All Justice, No Mercy

[Ailith Rayner]

"Not the first time ma'am." Although she had been partly right. 'Levi92' resulted in the welcome music which Ailith muted immediately with a thump of the monitor button. Ailith opened My Documents and scanned the contents. "Aha." Nearly all the files began 'Orchid Hill. case file:' and then a date. Drawback? There were about 800 of them. Ailith opened the long top drawer and without taking her eyes of the computer she asked Madeleine, "See if you can find a blank disk in there." OK smallest is 25mb largest 2Gb... no we need them all....
Madeleine flipped over some envelopes and handed Ailith a case of disks. The fact that it only took Madeleine only a few seconds to find the disks told Ailith that Orla was efficent, very organised and most importantly, together with the simple password, she wasn't paranoid enough to hide things.
"Excellent." Ailith inserted one and copied My Documents and pasted to the disk. While it was pasting Ailith scanned the room again. "Look in that filing cabnet over there. The key will be in either this drawer here," She tapped the long drawer, "or that one." She pointed to the drawer on the top left. Sure enough, by the sound of it, the key was amongst the new pens. "Read me out the catagories." Five minutes, three drawers and six zipped disks later a homely click sounded past the wirrs of the computer and the gentle mumble of Madeleine's voice. Madeleine cursed without interruping her drone, Ailith didn't bother to freeze or look up and both girl-men ran their hand through their hair simulaneously (a pre-arranged singnal to hide) Ailith ejected the disk she was burning, slammed it shut, strode to the plug, yanked it out and put it in again, closing the case of unused disks placed them back under the envelopes and relaxed to fuzz and conceal her large form whilst shutting the drawer silently with her hip and shoving the disks in her large jeans pocket. Madeleine had the key back in where she found it and transfromed herself not a second too late before the door opened...

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Crap crap crappity crap.
A nanosecond before Orla stepped through the door, fingers rubbing her temple, Madeleine had taken the form of a red throw cushion on the couch, absolutely identical to the others that lay there.
To take the form of a non-living object was, as might be guessed, rather uncomfortable, especially since they did not have anything that could be breathed through. Though Madeleine knew to put in somewhere to breathe through, she had to try and breathe silently.
After all, cushions didn't bloody well breathe!
She'd known that they were going to have to do this at some point; the whole point of this was to inject Orla with the serum without her noticing - which was going to be hard in human form.
Orla stepped through the door, and Madeleine again found herself being taken back by how unnaturally beautiful this woman was. Here, it became more obvious than it had been outside - the way her hair fell in perfectly smooth waves, her large brown eyes (and there, Madeleine's stomach jolted as she remembered one particular feature of Lee's dreams) perfectly framed by long curling lashes that didn't seem to be enhanced by any mascara, the shape of her figure...
Even though she hated this woman, Madeleine couldn't help but think that to have such excessive beauty was completely unfair.
However, Orla stopped for a second as she crossed the threshold to the room, causing Madeleine's head to skip a beat in panic. She hesitated, glancing around the room, but apparently didn't see anything out of place as she walked over to her computer desk, switched on the computer and sat down, pulling open a drawer.
Madeleine glanced to the slightly blurry area where she knew that Ailith was (just because you couldn't see her eyes in this form didn't mean that she didn't have them), wishing she could signal to her that this would be the golden opportunity to inject the serum into Orla's neck.

