Hunter. Sydney Robinson

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СКАЧАТЬ am I supposed to keep track of all the Recruits here? It’s not my job. It’s the Guardians’.” Erik’s cold response shocked Angel, and she took a step backward. His green eyes were cold, and he looked as if the death of someone who was once a classmate meant as little as rain falling from the sky. Angel had never noticed how emotionless everyone here seemed to look; she never really noticed how little anyone cared about their fellow Recruits.

      “Kelly died last night,” Chase commented. Both Angel and Erik cast him a look to find he was standing and looking at a tablet that neither remembered him having earlier. He looked up at the two, his eyes almost alight and molten. He passed the tablet to Erik first as he spoke, “Her body was found this morning in the back field.”

      Angel took the tablet and came face-to-face with Kelly’s dead body. Her green eyes were open, staring into nothingness, and a bloody gaping wound was on her throat, which had been slit. Angel closed her eyes, struggling to calm her heartbeat and her rage at what Ashlee had done. As she did so, Angel could feel Erik’s eyes on her.

      “So what do we do?” she asked, passing the tablet back to Chase.

      “I told you, nothing,” Erik commented.

      Angel glared at him. “It was confirmed that a classmate was killed. You have your orders from the higher-ups to find her killer, and still you plan on doing nothing?”

      “We don’t know who her killer is.”

      “So we find them.”

      “It doesn’t work like that,” Erik commented, running a hand through his short black hair. “We have to wait for them to reveal themselves.”

      “He’s right,” Chase added. “In all this chaos, the murderer will be anxious, looking to get away before they are found. And if everyone else in the school is calm and collected, they will stick out. We just have to wait for them to make a move. Shouldn’t that be rigor mortis?” Chase’s attention had returned to the tablet on his lap. Erik seemed to be ignoring him, and Angel paid no mind to the more energetic boy.

      “But how will we know that if we are stuck in this room?” Angel protested, turning her back on Erik to look at Chase.

      “Because the murderer is in the room,” Erik whispered into her ear. “Because I watched two people leave the dorm last night, and only one returned before the morning bell, soaked through as if they had fallen into the river on the far side of the field, which is close to where Kelly’s body was found. And I know that individual is far better at distance killing than hand-to-hand. I’ve seen her fight Kelly.”

      “You think it was me?” Angel asked. She was fighting to keep the panic from her tone.

      “Prove me wrong,” Erik challenged.

      Angel was about to respond when she noticed something outside the window. From their position, they were looking at the back hill behind the field. And between the trees, she could see something black moving, carrying something metal because of how it kept shining in the light.

      Ashlee ran up the side of the hill as quickly as she could. Her employer was not impressed. This was supposed to be a simple mission, and the girl was supposed to be easy to find. However, there had been two girls with similar description, and Ashlee had bet on the wrong one. She should have hidden the corpse better. Leaving the girl in the open like that was asking for trouble.

      Her departure this morning had been delayed. She was hoping to have been gone before the school could be alerted or the body was found, but she had no such luck. She just had to get up the side of the hill into the forested valley on the other side, and from there, she would be able to radio for her pickup. No matter what those stupid Hessians tried to do now, she was home free.

      A sharp pain raced through her right side as she fell to the ground. Her body was spun to the left as she rolled down the hill a few feet. Ashlee landed on her back and looked up at the sky in confusion. Breathing began to become more painful, and she began to feel cold. Ashlee moved her right hand from its place on the ground and moved it to her side. When she lifted it up, it was covered in blood. Ashlee began to laugh as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

      “You know, for a moment there, I actually thought I’d underestimated you,” Ashlee called out between gasps of air, turning her head to the side, expecting to see that black-haired boy from her dorm room. He had been such a pain throughout this whole mission; he was far too observant for his own good. And he was always getting in her way.

      Who she saw though stopped her laughter. It wasn’t the irritating boy. No, instead it was the other blond girl, the one with the scar. Ashlee had seen her several times talking to Kelly. But how did this girl find her? Unless…

      “It was supposed to be you, wasn’t it?” Ashlee asked, looking at Angel. She tried to crawl away, but the pain in her side caused her to fall to the ground, not to mention the blood loss at this point. “You’re the one he was looking for, his daughter. You can’t even break the memory blocker. All you do is blend in. You don’t have any special talents. There is nothing special about you.”

      “Stop whimpering. Why did you kill Kelly?” Angel growled. She had a sniper rifle on her back, but in her hands was a pistol.

      Ashlee smiled at her. “It was my job. I was assigned to seek out the Rouge threat to the Hessians. Don’t ask me why. If anything, having a Rouge in their number will cause chaos for them anyway.” Ashlee laughed. “You don’t know, do you? That’s why he wants you so badly.”

      “What are you talking about?” Angel asked.

      “A war is brewing that you have no idea about, and you are in the center of the mess that is starting it. I hope you’re not afraid of the dark,” Ashlee commented, letting herself sink back to the ground. “Well then, come on, do it. Follow your orders and kill me.”

      “That’s not why I’m going to kill you,” Angel growled, bringing the pistol up to aim. “I’m going to kill you because you killed my friend.”

      “Remember this well, Angel, Hessians have no friends. You are all just pawns to them.” Ashlee smiled as she looked up at her executioner.

      Angel pulled the trigger, and the bullet pierced through Ashlee’s skull. A searing pain raced through Angel’s head, and she collapsed to the ground.

      “I told you this wasn’t going to work, Mortis. You’re going to have to come back for her. She needs the proper training,” a woman’s voice said, pleading with Mortis. Her voice sounded as distorted as usual when speaking through a voice enhancer.

      “They’ll kill her?” a male—Mortis, probably—asked.

      “The Hessians aren’t that observant. They believe the girl is Sal’s, and so does she. Besides, I’ll be there to keep an eye on her,” the woman said again.

      “I hope you’re right.”

      Part Two—Trials: Elites

      Trials: Elites

      This is what I know:

      1 I attend classes at the Hessian Outpost No. 82.

      2 The outpost is disguised as an asylum or institution for the locals.

      3 I am proficient with the СКАЧАТЬ