A Courtesan and an Assassin

"It can't be, can it? Araka-san, Andrew…but you're both dead. And Nine Fingers. What are you doing here?"

Nine Fingers gave a little bow. Araka-san as well while using a laser cutter on her handcuffs precisely around her wrists.

"I told you that I wanted the gold. Now how I am going to get the gold if you aren't there to give it to me" said Andrew as he walked towards her.

"You bastard" she said as she wrapped her arms around him "You fucking great bastard" as they kissed deeply in each other's arms.

"Ahem. I don't mean to be a pain, but we need to get out of here. I don't think we'll be on our own for long."

"Araka-san. Can you take three of us?"

"No. Your combined weight is too much for my thrusters. We would crash at high speed. I need to do

two trips."

There was a bang on the door. "That's the guard" said Alysha.

"Prior Zephid. Are you ok? I heard a large bang."

"I'm fine" said Andrew "I told you to not disturb me"

"Ah…ok" said the guard after a few moments

.

"I don't think he bought that" said Alysha.

"We need to blockade the doors and get going. Araka-san, you take Nine Fingers first then come back for Andrew and me."

"No" said Andrew and Araka-san simultaneously

"We didn't come all this way to lose you again." said Andrew

There was a banging on the door and several voices on the other side now. Araka-san shot a laser out and sealed the lock. Nine-Fingers pushed the desk in front of the door, and was looking for other stuff to pile up in front.

"Araka-san. Take them now. We are wasting valuable time." said Andrew

Araka-san pulled Nine Fingers into his force field and with a snap he had flown out the window and disappeared.

"How long would he be." thought Andrew. "ten minutes, 15? I'd better get in a better position"

Andrew listened to the voices outside. They were still asking for the door to be opened. He didn't reply. Now they were turning the handle. It wouldn't budge. He could hear them pushing against the door, but the door was made of solid oak as thick as a man; it wasn't going to break that easily.

Andrew moved to the corner of the room, closest to the window, and waited. He thought that it would be easier for Araka-san to snap him into his force field if he stayed there, plus the sun streaming in would temporarily blind any attacker. He could hear someone wielding an axe on the door; that would take at least five minutes to get through. Surely Araka-san would be back by then. Even if they created a small gap, he could hold them off for at least another five minutes. He had over 200 shots in his laser gun and coming through such a narrow entrance they would be easy to pick off.

Bang. Bang. Bang. The axe kept smashing down. Andrew could see a bit of daylight through a crack in the door. Then there was silence. Why had they stopped? The thump of the axe was replaced by a ripping, crunching, tearing sound and then a strange roar. What was that? Splicers. It could only be splicers -- they would be through the door in seconds and they would give cover to any commandos following.

"Bollocks.' said Andrew looking at his watch. I need two more minutes before Araka-san is back. He's been gone nearly 9 minutes already. Surely he would have turned on the afterburners to get back up?

A wrenching sound came from the door and the small piece of daylight that was there before was now replaced by a huge tear, big enough for a man or a splicer to come through. A splicer's head appeared and howled as it pushed the rest of his body through the opening. Andrew waited until the body was half-way through then fired directly between its eyes. It howled and died instantly. The body was pulled back through the opening…delays were what he needed.

A canister came through the opening and exploded. Smoke poured out.

"This is not good" he thought. Andrew started to fire in the direction of the door, but he knew that by doing so he gave away his position. He hit another splicer as he heard a howl, then a thud as it must have hit the ground. A laser shot whistled past his ear. Oh crap…this is going to be close. The room was now full of smoke, and you couldn't see your hand in front of you, not that this would bother a splicer as they hunted by smell. He ran across to the other corner of the room, and unleashed a barrage of shots towards the door, then crawled back on the floor towards the window. Andrew jumped up onto the window sill and waited silently, ready to fire if the splicer got anywhere near him. He knew that no commandos would start firing they would likely hit each other as much as him. They would be relying on the splicer to do the dirty work.

"Come on you tin can. Can't you see that I am dying here" he muttered silently to himself.

Crap the smoke was clearing. They would be able to see him soon. He could hear the splicer turning around the room. It must have been confused by the smell of Prior Zephid, but by the sounds it didn't seem to have attacked him, maybe they were trained to recognize the chapter members?

Andrew glanced out of the window, down the cliff face. He could see something glinting in the sun coming towards him. Yes. He was coming back. Andrew lowered himself out of the window holding on by his finger tips just as he saw the splicer leaping towards him. It missed and flew straight out of the window screeching as it disappeared below.

Seconds later Araka-san was there.

"Nice of you to come back tin can"

"Yeah. I was thinking of leaving you up here but I decided that Alysha's wrath is worse than your impudence Assassin. Let's go."

Araka-san snapped him into his force field and started to go down.

They heard a shout from above "Not so fast you infidels." It was Prior Zephid and he was standing on the window sill with a gun in his hand and a crazed look on his face. He shot. Araka-san fired a laser shot back which hit Prior Zephid square in the torso. He looked stunned and then toppled silently into the valley, falling past Araka-san and Andrew seconds later.

"Did you see that Assassin. Got him in one. We'd better get out of here. We've stirred up a hornet's nest taking out there boss. Assassin…Assassin… Are you ok?"

"I don't know." Andrew replied. "I think so. Let's get down. I think that shot scratched me."

Four minutes later they landed on the valley floor next to the ship. Alysha and Nine Fingers were waiting for them. As soon as Araka-san let the force field holding Andrew go, Andrew collapsed to the floor. Alysha ran towards him.

"Andrew what's the matter. Christ you're bleeding everywhere. What happened? Araka-san do something!"

Araka-san hovered over and made a quick sc an.

"I'm sorry. He's lost too much blood. The last shot must have gone straight through his heart."

Andrew lifted himself up into a sitting position with a supreme effort and reached out to touch Alysha's face then whispered slowly in her ear "I always said you had an arse to die for."

Chapter 16: A courtesan and an Assassin - Six years later

"Andrew. What are you doing? I am going to be late for the first class of the day. You know how I hate being late, and it sets a bad example for the Elite Mother of the Courtesans to be late" said Alysha as she put on her jacket and started walking towards the door of the bedroom.

"I'm here Mum" said Andrew bumping into his mother as he came out of his bedroom.

She was always surprised by how silently he moved, as if he was invisible. He was beginning to resemble his dad more every day, which always made her feel just a little bit sad.

"Are you ok Mum?'

Alysha realized she must have been remembering: remembering his father and how he held her, looked at her and smiled at her with that similar ironic smile. She quickly pulled a smile onto her face, getting rid of the vacant sad expression she must have been showing.

"Oh it's nothing darling. I was just thinking how fast you are growing and how soon you'll be leaving your mum to go and see the world".

"Don't be silly mum. You know I'll never leave you. Who would protect you, if I wasn't here?"

Alysha smiled. He was his father's son without a doubt. They left the house heading for the Convent of the Elite Courtesans and the children's school across the other side of the square.

"So, what are you going to do today at school, my little Assassin?"