Chapter 2
The rain brought sadness and sorrow; it brought long forgotten memories from her childhood. Sometimes she could see the ghosts in her kitchen, her grandmother cooking at the stove, her grandfather showing a three year old Jill how to take a part a hand gun at the kitchen table. Her grandmother would turn around and chastise her husband, telling him to put away the weapons and help set the table. Three year old child would hop off her grandfather's leg and scurry over to the dishes to help her grandfather set up.
Jill drank deep from her coffee cup as she leaned up against the counter. The only sound that in the kitchen was the ticking of the ancient grandfather clock. She should turn on some music, the quietness made her restless. Maybe she should buy a cat or two or better yet a dog, something to fill up the loneliness of being in this house. No…that wouldn't do, she wasn't home long enough to take care of anyone. Jill set her cup in the sink, she headed toward the basement. The lights flicked a little when she flipped the switch on. "Jesus, does everything need to be look at."
There were two tool box, one red and the other black. She went to the red one first, opening it, she felt around for the special click. "Nope, not this one." Pushing it to the side, she opened the second one and found the click after rummaging through it for a moment. Pulling the top off, Jill found the guns where her grandfather had left them. Checking them thoroughly, she put the top back and slides the black box back into the bottom shelf. Going to the back of the basement, she moved around some boxes to reveal two old washing machines in the back. Jill pulled them apart to expose a hidden door in the floor. Taking out a key from her pocket, she unlocked the metal lock and undid the chains. A musky smell filled her nostrils as she threw opened the door. Using her phone, Jill descended down the stairs into the darkness.
Searching for the lights, Jill nearly fell over her own two feet. She finally found the lights after stumbling around the darkness for a good while. Her grandfather collected guns from as far back as the civil war era, Winchester to Maverick. Jill walked through the shelves of guns, making sure all was accounted for. She passed by a glass case with the uniform of a British soldier encase in it. It belonged to someone in the family, a man name, Elliot T. Martin. A sniper, his rifle lay next to the uniform with his dog tag. Her grandfather often told her they had a colorful family but have been Irish Americans for a couple of decades and now they were Irish, Korean, and American.
"We've got a lot of history Baby Girl, it a good thing too. It means you have all the history and all the knowledge of the different people before you." Her grandfather once told her.
Jill covered up the door again; grabbing the red tool box, she headed upstairs. As she placed the box on the ground, a knock came at the door. Going over to it, Jill opened the door with a ready smile.
"Good morning, how are you?" Jill beamed brightly to somber face Daniel. He gave her a curt nod; she brushed it off and led him to the steps. "As you can see, these steps are rather." Jill pushed her foot on one of the creakily board. "They are a little dangerous."
The two started working on the steps in silence; Daniel stared at her wrist for a moment, still wrapped up tightly but said nothing. They loosen up the nails on the board and tore them out to put new ones in. He watched Jill struggled with only one hand, he saw her drop the board to her hip. Daniel caught it before it fell down. "Careful." His eyes fell to her wrist again and after a moment he had to ask her about her injuries. "So what happened to you?"
"I fell down a flight of stairs," Jill laughed sheepishly, placing her hand accidently over his. "Oh…sorry." Daniel let her remove her hand quickly, not saying a word. "Landed on my hand and sprained my wrist." She pointed to her cheek. "Screwed up my face in the process also, but that what you get for texting and walking down a flight of dangerous stairs."
"Did it hurt?" A small smile appeared on Daniel's face, the girl did have a certain charm. He might have believed her if he didn't already know the truth behind her wounds. Texting my ass, she didn't seem like the type to get distracted by texting. Butchering Templars more like it.
"Nope, I am a lot tougher than I look." She gave him a wink, one side of her lips curved up into a half grin. "So you do smile, I'm glad. I was starting to think you were one of those tough guys who never crack a smile."
"Sorry…I am…not really good with people." Daniel chuckled, he liked her honesty. It was refreshing compare to the people he usually interacted with. "I can be rude…antisocial."
"Me either," Jill nodded in in empathy. "I can be rather honest and blunt."
