Elias Thorne POV
A heavy fist slammed into my jaw. I tasted copper as blood filled my mouth. I didn't fall. I couldn't fall. If I hit the floor now, everything I had done to get here would be for nothing. I was standing in a bright circle of light, surrounded by tall walls of cold metal. Around me, dozens of men in black uniforms were watching and cheering.
"Is that all you've got, 'Sarge'?" the big man in front of me laughed. His name was Miller. He was a foot taller than me and his arms were the size of my legs. He was the head instructor for Aegis Global, the most famous security company in the world. "I heard you were a soldier. You fight more like a tired old man."
I wiped the blood from my chin. I looked at Miller with my one good eye. My other eye was hidden behind a lock of dark hair and the silver scars on my face. My body wanted to move fast. It wanted to strike Miller's throat, sweep his legs, and end the fight in two seconds. That was what Silas Vane, the Major of the Black Ravens, would do.
But I wasn't Silas anymore. I was Elias Thorne. Elias was supposed to be a low-level guy. A "nobody" who had been kicked out of the army for being stubborn. If I fought too well, they would wonder where a "nobody" learned to move like a ghost.
"I'm still standing, aren't I?" I grunted. My voice was raspy. It hurt to talk because of the smoke I had breathed in during the library fire a few days ago.
Miller roared and lunged at me again. I stepped to the side, just barely moving out of the way. He missed, his fist hitting the air. I let him think I was lucky. I let him think I was just a guy who wouldn't quit.
I was here for one reason. Aegis Global didn't just protect rich people; they protected General Marcus Sterling. They were the ones who guarded his secret meetings and his hidden bunker. If I could get a job here, I would have a golden ticket to walk right past the General's front door.
"Stop dancing!" Miller yelled. He was getting angry because the crowd was starting to laugh at him. He swung a wide, heavy kick at my ribs.
I took the hit. Crack. I felt a rib snap. The pain was sharp, like a hot knife, but I didn't make a sound. I had felt much worse when the helicopters bombed my team. I used the momentum of his kick to fall backward, making it look like he had beaten me. I rolled across the floor and slowly pushed myself up.
"Enough!" a woman's voice boomed.
The room went silent. The men in the black uniforms stood up straight. I looked up and saw a woman standing on a high balcony. She had white hair pulled back in a tight bun and wore a sharp suit. She looked like she was made of stone. This was Madam Vera, the Director of Aegis.
"Miller, you are a bully," she said, her voice echoing through the room. "And Thorne, you are a punching bag. Why should I hire a man who can't even land a punch?"
I stood up, holding my side. I looked up at her. I didn't look scared. "You shouldn't hire me because I can punch," I said. "You should hire me because I won't move. You want guards who run away when things get scary? Or do you want someone who will stand between your client and a bullet even when his bones are breaking?"
Madam Vera narrowed her eyes. She looked at me for a long time. I felt like she was trying to see through my skin, through my scars, and into my soul. For a second, I was worried she recognized me. She had been friends with my father once, a long time ago.
"The trials aren't over," she said finally. "Take the recruits to the range. Let's see if Thorne can shoot better than he can fight."
Miller shoved me toward the door. "You got lucky, Sarge. But the range doesn't care about your heart. It only cares about your eyes."
We walked into a long room filled with the smell of gunpowder. There were targets at the end of the hall. They looked like paper people. Maya's voice whispered in my ear through the tiny speaker.
"Silas, be careful," she said. "I'm watching the cameras. Miller is talking to someone on his radio. I think he's going to rig the test."
"Call me Elias," I whispered back, pretend-coughing into my hand.
"Okay, Elias. Just watch out. The targets aren't what they seem."
Miller handed me a standard pistol. It felt light and cheap in my hand. I was used to the high-tech rifles of the Black Ravens. I took my spot at the firing line. Miller stood right behind me, his breath hot on the back of my neck.
"Ten targets. Ten seconds," Miller announced. "If you miss even one, you go home."
The other recruits went first. Most of them were good. They hit eight or nine targets. Then it was my turn.
Beep!
The targets started to pop up. They moved fast, zigzagging across the room. I raised my gun. My eyes locked onto the first one. Bang. It fell. Bang. Bang. Two more fell.
