Sniper

Adelaide

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Why was she sure that the hit list would fail? Why was she adamant for me to trust her? Why? Why? Why?

The previous mission of finding peace in the training room was forgotten as question upon question flit through my mind leaving me confused and struggling to put the pieces together.

Huffing, I left the room.

---

When I walked into the meeting room with a large cup of coffee in hand, I was met with two faces, one that I recognized and one that I didn't.

I had remembered one man from when I was tied up in some sort of abandoned hospital. He was the man that had explained that Mano was alive before leaving me with the boy I later killed. In brighter light, I realized that he looked similar to Mano, both with dark hair and dark eyes complimented by a similar complexion.

The only difference was the way that their hair was styled. Romano had his hair neatly and meticulously slicked back whilst the familiar man had his hair a little more unruly, showing off his natural curls.

They could've passed as twins.

"You're that dickhead." I exclaimed, pointing my finger to the familiar man, grinning.

A small smile grew on his face.

"The one and only."

He made his way over to me, his arms stretched wide before engulfing me into a bear hug and almost making me spill my coffee all over his back.

"I'm Romano's big brother, Matteo."

I wriggled out of his grasp and was about to make my way over to Jaekyung where I usually sat, but I was reminded of the odd things she had said to me the night before and quickly redirected my path to the unfamiliar man brown-haired man.

I stretched my free hand out.

"Adelaide, assassin, MI6, Great Britain."

His shining blue eyes paused on my face for a minute before moving his gaze to my outstretched hand. He clasped my palm and pierced me with his strong gaze before I heard him speak in a soft, low voice.

"Malcolm, assassin, uncontracted, America."

I furrowed my eyebrows. What kind of assassin didn't work for an organization, government or not? Weren't Americans obsessed with serving their country?

"You don't work for anyone?" I prodded, taking a sip of the strong coffee.

He shook his head in response, "I move from place to place depending on the job."

I nodded my head, taking in his reply. In a sense, he was free. He wasn't tied down by a person or organisation, something that I had always craved for and would get after this arrangement with Romano finished.

"Speciality?" I asked, suddenly very interested in his life and everything it entailed. It was only a small plus that he was hot.

"Sniper."

I looked over to Romano. A sniper? Was he going to replace me on the mission? If he did, would that mean I wouldn't have to handle a gun? Hope bubbled up in my chest.

Romano smiled softly.

"Don't worry cavolo, he's not going to replace you. He's just here to back you up while Jaekyung is on the floor."

I deflated at his comment. I looked over to Malcolm who was staring intently at me, most probably trying to figure out my next move.

"Why?" I asked, making eye contact with Romano again.

He furrowed his brows.

"Why what, carota?"

I took a sip of my coffee. Wasn't it obvious?

"Why should he have to play backup when he's more qualified in sniper work than I am? I've already made it crystal clear that I don't work with guns anymore, and yet you still want me to take the lead." I argued, keeping my gaze sharp.

Romano opened his mouth, before closing it again. He looked shocked that I didn't want to take the lead.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Jamie piped up from the table in the middle of the room.

I turned to face him, striding over to the table and placing my coffee cup down. I pulled out a chair next to him and leaned back, letting out a sigh.

"If Malcolm is up to taking the lead, he should. I'll stick with him and make sure that no other people come up to disturb him, and if they do I'll immobilize them. Jaekyung can stay on the lower floor, keeping us in the loop on what's happening and Romano can just be...Romano."

I cleared my throat.

"No." Romano's voice boomed from the other side of the room.

All eyes fell on him, waiting to see why he had objected but when he didn't elaborate, I continued.

"And why not, Mr Acerbi?"

He shot me a quick smile. "Because I said so, Adelaide."

My nostrils flared over his answer. What gave him the right to say that? He put me in charge of the team so he should trust me to make decisions that best benefit the team.

"Do you not think I am capable of making beneficial decisions?" I shot back, in a cold professional tone.

I knew I was pushing him and his patience but I didn't care, I didn't want to hold that goddamn gun.

He let out a breathy chuckle, looking down to the ground before finding my eyes again.

"Surely MI6 trained you in all fields of combat which makes me wonder why you don't want to use a gun, Adelaide."

Five sets of eyes landed on me. All assessing my facial expression to see what I would give away. What I would show them.

I kept my face stoic as I looked into Romano's brown eyes.

"Why are you so against my idea, Acerbi?" I questioned through gritted teeth.

He cocked his eyebrow and his smile faltered for a second before returning.

"What I don't understand is that you have been allowed to prove yourself and you're willingly giving it away to someone you don't even know, why?"

I reached over to my coffee, blowing the steam before taking a sip.

"If Malcolm is in this room, he must be trusted by yourself or else he obviously wouldn't be here and don't talk to me about 'proving' myself because as far as I'm concerned I did that plenty on our last kill," I stated, staring into my coffee.

I stared into Romano's shining brown eyes through my lashes, making my point clear.

"Does anybody object with my plan?" I posed to the group.

I looked over to Malcolm to make sure he was on board as he was the major puzzle piece in my jigsaw and was greeted with a curt head nod.

When nobody else spoke up to object to my plan, I took it as a sign that we were all on the same page. All of us except for Romano.

"What would I do in your plan?" Jamie asked

I looked over to him. Something didn't sit right with his engagement, or lack thereof, in the last mission. His explanation and excuses didn't feel as if they were genuine. I wanted to keep a close eye on him.

"You'll be with me," I stated, turning my head to look at him.

"I'll be in the field?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow.

I nodded.

"You fucked up last time so I'm going to keep you on a tight leash, I want a background check sent to me on every person that will be coming in and out of the function whether they be guests or servers in my hands by the end of tomorrow." I informed him, keeping my voice as professional and void of emotion as possible, "I also want the layout of the entire building with details including where cameras and toilets are placed in a few minutes."

He slowly nodded and looked back to his computer, typing away. He probably had the blueprints stored somewhere.

"What about me?" Jaekyung asked, forcing me to turn my attention to her and fail miserably at ignoring her.

"You'll be on the ground floor posing as Romano's date to the function, you need to report to me exactly as you did last time, I want everything about what's happening on the first floor all right?" I kept my gaze on her as I spoke and she kept hers on me.

I looked around the room, meeting everybody's gaze but Jamie's who was still buried in his computer trying his best to get started on the mountain of work that I had just assigned to him.

"Matteo, I don't know why you're here," I stated, looking at him, "are you going to be participating?"

He smiled at me, something that the Acerbi family seemed to do a lot, before speaking.

"No, I am merely an... How do you say it? Observer."

I glanced over to Romano to get some indication of whether what he was saying was true and was met with a slight nod.

I redirected my gaze to his brother.

"I'm sure you have better things to do seeing you're the brother of a mafia don, so why don't you go do that while we plan our exit strategy?" I not so subtly asked him.

He smirked at me, taking a second to let his gaze run over my face before letting a breathy chuckle out.

"I don't like you, Adelaide." He stated before turning to leave the room.

The room was engulfed in silence for a few moments causing me to let out a deep sigh and slump into the chair, taking a long drink of my coffee.

"So, Jamie, what's our exit strategy?"

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