Chapter 3

“I can’t believe we are shopping…in public,” I state pushing the cart and turning over to Urge.

“This is what you wanted isn’t it?” Urge asks me.

Urge is going by Quincy Parrish now. We got his fake ID created not too long ago. His cover is that he is an entrepreneur from Vermont who is divorced with two kids. He’s discovered he’s gay and decided to move to Pleasantville to live with his true love: Me. Looking at Urge I’m blown away. He fits in. He’s not looking around being paranoid. He’s walking close to me. He has one arm over me and the other one is in his pocket. As we walk I look down at the engagement ring he got me. He isn’t embarrassed to lean in and give me a warm wet kiss on the forehead.

“You didn’t bring your gun with you did you?” I ask him.

“I got a gun for you alright. As soon as we get home I got a gun for you. You want to feel it baby?" Urge asks me.

I'm shocked Urge is flirting with me like this. He usually does this but never does it in public. Usually its in private when its just the two of us and he can let his guard down. He's flirting heavy now though. He presses up against my ass in the grocery store. He grabs my hand and lets me feel on his crotch. He lets me hold his dick for a few minutes. A family walks by from down the aisle we are in. A little girl sees me groping my boyfriend. She giggles ferociously and I remove my hand quickly.

While feeling on him I felt a few things, "You're armed Codename Urge."

"Ok no gun though. I promise. All I have on me is some fiber wire, a combat knife, some shuriken and a blowgun with poisoned darts.”

“Jesus.”

“What? That’s an improvement,” he responds with a slight smile, “Besides there is a woman who just walked down Aisle 3 that’s a little suspicious to me.”

“Brown hair? Mid 30s? Long trench coat and a relaxed strut?” I ask.

“That’s the one.”

“Pretty sure she was looking at your ass. You do realize you’re a very attractive individual right?” I remind Urge.

It may be easy for him to forget something like that. Urge has only really lived with me for so long. I tell him how attractive he was daily but he never seemed to really understand it. It’s probably because his social skills are so lacking. I have to admit I feel a little self aware at times. If Urge had grown up normal he could get any man or woman he wanted. Instead he was limited. I was the first person he had sex with. It makes me wonder if he would be with me if we were just normal.

He's sexy and when he acts normal people stare at him. EVERYWHERE we go. It's a little annoying. I want to wear a sign that says "He's Mine." Urge doesn't notice it though. He's paranoid and thinks anyone staring at him is plotting to kill him. The fact that he is walking around right now without completely freaking out and choking the nearest person is probably a good thing.

He leans over to me, “None the less give me a few minutes. I’m going to do some reconnaissance on her just to be sure. Stay over here in the produce area OK?”

I smile. I watch as my man disappears without another word. This is classic Urge. It’ll probably take him a while to change. Still the fact is he was trying. We were shopping for godsakes in public with other people. A few months ago Urge wouldn’t dream of doing something like this. He lived his life in the shadows. That is where he felt most comfortable.

As he leaves I’m picking out some fresh vegetables. It’s so much better than all the cabin crap that we used to eat. I want to make Urge a fresh dish today that he can really enjoy. Regardless of how much he says he didn’t mind living in the woods I know that I can show him the joys of eating fresh and living a normal life. As I sit there picking up pieces of kale I realize that I’m happy. I’m actually happy. For so long I wanted to be in a place like this with Urge.

I felt complete for the first time ever.

I am about to put the kale into the cart when I hear something. A slight breathing and someone attempting to sneak up on me.

“What do you want?” I ask the person without turning around.

“What? Do you have some superhuman hearing or something? I can never sneak up on you.”

I turn.

“Oh sorry.”

“Look who it is,” a voice says.

I turn to see Denny standing there. He gives me a smile as I approach.

“Denny,” I’m surprised to see him, “What are you doing here?”

“This is the only real supermarket in town. Small town remember? We’ll run into each other a lot. Not that I have an issue with that.”