Orla walked through the streets of the camp quickly, her heels clicking almost undetectably on the stones of the pavement, the shouts of Marius Hoodham still echoing in her ear.
"Not only did you fail to kill Major; you managed to get us detected! This whole set-up was a failure, Ryder. A dámned failure."
Failure.
Orla Ryder did not fail. Orla Ryder never failed.
One of the worst parts of that talk was the fact that she had to sit in front of his mahogany desk, silent and meek as a small child being disciplined by her father, or a field mouse faced by a large golden eagle.
But Orla was not a field mouse. She was an eagle. And to be treated like a child; to be scolded, patronized and even worse, being given a sympathetic smile by that dámn secretary outside Hoodham's office. Her patience was already stretched to its limit, and it took every bit of her self restraint to stop herself from slapping the secretary around the face for daring to smile at her like that. Orla didn't need sympathy. There was no need for anyone to look at her. The situation would come back under her control soon enough.
They always did, after all.
But in the meantime, Orla resented having to be placid and complacent as Hoodham lectured her, resented being made to feel just like a pigtailed schoolgirl again.
Still, Marius was "done" with her - for now, anyway. She had tonight to work on a defence, before presenting it to him tomorrow morning. However, whatever defence she presented, she thought with a hint of smugness, Marius would not let her go. They needed her. He'd even admitted this himself tonight. Orla knew perfectly well that this 'defence' was useless.
Still, it would have to be done perfectly, whether it came to be useful or not.
Orla unlocked the door to her quarters with the familiar click, and stepped into the foyer, taking off her heels and setting them beside the black slingbacks under the bowl of roses (the scent of which mollified her slightly) before going into the living room.
Immediately she set foot in there, her mind flinched back sharply, causing her to hesitate on the threshold.
Something... wasn't right.
The long tentacles of her mind projected into the room, curling around every object, every surface...
To find two very, very foreign living objects.
Orla continued walking at a normal pace, her expression and pace perfectly normal.
Two men, one over there, hidden in a fuzz of invisibility; the other in the form of the new red cushion lying on the couch.
No, not two men. Orla's mind intruded their minds quickly and painlessly, to see that these were two girls. Teenage girls. And one of them...
One of them was the girl that they most wanted. Completely unprotected, save the girl shrouded by a cloak of almost perfect distortion. However, she would be easily dealt with.
If Orla was able to - and now, she would most definitely be able to - get Madeleine Baudelaire, this Norris business would be forgotten immediately, and she restored back to her former glory, the glory she deserved.
So she went silently to her computer desk, keeping mental tabs on them as she flicked the computer on and lifted out a pen, doodling 'absentmindedly' on a page.
She may not agree with his policies, but Major Hoodham's school had taught her something.
After thinking for a few seconds, she tucked a wave of hair behind her ear, and still looking at the page, said smoothly, "You know, girls, you look much better in your normal forms."
Immediately, her mind seized control of both of theirs, erasing their disguises and bringing them back into their natural states.
She looked up at them, regarding them serenely. There was Baudelaire, and over there... she'd forgotten the girl's name, but she'd seen her in Norris' mind. She was a Spy - a brilliant Spy - who... if she was right, was dating the Texan.
"Hello, Maddie," Orla said, smiling with a hint of triumph.

[Ailith Rayner]

As soon as Orla entered the room and paused, Ailith knew their cover was useless. But Orla had decided to play ignorant and pretend they weren't there. So it's like that is it? Fine.
Orla sat down at her desk and fired up the computer, whilst it was loading she took out a pen and paper and started to draw. Ailith wasted no time in approaching the chair she took out the syringe just as Orla spoke, "You know, girls, you look much better in your normal forms."
Ailith flung out her arm but Orla anticipated her and Ailith's mind went blank. Her eyes saw nothing but she felt sure they were open, she heard nothing but a rushing in her ears and a sudden wave of pressure enclosed around Ailith's head and pain coursed through her limbs and spine. Ailith fought to remain standing but the disorientation left her with no sense of gravity and Ailith felt herself crash fowards and hit the floor with a bone jarring thud.
Finally her eyes came into focus and the pressure in her head decreased only to be shifted to her stomach. When she swallowed back, trying not to heave, and gulped air to clear her head, she took in her surroundings. She was visable in her own body on the floor with the still full syringe in her hand but the needle had snapped. I'm not used to changing forms and definately not that quickly hence th- whoa my head! Orla was on the other side of the desk and Madeleine was over beside the couch. Ailith breathed once more and stood slowly using the table for support. The pressure built up again and Ailith blinked hard to ease her head. She opened her eyes to witness Orla facing Madeleine with the most dangerous, yet most beautiful smile. And finally Ailith's ears began to work.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine was expecting the transformation, so she wasn't hit with the same impact as Ailith had been - though, of course, it was still one hell of a hit.
Every thought in her mind completely disappeared, then she found herself in her normal form curled up in a ball on Orla's couch, completely paralysed from the intense pressure and disorientation inside her head. She was used to transforming shapes at quite a high speed - but never that sharply, and never by any other will but her own.
And holy hell, did that feel wrong. There was something... something rancid, something disturbing about this infringement onto her mind. Something... not even unnatural - because it was blindingly obvious that this power wasn't in any way natural - but completely, horribly twisted. The deformed fingers that had seized the part of Madeleine's mind that had shapeshifted both herself and Ailith had been so ... so...
There weren't even words.
The intense nausea passed over Madeleine quickly, and she was soon on her feet, all disorientation gone.
Orla was smiling dangerously over at her. "Well, I wondered if you'd come or not."
Her fists were balled as Madeleine stared back at Orla, meeting her dark brown eyes with her own dark blue ones.
Orla tilted her head to the side, before walking over to the door to the living room and locking it. "You know, you look exactly as you did in his mind."
A inaudible hiss escaped through Madeleine's teeth. Orla was going to use Lee against her.
So that's how it's going to be, is it?
Orla's eyes turned to Ailith, smiling sweetly at her. "And you... I don't remember your name, but you're Jude's girl, aren't you?"

