The ORION Project | ✔

chapter 33

"You know, I've always wondered about this night, what I would say or do when things finally came to this. I wondered how I'd take you out, with a gun, or maybe with a knife. I rarely ever use poisons but for you I considered it, toyed with the idea of making this whole thing appear like a suicide." It wasn't Amina who spoke now, Kendrick had a ridiculous flashback, remembering her scent on the glossy business card, a lip print on it and one words scrawled at the back, it wasn't her name and he had thought it silly, had thought the Mancracker was a silly name. This wasn't Amina, this was the Mancracker.

Until she stood right in front of him now, black painted smirk etched on her lips and her voice casual as if they were discussing what to have for dinner and not his own death.

Kendrick swallowed, eyeing the gun on the table, if she noticed his look, she didn't show it, instead she placed both hands on her hips like a scolding mother — even if nobody would mistake her as such in the black leather jumpsuit she wore now, they emphasized the curves of her hips and the generous swell of her chest, the neckline was a deep v, showing an ample amount of cleavage. Her hair was free of the hijab she usually wore, tied in a messy bun and Kendrick was beginning to think that she liked to separate that part of her life from the life ORION had made for her. He wondered if she was just a slave to the organization's biddings too.

He could make a dash for the door, he knew he could but he had never seen Amina in action before, he didn't know how good or bad she was, although he strongly suspected the former. He could run, but there was a chance that she would catch him, and by the glittering look in her eyes, it was a big chance, one he wasn't ready to gamble on.

He settled for talking first, even as his heart pounded a tempo that could make EDM DJs throw jealous fits. Maybe she wasn't here to kill him, maybe he was a fool.

"How did you get in?" He asked, she settled back on the sofa and shook her head. He didn't dare to relax, as long as that gun was in sight, he wasn't safe.

"You are really making this a cliche fest, you could at least try to be a little less predictable." Amina said, she fixed a glance at her manicured nails and flexed her gold painted fingers in the light of the chandelier.

"You could at least try not to look like a teenage boy's action movie fantasy come to life." He pointed out, he was joking, and she knew it.

Amina smiled, her lips stretching into a full grin that almost made him do the same.

"Now we're getting somewhere with this." She said, with a sudden speed that startled him, she lurched forward and clenched the gun in her grip, Kendrick flinched as she caressed the sleek black pistol like it was her favourite thing.

"How do you want it, Kendrick, a bullet to the head or heart? Make no mistake, I didn't come to play."

"It's too late to get rid of me without causing a big wave." Kendrick drawled, forcing a nonchalance he didn't feel into the words. Even as he glanced around the living room, seeking a weapon. There was none, the TV was switched off — it meant that hopefully somebody would hear him scream if it came to it, the coffee table was bare of any object and even if he risked running into the adjoining hallway and into the kitchen to arm himself with a knife, it still wouldn't save him.

Amina arched an eyebrow. "You overestimate yourself, Kendrick."

He forced his hands by his side as the impulse to run his hands through his hair overwhelmed him. It was a telltale sign of nervousness that would only make her smile.

"Actually, I don't, tell me something, Amina, why did Phillips suddenly send you to get rid of me?"

She didn't answer, only sat, listening. Realization dawned on him and he almost let out a laugh, she didn't know, she was acting on orders. Presumably, Joshua knew something, maybe about Kendrick causing the latest scandal or maybe it might have even been nothing at all, maybe he was getting paranoid, snatching up Grace and deciding to end Kendrick on a whim but Amina didn't know this, didn't know anything at all.