Page 9 of Love and Chaos

Ed briefly considered backtracking out of the room. Taking on Justin and Gabriel alone was not something he was brave enough to attempt. But the distance to the door from his hiding spot was too far. Clinging to the distraction Soren was creating, Ed sucked in a deep breath and held it as he popped out from his hiding spot to aim at the duo.

“Got ‘em,” Justin purred.

Ed had barely gotten his head out to locate Justin when he found the man’s gun was already pointed at him.

“Sorry, love,” Gabriel murmured. Ed blinked to see the other assassin press the muzzle of his paintball gun to the temple of his husband.

Justin froze, his eyes wide. The assassin slowly opened his hand so that the gun was balanced on one finger by the trigger guard. “Babe? What the hell?”

“I can’t let you shoot a man on his birthday. It’s just not fair,” Gabriel cooed, his Russian accent thickening slightly.

For a heartbeat, the entire room seemed frozen in shock, but a loud bark of laughter broke it. Soren threw himself into a chair, his arms around his waist as he chortled so hard he almost started choking. It was enough to grab the attention of the assassins, who fired at the former thief. Just as Justin turned his gun on Gabriel, launching his body across the room, Ed made a break for the door, escaping before anyone could recall he’d ever been in there. It was better to let the assassins and thief have their own fun. Ed was smart enough to know when he was outgunned and outclassed.

As he reached the hallway, shouts from Soren and Justin echoed out of the room as the assassins took shots at each other and Soren complained about how they’d shot at an unarmed corpse.

Ed leaned against the wall, gasping for air. He wiped the sweat from his brow. Charlie was a fucking asshole. He could have at least warned him that Alexei’s uncles had come to play. He was touched that they’d taken the time, but no one wanted to face either of them alone. And to take on both of them at the same time was just suicidal.

At least they were entertaining themselves now. Ed peeked down an empty hall to spot a door that was probably to the master bedroom. That was a good place to stash a princess.

He cautiously opened one of the double doors and peered inside to find that instead of a bedroom, he faced an office. In the center was a dark wood desk, and Isidore was sitting behind it in a large leather swivel chair.

“Welcome, Mr. Walker. I’ve been expecting you,” Izzie greeted in a horrible fake accent worthy of the most clichéd supervillains. He even had his fingers steepled in front of him as if he were weaving together evil schemes. Someone had been watching way too many old James Bond movies.

If Izzie was sitting out in the open, his boyfriend, Kairo, had to be somewhere in the room, watching over his precious cinnamon roll. He briefly considered tossing a smoke bomb into the room, but the room was small and didn’t offer good ventilation. Izzie could get hurt, and that was the last thing he wanted. He had only one option.

With his left hand, Ed snagged the “knife” from his belt, popped off the cap with his thumb, and launched it at Izzie just as he was saying something about falling into their evil plan.

“Shit!” Kairo hissed. The hacker jumped from his hiding place behind a bookcase and sailed through the air with the goal of putting his body between the marker and Izzie. A wicked grin spread across Ed’s lips as he squeezed off a round and popped Kairo in the leg as he crashed to the floor. He shifted his aim to Izzie.

“Center mass!” Kairo shouted from the floor.

“What?” Izzie gasped, looking so completely lost.

But Ed got it. Kairo was trying to tell him that Izzie was wearing a bulletproof vest. He had been about to shoot Izzie in the arm, hoping it wouldn’t hurt much, but hitting the bulletproof vest meant Izzie shouldn’t feel any pain at all. He squeezed off two rounds, leaving red splats of pain in the middle of Izzie’s chest.

“Wait! That’s it? I’m dead already? I had a whole diatribe I worked up. It was really impressive, and now I don’t get to say it at all?” Izzie whimpered, staring down at the red paint on his black shirt.

“Sorry, baby,” Kairo groaned from where he lay on the floor. “In the real world, evil villains don’t get to monologue.”

“Oh, but…but if he killed me before I said anything, how could he be sure he could get the princess?”

“SOP. Charlie would have confirmed that the asset was in place prior to sending us in. Unless he said specifically that we had to leave the mastermind alive, we can eliminate all threats between us and the target,” Ed explained.

“Oh,” Izzie mumbled again, and Ed’s heart squeezed for the billionaire who was sweeter than anyone had a right to be.

“Baby, how about you tell me your evil monologue tonight?” Kairo suggested. He sat up and peered over the edge of the desk. “I’ll even let you tie me up.”

Izzie immediately brightened, all traces of his disappointment vanishing in an instant.

Ed spotted the door on the other side of the room and decided it was time to beat a fast escape before he learned any more unnecessary details about Izzie and Kairo’s sex life. He loved Kairo like a brother, but there were some things he didn’t want to know about the man.

He jerked the door open and charged inside, expecting to find West in there. He was the only one who was missing.

Yet, the sniper wasn’t the one waiting for him. It was a disgruntled-looking Max in a frilly, sparkly pink dress and a blond wig. Ed froze and blinked as his brain tried to process what he was seeing, even as Max sent him a threatening glare.

“Yay! Mario, you’ve found your princess!” Max shouted, hopping down from where he’d been perched at the end of the bed.

It was only after he spoke that Ed realized Max was dressed to resemble Princess Peach from the Super Mario Brothers video games.