Caeda: Alive or Dead
by demented20
Caeda has ended lots of lives, but can she save her own...

The bathroom door opened, but she didn't look up. "Just give me a second, the women's bathroom is flooded", she told the man who'd walked in to an unexpected surprise, a shapely pair of legs wrapped in tight blue jeans that hugged beautiful hips and cupped a wonderful ass.

Caeda finished her make-up and pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head. "I'm just on my way out." She grabbed her bag and started for the door. He put his hand to her chest.

"Goin so quick?"

Caeda's face didn't change as she snatched his hand and twisted it to the edge of breaking his wrist. "I'm not in the mood. Touch me again, and I'll saw your hand off." She gave his hand a quick twist before she pushed past him and out the door. She stepped into the side of the lobby of the old bus station. It wasn't a busy Thursday which was good for her. She'd stashed some important things in a locker. She'd never had to use her run gear before. She had a change of clothes, a couple of very well made fake passports, cash, weapons, and a couple of virgin cell phones in the bag around her shoulder, but something was nagging her.

She had tried to complete a contract on a man who had obviously been a player at one time in his life, but the information in the contract had said that he didn't have a military background, and didn't specify any unarmed proficiencies. Usually the dossiers on marks were accurate, but this time was different. Caeda thought about the contents of her bag. She'd gotten her passports through the Broker, so she wasn't worried about them being compromised, but she'd gotten her backup pistol through a Sword & Shield contact in New Jersey. It could be compromised too. Everything she usually trusted could be compromised. She stepped out of the bus station feeling naked without a clean weapon and without knowing her next move. Her life was so much about control that she felt like a runaway train as she walked down the block. She kept thinking and worrying until she saw the end of a drug deal going down. She smiled and moved in.

She pulled the bag from around her shoulder and held it by the handles. While the young dealer was putting his money away, Caeda attacked from the shadow. She tossed the bag at the big bodyguard who staggered backwards all while reaching for his gun. She pushed the dealer against the far wall. His back hit hard and her knee hit his gut an instant later. He doubled over, and she punched his jaw then kicked him in the side of the head as he went down. She launched herself on the bodyguard, kicking him in the groin then under the chin. He went down, and Caeda reached into his waist band. "Sorry about this, but I need a gun." The bodyguard moaned and the dealer began to stir. Caeda raised her leg and stomped him in the jaw. "Make sure you put some ice on that", she told him as she grabbed up her bag and hurried down the street with the pistol tucked into the waistband of her jeans. It was loaded and at least she didn't feel naked. Caeda thought about calling a cab, but she couldn't afford to have a record of her whereabouts. She just walked.

Julia's house was in the Bolton Hill area, and Caeda didn't have a hard time getting to Julia's building. She didn't even arouse suspicion. She and Julia were the same size and height. They even moved similar. Of course, Caeda had to keep her face obscured because it was swollen and covered with bruises. She made it to Julia's door and nodded in approval. She'd bought a lock that couldn't be bumped. Caeda had her picking set already out and it took about seven seconds to open it. She walked inside and quickly closed the door behind her. She sighed, about to relax when she heard the beeping of the alarm. "Shit", she said out loud and reached into her bag to pull out her modified computation machine. She rushed over to the alarm with her screwdriver and wire lead attachments before she shook her head and punched in Julia's favorite numbers, 1550, her SAT score. The alarm shut off. Caeda chuckled and tossed her bag to the floor. She collapsed onto Julia's couch and took the pistol from her waistband. She pulled out the magazine, racked the slide and looked down the barrel. At least the drug guy had kept it relatively clean. She wouldn't have to worry about that. She pulled out a cell phone and dialed her handler at the Sword & Shield. "This is Caeda", she announced.

"How can I help you, Caeda", he answered in the businesslike tone he always adopted when he spoke to assassins.

"I need to talk to Branch." He was one of the ranking members of the guild.

There was a pause. "You know the rules, Caeda. Over this sort of connection, that's forbidden."

"Yeah, I know the rules, but I also know that I almost got my brains blown out because the dossier on my contract was wrong. You don't handle that, Branch does. With the way I feel right now, you don't want me to fly to headquarters. Trust me."

There was another pause and then the voice on the other end of the line changed. "Hello, Caeda", Branch said in a conciliatory tone. "I heard what you were saying."

"How did this happen?", Caeda demanded.

"I'm looking up the contract right now. The dossier on your contract was pronounced as complete, with a full background and everything."

"Oh, really?!? Then how the hell did I just barely survive with my skin intact? I've had a fucked up night, Branch. You investigate this personally and tell me what the fuck happened!"

"Take it easy, Caeda", Branch tried.

"Don't try to calm me down. I thought twice about calling you in the first place, but I'm giving you a chance. You find out what happened, and you let me know personally. The last thing the Sword & Shield needs is for the other two guilds to find out that you've been screwing your guild members. You know what would happen if the Shield loses credibility."

Branch sighed on the other end of the line in Zurich. He knew full well. The Tin Knives and the Black Gate were both chomping at the bit to take over the Sword & Shield's lucrative business. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this, Caeda. I swear it. If this is an internal problem, then heads will roll."

"They might roll anyway, Branch." She hung up the phone and stared at the far wall half expecting Jack Caufield to burst through the door and put a bullet in her head. When that didn't happen after a couple of minutes, Caeda went to her cousin's kitchen to find something to eat.

Jack was sitting on the side of the road in his Tahoe working his phone like a sports agent. He'd called half a dozen people. "Do you have anything on an assassin called Caeda?", Jack asked Special Agent Randy Cullen of the FBI.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I have a thing for assassins right now. Just tell me."

Jack heard typing then he heard Cullen's chair squeak when he leaned back in it. "Yeah, Jack we've got a hell of a lot on the assassin called Caeda. Seems like that killer is wanted for a fucking string of unsolved murders, and Interpol has a couple of their people completely dedicated to finding this Caeda."

"Make me a copy of whatever you've got. I'll come pick it up."

Jack drove to a gas station parking lot where Special Agent Cullen was waiting with a thick file. "I looked over this file Jack, and Caeda is wanted for the killing of an FBI agent."

"Yeah", Jack said in a so what tone.

"If you know something, you better let the Bureau know. We lost one of ours. You Army and CIA folks might not understand, but we like to take care of our own."

Jack scowled through his bruises and cuts. "Just give me the file Randy."

"Fuck that, Jack. Are you hiding something? That assassin killed a Special Agent!"

"A Special Agent who sold out my daughter!", Jack shouted angrily. Agent Cullen moved away. He realized that he wasn't talking to the same Jack Caufield that he'd known for the last 15 years. He was talking to the Jack who had existed before that, back when they'd met, back when he was simply called the Bear. "Don't give me that sanctimonious we take care of our own bullshit. I used to think that bastard Will Davis was a friend and he stabbed me in the back, but that's got nothing to do with this Randy. You own me, and I'm collecting. Now give me the file."

Randy Cullen extended his arms and handed it over. "This washes it with us, Jack."

Jack barely heard him. He climbed into his Tahoe and drove off. He went to a truck stop diner and sat by himself. It was the sort of place where people rarely saw faces, and they never asked questions. Jack left the pictures in the file and just read report after report of Caeda's exploits. They were impressive, impressive enough to make him even happier to be alive. Jack sipped from a cup of coffee as he read and reflected. Somebody wanted him dead, but who and why? He had a pretty long list of potential enemies from Italy. He'd done a lot of work there, but something didn't sit right. She said that it had been a mistake, but a mistake where? Had it been her mistake or someone else's mistake? He had to know. He wished that he had another chance to talk to that assassin, but he didn't ever want to see her again. Jack finished his coffee and left the money on the table. The waitress saw the $20 on the table and grinned when the big man left.

Jack was back on the road. He wouldn't stay in one place for too long. Caeda might not be the only assassin after him. He headed down the highway taking care to notice the cars around him. In his rearview he saw something that he'd been seeing for too long. The headlights looked too familiar to him. It was hard to tell these days because every damn car looked the same. It could be nothing, but Jack knew it wasn't.

In the car that Jack was watching a man put down his candy bar and picked up a dedicated two-way radio. "I have eyes on target two", he said. "In pursuit."

"I saw raised police activity at the hospital", the partner said. "We can confirm that target two has killed target one. I repeat, Caeda has been killed."

"Copy that. Leave the area, and rendezvous to intercept target two."

Jack gauged the distance to the trailing car. It was several car lengths back, just at visual range, so far back that most people would never have noticed, but Jack wasn't most people.

"Ok, so let me understand this", Caeda began, trying to keep her temper under control. "I didn't get the information that my mark's a former Ranger and Special Forces operative in the US Army and to make things even more spicy, he's a founding member of Delta Force." Branch had called Caeda with some real information on Jack Caufield that he'd gotten from another source.

"There's more", Branch said. He sounded tired and defeated as he read on. "He worked for the CIA's Special Operations Groups in the late 80's and early 90's. We don't have complete details on his missions, but we have good reason to believe that he has been awarded at least three Intelligence Stars. I'm sorry, Caeda, but this guy's as tough as they come."

Caeda sighed. "Yeah, he's the Bear."

"You lived to talk about it Caeda. You faced the Bear unprepared and lived."

"Yeah, Branch, but what if he changes his mind? Did you cancel the contract?"

"Yes, I did. You said that you've had dealings with the family in the past."

"Yeah that's right, and put them on the off limits list."

"Done."

"Find out who kept this information from me. I need to know that. Get me a name, Branch."

"I'll do it." He hung up.

Dr. Julia Breck had driven home wondering if her cousin would really keep her promise. She shouldn't have worried. She found Amaris lounging on the sofa in one of Julia's oversized night shirts drinking from the only good bottle of wine she had.

"I see you made yourself at home." Julia tossed her keys on the table and came into the living room.

Amaris grinned. "Yeah, you have a nice place."

"Have any trouble getting in?", Julia asked with a smile.

Amaris' grin matched her cousin's. "You could have told me that you had an alarm."

