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Motherland
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On the surface they are living the American dream, but as the sun goes down, so does their façade. An Alternative Universe.
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Chapter Fourteen
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"I'm going in, Kate. No arguments. You did the house, and I can't... I can't wait like that again."
She angles her head away from staring at the kids in the car, where they sit not so patiently. They've parked a block away from the book store, away from the weapons that they need to meet with a handler, and, opening her mouth, she meets Rick's gaze, ignoring his request.
"No. I know your shoulder is feeling better, I know you can handle yourself. But if something happens-" Her gaze drifts back toward Alexis and Jay; her future and her heart innocently remain behind and unaware of what is happening. "They need you, babe. You would know how to keep them... whole, intact. I couldn't do it, couldn't be that person for them. Please. Let me go in there. Let me be the one to handle the Center if they're waiting inside."
She has the easier job, and she's selfish to ask him to wait again, but she'd be no good if it all went wrong. The shootout in Portland, his declaration of love, their promise of a new beginning has done more than shaken her, somehow it's ripped her to pieces, and the segments aren't fitting back together the same way.
She's changed.
"Kate-"
"I won't beg, not for this." She winks as she tilts her head toward him, and his face flushes, his tongue tracing his bottom lip. "But do this for me. Let me go in."
His features drop, his broad shoulders hunching, and she smoothes the furrow of his forehead with the tip of her finger.
"Rick?"
"Twenty minutes. If you're not back by then I'll zip-tie the kids to a pole and come for you."
Her chest shakes as she suppresses the chuckle at his description, even if he never would, but the honesty of how torn he is about the situation is loud and clear, and her amusement dies a quick death.
To be vulnerable is to hurt. To feel emotions is to ask for pain. To-
"Kate. Twenty minutes. My heart won't take a second more." His palms cup her cheeks, holding her steady, and with a ghost of his lips against her own, he lays his forehead on top of hers. "I love you, don't ever forget it."
To be loved is everything.
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She shoves her hands further into the pockets of her coat, the cold metal from the handgun bumping her knuckles reassuringly as she exits. She shuts the back door quietly, her eyes scanning the back alleyway leading up to their bookstore. Everything is normal for a Sunday morning, the area deserted, and she shifts the duffel bag with her free hand, rearranging it on her shoulder, the weight of the sniper rifle tugging her to the left.
Again it's all too easy, and she pauses, the sensation that had gripped her gut last night while at home squeezing her stomach once more.
She'd been in and out of the office in under ten minutes, emptying it of the four weapons that they'd stored there for emergencies, throwing the cash that she'd kept in the false drawer of her desk into the bag as well, and now, on the edge of escaping, she lingers.
A shadow lengthens where the street stands at the end of the alleyway, and she breathes through her nose, her finger sliding around the trigger of her handgun.
The eggshells she's been walking on crack under her feet. Finally.
"I know you're there, you might as well come out and get this over with." There's confidence propping up her demand, even if there's none left within her.
Alexis. Jay. Rick.
She has reasons to fight, fight with everything she has, and the knowledge fills her spine with cement, lifts her chin an inch, narrows her eyes as she glares and awaits her reckoning.
"Really, Kate? How clichéd of you."
The click of heels against the road drops her stare, the sight of Jessica strolling from behind the large bin rocking her back. Of all the people the Center could have sent to finish the job, why the fuck did they have to pick her friend?
"I wish I could say it's good to see you again, Jessica, but…" Kate lifts an eyebrow, shrugging her right shoulder even as she curls the fingers of her left hand into her palm.
"I just thought I would drop by. After all, you left so suddenly the other morning, I didn't get a chance to say goodbye." Jessica twists her lips, taking a step forward, and the shadows shift across her face, creating edges that Kate's never seen before. "By the way, how is Rick doing? Where is he?"
Her chest deflates at her friend's questions, the sigh inaudible as the relief that her husband and children are okay - for now - rushes through her body.
"I have no idea. He-" Playing dumb isn't going to work, not on another agent, but there has to be some way to steer Jessica away from the truth. "We went our separate ways. Back in Portland. He thought it would be safer to split up."
Surprise lights Jessica's features, her eyes bright with - delight? - her lips stretching wide in a grin, and Kate cants to her left, lowering the bag slowly onto the ground as ice cold water rushes down her back.
Something is very wrong here. Something is very off here.
"Oh, Kate. Poor, poor, Kate." The giggle in Jessica's voice creates icicles that pierce at her skin. "You have no idea do you? I'm sorry to tell you, but he's having an affair. At this moment, he's probably with some skank of a whore, fucking her brains out."
