Hit-Woman (GxG)

Chapter 6

   "What?" Erika asked.

   I shook my head. "This is all starting to make sense. Those chips you were working on weren't for cell phones or cars, they were for nuclear bombs and it appears that Miss Rain wants to start outsourcing her materials."

   "What do you mean?" Peggy asked as she approached.

   I stood up. "I mean, she's selling those chips to someone other than the U.S. military and she's killing off anyone who knows about it, which now includes you and me."

   Peggy slowly sat down. "This is to much, we're in way over our heads, Carlie. We're not fucking spies, we can't compete with these kinda people."

   "We have no choice. Either they're gonna kill us or we can find a way to kill them first."

Everyone grew quiet, lowering their heads.

   With a long sigh, I stood up and started heading for the garage.

   "Where are you going?" Erika asked.

   I stopped in my tracks, but didn't face her. "I... I just need some time to think."

   Then, I continued on my way...

   The elevator dinged and I walked off into the large underground garage, which held my collection of vintage cars and motorcycles.

My mind raced with a million different thoughts as I sat down at my work bench.

I put my head in my hands, Peggy's words playing through my mind the loudest.

She was right, I may have been good at what I did, but there's no way I could take on someone like Rain. She had money, connections, anything she'd need to rid the world of us was at her fingertips. I only had Erika and Peggy, neither of which I wanted involved in this mess. But, I guess it's a little to late for that now.

   I took in a big breath before looking down at the stripped apart cylinder head laid out on the work bench.

   With a small smile, I expertly started putting it back together with the new parts, attempting to push everything to the back of my mind, focusing solely on this one task.

   "Uh... Carlie?" I heard.

   I turned to see Erika approaching me.

   "What's up?" I asked.

   She rubbed her arm, avoiding eye contact. "N-Nothing... just thought you'd like some company... but, I see you're busy-"

   I stood quickly. "No... um, no, I'd love some company."

   She flashed me a small smile. "Alright..." Then, she looked around the garage. "This is a nice collection you have here."

   I followed her gaze. "Thanks."

   Then, she looked at the table behind me. "So... what're you working on?"

   I looked back at the table. "Oh, just replacing the valve springs, nothing serious."

   She stared blankly at me, causing me to chuckle a little. "Not a car person, huh?"

   She laughed a little in response. "No, not really... I've always wanted to learn though."

   I met her gaze, seeing the small smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

   "Well, you wanna give me a hand?"

   She smiled fully. "Sure."

   "Ok." I said, pulling up a stool for her to sit next to me.

   She looked over the scattered parts on the table. "Uh, where do I start?"

   I smiled, handing her a new valve spring. "Here, slide this spring over the valve stem."

   She took it and held it over the cylinder head, clearly confused.

   "Like this..." I said, slowly taking her hand and guiding it down, helping her set it in place. "Perfect..."

   She looked at our conjoined hands before looking up at me, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks.

  I felt my face flush before quickly pulling my hand away. "Uh, sorry..."

   She lowered her head, attempting to hide the growing blush. "Its ok..."

   I looked down at my hands, nervously picking at my fingernails. "Erika..?"

   She looked up. "Yeah..?"

   "I, uh... I just wanted to apologize..."

   "For what?"

   I sighed. "For trying to... for trying to kill you..." Then, I scoffed. "God, what a fucked up sentence."

   She laughed a little. "This whole situation is fucked up... you're surprisingly the most normal part about it."

   I returned her laugh before looking up to meet her gaze. "If it makes you feel any better, there was no way in hell I could've gone through with it."

   "Why's that?"

   I averted her gaze again. "To be honest, I'm not really sure... as soon as I saw your picture, I just knew... I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, I've done a lot of terrible things... killed a lot of people... people who probably didn't deserve it... But, I've been training my whole life to push those things to the back of my mind. To just not think about it or to not care..."

   I finally looked back into her eyes. "But, when I saw your eyes for the first time, my mind changed. For a brief second, I didn't want that life anymore... I wanted something... normal."

   She brought her hand up to my cheek, rubbing it with her thumb. "You can still have that... you don't have to live this life anymore..."

   I felt a few tears well up in my eyes. "How? This is all I've ever known..."

   "Carlie, your life doesn't choose you, it doesn't control you, it's your call to make. If you want a normal life, then nothing should be able to stop you."

   I stood up, a few tears dripping down my cheeks. "Even if that's true, it wouldn't change the past... I'd still have to live with the awful things I've done... their faces haunting my nightmares, every goddamn night..."

   She stood up, wrapping me into a tight embrace as the tears leaked faster. "I know you can't change your past. But, if you keep doing this, those nightmares are only gonna get worse. Just because you can't hide from your past, doesn't mean you should continue living in it."

   I pulled away, looking deep into her eyes. "Why me?"

   "What do you mean?"

   I shook my head, backing away a little. "Why are you being so nice to me? I kill people for a living, I tried to kill you... I don't deserve anything from someone like you... I just deserve to hurt."

   She lightly grabbed my arm. "No one deserves that, Carlie. Especially not someone like you..."

   I just stared into her eyes, unable to speak a word. She was being sincere. No one's ever thought much of me, especially not a beautiful woman. Yet, here she stood, like a glowing angel in the darkness clouding my life.

   I took a hesitant step forward, resting my hand on her cheek. "Thank you..."

   "Carlie..." She started, but my emotions got the better of me.

   I leaned forward, quickly pressing my lips to hers, cutting her sentence short...