Julia sat down in the chair. "I was going to, but you seemed so confident that you could get in. I couldn't help myself. You managed."

Amaris chuckled. "Yeah, it wasn't hard to guess your code. I was going to use your MCAT if that didn't work."

Julia laughed. "Am I that predictable?"

"You have a healthy ego. I'll put it that way." Amaris smiled and poured herself more wine.

"Did you get me a glass?", Julia asked.

"Of course I did." She poured Julia some of her own wine, and the tired doctor leaned back and kicked off her shoes. "Ah, chilled just right."

"I used to work at a bar remember."

They were quiet for a time while Julia observed her cousin over the rim of her glass. "Let me see, I invited you to come visit me two years ago I think, and you just now manage to show up."

"I've been sort of busy."

"Busy with what? Getting the shit kicked out of you."

"I gave as good as I got."

Julia sighed loudly. "Oh, I had no doubts about that. All the staff at the hospital thinks you're a domestic violence victim, but we both know better. I just put my career in jeopardy for you, and you haven't told me why."

"No I haven't."

"That's not fair, Amaris and you know it. You've treated me like shit for the last five years."

"Now, that's not fair. I haven't treated you like shit at all."

"You've kept me and my brothers at arm's length ever since that day in Philly. I know it hurt you because you lost Paul and your foster family, but I lost John and my mother too on the same day. How do you think that made me feel?"

Amaris shook her head. "I've kept you as close as I dared. I couldn't afford you to be closer to me, to share my life. I probably shouldn't be here now, but I promised you. My life hasn't been worth sharing, and it was better that you remembered me that way I used to be instead of seeing what I've become."

"And what is that?"

Amaris broke eye contact and looked down at the rug. Julia drank some more wine. "I know what you did to those three guys in Philly", Julia told Amaris.

"Well, I've done lots of bad things since then." Amaris drank the rest of her glass of wine wishing that it was whiskey instead. "I'm in the process of retiring though."

Julia felt like her head was shrinking. "Is that what all this is about?" Julia motioned towards her cousin's face. "Is this what retirement looks like?"

"No, this is what failure looks like. I had a job to do tonight, and I blew it miserably, but to be honest, I've never felt so good about failing at something. If I had done what I set out to do tonight, I don't think I could have ever forgiven myself."

Julia was about to say something else when a cell phone rang. Amaris quickly picked up the phone and got off the couch. "This is Caeda", she said in a voice that Julia barely recognized. It was her assassin's voice. Caeda walked towards the kitchen.

Julia suddenly felt alone. She grabbed her coat and started for the door. "I'm going to the all night place down the street to get something to eat", she told her cousin, but guessed that she didn't hear. Caeda turned towards the door when she heard it close but kept listening to Branch. He had lots of information.

Jack Caufield started counting when he passed a lamp post. He kept his eye on the car in the rearview, but made sure that he didn't gather much speed. He couldn't afford to let the guy know that he was on to him. Jack just hoped that his tailer didn't know the area as well as he did. Jack came to an intersection and put on his signal. He turned as if it were any other street, but there was no street there just a dead end. Jack hit the gas and accelerated up a blind hill. He could see lights from a neighborhood in the distance, but the old viaduct had been torn down a couple years earlier and hadn't been rebuilt. A barricade kept traffic from running off the road, but Jack used the front of his SUV to push them forward. Once he opened enough room, he drove his Tahoe to the side of the road and killed the lights. He dragged the rest of the barricade out of the way so that it couldn't be seen from the road. Then he shot out the only light on the short stretch of road with Caeda's silenced pistol. With that done, Jack waited. In a very few seconds, he saw a car make the turn.

Jack's heart pounded in his chest when he heard the engine rev and the car accelerate up the hill breaking the posted speed limit early on. It passed Jack and his Tahoe going nearly 50 mph. The driver looked to his right and saw the Tahoe sitting there, but it was too late. He couldn't stop. As soon as he realized what happened, the road ended in a sheer drop of over 40 feet. The car fell and crashed and finally came to a stop against a thick concrete stump sticking out of the ground.

Jack started down. He bounced and slid down the drop with the gun in his hand. The lights were still shining on the smoking and smashed vehicle. Jack ran to the driver side, but his haste wasn't warranted. The driver had been saved once by the airbag, but his neck had snapped somewhere along the path to the bottom. It hung at a strange angle. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth. Jack slipped on his winter gloves and looked around the car. He pulled the gun from the car and tossed it into the darkness. He quickly and carefully searched the inside. He found some papers on the seat and a two way radio. He then took the keys out of the ignition and opened the trunk. He started rifling through the two bags in there. He found weapons and clothes, and a locked box. Jack beat the box against the concrete stump a couple of times before it opened and out fell forged documents including passports and visas. He found money and a contact number. Jack had everything he needed. He turned off the car's headlights and started up the hill. He put the barricades back and drove off. It would be a long while before anybody found the car in the ditch.

Jack was several miles away when he stopped and looked at what he'd found. It was a folder full of pictures. He saw pictures of himself and of the assassin Caeda. Her picture had a red line drawn across it and his had a bull's-eye drawn across it. Then it all made sense to him. He looked down at the grainy low light photo of the assassin entering the emergency room at Johns Hopkins and of him leaving the emergency room. It all started to make sense. Jack didn't know the details, but he knew the truth. He looked when the two-way radio started crackling.

"I see her! Damn it she's not even in a disguise!", one partner tried to tell his dead friend. "Target 2 did not eliminate target one! I repeat target 2 did not eliminate target one! Caeda's alive!" Jack listened as the excited voice continued. "Moving in to intercept and eliminate!" Jack had a moment of pity for the poor fool trying to kill Caeda. He had no way of knowing that the man on the other end of the radio was wrong. He wasn't even looking at the assassin.

"This is bullshit, Branch", Caeda yelled into the phone. "I don't care how trusted this asshole has been or what agency he works for or how much he's paid to offer intel. He screwed me!"

"I don't have any excuses. You're absolutely right. I know that sorry means nothing to you right now."

Amaris took a deep breath to scream into the phone, but she realized that it was useless. "I'm coming there."

Branch was taken aback. "Umm uhh, well we always invite our members…"

"Don't start. I don't need your…" Caeda paused when she thought she heard something.

"Caeda?", Branch called into his phone.

She opened her mouth to finish the sentence, but she heard a gunshot and a scream of pure terror. Caeda's face turned ghostly white. "Julia", she breathed and spun. She snatched up her buck knife, threw open the third floor window and jumped.

The long white night shirt billowed behind Caeda as she glided gracefully and easily through the cold night air across the narrow opening to the house next door. Caeda put her hand out and her finger tips touched the stone wall. She used her power to adhere herself to the wall and used momentum to whip her body around the corner of the building. Her fingers only held onto the wall long enough to change her direction. Next her bare foot went against the same house. She ran along the wall parallel to the ground, gaining speed as she came to the edge of the house. She planted her foot and pushed off hard, her powerful leap sending her sailing to a lamp post. She used her right hand to catch the shaft and swing herself around the corner. The scene unfolded before her all at once. Her cousin was crouched behind a car with a man stranding up tall, raising a gun to shoot down over the hood of the car. That was all Caeda had to see.

She put both feet against the wall of a building and pushed off with all the desperation in the world. She took the knife from between her teeth and flipped it open. She prayed she wouldn't be too late. Caeda saw Julia's face as she faced her death. Caeda felt that dark anger come over her, colder than the coldest winter wind. She pulled her arm back as she came down and stabbed the knife into the only part of the man's arm that she could reach. The blade pierced the shooter's jacket and then his shoulder. The tip of the blade struck bone and broke off inside of him. He screamed from the pain, but he barely had time to react before Caeda landed and kicked him under his wrist. His arm went up and the gun went loose in his hand. Caeda spun in a tight circle. Her long shirt rose up exposing her silky panties, a sight the shooter usually would have paid to see, but now it just caused him pain. She kicked him in the center of the stomach, and followed with an elbow to the face. When he staggered, Caeda took him by the wrist with both her hands, and brought it down over her rising knee. He yelled again when he felt his bone fracture.

He took a swing with his uninjured left hand. Caeda ducked without losing speed and punched him in the jaw. His head spun and she put her hand flat against his face and pushed his head towards the brick wall of the building behind him. He managed to barely hit Caeda in the side of the head with a backhand. She took it with a grimace and kneed the man in the gut. The man had been caught in Caeda's whirlwind. He hadn't seen her coming, but here she was out of seeming nothing. His entire right side hurt like it was on fire, but he got his wits enough to send a short hard strike to Caeda's middle. It backed her up enough for him to slip out. Caeda chased him and tripped him, but instead of trying to stay in to finish his target he ran, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Caeda chased for a few strides but stopped. She turned and jumped over the parked car. Julia flinched when she landed. "Oh my God!", Julia cried and threw her arms around her cousin's shoulders.

"Now you know how my life's been for the last few years."

Julia responded with more cries. "Come on, Julia. Let's go before that guy comes back with more ordinance." Caeda helped her cousin up and they started back to Julia's place. Caeda tried to step quickly because now that the adrenaline was going away, she felt every bump in the concrete and the icy wind felt like little knives against her bare skin.

"Aren't you cold?", Julia managed to ask when they were half way back.

"And my ribs hurt, but I'm too tough to show it", Amaris said with a straight face. Julia chuckled and Amaris grinned. Once they were back inside, Caeda wrapped herself in a big quilt and Julia gave her some coffee.

"Who was that?"

"I don't know."

Julia sat down and tried to stop her hands from shaking. "Amaris, you owe me at least some explanation. Why did some random person try to kill me?"

"He wasn't trying to kill you. We look alike. He was trying to kill me. I just don't know why?"

"Maybe I can help you. We can talk it out."

"I don't think my problems are within your experience, Julia."

"Just try me. What can it hurt? After getting shot at, my mind is fully awake believe me."

Caeda shrugged her shoulders and started explaining. She told everything that she knew.

Julia took it all in and thought for a moment. "Did you ever think that this Bear fellow wasn't the target? Maybe you were the target."

