Update! Thought I'd post this since I've hit a block with Russian Bastard. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Gabriel

The phone rang from the other side of the room. Gabriel chose to ignore it, continuing to bench press the 150-pound barbell in his hands. When the phone kept going off, he grunted in annoyance and finished his last rep, dropping the barbell onto the bench handles with a loud clang before going over to answer.

"CHAOS has lost contact with an agent." Cassandra said in an unidentifiable tone.

"I'm retired, Cassandra." He said before grabbing a towel to wipe himself off. "CHAOS has more than enough capable agents and resources to find whoever it is. You better have a good reason for interrupting my morning."

"The situation has changed." She said, ignoring his previous statement. "We need you to retrieve her." She replied.

"Well," Gabriel began, throwing the towel away and gathering his belongings to leave the room. "It must be important if you yourself called. But why me?"

"Think of this as cashing in the favor you owe me from all those years ago, Gabriel." She said, grabbing his attention.

"Haven't I already paid that debt?" He asked in an expressionless tone.

"With this, the score is settled." She said in a firm voice. "Besides, you were the first agent. No one is better and more efficient than you, not to mention you understand the importance of being... discreet." She said in a cold and factual manner. "You must find her immediately. I've already sent Blake to deliver the packet, everything you need to know will be in the files."

"You will operate in a two-man cell with him to retrieve her." She continued on. "He should arrive in 20 minutes."

"Two-man?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow while walking up the stairs from the basement where his gym was. "Think I can't handle it on my own?"

"Blake is skilled with computers, the inner workings of the hive mind that is the internet." Cassandra explained. "He needs to extract information from your destination. You'll understand once he arrives with the packet."

And with that, he hung up the phone. She knew it wasn't to be rude, he just hated wasting time. No sense in exchanging niceties, especially with the nature of their line of work.

He walked quickly from the basement stairs and through the living room, briefly glancing at the lit fireplace, grey brick walls, tan couch, and frame-to-frame windows that covered the wall before ascending the stairs to the second floor and into his bedroom.

His bedroom kept the same theme as that of the living room, with walls not unlike the rest of the house, a king-sized bed, white carpet, and a small sitting area in front of a mounted flat screen to the side. A life of luxury, he mused as he went straight to the en suite bathroom. 6 months of retirement down the drain, he thought morosely before he stepped into the shower.



***

He groaned when he heard the bell ring. He chose to ignore it for as long as he could, enjoying the scalding hot water raining down on him from the shower overhead, steam clouding the glass partition and the rest of the room. When the ringing became more insistent, blaring every second, he breathed a sigh of annoyance before turning off the water and exiting the shower stall.

He grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist before going down the stairs and to the front door, not bothering to check who was on the other side before unlocking it and turning the knob, opening it to reveal none other than Blake Pierson.

Blake raised his eyebrows at the state he was in. "Really Gabe, you didn't have to get all dressed up for me, you're making me blush." He said in amusement. Gabriel only rolled his eyes, keeping a firm hand on the towel to keep it from falling before stepping aside to let him in, locking the door behind him.

"You have the files?" He asked him. Blake raised the packet in his hand in response.

"I'll go get dressed then be right back." He said, walking towards the stairs. "Make yourself at home." He gestured to the living space before disappearing upstairs.



***

"All of this is needed just to track her down?" Gabriel asked in annoyance, raising a hand to massage his temple.

He and Blake have been sitting there for an hour, going through the numerous files that were in the folder. One of the many things he did not miss from his time at CHAOS, the time needed to read about someone's entire life in sheets of black and white.

However, he truly didn't mind looking through the photos in the file. Their target, by the name of Callista Emilia Drakos, was quite a beauty. With a flowing mane of brunette hair, a curvaceous yet lean figure, and gold-like, amber eyes shaped like a doe's, she was easily one of the most stunning women he had ever seen. She wasn't a traditional beauty, her face had distinct features unlike anyone else he had ever seen.

He could feel the sex appeal she radiated from a particularly racy picture of hers he held. It was her in a maroon lingerie set, taken during her recruit days when everyone was required to model underwear and lingerie to prove their attractiveness.

And he was definitely attracted to her.

The predator always needed to look like the prey. Everything about them invites everyone in. Their looks, their appeal, even their voice. They needed to be physically attractive already before learning the rest of the skills they'd need to fight and survive in this cruel world.

"Well, track her down and kill her." Blake remarked in an absent-minded tone, snapping him out of his reverie. There was an unreadable expression on his face. "You need to know everything about your target in order to take her down efficiently, you of all people should know that." He continued through the papers he held in hand.

Gabriel froze, the papers in his hand he had previously been holding falling onto the coffee table. "Kill her?"

Blake looked over at him, eyebrows furrowed, looking weary. "Yes. Didn't you get the memo?"

Gabriel gritted his teeth, anger flaring up within him in a rage.

He should've expected this, he thought. Since when was anything ever easy with them; there were always strings attached.

He breathed slowly, trying to calm down his sudden flare of anger, unhurriedly standing up as he clenched his fists.

"Gabe?" Blake looked up, pausing his search through the papers on the coffee table. "Gabriel, what's wrong?"

"I'm retired Blake." Gabriel said in a monotone voice. "I've been clean the last 6 months. I'm only coming back to retrieve her as a favor to Cassandra."

"You were retired?" Blake asked, looking surprised. "Everyone thought you were on some top-secret mission the last few months and just finished your assignment, also taking a break. Said that you'll be back by next week."

His fingers dug into his palm. He could feel his nails leaving harsh indentions into his palm as he clenched his fist tighter in anger.

Gabriel stormed towards the nearest phone which was on the counter in the kitchen of his open ground floor. He picked it up and dialed her number.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to call." Cassandra said immediately upon picking up in the first ring.

"A top-secret mission for a few months?" Gabriel demanded. "Do you take me for a fool, Cassandra?" He seethed.

"No, Gabriel, I don't." Cassandra replied calmly. "It was Andrew's idea, cariño. He didn't want the people to know that the organization's best had left in favor of gardening and golfing. That would reflect poorly on us."

"I am no longer your cariño, Cassandra." He gritted his teeth. "I'm retired, I made this clear months ago. The story aside, I'm doing this as a favor for all those years you helped me but I will not compromise my principles."

Gabriel heard the clinking of glasses in the background on the other end of the phone. He heard her excuse herself from the room, a door shutting behind her before she spoke again.

"Yes, Gabriel, you are a man of principle." Cassandra agreed. "But these are orders from above. You and I both know that we all answer to a higher order."

"Put Andrew on the phone." He said, referring to the founder and CEO of CHAOS. "He can find a different agent for this."

"Cariño, who's idea do you think it was to assign it to you?" Cassandra asked. "I'd forget my principles if I were you. Andrew's been asking about your mother. How is she? Has Bali been treating her well? I hear the sun is fabulous down there."

He kept silent, clenching his fist. If he was angry before, it was nothing compared to the fury that raged within him now.

"Are we in agreement, Gabriel?" She asked. "Or do we have some problems?"

With a storm brewing in his chest and a heavy heart, he breathed in resignation, his only response to her before hanging up the phone.

He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He let out a roar of anger and rage, all his pent-up emotions before grabbing the phone and smashing it towards the far wall.

Translations:

Cariño - dear

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