Chapter 6) A Wake up call.

The girl ran around al bouncy and cheery. He hated that. She ran through the apartment as she tried to fly. It annoyed him. Chain smoking he sat on his bed, facing the door. He knew what she was up to. She was all into that… kid. She was in… love and way to happy for her own good. If this was going to last long, rings got carried out, fucking bells would sound and it was adios Lizzy-O.

So he had to stop that, because she was not going to leave for some little punk that had more luck than balls. This was suppose to be life now. He and the girly. Him battling to keep his mind in control and she would stick around in case something bad happened. He hated it, but he needed that. Yeah, he needed someone.

'The kid has to go or die, because I'm not going back to that centre. I'm not crazy…'

'Sure you're not… You just like to talk to yourself, that's all.'

'Indeed.'

'So you're gonna shoot the fuck, Shel?'

'I might if I have to.'

'But she lovesssss that little latino.'

'She also loves Ricky Martin and she didn't exploded when I broke that CD.'

'No, not exploded. She was upset and didn't speak to you for a day. If you kill little Latino you broke her crush. She ain't gonna like that Shel.'

'Since when are you helping me anyway?!'

'What? The kid is indeed to close. You wanted to let the girl live, fine she can dig it. But not that boy. He's to town-like. Talks to much, savvy? What if the whole village knows the truth about you? I don't think you will make it back to the Centre. I think you have to get delivered in pieces.'

'So that means Mario has to go.'

'Dead or alive. It doesn't matter much.'

'It does idiot. Blood makes stains and I'm not very qualified to clean the carpet.'

'Then use your psycho skills, dumbshit. Scare the living shit out of him or go CIA on him. You know the drill.'

He nodded and continued smoking. This was going to be easy, he just needed a plan.

.-.-.

'Where the heck did I leave my shoes?!' Lizz thought nervously. She was going to meet Mario in half an hour and she still needed to do her hair, nails, make up, pick better clothes and-

"Found you!" She duck down at the coffee table, pushed away Sands his leather boots and dragged her white sandals from under it. Discussed she looked at the mess around, mostly Sands' and empty bags. 'Sure he's too 'blind' to clean up and somehow I have to be the one cleaning after him.' Sulky she picked up a couple cans of beer and threw them in a trashcan.

'And I told him to go easy on them. But don't listen to Lizz who tries to make you better. No just keep drinking yourself into a coma. Stupid ass.'

She dumped some more trash away and started to fiddle with her hair, glaring at the girl in the mirror. 'For once do what I say, please, for once!' Finally she pulled her hair into a pony tail and made a funny face. She watched Sands' door for a moment before whipping away a lose string. 'I wonder what he's being up to. It's to quite in the house. That mostly means he's plotting something or doesn't want to talk. And that's never good.'

Doubtfully she thought of walking into his room or just leave without saying goodbye. She felt much for the latter, he started to be the big control freak if she told she would leave. Like a psycho-dad. How late will you be back!? Who are you going to meet?! Where are you going?! Where is that?! Is that close around?! How old is that kid anyway?! Do you know what guys want?! Do you have any idea how fucking stupid and retarded you are for hanging out with that fag?! And so on.

Somebody knocked on the door and her mood switched completely. "I'm coming!" She cheered and made a spurt to the door. But when she opened it there was no Mario waiting for her. Not even that salesman who made her buy rubbish every time. There only lay a brown map on the ground.

'Great, now even the mailman is to scared to hand mail.' Sulky she grabbed the map and made a mental note to talk with Sands about his out of hand behaviour every time there was someone at the door.

Not very interested she tossed the map on the coffee table and started to fiddle with her hair a bit more. She did a few things and finally decided she better get her hair cut and let it hang around her face. That way she wouldn't have to go through all the make up.

Through the mirror her eyes landed on the map. Classified. It said in red.

Her eyes narrowed. 'That's not something the mailman brings around.' Uneasy she watched through all the windows and felt around. She took a scissor and took the map. Then she made a run to her room and silently closed the door. She started to move her cabin and pushed it in front of her door. That way no-one would walk in, even Sands wasn't good to have around with something called classified. That meant trouble and he was so bored he would embrace trouble. And the last thing she wanted was to get back into danger, drive all day and keep out of the fire line.