Caeda contemplated. "That's why I didn't get his information. They wanted me to go in there blind so the Bear would kill me, but there was a chance that I would kill him anyway. Maybe both of us were the targets. That has to be it. That guy who took a shot at you was back up. He was sent here to kill whichever one of us lived. It makes perfect sense now. Somebody wants me dead and him dead too. Somehow the Bear and I have pissed off the same person." Caeda shook her head. "I have to get to the Shield."

"What about me? I can't leave my house. There's a crazy killer who thinks I'm you."

"I've already thought about that." Amaris picked up Julia's phone and dialed.

"Hello."

"Hey, Chet this is Amaris. What are you doin?"

"Sitting on my back porch watching it snow."

"I need your help."

"I'm already moving", Chet said as he walked into his house and closed the back door. "Where'm I going?"

"Baltimore."

Chet looked at his watch. "Be there in 3 hours."

True to his word, three hours later, there was a knock at the door. Caeda opened it. "Good grief girl, what the hell happened to you?", he said as soon as he saw her face.

"I fought the Bear."

"Never met him, but I've heard of him."

Just then Julia came from around the corner. Chet remembered Julia from when she had visited Amaris during their high school years. Just like her cousin, Julia had grown into a beautiful young woman. "My goodness, you've gotten so pretty I wouldn't believe you're a real doctor, just play one on tv."

Julia smiled. "I get that a lot."

Chet turned to Caeda who was already dressed, packed, and ready to go. "Why're you trying to ruin your cousin's life, girl?", he asked with a wink.

"She's not ruining it, inconveniencing it maybe", Julia defended.

Caeda put her hand on the door knob. "Chet's going to watch after you for a few days until this is all straightened out. I'll see you after I get back." Caeda walked out the door.

"I'll hold you to that", Julia called out as her cousin left.

Chet sat down near the front door, not looking dangerous at all on the surface, but Julia knew differently. If her cousin had called this man to protect her then he must be a badass. "Would you like some coffee or something, Mr. Perkins?"

He smiled at her like an uncle. "Sure. I take it black."

Julia grinned. "That makes it easier." She came back after a few minutes with two steaming cups. She handed him one and sat down with the other. "Do you have to do this often for Amaris?"

He shook his head and took a sip. "No, she doesn't ask for help very often. She called me because she's worried about herself and even more worried about you. She's gone to great lengths to keep you safely out of her life until she can fix it."

"I've been to those web sites about assassins, but I didn't know they really existed."

"It's not like in the movies. We take out the trash, that's all."

"I think I know what you mean. There's certainly lots of trash in the world."

"Learned from personal experience?"

Julia nodded. "In Philadelphia I learned the hard way."

Chet grinned, but there was little humor in it. "There's no way to learn that lesson other than the hard way. That's where guys like me come in."

"And Amaris", Julia put in.

Chet shook his head. "She's damn good, but she's not like me. She's been looking for love or death for the last five years. Me, I'd spit in death's eye, and don't give a damn about love."

"You love Amaris."

This time Chet's grin hid his feelings. He stood up. "Good coffee", he told Julia and reached for the door.

Julia's face changed to surprise. "You're leaving? I thought you were going to protect me!"

"Sometimes a good defense is a good offense. I'm going huntin'. I'll be back in a couple of hours. Just lock the door and don't open it 'till I get back."

Seventy-four minutes later, Chet came back with three bags full of food. "You looked hungry." Julia was treated to some lunch from one of the nicest spots in the Inner Harbor. "What time does your shift start today?"

"I was thinking about calling out, seeing as how someone is trying to kill me."

Chet took a big bite out of his cheeseburger and shook his head. "You don't have to worry about that anymore. I handled him before I got us lunch."

Julia put her food down. "Just that easy?", she asked. "Nothing else to it?"

"Nope, it's just that easy. I don't agonize over things like your cousin does."

Julia couldn't believe what she was hearing, and she couldn't understand why she wasn't freaking out. She was having lunch with a killer and yet she felt completely safe and looked after.

"I'll hang around you for a few days", Chet said just before washing down some of his sandwich. "Just to make sure he didn't have any buddies, but you need to rest up. You have lives to save."

"I wouldn't think a man like you would care about such things."

"Why would you say that? You do what you do, and I do what I do."

"Make sure my life stays busy?"

Chet leveled his gaze on the doctor. "Julia, I don't send people to the emergency room. I send them to the morgue. So unless you become a medical examiner you won't see anybody that I've come after. Just take heart in the knowledge that there're lots more people in this world like you, than there are like me."

Chet's words hung in the air then Julia's phone rang. It was the hospital. "This is Doctor Breck."

"Yes, doctor, I have the results of the last test we ran on that domestic victim that ran. It was positive."

"What!", Julia screamed into the phone. "You wait until now to call me! Sorry doesn't cut it." Julia slammed down her phone. Chet looked on with rapt attention.

"It's about Amaris. I have to call her." Julia dialed Amaris' cell phone, but it was sitting on a table at her apartment in New York. It went straight to voice mail. She tried the home number hoping that someone would answer, but it too went to voice mail. Chet waited patiently for Julia's hysteria to die down.

"What is it?", he asked calmly.

"Amaris' test came back positive and she doesn't know. I have to get in touch with her. She has to know before she does what she plans to do." She explained the rest.

Chet frowned and thought for a moment. "There's no way to get in touch with her", he lied. "She's in the wind." Julia fell into her chair and sank her head into her hands and started crying. Chet wanted to comfort her, but he was ill equipped for that sort of thing. He knew of course that he could have left a message with the Sword & Shield for Amaris to call as soon as she arrived, but he wouldn't do that. It would cloud her thinking and right now she couldn't afford that. Caeda had to do what she had to do, test or no test this had to happen.

A twin engine plane landed at a private strip in southern Tuscany. The strip was empty until a helicopter landed some yards away. Jack Caufield's bulk took up the entire doorway as he walked down the stairs to the cement. The copter's door opened and a serious looking man got out and took off his shades. The two men approached cautiously. Jack knew that he had to be cautious. Someone wanted him dead and every step could be his last, but he knew that he had to trust someone. No one could do what he planned to do completely alone. He would need help, and the only man he trusted enough was standing right here.

"Been a long time, Jack", Mario Napolitano said. "I see your looks have improved." He motioned towards the bruises and cuts. "I didn't think anything could get you back to Italy. Then you call me all of the sudden."

"I can't talk here. I need to talk to you in private", Jack told the SISDE agent.

"I knew you were going to cause me trouble. I should have shot you back when I intended to. You know I'd probably be out of prison by now", Mario teased.

Jack smiled despite his still sore face. "You knew better than to try."

Mario's face finally broke and he slapped Jack on the shoulder. "Come in the helo. It's clean. We can talk."

Jack threw his one bag inside and off they went. He started explaining what he knew. Mario listened attentively, but Jack had expected nothing less. Mario had risen to his position within the Italian domestic intelligence agency partially because of his ability to listen and discern. At one time Mario had been an Italian Army officer, but fate had intervened. In the late 70's the Italian Intel services were corrupt to the core. The Italian government had secretly asked for NATO help to weed out the corruption. It was so bad though that the NATO leaders decided to clean the Italian's house for them. One of the operatives sent in to eliminate corrupt Italian intel officers was Jack Caufield. He operated covertly inside Italy for nearly two years. It was a completely black op and a successful one. His only contact with the Italian government had been Mario Napolitano. They knew more dirt and secrets about the Italian government that its own leaders did. That's why Jack trusted this man with his life, and that's why he listened when Mario began to speak.

"I have heard of this Caeda, but to my knowledge she has never operated in Italy before."

"Damn. I was hoping that perhaps someone on my shit list matched someone on her shit list."

Mario nodded. "A good assumption my friend, but you should not think so narrowly. You have worked around the world, and so has this Caeda. There is a chance that the link is not here in Italy, but your instincts are correct more often than they are wrong. We will check thoroughly before we dismiss your notion." This was the first ray of light Jack'd had in his life in the last day or so. "But first you need to eat and get some rest. I'm taking you to a safe place. I have some of my men guarding the place. You won't have to worry about anything."

"Thanks, Mario. I knew I could trust you."

Mario looked at Jack and smiled as they flew on. He ordered the pilot to hurry. Mario had some preparations to make.

While Jack was on his way to a Tuscan villa, Caeda was walking to an office building on the outskirts of Zurich. There was never much foot traffic coming in or going out of this particular building the locals noticed, but it wasn't unheard of. That's why no one paid particular attention when a comely young woman with short dark hair opened the door and walked inside. The lobby was more spacious than it would have appeared from the outside and a reception/security station was positioned near the center back of the room. It was manned by two people, a man and a woman.

"May I help you?", the woman asked in German.

"I'm here to see the Chief of the Section", Caeda replied and looked the woman in the eye.

"He's waiting on you." She inclined her head towards the door on Caeda's right. She started towards it and heard a buzz before a heavy magnetic lock disengaged. A spring pushed the door ajar and Caeda pulled it open. She could feel that the finish on the door was the type that didn't hold fingerprints, nothing in the building did. Sometimes she appreciated the little things.

Branch was indeed waiting when Caeda walked in. The entire office had been excited at the news that Caeda was coming in person. In the five short years that she had been a member of the Sword & Shield, she'd proven that she was one of the best in recent memory. Caeda had built up a cult following within the guild and was getting towards legendary status.

Caeda had met Branch one time face to face, and neither looked like what they were. While her beauty disarmed people, Branch's normalcy did. He was average height, average build, with brownish hair, a nondescript face, and sleepy looking eyes. Caeda saw past all of that mostly because she knew that while Branch was a very able Chief of Section, or colonel within the S&S, he had been a very good operator in the past. He held out his hand and Caeda shook it.

"Come this way." He motioned for her to step into a narrow hall. He came right behind her. Caeda didn't like him being so close to her in this confined space. She'd already seen what could happen when her advantages were negated. She had to force herself to not step more quickly. Finally the hall expanded a little and two banks of one way glass showed two operations rooms one next to the other.

