~Chapter 10~

Inside the house Pallas heard the shot and she half-turned in its direction, glancing frantically over her shoulder.
She knew Apollos was dead. She didn’t know how, but she knew her twin was no more.
Pallas turned back to face Josh, her crystalline eyes hollow and cold. She adopted a two-handed grip with her sword over her head.
Josh shook his head slightly and whispered, “No, don’t try it.”
Pallas suddenly dropped her poise and charged Josh head-on, bringing her sword sweeping down as she came.
Josh brought both his Sais up and caught her wrists with the prongs, and then twisted hard.
Pallas gasped as her left hand bent backwards with a sharp crack. The katana fell out of her other hand and stuck blade-first into the hardwood.
Cradling her broken wrist, Pallas fell against the back of one of Josh’s black leather couches.
Josh turned and, sheathing his Sais, picked up the Desert Eagles off the table.
“JOSH!”
Scarlet brought her crossbow up and fired a bolt over Josh’s shoulder, catching Pallas near the heart.
Fatally wounded, Pallas fell to her knees. The 9mm she had retrieved from the couch and leveled at Josh’s head fell from her hand and clattered to the floor.
Josh rushed over and caught the assassin as she fell backwards.
“Pallas! Who sent you to kill me?”
Pallas’s eyes, clouding over in death, stared blankly at Josh.
“Why… should I tell you?”
Josh cradled the assassin’s head him his arm, willing her to live just a little while longer.
“You and you brother were sent to your deaths, don’t you want to have revenge in some way?”
Pallas smiled slightly, “Revenge… Hughes sent…”
Her head lolled to one side and her last breath left her body.
Josh looked up at Scarlet, “James Hughes.”
Scarlet nodded, staring solemnly at the dead assassin.



~June 21st, 2019- “Hollywood’s Prints”, Los Angeles
Holly Wood, who called herself “Hollywood”, sat staring at the phone. She had taken the trouble to pull the wool over Emma’s eyes at least until Sniper got her to Josh’s place.
She hadn’t bothered to tell Emma that Sniper was on his way to see Josh Taske, or to be exact, Nathan Wolv who happened to be staying with Josh Taske. She didn’t bother to tell her that the passport stamp she had forged for Sniper was for a foreign job he was co-opting with Scarlet and Nathan. She didn’t say that she knew where Josh lived.
But now, staring at the phone with Josh’s number running through her head, she felt afraid.
As Sniper had told Emma earlier, mentioning the Taske family in the wrong crowds would get you killed. Talking to a member of the Taske family could be even more lethal.
Holly’s own father had made the mistake of contacting Belle Taske a few years before she had died. A week later a group of five assassins led by Pyros Lite had broken into their Miami home and killed her father and burned the place to the ground. Holly was pulled out of the burning house by a neighbor and turned over to an orphanage. Her mother disappeared and had never been heard from again, although it was rumored that Pyros killed her as well.
But, then again, not all the Taske family had been bad. Jay Taske had been a decent person, if Holly remembered correctly. So had Sean, and Sean’s son Josh was rumored to be one of the nicest of the Taske family. He had even spent a while in the Marine Corps and on the President’s personal security detail.
Hollywood braced herself and, after wondering briefly what she was getting herself into, picked up the phone and started dialing.

~June 21st, 2019- Josh Taske’s House in Eugene, Oregon
Nathan had just walked into the house with Apollos’ body over one shoulder when Josh’s phone rang.
Josh was busy looking over some of the papers Wraith had found in the Twin’s car, so Scarlet answered it.
“Hello, this is Scarlet. Oh hi, Holly.”
Josh and Wraith looked up at her.
Scarlet listened a moment and handed the phone to Josh.
“This is Josh.”
Josh listened for a time to Holly’s account of Emma’s visit to the print shop.
After she was done he nodded to himself, thinking over what she had told him.
“Thank you, Holly. This helps me clear up a few things and answers a few questions. If you ever need anything, I owe you one.”
Josh hung up and turned to look at Scarlet and Wraith.
“Well, we now know why Emma is looking for me.”