Max

A couple of volunteers sat with me in the truck that went to the factory yard where Jenny and Widow were being held. It was not very far from our house, actually worrisome. It was also one of the organizations that had already made us uncomfortable in recent weeks.
I was in charge of negotiations so that my companions could free Jennifer and the vampire. My father managed the operation from the country house. If Widow had half of his strength, we had a good chance of getting this over with quickly.
We drove along several dirt roads until we came to the front yard. On the property was a large concrete block, it was probably the main building, and a storage shed with parking facilities. The entrance to the yard was blocked with a gate.
"Well camouflaged..." said Robert, one of my friends.
"You mean this nondescript-looking building in the middle of nowhere?", I muttered and got out. I looked for the gatekeeper and explained to him that I and my business partners were here because of a negotiation. Of course, I mentioned my companions and made them out to be 'bodyguards', which they basically were.
Then I got back in the car and we were let in.
"Remember, three of you will be waiting at the main entrance for me to return. As soon as I'm led by the staff to the negotiation room, you'll make your way to the camera net. You got the info an hour before we left. While I'm stalling, you look for my sister and the vampire," I said again. After I had everyone's approval, we got out to go inside. However, there was no one at the door to welcome us and the entrance was deserted. I frowned and looked around scrutinizingly.
"Split up. Start in the basement," I instructed, gesturing Robert to stay with me since I had come as an unarmed middleman.
We followed the main corridor until we were in front of a double door.
I knocked.
No one opened or invited us in.
My buddy loaded the gun and I pushed the door open. Halfway through, something heavy blocked it. I looked down and saw the lifeless body of a man in a suit. When I looked up I saw Widow, who had just dropped another man.
Jenny stood quite a distance away, one gun raised and pointed at the door I was now coming in through.
"Max!" she lowered the gun instantly, running toward me falling around my neck, "Thank God!"
"You took so long, we've started without you before," Widow said as he turned away from the body and patted down his clothes.
The top he was wearing was red with blood and pretty tattered.
I raised my eyebrows. Jenny, on the other hand, seemed completely unharmed.
"Where's the guy who's in charge here?", I inquired, but I could guess. Widow pointed with a nod to the man he had just killed.
"Great, and you didn't happen to think about the consequences of that, did you?", I sighed, thinking about how we could cover this up.
"I found here," he pulled a phone out of his pocket, "A mobile that I used to send a message to my employer. This one informed me that there was a bounty on this man's head. An open order, if you will. How, when and by whom he dies doesn't matter. And since I couldn't do my last job - the one with the funny little stick, remember?- and I also have expenses to cover, I took this little chance," he said and put the device away again.
Behind me I heard footsteps.
Fast and many footsteps.
I turned around and saw my comrades-in-arms coming toward me.
"Max, down there..." they saw Widow and Jenny.
"...We can go.", I said coldly, waving my hand in the direction of the exit. They nodded, turned and waited for us at the door. Widow pushed past me, also heading towards the exit.
Several bullet holes stood out on his back as well. As Jenny tried to pass me, I held her by the arm and sought eye contact, which she avoided.
"Did he do something to you?", I asked her insistently. She looked at me with her eyebrows drawn together.
Was she angry with me?
"If you want to know for sure, he saved my life. Already for the second time. You'd do well to start meeting him halfway, Max."
"You guys coming?" asked Widow annoyed from down the hall, "They won't leave without you and I wouldn't mind a shower."
"Yeah," she turned away from me and just left.
I stopped for a moment and thought. Was she really mad that this vampire had saved her life? Or was it because of something else in the end?

Widow

I got in the car last, pulled the car doors shut behind me and sat down on the floor. The seats were of course all occupied. Whereby enough place for me would have been, if all would have moved together once.
But of course they didn't.
After all, I had secured a little money for a murder that I would have committed anyway.
Apart from the fact that it had been fun for me to get one over on them.
The only problem was: They wouldn't believe anything I qould say anyway. In this case Jennifer was the one in charge.
"How did you guys get out of there?" asked Max as the car pulled up.
"Someone came to bring something to drink, I took advantage of his stupidity and we got out of there. On the way up, I passed a snack machine and pulled two douche bags. When we got to the top floor, Jenny backed me up while I did my job. Well, and shortly after that you guys arrived. Just as the party was about to end," I said and pulled out the cell phone to see if the guy had any games on it. Nothing but solitaire, but that was enough to kill the time of the ride.
Jennifer sat silently in the front passenger seat and looked out the window. While the game loaded, I studied her. I wondered what she had been dreaming that had caused her to be so panicked upon awakening.
"Sounds so easy when you say it," one of the other agents mumbled.
"In fact it WAS easy. Got enough practice figuring my shit out on my own," I said, finally turning my attention to the game.