"These are the brain of our operation", Branch told Caeda while they stopped and looked through the windows. There were monitors all over the place. It looked like a movie set, but everything in those rooms was real. They monitored everything about the guild from those two rooms. The technicians in those rooms rarely got to see a guild member and they would have been at a fever pitch had they known that Caeda was standing behind the one way glass, but after a minute or so Branch and Caeda walked on.

Branch's office had a window, but the shades were closed. "This is what I know. The contract on John Caufield was bought and paid for by a man named Giuseppe DiNardo." Caeda knew how guarded this sort of information was. Within the guild the name of a client was protected like fresh water in a desert.

"Who is he, that name doesn't mean anything to me."

"The truth is, I wasn't able to find much information on DiNardo because, as you know, our information lines have been unreliable recently."

"You were able to get the real information on Jack Caufield."

Branch sighed with frustration. "I had to call in a personal favor to get that information for you Caeda. We've been too reliant on interrelated lines of intel. It won't happen again in the future, but for now we are in a bad position."

"Just tell me how I got the wrong information."

Branch sighed again. He was able to give out secrets to the inner workings of the guild that no normal member ever knew, but he knew the future of the guild rode on this. Caeda had the stature to cause the guild to crumble. "We get our information from a variety of sources. We both know that one of the most important functions of the guild is to give our operators information on their targets whether they're cat-burglars or assassins. We gather the information from our sources and work it over in house. We have teams of people who do nothing but go over raw data and collate it, but we got lazy. We found a sympathetic government agent who has access to stuff our normal sources never do. He's the ultimate insider. He has his hands inside every major intelligence network in the world, he has access to CIA, GRU, SVR, SIS, DGSE you name it. He's like an answered prayer. After a time, he stopped giving us just raw data; he gave us complete dossiers like he does for his government bosses. They were first rate, professional, and always accurate. Internally, we give priority to those who are our best. You are certainly one of them, Caeda, so for the last year and a half every single dossier you've received from us has come from this one man."

Caeda listened because until the day before, her information from the Shield had been impeccable.

"We shouldn't have become so reliant on him. We have rules against it to protect us from something just like this. This is our worst nightmare."

"No Branch", Caeda had anger in her voice. "It's my worst nightmare! Why did he double cross you and me?"

"I wish I knew. There might be a connection between him and DiNardo, but I have no way of knowing what it is."

Caeda didn't know either, but she was going to find out. "You still haven't told me who this man is."

Branch started to sweat. "He's high ranking member of Italian intelligence."

"Just give me a name."

Branch took out a single sheet of paper and wrote the name down in block letters. Caeda read it, but didn't pick up the paper. She stood up. "I think it's time for you to show me out."

"What are you going to do?", Branch asked, sounding emasculated looking at Caeda.

"I'm going to do what you should be doing. This man has done harm to the Shield and you know the penalty for that, but you're afraid of him."

"I'm afraid of what he knows. He knows too many secrets about the Shield. If he were to bring the governments of the West against us, we couldn't survive."

"So you planned to sacrifice me?"

"No, I had hoped that you would understand the precarious nature of our situation", Branch said as he turned his back to her and leaned against the wall.

"Assuming I do, where does that leave me, where does that leave the guild?"

"You can't understand", Branch began. "For you it's about the honor and integrity of the guild, but you're wrong." He turned quickly to face her. His normally sleepy looking eyes were keen and focused. "It's about the money and the power. You're just a pawn in the game. Assassins come and go. I don't care how many of your internet fans think of you as the angel of death or something. You're just a woman with nowhere else to turn, and I won't let you bring down this operation! You can't go after him!"

Caeda exhaled and looked directly at Branch with her icy cold stare. She knew what had to be done, but he was too pompous and far removed from his glory days to realize it. He thought status and power would cower her, but Caeda was hard to scare. She was smart though, and she knew what this would mean. She thought of Russell again and longed to feel his arms around her and his skin against her skin. This was for him, for their future together, more than it was for her. Caeda blinked slowly, when her eyes opened, she struck. Her right hand was invisible as she hit Branch under the chin. He gagged and staggered against his desk. Caeda was already on him. His instincts kicked in, but he was too slow and too surprised to fend off an assassin in her prime. Caeda took Branch by his silk tie and pulled the knot tight. She pushed off and somersaulted over Branch's head landing behind him. His sleepy eyes strained in their sockets as Caeda pulled his tie with all of her might. He was face down on his desk with Caeda's foot in his back as she bore down. He couldn't even gag as she choked the life out of him. Blood ran from hemorrhages in his eyes, and his tongue extended from his mouth like a thick worm as he died in a puddle of his own saliva.

"I can't believe I just did that", Caeda said out loud as soon as she let go of the tie and ran her hands through her hair. She looked around the room, but didn't see any cameras. She hadn't expected there to be any inside of Branch's own office, but cameras were so small these days that it would take an hour or more to search the entire office. She didn't have that long. She had to get out, but she couldn't go the way she came. She moved the shades aside and looked at the window. She picked up the chair that she'd been sitting in and threw. The window cracked, but didn't shatter. Caeda drew her leg back and sent a sharp kick at the center of the crack. The glass broke into a million pieces after her hard kick. She winced in pain from having to torque her body. An alarm sounded throughout the building as pieces of glass rained down to the street, so she couldn't worry about her pain. Caeda looked back over the room and she saw the sheet of paper with the name written on it. She thought to reach back for it, but she could hear movement near the office door. She jumped from the window, just like she'd done hundreds of times in the past, but this time was different.

A security official rushed into Branch's office with a gun drawn, but there was no target for him to shoot. He ran over to Branch's body and checked for a pulse. He knew before he touched him that there wouldn't be one. Caeda had killed the Chief of Section. The official turned to the group that had gathered in the doorway. The expressions ranged from disbelief to sadness to anger. "Put it out. The Sword & Shield is looking for Caeda. Five million euros to the person who brings her in… Alive or dead."

Jack Caufield had slept but didn't feel rested. He'd been looking over an endless stream of files. All they did was stir up old memories that he'd put behind him. None of them helped him figure out who could want both he and Caeda dead. Jack took a drink of wine and set the glass down. He looked at his wallet sitting on the table and opened it to the pictures. He got a warm feeling when he saw the wallet sized family photo there. He saw his wife's smiling face sitting next to his mug, and there was Jan with her hands on Thomas' shoulders. Then Jack's eyes opened up wide. "I'll be damned!", he yelled as it hit him like a thunder bolt.

"What is it?", Mario asked from the other room.

"We've been thinking about ancient fucking history from the 70's and 80's. Caeda was just a gleam in her old man's eye when I was doing my business over here in Italy. No, the connection is much more recent. It's Romano Scarlforo."

Mario frowned.

"That bastard was in my office offering me a chance to get in on his dirty business deal."

"But Romano is dead."

"Exactly! Caeda killed Romano Scarlforo a year ago. We're looking for an associate of Romano Scarlforo, or his company. That's the only person in Italy who would want me and Caeda both dead."

Mario stood next to an excited Jack Caufield. He had to be the voice of caution and restraint. "If you are correct, my friend, you still have to narrow it. Scarlforo had many associates. This isn't the old days. I can't have you going around my country killing everyone connected to Scarlforo."

Jack grinned. "I don't have to, Mario. I only have to kill the one who's trying to kill me." Jack got back to work, but now he had something to look for. It gave him new energy and hope, but his time was running out.

Caeda entered Italy posing as a French citizen. She rented a car with cash and drove south to Tuscany. She had a general idea of where to go, but she had to keep moving because she was being hunted by people without rules. She drove all day and into the night. She didn't have any contacts in Italy and limited resources, but she did have the name and a general location. It turned out to be enough. After some hours of searching, Caeda came to a little town south of Sienna. It was getting near dark. She heard church bells ringing a carol for Advent, and suddenly Caeda got the notion to pray, but she dismissed it. God didn't listen to people like her. Besides, if she died tonight she'd get a chance to meet Him, if only briefly.

After a little more driving, Caeda found the villa she was looking for. It was guarded by professional looking men, but Caeda was in no hurry to attack. She parked the car and went on foot to the edge of the patrolled area. She wasn't armed because she dared not try to sneak weapons across the border. She was more interested in sneaking herself across the border. She'd have to arm herself before she did any serious work. She planned to make her move before sun up, which gave her some time. Caeda lay down under a bush with a blanket wrapped around her body and she was able to do something she hadn't done in two days, sleep. When she woke up, it would be time to go after the man whose name Branch had written on that paper, Mario Napolitano.

"It has to be this guy", Jack said as he looked at the paper trail that he'd pieced together on a table top. He'd started with Caeda's suspected victims and laid them side by side against his own list. There was only one person who would want both of the dead who had access to the amount of money it would take to hire a top level assassin like Caeda. "Giuseppe DiNardo", Jack told Mario. Mario looked past Jack's shoulder because he couldn't look over it. "This has to be the asshole. He was in my office sitting next to Scarlforo for God's sake. I should have known! It doesn't matter. I have him now. It says here that he lives only a few miles from this location. I can kill him tonight."

Mario shook his head in astonishment. "I can see you haven't lost it, Jack."

Jack looked at him and smiled. "We still make a good team, Mario. Why don't you get out of the spook business and come work for me at CSB Systems. You'll make a hell of a lot more money."

"Tempting Jack, but I must serve my country."

Jack nodded. "Well, when you come to your senses, look me up." Jack grabbed his coat. "Hey, do you have a vehicle I can borrow?"

"I'll do one better. Let me send some of my men with you. You don't need to do anymore of those solo jobs. We aren't plebes anymore." Mario ordered some men to ready a van and to get Jack suited up in proper gear and to get him proper weapons. Jack introduced himself to the head of Mario's paramilitary outfit. He was a short fireplug of a man who looked like he knew his business. He wouldn't be going though. Jack dressed in black urban assault gear with a M4 carbine as primary weapon and the ubiquitous Beretta 9mm as his side arm. They gave him a tactical radio as well. It worked out since Jack spoke Italian very well. It took some time to get outfitted and several more hours to plan their attack, but finally Jack and a team of six men plus a driver loaded into a van and were off. Jack's stated mission was to kill Giuseppe DiNardo, but the other men had another target in mind. They were tasked to kill Jack Caufield.