His friends are with him. The guys from work. The good looking guys. They give him space but I wonder if they are listening to our conversation. Denny always seems so nervous. He steps back and gives me a slight smile licking his lips a little bit. Denny is right honestly. This is the only supermarket in town. I haven’t been in Pleasantville for too long but I’m getting to know people. Jose runs the supermarket. Pauline is the girl who rings me up. Jr. usually helps me unload my bags and is happy when I just give him a couple of dollars as a tip. Seeing Denny isn’t a big deal.

“Well. Hope you are enjoying your evening neighbor,” I state.

I always wanted to say something like that. It’s so stupid the things you take for granted as a normal person.

“It’s better now that I’m seeing you.”

“Excuse me.”

“I know. I’m being blunt again. I was just wondering because we did talk about that date a couple days ago. I went to your job but supposedly you’d taken off for a few days.”

I pause.

“Actually I’m going to have to back down from the date,” I explain to him, “I’m sorry.”

Denny looks disappointed. He does it in the nicest way though. He seems like a nice guy actually. I’m completely devoted to Urge but if I wasn’t maybe I would have given him a shot. The thing is my love for Urge trumps everything including this guy.

Speaking of Urge I notice the shadow moving up behind Denny. Within a matter of seconds Urge has come back. He is sneaking up behind Denny. He’s doing this on purpose. He knows I see him.

“Damn I was really looking forward to going out with you.”

Urge seems irritated by this. I watch him pull out some fiber wire. He wraps it around his forethumb and stretches it out. Jesus Christ my boyfriend was going to kill this guy next to the vegetables.

“No!” I scream out.

“That was passionate. I think I get the point,” Denny laughs in embarrassment, “Well maybe we can still just be friends or…”

Urge stretches the wire. He’s sneaking up behind Denny. Denny will never even hear him coming. He makes it so close. Just a few inches away. He is going to wrap that wire around Denny’s throat and strangle him.

“Don’t!” I scream.

“Who are you talking to?” Denny asks.

Denny turns around. He’s too slow though. Urge shifts his body to the left quickly avoiding Denny’s eyes. He is still so close to Denny but has shrunk himself outside of Denny’s peripheral view. Denny doesn’t see anyone but this old couple arguing over what kind of milk to buy in the freezer area. When Denny turns back towards me Urge is back behind him. This time Urge has his blowgun out and has it pointed right at the back of Denny’s neck.

“No one. I should be honest with you,” I tell Denny, “I’m in a relationship and it’s very serious. Even though he’s pissing me off right about now…”

Urge looks at Denny then he looks at me. For some reason I think he realizes that killing Denny wouldn’t be worth pissing me off. He takes a few steps back and intentionally walks up to us again making sure that Denny can hear his footsteps coming.

“Baby. I couldn’t find the eggs you like,” Urge says.

Urge walks over to me. He gives me a kiss on the lips. He puts his arm around me. Denny seems shocked. Maybe it's how attractive Urge is. Maybe it's the fact that my attractive jealous fiance is here now with me. I know he’s being extra right now. Urge has always been the jealous type. He murdered the last guy who I dated when I escaped the Assembly for a time period so I wouldn’t put it past him to do the same thing to someone else. He’s changed though. He’s trying to change at least.

“Denny this is my boyfriend,” I state struggling to remember the name that he was calling himself now, “Quincy.”

“His fiancé actually,” Urge says sharply.

I elbow Urge a little bit. Urge seems to get the clue. Reluctantly he extends his hand and shakes Denny’s hand.

“Oh wow. Um….wow…congratulations,” Denny explains, “I really do apologize. I thought you were using the whole boyfriend thing to try to avoid me. Um. Wow. I’m kind of embarrassed now. I’m sorry.”

“No. I’m real. I exist and I’ll kill for this guy right here,” Urge says looking over at me and laughing.

Denny laughs with him. He thinks it’s a joke. He has no idea how close he was to being killed. Urge looks over at me. I can’t lie. I put on a smile. Is this a sense of humor from URGE? Of all people? I’m kind of shocked by it. It’s dark and probably a little terrifying but in all the years I knew Urge I don’t think I ever really knew him as someone to even try to play at humor. For some reason Urge has been relaxed in the few days that we’ve been in Pleasantville.

