I nodded and opened the passenger side door. There was nothing to look back on, nothing but forward from here on out.
I slid into the car as X climbed into the driver’s seat and gunned the engine. He backed out of the space, shifted the stick into first and we shot out onto the road and into the early morning light. The sky was starting to lighten, a smudge of orange dusting the handful of clouds that hung amongst the stars. It was going to be a perfect day. Sunny, warm and heavy with the promise of something new.
The car weaved through the centuries old buildings as we crossed the city, flashing past monuments and museums, crossing the river and heading out of the smog and into the countryside. I watched the sunrise with a new sense of hope, a new purpose and a new mission. The sky was flaming orange and red and to my heart, it felt like an omen for what was to come.
Rivers of blood.
I glanced over at X, trying to read his expression in the dawn light, wondering what he was thinking. Wondering if he had the same hope, or if he was just thinking of something that was on a stiff, regimental list of things that he had to do. Maybe, but most of all...I wondered if his heart was still open.
“Can I ask you something?” I asked after a while.
His gaze met mine briefly, before turning back to watch the road. “Yes.”
“That sniper rifle… Will you teach me how to use it?”
His jaw stiffened, but he nodded. “I’ll teach you.”
“Okay.”
He glanced at me again, his eyes flashing with something I couldn’t quite catch. “I’ll teach you whatever you want.”
Whatever I want. The thought sent a shiver through my entire body.
It felt like an age since that first night at The Gambler’s Inn when he’d walked in and called me a bitch. Now, I was a different person again. And before that, the night I stood in Sykes’ house, gun in hand…and even before that when I stood in my family home staring down at the bodies of my parents and brother… Mercy Reid had evolved so much in such a short amount of time. Who would she be tomorrow? Master assassin?
Maybe.
But maybe it would be as simple as being happy. Happy with X. That was a future to look forward to, but first there were some scores to settle.
“Where are we going?” I asked, eager to get the groundwork of our master plan into place.
X glanced at me, before fixing his gaze on the road ahead. “Someplace where they won't find us.”
“Then what?”
His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “We figure this thing out.”
I reached over and slid a hand across his thigh, his warmth soothing my cool skin. “And we figure out what they did to you.”
He let his hand drop to cover mine, the small gesture making my entire body shiver. He was already learning and my heart swelled with pride.
“Then,” he said, lacing his fingers through mine, “we come back and kill them all.”