Page 3 of The Masks She Wore

?Which, once again, was a hit to my ego that someone had managed to slip pastmysecurity. Men were one thing, bound to blink, yawn, sneeze, but my firewalls were nearly impossible to get past.

?I hated that someone had managed to do it well enough to getmoney to our accounts.

?It was raining today, like it always did in Seattle. That didn’t change just because we were buried deep in the woods, far from the city. In fact, I was sure the trees made it worse.

?The fact that we were so deep in the woods was also proof of the mysterious person’s want to find us. The amount of time it must have taken him to not only find us but figure out what our banking information was so he could wire us the money made me want to take the mission out of pride.

?But I couldn’t get past the irritation.

?I opened up the envelope and pulled out the single piece of paper, reading over the name and frowning. I turned it to him, my irritation only growing. “What the fuck is this?”

?Malachi’s eyes found mine, emotionless. “Your next assignment,” he repeated evenly.

?I crumpled up the paper and tossed it to his desk. “Location?” We had never gotten a target with just a name. I’m not saying I couldn’t do it, because I could, but it was strange to say the least. On top of everything else, it was really seeming like this person, whoever they were, wanted the girl dead no matter what the cost.

?“Los Angeles.”

?Thank God I wouldn’t have to deal with the rain for a while.

?I shoved myself to a stand and buttoned my suit jacket. “Won’t take long.” And it wouldn’t. I got the name; it wouldn’t be hard tofind her. I’d put a bullet between her eyes and move on. I’d done less for more.

?“Take as long as you need,” he told me.

?I let my lip curl so he could see my clear irritation before I headed for the door.

?“Jack, you have a right to be angry—”

?I stopped, glancing over my shoulder. “I’m not angry, Malachi, I just want to do the job.” My last assignment hadn’t gone well, and I had requested some time off. Something given freely to Azrael and Greyson, one by force, the other by choice, and all I wanted was a week.

?One week to figure shit out before I got thrown into something else.

?But this was the job. Doing his bidding was the job. We signed the contracts, we swore ourselves over.Thiswas the job.

?He sighed, clearly displeased with the way I was handling this, but wasn’t it his fault? He turned me into this. A ruthless, unforgiving, merciless god. He gave us this power. He gave us these egos, handed us this world on a blood-soaked silver platter.

?“This one will take time,” he told me, and I couldn’t help but wonder what other information had come in that envelope that I didn’t get. How did he know it would take longer? How did he know I might need extra time? What was he hiding from me this time? “Deal with it carefully. I’ll be sending you other assignments whileyou work this one as well, just to keep you busy. Los Angeles is a big city, if you’re going there for some time anyway, might as well clean it up while you’re there.”

?“Great,” I waved, turning back to the door. “Tell Zo she can—”

?“She’ll be joining you soon.”

?I rolled my eyes and shoved out of the office. I didn’t need to bebaby sat. Fucking bullshit. “Goodbye, Malachi.” I hated his secrets, and I always respected that he kept them. But something in my gut told me that something was wrong with this one. Something was off.

?“Another assignment so soon?” Azrael hummed, pushing away from the wall, his broken mask already on. He had so many of them. Representations of different life scenarios he wanted to play out, he had told me once.

?I didn’t know what it meant, but he didn’t start it untilafterhe broke out of the asylum a few years ago.

?“I’m fine.”

?“Oh, I don’t care about that, I just wanted to ruminate with you in your torrential agony. Finding out your baby brother lived only to be turned into a monster you had to hunt down?” He clicked his tongue. “Such a pity,” he said with a smile.

?“Fuck you, Az,” I spat. “Go fuck a Priest or whatever it is you do on your off time. I have to pack.”

?He chuckled, allowing me to go on without him. “Have fun in the sun, Jacky boy, but don’t lose your temper. We all know how you getwhen yousnap,” he laughed.

?The sound sent a shiver down my spine. I swear that guy has gotten more insane every fucking year but especially after he broke out. Something happened during that year he wouldn’t talk about, but we could all tell something had changed. He went from acting off to being a completely different, psychotic person. Not even Malachi had a handle on him anymore, despite the fact that he wanted all of us to believe he did.

?Truth was, Azrael ran his own show, and we were just lucky enough to guest star from time to time.

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