Zaya stood back and watched Hale as he climbed down the ladder in the dungeon entrance. His grip looked firm, and the farther he went down, the more darkness surrounded him. Eventually, she couldn’t see him.

She leaned over the opening, her heartbeat noticeably quickening. “Did you reach the floor?”

A few moments later, Hale said, “Yeah, just did.” His voice was quiet, almost like a whisper.

She hated the relief she felt upon hearing his voice because his was the same voice that could break her heart with a single word or make her angry, even violent sometimes. Why couldn’t she hate him a little more? A little more hate might erase remnants of sympathy within her heart. She thought that his failure to eliminate his target would have been enough to push her over the edge. But she should have known how susceptible she was to Hale’s vulnerability. He rarely let his guard down or showed his emotions vividly like he had today. She acted like she didn’t notice how broken he was over the death of his target, but she did see his grief. And she wanted to soothe his pain.

She carefully climbed down the ladder, step by step. She wondered how far beneath her the floor was. A cold hand grasped her ankle.

“Hale?” Zaya whispered.

“Nope,” he responded. She could recognize his voice.

He ran his hand up her leg, waist, and back until he found her arm and then her hand. He held her hand tightly. His hand was freezing, and he was typically always warm. Hale helped her down the ladder. When she reached the floor, she wanted to hold onto him, only because she couldn’t see anything though. No other reason.

“Did you bring a light?” Zaya asked him.

“Damn,” he huffed. She could hear him frantically check his pockets. “Nope.”

She expected him to offer some explanation of why he had forgotten. But within the next moment, that was the farthest thing from her mind. The dark corridor suddenly became filled with orange-red light that flickered on the stone walls. Did Hale light a torch? She looked at him, then looked at his right hand. His hand was covered in flames. She glanced at his face; he was unconcerned about the fire. He walked ahead of her down the corridor. He held his hand up slightly and examined the walls as he went.

But why wasn’t he screaming? Why only had his hand caught fire? Not his clothes first?

Zaya ran after him. “Hale, what the hell?”

His eyes widened, as if he now understood why she was confused. “Right, yeah, this is something I can do. It’s normal for me. Let’s talk about it later.”

As he walked ahead, she heard him mutter several things under his breath to himself.

Zaya couldn’t just let him go like that. Her mind raced to find the answer “Hale, I need more of an explanation. How?”

“I’ve always been this way. Can’t we just focus on the task at hand?” He stopped, reaching a thick metal door. “Hand me the key.”

“How is this possible? I don’t understand!”

He stared at her, and rage clouded his eyes. “Give me the damn key, Zaya.”

That was an order. He should have known better than that. She clenched her fingers into a fist and threw a punch at his chest. He was blindsided by her reaction that he almost fell backwards. Of course, Hale easily regained his footing and stood unaffected by her violence. How was he the calm one now?

Suddenly the flames around Hale’s hand disappeared and the corridor blacked out completely. She felt his hands reach for her waist and then his chest against hers. He rested his chin on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. She could smell alcohol on his breath. “It was all my fault. I should have remembered not to order you around.”

She stood awkwardly against him with her hands by her side. He did see that he had angered her and knew why she had hit him. She couldn’t believe he apologized for something. This was bad. She couldn’t find her hatred to recoil into. Now, she longed for him, and that happened faster than she expected. She pushed him away and left the key in one of his hands.

He lit up the corridor with his flames again. For a second, he held the intricate key over the flame. “Thanks,” he said.

“You’re going to have to explain that later. As soon as we get back to my ship.”

Hale said nothing in response. He inserted the key into the keyhole of the metal door. The door swung open slowly, creaking loudly. Zaya stood behind him as he walked inside. Hale gave Zaya the key back and held a switchblade in one of his hands. Neither of them carried guns tonight. Cells lined the dungeon on both sides, and the ones they passed were empty. Looking ahead, Zaya saw faint lights at the end of the hall, or what she thought was the end of the hall. Hale picked up his pace and suddenly stopped, looking at one of the cells. He dispersed his flames. She sprinted to him almost screaming when she saw what he was staring at.