I was counting the seconds in my head. I had to look good, but not too good. I intentionally aimed for the outer ring of the fourth target. Bang. I hit it, but it wasn't a perfect shot.
Suddenly, the tenth target popped up. It didn't look like a paper person. It looked like a photo of a man. I froze.
The photo was of Jax. My best friend. My brother. The man I watched die in the mud of Karsak Valley.
My heart hammered against my chest. My hands started to shake. It was a trick. Miller had put a photo of my dead teammate on the target to see how I would react. Did they know who I was? Was this a trap?
"Shoot it, Thorne!" Miller barked. "What are you waiting for? It's just a target!"
I looked at Jax's face. He was smiling in the photo, the way he did when we were training back home. I felt a tear sting my eye, but I blinked it away. I felt the anger rising up, hot and thick. They were using my dead friend to play a game.
"Five seconds!" Miller yelled.
I didn't think about Elias Thorne anymore. I didn't think about looking average. I shifted my weight, my feet finding the perfect soldier's stance. My hand became steady as a rock.
Bang.
The bullet went right through the center of the photo right between Jax's eyes. It was a perfect, deadly shot.
The room went dead quiet. Miller stopped laughing. The other recruits stared at me. No one had ever seen a "nobody" shoot with that much focus.
I turned around and handed the gun to Miller. My face was a mask of cold stone. "I hit all ten," I said.
Miller took the gun, his face red with anger. "That was... a lucky shot. Get out of here. Wait in the hall."
I walked out of the range, my legs feeling like they were made of wood. I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. I was shaking. Seeing Jax's face had broken something inside me. I wanted to go back in there and show Miller exactly what a Black Raven could do.
"Elias?" Maya's voice was soft in my ear. "Are you okay? That was a mean thing they did."
"I'm fine," I lied. "Did I pass?"
"Vera is looking at your score right now," Maya said. "She looks confused. She's looking at your military file and then at the target you just hit. She knows something is wrong, Silas. Elias Thorne wasn't a marksman. He was a mechanic."
"I had to hit it," I whispered. "I couldn't let them mock him."
The door to the hall opened. Madam Vera walked out. She didn't have her guards with her. She walked right up to me and stopped. She was shorter than me, but she felt much taller.
"Follow me," she said.
She led me down a long, dark hallway and into a private office. She sat behind a big desk and pointed at a chair. I sat down, my heart racing.
"You're a very interesting man, Elias Thorne," she said. She pulled out a folder. It was thick and had a red "Secret" stamp on it.
She opened the folder. I expected to see my fake Elias ID. But instead, she pulled out a piece of paper that was burnt at the edges. It was a mission report from the Karsak Valley. My mission.
"The man in this photo," she said, pointing to a picture of Silas Vane from two years ago. "He was a hero. He was also the son of a man I loved very much. Everyone says he died a traitor."
I didn't say anything. I kept my face still.
"But you," she said, leaning forward. "You have his eyes. And you have his anger. And you just shot a photo of his best friend with the skill of a master."
She reached into her desk and pulled out a small, black badge. It was the badge for the Diamond Squad the team that guarded General Sterling.
"I don't care who you are," she whispered. "I only care that you want to kill the man who is coming to my gala tonight. The General is a snake, and he is trying to take over my company."
She pushed the badge across the desk toward me.
"I am going to hire you, 'Elias,'" she said. "But not as a guard. I am hiring you as my personal assassin. You are going to go to the gala tonight. You are going to stand behind the General. And when I give the signal, you are going to finish what started in that valley."
I reached out and took the badge. My hand was steady.
"But there is one thing you should know," Vera said, and her voice turned cold. "The General isn't coming alone. He's bringing a guest. Someone he says he 'rescued' from the mountains."
She turned a computer screen toward me. My heart stopped.
On the screen was a live video of the General's car. Sitting in the back seat, looking pale and scared, was the nurse from the clinic. The woman who had saved my life. She was wearing a collar with a small, blinking red light on it.
"If you miss," Vera said, "the General pushes a button. And the only person left who knows your real name dies."
I looked at the badge in my hand. It felt like it was made of fire. I had finally made it inside, but the General had already tied a rope around my neck.