I push her away from me.

Scarlet yelps as you push her out of the covers, and you hear some stirring around you. Behind you, you hear movement from Scarlet’s cot. “Warren?”

You turn your head slightly. That was undeniably Scarlet. You call for her, and she replies, inquiring about your condition. You tell her you're fine as whoever your invader was runs away. You could have given yourself whiplash if you snapped your head back of forth anymore, so you just exhaled in frustation. Not to mention, no one else is scurrying. So you just lay back down on your back. “It’s nothing,” you whisper to Scarlet, your heart uneasily thumping against your sternum. “I don’t think so, at least.”

You can feel her eyes searching in the darkness for you; before you know it, she’s joining you in bed. There’s no attempt at intimacy or invasion of your covers. In fact, you’re confident that she’s brought her own blankets over. “Let’s just stick together.”

Already, you feel your body starting to sweat. You have more blankets on you than you did the last night at “Drunk.” Not to mention, you can feel Scarlet’s heat soak into you as she lays practically on top of you.

Despite the heat, you fall to sleep more comfortably with the added security of your partner being less than a centimeter away.

The next morning, you wake up alone in bed but with a much more active room. The kids are awake and are already walking around with the barrels burning with a new fire. You funnel yourself out of bed and slip into your shoes. A hard chill goes down your spine as someone approaches you from behind. Alice stood there staring at you. You stood up before turning to face her.

Her face was burning, and she held onto her fingers awkwardly. You shifted legs, regarding the kid with nothing more than your staring.

“Sorry,” she squeaked.

“About what?”

“I slipped into your bed last night,” she said quickly. “I thought I could— I- I thought we might have— the idea was to—“

“Don’t get close to me,” you said, stepping back. “Getting involved with me would warrant one hell of an ass-kicking. You got that?”

Alice flinched like you slapped her. “I know. But… you’re just really cute—?!”

“No,” you cut in. “My partner would kill you if she found out about last night. I’m only restraining myself now from smacking you because you’re a person involved in my contract.”

The girl hid behind a cruel blush as she finally became silenced. You suddenly became glad you didn’t let things unfold the night before, initially confusing her with Scarlet. You pinched your nose and waved her off, causing her to run off with the others, maybe looking more busy than she really was. You found Scarlet a few minutes later, and once you were regrouped, Angel quickly filled you in on the day's plan. Angel looked at you more than Scarlet, which would have been fine, but he kept licking his lips and blinking down at your crotch every couple of seconds.

“Your job is really, really, really, easy,” he explained. “I need to get these children back to their places. I need to make sure the people picking them up are who they say they are, however. You understand we can’t just get these kids picked up by the wrong group. And so, this is where you come through, my friends.”

Angel paused for effects, his eyes going to you and Scarlet as his grin went almost sadistic. What words came out next didn’t pair well with his smile. “Talk to these people and make sure they are who they say they are. I’ll give you the name of the group and the expected contractors hired to deal with me.”

“That’s all?” Your voice sounded as unsure as you felt.

He nods enthusiastically.

“Can do,” Scarlet interrupted. “When’s the first meet?”

“Now!” He announced gleefully. “As soon as you finish eating. Get ready to embark on the first location!”

...

...

Scarlet is in the lead again. The silence of the forest makes you feel isolated from the world, as not even a breeze travels through the branches. The soft crunching of your footsteps is only audible to their owners. It’s hard to believe anything is out here, let alone people. You don’t let your mind travel far from your task. Despite it seeming empty, you know better than to stray from your thoughts.

You slow down and create more space between you and Scarlet as you need a steep incline. She disappears momentarily but is within view as you trace her steps. At the bottom of the incline, there’s a small valley. You look both ways, worrying that if there were anyone nearby, they’d see you before you’d see them.

You exhaled, only barely able to see Scarlet making her way through the middle of the valley. You’re amazed that she’s not bothered by the surrounding forest. You shift your weight, suppressing your instincts as you go forward. You quickly follow her steps, only occasionally shooting a glance up to make sure she hadn’t ducked down somewhere or was waiting for you. However, she does slow down for you. She only stops when you draw near the next cliff. Scarlet turns to you and waves you over. With a little more haste, you see a shabby ranch house below.

“That’s it,” you say. Your voice comes out misty. “Angel didn’t need to send us far, did he?”

She shrugs. “If this were an independent contract, I’d have red flags. But I suppose this all makes sense.”

“I’ve had my share of ambushes. So far, this is all textbook still.”

Scarlet spits. “We’re standing skylined to whoever is below, and we haven’t been shot yet, so I’m sure we’re in the clear.”

“Embarrassing,” you sigh. “Good thing we’re guilded.”

She snickers. “Follow me down.”

…

You’re about 10 yards away from the front door when someone steps out. They’re followed by a group of people, and they become flanked by 3 men on either side, armed and dressed in brown dusters.