I’m actually the one who is nervous when I add in, “Hopefully you won’t have to.”

Urge stares back over at Denny. There is no smile again. His face is serious. Dead serious in fact, “But I will if I have to.”

There is a silence.

it sounds like a threat.

Denny forces an uncomfortable smile, “Well I’m probably interrupting. I should leave you guys to it. Enjoy your shopping. Have a good one. Oh and the wine selection here is to die for. ”

Denny reaches out to me. He gives me a goodbye hug. The entire time I’m watching Urge’s face. I think Urge is watching the seconds that Denny hugs me. It’s probably taking all his control not to crack Denny in half for hugging me right now.

“Seems like there are a lot of things you’re willing to die for,” Urge says underneath his breath.

“Excuse me.”

I give Urge a hard stare. He better not repeat it.

“Nothing,” Urge says, “I was going to actually invite you to our engagement party. Seems like my fiancé doesn’t have a lot of friends in this city so I want to be able to invite as many people as I can. Give me your email. I’ll send you the details.”

I’m shocked. Urge actually invited someone to a party. Urge even smiles at Denny as Denny turns to leave. I’m impressed. This was his first social conversation with someone in years besides me and he did pretty well honestly. He stopped himself from killing him and only threatened his life a few times. The fact that Denny was openly flirting with me and Urge let him walk away untouched was amazing.

But then there was the party. As soon as Denny leaves I turn to Urge.

“Party?”

“Engagement party. I wanted to surprise you with one but I guess the cat’s out the bag. We should head back to the house. I have a little surprise for you.”

~

The house is lit when we get back in. Someone is there. I open the door. My heart is racing trying to think about what Urge could possibly be surprising me with. I walk in the house to see the person sitting there at in the foyer area. I completely lose it when I see them. Tears start rolling down my eyes almost immediately.

“Craving!”

My heart is heavy when I see my best friend standing there. The white, blonde tall muscular man is still shaped like a fridge still. He's always had the body of a bodybuilder. He is my favorite person in the world besides Urge of course. I run over to him and give him the tightest hug in the world. It's been years since I've seen him. Urge let us talk sometimes but stated that Craving's lifestyle was dangerous and I should limit conversation with him. Craving was an assassin. We were all on the same team with two other assassins. Seeing Craving right now is beyond anything that I could imagine.

“That's the welcome I was expecting,” he laughs and hugs me tight, “Urge you better watch your back. I might end up stealing your fiance.”

I laugh. Craving never takes anything serious. I think that's just how he deals with life as a former assassin. Urge doesn't find it funny however. He gives Craving the longest stare imaginable.

“There's a woman here. When I offered you the invitation I told you it was just you,” Urge says.

I notice her a few seconds after Urge says something. We can't see her but there is a slight smell of perfume in the air. There is a small click of heels in the backroom behind the kitchen.

“Oh you were serious about that?” Craving asks, “I thought that was more like a suggestion. Well anyway. Mimi come on out.”

The girl Mimi walks out and she looks like some sort of blow up doll. She is blonde. Her titties are huge, her waist is slim and her butt is big. I swear I've seen her on a porn somewhere. Urge and I look at one another. What the hell was going on here? The last time I heard from Craving he was in a relationship with another assassin from our team named Love. Why the hell was he out here right now with some stripper or something?

“Mimi?” I ask.

“I met Mimi at the airport. I invited her for the engagement party.”

Urge must be thinking what I'm thinking. This sounds like Craving most definitely. He was always the most reckless on the team. He found some random girl and he was bringing her to my engagement party. Urge isn't as amused as I am by far. He walks past Craving bumping him a little bit almost letting him know that he's annoyed with his invitation.

“Baby,” Urge tells me, “You should go get dressed. Your other friends should be arriving soon and I have dinner reservations in an hour.”

