Four in Shadows

Chapter 4

Eliza felt her way down a steep set of stairs. Her hands ran along the damp concrete walls. Wow this cellar is fortified. She thought. She could barely see the bottom of the steps in the fading light. There was another door that creaked when she opened it. Then, all light vanished as she heard the cellar door slam shut above her. Her whole body stilled. Must've been the wind. Eliza slipped the gun out from her holster, took a shaky breath, then entered into the pitch black room. She didn't take more than three steps before a dark male voice cut through the silence.
"Hands up." Eliza gasped then felt the cold hard metal barrel of a gun on her temple. "Drop your gun." She didn't know whether it was the audacity or fear talking when she replied,
"Make me."
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A blinding light flickered through her eyelids bringing Eliza to consciousness. She moaned. Her head! Sharp pains shot through her skull. She reached to touch the spot but her hands stopped in place. They were tied behind her back. Then her memory came rushing back. Immediately she was alert. Her eyes popped open then shut again as the light was too bright. Her breath came fast and unsteady. Panic set in while she waited for her eyes to adjust. A shadow stood before her. A man she couldn't quite see. Eliza couldn't tell if it was her head or the light that made her vision blurry.
"Who are- you?" She croaked. The man set his hand on the back of her chair and leaned it back so that her feet lifted off the ground.
"I ask the questions." He growled. She swallowed hard as the vision of a gun came through. He pressed it against her temple. "Who are you and how did you find me?" Her lips tightened.
"Ah!" A cry escaped her as the back of her chair was slammed into a wall hitting her head again.
"Answer me when I talk to you." Eliza mustered up the strength she had to sound strong and unmoved.
"Eliza. And I don't know how I found you really." Now she could see him better. She stared him down and he in return scrutinized her features for deception. His eyes were practically black and his skin bronzed like a sailor's.
"Well it wasn't an that accident that you found the most notorious assassin. So how did you do it?" His voice was low but almost violent. She matched his tone and stuck her chin out.
"So you admit you're the Wraith?" Victory gleamed in her eyes. He laughed humorlessly stepping back. It sounded threatening. She frowned. If only Oliver would get away from that stupid door and help her.
"Are you really stupid enough to think you've done something here?" His left brow quirked up and she noticed a scar running through it.
"I found you didn't I?" She worked her wrists out of the ropes in painfully slow fashion as she kept her stare on the man in front of her. He smiled and even in the dim light, he visibly eyed her hands. She had to keep him talking until Oliver showed up. But by then, would it matter? He replied matter of factly,
"Oh but darling you're not the first to just find me and you certainly won't live to gloat about it." There was no hesitation when he aimed. A frightening sense of decidedness in his eyes.  She knew he would indeed pull the trigger and she was not free enough to react. She had to do something. When she saw his finger reach for the trigger. Not a moment too soon not a moment too late. Bam! Her chair slammed on its side and immediately a gun shot followed. With no time to check if she was still alive, she swung the chair over pushing herself up with her fingertips and bruising her knees in the process. With legs free now she was close enough to trip him as he hadn't yet registered her survival. As soon as he fell she pulled herself chair included on top of him. And kicked his gun from his hand. It didn't take long for him to react and his fist flew towards her face. She jerked away just in time for it to meet her square in the jaw. With breath knocked out of her she struggled to stand up and tried to deliver a kick only to end up falling to the ground. The chair shattered and her back screamed but she was mostly free. The man dove towards his gun and she after him. She landed on his back and grabbed his arms from behind but he had already reached the gun. They struggled on the ground. Unmatched as they were Eliza held her own with the leverage from being behind. She gripped the gun with him and held on tighter when he stood up. Still hanging on his back, she quickly weighed her options. She could let go with one hand and choke him or she could hold on with both until he gave up. Neither would leave her alive in the end. Just as she thought of something, her back slammed hard into the wall. She sucked in a breath as pain shot through her whole body. He was going to do it again so she acted. Bringing up her feet and launching them foreward it sent the gun flying as she felt something crack in her back. She landed on her hands gasping. She searched through the tears in her eyes but she couldn't see where it had landed. She was too bruised to stand too hurt to run for it. The assassin abandoned the gun seeing it fly into darkness and he lurched towards her. She willed herself to fight back but her body wouldn't move when he pinned her arms to the ground. sweat dripped off his hair. His eyes were full of confusion and anger. Then he... laughed. A real amused laugh burbled out of him. Eyes widened she stared at the maniac in front of her. He was bleeding and bruised though not as much as her, had almost been bested and he was laughing? Probably at her pathetic attempt to escape death. she thought. But reaching for air he finally settled and said through heavy breaths,
"I've never seen anyone escape from a gun shot like that." He shook his head in shock. "At that range no human should be able to" He said in disbelief. The assassin looked her dead in the eyes and asked. "Who are you?" His breath was hot on her face. She was rendered speechless.
"Eliza?" An exasperated Oliver stood at the doorway.  "Get off my sister!" He roared.
The wraith whipped around to see Oliver's gun trained on him. Eliza took this opportunity to jerk out of his grasp and grab his gun. He slowly stood up with his hands in the air. She struggled to stand but set her gun sights on him.
"We have a job for you." She articulated trying to hide that she was gasping for breath.
He scowled at her.
Oliver added, "A job that would pay you a million dollars."
A glint entered his eyes for a moment. Then he smirked.
"I work for myself." He lowered his hands. "At least if I can help it. It's safer that way." Eliza squinted at him. Her and Oliver exchanged glances.
"This job could be the last you ever have to do." Oliver started to lower his gun. "Then you could live however you wanted." But Landry wasn't buying it.
"Sounds like a scam. Why can't you just do it?"
"Believe me, I wanted to." Eliza looked him up and down. "But The people who hired us wanted specific people. So they hired us to find and work with you." She was impressed. He was very tall and his defined muscles tensed as He laughed mockingly. She was more impressed with herself for being able to take him on like that.
"I don't work with other people. And do you even know who hired you?"
"Ever heard of the Vittoros?" Something in Landry's face changed. A desperate look washed over his features before disappearing just as fast as it came.
"One mil you say?" Oliver nodded and holstered his gun to make Landry more at ease but Eliza had no intentions of putting down her guard. Not after almost dying a minute ago.
"One. Mil. Each." Oliver enunciated.
"What's the target?" Her brother smiled victoriously and told him the whole story. Eliza couldn't quite put her gun away but she lowered it. She listened as Oliver explained everything from how they'd get the money to needing one other person. He didn't mention Marina by name yet. Smart. Landry still seemed suspicious but interested. Eliza felt uneasy. It seemed too quick, too easy. Everyone in the situation had their own agenda it seemed. She sighed softly. But, maybe this way, everyone would get what they wanted. She could protect her brother, Oliver would get the money he so desperately wanted, the Vittoros family would be happy and Landry... well it was clear he wanted something from this. They just had to convince him that he could get it.