Zaya approached the cell. Inside was her client’s wife, a human with dark skin. She was laying on the ground, her eyes open as she watched the tiny light hanging from the ceiling. She wore a white gown, and her hair was long and silver. The woman didn’t even look at Zaya or Hale once.

“We’re here to help you escape,” Zaya said to her. “Your husband sent us.”

The woman turned her head. “He’s still alive?”

“Yes, he didn’t inform me of the backstory here. But everything has been taken care of.”

The woman sat up. “Do you have a key?”

Hale leaned over to inspect the keyhole of the cell door. “The one we have isn’t gonna match. No problem though.” He fished through his pockets and found a thick metal pin. Hale held his ear to the lock and inserted the pin. He moved the pin around, and a few seconds later, he opened the cell door. “Do you need help getting up?” He offered his hand to her.

The woman took it. “Thank you. What is your name?”

“Well, tonight my name is Len. And hers is Kaai.” He knew not to give his real name.

“Both of you have my thanks.”

She followed them outside her cell and down the dark corridor. Zaya climbed up the ladder first. Her eyes darted about the room, checking for intruders. Nothing had changed since they had been there last. Everything was silent.

“Clear,” she called to Hale.

Next, the woman came up. Zaya assisted her by pulling her out of the hole. Hale was last. He closed the hatch behind him. Then he pushed the bed over it.

The woman sat down on the bed and covered her eyes with her hands. The bedroom lights were brighter than what she had been used to for who knows how long. Zaya dimmed the lights to make her more comfortable. Hale stood on the far side of the room away from the woman. He had been staring at Zaya for a while. With his hands, he gestured for her to come over. She listened.

“What now?” Hale whispered.

“We should wait here for a moment. Our client wants us to call him once we have his wife. He wants us to clear out the castle, and then he will come to us.”

“Okay. How long do you think the others have?”

Zaya tapped the silver bangle around her wrist. The time appeared on the top. “Probably five minutes at the most.”

“Call him now then.”

Zaya went over to the woman. Her eyes seemed to be adjusted to the dim lights now. She called the client from the comm within her bracelet. It also had a small holoprojector inside it.

He answered quickly. “Yes?”

“We’ve found your wife.” Zaya handed the bangle to the woman so that he could see her.

“Forgive me, my love, for taking so long. I can explain later, but I’m glad to see you’re still alive and exactly the way I remember.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and the woman started sobbing. She never said anything in response to her husband. She handed Zaya her bracelet back.

“I will message you once the castle is clear.”

“Take care of my wife. I will be there in a few hours.” He ended the call between them.

Zaya returned to Hale’s side. The woman still cried, and Zaya didn’t know if she should say anything or not. Hale seemed content in remaining silent and staring distantly, thinking about something.

She took a step towards the sobbing woman. Zaya figured someone needed to offer consolation if they were to move forward. But she didn’t get the chance. Outside the king’s chambers, Zaya heard a loud screech. Then came more screaming that was unbearably loud. Both Zaya and Hale leaped to the door. Zaya placed her ear on the door and listened. Hundreds of voices crying out. Tables and chairs scraping against the floor. Glasses breaking. Loud stomping from people escaping the castle.

“They’re dying. Probably all dead already,” Zaya said.

“Let’s wait till the mob leaves. Then we can kill the rest of the guards. Have her wait here,” Hale replied, stepping away from the door.

Zaya figured ten minutes would be plenty of time. Anyone else still left was ridiculously stupid, and Zaya wouldn’t feel guilty for killing them. They were part of the galaxy’s elite society anyway. She paced around the room looking for something strong to drink. Beside the king’s bed was a small cabinet that had an expansive selection of alcoholic beverages. Zaya grabbed one from the front and popped the lid off. The taste wasn’t much to her liking, but she was too desperate for relief to be concerned with the taste.

