My Name is Anastasia: The Grimly Family

By P.D. Atkerson

Even after only being a part of the Grimly Family for a little over a year, 354 has proven herself one of their top agents, and someone you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

All her memories before that year began are vague and blurry, and whenever she tries to remember anything, all she gets for her trouble is a headache. So she stops trying and settles into her new life.

But things take a turn when 354 is given a simple termination mission, and it quickly turns into an undercover op as Anastasia Stepanov. Little does she know, this mission will change everything.

Sometimes who we think we are and who we really are aren't the same.

• Language: English
• Publisher: P.D. Atkerson
• Release date: Jun 13, 2024
• ISBN: 9798370883316

Book preview

Contents

Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:

Chapter 5:

Chapter 6:

Chapter 7:

Chapter 8:

Chapter 9:

Chapter 10:

Chapter 11:

Chapter 12:

Chapter 13:

Chapter 14:

Chapter 15:

Chapter 16:

Chapter 17:

Chapter 18:

Chapter 19:

Chapter 20:

Chapter 21:

Chapter 22:

Chapter 23:

Chapter 24:

Chapter 25:

Chapter 26:

Chapter 27:

Chapter 28:

Chapter 29:

Chapter 30:

Chapter 31:

Chapter 32:

Chapter 33:

Chapter 34:

Chapter 35:

Chapter 36:

Epilogue:

My Name is Anastasia

byP.D. ATKERSON

My Name is Anastasia (The Grimly Family)

Copyright © 2022 P.D. Atkerson

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places and any reference, are the product of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously.

Cover by: P.D. Atkerson

Edited by. L.L.A.

Published in the United States of America

http://pdatkerson.blogspot.com

Dedication to:

Godmother, and her charming personality.

Chapter 1:

The name they’d put on her Frappuccino said Mary, but it wasn’t the girl’s real name. At least, as far as she knew.

Sitting there, in the far corner of the busy coffee shop, sipping her coffee, Agent 354 played with a strand of her emerald green hair as she waited for the rest of her order. Sighing, she swirled her straw around inside her empty cup and glanced around her. 

Could it take them any longer? she wondered.

All in all, it was actually kind of peaceful, just sitting there, with the constant bustle of the coffee shop’s customers coming and going and the hum of the machines behind the counter surrounding her.

Finally, someone from behind the counter appeared beside her table.

Sorry about the wait, Mary, the barista said, holding out the small paper bag to her. Something came up last minute while we were making it, and we had to substitute what you might have been expecting. 

Agent 354 grimaced and took the paper bag from him. I see. Thanks for the warning, she said, grabbing up her purse and heading for the door. Once outside, she made her way down the snowy street to the old brick apartment building that she was staying in.

Pulling out her key, she shoved the door open and stepped into the hallway. Following the dingy carpet to the end of the hall, she unlocked her door after checking to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with.

She slipped silently through the door, closing and locking it before flipping on the lights. Then, kicking off her shoes, she tossed her jacket onto its hook and stepped deeper into her apartment.

It wasn’t the nicest apartment, but considering the real estate in Toronto, she knew she could do a lot worse. It was clean, and pretty well furnished. Besides, once she was done with this next mission, she didn’t doubt she would be moving again.

Plopping herself down at her kitchen table, 354 slid her laptop computer over to herself as she pulled a muffin out of the paper bag she’d picked up at her local GF (Grimly Family) dead-drop. 

At least this one had food that she liked.

Biting off a piece of the muffin, 354 proceeded to unwrap it, pulling out the thumb drive tucked inside. She tapped on her computer to wake it up before sliding the USB drive into it.

It still blew her mind sometimes how much data this small thing could hold. 

Shaking away that thought, she opened the only file the thumb-drive contained and quickly entered her password. 

Username: 354rules

Password: **********

A second later, the file opened.

Skimming over the file’s contents, 354 felt a shiver run down her spine. This wasn’t just a normal mission, this was a termination mission, and her target’s photo was at the top of the screen, looking back at her.

This Jon Doe looked about her age, maybe a year older, with dark hair and eyes, and if the circumstances were different, she might have even thought he was cute. As it was, it was still strange to see how young he was. 

