III. Red Herring
New York City, January 13th 5:10 AM
John looked down at the familiar kitchen table in front of him. It wasn't his kitchen and it wasn't Joss's. He reached for his gun, as his hands brushed the empty space he realized he wasn't armed. He let his eyes roam around his surroundings taking note of the pooling of blood on the floor. He turned around in the kitchen trying to get a bearing on where he was, the place looked familiar.
"Come on now you haven't forgotten what you've done, have you?"
John jerked his head back around, he stared in shock at the man standing before him. He watched as the blood dripped from the man's arm as he stood in front of him in blood soaked clothes.
"Man I thought I was terrible but I only killed sixty-two women, nowhere near your body count."
John watched as Edward began to chuckle
"What will she say when she finds out you lied to her? What will she do when she finds out your nothing but a killer? You're not a good man. You can't hide behind excuses anymore, you're going to pay for the things you've done." Edward laughed as he watched John slowly back away from him.
"Do you ever wonder about the look of complete revulsion that will grace her face when she finally realizes what you are?"
John felt his chest tighten as Edwards words sank in.
"She's going to hate you forever, no one's going to shed a tear for you when you die, no one's going to miss you when you're gone. You'll be just another dead killer...like me."
x-x-x-xx-x-x-x
John jerked awake his eyes snapping open, scanning the room taking in the white, silver, and blues of the bedroom realizing he wasn't in his apartment. Bringing his hands to his face he rubbed his eyes trying to forget the reoccurring nightmare that had been plaguing him since he killed Edwards.
He sighed letting his head loll to the side taking in the sleeping body lying peacefully next to him.
She was sleeping on her stomach, the bed sheet only covering her from the waist down, her face turned away from him, her hair splayed across her pillow. His listened to her soft breathing, his eyes glancing at her bedside clock, the green numbers flashing 5:18 AM. He shifted onto his side, admiring the soft flex of her muscles as breathed and the gentle contours of her back. He reached out his hand, tracing a zig-zag pattern down her back, crisscrossing the dip of her spine, until his fingers stopped at her tail bone dipping into the two cute dimples above her butt.
He smirked slipping his fingers under the bed sheet, drifting lower to her butt where he pinched one cheek slightly, eliciting a yelp from her as she shot up onto her hands and knees.
"Did…did you just pinch me."
John brought his hands the rest behind his head "Maybe..." he licked his lips watching her eyes gleam as she stared at him a smirk forming on her face. He waited on baited breath as she slowly sat up, causing the bedsheets to fall, as she sat back on her hunches, exposing her completely naked body to him.
"Really and why's that?" Joss muttered, pulling down the bedsheets from around his waist, as she slowly crawled on top of him, kissing his chest along the way until she perched herself on his lap.
"Because I can't keep my hands to myself when it comes to you." he replied, taking his hands from behind his head, grabbing her waist, before rolling her underneath him. Deciding to pick up were he left off three hours ago.
Langley, Virginia January 13th 7:45 AM
"Hey Barns how was your weekend?"
"It was fine Steve I finally managed to finish remodeling my bathroom" Kate replied as she added three sugars and five creams to her coffee, swiping the wrappers into the waste bin as she made her way back to her desk.
"Yeah, I've been trying to finishing repainting our living room but my fiancé keeps changing his mind on what color he wants, I swear the staff at the Home Depot knows us by name."
Kate chuckled, "and they say only us women are picky."
"Uh oh, top suits at your desk." Steve replied as he sipped his coffee before heading off to his own desk.
Kate looked at the two men standing in front of her cubicle, they turned as she approached her desk.
"Agent Barns?" One agent gruffed out.
"Yes"
"Come with us please," they ordered, turning and heading out of her unit's office.
Kate quickly sat her coffee on her desk and followed the men out into the hallway as they headed for the elevators.
"Can I ask what this is about?" Kate inquired as they stepped into the elevators she watched as one man pressed the 6th floor button.
"You're wanted for a briefing "
"With who?" Kate asked in confusion, her supervisor worked on the 4th floor. She put her confusion aside as she followed the men out of the elevator as they walked down the hallway to a conference room. She looked around the room as she followed the agents inside, taking in the eleven other occupants. Based on their postures and air of importance, she could already single out that 6 individuals who were field agents, the others were like her, paper pushers and analyst.
Deciding not to keep standing like an outcast she took a seat at the first empty chair she could find next to the only other female in the room, judging from her ID card she worked in IT. Kate looked back noticing that the agents who escorted her up had disappeared.
They all drew there attention to the far door as a very tall intimidating looking red haired woman entered the room. Kate straightened up as she recognized immediacy the Directorate of Operations for the agency.
"Good morning ladies and gentleman, I am Director Bates, I already know who you all are, so will skip the formalities and get straight to business. Please turn your attention to the overhead screen.
They all looked at the plasma monitor as an older females face popped up.
"This is Agent Terry Miller she was gate keeper for special affairs, tasked with securing medium to high value assets." Bates explained as she clicked to the next image, "She was found murdered in her home in Baton Rouge Louisiana this morning, after a swipe of her residence was conducted we were unable to determine her assailant or their motive for killing her.
"After a tech team salvaged her equipment her last entry and searches were into the records of this man." Bates clicked the slide over. "His given name is John Hunter Riggs his agency alias was John Reese, he and his partner were presumed killed in action by their handler in a botched sell of illegal data to the Chinese."
"Were presumed dead?" one of the filed agents spoke up.
"Yes his partner, is as of now, confirmed dead, but Reese is presumed alive and active in New York City." Bates clicked over to an FBI case file. "Two years ago his finger prints were run through a local precinct by following a report filed by a Detective Carter, after which he evaded police custody only to turn up on the FBI's radar under the status of a vigilante stopping petty crimes within New York."
"If we knew where he was, why haven't we taken care of him before now? "Another agent asked.
"Up until now, Reese was considered a low level priority, quite frankly, he's a disposable low level asset and poses no threat to the agency or our operations, but if he is responsible for Millers death, the Director needs to know why?"
The main objective of this mission is to tack down Reese and find out his connection to Miller's death by any means necessary. This team has been assembled to work quietly and efficiently in apprehending Reese alive. You all will be relocated to a field office in New York, once there, you will be given full access to any relevant materials and records. You have 2 hours to pack your necessities, your flight leaves BWI in 4 hours."
New York City, January 13th 8:34 AM
Joss sipped her tea as she ignored the woman sitting in front of her sporting a stupid grin.
"Soooo...," Jasmine drew out, "How was it?"
"It was fun. I had a wonderful time, the restaurant was really nice," Joss answered intentionally.
"Yeahhhh.. that's not what I was talking about and you know it." Jasmine laughed out finishing her breakfast.
"I don't know what your talking about," Joss stated innocently.
"I know your not going to leave me in the dark," Jasmine leaned forward "how was it?...and by it, I mean his stroke game,... and don't try to tell me you didn't get any last night, cause your glowing."
Joss touched her cheeks self-consciously,"Am not."
"Please all the M.A.C concealer in the world couldn't hide those hickies, clearly that man put it on you last night," Jasmine grinned "...or should I say...in you, because you do have a slight wiggle in your walk today."
Joss muttered under her breath, shifting uncomfortably in her seat, she had hoped that she could hide the slight soreness between her legs.
"Jasmine I love, but you talk to damn much."
"Ummhmm, and I suggest you pop some Advil if you don't want any one else to talk about it either" Jasmine laughed as she ducked the balled up straw wrapper Joss tossed at her.