The Ring of Rebirth

“Hey, I’m back!” Tiff sprinted into Nick’s room, breathless.

“Oh, hey, honey!” He bounced up from his bed and hugged her, “What took you so long? It’s only two days until the time limit, and you know you’d get disposed if you exceeded it.”

“I know, it was a close one. Let me get a drink first.”

“Water, tea, or coffee?”

“Just water, please.” Tiff sat on the bed, “I haven’t seen you in four months.”

“Yeah, I missed you.” Nick poured her a cup of cold water and sat beside her.

A single bed took one-fifth of the room with a drawer at one end of it. A small table and two plastic chairs occupied a corner.

“Me too.” Tiff gulped down the water, “How did your first mission go? I think you were supposed to kill a guy in Tokyo and a prostitute in a bar somewhere, right?”

“Yeah. I flew to Japan and located the guy first. I was amazed by airplanes, you know, flying in a gigantic metal bird! And being in the subway was like sitting in a huge warm, where it carried me through tunnels at an incredible speed. I know we have received the preparation, but when I actually saw it, I was still astounded.” Nick’s eyes sparkled.

“Anyways, I took a taxi to the guy’s place. He built an electrified gate around his property with ends as sharp as knives. Though that wasn’t a problem for me, I opened the huge padlock with a metal stick I’ve got in my pocket. It was pretty complicated, took me like, ten minutes to figure out how it works. I heard at least four clicks when it opened.”

“There was five minutes’ walk from the gate to where he lived. Just after I started making my way there, I saw some smaller metal birds swooping above me, shrieking ‘Intruder! Intruder!’. If it wasn’t for the preparation we received before we left, I would’ve freaked out.”

Tiff chuckled, “Yeah, it helped. Were you there at night or day?”

“Well, I figured that usually, invaders would prefer to be there at night, so the security strength may be focused during this period. Therefore, to surprise them, I chose to be there in an afternoon.”

“Great idea.” Tiff nodded, “What happened next?”

“Red rays were flashing with some guy shouting into the microphone, ‘Intruder! Show yourself now!’, as If I would listen to him.” Nick rolled his eyes, “I darted behind the thickest group of bushes I could find. My palms were a bit sweaty when I drew my gun out, in case they find me or scan bullets at me or both.”

“The metal birds roamed around the whole yard without discovering me and finally left. I stayed at my hiding place for a few minutes longer just to be sure before I advanced again. Even though the birds have left, there were still more and more guards as I got nearer to the mansion.”

“I laid low in a bush beside the house, counting the guards. There were twelve of them in total, divided into six groups, circulating around the mansion. They carried electrified sticks with them instead of pistols, how stupid is that? I could’ve killed them all, you know, like I was supposed to.”

Nick pressed his lips together and sighed, “But I didn’t. I randomly shot one of them, which sent the others rushing there to check while I slipped into the other side of the house through a second-floor window. There were so many bedrooms, but I searched them all one by one.”

“Gosh! That guy owned many wives! Anyway, I eventually found him having afternoon tea in his bedroom, and I shot him.”

“The man was in his fifties, rich and a little fat, but basically harmless. No idea why anyone would hire the Organisation to kill a guy like that, probably his competitor in business? Or one of his wives? It’s possible.” Nick shrugged.

“What’s weird was the prostitute I was assigned to kill. Finding her was way easier compared to the Tokyo guy. I simply went to the address provided by the Organisation and found the bar she’s usually in. I asked for her, though the bartender told me she’s ‘busy’. Well, what can I do? I offered him a bribe to tell me which room she was in, and he caved in pretty quick.”

Tiff raised her eyebrows, “You are not going to tell me the details of her sexual intercourse, are you?”

“No!” Nick grinned, “Though if you want to hear about it, I don’t mind…”

“Not a chance!” Tiff rolled her eyes, suppressing a beam.

“Okay, fine.” He pouted mischievously, “Anyways, you got it right, I broke into the room and… Well, I actually don’t want to say it either.”

“I pointed my pistol at them and yelled at the man to get out. He frowned and made fun of me, saying the handgun is fake and I’m just a stupid, little boy. I shot at the bed to prove him wrong. He gaped at me, then grabbed his pants and ran out naked. It was hilarious! You really should see how his butt wobbled as he stumbled out.”

“Seriously? Naked?” Tiff chortled, “Though I’d rather not see his butt wobble, thank you very much.”

Nick let out a guffaw before carrying on, “Well, here comes the weird part of the story.”

“The prostitute, a woman in her thirties, stood there staring at me unblinkingly. Just as I pointed my gun at her, tears started to well into her eyes, which made me curious. I held my arm there, ready to end her life as soon as I solve the mystery. She then closed her eyes with tears streaming down her face and murmured, ‘I knew it. I knew you would come. I…I sold you there. You are here to kill me. Yes, finally, finally! I deserve it. I regret it. You are a big boy now. I’m glad.’”