[Ailith Rayner]

At first Ailith did not respond to Orla. Instead she shoved the syringe up her sleeve and was furiously trying to work out the square root of three hundred and sixty-seven. She allowed her mind to think freely however but whatever she thought she immersed herself in it. She had remembered Orla’s power and how to avoid it taking over too much. She and Madeleine had decided to allow as many thoughts as possible to cross your mind and to take a strong hold of each one so that there is no opportunity for Orla to get inside your head. For a brief moment Ailith did think about Jude and she felt the horrible little fingers of Orla’s mind seeping into hers. But she quickly channelled her thoughts away.

Ailith attempted to release her grip on the corner of the table but as she did the nausea gripped her yet again and she was forced to lay her hand back. While she was gathering balance she spoke to Orla as she looked quite prepared to wait.
“Orla Ryder are you sure you can escape the both of us? If not I advise you to make it easy for yourself and come with us quietly.” Ailith began to slowly edge towards Orla while using the desk to lean her left thigh against as she walked. She subtly let the syringe slip to the palm of her hand and she made a fist with it on the edge of the table. Careful to hide it from view.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Orla laughed, sending chills up Madeleine's spine, and suddenly, she felt a finger protude into her mind, making her flinch.
"Ailith," Orla said quietly, once the fingers had released some of their grip on Madeleine's mind. "Since you can't stand up unaided, and we're surrounded by people at my command, I sincerely doubt that either of you pose much of a threat to me.
So why don't you call them?
"Because," Orla replied smoothly, though Madeleine hadn't spoken aloud. "I can deal with you myself, so there's no point in disturbing the others."
Deal with us. Like you did with-
She surpressed it quickly, by translating Danny Boy into Roma - well, trying.
Orla frowned slightly, but her eyes met Madeleine's. "Not if you co-operate."
The threat was clear in her silky voice.
Behind the translation of "the summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying...", there was an undercurrent of an instinct train reminding Madeleine not to think of Shaun, because Orla would leap on it - and she couldn't get distracted.
Don't get distracted.
Orla smiled once more at Madeleine. "You look awfully like him, you know. Except for the eyes. His eyes were brown, weren't they?"
What?!
Block-it-block-it-block-it.
Orla smirked, before walking over to the door and turning the lock, perfectly aware that neither of the girls would be able to move. But why wasn't she just getting it over with? They couldn't put up much of a fight against her power, so why was she messing around?
Okay, so the word for 'dying' is...
She turned around from the door to face Ailith. "Please drop the syringe. I'd rather you did that by your own choice, and I'm sure you don't want me to force you again."

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith laughed, "Yeah right. Of course you would rather me do it myself. The same way a rat would rather sit on a motorway?"
Orla raised an eyebrow and Ailith felt a vine of pressure in her head and she shuddered. A split second later the syringe was on the floor. It was Ailith's turn to raise an eyebrow as she bent down to pick it up when, suddenly Ailith could no longer feel her legs she began to curve her spine when it froze. Ailith felt anger blossoming within her chest, she felt what she could tense. This was not the way things were supposed to be going. She realised quite how angry she was getting and quelled it down inside so that it became a iron ball, cold and heavy around her heart. Ailith clenched her teeth, looked up at Orla and snorted with laughter. "That's it?" Another snort of laughter, "I don't know why but I must admit I was expecting more from you." All signs of fake glee disappeared and a steel glint flashed behind her eyes, "But then of course, you’re Levi's sister."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Shít, Ailith.
Madeleine was perfectly aware that this wasn’t going to go down well with Orla. However, no surprise crossed the woman’s face (assumedly a result of her Spy background), but she did fix Ailith with one cold stare.
And that’s when the pain started.

