'Messy person.' 

Eikenout bent over and used a tissue to wipe away the dribble of food running down her daughter's chin. Her daughter giggled and banged her plastic spoon against the tray of her high chair. 

'Ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away,' said her husband. 

Eikenout sighed and straightened. She deliberately ignored him as she walked around the kitchen counter and threw the soiled tissue into a bin under the sink. Her husband leant back against the cupboards beside her with his arms folded. He had his shirt sleeves rolled up and his tie loosened. His arms were crossed across his belly. Eikenout teased him about it sometimes by rubbing it for luck. 

She turned to face him. 'What do you want me to do? Quit?' 

Her husband looked over her shoulder at kitchen window. There was nothing to see outside. Darkness pressed in against the glass. 

'Don't be so dramatic.' 

'Excuse me?' Eikenout's tone was deadly. 

Her husband rubbed his face and looked at her. 'There are plenty of jobs in the department. Why do you have to do this one?' 

'If not me then who?' 

'I don't care!' 

'So you want to force some other investigator into the gangs taskforce, just so you can sleep at night?' 

'I'm not married to some other investigator!' 

Eikenout scowled at him. She picked up a hair tie from the kitchen bench and used it to secure her unruly blonde curls into a pony tail. She walked past her husband and crouched down to search under the dining table for her runners. Her daughter craned her neck to watch her curiously. 

'I'm late for a gym class,' Eikenout said. 

'We need to stay and talk about this.' 

Eikenout pulled the shoes out from under a chair and stood up abruptly. 

'What is there to talk about?' 

'We got this in the mail! Your work isn't just about you anymore.' 

Eikenout's husband held up the piece of paper in his hand. On the page was a red circle with three vertical slashes running through it. 

'I'm not going to run. It's not in my nature.' 

'You're not some twenty-something with nothing to lose any more! You have a family!' 

'I have other responsibilities too. I didn't realise they were going to be subsumed by some amorphous blob of family.' 

Her husband's face was going red. She could tell he was holding back a tidal wave of anger. He rubbed his face again, and Eikenout could hear him quietly counting to ten. 

'Oh dear,' said a female voice. 'I hope I haven't inadvertently sewn the seeds of domestic discord.' 

Eikenout spun around as a dark haired woman walked around the door into the kitchen. Eikenout recognised her from the pin board in her office. She was wearing a charcoal business suit with a pencil skirt that outline her slender figure. It looked like a stiff breeze would knock her down. 

'Who are you?' said Eikenout's husband.  

'I know her from my work,' said Eikenout. 

'How did she get into our house?' 

Eikenout rested a hand on her husband's cheek. 'I'll explain later. I promise.' 

In their years of marriage, Eikenout's husband had learned to read her body language. He looked at the expression she was giving him now and nodded silently. 

'I think we should step out into the garden for a private chat, Seline.' 

Seline rested a hand gently on the door frame. It wasn't a threatening gesture in and of itself, but somehow it carried a suggestion that they weren't going anywhere. 'I'd prefer if you introduced me to your charming family. It may surprise you, but people very rarely seem to want me to meet their families.' 

'Go to hell.' 

Seline gave Eikenout a penetrating look over the top of her glasses. 'This is the first time we're meeting in person. There's no reason not to be civil.' 

Eikenout tried to collect herself. The initial shock of seeing Seline in her kitchen had rattled her. She cursed herself for not being more prepared. It was too late now. 

'Well you're here now. You obviously want something.' 

Seline watched her with barely concealed amusement. 'I assume there are knives in that drawer, or you wouldn't be edging towards it.' 

Eikenout's hand froze on the handle of the draw beneath the counter. 

Seline stood in the doorway and smiled at Eikenout's daughter in her high chair. Her daughter blew a saliva bubble and smiled back. Eikenout felt like she was watching a spider crawling across her daughter's skin. 

'It's so nice to see that you make time for your family as well,' said Seline, examining the mess on the dining table. 'I'm beginning to worry about the amount of stress they put on you at work.' 

'Are you warning me to back off?' 

'Your husband is already holding that warning in his hand. Unity seldom offers two.' 

Eikenout looked at the paper with the circle and slashes. 'You can't intimidate me. To my mind, Unity is just another street gang. If you think I'm going to run and hide just because you managed to find my house, then you don't know me.' 

'We are simply an organisation that understands our world. We deal in the currency of power.' 

'You're killers.' 

Seline shrugged. 'If the situation calls for it.' 

'You know this won't stop me.' 

'I'm aware of that. I know you can't be bought or bribed or threatened. You are, for want of a better term, incorruptible.' 

Eikenout felt her husband rest his hand on her shoulder. She placed her hand over his. 

'What do you want then?' 

Seline gave her a look of wounded innocence. 'Me? I just wanted to see your face, if only this once.' 

She stepped aside, and a woman that Eikenout had never seen before walked into the kitchen. She was built like a fighter, and there were two sleek swords sheathed at her side. Her white hair and skin seemed to glow under the lights of the small kitchen. 

'I told you,' said Seline. 'Unity already sent you a warning.' 

Eikenout looked at the newcomer. She looked hardened. This wasn't some back alley enforcer. 

'You're the one who actually gets the blood on her hands, then?' 

The woman with white hair shrugged. 'I use them while they use me. It's just bad luck on your part that your family happened to get in the way.' 

Eikenout felt like she was suddenly in free fall. 'Let's agree to keep this between us.' 

Seline examined her perfectly manicured fingernails. 'No.' 

'I only ever went after your criminal networks. I never made things personal.' 

'You misunderstand. This isn't personal to me either; it's just good policy,' she looked at the woman with white hair. 'Kessler, if you would be so kind.' 

Kessler gripped the handle of her sword. 

Eikenout wrenched open the drawer, and in one quick motion, a kitchen knife was in the air, flying towards Seline. She dashed forward and lifted her daughter out of her high chair as Kessler caught the knife in mid air and flung it back. 

Eikenout turned around in time to see the knife bury itself in her husband's chest. Blood was already starting to spread across his shirt as he dropped to the floor. Eikenout let out a cry that was something between a scream and a sob. She held her daughter tight and pulled another knife from the drawer. She brandished it in front of her as if it was a magical ward against evil. 

Kessler still hadn't drawn her sword. She watched Eikenout edge around the dining table with a stony expression. Seline glanced at Eikenout over Kessler's shoulder as if she was a particularly wilful child whose stubbornness was causing her to be late for an appointment. 

Eikenout slid her back along the wall, pointing the knife at Kessler. The silencer stood motionless and looked at her across the table. Sick terror was gripping her stomach. She could feel tears pricking at her eyes as she struggled towards the door. 

For a moment, the only sound was the scrape of Eikenout's back as she slid along the wall. 

She threw a hopeful glance at the door. 

Kessler kicked the table with sudden, ferocious force. It shrieked as it slid across the floor and slammed into Eikenout, crushing her against the wall. She felt a sharp pain in her side as one of her ribs snapped. When she looked up, Kessler was already in the air, flying over the table with her sword drawn. 

With tears streaming down her face, Eikenout hugged her daughter and buried her face in her hair.