She sat back on her bed and opened the map. Shocked she started to read through the files and her hands started to shiver from nervousness:

Formal CIA agent, recruited first in Chicago for a few small missions. Quickly showed he was capable of bigger things, I highly doubted it at first, seeing his 'condition' and history. He is smart, might even call him brilliant and he won't hold back.

Next mission was in Vegas, he again made great progress. He won't be stopped and he has a way of talking. People believe what he's telling them. You might be surprised how sane he's around other people. That's so dangerous about him. He's unpredictable. We got him a partner, but after a few weeks we could clean up after him. His partner was dead, shot into shred. He ensured us it was the Maf. But I know better. Can't prove a thing, but after this last 'incident' I let him play solo. That way everyone would be happy. If he screws up that's his problem, we just look away and toss him on his sickness. And if he succeeds we just give him a next mission and so on. It doesn't really matter if we lose him. There is no-one that will miss him.

Last mission turned into chaos. We had to clean up to much and to many people had to die. Not just from the Maf but also innocent bystanders. We had to, we can't afford rumours about a CIA-agent that pulled out his badge in a shop and shot an ordinary guy, took three hostages and threatened to kill them all. Luckily one of them had connections to the Mafia, else we had to take cover. So we decided to get him to Mexico. Because he's brilliant, but to dangerous for the USA. In Mexico he won't be noticed surrounded by Cartel and drug lords. We give him his assignments and if he doesn't work them out correctly we will make it look like an accident. Not that people will ask, but just in case.

That was page 24. There where a lot more registers about data, missions and targets. It where many pages and the thing that freaked her out was every page was signed with the name Daily. She turned more pages, thrilled and scared what she would read next.

There was a list of his medical report, going back until his mid teens. It was a long list, full of broken bones, concussions and bruises. Next to it was a list of child diseases, injections and a few medications he was allergic to.

She turned the page and slapped her hand for her mouth. A few moments she couldn't do more then just stare and breath.

Between the two papers lay a picture of Sands, taken a few years back. His face was less pale, his hair was more clean and well kept. But the thing that made the picture so intense and surreal was the fact Sands had eyes. Dark and cold eyes, but beautiful and fearless. With a gaze of a murderer and a hint of mockery. They were alive and no trace of madness.

Unintentional her eyes started to water. She kept staring at the picture and couldn't let it go. 'This is you. The real you.' She had to say he didn't look bad, kinda sexy if you were into villains. 'O my god.'

She turned to the last page, there was a little note.

If you are interested you may call me anytime, a mobile number followed.. It was written in a rush.

Her heart thumbed in her throat, she tore out the last page and dumped the map under her mattress. She pushed her cabin back and ran to the door.

"I have to go do something!" She yelled and didn't wait for an answer. She slammed the door shut and ran outside.

.-.-.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry I can't make it Julio." She muttered, feeling bad she had to lie. "But I really don't feel good." She coughed and watched her watch. "Yeah, kay I see you in a few days."

Liz sighted and hung up. She picked some change from her wallet and made sure nobody was watching her. She figured it was best if she called from a telephone-box across town. If they could track the number it wouldn't lead to something very close from her home. And Sands didn't go outside that much so no worry about him bumping into whoever the hell those people where. She just hoped they didn't know much about her.

She dialled the number on the paper. It took some time before someone picked up.

"Hi, Djessy speaking."

Lizz froze and thought she got the wrong number.

"Hello? Hello? I think there is something wrong with the phone."

She swallowed. "No, it's not. Who am I speaking to?"

There was a long pause. "O, I guess you got the map then." Another pause. "Good, excellent."

Her fingers almost crushed the phone. "Where did you get the nerve to come up with that thing!" she yelled. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to disappear?! And what the fuck do I have to do with that map?! Find out other things he'd done, people he'd killed. I know he's out of his mind! I know that! I've been around!"

A long pause after her anger. "I'm sorry you feel that way. I didn't want to cost you any trouble-"

"- Then why bother to track me down? Why bother to send me the map! What do you want from me?!"