What the hell?
Indignation ignites in the pit of her stomach and she lunges forward, the truth that he's currently waiting in the car with their children overtaken by the red haze of outrage, the niggling voice that never truly disappears, hissing that maybe he doesn't love her, couldn't love her, and it's louder than his earlier whispered words of adoration.
"He is not having an affair. You know nothing. Nothing, Jessica!"
"I know that he's been sneaking out on you. From work. From your bed at night. Clearly he doesn't want you, Kate. But don't worry, I'll take good care of him when you're gone."
Her feet come to a standstill at Jessica's statement, her body jerking back at the glee bouncing her friend like a child standing before a candy store, and Kate inhales, pushing the jealous fog from her mind to actually hear what is being said.
Jessica knows. She knows that Rick was leaving at odd hours, and while she's completely off the mark about the whys, how would she get that information?
And more importantly, what in the world does she mean when she says that she'll be taking care of Rick?
"Why would you be anywhere near my husband?"
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Jessica studies her nails in the strip of light peeking through two buildings, her body language screaming the fact that she's in control, unworried. But she doesn't appear to have a gun, both her hands are free, and Kate tilts her head, narrowing her eyes at the math that just doesn't add up.
There are so many ways to play this, to manipulate and contort this situation, but really she just wants to get the hell out of here and get back to Rick… before her twenty minutes are up.
"Why are you here, Jessica? Because if it's to kill me you're doing a shit job of it."
A guillotine blade sweeps down Jessica's face, removing with it any lightness that once existed, replaced now with a stoniness more suited for a gargoyle and Kate slides her foot back an inch, fighting the urge to turn and run.
"I'm here because you fucked up. I'm here because you were supposed to wave goodbye to your husband and let him leave with Moth- with Suzanne. I'm here because for some reason I have two dead bodies instead of Ri-ck."
Jessica's voice cracks, the venom leaving her mouth and striking Kate in the face.
Oh. Shit.
"You want my husband?" There are a million questions bubbling up, and she sorts through to the most important. "Suzanne and Samuel were never going to transport Rick back to Russia, were they, Jessica? They were going to take him to you? And you were going to do what? Hold him hostage in the basement? Keep him chained to your bed?"
She sucks in a lungful of air, her hands shaking at the idea of anyone taking her husband, touching her husband. "You were our friend, a fellow agent, a person we went to when we needed help. I-" Kate slips her eyes closed for a moment at the betrayal. "Suzanne was our handler, and together you were plotting to destroy us?"
Jessica clicks her tongue as she shrugs her right shoulder, but her indifference is contradicted as she reaches behind her, pulling out a gun, the muzzle pointing directly at Kate.
"We never wanted to destroy you. He doesn't want to be with you anymore and I-" Jessica huffs, a crack appearing in her façade. "Troy and his new wife are taking my kids to Washington. My kids. So Mo- Suzanne suggested that I move on. A new husband. New kids. And since Rick no longer wanted you and yours, he was the most logical choice."
Blinking over and over, Kate attempts to remove the stunned sensation swaying her into stupidity, because Jessica has to be fucking kidding her, right?
"You really thought that would work? That Suzanne would just bring him over to your house, explain that he was to be your new husband, and he would be- what? Happy to be rid of us and fall into your arms?"
This is insane.
"He doesn't love you, Kate. And I could make him happy, unlike you. I know how to take care of a man."
"Really? Is that why Troy left? Or did he just see how bat-shit crazy you are and he ran for his own safety?"
The gun in Jessica's hand trembles, the fury in her eyes darkening the normally clear green, and Kate swallows the panic that rises up her throat.
Pissing off the person aiming a gun at her is probably not the best idea she's ever had.
"Kate, you have no idea. No idea. And it would have worked except for you. You must have done something, screwed up the plan, and now- You killed them. Both of them were found in the building, a single shot each. You did that. I know! And now…"
Jessica's body stills, her arm no longer quivering, the weapon unmoving as it points directly at Kate, and she breathes slowly through her nose, angling the concealed handgun in her pocket toward Jessica.
A blind shot won't be as accurate but it's better than no shot at all.
Squeezing the trigger, the gun bucks within her fingers, the sound loud even though it's hidden inside her coat, and a tear forms, sliding down her face, as she hopes that she hit her target.
Hopes almost just as much that she doesn't.
How did her life become this?
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Thank you again for staying for the ride. Can hardly believe just one more to go!
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Thank you to Jo and Jamie for all their mad beta skills xoxo
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Thank you for reading xoxo