One perk of having the second shift is that it starts in the early afternoon. Which means, I have the time in the morning to write, once my other chores are done.
NewCastle81: A "higher rating" as you put it can be done with good reviews. I like them a bit longer, not just a "good story" or similar short comments that don't really give any real feedback as to what I could do better or different.
Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appeared in the show.
Disclaimer2: I'm again using the Penny family members that TerribleWaitress created, simply because I'm used to it :D
"Good morning." Meryl greeted their guest when Leonard stepped into the kitchen, wearing her daughter's robe and holding his hip where she had pulled the metal out of him. "Have you slept at all?"
"No." Leonard shook his head. "Spent the last two hours looking for indications if anyone was after me in particular, which would put your family at risk."
"And?" Meryl asked in apprehension.
"No signs of it so far." Leonard sighed, looking around. "You got any tea?"
"Sure, plenty." Meryl nodded, taking a large box out of one of the cabinets, filled with a large assortment of tea bags. "Cups are in the cabinet behind you."
"Thanks." Leonard said sincerely and took a cup before filling the water heater with water and starting it.
"Do I have to worry about someone coming here due to you using my laptop for whatever it is you needed it?" Meryl wanted to know.
"No, I used this." he showed her the flash drive again he had shown her before before filling the now hot water into the cup. "It contains its own operating system which supersedes the one on your laptop. No trace is left on your laptop or your internet connection."
"Are you still planning to leave now?" Meryl asked as Leonard sipped his tea.
"Yes, I still should leave." he nodded. "I have already taken up too much of your hospitality."
"Nonsense." Meryl waved him off. "I told you, you can stay as long as you need. Quite frankly, I saw you coming in here, you look like you can barely move, much less travel. And given the fact that my daughters brought you here instead of to a hospital tells me that you can't go to a doctor now to have your wound been taken a look at... what's so funny?" Meryl asked when she saw Leonard smiling.
"Now I know where your daughter gets her perception skill from." Leonard smiled.
"I think you also have realized that Penny has taken to you, quite a lot." Meryl stated.
"I did." Leonard nodded. "Another reason for me to leave."
"Why?"
"Because the last thing that you would want as a mother is your daughter falling for someone like me." Leonard sighed.
"Why?" Meryl wondered. "You're a decent guy."
"Am I?" Leonard looked at her. "I kill people for a living. Not really a profession you could brag to your relatives about."
"Yeah, I can see my sister's reaction." Meryl chuckled. "'What does your son in law do for a living?' 'Oh, he is an assassin.'."
"The fact remains that I'm not a nice man." Leonard said. "It doesn't matter that I only kill people who deserve it."
"But isn't that something that makes you decent?" Meryl asked.
"No, because what if that deserving man is a father as well?" Leonard retorted. "What if someone who makes his living by cheating others out of their money has a family himself? People like me still kill him because despite him being a father, he makes his living by ruining other people's lives. The leader of a drug cartel often has a wife and children."
"Huh, I never thought about that." Meryl mused. "Did you really kill the leader of a drug cartel?"
"Yes." Leonard nodded. "One of my... lets just say, more regrettable jobs."
"Why?" Meryl wondered. "Isn't taking out a drug lord a good thing?"
"It is, if you do it properly." Leonard said. "But I was young, full of myself after a string of successful jobs and I didn't really appreciate how a cartel is structured. So when I took out the leader and his top capo, who would have taken over, it caused a civil war within the cartel, which wiped it out in the eight months that followed but also cost the lives of over three thousand civilians who got caught in the crossfires and bombings."
"That's horrible." Meryl gasped.
"Exactly." Leonard nodded. "From that day forward, I became a lot more cautious and strategic. Learn about how taking out my target would impact the environment if it's a part of an organized crime organization."
"Did you?" Meryl asked. "I mean, take out another organization."
"Yes." Leonard nodded again. "Last year, I took out another cartel in Mexico by poisoning the leader and all his lieutenants. The resulting chaos ended the cartel because nobody was there to take over."
"What about the people below the capos?"
"They don't have an overview about the whole cartel, so they can't take over. And a few choice documents sent to local police and the federales took care of their cells." Leonard explained.
"Interesting." she commented, impressed by this inauspicious man.
"You know, it's kind of refreshing to have someone to talk about this that is not part of what I do." Leonard stated and downed the rest of his tea. "I should go now before Penny wakes up."
"She will be crushed." Meryl stated. "My daughter had taken quite a lot to you and I can see that you also like her."
"Yes, I do." Leonard nodded, standing up. "She's a beautiful woman, she's smarter than she looks and I feel myself drawn to her, so the last thing I should do is stay."
"Why?" Meryl wanted to know. "Why would you deny yourself the chance?"
"Because I get the feeling that she wants to learn how to do what I do." Leonard sighed. "And nobody should want to become an assassin. Nobody should want to kill people for a living. I don't want to destroy her innocence."