There didn’t seem to be that many her age on the other side of things, something she’d always wondered about. Pushing that thought to the back of her mind again, 354 read over the rest of the content, including where her target lived and the rest of his routine.

She didn’t know the address, but if she had to guess, she’d bet it was as obscure as her own.

But what truly caught her attention was the threat level (which was high), and the time in which she had to complete the mission (only forty-eight hours).

What did you do to make someone want you dead so badly? 354 mumbled to herself as she started eating the rest of the muffin. She didn’t know the exact rate, but she did know anything under a week was twice GF’s normal rates.

Once she scrolled to the bottom of the page, a five second timer started on the screen, and 354 quickly yanked the thumb drive out a second before it hissed and a small trail of smoke rose up from it.

Sighing, 354 licking the last of the muffin off her fingers and glancing out the window in front of her. Well, Mr. Doe, I’ll be seeing you soon.

The next day 354 spent scouting out Jon Doe’s address and the rest of his routine, watching for him the whole day, but she’d yet to actually see him. If the intel had come from anyone else, she might have started to wonder if they were wrong.

The Grimly Family was never wrong, but if he was changing his routine up, 354 would need to act quickly. 

She might have another day, but she had a feeling acting tonight would be better than waiting. The last thing she wanted was for him to disappear on her. She didn’t even want to think about what they would do to her if he did.

So, after the sun had set, 354 changed into a pair of black pants, shirt and a beanie to hide her green hair. She was careful to tuck her locket under her shirt before grabbing her small backpack and heading once again to Jon Doe’s address.

Creeping up the east side of the building where his apartment was, 354 strapped her backpack on after pulling her gloves out and onto her hands. 

Her best choice of entrance was through the window. Luckily for her, whoever built this building wasn’t nearly as paranoid as they should have been and a nice metal drain pipe snaked down the side of the building.

So with her gloves secure on her hands, 354 grabbed onto the pipe, then gripped the brick wall with her booted feet and started to climb. Using her training, 354 made quick work of the climb and was on the third floor in less than a minute. 

Once she was there, she hooked her feet on the small ledge that ran along the edge of the wall, another point against the building’s builder. 

Gripping the wall, 354 carefully made her way over to the window. Then holding onto the window frame with one hand, 354 slid a knife out of her belt and shoved it into the bottom of the old wood, carefully sliding the knife along until she heard the scrapping sound of the latching being pushed out of the way.

After opening the window a foot, 354 twisted her body around and slipped through the window, silently dropping to the ground in a crouching position, staying in the shadows as she glanced around her.

Once she was satisfied that there was on one else in the room, she stood up and quietly crept toward the nearest doorway. But before she reached it, something out of the corner of her eyes caught her attention.

Across the room from the window hung a bulletin board covered in pictures. Biting her lip, 354 hesitated a second before turning and making her way over toward it. 

By the time she stood in front of it, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. So when she looked at them, she sucked in a breath. Shoot!

They were all of her, taken over the course of the day. 

Her target had to know she was there! 

She had to get out of there! She knew that, but before she could even move, a floorboard creaked behind her, followed a second later by the feeling of someone’s breath on the back of her neck.

Fighting back the urge to shudder, 354’s hand slid to the knife she’d replaced in her belt, wrapping her hand around it and slowly drawing it out, just as the person behind her spoke softly into her ear.

The middle one’s my favorite, he whispered. The camera just catches your green hair so well, don’t you think?

Instead of responding, 354 spun around and thrust her knife toward his stomach, just as, to her shock, he caught her wrist and shoved her knife away from him. 

But she didn’t miss a beat before flicking her wrist and tossing the knife to her other hand, the next second slashing out at him. 

He quickly jumped back before lunging forward and blocking her next slash by shoving his arm against hers. He pushed her arm up, then moved closer to her as his grip on her wrist tightened.

Then, without any warning, he twisted around, threw her over his shoulder, and onto the ground. 

She smacked against the wood floor so hard she lost her grip on her knife, and before she could grab it again, he pivoted around and pinned her where she was, with a knee to her stomach and both her hands pinned to the ground with his own hands. 

So… he said, raising an eyebrow as he looked down at her. Does that mean you don’t like the picture then?

Chapter 2:

No, actually, I didn’t like the picture, 354 said, slowly moving her leg to the left. In fact, it’s kind of creepy that you have that many of me hanging on the wall. 

