Shadow Cipher

5. Jake

I watch Nova walk away from me. She seemed a little meek at first, but she's a little feisty. I like it. Not many people have the guts to flip me off much less talk to me like that. It's a shame I'm taking her to most likely be killed, otherwise I would kind of like the girl. Oh well. I go to my room with my bowl of cereal and soda and log into my computer. I check my home's security footage to check in Shadow. He seems to be curled up on the cat tree inside the library. I use the remote system to give him a treat, then I log off.

Franklyn comes in. "Hello, Boss. The prisoner is in her room. She is doing what most of them do on their first days." I wince. That means she's crying. f**k. I may be a hit man, but I'm not a heartless motherfucker. I hate to see people upset, probably why I avoid being around them in the ship.

"Thank you, Franklyn. Please keep an eye on her, and please don't call her the prisoner. She has a name," I remind him.

"Of course, Boss. Do you need anything before I put the ship into night mode?" the dutiful droid asks.

"No, buddy. I'm good. Thank you for your help." He leaves then a few minutes later the lights are dimmed throughout the ship. It's hard to keep a normal day/night schedule in space, so having day and night mode on the ship helps us keep our circadian rhythms consistent.

My mind is once again on Nova. I get movement detection in the command room on my data pad, so I check the security footage. She is trying to get into my system to send an S.O.S. It's futile, something she will learn soo- s**t! She hacked into my system! What a clever little b***h! I try kicking her from the system, but she's good. Too good if I'm being honest. I groan, realizing I need to get up and go stop her. I set my food down and dash towards the command room.

As soon as I'm in the room, she looks up and she looks terrified. f**k. "Hey, I know what you're trying to do, and you need to stop right now. I really don't want to confine you to certain parts of the ship, but I will if I have to."

She glares at me, and if looks could kill, she would be the hit man and I would be her mark. "What difference does it make?! Confined or not, my life is over. My curiosity got the best of me while doing a f*****g hacking job and now I'm going to be dead in a month! My brother will never get answers as to what happened to me. He'll know I didn't run off. He knows me better than that. He has no clue what I do and he's going to be devastated!" She starts to cry, which only seems to make her angrier. I'm sure I'm the last person she wants to see her cry. My heart honestly kind of breaks for her. I started my work because my sister disappeared and I was trying to find answers. I can only imagine what her brother will be going through, but a job is a job, and a man's gotta eat and all that.

I sigh and step closer. "Look, I'm sorry. Not sorry enough to take you home and give up the job, but sorry nonetheless. A month is a long time to face down the barrel of a gun. It is honestly kind of cruel. I'm trying to make this as painless as possible, we have to live with each other for a month, and if you give me a chance, I promise it'll be as enjoyable as possible."

"Are you hitting on me?!" She asks in horror. Damn, is it that horrible of an idea? I wasn't, but f**k, that hurt my pride a bit.

"No, you're a mark. I don't f**k marks. I'm just saying, I have good food, not that you seem to have taste buds if your dinner choice was anything to go off of, but I have plenty of food, I have plenty of entertainment, and I've been told I'm not the worst company to keep."

She nods and wipes the tears from her face. "Fine." Then she gets up and leaves, and for some reason, my heart hurts a little for her.

I sigh and check the system. f**k! That conniving little thing successfully got a message sent out! I'm surprised it wasn't to her brother, some guy named Kevin. It explained everything that happened, even that I was the one that got her along with my DAMN DESCRIPTION! Wait.... did she seriously say I was actually kind of nice? Ha! I knew I would start to win her over. I shake my head. No Jake! Not the time to think about cute girls. Especially cute girls that might have f****d you over because they're too damn clever and you're too damn soft! I cancel the message. It looks like it was partially read already, but hopefully they didn't get to the part of my description or the ship's information.

I call Franklyn and do what I hoped I wouldn't have to. "Franklyn, please ensure that Nova does not leave her room unless you or I are there to monitor her actions. Looks like she will be more trouble than I initially thought." I sigh and sit on the floor, leaning against the observation window. I love space, always have. The freedom I feel out here is like nothing else. I really hope she hasn't f****d that up for me. I must be more exhausted than I thought, because I fall asleep looking at the stars, thinking of a small feisty pink-haired hacker with blue eyes.