For the first time in years, I was nervous.

My pride doesn’t really allow me to admit it, but scared was also something I was feeling as I walked through the front door of the building that has become so familiar to me in the last 3 years.

The Agency.

My eyes scanned from my left to my right, taking in the people that were working today so that my mind could work out just how fast this news was going to travel, or whether I had a hope in hell of even getting out of the building alive.

I smiled at the familiar receptionist as I normally do. I wanted to make sure I didn’t look suspicious. I was just here like I normally would be, looking through the files about the assignment I was currently on.

I made my way through the main lobby and towards the elevator, making small talk with a few of the other employees and agents that were here. I kept it short and brief, and before I knew it I was out of the elevator and on the floor that led to the surveillance room.

I knew that there would be someone manning the cameras, like there always was. The agency had cameras on every single corner and just like the hospital did, there was a room where the CCTV ran a live stream and someone keeping an eye to make sure that nothing fishy was going on.

I opened the door slowly and just as I predicted, there was a man with his feet up on the table in front of him keeping a watchful eye on the cameras. His back was to me, and as silently as I possibly could I made my way across the room until I was behind him.

I snapped his neck before he even realised he wasn’t alone in the room.

He tumbled out of the chair and fell to the floor lifeless, leaving me alone with the surveillance of the entire agency.

I found the camera screens I wanted, which overlooked the door of Ed’s office, as well as the other one that showed the inside.

I saw him sat at his desk, flicking through files as if he was an upstanding business man.

My teeth gritted together as I watched the man that I hated more than anyone else on this earth right now.

I tore my eyes away from the screen and after finding the correct buttons on the control panel in front of me, I froze every single camera of the agency so that from this point on there was no surveillance. I then put my attention to the computer on the table which held the footage that was filmed in case it had to be reviewed because of an intruder, setting a virus loose on it so that all the footage that had been filmed for today was no longer accessible.

No good with computers my ass, look at me now Chris. (A/N: Anyone get the joke? Made me laugh haha.)

A small smirk appeared on my lips as I thought about the guys seeing me now, actually managing to work a computer and have it do what I wanted. So what if I didn’t know what that twitter thing was, when it comes to shit I need I’m a freaking computer nerd.

I left the room, feeling a tiny bit of relief as the first part of my plan was done. Unfortunately before I knew it I was on the floor that led to his office.

That’s where things got tricky.

Stood outside his door were two body guards at all times. Those duded were allowed one toilet break every few hours and if they left their posts without permission, then it was bye bye bodyguard and hello replacement that still had all his limbs. It was a sucky job but from what I heard it paid well so I could understand why there was always someone willing to replace the previous bodyguard. Getting paid a small fortune to stand outside of a door was easy money. It was the repercussions of the job that were not exactly explained to these men in the job interview that was the con of it.

I knew I didn’t have to worry about my face being caught on camera, which gave me longer to get home and get the hell out of dodge before Ed’s associated realised what happened and who did it. The people in the lobby would be questioned, and after finding out I had been here it wouldn’t take long for them to put two and two together.

What I did have to worry about was offing the two gorillas that were glued to Ed’s office doors.

As always with this plan, I had to go for simple and discreet.

I just had to hope the 4 ton of muscle they were both carrying slowed their reactions down a little…

I took a deep breath and slipped my hands in my leather jacket pockets. I walked down the hallway until I had reached the door, both guards flicking their eyes to me instantly and giving me the once over, but I saw both of them relax as they recognised me as an agent.

I gave them both a flirty smile, and had to resist rolling my eyes as I saw the younger one smirk at me and raise an eyebrow thinking he had hit the jackpot.

It never ceases to surprise me just how much guys think with their penis.

“Working as hard as always I see boys.” I commented jokingly, standing in front of them to make small talk like I always did before I walked into Ed’s office.

The younger one’s smirk widened “I can work a lot harder than this given the right situation.”

I shook my head in amusement, and I notice the other guard roll his eyes at this guy’s poor attempt at charming me.