"Truthfully, I think a lot of her innocence was already destroyed during the last four years." Meryl said quietly. "Still, you're right, I don't know how I would deal if she became a hired killer."
"Glad you see it my way." Leonard smiled.
"But in the end, it's her decision." Meryl added. "Even if I don't like it, she'll always be my little girl. Even if she makes her living by being an extrajudicial executioner of bad people."
"By the way, I have something for you." Leonard said and produced a round disk out of one of the robe pockets, handing it to her.
"What is it?" Meryl asked, looking at the intricate design on the two-inch diameter disc.
"It's a protective marker." he explained. "I'll send you some more later. You can nail them above your doors and every window and your front and back gates."
"And what to they do?"
"Every organized crime group knows these markers." Leonard told her. "They know what they represent and them on your house tells them that you and your family are protected by someone like me. And nobody will dare to put a hand on you or anyone of your family."
"That's neat." Meryl was impressed.
"You may become aware in the future of some shady looking people watching you." Leonard continued. "Those will be members of organized crime groups that are actually watching over you."
"Why would they do that?"
"Because while small time criminals don't know about these markers or what they represent, what the organizations want to prevent is someone like me coming into town because someone under our protection was hurt or killed." Leonard said. "Who do you think we would go to first?"
"That makes sense." Meryl chuckled. "Still, do you think we need it?"
"No, it's just a precaution." Leonard shook his head. "Essentially, this is more of an insurance, because over time, word will filter down to the small time criminals that your house and your family are completely off limits."
"Well, thanks, I guess." Meryl said.
"Do you, by any chance, have some clothes that I can borrow?" Leonard asked. "I can't very well go back to my hotel wearing my body glove, especially given that is has a few bloody holes in it and reeks of smoke."
"The owner doesn't like it when their guests return like that, I guess?" Meryl chuckled. "Sure, I can give you some of Scott's old clothes."
"The hotel is geared towards people like me." Leonard explained. "While the people working there know about what I do and have facilities for me to use to repair my equipment, any regular guest present would maybe look at me with alarm if I enter wearing bloody clothes."
As all that was transpiring, Penny slept a good sleep, her dreams whirling with images of her and their current house guest. Her mind processed what happened before, her near-death experience in the club, the following medical procedure in her own bed and the conversation she had with him before.
When she woke up, she had daylight hitting her face. She looked at her watch and saw the time being shortly after eight and tiredly, she got up and used the en-suite bathroom to relieve herself. With a smile, she exited the room and knocked on the door of her own, opening it quietly when she received to answer and saw the room empty, her bed made and her robe folded on it.
As she rounded the bed, she noticed a glint coming from under her bed. Bending down, she found one of the gold coins Leonard had used in the clothing store and she mused that it must have fallen out of one of his pockets when they had put him into her bed. She took the robe and held it to her face, smelling his lingeirng scent but then the implication hit her. She ran out of the room and downstairs, finding her mother in the kitchen.
"Where's Leonard?" she asked.
"He left two hours ago." Meryl told her.
"Oh."she said sadly.
"We had a talk before that, he explained to me why he needed to leave." Meryl said. "Honey, it's for the best."
"Isn't that for me to decide?" Penny raised her voice, feeling frustration at a possible chance wasted.
"Not just you, he also has a word in it, don't you think?" Meryl retorted, completely dismembering Penny's future arguments. "Who are you to decide for him?"
"Still, if he really wants to leave, he should tell me in person!" Penny shouted as she ran upstairs to get dressed.
"You don't even know where he went." Meryl tried to stop her when Penny came back down, barely wearing anything.
"Then I'll look around!" she huffed and grabbed the keys to the truck.
Penny sighed when she parked the truck on the parking lot of the fourth hotel she was trying. She had no idea if she had already been in the correct one, the people behind the reception desks never reacting to either the coin she had found or the marker that Leonard had given her mom. She wasn't sure anymore if she should even continue to try to find him, his actions clearly saying that he didn't want to stick around but his comment on her beauty and from what her mom had told her about what he said making her go on, if only to find some closure.
She entered the hotel, noticing the looks of some of the people sitting in the rotunda and of the man behind the reception. She felt out of place, seeing lots of people in suits and women in elegant dresses, a sharp contrast to her cutoff jeans and tank top and she felt her nipples harden in the air-conditioned coolness, cursing herself for not having put on a bra. Steeling her nerves, she approached the reception desk, where the man watched her like a hawk, having noticed that she had come in without any luggage.
"Can I help you, miss?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm looking for someone and he might be a guest in your hotel." she told him. "His name is Leonard."
"Leonard...?" he looked at her.
"I don't know his last name." she sighed. "He... uh... may have booked a room under another name, he is shorter than me, curly hair..."
"I'm sorry, miss." the man interrupted her. "We don't give out information about our guests."
