Notes to consider:

We left off at…

Ben in a conversation with Hope trying to understand the hostility and disrespect she has shown to those around her.

Ryn is upstairs with Little Ted, still shaken by not only her daughter's unusual behavior but her violent reaction to it.

Maddie and Joe are off to his hotel room a few miles from Bristol Cove with a rather angry woman leaving Lombardi's to follow them.

FYI:

This takes place sometime after the discovery of the nude woman on the beach.

This chapter has become my favorite.

Chapter 34

The story of Joe and the Mysterious Woman

The figure in the corner of the kitchen pressed deep into the corner. A large black colored refrigerator to his left. His hands pressed a dishtowel onto the wound. The assailant's attempt to stab him became a slashing gesture to his left side. The intruder's effort curtailed by the grip of two powerful hands. His lifeless form next to the kitchen table, a right arm pulled from its socket. The limb covered by a torn collared shirt held only by stretched tendons.

The man sat still trying to comprehend the horrific scenes that played out before him. To his left slouches a seated, stagnant body leaning against the stove. The dead man's blond hair could not conceal the large dent in the back of the skull. In front of the still unbelieving figure, another man sprawled on the beige tiled floor. His upper body soaked with blood.

Behind the last casualty of this bloodbath stood the woman he had found less than two weeks before. The amnesiac he christened with the name Angel.

The person that had caused this scene of carnage.

"OH, my Joe." She walks to the wounded man. "You are hurt." Her palm brushes his cheek.
Joe stiffens his form. He wants to recoil from her touch but cannot. He would be a dead man without her help.

"My Joe, I caused this. They wanted to kill me. Not take me away." Her lips touch his cheek. "My darling…it is my fault."
"Are they Russians?" He asks.

"Yes, they are Spetsnaz." She uses her fingers to comb his black wavy hair. "You are safe now."

Taking a moment to breathe, he speaks.

"Who…or maybe what dah hell are you?" There is a cringe from him, as he tries to straighten his body.

"No, Joe…stay. I will call doctor."
"No, I'll tell you the number. It's on my phone." He inhales. "A doctor will come over and then a team to clean up this shit."
"Oh, yes. Mike should not know?"

Millionaire Michael Dobson owns many beach houses along the West Coast. His sudden wish to take Alice on a private cruise to South America left Joe free reign to use this Malibu residence to keep the good-looking amnesiac incognito, while he understands how she was involved in that sonic attack in Bristol Cove.

"Mike could not care less about anything. When I told him I wanted to hide you till your memory came back…" A twinge of pain rides up his side. "He said marry her if you want."

"Marry you." She smiles at the thought. "My sweet Joe. Please, do not talk."
A few chuckles leave the man. "But, Angel…"
She interrupts him.

"That is my name. now." She turns to look at the bodies lying on the kitchen floor. "They, the Russians gave me another name." She turns back to Joe. "They called me sea monster."
Green eyes widen. His expression is one of bewilderment.

"What! How could they…"
"The name I took after escaping was Tia." Her vision lowers, as if ashamed of something from her past.

"Tia's a nice name." He whispers through a smile.

"No!" The response causes the wounded man to shiver.

"My name is Angel. I am…" Her tone lowers. "Joe, I have done some terrible things. Awful…murderous…against innocent people."
"Angel, sweetheart. We've been here for a week and on Mike's yacht for a couple of days."
"Yes, I know time." She adds.
"You ask me what I do? Why I can take so much time away from my job and help you." He needs to inhale. "I was…well…a hired killer for this country." He lets out a painful laugh.

"You are a warrior like me. Like that picture of you."

"It was after that picture. That's when the assassin shit started."
She refers a photo in his wallet and on his phone. It shows four soldiers in desert camouflage, holding a variety of automatic weapons.

"You must kill people…when you are warrior." She states.

"Well, evidently you are a warrior also." He shakes his head, as if he still cannot comprehend her past actions. "What are you? Like, some kinda biologically altered super soldier." He snorts out a chuckle. "Are you from outer space. I mean after what I saw you do to these guys. I mean, I'll believe anything."

A moan comes from the body covered with blood.

"I will finish him." She stands and turns.

"I will make him suffer."
"No." Joe's voice is weak, but it stops her in her tracks. "Please, don't do that. Please, my Angel…no."
She rushes back to him.

"Why? They would kill you if they could."

"He is a warrior. Whatever happened to you…they did not do it." He pulls himself toward her. Grabbing her arms, they are face to face.

"Angel, he did what they told him to do. I was in the American version of Spetsnaz." He sighs. "When you join a group like that…you don't ask questions." Joe licks his lips and then inhales. "I know we can't turn him over to the guys I'm calling, but…maybe a soldiers death?"
"Why do you care if he suffers? He must suffer for all my suffering." Her light brown eyes look as if preparing to cry.

"They took my song!" Her voice fills the kitchen.

"Song?" Joe's eyes squint as he draws closer to her face. "What you are a songwriter?"

They both sport grins.

"Listen, a woman like you," he exhales through his nose. "You're gonna do whatever you want. I can't and could never hope to stop you." He swallows to moisten a dry throat. "But please, for me…the business we…I mean him and me are in…we know what the cards have in store for us…when captured." Joe's breathing is interfering with his words.

"Please, do it quick. Please?" His head drops toward his chest.

"I will. I will because, I know who I am now. I know what I have been through and what I have done. And," she places a soft kiss on his lips. "I know many things, Joe."

He is about to speak.

"Hush!" Her finger presses on his lips. "And with that knowledge I will tell you…" She now inhales.

"I love you. I love you." She clasps his head as their lips meet.

"Oh, Angel, I love you, too."

Joe's admission brings him a sharp pain as she wraps her arms around him.

"I'm sorry, my love. I'm sorry." Her voice is low.

"Listen, we gotta go over some stuff." He recovers from the embrace. "First, you take some money and go to that motel off the beach. You can walk there."
"No, I will not leave you." She states.

"Sweetheart, Angel…you can't be here when the clean-up crew and that doc comes."

"Ok," she kisses him again.

"Second you have to explain what the hell you are."
"I will be truthful." She answers.

"But third and most importantly," he chuckles as he presses against the wound. "When we make love…I mean we haven't…I didn't want to take advantage of a woman in your state." His grin widens. "But please be gentle." He snorts out a laugh. "I knew you had an unbelievable grip, but…Wow!"
"I will try." She whispers in his ear.

"Try?" His voice cracks at the thought.

The smiling woman leans close to him and begins to explain Joe's second question.

The man's eyebrows zoom upward. His face shows a strained expression, over an open mouth.

He has forgotten his third request.

For the time being.

Author's note to reader:

If I don't get some reviews (Good or Bad) after this chapter…I just don't know what to do?