Never Just One

Chapter 1

(OC) Alison Shearing's PoV:

"This is your last assignment before you get promoted."

I looked at the picture – short, strong, agile man. "Who is he?" I said to the boss of the office.

"He's a rogue Outcome agent. We can't tell you his name or anything about him. All we can say is that he is in hiding in Manila- the Philippines. Your mission is to kill him and confirm it; this is all on you, Shearing," he enlarged the picture on a computer screen. "Is there anything else you need?"

I thought about it. I could easily track him down now that I know the location, and no one else was really concerned in this mission. Then it hit me; it was a crazy, outrageous idea, but it was a good one. "I need to pay a visit to my sister."

"But she –"

"I know. But it's about time she finds out."

There was a knock at the door. It was undoubtedly Marta, I was just a bit worried she'd find out this was all a lie. I was in a fake house with fake belongings; everything was provided by work. I walked over to the door and took a deep breath, Marta was about to explode. I opened it as quietly as I could, that is until she saw me.

"Alison! I missed you – it's been years, oh my god where have you been?" she said with all the happiness and anger anyone could mix.

"Calm down, Shearing, we need to talk." We sat down at a small white table and pulled up two chairs.

"Why do you call me that? Shearing? We're sisters; we have the same last name." I raised an eyebrow at her; she already knew the answer to that question. We sat there in silence, until she finally gave in. "Look, I know you were adopted. You have green eyes and black hair, you're beautiful," she said sounding more angry than reassuring. "I don't even know your name of birth, dammit!"

"Marta, don't get all – "

"I'm not!" she slammed the table. We never got along; yes, we grew up together, but she knew we were different since childhood. "You were gone for years. I thought you were dead- "

"You didn't look hard enough," I rebutted, raising my voice. "You ignored me. We were going to meet after a long time of not seeing each other; you called me and told me you were coming that day. You never showed up." Her face reddened and suddenly I knew the explanation for all of this. She was a doctor for the federal government, for god's sake; she couldn't have just lost her job. "Who was he?"

"I –,"she started an argument, but sighed at the realization that she really couldn't pull anything on me. "His name was Aaron Cross; he was one of my patients. He worked for a program in the CIA. One day, one of the doctors in my office started shooting everyone, and I was the only one who lived. Then, people were sent to 'ask me questions' about any trauma, but really their purpose was to kill me; they didn't want anyone to know about what had happened. Aaron saved me, and we ran from them; I couldn't talk to anyone without risking my life. After a while I started to have feelings for him, but he pushed me away; he said he 'didn't want to get distracted.'"

"What program did he work for?"

Marta was shocked by my bluntness, probably because of the unsuccessful love story she just told me. Either way, she decided to answer my question. "He worked for… Outcome," she said, a bit confused.

"Marta, I've got to go. It was nice seeing you again."

She stood up angrily, "You haven't even told me anything about yourself, I know no more than I did before!" She paced around and turned to face me again. "Tell me one thing about you. And make it important." I thought about it; my job - risky, my friends – I didn't have any, my name – hell no. Of course, I could say all of those things without saying them at all. I walked towards the door and let her out, and right before I closed it, I found the perfect response.

"Let's just say… You won't be seeing Aaron again." So, Aaron Cross. That was my target's name.