My fingers in my pocket gripped around the butterfly knife, ready to make my next move which would really put me in the point of no return. I slowly began sliding the knife out-

She forgot about the golden rule..

It's OK when it's in a three-way It's not gay when it's in a three-way With a honey in the middle there's some leeway The area's grey in a one, two, three-way

I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes in embarrassment as I heard my ringtone blast out of the pocket of my jeans. I slid my hand out of my jacket pocket, abandoning the knife as I went for my phone which carried on blasting out the lonely island song.

I didn’t even have to look at the name to know who it was.

“Connor what the hell do you want?” I spat down the phone.

He had personalised his ringtone weeks ago when he first heard this song, I kept changing it back to normal because it was extremely embarrassing when it went off in public places, but that little asshole somehow manages to get hold of my phone when I’m not looking and change it back just to get on my nerves.

“Ringtone still getting on your nerves?” He laughed down the other end, realising from my tone of voice exactly why I was pissed off.

I had to bite back from screaming I was just in the middle of carrying out the plan of killing our boss when that god forsaken ringtone went off and put everything on hold, so yes it was getting on my freaking nerves.

Couldn’t exactly say that however when I sort of promised them I wouldn’t do this without them. That would not go down well.

“I am putting a password on my phone.” I declared to him, holding my index finger up to the two guards to tell them I gotta take this call.

I heard him laugh “Oh honey, you know I’ll just hack it and change it again so I wouldn’t waste your energy.” I rolled my tongue over my teeth as I realised he was right, but waited for him to get to the point of why he actually rang me “Anyway, we’ve just got back from the bar, Josh is currently in his room getting freaky with some girl who apparently can put both legs behind her head so we can safely say he’s mastered the game fanny hunt and me and Chris are hungry, so what time can you get here to cook our dinner?”

I rolled my eyes “Connor you’re an adult, I’m sure between you and Chris you can manage to switch on an oven and throw something together.”

He snorted “Look I can defuse a bomb, handle a flame thrower and hack into government systems with no problem, but hand me a cook book and you may as well be handing your pet chicken to Kernel Sanders, it aint gun’be pretty.”

“Get Jace to cook you something.”

“Oh yeah smart idea there, get the guy who thought you could store fish in a draw to cook us dinner.” Connor replied sarcastically, and I had to resist a laugh from the memory of that “And anyway even if Jace ‘no brains but a pretty face’ Dixon could cook, he’s no use cos he’s not home yet either. I thought he’d be with you?”

I wince slightly as I realise Jace is still not home. God only knows where he is or how he must be feeling, I don’t blame him for needing time to deal.

“No he’s not.” My reply was short as Jace suddenly flooded my thoughts.

“Whatever, come home and cook for me woman.”

“Well you’re going to have to starve for a little while longer because I’m not coming home yet.” I told him firmly, not wanting to go into too much detail. Unfortunately I had forgotten who I was dealing with.

“Where are you that can’t be put on hold?” Connor questions.

“Working on the assignment.” I reply straight away, the lie coming out fluently.

“Bollocks, Chris is here with me and he would know if you were working on the job.” Connor doesn’t miss a beat before he catches me out. Again, I forgot who I was dealing with. “So let try that again, where are you Faith?”

I don’t reply for a while as I realise that lying to him is useless.

“Faith?!” he repeats himself, and I could tell he is getting impatient. I could basically hear the vein in his forehead inflating over the phone as he is clearly getting angrier by the second.

“I’ll be home soon.” I simply respond, not needing to tell him where I am because from the tone of his voice I knew he had already figured it out.

“Jesus Christ Faith, one thing we asked you to do!” Connor exploded on the other end.

“No she isn’t?!” I could hear Chris yell in the background “Motherfu-”

“Faith listen to me…” Connor began, speaking over Chris’s colourful vocabulary that was so loud the bodyguard probably heard it “…turn the hell around and do not be an idiot. Come home and wait for us to do this together.”

After a few seconds, I finally reply “Don’t bother coming to get me, I’ll be done and gone before you get here.”