So they’d worked it out.
No fear flitted through Orla’s mind at this. After all, if the girls were smart enough to realise that Orla had been the one to manipulate Norris’ mind – as that was undoubtedly why there were here. That much was obvious, even if she hadn’t seen it in their minds. If they were smart enough to pick up on hints that hadn’t even been left, then they were obviously intelligent enough to make the connection between herself and Levi.
What Orla was thinking was how dare Rayner bring up the subject of her brother.
Her mind tightened on Baudelaire’s mind, and though she didn’t gasp in pain as she should have, her colour drained and her small frame – so unlike what a Head of the Warriors should be – crumpled and collapsed to the floor, her teeth gritted to stop any moan escaping from her mouth.
But as her body started to twist in agony, Baudelaire’s breathing pattern started to shift, her shoulders convulsing.
Orla turned and looked pointedly at Ailith – but her mind was busy projecting images into the girl’s head that she knew would be a million times more damaging to her than physical pain. They weren’t pictures that Madeleine was unfamiliar with, but they were from a different point of view, and they would let her know exactly what she was capable of.
Baudelaire curled up in pain on the ground and moaned at the image of her brother covered in blood that were conjured in her head – perfectly accurate.
After all, Orla had been there too. What she hadn’t realised was that Madeleine had also been there, watching.
Orla faced Ailith, staring her down, before releasing her painful grip on the other girl, who immediately stopped twisting and turning on the floor, her face contorted into an agonised grimace.
“Mention my brother again,” she said, in a voice as soft and sweet as honey. “And I’ll evoke screams next time.”

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith met Orla's eyes with the same cold stare. When Madeleine began to writhe with pain on the floor Ailith kept her eyes fixed on Orla and brought forth from the steel behind her eyes the most maleovent, cold-blooded and cruel grin. She had seen this look on so many faces but never before had she allowed it to appear on her own. It was the smile of a brutal killer. She allowed the iron around her heart to fill her whole chest and allowed it to spread through her veins. Ailith made a lazy glance at the now still Madeleine, who's face showed an expression she was not unused to, and stared back unblinking towards Orla once more.

“Mention my brother again,” Orla began speaking gently, “And I’ll evoke screams next time.”
Ailith raised an eyebrow and the cold, bitter iron climbed into her neck and head. Then Ailith did something she'd sworn to herself she'd never do. All she had seen, the first time she saw a man beat a child of four because he wouldn't touch a dead body, when she saw a woman being savagly torn apart by a man and another woman with a pair of hunting knives as a training video, all her experiences, her father's murder and the hatred she had for the man who did it, the last time she fired a gun and aimed to kill, she dragged up from where she had buried them in her mind snd brought them into her concious. Ailith felt Orla's probing power in her head and she found Ailith's memories. Ailith could tell from the slight hesitation Orla gave. Ailith raised an eyebrow, nefarious grin still upon her face, "Why? Does it hurt you to know what I could do to him because of you?"

Ailith was not wasting time. She was not unfocused. She was not calling Orla's bluff. Ailith had straightened, was on her toes and had her hand on the last syringe.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