The next second, she hooked her leg around his, yanked her arm free, then wrapped her arm around his neck as she shoved him off her. 

She rolled and landed with her arm around his neck, putting him into a chokehold. But before she could choke him out, Jon Doe planted his feet against the ground and rammed her back and against the wall.

For a split second, her grip around his neck broke, and he was free and back on his feet. Creepy, huh? he said, straightening out his shirt. I think you’ve forgotten that you were the one stalking me. You just didn’t do a very good job of it.

With a low growl, 354 lunged forward, rolled across the ground, grabbed her knife, and came back up in a crouching position. 

"Well, unless you’re willing to take yourself out, since you’re so much better at this than me, she spat, flipping the knife around, I suppose I’ll just have to do it myself."

She ran at him, slicing out at his neck as he leaned back and she cut through the air a hair’s width away from his throat. The next second, she spun and did a roundhouse kick at his midsection.

Unfortunately, he effortlessly dodged to the side. She thrust her knife out at him again, and that’s when he caught her by the arm and twisted her around before pinning her against the wall beside them.

He grabbed her by the back of the head and kept her from head-butting him. If you wanted to ‘take me out,’ he said, holding her right arm tightly behind her back and causing her to lose her grip on her knife again, you could have just asked.

354 rolled her eyes a second before she shot her left hand out, snatched a picture off of the wall beside her, and swung it back behind her. Her target swore behind her as the glass broke on his head, and he released her.

Instantly, 354 shoved herself away from the wall and pivoted around.

Jon Doe scowled at her and brushed the glass out of his hair, but before he could do anything, she lunged forward. 

354 swept her leg out before yanking his legs out from under him, and she brought him down to the ground. She rolled across the ground and pinned him. Sorry to break it to you, she whispered, but you’re not really my type.

If you weren’t sent here to kill me, I might be hurt by that, he said, grabbing her arm and pinning it against his chest as he hooked his legs round hers, twisted to the side, and flipped them over again.

Pulling up her legs, 354 slammed her feet into Jon Doe’s chest, throwing him back and off her even as she brought her knees back against her chest and sprang back onto her feet again.

It was at that moment Jon Doe’s phone went off. But to 354’s surprise, her phone started to buzz a second later.

He grinned at her. Timeout? he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

Frowning, 354 hesitated a moment before she slowly gave him a nod as she stepped back from him. Five minutes, she said, pulling out her phone. She flipped it open and held it to her ear. Yes?

96720576, the woman’s voice on the other end of the phone said, rattling off the Grimly Family current security code. Confirm?

354 sighed. 20784535, she said, glancing over toward Jon Doe as he spoke softly on his phone. What’s going on?

There has been a change in your orders concerning your target, the woman said. The order from the top states is that you are not to terminate Jon Doe. You are now being assigned a new mission. Further details to follow.

Are you serious? 354 asked, but before she got a response, the hold music started to play in the background.

Yeah, yeah, I understand, she heard Jon Doe say to whomever he was talking to on his own phone. I just think this is stupid. Wouldn’t it make more sense to be honest with him? Right. Of course.

354 was pulled from eavesdropping when the hold music stopped and there was a click on the other end of the line.  Agent 354?

It took her a second to recognize the voice. Godmother? she said, standing up a little bit straighter. What’s going on, ma’am? 

There’s been a change of plans, 354, Godmother said. Your Jon Doe is no longer to be terminated as were your orders earlier. From now on you and he will be working on another mission, together. Is that clear?

No, ma’am, she said before she could stop herself. He’s not one of ours, so why would I be working with him?

Because, as of this hour, the agency he works for (for clarity’s sake we’ll call them the CIA) has requested your assistance, Godmother said. So for the foreseeable future, you will be on loan to them. Is that clear?

354 really wanted to say no again, but this time she was able to stop herself. Yes, ma’am, she whispered, tightening her grip on her phone. Was there anything else I needed to know, ma’am?

No, that is all, Godmother said. We will be in contact if things change or the CIA doesn’t come through with their payment. Goodbye agent. With that, Godmother hung up, leaving 354 standing feeling slightly unsure about what any of it meant.

She snapped her phone closed and she heard Jon Doe do the same where he