“Mark, I think I’ve found the one person whom I’d want to settle down with.”

Mark sighed inwardly. He knew what Ben meant. He’d felt the same way about Kirsten too but what if she rejects his love? What if…

“ – Si called.”

“What did he say?” Mark asked, avoiding a lamp-post and walked around it before sitting down on a wooden bench. He stretched his legs in front of him, trying to ignore the constant throbbing in his thigh. He’d been walking around Norway the whole day. Kirsten’s chauffeur sat down next to Mark and stared at the passers-by as he ignored Mark’s conversation.

“Nothing much.”

“C’mon, tell me, what did Si said?”

“How’s your leg?” Ben changed the subject immediately.

“He’s fine and he says thank you for asking. Now, what did Si said?” Mark pressed on as he leaned back on the bench.

He heard Ben sighed. “Si said that he might want us to get into the job earlier than he’d expected. He said that something went wrong terribly and if we don’t act soon, we’re doom.”

“Doom? Doom as in how?”

“Did anyone try doing anything to you these last few days?” Ben jumped to another topic again.

“No. Benjamin Stephen Adams, explain to me what did Si said, now!” Mark commanded.

“Okay, okay. He said that one of his most trusted slash loyal slash top-ranked spy had betrayed him for Fjellmen. This particular spy has excess to the company’s information and everything and according to Si, he knows about us too. He’d handled our salaries and spending financials while we’re out there assassinating people.” Ben paused for a bit. Mark’s patient was drawing thin. “Mark, he might want to try and murder us.”

Mark’s brains stopped processing and his breath caught as the information sank in. Murder? Them? The company’s best assassins?!

“What, how?!” Mark swallowed, his mouth dry. “Why?”

“Because this man is hired by Fjellmen now. Look, he’d pledged his loyalty to Fjellmen and there’s this massive possibility that he might wanna pull the trigger on us.”

“I – ”

“Mark, listen to me. If there’s anyone who tried to get too close to you, particularly if he’s a man, watch out. He might be hired by Fjellmen, supervised by that son of a bitch.”

“Who’s that guy who betrayed us?”

“Alejandro.”

Mark remembered Alejandro – a tall man with a cold smile and a head of dark brown curls that he kept really short. He had the normal Spanish features and was bronzed to the bones by the Spanish sun before he actually moved to the UK and worked with them in WebbeCorp. Alejandro was originally an assassin as well but when things went wrong for him, he stopped being an assassin and decided to work in the office. He’s better with some pens and pencils, calculator and ledger books all over than with a mask, gloves and an assassin’s knife.

“God, he’ll pay!” Mark said.

“Actually, Si didn’t want us to finish Alejandro. According to Si, he might be some good to us.”

“What good is he to us when he’s already betrayed us? How can that be good? By the end of the day, we’ll still die. I don’t think this Alejandro actually liked Si very much, and much less when it comes down to us. We’re paid higher than he was when he was out there with us, murdering anyone who came across Si’s path. He probably thinks that he works harder than us and yet, we’re still richer than he is. Fjellmen definitely had paid Alejandro more than Si did.”

“Agreed, but still… this is Alejandro we’re talking about. When we’re in this business, we’re not talking about money, we’re talking about skills and status!” Ben protested.

“Obviously, that’s not what Alejandro thinks,” Mark said curtly.

“True… anyway, Si said that when he’s gathered information about the whereabouts of those people whom he’d hated, he’ll contact us. I reckoned it’d be within this week. Si’s seldom slow when it comes down to things like these. He’s got good information bearers.”

“Apart from that fucking piece of crap dude!”

“Ooh… I dunno. Just wait for the call, yeah? And remember to fly here immediately after you got your call. Just come down here to London and we’re travel up to Canada, yeah?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, I will. Thanks for the information.”

“It’s alright, Mark. No big deal.”

“Then I guess we’ll be seeing each other soon then,” Mark said. He said his goodbyes and pocketed his mobile.

As soon as Mark stood up, so did the chauffeur. They walked in silence to the car and as soon as they reached the house, Mark went up straight to his room. He just couldn’t face Kirsten today. Too much information were being shoved down his brain today and if he faced her, he’d probably have a slip of tongue and in just five seconds’ time, Kirsten would’ve known the truth about him. Everything that he’d planned previously would be in ruins.

But what if he didn’t show up during dinner? What would they think?

He sighed again. Why must this happen to him? Of all the people in the world, why must this happen to him?

Just as he was about to go down and ask the cook to whip up something for his dinner, one of the maids knocked on the guestroom’s door and announced that dinner was ready.

Mark groaned inwardly. It’s too late now for him to just go down and tell them that he wouldn’t be joining them for dinner. He couldn’t just pretend that he was ill either.

Reluctantly, he freshened up and pulled on a black shirt and slacks, folding the sleeves up as he made his way toward the stairs that led to the dining room.

