Ana, Assasin of the Mafia; Chapter 2

by Maryam in A Land Of Desert And Sun

Ana woke up, blinking her eyes blearily, then picked up the clock perched on the bedside table, squinting to see the numbers. 3: 04, the numbers flashed red. She shut off the noisy alarm and groaned, then forced herself to throw off her soft, warm blanket, shivering from the cold. Ana got up and tottered over to the bathroom, shuddering when her feet touched the freezing marble tiles. She cursed inwardly at the Hotel La Finata. Why on earth would they charge so much for a single night if their bathrooms were so horribly icy? She looked at herself in the mirror and thought casually about how terrible she looked.
Her green eyes were red-rimmed and had huge, purple bags under them. Her hair was an absolute rat's nest and every self-respecting hair stylist would shudder inwardly at it. Well, she deserved it. She hadn't brushed her hair for the last three days. First there was that meeting with Siegfried about the Nine Bullets incident. Then she had been yanked out of bed for ANOTHER midnight meeting. This was a bit more important, though, with the Top Boss. And she - who had been expecting- at the least- a vacation, she had (surprise!) got another mission.
However, she reasoned as she brushed her teeth, after all, being the top professional assasin with the Italian Mafia was no small job. But still, after all these years, it was the least they could do. Starting at the tender age of four, she had trained with the masters after being picked off the streets by Alessandro Ambrieo La Medici, and had lived with him and his fragile wife until she died two years later. Ana then went to board at the top-secret Mafia Academy, where the students learned fighting (with all kinds of guns, swords, daggers, fist fighting, and self-defense), spying, and other things that aproved with the Head of the Mafia. She had graduated with honors at the age of thirteen and started her professional career a year later after additional training with the formidable top teacher at the mafia.
Now, at the age of seventeen, she was known to be the best of the best, hence the workload. But, she grumbled to herself, drying her face with a fluffy white towel, with the Mafia so powerful they could at least arrange for her to have a flight to Los Angeles that was leaving a bit later than 4:30 a.m. on the Concorde from Heathrow Airport, London. She had left Italy exactly 8 hours ago and checked into the hotel as fast as she could. Ana had seized the opportunity to finally get some rest but was leaving again for a 12-hour flight.

10 minutes later, she had quickly brushed her hair and got it a bit acceptable-looking and got dressed, then picked up her carry-on and headed down to the lobby, where the limousine to take her to the airport was waiting. She got in and rested her cheek against the soft leather on the back of the seat, willing herself to brave the long airplane ride to come.

12 LONG hours later, she was in Los Angeles.