~

Urge is pissed the rest of the night really. It brings back memories honestly. My team was Urge, Craving, Love and Allure. Everyone else on my team was killed off by Tom and the moderators. There were other teams from the Assembly and other powerful assassins but none of that mattered now that Tom was dead. With Tom dead the Assembly was gone and we could live our lives normally. We had all re-entered society. Seeing Craving after all this time is nice. It brings back all the memories we had training with one another working to be the best assassins there were. We'd grown so close over the years.

We arrive at the dinner early I assume.

“I guess Love and Allure haven't arrived yet,” I state looking around at our private booth.

“Love told me his plane was supposed to arrive two hours ago,” Urge takes out his phone, “He said he had Allure with him. I'll go give them both a call. I'll be back.”

I appreciated Urge surprising me by inviting our friends over. Urge had known these people as many years as I had. We'd known them since we were teenagers. Urge never really considered them his friends. He didn't have any friends. Still we were like family in my eyes.

I'm sitting at the table with Mimi and Craving. Mimi looks over at me.

“Your fiance is so fuckable,” Mimi tells me.

I look at Craving. He bows his face as though he's annoyed. Was he serious bringing this girl here?

“Um. Thanks,” I say sarcastically.

Mimi smiles back at me, “You're welcome.”

“Mimi you mind going to order us some drinks at the bar and giving me some time to talk to my friend?” Craving asks.

Mimi gets up at that moment, “Of course Christopher.”

I stare at her butt as she gets up. I'm confused on why he would date someone that looked so fake. When I hear what she calls him I look over at Craving. He knows I'm mad. He knows why I'm mad.

“Go ahead. Say it,” he says.

“Christopher? Christopher? You gave her your real name? Are you crazy?” I ask him.

I was probably the one of the only people left alive who knew that Craving's birth name was Christopher Thomas. The fact that he was going by his real name right now blew my name. Craving just sits there as well with this stupid grin on his face. I want to smack it off of him.

“Listen, we're free now. We aren't assassins anymore. Tom is dead. The assembly is dead. We can go back to being who we were before...Jonathan."

I punch him in his arm. I punch him hard as fuck. As muscular as Craving is he still feels it because he yelps a little bit. I love the guy but he was so annoying sometimes.

“You don't know whose looking for us.”

“We're safe!” Craving says, “You've been hiding out with your paranoid fiance too long. Let me guess. Urge still isn't the most interesting person in the world is he? How can you marry that guy? He has the personality of drying paint. Swear to god. He should be Codename Black and Decker.”

Craving laughs but I punch him hard in the arm again.

“You should be more careful. Seriously. And ditch the the blow up doll Craving. You can do better. What happened with Love?”

Craving shrugs, “I wouldn't give him what he wanted. So he left me.”

“You guys broke up?”

Craving nods.

“He wanted what you and Urge have. I had to let him know that I couldn't give him that. You know? It sucks but I'm being honest. That love that the two of you have is kind of weird. It's a once in a lifetime thing. Too bad I used mine up before I met Love.”

“Damn. I'm so sorry to hear that Craving. Are you OK?”

“Yeah of course. It's me! Of course I'm OK,” Craving says.

I wonder if he's just putting on a brave face or something by his reaction. I knew that he really cared about Love.

“Are you sure?”

Craving grunts, “Yeah. I didn't really care about him. I mean it's like I told you a long time ago. The sex was amazing. Love is flexible. He has that whole flexible assassin thing going for him. I'll miss that but I mean I moved on. I'm the man. Remember? Takes more than that to get me down.”

“Ok Craving. If you say so,” I respond, honestly thinking he is protesting a little too much.

I kind of feel bad for Craving. I knew that he really liked Love. I knew this had to make this dinner extremely awkward. Codename Love wasn't the closest to me but I still considered him like family. He and Craving dated for a while. Love was a spicy little Latino boy who could contort his body like no one else. He smiled often and was full of energy but don't let that positivism fool you: Love was one of the most dangerous assassins I had ever met in my life.

I look around noticing that some people I recognize are pouring in. I'm specifically looking for Love to see if he is one of them. That doesn't happen though. Mimi comes back to the table with drinks for her and Craving.

