Russian Flower [1] EDITING

4 - Agents

The first mission was a simple one in my opinion. At least looking back on it now. I smoothed out my satin dress as the black car pulled up to the extravagant building. Practically a palace, some political leader and his son were to be assassinated that night. Bryce's gaze was locked dead ahead as our unsuspecting driver had no clue that he was hauling two assassins.

Our mission was simple; Bryce would go for the politician and talk him up and put cyanide in his drink, and I would flirt with his son. Hopefully, he'd try to take me to bed where I'd shoot him. After that, I'd leave through the window and meet Bryce where he'd be waiting with the getaway car.

Bryce opened the door and stepped out. He offered his hand to me as he helped me step out. Our covers were simply that we were brother and sister, as to not raise any questions when I tried to get to the son.

"Who needs this much space for a widower husband and his son?" I spoke to Bryce in Russian.

"Maybe he's compensating," Bryce chuckled lightly as we walked up the extravagant staircase.

"You know the plan?" I asked once more to make sure everything was in place.

"Of course," his lips upturned slightly.

——————

After an hour of me sipping a champagne glass and endless conversations with my target, he finally made a move for me.

"Care to dance?" he beamed as he held his hand out to me. His light blue eyes gleamed in the light of the party.

I smiled as I faked excitement and took his hand. He spun me closer to him as his hands found their way to my waist and mine locked behind his neck. We danced for about 30 minutes before he placed a feverish kiss to my lips.

They were all so slow, sweet, and sensual. If I didn't have to kill him, I probably would've found the boy very attractive. His eyes were blue, but not just any blue, there was a tinge of green in them that caused them to look like a tropical sea that had been captured in his iris. His gold locks were slicked back, but a few stray strands sprung free from the gel and flopped in front of his face.

After a few minutes with several kisses exchanged, he smiled at me before grabbing my hand and taking me upstairs. He smiled a million dollar smile with perfectly straight, white teeth. I giggled in happiness as he opened a door and led me inside. He closed it and locked the door before he planted his lips onto mine. His hands began to explore my curves. I cursed mentally thinking about how he might feel the gun strapped on the inside of my leg before Bryce had finished his job.

The boy in front of me's hands began to push up my dress before his hands faltered. He faltered and his kisses slowed as his hand was pressed on the strap for the gun on my thigh.

He had found the gun meant to kill him.

"What's this?" he asked with furrowed brows as he felt the stitched material of the strap. My mouth gaped slightly as I tried to fish for an answer. However, screams soon erupted downstairs. The politician must have collapsed, but Bryce hadn't given the signal. The honk of a car rang through the air, Bryce.

"I can explain," I spoke sweetly at his confused expression. In a split second, I pulled out the gun and aimed it at his head. "I'm sorry."

My finger pulled the trigger and the gunshot echoed through the room as the bullet buried itself between his eyes. The boy's body fell back, and I rushed for the window. I slid down the pole next to the balcony and landed on the street below. I ran towards the black Mercedes in front of me and jumped into the passenger side. Bryce quickly drove off as soon as my door clicked shut.

We sat in silence as police cars went the opposite direction as us. We were headed for our hotel for the night. We stayed in a luxury hotel last night, as to not cause suspicion from our driver, but tonight would be spent in a much more discreet, but ultimately dirty, establishment.

Bryce pulled up to the hotel and put the car in park. It definitely wasn't a nice hotel, but it out most of the places in my old country to shame. Bryce pulled out the room key, already supplied by the Red Room, and headed towards our room.

He unlocked the door and pushed it open. He pulled out a pager and sent a signal to Dreykov. It was the only way to let them know the mission was done and for it to be done without any alarm raised. I collapsed onto the grimy bed. I looked down at the once beautiful dress, which had now been tainted with that boy's blood.

"Do you want to take a shower? Clean up a bit?" Bryce asked me as he took in my current state.

I nodded slowly and stood as I made my way to the shower. I shut the bathroom door as I peeled the dress from my body and turned the shower water on. Once I stepped into the stream of water, my muscles relaxed slightly. The blood flowed down the drain as it rinsed from my skin and hair. We didn't have the luxury of soap in this hotel, so rinsing off would have to do.

I stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. I wrapped it around me as I stepped out of the bathroom. I grabbed leggings and a cami out of the bag that was waiting here for us. I dropped the towel, not caring that Bryce was sitting right there, as we had been through enough training before today to know well enough what both of us looked like.

After I pulled the clothes on and fingered the knots out of my wet hair, I went and sat next to Bryce. I leaned my head on his shoulder as we stared straight ahead at the wall.

"Is this going to be our lives?" I whispered.

"Looks like it," he replied to me. "Get some rest. It's been a long night."

I nodded and laid back onto the bed. I pulled the covers over me and sunk into the mattress. However, before I could attempt to sleep, I heard Bryce's sobs. I sat up and looked at him as his chest hiccuped with every soft cry. I moved towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck in what was hopefully a comforting hug. He buried his nose into the nape of my neck, and I rubbed circles into his back.

"I just took a man's life," he choked out.

"I know," I responded. "But we had to, or we'd be killed."

He pulled away slightly as he looked at my face. I gave him a sad smile.

"You need the rest too," I looked at him. He nodded and went to get underneath the covers. I copied his motions and curled into the dirty mattress. We faced away from each other and didn't say a word to each other. All we hoped was that maybe tonight we could get a half decent sleep.

——————

That first mission led me on to the current downhill slide that is my life. Bryce and I were sent in so many missions I lost count after the 30th. Occasionally, we would go solo depending on the situation. The more missions I went on, the more blood got on my hands. The killing got easier as time went on, and I began to not care about how many lives I had taken. But with each and every new mission, the more I began to lose myself.

Bryce was the same. He would still sit and cry in the hotel after every mission. He would weep for the families that we took someone away from. Bryce was the only person who still made me feel human. I felt like the old Arina when I spoke to him. It was almost like we were normal teens, but we could not feel that for too long.

Because we are not normal teens, and we have no place in the real world. Our place was as assassins for the Red Room. We grew up in the Red Room, trained in the Red Room, and would die at the Red Room's hand.