I kind of remember my first kill. Every detail of the mission leading up to the actual act. The others had always said that the first kill would always be burned into your mind, you'd never forget that first time you took someone's last breathe.

I don't remember their face, I can't even tell you if they were a man or a woman. Maybe its because I have been in the business for so long that all the faces are starting to blend together. Or it could be that I never actually felt too attached to "life" as the others were.

My trainer said it would make me the perfect assassin.

I remember in great detail the last one though. The one that sent me into hiding. The one I couldn't carry out.

The file had been like all the others. Name, Elle M. Age, 36. She was younger than any of the others I'd been sent after. I had only glanced over the rest of the file, known locations, there was something about her husband owing our client a debt and she'd been sent into hiding for it.

I handed the file back to my handler. "Make it look like an accident." He said.

I nodded, collected my tools and left.

A three hour flight, another hour by taxi, and I found myself in a slum. The streets were quite except for the occasional sound of breaking glass, and the humming of the mechanical drones, street sweepers, and other unmanned deviced. No civil servant wanted to be in this area, the stench alone would have sent a normal, unaccustom person to gagging and running for the nearest trax depot.

It did take some adjusting to the smell, but it quickly became nothing but the background. The homes were practically smashed into each other. The upper levels of the city were at least four or five times the size of these 'homes' my simple apartment provided by the organization looked like a castle.

It felt off.

Every other hit had been well off, politicians, executives, people who were effecting change in the world. Things that others didn't want to see come to fruition.

It broke protocol, but I went to the woman's work establishment. The diner was almost as grimy as the streets themselves. The air felt greasy and stank of stale sweat and potatoes that weren't going to last another day if they weren't fried.

She was young. But not as young as the picture has shown, I passed it off as this place weighing down on her. After a quick, cold coffee I went to her apartment again.

I made myself at home in tight front room.

When she arrived she only spared me a glance before going to the kitchenette. We said nothing, I waited.

"So, I guess you're here to collect or kill me?" She said finally, I went to speak, but she continued. "I loved him once you know. But he just couldn't keep himself from gambling. Every night I'd tell him not to go, every night he'd say he was going to make it all back and more this time. But, you know, here we are now."

I relexed back in the chair a bit more. "I don't need the details."

"No?" She laughed, there was the sound of dishes falling into the sink. "Then why aren't you after him instead of me, huh? Jacob said he would take it on himself, that he was going to take responsibility. But here you are, some trained killer coming to probably break my neck to send him a message. And what about Livvi? What are you going to do to her?"

I raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "Who?"

She was two.

I was going to leave her motherless and alone.

I could remember that pain. That was a vivid memory in my lifetime. It had left me as an easy pick up for the organization. Were they planning to come sweep her up too?

She opened her eyes, I was standing behind her mother in the door way.

Don't hurt Mommy. The words were angry, forced, they almost pushed me back from the doorway. In my mind.

"She's-"

"Yes." Elle said. "I know your type, you'll do your job. But if they find her-"

Don't hurt Mommy.

"-and find a way to-"

I'll hurt you if you hurt Mommy.

"-bare it if she became some kind of-"

My head was reeling. The child's voice pounded and thrashed in my skull saying it over and over.

"Livvi stop it!"

The voice stopped.

"Mamma..." she started crying in her mother's arms.

"I know, but your daddy made a mistake. And now we have to face the consequences." She said softly. "Remember what I told you when we got here?"

The girl nodded.

Elle turned to me in the hall, "I don't care what you do to me. But you're taking her with you, swear to me that you'll take care of her."

"I-"

"Swear!" She yelled. At the same time the child's voice said it in my mind.

I flinched. I should have just done the job. ...Damn I should have read the file I'm sure it would have mentioned a child! This was spiralling out of my control.

"Please." Elle said softly. "I want her to have a normal life."

"She'll never have a normal life."

My brother hadn't.

Damn it all to hell.

A robbery gone wrong. That was what the news had said. The blood confirmed it was Ellenor Margaree, a once renound genetic scientist, and her daughter Livvi. Further DNA was discovered in the nearby biodegrader plant. The thieves had tried to despose of the bodies themselves.

I didn't know how to raise a child. But I did know how to make three people disappear.