The agony radiating through her body stopped suddenly, and with a shuddering gasp, Madeleine’s body collapsed across the floor.
Oh God, oh God, Oh God…
The worst bit hadn’t been the physical pain – though holy god, that had been hell. Worse than hell – even the devil would be kinder. The worst bit was that Orla hadn’t physically done anything, but by creating the illusion of pain inside her head, had made Madeleine feel as though she was on the rack without even touching her. It was like… like her limbs were being pulled away from her body, her joints twisting, her skin being ripped and shredded, and just pain –
But that still wasn’t the worst bit. At some point during the torture – she wasn’t sure when, the whole thing had felt like hours – Orla had started to drag up Madeleine’s least favourite memories, and started projecting new ones into her head. Images of Shaun’s murder and the brutality of battle merged together in her mind; lethal bare-knuckle fights and the fists of the killers; the screams from the field, the flatline of a machine; the glint of knives marred by scarlet, and a woman’s cold brown eyes as she raised the pistol…
The gasp struggled against Madeleine’s gritted teeth, as the connection was made. It had been Orla Ryder – of course it had been Orla. There was no mistaking that brown shade. She saw it every day when she looked at Lee.
The pain had kept continuing, and her teeth fought to contain the screams and moans that were building up in her throat as the invisible knives stuck into her. And then another point of view from her worst memory was offered-
She’d thought that they had all been men, but she’d obviously been wrong. These were from the eyes of a woman, who was simply disguised a man, much like she had been a minute ago. This woman was one of the attackers, but she wasn’t physically taking part in it. She stood to the side. Her mind was busy projecting images into Shaun Baudelaire’s mind, images that were making him cry out when the physical pain had just caused grunts. When the images that were projected into Shaun’s brain were shown to Madeleine, the moan just behind her teeth escaped, and her tortured body curled up involuntarily, which just caused the knives to assault her more.
One of the men glanced up at the woman, who nodded, and the real steel knife drove in-
And then it had just stopped. The pain disappeared as quickly as it had started, but the images were still embedded firmly in her brain, wounds that wouldn’t heal for while. And now she knew exactly who had murdered… but it didn’t even bring the closure she’d thought it would. It just created a white hot burning rage behind the prickling agony.
Orla was saying something to Ailith, but Madeleine couldn’t make out what it was. Actually, she just didn’t bother trying to make it out. In the end, did it matter at all?
It was Orla – it had always been Orla. And to think-
The tentacles of Orla’s mind crept in and tightened around Madeleine’s, squeezing tightly. Quickly, several memories flicked in and out of her consciousness, random pieces of dialogue coming into her head…
Then, the fingers suddenly gripped part of Madeleine’s brain, causing her to gasp aloud. And then tighter, and tighter again, like screws drivelling into her brain…
“Close your eyes, Madeleine.”
Madeleine’s eyes shot to Orla, but she was looking at Ailith, and hadn’t spoken.
Ailith was speaking now. “Why? Does it hurt you to know what I could do to him because of you?”
Do not close your eyes
But her eyelids began to flicker crazily against closure, as the screws pressed hard again. They didn’t hurt, it was just pressure, plush-lined pressure, and now an overwhelming urge to sleep. As her eyes started to close, several images began to drift across her stream of consciousness.
Shaun.
“It’s alright, Maddie.” His eyes were smiling at her, still brown, if a little different shade. “It’s alright.”
What?!
Orla and Ailith were gone, and Shaun leant down beside Madeleine, stroking back her hair. “They’re right.”
“Just close your eyes, Maddie.” A new voice, one that Madeleine’s heart skipped a beat to hear. His eyes were brown too, the same brown they’d been for the past while… the same brown as this Shaun’s.
Her eyes snapped from Lee’s to Shaun’s, and back again.
I know what she’ll do to me if I do.
“Maddie, she won’t do anything,” Lee said softly.
They’ll kill me. They’ve been trying for God knows-[/b]
“They won’t,” he whispered, crouching down beside her and Shaun, close enough to whisper in her ear. “ No one will touch you - you’re safe! Just close your eyes.”
Don’t close your eyes.[/b]
Her eyes were struggling to keep open now, eyelashes fluttering wildly in an attempt to keep them open.
”Just go to sleep, Maddie.”
“Trust me.” Her older brother smiled gently at her, his smile still the same.
The screws tightened on her brain, and this time, they hurt.
Don’t!
Something cracked, and everything blacked out for a second. Shaun and Lee disappeared, and everything was pitch black as soot.
When the soot cleared, her eyes shot open, and she tried pulling herself up into a sitting position. It worked –
But Orla’s head was rolling at an awkward angle on her neck, her flawless skin white.

[Ailith Rayner]

The second Orla's eyes were averted Ailith would lunge and strike with the syringe. But trying not too think about it too hard or Orla would know. Ailith could feel the pressure of Orla's prying power still in her mind. But it was weakening, as Orla, presumably, gradually concentrated more and more of her power on Madeleine. Orla was still watching Ailith and Ailith her.

Suddenly, Orla's expression and posture changed, from relative blankness and strong comfortable stance to sheer shock and her arms reaching upwards, close to her body towards her head but they never made it. Ailith watched, as Orla's head bent violently at 100 degree angle to the right and what seemed like an almighty crack and crunching sounded. Ailith watched Orla as she made one last blink before Ailith was staring, wide-eyed, at the unseeing eyes staring likewise straight back a millisecond before the body hit the ground and the head thudded and sholted upwards so it was almost parrallel with the shoulders. Ailith swallowed, sighed and shook her head gently to get rid of shock. Madeleine was sitting and looked at the body. Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her hair, "Oh sh!t." She whispered.
"Oi!" Ailith frowned and spoke sharply at Madeleine, "Look at me. Don't you dare lose it on me, alright. Are you in pain?"

