Chapter 36

"You can't just leave me in a room with two assassins!" Shan burst into the room where Wen was packing.

"One assassin, one former," Caid corrected.

"Two assassins!" Shan cried, shoving past Caid to get to Wen. 

"Get your stuff, we're leaving," Wen ignored Shan's outburst.

"What stuff? None of my things are here!" 

That simplified things.

 "Get in the car." Wen slung a bag over his shoulder and picked another off the ground. "I want two cars of men behind us at all times."

Caid nodded. They had already been over this in the car, but the repetition seemed to calm Wen.

"We'll leave them at the foot of the mountain, make sure they bring enough to wait for however long it will take us."

"Leave them? Uh, shouldn't they go with us?" Shan was suddenly very nervous about this entire operation.

"Sure," Caid snorted, "let's sneak into a secret hideout with what, fifteen-plus people? That will go down well."

"Okay, well the alternative is to sneak into a secret hideout filled with people who will want to kill us, with just the three of us. How does that sound?"

"Fine," Wen said, pushing Shan out the door, "it sounds just fine. Now get in the car."

"Okay, okay, but if you get me killed I'm telling Mom."

Caid inhaled sharply at the mention, but Wen let out a light-hearted huff. It wasn't often either of them brought up their deceased mother–something about mentioning her lightened the atmosphere in a slightly morbid way.

"I will accept full responsibility," Wen retorted, "as usual." He then stuffed Shan into a car, with Caid close behind him. The coordinates now programmed into the car's GPS and a full team close behind him, Wen was finally getting somewhere. He was too experienced to feel relief at this point, but with any luck within a few days, he would. 

The thought made him grin to himself. A few days, less maybe. A few days, and he could drive back with Day. They would stop along the way, to buy sodas or whatever else struck the other man's fancy. They would go home, and eat a nice meal, and then Day would make his wall of pillows on the bed and they could go to sleep. Maybe Wen could even convince him the wall was no longer necessary. Either way, he would wake the next more to tangled curls and a smile. Everything was going to be fine.