Celeste

My hair was tied back in a bun and I had on minimal make up. My outfit was perfect for the mission. Discreet and the perfect work attire. I had a number of grenades and flash bombs packed into my duffel bag. I also had a dagger stashed into one of my combat boots. I take out my phone and stare at the blue light on the tracking app.

Just as I had requested, Lionel had delivered 20 minutes ago. Even though it had taken him two days to zone in on a particular location. Of course I hadn't banked on that location being the home of Prince Ahmed el Rasheed. The leader and founder of Al Jeera. So naturally that meant his home was the headquarters for his organization. That equated to a whole battalion of soldiers guarding the compound. It would be near impossible to infiltrate.

"Ready to do this?" Marsh asks over the loud noise of the helicopter's propellers.

Whoops. I forgot to mention we were now seated in one of my agency's helicopters. I hadn't really tipped them in on what was happening. I wanted to handle  this discreetly. So I had called in a favor and borrowed the chopper.

"Not really." Is all I manage to say.

Who would be? I was about to head in guns blazing into the unknown.

"Let's do this." He says.

I nod at him. This was it. Clutching my parachute, I jump out of the chopper. This was the only way we could do it. We had to dive into the estate. If our chopper had approached their air space, we would have been shot out of the sky. That's just how tight the Prince's security detail was.

We manage to land unnoticed. We dump the parachutes and make our way further into the estate. I have my gun in my hand. We sweep the area and its only after 3 miles that we encounter the first person.

Before he could realize what was going on, I shoot him in the head. I immediately knew there would be more coming after that. I went into autopilot shooting, punching and kicking and throwing grenades. Eventually, we made it to the front door. I had run out of bullets. Crap, that meant I had to do this old school.
I take out my nun chucks and slowly make my way into the stone mansion. We decide to split up and cover more ground.
Strange. The inside isn't as guarded. I am about to make it to the stairs when something cold presses against my neck.

"That's as far as you'll be going, love." Someone says.

He has an Irish accent so I know immediately its not Don. Meaning this guy was probably going to kill me.

I turn to face him, making sure his katana doesn't pierce skin. He is tall, broad shoulders, ginger hair.

"I'm impressed you made it this far. I guess that means the old man definitely needs to upgrade his security." He says with a smirk.

"Listen, whatever your name is. I don't have time for this, whatever this is." I say with an annoyed tone. "Either get out of my fucking way or I turn you into shish kebab. Your choice."

"Ooh, feisty. I like that. Going to make killing you harder, though." He says.

That does it. Now I want to wipe the grin off the jerk's face. I lash out, pushing his sword wielding hand aside.

He swings the katana in my direction and, doing a back flip, I manage to land a kick on his chest. He stumbles backwards.
With my hands on either side of my head, I propel myself back onto my feet. He comes at me again and I barely manage to duck as he attacks.

After fighting Don this feels a little boring. The pace is too slow and his moves are predictable. Not that I'm complaining. It was a welcome change in pace.
After a couple of minutes, we break away from each other. We start to circle each other. Weighing each other out. He's good, I'll give him that. Which means I'll have to take him out quickly.

I attack first, landing a blow with my nun chucks whilst avoiding a lethal blow from his katana. I guess he figures it won't be that easy to take me out because he starts throwing shuriken at me whilst simultaneously attacking me with the katana.

The cheat. He couldn't fight fair. I'm sure I looked ridiculous jumping around and ducking. So I guess it'll come as no surprise to you that I slipped and fell. The opportunistic bastard wasn't about to let such a great opportunity to end me slip away.
This is the second time that week in which I saw my life flash in front of my eyes and this time I was resigned to my fate. That's probably why I was slow to process what happened next. Evil ginger head jumping at me. Sword ready to behead me. Out of no where someone throws a thin metal chain and it stops ginger from killing me. Chain coiled tightly around his sword handle suddenly pulled back, wrenching the katana from his hand. The recoil causes him to fall over. Not that I care what happens to him.

At that moment, my eyes were transfixed. Staring straight ahead to the person who now had ginger's katana in his right hand. The chain carefully coiled around his left fist. Don. I watch as he gracefully descends the stairs. One at a time.

For a second my heart rate spikes. What if I was wrong? What if he does want to kill me? His face betrays nothing. No emotion. No remorse. I have no idea what he's thinking and that scares the shit out of me. Well if this becomes a two on one fight, I'm done for.

He stops directly in front of me and we stand there, staring at each other. I brace myself for whatever happens next. He takes out his gun and, still starring straight into my eyes, he shoots ginger on the thigh.

Holy shit. I did not see that one coming and neither did ginger who is now on the floor, bleeding profusely and screaming like a little bitch. Don walks past me towards ginger who is pulling himself up the stairs to get as far away from us as possible. It must be hard with that bleeding leg because he gives up and decides to rest his head on one of the steps.

"It looks like I underestimated you. Isn't that right, mate?" He asks Don.

In response, Don raises the blade to his throat.

"Go on then. Do it." Ginger continues with a smug look on his face. "But they'll be coming for you. You can count on that."

"I've envisioned this scene a number of times and  I've fantasized about a hundred different ways I'd get to kill you, Maze." Don says. "However, seeing you now, I'll just outright murder you."

I didn't see him move. All I saw was the head bouncing down the stairs before it came to a stop by my feet.