“I was utterly baffled, you know. I didn’t know if she was talking to me or not, either way, I didn’t understand what she said. I asked her what she meant, but all she did was snivelling, pulling fistfuls of her hair out, and muttering something under her breath that I couldn’t hear.”

“Time was running out, and for some reason, her action was a bit disturbing for me. So, to get it done with, I shot her and slid out of the window before anyone could come up.”

Tiff mused, “What do you think she meant?”

“I don’t know. I have been trying to figure it out for weeks.” Nick frowned.

“Maybe write what she said in a notebook in case you’d forget someday.”

“But why would I want to write down some crazy woman’s words?”

“You might get a clue in the future. Imagine how bad would it be, when you’ve finally got a trace, you found out that you no longer remember what she had said?” Tiff snatched a piece of paper and a pen from Nick’s drawer and poked them in front of him.

“Alright.” He then wrote down the prostitute’s words.

“Now, keep it somewhere safe,” Tiff instructed.

“You serious?” Nick raise his eyebrows.

“Yeah! You don’t want to have written that in vain, do you?” She grinned with smug.

“Fine.” He kept the paper in his bottom drawer, “How was your first mission?”

“Well, um, technically, I didn’t finish it,” Tiff whispered into Nick’s ears.

“How come? If the Organisation found out…”

“Yeah, I know I’d get disposed. Listen to my story before you judge. My mission was to kill a family, right? It was an ordinary family, not rich or anything, so I didn’t need to get past security guards like you did. I flew to London and checked the nearest police force before taking a cab to the address given. The family was consisted of four members, an old woman, a couple around forty years old, and a little boy.”

“When I arrived there, it was already about eight o’clock in the night. I peeped through their living room window and found them curling on sofas and rugs together, watching TV. I was astonished by TV as well, you know, but what made me jealous was being part of a family.”

“Everything seemed so serene. None of them carried any sort of weapon to defend themselves, yet they felt safe in an environment like that. It was tough to accept that I’m the one about to deprive it of them.” Tiff’s eyes became moist, “They laughed together at the TV, oblivious of the countdown of their life’s remaining seconds.”

She bit her lips as she laid against Nick’s shoulder, “They were so innocent, you know, who would want to finish their life? But I had to, you know, and I didn’t want to drag this longer than it should be.”

“I knocked on the door and pretended to be a normal thirteen-year-old girl. The man opened the door and asked what I want. I squeezed myself past him into the living room, and he scowled at me, ’Hey, I didn’t say you are allowed to come in—” I closed the door behind him, drew out my gun, and shot him before he could finish his sentence.”

“The little boy cried, the woman screamed, while the old woman gawked at me. To stop them from attracting the neighbours, I shot the woman first and then the old one. The boy was so tiny, only around two years of age. He barely learned how to walk, so he certainly couldn’t have done anything! Who would hire us to kill him? What made it harder was that he has the same hair colour as me. I mean, plenty people have blonde hair, it’s common, but still.” Tiff shrugged.

“Well, He was howling so loud, so I had to do something about it. The neighbours probably already noticed something was off. I watched at the boy’s crumpled little face, and for some reason, he quieted and gazed back at me so naively. I knew my mission include killing him and my pistol was literally in my hand, but I just couldn’t even point it at him.” Tiff exhaled and stopped talking.

“What did you do then? Come on, tell me.” Nick shook her arms.

“Fine.” She gave him a tiny smile, “I heard voices and rushing footsteps coming out of the nearby buildings. Well, I panicked a bit, I snatched the boy with me and run away from a backstreet.”

“You ran with the baby?” He gaped at Tiff.

“Yeah, it seems pretty funny now, though at the time I was super nervous. I was really afraid that the Organisation might have sent someone trailing behind and checking on me. If they found out what I did, then I would either get shot immediately or get disposed as soon as I’m back.”

“Well, I held the little boy and ran across a few blocks before hopping into a cab to the airport. I bought the ticket on my phone in the cab, so when I got there, I’d be able to get on the nearest plane possible. I flew to Hong Kong, then Brazil, Congo, Korea, and finally Australia.”

“Oh, so that’s why you cut so close to the time limit.”

“Yeah, I had to do so to lose my tail. If I put the boy in big cities like Sydney or Melbourne, he still might get tracked down, and I didn’t want to risk it. So, I sent the boy to an orphanage in Goulburn.” Tiff chewed her lips, “I hope he’ll turn out well.”

“Yeah.” Nick gave her a comforting smile, “Oh, do you remember T3 told us, that we have to do our first mission individually, but afterward, we’d get harder missions, so we can have two people doing the same mission together?”

“Yep! Which means we can be together for our next mission.” Tiff’s eyes glittered with thrill.

“Exactly. And if we have extra time, we can sneak to the orphanage and visit the little boy.”

“Great.”