“Throw me one,” Hale requested.

She glared at him but tossed him a drink from across the room. He caught it and started drinking without bothering to say thank you. He would make up for it because he would be saying it later tonight many, many times.

“Hey,” the woman muttered, through her sniffles. “What’s going on out there?”

“Everything is fine,” Zaya assured her. “So far everything is going according to plan. Your husband will be arriving soon. You can put your trust in him, right?”

The woman nodded. “I’ve never doubted him. I just thought he was dead.”

Zaya didn’t know much about the situation, but she didn’t care to know anything more than what was necessary to complete the job and get paid. She honestly didn’t need to know this woman was their client’s wife. With the little she had pieced together, Zaya was amazed at how much this woman’s love was worth to their client. A whole 80 million. Was their love truly that special or that important to him. He must have been extremely wealthy to have that amount lying around. And to spend all of it just to save someone. Would Zaya spend that much to save Hale’s life?

* * * *

The drink Zaya had thrown him was disturbingly sweet. He hated every sip of it. If the alcohol content hadn’t been acceptable, he would have had to look for another one. But it was good enough. He just needed something to calm his mind and get him through this job. From the first taste of the ruby drink, he wanted to toss it, but that would have angered Zaya. She had been the one to give it to him, and if he rejected something she had given him, he would be rejecting her in her eyes. It had happened on more than one occasion in the past. And she hadn’t changed much in the years they had spent apart.

Hale glanced at Zaya. She was talking to their client’s wife about something. He didn’t want to listen in to their conversation. The less he knew about the situation the easier it would be for him to work. Until recently, he could without much effort dissociate his mind from his feelings and avoid any personal connection to the people he had to interact with to get paid. Most of the time he was hired to kill someone or a group of people. They may or may not be innocent. That wasn’t his problem though. Other jobs required him to have a more… intimate connection with his target. Like the one tonight. Hale had never been one to practice restraint against his impulses, but tonight he could only see himself with Pandora. He used to not even think about his morality. His mind used to be primarily consumed with how to spend the money he would make. Now, he was just trying to pay off his debts. A payment of 40 million would be helpful with that. Hopefully, Zaya still give him half. She probably would… on one condition. He had this strange knowing she was waiting for the opportunity to ask him to share this night with her. It’s not like he could refuse her. She would remind him of his mistakes he made on the job and in the past to hold those over his head and shame him into going along with her wishes. He didn’t want to fight with her. He was tired.

“Hey.” Zaya snapped her fingers in front of his face. “I need you to focus. It’s time to finish up here. I told her to wait here and hide if necessary.”

Hale nodded. “Oh sure. I’m ready.”

Zaya yanked the alcohol bottle from his hands and set it on the floor. She turned the doorknob and pushed Hale outside.

“She’ll lock the doors, and hopefully no one will try to break in. Any guards we find along the way we terminate.” Zaya placed her hand on his shoulder. “Are you absolutely sure you’re ready to kill all these people? You have to be. Your hesitation could mean both of our throats.”

All he could do again was nod to show he understood. She answered the question for him. He had nothing else to say.

“All of the guards are armed with scatter-ray phaser rifles and double-sided scythes, standard crystal blades though. Seems likely they are highly trained for combat. Between us we only have a few knives, no blast protection whatsoever,” Zaya informed him. Although he had been inside the ballroom too, and already knew everything she was telling him.

“It’s going to be okay,” Hale spoke up. “Their armor looked heavy to me. If we had our regular guns, it would take too many blasts to deal significant damage to the person because of the armor. We need to find a couple guards in the hallways. Take them out. Steal their armor and weapons. The rifles won’t be too effective against the armor. It’s something though.”

Zaya was taken aback in surprise. “I didn’t think you were paying much attention.”

“Of course. There’s never a moment when I’m not carefully watching everyone and everything. I thought you knew me better.” He managed to smile at her.