“Mark!”

He turned around and saw Kirsten. She picked up her pace and quickly crossed the distance between Mark and herself. When she was close enough, she threw herself to Mark.

“Oh, Mark, how much I’ve missed you.”

Mark lifted his arms awkwardly and hugged her. “But it’s only been a day!”

Kirsten pulled away from his chest. “But we’ve been in my room, in my house, for about three days doing nothing but that!”

“Hmm… yeah,” Mark replied distractedly. Being that close to Kirsten aroused him again. And he thought he was about to stay away from Kirsten lest his secrets went spilling out.

“Mark?” he heard her call, before he was aware of her finger tracing the side of his face. “Do you think we could recreate those days?”

“Ms. Kirsten.”

The voice stopped Mark from giving Kirsten a snog. Damn! He was planning on snogging her before pulling her into the bedroom and spending time with her.

Mark caught Kirsten giving the servant an annoying look. If the servant saw it, he concealed his emotions well behind that grave face.

“Your brother is home.”

Kirsten nodded when she heard that and the servant left as silently as he’d approached them. When he was out of sight, Kirsten placed her hands behind Mark’s head and pulled him down for a kiss.

When Mark pulled away for a breath, he caught sight of Kirsten’s miserable look. He sighed. “What’s wrong now, Kirs?”

“My brother’s home.”

“So?”

“So… well, I just don’t exactly like it when he’s home.”

“Isn’t it supposed to be nice to have a twin brother around?” Mark questioned.

“Well, it does. But when it comes to Christian, I don’t think you’ll describe having him around is nice. I have to admit that I like him enough but sometimes, he’s just around too much. He thinks he should look out for me and stuff just because he’s older than me by five minutes!”

“ – Really, Mum, you don’t need t – ” Mark saw a blond guy stopped dead in his tracks.

“Christian, this is Mark,” Caroline said as she nodded toward Mark.

Mark nodded back.

“And Mark, this is Christian, Kirsten’s twin brother, as you might’ve guessed.”

Both young men shook hands as they faced each other.

“Hi,” Mark said, smiling.

“Hi,” Christian replied in a rich, deep voice. He returned Mark’s smile but Mark noticed that the smile never reached the green sapphire-like eyes.

Mark had a notion that Christian probably disliked him.

 

~~ecaf~~

 

“Ben, you gotta call Mark.”

“I know, Si, but I know he’s not in the UK at the moment.”

“So what? I don’t care. I need you both now!”

“Okay, okay… I’ll get him. But why do you need us so urgently now? I thought you said in about three months’ time.”

“It’s been nearly a month now, Ben. And this next assignment is dead important.”

“Important? Explain “important”, Si.”

“Important as in deadly serious. As in, I need both of you out there with your snipers blazing and all.”

“Si, you know we don’t use snipers unless we wanna do some long-range shooting.”

“Yeah, I know that. But I still need both of you to finish this, now!”

“Alright. I’ll get Mark for you, okay? Then, we’ll go down to your office and we can discuss this and sort this out.”

Ben sat down on the stool in his kitchen and took out a tube of ice cream. He speed dialled Mark’s number and listened as the phone rang on the other side.

“Ben.” Mark’s voice was thick with sleep as he answered the call. “Do you know what fucking time it is?”

“It’s 2 am in Norway now. I know, Mark, I know.” Ben paused. “Mark, Si wants to see us as soon as possible.”

“What?! Why?” Mark asked. He sounded slightly more awake now.

“I dunno. He just says that he needs us.” Ben shoved a spoonful of chocolate ice cream into his mouth. “Oh, and he used the word “now”.”

“Ben, I dunno when I can actually get back to London. Flights are fully booked at the moment, unless someone gives up his seat.”

“I can get Simon to get a chartered plane for you.”

“I think that’ll do.”

“Okay.” Ben swallowed another spoonful of ice cream. “I’ll call him and get back to you.”

 

“Who’s that?” Kirsten asked as Mark slid down into the covers next to her, pulling the blankets securely around them.

“My colleague. I’m needed at London. I have to go soon.”

“How soon?” Kirsten asked as she leant against Mark’s hard chest. She loved the feel of his chest against her back and his arms around her. They gave her a sense of security, safe and sound, protected by that solid body.

“He’ll call me back to tell me the time I’ll have to go to the airport.”

“How long will you think he shall be taking?” Kirsten asked, propping herself up on one elbow as she tried to peer at Mark through the darkness.

“About two, probably three hours.” Mark pulled Kirsten down again and held her close to him.

Kirsten shuddered as his lips brushed her ear. “Do you have any intentions of more fun?” his whisper barely audible as her heart thudded in her chest.

He kissed the spot beneath her ear that seemed to pulse. When he felt her shudder, he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He smiled to himself in the darkness. This was what he meant by life. He leant down and gave her a long, hard kiss that said all the things he hadn’t said to her.