“That’s close enough,” the one in the middle says. He’s got nothing in his hands, but you easily spot the pistol belt he’s got around his belt.

“Angel sent us,” Scarlet continues to go forward. “We’re just here to make sure you’re who you say you are.”

“Girl,” the man continues. “What if we aren’t the people you’re looking for, and we just–”

“Because anyone else would have shot us without coming out to greet us,” she shouts back. “I’m real cold, boys. Let us in for a spell would you?”

The man in the middle looks to the others and starts laughing. He says something, but you’re too far to make out any words. He turns and addresses you and Scarlet. “Well, get in here then. We’ll get rid of any discomfort.”

The house is empty. There aren’t any tables, chairs, or signs of past lives. Even the carpet had long ago disintegrated and been overcome by nature with rodent shit and weeds. However, once you’re led to the basement, you find it buzzing with disorderlies. Aside from the seven that “greeted” you outside, you see three others that are wounded. They, too, seem to be in the same outfit, though, as they look treated and not at all frightened by the return of your greeters. One raises a glass full of orange liquid and shouts a half-hearted cheer.

The assumed leader of the group steps over some trash littering the floor and finds himself at a desk bursting with mostly junk. In the middle of it, however, is a messenger bag. It’s leather, pristine, with a “UNMARKED” etched into the front flap.

The man produces a Manila folder with five sheets of paper containing names and colored pictures of whomever they receive. Scarlet studies each sheet and seems to read the fine print. “Where are you taking these little dudes?”

The man shrugs. “Back, uh, home,” he says, unsure of himself.

“Home? Where’s that exactly?”

“I don’t know,” he confesses. “Pay’s good, though. It isn’t just a private submission, but it’s also off-record.”

Your stomachs did a flip. Scarlet didn’t react as you may have suspected if she knew how these things typically worked. She just shifted her legs with her arms crossed. However, she looked back at you and noticed that your expression had changed. You saw her throat roll as she swallowed. She turned back to the man, refusing to return the sheets. “Mind if I hold onto these? Boss is riding up my ass for being sloppy, so I just want to confirm.”

The man thought for a second but didn’t think of a reason to decline her request. “Yeah. When you’re done, though, hand them back to me or any others.”

“Naturally,” she replies. “Coffee? Or something warm to drink?”

“How about cider? We hit a caravan not from here and took that.”

Scarlet smiles. “Love cider. Get me and my partner here a glass and something to eat if you got it.”

“Of course!” He says happily. “I’ll be right back.”

Once he’s far enough to have a private conversation, you shake your head at Scarlet. “It’s a bad trade.”

Scarlet goes over the paper with squinted eyes. “I don’t see anything here that supports your opinion.”

“Taboo contracts from powerful people don’t come with detailed instructions or receipts. Trust me, I’d know.”

“No. You. Don’t.”

“Scarlet. I do.”

Her look scrutinized you, and her comment sounded more like a command than a reply. She went over the paper twice over, still disagreeing with you. “How do you know this is a shady rep-sheet?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but your research on me lacked an in-depth dig into my past ops,” you wait for her to say something, but Scarlet doesn’t even look at you, so you press forward. “These guys are probably sending those kids off somewhere they definitely DON’T belong. Probably further from their parents than they already are.”

“How do you know that?” Scarlet looked up at you. Her eyes were sharper than the knives she played with. “Huh? You’re going to tell me your some kind of fucking savage that deals with contracts like that now?”

“Once,” you told her. “And I got enough guilt to have it always bug me, alright? Get off my case. I was naïve back then, and I haven’t run another contract like it.”

She didn’t look happy with her, but she didn’t snap either, which was suitable for the time being. Scarlet still seemed unsure, as though she was heavily debating something. “You’re sure?”

“No doubt,” you waited. “What’s your call?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “I don’t know.”

“Well, maybe we spend the day here, gather some more intel, and see if we can get—“

“Do these guys have any idea what they’re doing?” Scarlet gestured to the room. “Did you have any idea?”

“A vague one,” you sigh. “I kept thinking that maybe I didn’t know everything. The gig was easy, and the pay was incredible. I made myself a fool for a quick job. I doubt these guys are one bit different. Blissfully happy to turn a blind eye— I was no better.”

“Stop that,” Scarlet hissed but trailed off. “You are better. You felt bad…”

You were about to open your mouth but didn’t want to say anything more about your contract involving this type of trade. “Staying around?”

“Just you,” she says. “I’ll meet up later. Tell Angel I’ve got this under control, but I had to make a few adjustments to it for the ARS. Think you can get back here on your own if I don’t pop up later?”

“Don’t think you’ll be alright?”

“Plan B is you,” she laughs slightly. “If you’re coming back around, don’t be shy coming fully armed and primed for a little bit of fun.”