* F L A S H B A C K *

I had been pacing back and forth outside the cell door for hours. Again and again I had looked at the hinges, but I couldn't find a weak spot. So I had no choice but to wait until someone came along.
And then I had to improvise.
The person was a long time coming, but he came. With a jug of water in his hand and a jingling bunch of keys on his belt. I squatted briskly on the floor next to the door so that I could reach through the crack, should the door be opened.
But it did not open.
Instead, a hatch at chest level. I jumped up in seconds, reached through the hatch, grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him against the door with all my might. With a groan, his body went limp.
"Jenny.", I growled, looking over to her.
She was sitting against the wall with her knees drawn up, clutching her rail legs with a blank stare.
"Jennifer!", I repeated with more emphasis.
Now she looked up and realized what I was doing here. From this angle, I couldn't reach the man's belt with my free hand to take the keys.
"Grab the bunch of keys if you want to get out of here," I ordered her and she hurriedly got up to help me, "But first take the-" with a clang the jug fell to the floor, "jug down. Thanks, make it quick."
She mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Do that shit yourself if you don't like it.", but hurried anyway and held the bunch of keys out to me not a second too soon, because footsteps could already be heard. Sounded like at least four people. I unlocked the door and pulled the unconscious man into the cell. Then I searched his uniform for weapons, but found only a club.
"Useless shit.", I muttered and passed the limp body to Jennifer. "Use it as a shield in case they shoot at you."
"I can't..." she continued, but fell silent at my look.
"And I can't cut myself. I'm good, but I can't take them all out at once Jennifer," I growled, gesturing for her to stay behind the door if possible, as it provided the most cover.
I opened the door all the way to use it as cover as well.
The men were coming from the left and they were unfortunately well coordinated.
"Where's Jeffrey?" one asked.
"The door is open." another pointed to our cell door, "Maybe they went the other way."
"Nevermind, check the cell. Ey old man, where did those two go?" the first then asked the man who had offered me his blood.
"Who?" the man said and a gunshot was heard as well as the smell of fresh blood.
I swallowed and closed my eyes. I was really terribly hungry and the blood didn't make it any better. One of those bottles had to be my tonic.
"Let the boss know. John and I will search the hallway until then," the first one said again.
From the scuffing of cloth, I could assume they had nodded. Two pairs of footsteps moved away in the other direction, and two came toward us.
The barrel of a machine gun appeared in the doorway, but I was still waiting. If I jumped forward immediately, the surprise effect was gone. I wasn't allowed to jump ahead until.... now! He had taken a step forward. In the heartbeat, in which his brain still had to process the information that we were lurking behind the door, I jumped forward, making sure that he hit his head against the wall and passed out.
I couldn't surprise the other guy much, so a bullet hit me in the side before I could use his partner as a bullet shield.
Teeth clenched, I literally enjoyed how my instincts made the whole thing easier, ramming the now dead body into the other man. Now I could take the chance in which he had to catch himself and his colleague. The first man's rifle had fallen to the ground and I grabbed it to finish the other off.
"How can you kill so conscienceless?" Jennifer asked quietly, with a slightly disgusted look on her face.
I shook my head. Arguing with her about it was wasted time.
"You learn, if you have to," I said simply, tossing her the other rifle. She dropped the man and caught the rifle instead.
"You're bleeding!" she then stated in horror, pointing to the growing bloodstain at my side.
I wrinkled my nose.
"It will stop soon enough", I replied, as the footsteps of the other two men returned.
My gaze slid longingly over to the unconscious man. I needed food and I would have to shoot the other two from a distance. With my lips pressed together, I looked at the men's uniforms to locate a bullet shield.
"They're wearing vests, shoot their arms and legs first, anything that can't move isn't much of a threat for now," I said coldly and took position.
When the men came around the corner, Jennifer and I were already waiting and welcomed them with a juicy hail of bullets.
Both quickly went down, one dead, the other still alive and trying to pull out a cell phone.
Probably to sound the alarm.
"Cut the crap," I stepped on the man's shoulder so that it cracked unsightly and grabbed the cell phone.
No pin? Pathetic.
"Yo skunk, what's your boss's name?", I asked emotionlessly, going through the phone's contacts until I found one with an asterisk.
"R. Gliss?", I asked, studying the man's reaction.
"Fuck you," the man groaned softly, squirming under my foot. I bobbed around a few more times on his dislocated shoulder.
"Hmm, you're shoulder seems to be pretty fucked up," I muttered off to the side as I sent a message away. Let's see if this guy was on the hit list. If so, I actually had a job to do.
'Ryan Tiberius Gliss, white, 51 years old, American citizen, open assignment, no information on whereabouts. Reward including deductions: 4500 USD.' came the quick reply.
Funny, if the guy was home too, this trip had been worth it in the end.
"What are you doing?! Shouldn't we be getting the people out of here?" Jenny asked, trying to peek over my shoulder.
"I'm working. Make sure you collect the guns," I grumbled, confirming the order.
When she raised her eyebrows skeptically because I ignored her second question, I added with a sigh, "The people here are all too weak to walk by themselves, we'd have to carry them out of here already and, to be honest, I don't really feel like it. Your fathers people can do that later too, don't you think?"
She didn't reply, but I could tell that it didn't suit her. Besides, she seemed to want to say something the whole time, but didn't.
"Get the keys and we can get out of here," I said coldly, putting the phone away.
As Jenny turned to get the set of keys, I caught a movement in the corner of my eye, pulled her back and stood in front of her, my back to the enemy. Just in time to save her from the bullets that were now pelting my shoulder blades. I clenched my teeth in pain.
"Fuck," I hissed in annoyance, grabbing the machine gun Jenny held in her hands in horror. Then I turned and shot the man I had deliberately not killed.
"Fuck you, actually I didn't mean to kill you that way!", I shouted angrily at the corpse and kicked it again.
"Widow, I...", Jennifer said quietly, because she should have noticed this man. Besides, I had told her to collect all the weapons.
"What?!", I hissed at her and wheeled around, "Do me a favor and shove your do-gooder shit up your ass. If you don't shoot them, they'll shoot you, so stop getting in my way and make yourself useful!"
I was pissed off.
Woe if there wasn't someone else running around upstairs that I could tap. Because at this moment, I had to admit quite honestly, I was about to kiss my resolutions goodbye and just assassinate Jennifer.
The biggest problem was, that my senses were blurred by my own blood loss and because of this all-consuming hunger, I really had to concentrate to stay on task.