She observed him silently as the two worked on the hammering. His features were very sharp, the pointiness of his chin made Jill think of the devil. Dark bags hung under his eyes, probably from lack of sleep and there was a grey cast to his shallow skin. She could neither say he was attractive or unattractive, she would venture to guess his age somewhere in his thirties. The ear rings he wore gave him a thuggish appeal.
A ringing in the kitchen caught the two's attention, Jill got up and wiped her hands on her pants. "That's my pie; I will be back in a moment."
Daniel hammered a nail into the wood; slowly he got up to stretch his nearly numb limps. This was his chance while she appeared distracted. Clutching his hammer, he crept into the house. He heard her working in the kitchen, the sink being turned on. The layout of the hallway changed in front of his eyes. Oh shit…the worst time for him to go back in time, he could hear the singing of his wife. Walking toward the kitchen door, Daniel gently pushed it aside. Anna had her back turned to him, she stood at the sink.
"Hey, sorry I got distracted." Jill glanced back at him apologetically, breaking the illusion.
"I'm sorry…" Daniel blinked, realizing he returned to his own time. Jill rotated around to face him; she pulled out a large knife from the sink.
"Do you want some pie?" She went over to the window causally. "It's apple, my specialty."
Daniel didn't refuse her; he sat at the kitchen table as Jill cut him a piece. An Assassin with a knife was a dangerous thing, especially since he only had a hammer.
"Fork? Or would you rather eat with your hammer?" Jill teased him playfully.
Daniel put the hammer down next to his plate sheepishly and accepted a piece. He started to eat, trying not to stare too much at her knife. The thought of the knife impaled in his body made him a little uneasy. But the pie was surprisingly really good.
"Good?" Jill smiled brightly, setting the knife next to her own plate. "Would you like some coffee?"
"Sure, the pie is really good." Daniel nodded to her; his eyes watched her get up and turn her back to him.
Now was his….Jill whirled back around, holding a hot coffeepot. Daniel sat back down abruptly, he wasn't crazy enough to attack an Assassin with a knife, attacking one holding hot liquid was suicide and just stupid. Most likely she would aim for his eyes, the last time he thought he would never recover.
"Decaf or regular?" Jill asked him, lifting the pot up and down. She had a way about tilting her head, he thought it was cute.
"Regular," He told her, grinning to Jill. She played the part of a quirky civilian well; the girl fooled him for a moment. One would have never guessed a killer lurk behind those welcoming eyes of her.
"Good, we only have regular anyway," Jill poured him a cup and gave it to him. She sat across from him again. "So, where do you come from? Are you a resident of Denver?"
"Me…No…I mean I have family here but this is my first time here…in a while." Daniel tried not to pause too much. Hit her! No Daniel…don't act crazy…she needs to be kept alive…stay calm. No need to stab or kill anyone…stay calm buddy… "That a nice cross." He pointed at a large cross hanging next to the wall; silver Roman Catholic cross. Similar to ones he once saw in Russia.
"That's my grandmother's, she was raised in a Catholic funded orphanage by German nuns." Jill took a sip from her coffee thoughtfully; her grandmother broke her vow to marry her grandfather.
"Do you speak German?" Daniel asked her, trying to gain her trust and actually a little curious.
"Ja, Ich spreche deutsch," Jill responded to him. "My grandmother taught it to me as a child. I can speak it decently in a conversation and understand it."
Daniel observed her for a moment discreetly; she stirred her coffee in a circular motion, slowly in a controlled manner. He had no idea why he thought the motion of something so trivial would fascinate him so much.
"I speak Russian," Daniel said to her suddenly.
"Oh really," Jill lean in on the table. "How did you learn?"
"I have spent some time in Russia on a job…building stuff." Daniel offered up to her, which wasn't a lie. "And I have some Russian in me."
After a few moments of idle conversation, the two returned to fixing up the steps. Daniel couldn't but feel proud of his work. "It looks good doesn't it?"
"Yep, sure does." Jill put her foot up one of the step. The board flipped over under the weight of her footing, Jill lost her balance. Daniel caught her by the waist before she fell over completely.