Once the van left the villa, Mario face turned so angry that he looked like he was ready to burst into flames. He snatched up his phone. "Your men failed!", Mario growled into the phone when his call was answered.

"What are you talking about?", the empath Giuseppe DiNardo asked.

"The men you sent to America to tie up the loose ends failed! Jack Caufield is alive and so is that bitch Caeda! Both of them are alive!"

"How do you know?", Giuseppe asked in a voice so calm that it made Mario even madder.

"Jack the Bear was sleeping in my villa trying to figure out who's trying to kill him. If he'd found the link between myself and you I'd be a corpse right now! You fucked this up big time little brother. As usual it falls to me to clean up your mess. That's why Papa sent you away all those years ago and disowned you. You always think you're more clever than you actually are. You have that gift, Giuseppe, but your instincts are for shit! Now listen, I'm sending Jack to your house with some of my men. He'll be dead by the time they arrive, but you have to get rid of the body."

"That should be no problem. What about Caeda?"

"I don't know. I'll call that weasel Branch and see if he knows where she is. I can probably get him to put a bounty on her head."

Giuseppe scoffed. "There's no way a guild is going to put a price on the head of one of their best assassins."

"They will if I tell them too! I know their secrets, and they can't afford to cross me. You just handle your part of this Giuseppe, and you let me handle my part."

Caeda had already pierced the outer layer of security. It was mostly electronic which was fine by her. She'd trained for years at how to beat those things. Now she moved through tall grass down a gentle decline towards some out buildings behind Mario Napolitano's villa. Sentries came into view once or twice, but mostly they let their motion sensors do the work for them. She could see that they were armed though, so one of them was about to die. Caeda grabbed a recently fallen branch and crept closer to a sentry who'd stopped to survey the area. Like most humans he didn't bother to look up or down. He didn't see Caeda until he tripped over her body. He stumbled in the darkness, reaching out with his hand to catch the wall of one of the outbuildings. Caeda was already on her feet with her trained body coiled like a spring ready to release its power. She did just that, sending that branch forward like a slugger into the sentry's jaw. It broke with a crack and he went down bleeding and moaning. He wasn't a bad soldier, but he never had a chance. Caeda put her hand over his mouth and pressed down hard. She pulled his own combat knife from its sheath and slipped the razor sharp blade between its owner's ribs. His legs kicked and his face flushed as the assassin killed him.

It didn't take long for his body to become still. His dead eyes stared up at a starry sky that he'd never see again. Caeda worked quickly around his body, checking his pockets and gathering his weapons. They were more bulky than she was used to, but they would work just fine. She moved closer to the buildings making sure to stay in the dead sentry's responsible area. She came to the back of a building and slung the Italian issue SC/90 over her shoulder. She put her palms against the back of the building and climbed up to the short pitched roof. She lay there prone and was able see the entire area. She could see the back of the villa, the helipad, guard houses, and the driveway. She counted the men dressed in combat bdu's and memorized their mannerisms and tendencies. Caeda was forced to duck down when a van loaded with men exited the front gate. She poked her head up, but had to duck again quickly because a man was coming right at her. He walked into the building and closed the door behind him.

Caeda rolled onto her back and looked up that the same starry sky that the dead sentry couldn't see and knew that the next few minutes could be the rest of her life. She'd either win the right to grow old and love Russell the way she wanted to, or she die right here in a beautiful Tuscan meadow behind a villa. Caeda had to push her emotions down, but she was having a hard time. "I know You have no reason to listen to me, but I've never complained. I've never asked why me. I've never begged You for anything since I figured out my fate. I don't deserve mercy or anything like that. All I want is a chance to have what everybody else does. Just a chance." Caeda sighed then and rolled back to her stomach to look at the sentries. It was time to move.

She jumped to the side of the small building and smiled as she looked through the window. The man who'd gone in came out after a few minutes so he never saw Caeda slip in through the side window. She stood in the middle of farm equipment and most importantly she stood in the middle of lots of gasoline. Caeda stayed inside for nearly five minutes working furiously. When she was finished, she carefully pulled herself and her new bounty through the window and towards the helipad. A few moments later the entire outbuilding exploded with a ball of fire reaching towards the sky. Broken glass, chunks of wood, and pieces of metal flew into the courtyard. Alarms sounded while Caeda circled around.

A sentry turned a corner running in a rush. Caeda leveled the rifle and pulled the trigger. She walked three rounds up his torso. His body armor stopped one round, but not the other two. He died and Caeda turned to her left. She saw men inside of a room about to spill into the yard. She picked up one of her little goodies from the shed, lit the fuse and threw it. The molatov cocktail set the doorway on fire. Men screamed and screeched. One man even shot his friend in the back in fright. Caeda readied another. She threw it another doorway. It too burst into flames. She then turned to the first doorway and brought up her rifle. She fired the entire magazine through the flames into the men trapped inside. Some men braved the flames and jumped from the killing room. The first man to jump through the flames caught two bullets to the face, but the second made it out just as the rifle ran out of bullets. Caeda quickly slapped in another mag and killed him too. By now, more men were running out of their quarters. Caeda fired into their midst not taking time to aim carefully. She didn't have to. She cut the men down. Some took cover behind their fallen comrades and opened up on the assassin. She ran towards the villa, bullets right behind her the entire way. A sentry pulled a grenade from his vest and threw it in her direction.

"Shit!", Caeda exclaimed and jumped to her right, sticking to the side of the building then climbing up the wall and onto the roof. She climbed as fast as she ever had in her life. The men watching couldn't believe it was real. The grenade exploded just as pulled her leg up. She felt the shock of the explosion. Caeda rolled to her feet and jumped down to the ground. She fired two short burst, and two men died.

Inside the villa, Mario put down his drink and went to the window when he heard the explosion. His yard was on fire then he heard men shriek and scream before being cut down by gunfire. "Jack?", he said aloud, but he knew it couldn't be. He'd put Jack in a van with some of his best men. He was dead. Mario pressed his face to glass and saw what only could have been specter pass across his field of vision. It moved from place to place like no human could. It moved and killed without warning and without hesitation. Mario's breath caught when he saw it stand still long enough for his mind to comprehend what it was. It was a woman. He could see that now, but no sooner had he seen her than she was gone to kill more of his men.

"Start the copter!", Mario yelled at the top of his lungs. "Hurry HURRY!", he screamed when his men stood in stunned surprise and shock.

Mario ran out the door towards the helipad. Caeda was on the other side of the villa when she heard the engine whine. She could make out the tip of the blade as it started to churn. She had to hurry, but there were still sentries trying to kill her. These weren't clumsy oafs, these were men trained in their craft, but they had never faced anyone quite like Caeda. She didn't have time to kill them all though. She had to take a chance. She threw down the rifle and grabbed a length of rope from the side of the burned out tool shed. Bullets flew past her. She could feel each one through its hot deadly flight. One grazed her shoulder and another her ankle, but she kept running. She jumped to the side of the wall and ran up it like no human should have been able to. She was tying the rope around her torso as she ran. The helicopter was off the ground now. Caeda had the rest of the rope coiled in her hands. She swung her arms as she ran as fast as she could at the right moment Caeda let the rope go. The end wrapped around the skid of the copter. As soon as the rope went taunt, Caeda started climbing. She climbed so quickly that the pilot didn't even feel a change in trim. She unwrapped the rope from the skid while she used her power to adhere to the bottom of the copter. She coiled the rope again, and climbed to the side of the craft.

Mario's had no words for the emotion he felt when he looked out of his window and saw two eyes staring back at him. Her face was emotionless, but her eyes told him everything he needed to know. He took a breath to bark orders to the pilot and to his chief security guard, but she was too fast. She pulled open the door with her left hand and tossed a grenade into the cabin with her right. While people looked on in helpless panic, Caeda tied one end of the rope around Mario's wrist. The other end was still around her shoulders and torso. She hit him in the throat just to make him lean her way, then she took a handful of his hair and pulled. He fell out of the craft. Caeda let herself slide to the skid. She gritted her teeth in anticipation of Mario's full weight and force of his fall bearing down on her shoulders. It hurt a lot, but she was plenty strong enough to endure it. Then with less than a second to spare, Caeda pushed off. The grenade exploded above her and the helicopter burst in to flames. It fell towards the ground like a vanquished dragon. Caeda and her tandem partner fell towards the ground. Caeda had already angled herself to land near the roof. Her hands and boots hit the wall, but she didn't take the full force of stopping herself at once. She let herself glide down, using her power to slow her fall until finally she landed like a feline on the ridge of his roof. She took the rope in her hands and quickly circled it over and over around vertical support until Mario hit the bottom of his fall. This time Mario let out a scream. He was aware enough to hold on with both hands so his shoulder wouldn't be ripped out of socket, but it hurt just the same. He managed to free himself though and run into the house. Caeda was right behind him.

Mario knocked over a vase near the side door and snatched up the gun that he kept hidden inside. It felt good to have the steel in his hand. He ran away from the door wondering where to go. Mario was no push over. He'd been in the field many times, but that had been a quarter century ago. He was no longer a young man. Jack had survived an attack by this assassin, but Mario knew that even in his best days he'd never been as good as Jack. Now he was going to have to figure out a way to live through this.

Flames from the outside sent their eerie light through every window of his villa as he searched for place to go, but as he rounded a corner, there she was. He could see her well. Every part of her was a threat. She stood without a gun or any other visible weapon, but she didn't back down or seek cover that made her even more dangerous to look at. Mario saw the skin tight one piece suit that showed off the lithe shape of her trained young body. He could see the smudges and dirt on her skin and the bone structure of her that made people fawn over her face, but then he looked at those eyes and jolted himself into action. He raised his pistol and fired.