“Faith don’t you fucking dare-“I hung up the phone cutting off the rest of his screams and protests. I switch it off and slide it back in my jeans, looking up at the bodyguards and giving them a reassuring smile as they are both staring at me with curious expressions.

“Right I really was going to do this with some sort of technique and digression, but that phone call has sort of put me on a tight time schedule so what you’guna do.” I shrug casually before pulling the butterfly knife out of my pocket and with a flick of my wrist the blade flings out and slides across the throat of the older bodyguard.

The younger one instantly goes for the gun at his hip, but fortunately I was right and due to the fact he is too big to be agile I had enough time to turn and elbow him in the chest, knocking the air out of him before punching him across the face, with the same move I grab his wrist and twist it behind his back, snapping his arm and muffling his screams with my lower arm. I quickly raise my arm off his mouth, cutting off his agonising scream that I set free by plunging the knife into his heart. He let out a grunt as I twisted the knife which was still in his body. The only sounds he was making now was choking noises as the blood spluttered out of his mouth, and before you knew it little Mr charmer was face first on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

Guess I’ll never know just how hard he works now hey?

I close the butterfly knife and slip it back in my pocket, checking myself over to make sure no blood got on me. Once I knew I was decent, I turned to face the door. It actually took me a good 2 minutes before I inhaled deeply and finally found the courage to turn the handle.

Too late to turn back now.

I walked into the office that I knew all too well and closed the door behind me quick enough that Ed would not see the two corpses currently stinking out the hallway. I turned to look at him just in time to see his eyes land on me and a small smile appear on his face as he leans back into the chair and he gets more comfortable.

“Faith, to what do I owe this great pleasure to?” Ed asks, the tiny mocking smile still on his lips as he folds his arms over his stomach. The man made me sick.

“Just popped in to say hi?” I suggested, giving the bastard a taste of his own medicine.

“Nope, that’s not it because that would mean you actually like me, and we both know that is not the case.” He retorts, still smiling which told me the notion that I hated him did not offend or affect him at all. Why would it, we are nothing but replaceable pawns to this man.

“Caught me there Ed.” I admit, taking a few steps closer to the desk so I was now in the middle of the room. I could see his eyes grow suspicious as he looked me over. He was a smart man, he knew something was up “There is a reason I have come here, and that reason ironically enough is fuelled by just how much I don’t like you.”

I reach behind my back and pull out the gun, aiming it straight at him.

His expression remains the same, the smile still on his lips as he cocks his head to the side slightly.

“Let me guess, my so called bodyguards are currently lying on the floor outside that very door, courtesy of yourself?” Ed guessed, his tone not showing me that he is scared. He seems cocky, as he always does.

I smile bitterly “Bingo.”

“So what’s the plan then Faith, kill me in order to escape this awful life that I dragged you into and that has tormented you for the last 3 years?” His tone was mocking. The bastard actually had the balls to sound patronising while I’m the one with the gun to his face.

My teeth were gritting so hard together by this point I could not reply. Suddenly his mouth formed into and O as he looked like he had figured something out.

“Is this about Compton?” Ed asked, and my grip around the gun tightened as he mentioned Drake. He had been dead less than 2 days and he had already replaced him, and now he was talking about him as if he was just some passer-by who was once a burden to him.

“No, it’s not about Drake.” I made clear, emphasising his name as if to tell Ed that Drake was in fact a human being, he was my friend not just some employee than can be replaced. “This is about you. You worthless little heartless excuse for a person. You sit behind that desk, recruiting innocent kids who have a whole life ahead of them and destroying them so they can do your dirty work because you’re too much of a coward to actually go out there and do any of these jobs yourself. You ruin people’s lives, and can still have the fucking cheek to sit behind that desk and smile at me like you don’t have a care in the world.”

The smile I was referring to twitched slightly “That’s because I don’t darling.”

My breath became quicker as the anger washed over me at this man “Well you clearly do now cos I’m about to put a bullet in that smug little face of yours!”

