Six(55)

“How so?” Nine asked.

Five threw his empty fry sack on the table. “Too much information.”

“Meaning we could never retire? Go freelance?” One asked. “I don’t want to be a henchman my whole life. If I wanted that, I would have gone to work for the mafia.”

“I think we need to make a go at Langley,” Five said.

“What good would that do?” Nine asked. “No one knows who we are. We have no identification.”

Six leaned back and folded his arms. “Wolesley is still there.”

Five shook his head. “That assnugget wouldn’t know us from his own secretary.” He let out a sigh. “Face it, we’re exactly what they wanted. Invisible. There are probably three people besides Jason who know about us.”

“We have no forms of identification. Not CIA or even our real names, if we can even remember them.”

My brow scrunched. “Remember them?”

Four deadly sets of eyes turned to me, one set in particular spitting venom.

Nine took a sip of water and passed it to One. “It’s been a long time since we’ve used our real names.”

“But it’s your name.” The whole conversation seemed impossible. Even if the prior five or so years had been spent under a multitude of identities, how would it erase thirty some years of the name they were born with?

Five patted my head. “Doesn’t matter, buttercup. Even that fades after a while.”

I shook my head, unbelieving the possibility of what they were saying. “I can’t even imagine that.”

“Can’t you?” Six quirked a brow at me. “When you talk to yourself, what name do you say in your head?”

“Paisley.”

“Your name is Paisley?” One asked in a snarky tone before letting out a demented cackle.

Fuck, I hated the bitch.

Six ignored her. “I say Six. It’s more my name now than any other. My only constant title.”

I stared at him, stunned. “Are all of you like that?”

They all nodded.

Badass enough to have a code name, not able to live enough to remember their real names.

They returned back to the topic and I lay down, staring up at the celling, lulled to sleep by their conversation.

My eyes snapped open what felt like seconds later, but by the dark room, was probably actually hours later. Six climbed into bed, startling me awake. He let out a sigh as he settled in behind me, sliding his arm under me and pulling me close.

I turned and for reasons unknown, slipped my arm around him and nuzzled his chest.

Maybe it was just that some way, somehow, in the company of killers, he was my safety.

My captor. My killer. My security.

When did my executioner become my lifeline?





Life with One was not fun.

Less than forty-eight hours in and I wanted to smack her, but that would be unwise. Even the bottom of the Killing Corps scale probably had more killing capability than a hundred soldiers.

Maybe it was an exaggeration, maybe not.

“Are you really going to keep her around?” Nine asked Six as they sat at a table overlooking some paperwork.

My head popped up to look at them from where I sat at the edge of the bed, Five next to me. I was holding the barrel of his own rifle while he adjusted something.

The muscle in Six’s jaw jumped. “I thought we talked about this.”

Nine’s brown eyes—his natural color—locked with Six’s similar. They both had strong profiles, similar shaped noses, and strong jawlines.

Why were all of them ruggedly handsome? Should they have been a little more average?

Technically, they were. Their good looks were just on the upper side of normal.

“She stands out. What if that makes you more visible?” Nine’s words and tone struck me. They weren’t dismissal like in Paris. It sounded a bit like worry, but that seemed out of place for them.

Then again, they were two down, seven to go. Worry for their lives, and maybe even each other, was bound to leak out a little.

“She can’t be that good of a lay,” One said.

Two days was all I could take.

“What is your f*cking problem, you twatapatomus?” I snapped.

One’s eyes widened, and Five stopped what he was doing and scooted a little closer to me, his arm crawling across my back until his hand rested on my hip.

“Excuse me?”

“From the moment you laid eyes on me, your claws were out. Am I stepping on your turf? Is that it? The only woman in a man’s land, and when the attention is on something new, you can’t deal.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Oh f*ck.

Her lips twitched, jaw clenching and unclenching, brow furrowing before the hard gaze I was used to softened.

“I’m the only woman, you’re right.” She nodded, then swung he arm around, gesturing to the others. “For years, it’s just been us. We pass each other every now and then, but in all the years I am the one constant woman in their lives. So, as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t like that you’ve encroached. They’re my boys, and I’m very protective of them.”

My brow scrunched. “I’m just a toy he’s going to discard.” I made a gun shooting gesture with my hand to my head. “No threat here. When I’m gone, you’ll still be here, right beside them.”