Caeda casually moved to her left. The bullet flew over her shoulder and hit the wall behind her. He fired again and again. She stepped towards him, dodging each shot. She knew where the bullets were going before he did. Caeda had dodged bullets from several shooters at once. Dodging this man's shots was easy, despite his good aim. Each shot he missed took its toll on his mind. His face went from serious and in control to unsure of himself to exasperation to panic to disbelief to despair as he fired for the last time. "How can this be!", he yelled in Italian. Caeda was standing seven feet from the muzzle of his pistol, but he could not hit her.

"Are you finished?", Caeda asked him calmly.

Mario looked defeated. The gun hung towards the ground in his right hand. It wasn't empty, but it was useless against this assassin. She was like a hole in reality standing right in front of him. She took a step towards him and he backed up. His face was a wreck, a mirror of his nerves. He was completely unnerved.

"I need answers from you", Caeda told him.

"Stay away! I won't talk!"

This seemed to disappoint the assassin. "Don't make this hard on yourself. You're going to talk one way or another."

Mario knew that no one could hold out under enough torture forever, and someone who could bring death like Caeda could, certainly knew how to inflict prolonged pain. He was right, although she was loathed to do it. She came towards him now without the least bit of fear or hesitation. She was in control although she didn't have a gun. Mario thought to his younger brother Giuseppe. She still didn't know about his role in this. Perhaps he could live long enough to avenge this debacle, because once again Mario was going to have to clean up his brother's mistakes. Mario's grip tightened around the pistol, and he raised it to his temple. He prepared for the instant of his death and curled his finger around the trigger. His last act of defiance was to deny this assassin the truth and the pleasure of ending his life. He imagined the bullet leaving the muzzle and putting a big hole in the opposite side of his head. It wasn't to be.

Mario raised his gun quickly. Caeda's muscles tensed in anticipation of having to dodge a bullet, but instead the gun didn't aim at her. He bent his arm and the muzzle went towards his own temple. Caeda's left hand moved like a blur, but in her mind it was all in slow motion. Her future was tied up in this man's knowledge, she had to have it. She pulled the only knife she had and threw it without really taking even a millisecond to aim.

Mario screamed and dropped the pistol. He staggered staring in disbelief at the knife blade sticking through his flesh and at the pistol lying at his feet. Mario's blood fell in globs to the floor and he backed away. "Stay away!", he yelled and tripped over himself. Caeda calmly knelt down next to him and yanked the knife from his wrist. Before he could even draw back, she rocked forward putting her knee and most of her weight on his wound.

"Ahhh!!!!"

Caeda was unfazed by his pain. "Let me start with a simple question. Who is Giuseppe DiNardo?" The questioning began and Mario would tell all.

Sometime later, Caeda stood up and looked down at Mario Napolitano's dead body. She had most of the answers, and she hadn't been forced to hurt him much. He was broken by the time she even started to inflict pain. His suicide attempt had taken whatever he had left. Caeda had promised him a quick death, and she'd delivered on that, but now she had to hurry. Mario had told Caeda about his plan to kill Jack Caufield. All of this effort would be somewhat empty if Jack Caufield died. She ran to the motor pool and took one of Mario's prized Lamborghinis and jetted down the road to Giuseppe's villa a few miles away. Caeda hoped she wasn't too late. She should have known better.

An hour earlier…

Jack was sitting second from the end of the passenger side in the van. There were two rows of seats facing each other and just enough room for the six men inside. They were all cool customers Jack could tell right off. They certainly wouldn't have been afraid to storm Giuseppe DiNardo's house, if that had been their true task. Jack knew. They were there to kill him. Jack smiled when thought about how Mario had underestimated him again. People thought Jack was all brute force and strength. He had played up his image as the Bear in his youth because it hid the fact that Jack fought more like a fox than a bear. He already had a plan and he put it in motion.

"Hey, it's Umberto right?", he called out in Italian to the young soldier sitting across from him. Jack's face wore an easy smile and his eyes betrayed the intense relaxation that every serious operator got just before they were about to enter combat. The young soldier nodded. "That's a nice piece you have there. That's not stock."

"No, I had it customized."

"My daughter had her pistol customized. Can I see yours?"

Every Italian in the back of the van looked at each other until the leader nodded slightly. Jack had the same smile on his face and pretended not to notice any of it. The young soldier handed Jack the grip first. Jack looked at the pistol and laid it down on his palm and turned it over a couple of times. "Nice piece." Jack flipped the gun upright, extended his arm towards the driver seat and fired. The bullet struck the driver high in the back, below his neck and above the bullet proof vest. The van instantly lost its line and started swerving. Jack fired another shot into the face of the young man who'd handed him the gun while his left hand grasped the only semi-functioning weapon the Italians had given him. He pulled the knife and stabbed the man next to him in the throat. He then kicked the rear door as hard as he could and jumped with two or three bullets coming out behind him. One bullet nicked his ear and another just missed. The men didn't get a chance to fire more shots. The van hit a ditch and rolled violently. Two men were crushed when they were thrown from the van then it rolled over them. Jack ran up with the pistol still in his hand to search for survivors to kill. He found just one. "How did you know?!?", the man demanded.

Jack sighed and looked down at the dying man. "You gave me guns without firing pins and a cheap knife with a dime store edge. I guess you thought I wouldn't notice in time for it to make a difference. Then of course there's the fact that I saw the resemblance between Mario and Giuseppe, and I remembered that Mario's mother's maiden name was DiNardo. Nice lady, I met her once."

The dying man got angry and spit in Jack's direction, but he was too far away. It landed on the ground at Jack's feet. "Shoot me you bastard! Shoot me!"

"You're dead already." Jack started walking away. "I'm going to kill Giuseppe, and if you're alive when I get back, I might just put you out of your misery." Jack gathered some weapons and started down the road towards Giuseppe's home a mile away. He'd kill him first then go and take care of Mario.

An hour later Jack drove up to his old friend Mario's villa to find it engulfed in flames. He looked through a window and saw Mario lying with a gunshot wound to the side of his head. Jack knew that this was the end. It was time to go home.

Caeda sped down the road in the Lamborghini trying her best to save Jack Caufield. She only passed a single car on this lonely country road. The other car was speeding too. Caeda didn't pay much attention to it. Soon it disappeared in the distance. Caeda slammed on the brakes when she saw an overturned van in a ditch. She checked each body, but she already knew. A grin spread across her lips as she slipped back into the Ghini and headed to Giuseppe DiNardo's house. She found him lying face down in a pool of his own blood. She stood over his dead body and glanced at a couple of other dead men laying close by. She knew that Jack had been here. He'd killed these men and he'd killed Giuseppe. This much was over, but Caeda had to move on. Now she had to worry about the Sword & Shield. She had a plan for them.

A couple of days later, Caeda landed in Damascus and went to catch a cab. She had confirmed that the Shield had put 5 million euros on her head. That was a good enough bounty to get people to come after her. She knew that there was only one place where loyalty still meant more than money. Caeda was heading to the Black Gate. She'd be safe there. She didn't have a long term plan to fix this, but for the last few days Caeda had been living from crisis to crisis.

After a few minutes, an older western looking man sat down next to her. They were at the international terminal and the seat next to her was the only one left. She didn't even acknowledge him until he turned towards her. "You're a difficult person to find", the old man said in Russian because he knew she spoke the language and figured that the people sitting near them didn't.

Caeda leaned away from him, losing her air of confidence. "Who are you?"

A smile spread across the old man's leathery face. "I'm called Ricter." Caeda's eyes went wide. He was the leader of the Sword & Shield. No one had seen Grand Master Ricter in years. "I wanted to find you in person to apologize for what Branch did, and to let you know that the bounty is off your head. You did the Shield a service. Branch was ruining our integrity. It's custom that I offer you his old job."

"I don't want it, sir", Caeda said with a shake of her head.

"You still want to retire?" Caeda nodded. "Ok, fair well then Caeda." Ricter stood up and straightened his jacket. "Go home. Just know that if you ever change your mind, the Shield would welcome you back."

Caeda had no intentions of going back. She jumped to her feet after the old man left and ran to the ticket counter. She couldn't remember being more happy in all her life. This wasn't a simple happy, she was joyous to the bottom of her soul. A heavy weight had been lifted.

"May I help you?", the ticket agent asked in English. The smile on Caeda's face made the ticket agent smile too. It was so pure and from her heart. It was as if the rest of her life just started at that moment.

"Yes, you can. I need a ticket home." The next day, Caeda landed at JFK. She walked into her apartment, and to her great joy she found Russell there waiting for her. Caeda rushed to his arms. Tears of joy ran down her face. They hugged in the middle of the room for a long time. They only stopped when Caeda felt someone come into the room. "Julia, what are you doing here?", Caeda asked.

"I finally got a hold of Russell, because I have some news to both of you." Julia sat Amaris down on the couch with Russell next to her. He obviously knew already. As Julia explained, Amaris felt like the oxygen had left the room. They had expected her to be happy, but instead she just shook her head. She needed help, but after some thought she knew what she had to do.

Jack Caufield made it home and weathered the barrage of questions about his face. He'd told his wife and adopted son that he'd been called away on business and that the trip had nothing to do with the bruises and healing cuts on his face. He never did explain where they had come from though. He knew that after a few days everything would fade to unasked questions. His office had been repaired and security had been beefed up, but Jack wanted to put that entire unpleasant few days behind him. He wondered about the assassin Caeda though. He wondered if he had done the right thing letting her live. He tried to convince himself that he would never know.

"So how were the wrestling matches?", Vanessa, Jack's receptionist asked when her boss walked out to the waiting area with her diet soda.

"Went great. Thomas won. Of course because of the conference call that I forgot about, I missed the last matches."

"You saw the one that counted the most", Vanessa told him as she opened the can and took a sip.

Jack grinned and went back to his office with some spring in his step. The conference call had gone well. Thomas had won his match, and Jan was back home. Jack couldn't imagine a better day. Then the intercom light started flashing.

"Yes, Vanessa?"

"Mr. Caufield, there's a woman here to see you. She's not on your list. Should I tell her to make an appointment?"

