Melody and Diamond slowly entered in the vacant building. Melody kept a hand just over her pistol at her hip as Diamond went upstairs to check the other rooms while Melody stayed on the bottom floor. Her mind was full on what she was really going to do if this James person was here and waiting for them. Take him to Price and the others, maybe. Right now, she knew she just wanted an explanation and the location of her son. As she thought about it, she thought she just might kill him. That was something she hadn't done in a long time; could she even do that now? She had to, for Beckham if no one else.
She began to wonder how MacTavish had responded to her and Diamond's little adventure. She knew for sure that he was completely pissed off by her sudden "awakening". She couldn't help but grin at the thought of his worried panic expression when he yelled at her. She knew there would be yelling; just instinct to yell when someone just leaves at a hard time. Then she felt guilty.
Maybe it wasn't the best idea to just up and leave like that. Not just because MacTavish would be upset, but because she had Jamie, Gracie, and Christopher already scared out of their minds. Now with her leaving like that; she shivered thinking of them terrified and wondering where their mother was.
"Hey," She heard Diamond call from the upper floor, "Melody! I need some help in here," She said.
Melody nodded stiffly to herself and turned to go up the stairs. She looked over at the wall for a moment when she thought she saw something peculiar. The room was messy and files and documents were scattered about; as if someone had left in a hurry.
She knew Diamond had just called her up there, but she wondered why it looked that way. She kept a steady hand over her pistol as she slowly stepped into the room. The room was dark and dust particles roamed about the room lazily. A faint scent of lilac air freshener swam in the atmosphere and made the room feel homey.
Pictures of men and women hung on the walls with mountains of files stacked underneath them. It looked as though whoever had left quickly had been looking for someone in particular. But who; who was it that the one who stormed the room left in a hurry?
Melody stepped on something that gave out an audible crunch and she looked down to see a picture and a frame on the floor. She picked it up and carefully dusted off the glass she accidently broke and looked at the faces of the people of the flat photograph. Two children with identical brown, curly hair and sapphire blue eyes smiled at the taker of the photograph while a woman with green eyes and mouse brown hair wrapped her arms around the two boys.
Melody felt a tug at her heart as she thought about her boys; her little Beck and Chris. She immediately placed the picture upright against a tall, silver filing cabinet in hopes of removing the heart-broken feeling that made her question why she was even there. She took in a deep breath and continued to look around the room.
She looked over to see one file opened and she skimmed over the articles. She then looked at the face of the man that was showed at the top of the page.
Frank Woods
Melody questioned why the name sounded so familiar and why an image flashed in her head at the name. Had she heard of this man before from one of her former Marines and she hadn't paid any attention…. But, as she thought over the name, she realized that her mother's maiden name had been Woods. Was this man related to her somehow? Maybe a cousin or uncle of some sort.
Her thoughts were immediately interrupted when she heard the gunshot of an AK-47. She gasped and grabbed the file from the desk, folded it away in her vest and immediately set off up the stairs toward Diamond.
"But this boy needs his medicine, now! He'll die if he doesn't have it," Anna weakly argued with the woman who refused to listen to her as they placed the sleeping boy on the bed harshly beside her.
"Well, then that'd be one less annoying prisoner to handle with," Jenna said coldly and tossed the rough blanket towards them. Jenna had currently ordered James and some of the men to search a building outside of Phoenix, Arizona and get rid of any evidence they had left behind so she was alone with dealing with Anna and Beckham.
Anna stroked the boy's jawline as he slept. She wondered what would happen to him if he didn't get the medicine he needed as Jenna slammed the door behind her. Would she be able to watch this boy die in front of her? Could there be a way for her to help him? She bit her lip in concentration and remembered when her heart had beaten her in her childhood.
Always having to go to the doctor's office just for them to tell her that there was nothing they could do but give her the medicine and ways she can get her heart to calm down and go back to its original pace. But it had been so long ago, could she remember to even help him?
She began to think of her own daughter. Had she ever experienced any of the discomfort or pain from the heart problems? She prayed that she didn't as she leaned against the cold concrete wall behind her.