"I guess that one was loose." Daniel tested out the other steps with his outstretched foot. "Everything else seems okay."
"No surprise I stepped on the bad one," Jill pulled out from his arms; she tried the top ones with her foot. "The top ones are secure, just that one." They worked together to nail in the loose board, afterward they both sat on it.
The day was still early, the weather hot yet not too hot. Their eyes follow the same direction up the dirt road, in the distance they could see a little of the road. Occasionally a car or two would pass by. Both of them wanted to say something yet neither desired to break the comfortable silence.
"You have a nice place here, it really peaceful." Daniel finally spoke first, he meant it. This place was made for someone or people to come back to, it was meant for a family. He sighed a little, the same old longing came back again…family…home…a real home and family.
"Yeah…it a nice place to come back to when you been away for too long." Jill found herself saying, in spite of the memories, this place did offer her some comfort. "Maybe someday…" A family will inhabit the place again and make it a home. Maybe a family of three or four…sometimes her uncle would return home after a long journey to make the family a foursome. They were Assassins, yes, but they were also a close nit family and supported and loved each other greatly.
Her grandmother carried the patience of a saint or maybe she loved her family enough to accept the family as they were, Assassins. After all, she loved her grandfather enough to forsake the church to follow him to a foreign land. Her grandmother told her she did not love her grandfather in the beginning, he fell through the roof of the church one day. Bleeding and injured badly, she could do nothing but help him.
They were young then, she often joked about whether or not he was an angel or a devil. Back in his earlier days, her grandfather once had golden blonde hair and was rather attractive. Time and time again, he would drop him in on her for years to come after that, she dreaded the visits at first. His world scared her and she did not understand why he kept coming back to her church. Every time he returned to her, he was bleeding or in some sort of trouble and she beard his antics. After a while, he wore her down and she started to tolerate his random appearances. They slowly developed a friendship, her cold politeness gradually changed to sympathy for his plight. In the end, he told her his reasons for returning back to the church so frequently. It was because he found her pureness and honesty nature calming, it made his life easier to have her around him. Her grandmother told her that it took a lot for her to marry her grandfather.
Sometimes Jill wondered if she regretted her decision, knowing about her grandfather's history. Jill never questioned her grandfather, she never questioned who or what she wanted to do with her life and he never pressured her to make a choice. He told her anytime during her training even though she was a child that she could be normal anytime she wanted to. In the beginning it was to train her to defend herself because of her family history but as time went by, although it was unspoken, he began to teach her for the family business. But her grandmother wasn't born an Assassin nor did she show any interest of desiring to be one. How did she really feel about it? How did she really feel about the lifestyle she married into? How does she love someone so different from her? None of these thoughts ever occurred to her as a child, she saw only her grandfather's view and a devoted grandmother.
"Someday what?" Daniel pulled out a pack of cigarrate, he glance at her for a moment. "Do you mind?"
Jill was about to say yes but she saw they were her grandfather's brand. Her grandfather smoked a strange brand; truthfully she thought he was the only one. She grew up seeing the odd symbol of an eagle with its wings spread out on the carton. "Go ahead…"
"You were saying?" Daniel lit up the tip of the cigarrate, he saw her watch him puff on it. "Something wrong?"
"No…no…I was saying," Jill averted her gaze, wrapping her arms around her legs; she rested her chin on them. "Nothing…I forgot."
"Do you have any family," Jill asked him, knowing she was being too curious. "I mean…I know you have family here but are you married? Kids?"
"Nope, no wife or kids." Daniel flicked some of the ashes to the side. He would be a terrible father and husband. It seemed being a terrible father ran in his veins. "You?"
"No, I would be a terrible mother and wife." Jill laughed; she would be like her…mother.
Daniel rolled up his sleeve, Jill's smile slipped off her face. On his fore arms were old needle marks. Catching her eyes, Daniel unrolled his sleeve quickly but the damaged was already done. He could see her face change, the softness disappeared. "Yeah…some stuff from my past…I am not really proud of them."
"Just remember I had to do something," Jill stood up abruptly, frowning she opened her mouth and closed it. "I have to be at work for something, let's call it quits for today."