"No, I'll be right there." Jack stood up wondering who it could be. He came down the hall, turned the corner and froze. She was sitting on his couch, looking right at him. He'd remember her glare the rest of his life. Her face wasn't covered, and she wasn't wearing the skin tight outfit, but he saw the St. Jude Medal attached to a choker around her neck. His first thought was to lunge at her and break her neck, but he kept his cool. Outwardly, Vanessa never even noticed any change in him. That was another of his hard earned skills.

The assassin stood up like a child looking at the principle when Jack came around the corner. "Come with me", he said coolly. Vanessa noticed that. She'd never heard that tone from her boss. Jack put out his arm to motion the young woman with the bruise on her face to his office, but it seemed like the woman already knew the way. Jack made sure that the assassin stayed in front of him.

She walked into the office and looked around quickly. All evidence of their fight had been erased. There was less stuff on the tables and cabinet top but other than that the room looked like the office of an executive. She walked into the room enough for Jack to close the door behind them. As soon as the latch caught, she felt his strong hands on her back. He snatched the assassin off the floor and pushed her against the wall face first. He held her there with one hand while his other hand expertly searched her strong young body for weapons that the guards at the entrance wouldn't have been able to find.

"I'm not armed", but Jack didn't listen. He checked for himself. Only after he was satisfied did he let her feet touch the floor. He took her by the shoulder and spun her round. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you", she said without trying to match his intensity.

"What could we have to talk about? It's over. You killed one guy and I killed the other. Unless you've come to finish what you started… Caeda."

"I'm not Caeda anymore", she said very quickly and forcefully. "You were going to be last anyway. I was retiring."

"Then retire!", Jack yelled and went to his desk. "What's this got to do with me?"

"I need your help", she admitted after a sigh. This was hard for her. She'd tried to practice this conversation before coming, but now standing here all that preparation hadn't helped at all.

"My help?", Jack sat down in his chair genuinely surprised. "I don't know what you want, but assuming I could help you, give me one reason why I should."

"I can only ask."

"I think I helped you enough when I didn't put a bullet in the back of your skull like you'd planned to do to me. I know it was a mistake, and we were both being played like puppets, but that doesn't mean I have to trust you or help you."

She nodded weakly. She had a lot riding on this. "I understand, and if you tell me to go, I will go and you'll never see me again." She paused then and wiped the corner of her eye. She'd promised herself that she wouldn't cry under any circumstances. "I'm asking you, no, Mr. Caufield, I'm begging you for your help, but not for my sake. I came here because of what you did at that hospital. I've played it over and over in my head. No matter how much I want it to be different, when I reverse our roles, I shoot you… every time. I need you to tell me how to go from what I am to what you are. I thought I could do it on my own, but I can't. You might be the only person in the world who can help me."

Jack looked at her for a long time. For the first time he saw her as a woman, as a person and not as an assassin. Despite his misgivings he felt his emotions thaw. "Sit down", he ordered. She took a seat across from his desk, just not the same one he'd broken across her ribs. Jack opened up a drawer and pulled out her Beretta and slammed it down on his desk. "This is the gun you planned to kill me with. I had a friend of mine check it. There're a shit load of unsolved murders on this gun in New York and one in Arlington, VA. I don't know how many bullets you've fired from this gun because I'm only interested in nine of them, the two you put into the front of Will Davis' head and the seven you put into the back of Jason Mallster's." Jack had to pause to gather his emotions. "Do you know what that bastard did to my baby?" Jack was nearly crying with anger.

"I know enough", Amaris replied simply.

"I would have given anything to see that bastard die", Jack said through clenched teeth.

"I had planned to shoot him in the forehead just like Will Davis, but he denied me the chance", Amaris said in a soft voice.

Jack sat forward. "You have no problems looking a man in the eye as you kill him?"

"Killing is killing, and dead is dead."

The corners of Jack's mouth turned up a little. "I like you. You have balls. Hell, if you had killed me, at least I would've been killed by some who knows how to do it. Looks like we're not so different after all."

"Yes we are", she said urgently. "We have to be. In the hospital you said that weren't the man you used to be."

Jack frowned. He hadn't said that out loud. "Why does this mean so much to you?"

"Because I'm pregnant." A look of guilty concern came over Jack's face, but she put him at ease. "The baby's fine despite what happened in this room. Now you understand. How can a killer like me raise a child? I don't deserve my own life, how can I be responsible for a new one? How did you do it?"

Jack put his feet up on his desk and thought back. "Jan was born two days after I'd offed a guy in Yemen. I flew back to the States in the backseat of a F-14 just to see her being born. I didn't want to touch her at first. I didn't want my taint to rub off, like I could transfer my problems to her somehow.

"I can remember that empty anger I kept with me like a pet. All that stuff I did in the late 70's and all through the 80's made me look brave, but to tell the truth I didn't give a damn. I lived like a sonofabitch. If Uncle Sam needed someone to stop breathing then so be it. If someone got themselves into some shit that they couldn't get out of, then I would go risk my life and save them. I just went where the danger was because I didn't give a damn if I lived or died. That becomes a problem when you're about to bring a life into the world."

"Yes it does."

"You can't get good at what we used to do without having that hole inside you. Psychopaths and maniacs don't last long in the killing business. Were one or both of your parents killed?" Amaris nodded.

"For me", Jack began, seeming to feel relieved to be able to explain these things. "I went wrong when I caused my father to be murdered. We lived in the nicest house in the nicest neighborhood in Baltimore. My dad was one of the most famous and popular men in town. We had 50 yardline seats at the Colts games and home plate seats at Memorial Stadium." Jack looked at Amaris and grinned. "I bet you were pretty damn popular in high school. I was the popular jock Mr. Everything back then. Anyway, I was supposed to meet my parents for a trip on our yacht one afternoon, but I was too busy with my friends and was late to the house. While I was making my parents wait on me, two guys broke in and killed my father. They beat my mother so bad that I wouldn't let my younger brother and sister see her for almost a month. I got home while the two guys were still busy. I saw my father lying on the floor in his own blood and my mother very near him. I chased the two men. I was fast, but not fast enough. That's haunted me all my life. My life went to hell after that." Jack was quiet for a time before he put his feet on the floor and stood up. "Grab your coat. You're coming with me."

"Are you gone for the day, sir?", Vanessa asked as he passed. Jack nodded. Amaris just followed. They went down the elevator and when they stepped into the parking garage, Jack's Tahoe was waiting. It was nice to be the C.O.O. The valet took a couple of looks at Amaris when she got in next to Jack, but he knew better than to ask a question. They started out on the road to Jack's house. He called his wife, and then they settled in for the hour and a half drive to his house that should have only take forty minutes without the traffic.

Amaris was silent until she had to ask, "How did you know I was in the window?"

Jack grinned. "Changed the air flow. The heater vent in the atrium blows right through that window, but you were blocking it. I figured it was a person, either that or a condor had managed to get inside."

"That was a cool trick with the book."

Jack smirked. "Yeah, well I had to use what I had at hand. Of course if you'd had my information I bet you would have planned things differently."

"I bet you're right", Amaris said with a chuckle.

"M-40 from stand off range?"

Amaris shook her head. "Straight Remington 700, they're much harder to trace. I scouted a spot just around this curve. There're no good angles at your office or home, and you pick up your vehicle from an underground parking lot. The only spot is right there." She pointed to an overpass. "It's 612 meters before you go down a hill and the shot becomes tricky."

Jack nodded approvingly. "You ever made an effective shot from that distance?"

"928 meters, in Columbia three years ago… in the rain", she boasted.

Jack grinned and passed a truck. "Not bad. I did a guy in the Philippines from about that range. It had to go through some foliage. I probably shouldn't have taken the shot, but I'd been tracking that asshole for five months. He didn't peek his head out for nothing, so when I saw him, I took the chance."

"You know you fought pretty good for a guy who's been out of the game for so long."

"Ah, I can thank Mallster for that. After I went to Oklahoma to get my daughter, I started training again seriously. If you'd come at me before that, I'd be dead. You're damn good hand to hand, of course you're probably the best fighter where you train."

"How'd you know?"

"Cause you didn't know when you were matched up. It never occurred to you that you might be fighting someone who's your equal or better."

"Better? You outweigh me by more than 100 pounds, and we were fighting in a Cracker Jack box. If we'd been down in the atrium where I had some room, it would have been a different story."

Jack grinned and winked. "I guess we'll never know." They talked some more on the way, but when Jack got closer to home he decided to let Amaris know some things. "Now, young Thomas loves meeting new people. Just go along with it. I don't think Jan's at home, but when you meet my wife don't say much. I'll explain the situation myself. I don't want her getting freaked out." Jack turned down his street and then through the gate and up the brick and stone driveway to his house.

"Beautiful home", Amaris said as she stepped out of the Tahoe.

"Yeah, my wife likes it, and I can't complain." He opened the unlocked back door and walked in. "Hey, Carol I'm here with our guest."

"Be there in just a second!", she yelled from the kitchen.

Jack did hear someone coming their way. A thirteen year old came around the corner while Jack was hanging up his coat. "Hey, I'm Thomas Jackson Lee", the thirteen year old said and held out his hand.

"Amaris Johanssen." They shook hands.

"I love soft j's. Your parents didn't give you a middle name?"

Amaris looked left and right before leaning down to Thomas' ear. "It's Gertrude." Thomas snickered, and she squeezed his hand a little. "If you tell anybody, I'll pull your hair out by the roots."

Thomas made a show of zipping his lips then running off. Amaris took a deep breath for courage before following Jack deeper into the house. Jack introduced Amaris to his wife. Carol was a good three inches taller than Amaris with honey blond hair pulled back and much softer blue eyes than either her husband's or Amaris' own.

While Amaris waited, the door opened and Jan came bouncing in after a workout.  "Amaris?", Jan greeted her with a frown. "What are you doing here?"

"Your father asked me the same question earlier today when I went to his office unannounced. I'll let him explain."

