Chapter 08: Fight or Flight

“Eva Austin. I don’t know, it has a nice ring to it. Then again, so does Michelle Brand,” Tobias smirked, folding his arms into his chest.

“Ok. Are these clients?”

“Interesting. I was curious how you’d react but, flat out denial? Tsk, tsk. You should do better, ‘Hannah’.” Digging into his right breast pocket, he pulled out a couple of pictures and showed them to her. “You’re pretty photogenic. And red hair; it’s quite fetching on you.”

“Where’d you get those?” Alexa asked, already knowing the answer.

Chapter 07: Every Picture Tells a Story

“What are you some sort of ninja assassin?” Melissa asked, coming up behind Alexa as she practiced Tai Chi on the patio. She had been watching for a while, impressed by the fluid motion in her form.

Alexa smiled and used her towel to dab at the sweat on her forehead. “I just like to stay active is all. I could teach you a few moves if you’d like.”

“Nah,” Melissa replied, shaking her head. Dropping onto the top step, she continued watching, sighing every now and again. “Can I ask you something?”

Chapter 06: Web of Lies

“All set?” Gavin asked, tossing the keys around in his hands with a smile.

“Yes! Let’s do this!” Alexa replied cheerfully as she folded the blanket in her hands and slipped into the passenger seat. Gavin waited for her to get comfortable, shut her door and happily danced around the front bumper, making her laugh, before sliding in beside her. “Someone’s giddy.”

“I admit it, I am. I’m just itching to see what this puppy can do!”

“Well, be gentle. You don’t want to scare her the first time out.”

Chapter 05: Nightmares

—Brooklyn Heights – 1999—Age 9

“Daddy, I’m scared.”

“Shh! I know, Lyric, but you have to be very quiet, baby, can you do that?”

“I’ll try,” she shook her head and squeezed her legs tighter against her chest.

“That’s my big girl. I have to go and get your brothers. Now you stay down, and no matter what you hear, you don’t leave this closet. Understand?”

“I understand.” Sinking down to the floor, Lyric closed her eyes and tried her best to find a happy place; her 7^th birthday party on the sandy shores of Turtle Creek. Running on the beach with her brother Echo and building sandcastles with Blaze.

Chapter 04: Icarus

How quaint, Alexa thought as she scanned the area for guards. The location for the meeting was in an abandoned railroad switch house, another reason Kasper should have avoided this client altogether. Contact with clients was to be kept anonymous, online, never on a hard line and never face-to-face. And to agree to meet in a shady location on the client’s terms and without backup was beyond foolish. What were you thinking, Kasper?

Quietly, she crept around the rail yard, cautious of every sound she heard. A couple yards in the distance, Alexa observed two nondescript black sedans parked beside a black SUV. Three men stood near the front gates, alert and dressed in equally as dark clothing. And with three vehicles in play, there was no telling how many men were inside. Alexa removed her weapon and back up piece from their individual holsters, checking them both. She had 26 bullets between them and two extra magazines of ammo. With any luck, it would be enough.

Chapter 03: Vital Signs

Billowing black smoke curled into the sky as the 60-foot vessel burned. Flames licked up the sides of the ship, growing taller and darker as more fuel fed the blaze. The explosion had rocked the pier, sending Alexa careening backwards and landing hard on the wooden dock. Gavin was nowhere in sight.

“GAVIN!” Alexa yelled, pulling herself from the ground as she frantically looked around the water and shore for him. “GAVIN!”

“No!” she heard Joan gasp behind her as she and her husband rushed toward the end of the pier. “Gavin? Gavin!” The sounds of sirens could be heard in the distance as the panicked family continued searching the wreckage for their missing loved one.

Chapter 02: Blown Away

A grizzly scene was discovered earlier this morning at the Alpha
Delta Rho fraternity house at Manchester State University.
Four men were found brutally tortured and mutilated in their own beds.
Police have identified the victims as Ben Rowlands,
Christian Fellows, Ross Patterson, and Thomas Flynn. These men were
recently on trial for the gang rape of a fellow University
student Nina McCarthy. Police at this time
have no suspects and no arrests have been made.
Coming up on Channel 7 News, how safe
is your family pet…

Chapter 01: A Game of Cat and Mouse

“I know it’s difficult,” Alexa gently spoke, moving a little closer to the witness stand. “But, Nina, could you please walk us through the events of that night.”

“They said it was like golf,” Nina McCarthy cried as she recalled details of the night she was gang raped by a group of fraternity brothers. “They said I was the ‘hole’ in their game of stroke play. It was funny to them. The louder I cried, the more points they scored and they did everything they could to make me scream. I was burned, slapped, kicked, punched…they tortured me!”

“It went on for hours,” she sobbed, drying her eyes as she looked over at the defendants. “When they were finally done, they dumped me out on the street in front of the hospital naked and bleeding. They threatened that if I told anyone what happened, they’d come back and do it again.”

Season 1 Recap

Completing a mission, Alexa heads off to her next assignment in St. Claire. There, she makes the acquaintance of Gavin Stark, an earnest car mechanic with dreams of owning his own business.

Chapter 10: It's a Trap!

Shots rang out beside Alexa as the innocent bystanders occupying the platform all screamed and ran for cover. Removing her weapon, she pulled from around the corner and began firing wildly in the men’s direction, watching as they scattered behind stationary objects themselves. Gradually she walked backwards, down toward the next column, placing her back against it as a black suit stood up on the left side of the stairwell.

He shot rapidly toward her, knocking bits of cement and plaster from the wall onto her head as she ducked for cover. From what she could see, the man was using a Ruger SR9B Semi-Automatic pistol. It had a 17-round magazine capability and he’d already fired at her 12 times. Alexa counted the next five shots, held her breath and jumped up returning five of her own, being sure to stop before her gun clicked.