Urge returns soon as well.

“Did you get in contact with them?” I ask.

He shakes his head, “No. It's not like them to be late.”

He'd worked on missions with Codenames Allure and Love for years. He knew them even if he didn't really socialize with them as friends. Urge knew them as his partners in a lot of life or death missions. I trusted Urge to know what was normal and not normal for them. I can see the paranoia building up in him.

I had to admit. This was weird. But this was my engagement party. I couldn't let this slide.

“Well the guests are arriving baby. So lets just enjoy ourselves.”

“We need to talk about Craving,” he quickly responds.

I turn to my right to see Craving has taken it upon himself to start introducing himself to people from around the neighborhood before I even got the chance. I was pretty sure he was using his real name. I wonder if Urge caught onto it but knowing Urge he'd caught onto that and much more.

“He's comfortable...” I state.

“Too comfortable,” Urge responds, “It might have been a mistake inviting him here. When you are sloppy people notice. In our lifestyles being noticed is the same as a death certificate. I don't want you around that.”

“It's been years. He's OK, right?” I ask, “He hasn't been hiding like you and me. He's fine. He's alive. Everyone is fine. We are the only ones who are acting like the Assembly still exists.”

“The assassins in the Assembly still exist. I told you there are people who were loyal to Tom.”

“Stop it,” I respond.

“Baby.”

“No. This is our engagement party. I'm not going to let you do this Urge,” I respond crossing my arms, “Not today. Listen. I don't want to make this into an argument. Let's just go back to the table and enjoy ourselves.”

Urge looks like he is about to protest. He doesn't get the chance though. Within the next minute I realize that Denny has showed up. What's interesting is that Denny has brought a date with him too. At least I think it's a date until I look closer and realize that the person he brought with him is none other than Martina. It's an interesting surprise to say the least.

Martina eyes Urge at that moment.

“Martina, Denny. You both made it,” I say acting a little surprised.

I notice a few other people that I work with as well filling the table. Mr. Franklin is one of them. I know I didn't invite him but he's here none-the-less. He doesn't even congratulate me. He just makes his way to the table like a dickhead. I haven't gotten the time to really get to know as many of others as I did Martina but it's nice they are here.

“So this is the secret lover that you never talk about,” Martina states at that moment.

Urge extends his hands. He doesn't smile. I still have to work on that with him at least. His face is cold, but at least he's sexy as he does it. Hell I think I see Martina fan herself a little bit when she takes Urge's hands.

“Quincy,” Urge introduces himself.

“Quincy? Nice name. So Quincy how about I steal you away for a minute and you tell me all about you and my manager. I want all the dirt.”

Urge looks at me. He looks like he wants to plead. Martina doesn't give him the chance. The good thing about Martina is that she is talkative. She was going to talk his ear off whether he liked it or not. I watch as she escorts him to the table to join the others. I notice John who always drinks the beers is having a couple shots with Craving already. It's clear Craving is getting drunk already and he has no idea. Every single time I've seen John he's always been on his porch drinking. He could probably do this all day. Craving never turned down a challenge though. I notice Mr. Elliott from the bank has shown up and is staring down Mimi's boobs. His wife Mrs. Elliott keeps giving him the hard shoulder.

Love and Allure were on their way. Urge was even having a real conversation with Martina. I'm sure he didn't open up to her but this was a HUGE step for him. I think he even carried on full sentences. My two lives were intermingling finally. My normal life was coming together with my life as an Assassin. And it made me smile.

“You seem happy,” Denny says walking up from behind me.

“Just...a long time coming.”

“You mean you and Quincy?” Denny asks.

He has no idea what all I've been through. He has no idea the struggles. I almost died so many times in training. Urge battled to keep us both alive. So many deaths had happened. So many years had come and gone. Now we finally were understanding what it all meant. We could finally be happy.

We had finally found peace.