He shook his head in amusement, looking the perfect picture of relaxed “I knew that you would snap one of these days.” His eyes meet mine again as he carried on talking “I always knew how much you resented being taken away from your old life, and out of the 20 agents whose lives I have ‘destroyed’ as you put it, you were always the one that interested me the most just because you were the only one who cared so much she couldn’t hide her clear resentment towards me unlike the others.”

The words actually caught in my throat for a second as I heard him talk, confused as to why he does not sound cocky anymore. He sounded like we were having a conversation over a club sandwich on our lunch break.

“And for the record, I haven’t destroyed the lives of these people. I made people powerful. I mean look at you, when we recruited you you were some little shy girl who went out one Saturday night a month and that was because her more popular confident friends dragged her out. You were nothing when we found you, you were a pushover and had no self-belief…” the words stung because as much as I hated to admit it, he was right. A small proud smile escaped his lips as he looked me over “…and look at you now. You’re the picture of confidence. You believe in yourself and you don’t let people walk all over you. You’re a strong person, and you would never have become this person if I hadn’t of recruited you Faith.”

I kept my face emotionless as I processed his words which hit so close to home I actually felt my eyes moisten a little. He was right; there were points about being recruited that did benefit me. I became the person I am today, I grew confident and I believe in myself. But that was a small benefit considering the massive penalty I had to pay.

“If it wasn’t for me you would never have met your roommates.” Ed pointed out, and again I had to agree with him. Connor, Drake and Chris have been everything to me for the last 3 years and I don’t know where I would be without them, and in a way that was thanks to Ed. “Technically Faith you should be thanking me, not threatening to kill me.”

This got me back to reality.

“Thank you?” I repeated in disbelief “You want me to thank you?! Thank you for ripping me away from my friends and my family and having them believe I was dead? Thank you for being the reason why my best friend became a freaking coke head due to me disappearing which led to me having to kill the girl I considered my sister?! Thank you for letting me risk my life every single day over the last 3 years so you can get paid?! Or maybe I should thank you for turning me into a piece of freaking stone by telling me to kill person after person without a second glance?!” by this point I was screaming at him through gritted teeth, my vision became blurred as I felt tears try and escape “Why the hell should I thank you for turning me into the heartless bitch that I became, that my family and friends from home would look at in disgust.”

His eyes bore into me with curiosity, and for once I felt like he is taking his head away from what will benefit him and actually listening.

“You do know that if you do this, they will hunt you down for years?” Ed reminded me, and still he did not seem scared that he was about to die. He didn’t even seem like he was trying to change my mind, it was like he was just…reminding me.

“A risk I’m willing to take. Looking over my shoulder for the next 5 years is still more appealing that living this life for 5 more minutes. You die, this agency dies and I save anyone else from going through this hellhole of a life.”

He nodded slowly as he took my answer in, and for the first time since I entered the office the smile on his face was gone completely.

“You can’t do it.” He stated, and my mouth fell open in shock. His lip twitched at my clear shock at his words.

“You do remember that you trained me to become who I am? I kill without blinking, what the hell makes you think that ganking you will be any different?” I asked him like he was stupid.

“Because as much as you hate to admit it, you’re grateful for what I did.” He simply said.

His answer knocked me completely off guard and I lowered my gun half an inch because to my utter shock, his words did not cause outrage in me. A small part of me did agree.

But that part was so small that I easily locked the bitch away.

I raised my gun to aim it at him so I had a clear shot again.

“I am grateful for certain things that I have now because of you, but that still doesn’t change the fact you tore me away from everything. Nothing will ever change that.”

A wise look spread on his face as he spoke “You must give up the life planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you Faith.”

I swallowed hard.

“This life was never waiting for me, you forced it on me.” I stated “Just like I’m about to force this on you.”

I pulled the trigger and watched the man I resented, the man who was such a big impact on my life die in front of me.

And even though I knew I had years of running ahead of me, years of looking over my shoulder just waiting for someone to come and kill me for this, i felt the overwhelming feeling of freedom wash over me.

My lip curved slightly as I realised for the first time in years, I was finally free.

.