When Anton woke up the next morning, he found himself lying in a bed in a motel room. He sat up slowly and groaned, feeling a slight pain in his left arm. He looked down at himself and found his left arm was now in a proper sling. Looking to his left, Anton saw a first aid kit sitting on a chair near the window. The curtains were closed, blocking the stifling heat out of the cool, dark room. Glancing down, the hitman saw a pillow and blanket were thrown onto the floor, forming something of a bed.

The door to the bathroom opened.

Anton turned his head right and found himself staring at a young woman in her mid 20s wrapped in a towel, her brown hair damp from a shower.

"You're awake", she said to him, a hint of a smile on her face.

Anton stared at her for a minute and asked her, "Where am I?"

"We're in a motel just outside of Odessa", she said.

"How long was I out for?"

"You've been unconscious all night", the woman answered him. "You suffered an open fracture in your left forearm. I set the bone back in place and stitched your wound as best I could."

"You're a doctor?" Anton asked her.

"No, I'm a nurse", said the woman. "What's your name?"

"What business is it of yours who I am?" Anton snarked at her.

The woman shook her head and said, "That's not the question I asked you. What is your name?"

Anton looked down at himself again and realized he was shirtless. The woman must have obviously taken off his clothes to check him over for other injuries. He looked back up at her again and asked, "Where are my clothes?"

"I'm not gonna help you any further unless you help me", she said. "What is your name?"

The hitman stayed silent for a minute. He tried thinking up an alias, but nothing came to mind. With his current condition and no weapon on his person, the hitman considered himself screwed. "Anton."

With that said, the young woman walked over to the dresser on the other side of the room and pulled open the top drawer. She walked over to Anton and handed him a neatly-folded shirt and pants. She then smiled at him and said, "My name is Elena Olmsted", before turning around and heading back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Great, I'm being held hostage by a crazy woman, Anton thought to himself. He pulled the blanket off of him and looked at his legs. A minor scratch and an ugly bruise had formed on the outside of his left thigh. The bandaging on the buckshot wound he had received a few days ago had been removed, revealing a hole in his leg that had been patched up and was still healing, the stitching made by his own hands.

Anton placed his feet onto the floor and reached over for his clothes. Just as he picked up his pants with his right hand, Elena walked out of the bathroom, clothed in a short-sleeved, green and white gingham shirt and sand-colored pants. Her hair was tied back into a high ponytail. She walked over to Anton and sat down next to him. "Here. Let me help you with that."

"I didn't ask for your help", Anton told her.

"No, but you need it", Elena told him, firmly.

Staring at her with emotionless eyes and a stoic expression, Anton allowed her to do whatever she had to to assist him. When Elena temperately removed the sling, Anton looked at where the bone had broken through his skin and saw that it was now covered by bloodied bandages. An arm splint was also wrapped around his wrist.

"How bad is it?" Anton asked her.

"It doesn't look too bad", said Elena, helping him into his shirt. "Your left eye is bruised and you have a cut on your head, but that was nothing I couldn't fix. I called a doctor friend of mine in Brainerd and she said as long as there's no signs of infection, your arm should be all right."

"Brainerd?" Anton asked her.

"Yeah, in Minnesota", Elena explained, buttoning up his shirt. "I was heading back there when I found you lying on the side of the road. How did you get into this mess anyway?"

"I don't know", said Anton.

Elena looked into his eyes and asked him, "You don't know or you don't remember?"

The man with the pageboy haircut said nothing, his expression non-changing.

After waiting a minute and receiving no answer, Elena reached over to grab his pants and said to him. "Well, however it happened, you're lucky you didn't need a blood transfusion."

While Elena helped him put on his pants, Anton felt like a child being dressed by his mother. As much as this conversation was starting to annoy him, the hitman could not help but feel a sense of respect and honor for this young woman, whoever she was.

After putting the sling back on him, Elena helped Anton with his boots. "I know what you're thinking", she said to him. "A woman like me finds an injured man out in the middle of nowhere and she doesn't take him to a hospital?" Elena looked Anton in the eye and said to him, "I know the basics on how to take care of an open fracture, so I figured I could do it myself."

Anton blinked and said to her, "What I don't understand is what business does a nurse from Brainerd have doing in Odessa."

"I'm on vacation", Elena answered. "I was driving back home when I found you."

"You already said that", Anton told her. All of a sudden, he placed his right hand over his wound and let out a painful groan.

"All right. Just a minute."

Elena stood up and walked over to the other end of the room. She picked up a plastic cup from off the dresser and went into the bathroom to fill it with water. She walked out and back over to Anton, placing the cup on the nightstand next to the bed. Elena then opened her first aid kit and took out a bottle of pain reliever, taking out a white caplet. She turned back to Anton and said to him, "Here, take this. It will help with your pain."

Anton took the pain reliever into his mouth and allowed Elena to give him a sip of water.

"How long?" Anton asked her, indicting the length of recovery.

"Two months, maybe three", Elena answered. "Your arm might be a little bit stiff, but right now, it's best if it remains immobile. There's no risk of paralyzation, if that's what you're worried about, but if you want to, I can take you to an emergency room."

"No", said Anton, standing up. His towering height loomed over her. "You've already done your part and that's all that matters. Do you understand?"

Elena looked at him for a minute and nodded her head and said, "Okay...Well, then, I'm prepared to offer you a choice. Either I can give you a ride back to your house and you can manage your injuries by yourself." Elena paused and carefully placed her hands on his upper arms. "Or, if you wouldn't mind, it would mean a lot to me if you were to accompany me back to Brainerd. I could look after you until your arm gets better."

Anton looked at her for a minute and said nothing. It was very clear to him that this woman had no idea what she was doing or getting herself into with him.

Elena allowed her hands to drop to her sides and said to Anton, "You're a man of very little words, you know that?" She nodded her head and turned around, saying, "Well, I need to ask the manager about a map, so you just stay here and think it over. I'll be right back."

After Elena left the room, Anton walked over to the door and locked it. A sea of questions swam through his mind as he tried to speculate the situation he was in and who on Earth this woman was. If she was smart, she would have turned him in by now, and yet she hadn't. Perhaps she wasn't aware of his murderous actions. She was not a local girl, that was certain. If anything, she was an angel, a virgin dove compared to this crow, an agent of Death.

Lost in his own thoughts, Anton thought over the situation carefully. His near-fatal collision had almost cost him his life, but even more unfortunate, it seemed he was now out of a job. Though he was not one for religion, Anton had often heard it said that God brought people into their lives for a reason. Was this Elena woman the answer to his problem? Yes, she had saved his life, but of what use was she to him? If he followed this woman to Minnesota, several states away from the scenes of his crimes and somewhere nobody knew him, Anton could possibly start a new life there once his arm had healed. Once his arm was better, he would be back to his killer self. Perhaps he would even let Elena choose her fate without the flip of a coin.