Chapter 392 - The Inevitable

There was a lot on Check's plate after he had that conversation with Jaws. Not only he had to think about his own missions, he had to be accountable for the mistakes that Christina would do.

But he was thankful because after graduation, Christina no longer made mistakes. It was either that she had learned her lessons, or that she had learned her place already. She was not much of a warrior—you didn't have to be one when you're an assassin. All you need was stealth, physically fit enough body, and zero conscience.

On nights that their schedule would not overlap, he would hide and watch as Christina would do her killing. He didn't like what he was doing. He felt like a dirty creepy stalker who wanted to get the attention of the girl he had been obsessing about.

"It seems like she's fine," he had told Jaws one night after he had just killed a journalist trying to exploit a high-profile client. "I don't think I still have to worry about her."

The corner of Jaws's lips tilted upwards. " I hope you're right. She's working really hard nowadays. Barely take breaks when in between missions."

Checks nodded his head. "Then, we don't need to talk about her anymore."

"Are you sure you don't want to keep tabs on what she would be working on?"

Checks was more than sure. "She'd be able to survive. She'll be fine."

Jaws let out a short chuckle. "I wouldn't think so."

"Why not?"

"I don't know… ever since… there was something about Christina that screamed 'flight risk'."

Checks only smiled at that. "She always talked about going away. But I don't think that she would be really capable of doing it. She doesn't have anyone else to rely on apart from The Order."

Jaws nodded once like he was trying to agree. "I do hope you're right." He lifted his head and looked at Checks dead in the eye. "It would be such a waste if we're to be indisposed of her."

Checks' mouth straightened to a line. Jaws was here telling him that if his best friend were to make a mistake, he would have to get rid of her himself. He should've killed him right then and there. "Yes, it would be such a shame."

**

It was not even a whole five years out of the assassin school when the nightmare began. Checks was immediately called to the headquarters despite the fact that he had asked for a vacation after his month-long mission in the middle east. 

"This better be good," he said when he slumped in the seat in front of Jaws.

"Well, it's good. The inevitable is happening."

Checks tiredly lifted his eyes to meet his boss'. "What do you mean?"

"Christina was sent to Chengshi for quite some time now. She has not made progress with her list."

If Checks had the energy to do body groan, he would have. But he was still too tired with everything that he had done and jet lag that he could not really process what was happening.

"Maybe she's still gathering enough resources," he suggested. "Trying to lay ground?"

Jaws shook his head then nodded on the screen that was mounted on one of the high tables. There were pictures on the screen taken at nighttime. "Does this look like she was laying ground? She had not even came within a twenty-mile radius in any of her targets."

"Who's that man in the picture?" Strange that it was the first thing that he had noticed, not the full-blown smile on her face.

"That's the grandson of the emerging mafia lord in Chengshi, one of her targets."

"See?" he asked, gesturing to the screen. "Laying ground."

"It didn't look like she's laying ground here," Jaws said. "They had been meeting almost every night. You tell me."

Checks could hardly care about Christina anymore. What happened between was years ago already. He had already moved on from the pain that he got from her. They barely saw each other in the headquarters last year. He was convinced he didn't even know what her face looked like, but of course, he was just exaggerating. 

There was only one thing that Jaws wanted from him. Get a jumpstart on Christina so she would get moving. Killing one of the targets of the supposed assassin was a way of telling them that they were behind schedule and should get moving.

So that was wat Checks did. He got on the next plane to Chengshi with a whole new folder of Christina's targets. It had been a while since he had interfered with her business. Since it had been a while, he was going to hit her where it could possibly hurt. Something close to the heart.

He chose the mafia lord as the target. He got one of his best sniping gun and positioned himself on one of the top floors of a building. It was a crowded place, almost near the center of the civilization.

Checks only had to wait seven minutes before his target car was finally in sight. He was diagonally across from them and the tinted window actually made it hard to make sure that he was going to hit the jackpot. But that was the reason why guns have magazines.

She shot thrice in evenly spaced intervals. When the car stopped in the middle of the traffic and they opened the door, Checks already saw the bloodied body. 

He didn't have to make sure that he killed him. He knew that the target was dead. He had not trained for years just to miss. He packed up quickly and he was on the next plane back in the same day that he had arrived in Chengshi.

**

The sound of footsteps pulled Checks out of his reverie and he smiled. "You don't even make an effort to be quiet. My, you had gotten rusty." He turned. "Good to see you, Christina."