I stand there watching them for what seems like an hour. It's poetry really. After a while Urge gives me a glance as though asking me to save him from Martina. I just laugh and keep my distance. There is no way I'm letting him not be social today. I'm the one not being social for once. I stand off to the side and just appreciate everything.

I deserve this. We deserved this.

“Yeah,” I tell Denny, “I'm happy. You know.”

“I'm glad he makes you happy. I invited Martina. I figured I'd been spending so much time talking to her trying to get to know you that she was kind of cool. I hope you don't mind.”

“No, I'm fine,” I respond.

Denny nods, “I'm glad you found yourself after all these years.”

I stop. I look at Denny.

“After all these years?”

What the fuck was that? I'm nervous. I'm beyond scared at that moment. What the fuck was that supposed to mean. Just as I am about to question Denny I notice Craving standing up on the chair. He's already loosened his collared shirt. It has only been a couple of minutes.

“I want to give a TOAST!” Craving says.

Denny returns to the table. I do the same. We sit across from each other and Urge doesn't hesitate to leave Martina to come take a seat next to me. I look over at Urge. I think about telling him what I heard about Denny. I think about telling him that we may have had a problem right here right now. Then I think about what Urge would do.

Urge would kill him.

It wouldn't be a discussion. It wouldn't be an investigation. It wouldn't be a reconnaissance. Urge would kill him and take us back into the mountains just because Denny said something odd.

What Denny said was really odd. I had to admit it. Him speaking about me being happy after many years was a weird thing to say. He was acting as though he was familiar with my unhappiness. I didn't like it. It stunk and I needed to keep an eye on him. But at the same time I needed to not alarm Urge...not yet at least.

“I wanted to give a toast to my friend and his lover,” Craving starts, “What's you guys' names again?”

Craving is making a random speech knowing damn well he didn't know what the Aliases we were going by were now. I feel my face blush with embarrassment. My fiance is not amused by Craving. He's probably regretting inviting him here. Honestly Craving has always been the silliest person I'd ever met in my life. This was nothing different. Urge should have been used to it after all these years.

Urge wasn't used to it. His face is cold. He's staring imaginary bullet holes right into Craving's forehead.

Urge looks over at me, “Get him down now...”

“Wait no. Look.”

People see Craving's statement as a joke. They start laughing. They probably think he's drunk. It's Denny who suspiciously taps Craving on his shoulder and tells him our names. Denny has a smile on his face when he does it. After he tells Craving our names he looks over at me in the most suspicious way and gives me a thumbs up. The table is laughing at Craving thinking he's doing some comedy skit or something.

There was something about this Denny guy. Something I needed to put my finger on. I needed to know if he was a threat and if I needed to tell Urge about him sooner rather than later. Maybe I needed to quietly take him out myself.

“Quincy and Thomas,” Craving says, “Oh Quincy. No wait. Actually my best friend is Thomas. Sorry. Got confused for a second. Thomas. You've been my best friend for all my life. Even though I don't approve completely of the person you are marrying I know that he makes you happy. Quincy protects you, he loves you, he would do anything for you. Sure he may have had you living like some stoneage Neanderthal for a little while but the things you do for love right? I loved once. And I lost. And when I tried to love again I just couldn't go through with it. People die for the love that Quincy and Thomas has. Literally. I'm not joking. People literally DIE because of the love that they have...”

Urge kicks underneath the table. I can feel his leg swiftly make the move. Craving trips a little and falls off his chair. Some people are laughing and other people like Mimi struggle to his side to make sure they help him up.

The way he falls kind of worries me. No assassin should be falling like that. Craving was a trained killer. Why the hell was he acting like some sort of...drunk or something? Why the hell was he so clumsy?

I walk over to my friend, “What's wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?”

“He left me. He left me.”

“Who?”

“You know who...”

Love.

“Jesus Christ, get yourself together. You said that you were OK about it Craving,” I respond.

I watch him still on the floor and his eyes dart across the room.

“LOVE!”

He screams out the codename of our teammate. That's when everyone seems to get up. The reason they are getting up is because someone is walking into the restaurant. The waitresses seem to panic not knowing what to do.