"I don't want anything from you. I just like to know how my patient is doing-"

"-Patient?! Are you one of those shrinks who pumped him full of drugs! Because of you he lost it for a long time! So fuck off! We don't need you, we're fine now!"

"Really? You are saying he's completely normal and isn't a threat to society?" The woman on the other end asked.

Now Lizz went quiet and that bothered her not just because of the teacher-like tone the woman had spoken on.

"That will be a no then. And don't worry I'm not intending to drag him back to the Centre. After everything I've seen I don't think it's for his best to be here. But I'm sure he's unpredictable."

"So what is it what you want?" Lizz snapped.

"I want to keep him out of trouble, I want to keep him out of the CIA and he interests me. You interest me because somehow you have something I have not. And I want to know what."

"Why should I want to do anything with you?" Lizz asked. "I don't know you and I don't care. And I really don't want to be your next project."

"You want to be taking care of him the rest of your life? I'm not saying he is dangerous right now. But what if something triggers him? What is something goes wrong? Will you be able to stop him? Or does the police have to do that. I think you read all the files, so you know what he's capable of if he wants too."

How much she hated to remember, she knew what he could do. He sometimes acted like a puppy but truth was far from it. He was strong, smart and didn't got lead by his emotions, frankly because he didn't got bothered much by them. If he, or it, wanted to kill her. She wouldn't be able to do anything, she couldn't shoot him. Not him. Or he could kill someone else, an innocent bystander. And she was not sure what she would do if that happened.

"So, what are you suggesting then?" She asked blunt.

"Keep me informed. I want to know what he is doing, what you are doing, his behaviour, what kind of medication he is taking."

Somehow that made Lizz giggle. "He is not taking anything."

"What?! You know his condition! He should be taking something." The woman snapped at her.

"Well he is taking something, child aspirins. I just tell him it's anti-psychotica."

"Why?"

"Because he drinks a lot and those pills are strong and it nearly killed him once before. And he's doing alright now. As long as he things the pills make him better he is better. When he's really close to losing it I'll give him the strong stuff. He just needs to think he's in control."

"Fascinating. But you should give him the real pills."

"No, I won't. He is doing alright. I can dig it. He drinks to much for those pills. He will die."

"Then make him drink less."

Lizz laughed coldly. "Yeah, you try doing that. Good luck." It was quiet on the other end of the line. "So did you hear anything from 'Daily'?" She asked calm, while her fingers made a attempt to uncurl the wire of the phone. Normally she would start to ramble if she got nervous but she had to keep cool. Because this call could mean the end of her quiet life.

"No, I did not. I never met that man, I think. It surprised me there was no number of him in the map, normally therapists leave some information about themselves in a confidential map. There was a phone number but no-one answered."

'No kidding that guy is getting mushy and smelly at the moment.' Lizz thought tight-lipped. "Strange." She said casual but her hand was shaking from anger. Meanwhile she tried to file everything the shrink was telling her. It might be a trick, or not.

"Lizz?" The female voice asked. "I think you might like to know, he mentioned you when I spoke to him. And that was something because he hardly spoke or made any other sign he was still in the 'real world.' "

"Yeah, that's probably because you pumped him full of drugs." She snapped back, then eased. "But thanks, whoever you are. That means a lot to me."

"No problem. I have to go now, Lizz. I don't want to force you into anything. I just like to talk to you. Let everything I've said sink in and call me in about a week if you like. If not, that's good to. I will leave it up to you."

"Kay." She answered shortly.

"Bye, Lizz."

"Bye." She hung up the phone and kept staring at the thing for a long time. Until a very big Mexican woman gave a loud slam on the door and started to gesture she was in a big hurry.

Lizz ignored the name-calling when she scampered out of the cell and walked back to her apartment, puzzled. She decided to take the stairs, the extra few minutes away from Sands would do her good. Without interfering he'd succeed to mess up her thoughts again. Sleepless nights and headaches were in her near future and a whole lot more that she didn't know about.

Please be so kind to leave some for the writer.

X Nuky