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Oh shít, oh shít, oh holy God, oh God...
The stream of expletives ran thick and fast under Madeleine's ragged breath, each curse word mingling with the next.
No, no, no, no, no.
Orla Ryder was... dead. No, no. She couldn't be. Madeleine hadn't sought out to do this. No. No. It was just a simple plan. She was supposed to be knocked out, and then brought back up to Orchid so that... no, no, no.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
She'd killed... she'd killed...
"Oi!" Ailith's voice broke through Madeleine's quiet curses. "Look at me." She raised her eyes from Orla's lifeless form. "Don't you dare lose it on me, alright. Are you in pain?"
Was she? The pain had stopped abruptly when Orla had backed off from that method, but her limbs still tingled with pain and shock. She moved her leg out gingerly, wincing as her nerves sent a shockwave to her brain. But it was bearable. "A little, but I'll be... I'll be okay."
It must have been an air attack. She didn't know what she'd done, but from the crack... the air must have twisted around Orla's neck, pushing at it with a force that cracked it, and ... severed the nerves and spinal... oh God.
This was the woman who'd screwed Lee up, this was a woman who had killed Shaun. So why didn't Madeleine feel anything other than horror?
"I didn't mean to... shít. I didn't... I just lost control... she tried to... to take over, and she used Shaun and... oh God," she finished, feeling nausea well up in her stomach.

[Ailith Rayner]

Madeleine began to mumble after she'd confirmed she was able to move unhindered greatly. Ailith thought quickly. Orla is dead. Other enemies do not know of our presence. Yet. We should keep it that way so as not to fire up another battle. Especially not so soon. Which means we have to remove the body or cover up. If we remove the body abduction will be the enemies primary assumption. No good. Cover up it is. How? ...
"Listen." Ailith hissed severly, "How do we make this look like suicide? She can't have broken her own neck on purpose save hanging herself and no one would believe an accident. Think fast, we need to work while the body is still semi-supple."
Ailith thought furiously. Likely methods of suicide: Hanging, not the type, overdose and fell, drugs won't be found in the body, knife and fell, too slow therefore unlikely, gunshot...hmm...

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Calm down. Calm down. Listen to Ailith.
"How do we make this look like suicide? She can't have broken her own neck on purpose save hanging herself and no one would believe an accident. Think fast, we need to work while the body is still semi-supple."
She closed her eyes for a moment, closing off all the emotions in her mind, one by one, before focusing logically on the task at hand.
Suicide...
Orla wasn't the type to commit suicide - then again, she was probably in a lot of trouble over what had happened to Lee, and Orla looked like the type of person who was never in trouble.
They'd done enough damage already, but it could work.
There was nothing to hang herself with, and there was no way they could get traces of drugs in her body. Stabbing herself would be too messy and wasn't effective enough; there was no guarantee it would work in time.
But if she shot herself... well, that was pretty effective.
"I could heal the neck, without touching her," she said quietly. "If we did that, and then shot her..."

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith glanced at Madeleine from the corner of her eye. Great minds and all that... well sort of, she thought.
"Well done, I was thinking along the same lines. You get set to it I'll find her gun."
Ailith looked around the room. Surely it would be here with the information. Where a lot of time was spent... Ailith knelt to look under the desk. Often there was a clip which held the gun to the underside of the desk. But no. Nothing.
Ailith stood, Surely there is one... the drawers are clear... surely no one could be that confident... Ailith glanced down at the desk to think. Just then she noticed an almost invisible line running the breadth of the desk. She glanced along the desk top and sure enough a quarter from the edge, there was another nearly invisible line, parallel to the first.
Ailith reached out a hand and pulled gently. It lifted up to reveal two handguns and a box of ammunition. She lifted the biggest, a 9x19mm hi-power, by the grip and by the weight of the magazine it was loaded.
Ailith turned to find Madeleine standing away, job done. Ailith nodded silently, Good job.
Alith hunkered down next to the still warm body and placed the grip in the left hand, for that was the hand that drew, and placed it to the left temple. Then she slid her index finger behind the trigger guard along with a long, slender manicured one.
Ailith looked up into the eyes of Madeleine, "Turn around."
Madeleine frowned.
"Don't look at me." Ailith raised her voice to Madeleine, and Madeleine turned.
Ailith glanced back down at her part of the bargin. She breathed out heavily and pulled the trigger.