I realize at that moment the person is beaten, bruised and battered. Blood stains the restaurant floor. The person's mouth is bleeding. He walks in dramatically makes it to the table that Urge and I are sitting on. Urge and I look at each other.

Jesus Christ.

It's Codename Love. He's been attacked by someone. I'm shocked at that moment.

Mrs. Elliott comes forward, “Oh my god. Hold on I'm a nurse. I can help.”

“Don't touch him,” Urge states.

“She should help,” Denny argues.

Denny tries to walk over there to help but Urge pushes him. Urge pushes him harder than Urge should push him. Denny falls right back into his seat. I know why Urge is being so protective of Love. Love is a part of the team. Love arriving here injured like this could completely expose the kind of lifestyle that we are involved in.

Urge scoops Love in his arms. He looks over at me and Craving, “You two come with me.”

We don't hesitate. With Allure not here Urge is probably the second leader of the team even though the team doesn't exist anymore. Urge carries Love all the way to the bathroom. I look back at my guests. They are curious. They are whispering. It's not everyday a bloody man comes into the restaurant in Pleasantville. It's not everyday they see something like that and I can tell by their reactions they aren't used to it.

I make it to the bathroom. Urge lays Love out on the counter. The bathroom attendant is in there.

“Get the fuck out,” Urge tells the guy.

“Excuse me he's bleeding all over my sink,” the attendant states.

I don't hesitate to remove the guy. I grab him within two holds before he knows what he can do. The guy attempts to fight back but doesn't get too far. I twist his arm behind his back and escort him out. He is squirming in pain the entire time.

I go back into the men's bathroom and lock the door behind me.

There is a knock on the door.

It's Denny.

“Is everything OK in there?” Denny is asking, “You guys have a lot of people out here worried.”

Urge shakes his head at me. That means that I should ignore him. He's already cleaning up Love's wounds on the faucet. He runs the water so that Denny can't hear what we are talking about.

“What's wrong? Guys what's wrong with him,” Craving states.

“Are you fucking crying? You're crying? Snap out of it Codename Craving.”

“I'm not Craving anymore. We aren't assassins anymore. I'm just Christopher,” Craving argues.

Urge takes a deep sigh. He's heavily annoyed with Craving. Craving is panicking. He looks like a hot mess. This definitely wasn't the training that we got. I walk over to Craving and slap him hard on his face.

“Sober up,” I tell Craving immediately.

Craving is panicking but attempting to control himself, “I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Just I hate seeing Love like this. Is he going to be OK?”

Craving sounded like a civilian. He sounded stupid and rash. I didn't have time for this. I ignored him and made my way to the sink to help Urge. I was starting to see what was annoying him about Craving right now. Craving was damn near on the verge of tears seeing Love like this. I understand they had a relationship but Love wasn't dead and even if he was it wasn't like us to go around having emotional breakdowns. It had to be the liquor but he should have been able to control that.

I walk away from Crave without answering his question and hand Urge a towel, “Urge what do you need? What materials to close up the bullet wounds?”

“There are no bullet wounds,” Urge responds.

“What?”

Urge looks over at me and seems confused too, “No bullet wounds. He was attacked but these are all melee wounds.”

It's a lot of blood for melee wounds. Someone must have been really trying to hurt Love.

“They have her. They have Codename Allure,” Love states on the bathroom sink, “We flew into a nearby city. We were going to rent a car and drive the other way. We were attacked before we rented the car. Right as we left the airport.”

He can barely talk. He is so badly beaten. They weren't attacked by Civilians. Love alone could take on countless civilians. If he had been traveling with Codename Allure then they would be completely unstoppable. No. They were attacked by something stronger.

Something bigger.

“Who?” I ask, snapping at Love to keep him awake, “Love who has Allure? Is it the Assembly?”

Love shakes his head.

“No. Something else is coming. They are hunting all former members of the Assembly. Another organization.”

“Impossible. No organization would dare do that,” Urge replies.

Love shakes his head, “They stronger. They are deadlier. And they are coming for all of us.”

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