Amaris volunteered to help set the dining table for dinner. While she was setting out forks, Mrs. Caufield spoke up. "You know, Amaris, I had a great aunt named Gertrude. We called her Aunt Gertie, you know Gertrude means great spear."

Amaris' look was part smile and part grimace. "Yes Ma'am, I know", she replied then looked at Thomas who snickered and walked into the dining room with two plates.

"Oww", Thomas protested when he felt a strand of hair get snatched from his head, but when he turned he saw Amaris several feet away trying to look innocent.

A few minutes later, the Caufield family plus Amaris were at the dinner table. The talk was light at first, but then Jack wiped the corners of his mouth. "I know you're wondering how I met Amaris and why's she here for dinner." Jack went on to explain that Amaris was the assassin Caeda and that she had been tricked into trying to kill him. He left very little out of his story. Amaris realized quickly that this family didn't keep many secrets from each other. While she sat there listening to Jack explain very philosophically how the situation had unfolded. It was surreal for Amaris to listen to this outwardly normal looking family discuss this situation, but this family was everything except normal. Amaris noticed though that it was particularly hard on Jan. A dozen emotions crossed her face during the course of the discussion. At one point she'd heard enough. She stood up from the table and left abruptly. Thomas stood up to go after her, but Carol put a hand out to stop him.

"Let her go", she told her son. "She has to get herself under control. She'll be alright." Carol now had a much better understanding of the emotions that Jan had to fight. Amaris couldn't believe how the family was taking it. Jack had been most worried about Carol's reaction, but she was being more than reasonable. Carol and Russell could have shared many stories. Carol had known the reality of his life when she'd married Jack 21 years earlier. After answering a few more questions, Jack went upstairs to his daughter's room. Amaris stayed downstairs with Carol and Thomas while father and daughter talked. After that Jack came downstairs and sent Amaris upstairs. The former assassin had thought that Jack would go in with her, but no Amaris walked into Jan's sunshine colored room alone. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed. Her beautiful face was streaked with tears, but she wiped them off when Amaris came in.

"Jan, I know how I felt when I lost my father. I don't know what it's like to have me in your house and in your room. I promise you though, that if I had known—"

Jan held up her hand. "Dad already explained it again. Part of me understands it, and part of me is mad as hell."

"If you hate me forever, I'll understand."

Jan shook her head. "I don't hate you. I know what its like to almost make a really bad mistake. In my case it wasn't even a conspiracy. I just went off half cocked and tried to kill Lisa Sanchez the first time I met her because I didn't have all the information. Now she's one of my best friends."

"I almost killed the wrong person once", Thomas said when he walked into the room unannounced.

Amaris frowned. "Now who in the world did you almost kill?"

Thomas pointed at Jan. "I pumped enough electricity through her to stop an rhino. I was lucky she didn't die. It all worked out for me in the end, maybe this can all work out for you too."

"So can you two forgive me then?" Amaris asked, but wondered if she should have.

Jan nodded slowly, and Thomas started crying. He came over to her with big tears in his brown eyes and hugged her around the waist. "I always said that when I met the person who killed Romano Scarlforo that I would give them a big hug." He squeezed her tighter. "He killed my parents", Thomas cried, not trying to hold it back. "My mother and father didn't deserve to die just like yours didn't. How did Scarlforo die?"

"He died screaming", Amaris told him in a voice thick with emotion.

"What about Mallster?", Jan asked.

"Running for his life." While Amaris held Thomas, she began to wonder if the impossible had happened. Was she getting another chance at a full life? If she was, she was determined not to blow it.

Amaris met Jack on the rear patio. It was cold, but he liked to look out over the countryside. "You never did tell me why you didn't shoot me in the hospital. You didn't know who I was then or the situation with Scarlforo's goon DiNardo."

"No, I didn't", Jack said after a sip of Guinness. "Truth is I don't know why I didn't shoot you. I've asked myself that several times. Hell, everybody deserves a second chance I guess. I feel like I'm getting another chance myself. As many times as I've almost been killed in the last month, I feel born again." He reached onto the table and handed Amaris a bag. "Here, these are yours. I don't want to hold anything over your head." She looked into the canvas bag and saw her pistol, her whip, and all of her knives in there. She pulled out the ka-bar. It was the most special to her. "I wrote the address to a center in Brooklyn on a piece of paper and put it in the bag."

"A center?"

Jack kept looking off into the darkening distance as he spoke. "If you're serious about what you told me earlier, about changing the way you are and becoming a better person, then go to that treatment center and talk to the man who runs it, Ken Burris. He'll be able to help you. He helped me, when I was looking for it more than 15 years ago."

"Are you sure he can help me? There aren't many people who could understand."

Jack chuckled. "Ken was stone cold before it became popular, but he bottomed out after he got back from Vietnam. He worked for CIA and then for some low life hoods before ending up on the streets living in a bottle. Long story short, he found the only thing that could have helped him, and now he helps others like us to get our lives together. Go see Ken. There's nothing you can tell him that he hasn't either done or heard."

"Thank you for everything, Mr. Caufield."

Jack turned to her then and grinned. "You may not thank me after you go there."

A week later, Amaris found herself in the worst neighborhood in New York. It was a far cry from her digs in Greenwich Village, but this was where the center was. She pulled her coat tighter around her and walked. Some people eyed her, but no one bothered her. She came to the address and had to look twice. She was standing in front of an old warehouse building. The area was dotted with them. This one didn't look any different than all the others. There was no sign or anything, but she walked up to the door and went inside. She was hit with the familiar scents of sweat, old leather, and blood. The large open area was a gym like she'd seen many times before. The sounds were all the same and so were the sights. Men in various levels of combat worked all throughout the space. She took the scar from around her neck and walked in more. A man came to meet her. "You lost?"

Amaris ignored his rudeness. "I'm looking for Ken Burris. He's supposed to run this place."

"Yeah, he's on the mat in the back. I'll show you." Amaris followed. As they went towards the mats in the back, Caeda realized that this wasn't like every other gym she'd been in. There were no novices here, at least she hadn't seen any. Everyone here knew what they were doing. That's why it was a small surprise when she got to the mats and saw an older man grappling with a younger one. The younger one was athletic, quick, and strong, but the older one was having his way with him. Amaris watched for a couple of minutes before it was over. When the two men stood up, the older one gave the younger one a big slap on the back and a word of encouragement. Someone said something to the older man and he came right for her.

"You're Amaris? Damn!"

She frowned. "Something wrong?"

"Yeah", the man said as he wiped his brow. "You're as hot as a year on the sun. I was hoping for someone less attractive, maybe even ugly."

"Sorry to disappoint", Amaris said with a roll of her eyes.

"You're going to have these guys killing themselves to get your attention." He paused and looked at her again. "Ah, they'll get over it." He started walking. Amaris knew that she was supposed to walk with him. "Ken Burris", he said and they shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Burris."

"You too." He tossed the towel in a hamper and kept walking. "I see you wear a St. Jude Medal around your neck. Are you a lost cause?"

"I hope not. That's why Mr. Caufield sent me to you, but what exactly do you do here?"

"All these guys you see are former hard asses. They're special ops guys, or hit men, or intel guys who've done the deed one too many times. There're people like you and me. When I wanted to stop being a killer all day every day, there was nobody to help me, nobody I could talk to. Once I got myself together I made it my life's mission to help people like I had been. It takes a hard ass to help a hard ass. That's why we have the gym out here. Sometimes hard asses just need to beat up on each other, but we do one on one sessions and lots of group therapy. It lets us know we aren't alone." He paused and opened the door to his office. Amaris walked inside. It was small and unadorned.

"I helped Jack some years ago. My operation was much smaller then, but he's been sponsoring this center ever since. He's given us the money to really grow the program."

"Grow the program?"

"Yeah", Ken began and shook his head. "You should have seen our old place. It was a real shit hole."

Amaris couldn't imagine.

"Jack told me that you're the assassin Caeda."

"I was."

"You've killed more people than you care to remember. You've been as cold blooded as they come." Amaris didn't say anything. "Killed a lot of people in a lot of different ways haven't you? Did you ever feel anything when you killed them?", Burris asked.

"Yeah, sometimes, but other times the people I killed were real scum, worst of the worst."

Ken leaned in. "It didn't matter did it? Late at night when you were alone the pain would come wouldn't it? Nightmares like you wouldn't wish on your enemy and pain that couldn't be quenched no matter how much alcohol you drank or how many one night stands you had. The old pain mixes with the new pain, but you don't stop. It's all you know. You think that's how life is supposed to be for you. Am I close?"

"How do you..."

"I've been there", his voice was gruff and yet comforting at the same time. "You're tired of being tough. You're tired of being cold. You don't want to hold on to your pain anymore, but you can't figure out how to let it go."

The first tear ran down Amaris' cheek. "I'm a horrible monster, a monster!", she cried.

Ken took her by the chin and wiped off her tears with a handkerchief. "You are nothing of the sort. I'm going to help you, but first you have to tell me everything."

Amaris started shaking her head. "I can't. There're secrets that I can't tell." She looked at Ken who wore a knowing smile on his bearded face.

"I think I have a way around that." He reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a fine wooden box that was out of place in this dingy room. He opened it and Amaris felt her stomach drop to the basement. She was in stunned disbelief when Ken pulled out a small purple cloth and kissed it reverently before draping it around his shoulders.

"This was how I turned my life around.", he told Amaris. "I had to bare my soul, and I knew this was the way that I could help the most people, just like I'm going to help you. This is the first step for you, Amaris. There will be many more in your lifetime, but the first one is often the hardest."

Amaris' life flooded her brain in a torrent of images both good and bad. She saw some of the faces of people that she'd killed and then she'd see the people that she loved both living and dead. Her body began to shake as she was overcome. He took her gently by the hands. "Do you remember how to do this?"

Tears streamed down Amaris' face as she nodded. "I do."

"Then let's begin."

Amaris swallowed the lump in her throat and found the courage within herself to look him in the eye, as she opened her mouth and spoke softly, "Bless me Father for I have sinned…"

comments encouraged: dem2@hotmail.com