She shivered in her dark red sweater and wrapped the warm fabric around her waist. She couldn't believe how thin she had been now a days. Even when she had been given food, she never wanted to eat it. It wasn't something pointless like not being able to breathe or live without Simon or Avery, though she missed them terrible, but because it made her nauseous to even think about eating. They always drained blood from her right when gained it all back.
She was glad no one could see in this predicament. Skin-and-bones. She grinned thinking about her mother's adjectives. It was like she could cure anything by offering food because they looked 'just absolutely terrible'. She had thought the same thing when she met Simon the first time. Constantly telling him to eat something before he wasted away. She smiled remembering the scrawny, shy boy her mother met.
She sighed thinking about what had gone through her mind at that moment. She couldn't help but wonder if her younger self could have known that that young man she met at the park was going to become one of the main focuses in her life.
She couldn't believe it herself how almost ten years had gone by so fast. Ten years from being that skinny, hesitant girl from a small town to being the fragile, pale weakling after Anatoly took her from her family as a 'punishment' for Simon's actions. But what such actions? For living? Makarov wasn't even the one who killed him.
The very thought sent chills down her spine. It was hard to believe that he had actually been dead at a time. Now, she was glad that the owner of the land had seen him in time, but it was also a great shame that the other young man, Gary Sanderson, wasn't able to make it. She had always wanted to meet him. He seemed like a nice guy; from what she read from Simon's calls and e-mails. She remembered how Simon had said that Roach, or Gary, had reminded him a lot of himself at the beginning.
She sighed and closed her eyes against the sorrowful darkness. She knew everything would change when she met the young soldier, she just hadn't known it would change like this. She gave up on trying to sort through her thoughts and crawled off the bed to the floor to sleep. She didn't want to cause the boy any discomfort so she pressed her back against the mattress on the floor and closed her eyes, forcing sleep to come.
"Diamond? Diamond, what's going on?" Melody called rounding the corner and running into one room where Diamond was in.
She looked in to see Diamond with the gun in her hands and a man clutching a bloody left hand. She furrowed her eyebrows in shock and turned to Diamond.
"What the hell is going on?" She demanded.
Diamond said nothing but pointed towards the man. He had stood back up and had a large knife in hand. Melody took no threat to it, but stood her ground.
"I want to know where my son, Beckham, is. I know you and Jenna took him away from me. Tell me where he is," Melody demanded lifting her P9 from her side and aiming it towards the man she knew to be an exact match from the picture she found.
The young man clutching to the knife feebly just glared at her. He knew what this woman before him had done; from Jenna's stories she was disloyal and untrustworthy. You had to give it to her though; she did have a good line in twisting the truth from her perspective.
James just chuckled and shook his head slightly, "Go ahead, shoot me. You're getting nothing from me, anyway," He said stretching out his arms for a moment then let them fall back to his sides.
Melody glared and stepped towards him, "Though I do want to put a bullet through your thick skull, I'm not leaving without the information on my son's location. So, I suggest you just hand it over," She said with an arched brow.
Diamond watched them carefully and questioned Melody's position, "Melody, back off. You shouldn't stand so close to him," She warned seeing his fingers tighten against the smooth handle of the knife.
Melody just ignored her and stared at James, "I want my son back. I don't have to kill you to get it, just give me the information and you can tell Jenna that it was gone. She'd never know you gave it to me," Melody then began persuading, becoming a little desperate.
Diamond continued to stare James' hand with the knife as Melody began to lower her gun. The atmosphere was tense around them and Diamond wondered whether or not she should jump in between them.
James then grinned, "Fine. We'll settle this easily. I have the files made out of Jenna's plans in the cabinet behind me. You take it and leave," He said clearly and nodded to a white metal filing cabinet behind him.
Melody nodded and placed her pistol in the holster at her hip and carefully walked over to the cabinet with the man. Diamond took a step towards them, heart racing with nervousness. She didn't think it was a good idea for Melody to put away her weapon when James continued to hold his in a firm grip. Her mouth was dry with the words that she wanted to shout at Melody. Tell her she was being idiotic and that she should stand down. But, she knew how useless that would be. Melody was stubborn and never listened to anyone but herself. Diamond still couldn't believe that MacTavish daily put up with this woman.
As Melody searched through the files, James gripped the knife in his hand and grabbed Melody's arm, spinning her back to his chest.
