.

Aramis stood up, pushing away the pen, "How do you know she won't just run away?"

"She's invested in this now," Cairo said without further explanation. Cairo always held back information. It wasn't personal. So Aramis had long ago gotten over it.

He passed his brother, "I'll tell her."

———
9:30 a.m.

"You look stupid," Eden called from up above. Aramis, halfway clinging to the side of the building was pulling himself over the ledge.

He rolled onto the ground and groaned, "I don't have to sneak around. I go where I want and people fear me."

Eden moved over to him and bent down to look in his eyes. She had eyeliner on that made her blue eyes so much sharper. "I'm not afraid of you."

"I've noticed," he huffed. He considered grabbing her now and flipping her on her back. But then they'd have to fight and Aramis' wounds would never forgive him.

She gave him her hand and though her little body didn't help much she pulled him up. Eden unslung the gun from her back and began setting it up. Cairo was paying her to snipe a person.

"Why are you here?" Eden asked, without looking away from the scope.

Aramis folded his arms and sat down, "How do I know you won't just run away?"

Eden tensed, "Cairo didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Aramis say forward.

"If he didn't tell you, you don't get to know," she informed him. He wanted to strangle her. She didn't look so cute anymore.

He kicked a rock on the roof, "What if I had a gun to your head? Would you tell me then?"

"You are much more friendlier when you are drunk," Eden sighed.

Aramis felt his heart skip a beat. He had been drunk? That's why he woke up with a splitting head ache. "Did I say anything to you when I was drunk?"

"You told me I was hot. The most beautiful women you ever knew. You begged me to kiss you," she actually turned from her gun this time.

Aramis felt his eyes widen. "I-" he went blank.

"You are too gullible," Eden held her stomach and rolled to the ground laughing.

A flash of anger seemed in Aramis thoughts, "Son of a- You are very immature! I can't believe-"

"You can't believe you believed it to be true," she taunted, pointing her hand out at him.

Aramis grabbed her arm to put it down, but she wrapped her legs around him and rolled him over. On top, she used her knee to keep one of his legs down. He noticed how she kept her weight off of his big cut. How did she know about that? "You pulled off your shirt" she said as if she could read his mind. "And then you asked me not to leave."

Setting his legs against the ground, Aramis forced himself to sit up. She wrapped her legs around his waist to keep from him pushing her off. Aramis grunted and forced himself to stand up. He grabbed her waist, keeping her from moving to stand on the ground too. She looked down at him. Her chest was moving up and down as she took in deep breaths.

"If I had it my own way, you'd be dead," he whispered.

A gun shot rang out through the street down below. Aramis let go of Eden and she ran to her gun. He ran to the ledge. Down in the street, there were seven people. Three of them were Bloody Hands men and four of them were rebels. "I have to get down there. You cover me."

"Your going to throw yourself in the middle of a shoot out?" She called back.

Those were his men. Those were men who would die beside him. He threw himself over the ledge, swinging his legs onto a window and holding onto the edge. Carefully, he crawled his way down. With the last few feet, he jumped and rolled down.

Aramis pulled a gun from his side and aimed. The bult flew right through one of the man's shoulder. "Arty?" he called out to one of his men, "Who shot firt?"

"Them, boss. Came out of no where and shot at us during our break," Artu called out from behind a crate. Arty was ten yearsl older than Aramis but alway treated him with respect.

Aramis ducked behind the corner of the building before he was shot down. The rebels hadn't attacked his men on duty. They had come to fight pedestrians. A bullet flew overhead and Aramis knew Eden had taken someone out. All of a sudden, she was falling deown in the middle of it.

"What are you doing?" he called out angrily as she reached one of the rebels and pulled the gun away from him. Bullets flew past her but she didn't look concerned.

She grunted and threw the man on the ground, "Your brother doesn't trust me! Gave me only one bullet." She rolled on the cobbled road and pulled a knife from her side. She threw it and it hit the man in the heart. He crumpled.

While she got up and dusted her pants, Aramis caught sight of another person. Neither dressed in the Bloody Hands uniform or rebels. A young female with rich dark skin and a shaved head had a gun pointed right at Eden. Through the chaos, he could feel her anger. SHe was going to kill Eden.

Without pausing, Aramis jumped up and ran across the clearing. A bullet grazed his calf and one flew through his hair. As if in slow motion, Eden turned toward him with a look of surprise across her face. The woman moved her finger to the trigger.

Aramis dove, taking Eden down with him. A bullet wrung out louder than the rest.