The information Sorkina came back with was great. Pictures of the housing addition they live in, the community center down the road where they gather. I wasn’t expecting much but she came through for me. I would get her a gift, but she charges a lot of money already. This one is going to be a stealth operation. Go in at night, when they’re all asleep. Find the Orc, a quick injection of cyanide and then I’m out. The other option, I simply abduct him on his way into one of their nightly gatherings, but if he travels in a group that option is out of the question. Either way, it’ll be quick.

I wait until I’m sure Kaiden is asleep and make my way down the fire escape to my cab. I can’t risk having him along on this one. If something goes bad, he’s going to be a liability. If I don’t get killed protecting him, he’ll get himself killed. That’s if things go south, but with his mouth, and inability to remain quiet, they will. I have the cab driver let me out about a mile away from the housing addition. I walk the rest of the way on foot, avoiding the noise the cab might cause, allowing me to hide in the night. From behind a tree I watch as they exit the community center.

It’s only the men, so this must have been some kind of leadership event. The heads of different families in the Clan uniting to discuss the future maybe. I don’t know, not my job to know Orc politics. I spot my Orc in a fedora and zoot suit. Is that his idea of dressing for the occasion? I must admit in the few times I’ve seen him this Orc is a strange one. I move around the outskirts keeping an eye on him as he enters the home he lives in. A few other Orcs follow, as to be expected. Orcs just don’t live alone. I imagine he’s going to be in the master bedroom, most likely the top floor. If there’s a ladder around, I can use that to climb in through the window. Nobody else will see me. For now, I just need to wait until lights start going out to tell me everyone is asleep.

“So, what’s our plan,” I hear a whisper in my ear.

Instinctively, I attack. I grab at my stalker’s body, cover the mouth and quickly lock them in a choke hold. The kinky hair rubbing against my face and small stature force me to let go when I realize it’s Kaiden. He followed me out here. He coughs and wheezes for breath, hands on his knees when he’s able to stand again. I take a seat next to him and pull him closer to the bush I was using for cover.

“Why, did you, choke me,” he asks through big gulps of air.

“You snuck up on me. I thought you were an Orc.”

“Orcs don’t whisper.”

“And you should be at home in bed, but I guess I was wrong about that. So maybe, Orcs can whisper.”

“You left me.”

“Because it’s too dangerous out here. You need to go home,” I try not to yell at him for fear of giving away our location.

“But I can help,” he pleads.

“No, you can’t.”

“I helped with the hobgoblins, and the Dwarfs.”

“This isn’t that, and I’m sorry I choked you, but you need to leave.”

“No, I’m not going anywhere. We’re a team,” Kaiden is no longer whispering.

“You’re going to give away our location if you don’t stop talking so loud.”

“Look, if you want to be involved, stay and play lookout for me. I’m going to go in there and kill the orc. We can leave after that.”

“You don’t have to kill him. You can just talk to him,” Kaiden suggests.

“That’s the plan, I’m sticking to the plan.”

“I don’t like that plan.”

“We’ll if you’ve got a better one, I would love to hear it.”

“I don’t.”

“Then play lookout.”

I want to knock him out and hide him in a bush until I’m done; but every ounce of self-control that I have is keeping my fist out of his face. I can’t believe he followed me out here. I can’t believe I didn’t notice him. Maybe he didn’t tail me, just woke up and saw I was gone. Either way, it wasn’t a good idea. Now I need to move twice as fast to get this done. I make my way down the hill quickly towards the house. I spot a ladder, my way in. The lights are off, but I still hear talking. I’m forced to wait a few minutes, uncomfortably close to the home.