Diamond immediately brought the gun up and pointed directly at him to shoot, but James quickly decided that he was going to at least weaken Melody before he knew Diamond would shoot. He grabbed her arm as she struggled to get from his grasp.
Though he clearly aimed for her hand, she jerked away from him the same instant he sent the knife flying down towards her hand.
Diamond's bullet fly from her gun and the blade drew closer to Melody's left pinkie. The atmosphere was quiet and tense as a ringing sound came from Melody and James took the bullet head-on. Diamond's heart raced in her chest and she walked over to Melody who held up a bloody hand, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Diamond felt like vomiting at the site of half of Melody's pinkie was removed and blood poured from the chopped finger. Melody cried and backed into the corner as the pain made her entire being locked tight and the only thing she could move was her mouth to scream bloody murder.
Diamond looked around and thought that someone might call if they heard the gunshots and Melody's screaming. She quickly walked over to Melody and told her to shut up. When Melody continued to throw her fit over her removed finger, Diamond growled from the back of her throat and slapped her.
"Quit being a damn baby, Melody! We have to get out of here, but first we gotta stop your bleeding or we'll be a GPS to Jenna's men if they come looking," Diamond said angrily.
Melody looked at the woman through blurred vision. Her ears rang and she could still feel Diamond's warm hand slap across her olive-skinned cheek. Hearing Diamond's words brought up something from her day's living in the academy.
"W-we need to get something metal….. G-get it hot," Melody softly instructed pointing towards the metal tools lying beside the old fireplace in the room from across them.
Diamond had no idea what she was talking about, but decided to get it for her anyway. She quickly walked over to the room and grabbed the nearest piece of metal she could find. Get it hot; why did she need to get it hot? The thought then clicked into her mind; Melody was going to burn the wound. Well, if that's the only way to stop the bleeding then she was open for it. They had to get out of there and quick. She looked over at Melody who clutched her bloody hand to her chest, slightly poking it at it to test how bad it had been chopped. Apparently, very bad since Melody kept biting her lip to keep her from making any noise.
Diamond then crossed over to the small kitchen separable from the room. She considered this to be some kind of lounge or something before it was abandoned. She crossed over to the stove and quickly turned the burner to the highest temperature and placed on end of the metal bar into the blue and orange flames. She kept under for a moment then ran back to Melody in the room she left her in.
Melody immediately grabbed the metal bar and took in a deep breath. She motioned for Diamond to cover her mouth as she bit her lip unsure. She had learned that it was the best way to stop the bleeding, but she did remember how painful it was. She remembered sitting in class with the others wincing just imagining the pain from the burning metal. Well, now she can say that she was doing a project.
She knew she was stalling now so she lifted the burnt metal to her face then stuck it quickly in the stub of her pinkie. Pain immediately flashed messages to her brain, screaming at her to remove the metal. Melody obeyed those messages and threw the bar away from her as quick as possible. She whimpered and cried at the burning, but knew she shouldn't scream. Diamond was right; they had to get out of there.
Melody looked up at Diamond to see her slightly wincing and she then helped her up, "C'mon, we can fix it up later. Right now, we have to get out of here," Diamond said taking the file Melody had been holding and threw her arm around her shoulder to help her up.
Melody stumbled along slowly a step behind Diamond as they slowly exited the building, Diamond handling her gun with care as she checked each corner before making it to the final floor. As Melody and Diamond sat in the car-this time with Diamond in the driver's seat-Melody opened the file that she had been given with Jenna's plans for Beckham.
Melody skimmed over his basic information since she already knew that, she prayed that she'd find something useful to find her son and bring him back home. But, considering Jenna, she wondered how dangerous she would make life for her son? Now that she thought about it, she didn't want to know the answer.
Sorry for not updating sooner. I have no logical or understandable reason besides I've been lazy and losing my touch. As you can see in the lousy chapter :/ I promise to be more faster in updating and better in the chapters.
Chapter Questions: Will Jenna really put Beckham's life at risk by not giving him any meds? Will Melody and Diamond find Beckham's location? Will Anna ever be free from Jenna before she dies from starvation? How will Jenna react with the death of James?
Stay tuned please and review!:D