Daniel stood silently for a moment. "Sure…tomorrow?"
"No…tomorrow isn't good for me, I have work." Jill wiped her hands on her shorts even though they were not dirty. "I will call you… I mean the day after tomorrow…in the morning, same time." She attempted a half smile.
Daniel drove away, he switch on the radio and switch it off again. He fiddled with his rear view mirror; he finally stopped outside a bar about twenty minutes down the road. Suddenly he started to hit the steering wheel. Why did she have to see his markings? Now she wasn't going to see him anymore?
It bothered him, the look in her eyes, her frown. He didn't know why but it bothered him, he felt ashamed almost. Daniel slumped back in his seat and ran a hand over his face. Why…why do I even care what a kid thinks of me? Why does this baby assassin have such an effect on me? Because she was different from the others, different from Kelly. Kelly always thought she could save him with her love and he would change for her. But it wasn't enough for him, she didn't understand. The truth was, she didn't want him to change for her, she wanted to be the one who saved him and changed him. He couldn't even save himself, how did she expect to?
Hannah…she stayed by his side, took care of him and defended him. Why? She hardly knew him; he never understood why she wanted to help him so much. She hardly knew him at all and she put herself out on the line for him, jeopardizing all her brotherhood.
Dr. Sung, the good doctor. Always kind and helpful, giving him her compassion and sympathy. She might have helped him the most but it was her profession. Deep inside, he knew she had other motives for helping him.
They all wanted to help him; they all wanted to change him. Each believing they could save him in some way or another or fix him. But there were no sympathy in Jill's eyes; she seemed uncomfortable upon seeing his arm. A part of him wished he hadn't showed her the proof of his weakness. She was right in judging him unlike the rest.
Jill knew she should not have sent him away so abruptly but seeing his arm brought back old memories. Her mother died of an overdose when she was three, a shock really, no one would have guessed it. Growing up, she rarely saw her mother at all; her mother gave birth to her and left her with her grandparents. Only visiting her once or twice a year, at first Jill didn't understand why until the truth of the situation came out after her death. It broke her heart to find out the reason why her mother could never love her. Jill went into her grandfather's room and sat at her grandmother's old vanity. An old crystal perfume stood out among the neatly align cosmetics. The bottle belonged to her mother, a relic left behind after her mother went away to train at a camp at eighteen.
Jill picked it up and sprayed a little on her wrist, she liked the calming scent of peony. Smelling the scent sometimes made her feel closer to her absent mother. Putting it back down, Jill decided to go to the bookstore; she needed something to get her mind off of things.
Daniel lay on the ground, very drunk after going through too much vodka, he blamed his grandfather. It was always his fault, coming in and out at the worst time, running his life. The cold ass bastard, he hated him like no one in the world. "Go away! Go away old man!"
Boris decided had enough with the troublemaker, for the last hour, the stranger had been unsuccessfully propositioning women left and right. Any women, young and old, unattractive and attractive until he fell over on his face even then it didn't stop him for groping everyone who passed by.
"Boris!" The door opened and Jill stood carrying a pink box of cupcakes. "How are you?"
"Well, if it isn't little Jill, how are you Angel?" Boris grinned widely, coming around the counter to hug the petite girl in his grizzle arms. "How the school? Out for the summer?"
Boris went to her grandmother's church; he used to give her treats when her grandmother would take her. He also coached her soccer team at camp one summer. The two talked for a moment before Daniel started blabbing again about his grandfather. Jill looked surprise for a moment and realized he was drunk off his ass.
"That stranger has been babbling for quite some time now, been groping anyone that passes by too. Everyone. No discrimination." Boris slung his drying cloth over his shoulder and hitched up his pants. "Excuse me Angel; I have to take care of this." He took two steps but Jill stopped him.
"Let me Boris, he's…a friend of mine." Boris raised his bushy brow in surprise; Jill grinned sheepishly and strode toward Daniel.
