If…
“If you loved me you would do it.”
This is what Steven tells me after begging me to shoot him. I want out. I don’t know if that’s the kind of love I have for him. So I tell him…
“I’m leaving.”
“No you’re not.”
“Don’t go?”
“You would stay if you loved me.” Its emotional blackmail at its finest.
So I tell him, “then maybe I don’t.”
“We both know there’s only one way you’re going out that door and it’s not walking.”
“Was that a threat?”
“Did it need to be?”
“Steven, I can’t. This isn’t… I don’t want to...”
“I don’t want you to either but it needs to... Step another foot back and then fire.”
“I’m leaving.”
Leaving.
It’s the one thing I haven’t been able to do since the beginning. I walked into this mess with a plan. Now my ex-husband’s standing over me with a shotgun cocked at Ethan telling Steven to leave me. Jamison wants in and that means I’m out. So much for plans. Life keeps happening whether you have a plan or not.
That’s exactly what it does.
It was less than six months earlier that he’d been tracking me down with the full knowledge that he needed me. Another life before the one I almost had. I can remember when I finally confirmed the information he sent me. I wanted to call him a liar. But it wouldn’t be true. I didn’t want to see things from his point of view. But there was no other way.
Jamison kept things as vague as possible. The agenda was different when he came into play. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I wanted to know more but he said, “Go with it” and I did.
“We need to keep moving” Ethan says as he leads us back into the open living space.
Three feet out of the front hall I’m finding myself smack in the middle of a coup de grace intended for me. Ethan steps in and spins around to take aim. I want to run, but the look in Steven’s eyes tells me to stay. Jamison shoots first with a pistol. My left arm above the shoulder blade stings with a rush of pain that sends me falling backwards. Less than a second and the men in the room have changed positions. Jamie’s hovering over me pressing his boot into my wound. Ethan has a pistol aimed for Jamie’s head and Steven is locked onto me.
“It’s been eight years,” he tells me on the wire.
“And you sound like hell you…”
“No time for pleasantries darling. I guess it would be snide to say I won’t be home for dinner.”
“Bastard. How is the new little woman?”
“She’s safe and probably looking to kill me.”
“Same ol Jamie. Love em and leave em.”
“Heard you killed your ex? Playing the black widow, are we?”
“Enough! Is this why you went through the effort to get my attention?”
“I didn’t make contact to throw cheap insults at you. The tide has turned. I need you.”
“Need? That’s interesting. Last I heard you were on that side of the tide.”
“Mia. Not everything is what it seems. You’re the best. And I need the best.”
“You’re in Horizon. They’ll kill you for…”
“I need your help. I need you to make contact with an old friend. I can’t tell you how he’s involved.”
“I don’t need the details to do my job. Contact. Is that all?”
“It’s an easy in but you need to go a little deeper than usual. He’ll offer you a job. Take it. No matter what it is.”
“Am I double crossing anyone?”
“I can’t tell you that. No one will get hurt.”
“They’ll kill me for a cross.”
“Mia, you’re already dead. Your name came up. It’s a matter of time before…”
“This is personal, isn’t it?
“Personal? That’s not important.”
“Exactly. How is…?”
“Stop. You need to make contact with me, without being seen.”
“Use old protocols?”
“And don’t say no.”
When he walked through the door I just couldn’t say no. No words. Not seen. And I went in with the only knowledge that I’m dead either way.
A three-way power struggle can change hands in a flash. They all want something but it’s not the same thing. Two guns are pointed and one man tosses his to the ground. Ethan and Jamison look like they’re about to end the other man over a woman when it’s not that at all. Steven wants me in and he needs Ethan still. But from where Jamison’s standing I’m of no consequence to the plan. Shooting me takes me out and leaves him in. I know this is the last thing he wants but it’s the first time he’s making it up as he goes.
Steven walks over and lowers Ethan’s gun. Jamison drops the shotgun and lifts his boot from my shoulder. I watch Steven take Jamison by the neck and shake him with a laugh while they walk over to the hall. Ethan helps me to my feet while tearing at his shirt to patch up another hole in my body. I’m looking at the blood on the ground and thinking how much easier it would be to stay down when Ethan sticks me with a hit of liquid energy that leaves me feeling slower. Awake but half asleep watching as the story unfolds.
It’s been less than two minutes but it seems longer when the laughs cease and Steven hits Jamison square in the head with the butt of Ethan’s pistol. I’m in a daze watching him fall when Steven hands me the gun.
“Shoot him.”
“I don’t…”
“Do it.
“Eye for an eye?”
“Shoot him.”
“I… want… I… can’t…”
“If you loved me you would do it.”
If. That in itself is a funny idea. It’ll make you question what to do next. That sneaking suspicion that puts the fear in someone’s head. What if I do? What if I don’t? What if it is? What if its not? If.
Full Intention. A story that came from a dream nearly ten years ago and it was about a friend. He laughed, called me crazy and bought me lunch when I told him about it. So... Alright. It’s been a while. Time to pull them out. A little newly furnished work on this particular one. Put in a little more details. I’ve been keeping these back for that very reason. The details. It’s been my desire to take it apart and rebuild it. Of course there are revisions that haven’t seen the light of day. Enjoy. kisses. m.
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