Daniel rattled off in Russian as she approached him. "Hey buddy, are you okay." She knelt down in front of him. "Let me help you." She had no idea what to do with him yet she couldn't possible leave him. At first he resisted her in Russian but silently let her help him up. He clung to her like a child to a mother while ice skating for the first time.
"What are you going to do with him?" Boris came over to her, trying to help her steady the man.
"I guess take to him home, wherever that is…" At the moment, Daniel's stomach lurched violently and he vomited. Warm liquid mixed with bits of food spilled over Jill's chest, dripping down to her stomach and legs. Jill's face was in shock, a sickly sweet smell filled her nostrils. Daniel grabbed her shoulders firmly for a second; he stared at her for a moment and then collapsed into her chest, pressing his vomit into her. "Jesus Christ…Oh God…"
"Are you okay sweetheart, do you need any help?" Boris said to her, trying to keep a straight face.
"Yeah, no…I got this," Jill smiled wanly and slung Daniel's arm over her shoulder. "Don't worry…I got him."
In the car, Jill attempted to question Daniel in vain about his living situation. He kept talking to her in Russian, going in and out of consciousness. Jill understood a little Russian; she trained with a Russian operative during her stay in China. One of the best shooter she ever encounter, she still thought her skill outmatched his.
Daniel ran through the bushes, he stopped suddenly and started to climb up a large tree. His hands were cold but he persisted to go as high as he could, he needed a good place to conceal himself from his father. Up here in the tree was the perfect to attack his father, maybe this time he would win. His father, who he loved and revered above everyone else, he knew it in his heart he would one day kill him. Stepping on a weak branch, Daniel lost his footing and fell backward and down to the ground below him.
Daniel eyes snapped open; he twisted to his side and gagged on Jill's lap. She threw up on arm to block him in vain. The puke covered her arm and pooled in her lap. And as if that was not enough, Daniel's head fell into her lap.
"Really...Really...Jesus…What am I doing?" Jill sighed to herself; this was her first time taking a man home from the bar. Her teammates would be proud if they knew.
Jill dragged Daniel into her house, only to have him puke on her front carpet. "You are not going to make it easy for me tonight."
Jill saw no other option but to throw him in the shower to hose him off with the detachable faucet. She kept her gaze mainly on his chest, using a back scrubber to clean him. His smell was too much for her to leave him dirty on her couch. At first it seemed he would freak out, he started talking in Russian again.
Jill spoke to him in in Russian, using the few words she knew to sooth him. Telling him to calm down and be peaceful. Daniel finally became docile after hearing her voice; he called her Anna several times. Jill hauled a half-naked Daniel onto her couch and covered him with a thick blanket.
By the time she hopped in the shower, she was exhausted. She needed a new carpet and she smelled like cleaning product, she almost bleached her car to get the gunk out. Jill cleansed her skin furiously; he threw up on her twice. A small laugh suddenly burst out, she shakes her head in disbelief at her decision to bring him home. "You have completely lost your mind."
The next morning Daniel woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar territory, which wasn't the first time for him. "Oh God, you blacked out again." Looking down, he saw he wore no clothes. Did I go home with someone last night?
"So you are awake," Jill walked into the room, carrying his freshly laundry clothes.
Daniel stared at the girl, his mind still groggily from the alcohol. It registered to him who she was after a moment. "Jill…Kim…" He looked around the room, this was her living room. "How did I get here? Did we?" Daniel cocked an eye brow. "We didn't…"
"No we did not," Jill laughed as she crossed over to him. "I stopped by to see a friend at the local bar down the road and you were there, drunk and lying on the ground."
Daniel had the decency to appear sheepish as he accepted his clothes. "Being the concern employer that I was, I decided to try and take you home but you were too far gone. So I brought you back."
"Sorry for causing you trouble," Daniel stood up, the blanket fell off. Jill averted her gaze, a grin pulling at her lips. "Shit! Sorry…" He gabbed for the blanket.
"I will be in the kitchen, come in when you are finish." Jill said to him, she turned to walk away.
Daniel quickly put on his clothes; he needed to get it together. No doubt Lucy or Warren would be calling him soon, he was lagging too much. Today, the mission would be done today.