"Um, I'm..." Penny stammered and produced the coin and marker, holding them in one hand each, the man looking at them and giving a slight nod before picking up the receiver of a very old looking phone, completely with dial plate.
"Sir, there's someone here to see you." he spoke into the receiver. "A woman named..."
"Penny." she said.
"Penny." the man repeated. "I see... I understand... very good, sir."
"Is he here?" she asked.
"Room six-twelve." he told her, pointing to her right.
"Thanks." Penny smiled happily and walked briskly to the elevator, hitting the button for the sixth floor.
As the elevator moved up, the anticipation turned into apprehension. What exactly was she doing here? She doubted she could make him stay. Her idea of him training her she she could do what he did came to mind but if his actions were an indicator, he would certainly refuse. Just him leaving in the dead of night was a sign enough.
Did she misread him? His comments on her appearance, his appreciative looks had made her think that there may be something between them than just lust. Did she only feel lust for him or was there more? She saw him naked and while he had some cuteness going for him, for some reason his assortment of scars made him outright hot. She could only imagine the stories he might have to tell. Every scar may be a record of a hit, a memorial to every mistake he made.
"Alright, here we go." she whispered to herself but before she could knock, the door opened and a strong hand grabbed her left wrist, pulling her forcefully into the room, almost making her stumble. "Jesus!"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Leonard asked, clad only in shorts and the two sowed-up wounds in full display while a supply of fresh gauze and dressing material telling her the reason for his appearance.
"You left without saying goodbye." she managed to get out, looking around the spacious room and hearing the same music she had heard him listening to the night before.
"That's it?" he looked at her with suspicion. "So if I tell you goodbye now, you will leave?"
"Um..."
"I see." he sighed and began to dress his wounds, having some trouble with it.
"Let me help." she said and took the dressing material, letting him press the gauze on the wound before she wrapped the dressing around his body.
"Thanks." he nodded gratefully. "I'll head over to Lincoln soon to see one of our doctors so she can sow me up properly."
"You're leaving?" she asked.
"Of course, my job here is done." Leonard nodded. "Why?"
"Because..." she stammered. "I want to stay with you. I want to learn what you do."
"No." he shook his head, simple as that.
"Why not?" she became exasperated at his flat refusal without explanation.
"Because this is not a profession you should want to learn, this is a profession you get thrown into." he told her. "The only people who want to do this are psychopaths and they are the ones that shouldn't learn what I do."
"But you only kill bad people, that's a good thing." she argued. "And you kill them with the least amount of pain, as I recall."
"Do you think I started that way?" she shot back. "I did things in my past that would make you recoil because I felt invincible."
"But you could teach me how to do it right." she said.
"Penny, you do not want to be a killer." he sighed. "Every time I kill someone, I leave some part of me behind."
"But you make the world a better place." she tried again.
"Penny, I can't!" he shouted.
"Why not?" she shouted back, his points valid but to her they seemed an excuse.
"Because..." he stammered but when Penny expected another valid point, she was shocked and surprised when she felt his lips on hers but when she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, he ended it, taking a step back. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."
"Oh, shut up." she chuckled and kissed him again.
This time, his arms wrapped around her waist and he kissed her with the same fervor that she kissed him with. Their tongues intertwined almost violently, both acting like the other was a bottle of oxygen they found while stuck under water. Suddenly, his hands were on her ass and she was hoisted into the air, her legs going around his waist almost like they were meant to and for a split-second, she worried that the strain of her weight would rip open his wound again.
He turned them around and she found herself falling backwards on the bed, his body on top of hers. His left hand began roaming, up and down her leg, her hip and the side of the body to end up on her face before moving south again. Her heart rate went up even higher when it came to rest on her breast, running his thumb over the erect nipple before moving down once more, the other hand doing the same on the other side of her body.
She felt her top lifted until her breasts popped free while his mouth went to her neck, kissing and sucking on it. She felt like her heart was about to burst from her chest, so different than it had with any other man she had been with, before or after becoming a prostitute. She squealed when his mouth latched onto her nipple but suddenly, he let go and quickly got up, standing in front of the bed, the bulge visible in his shorts telling her enough about what he wanted but stopped himself from doing.
"No, we can't do this." he said.
"Why not?" she asked and sat up, taking off her top properly and presenting her breasts to him in her full glory and trying to grab him. "This feels just right."
"It does, and that's why we can't do it." he sighed.
"Okay, I don't understand." she crossed her legs and arms. "Explain."
"If we do it, it will be good." he said. "And then I'd want to stay. Or keep you around."
"Is that such a bad idea?" she smiled. "I'm trying to stay around you."
"Again, you shouldn't want to." he said with some reluctance in his voice when her phone beeped with an incoming message. "It's from your mom."
"What?" she looked where he pointed, her phone on the bed where it must have slipped out her pants pocket, and she took it to read the message. "Shit!"
"What?" he asked, surprised by her forceful curse.
"She says that there's a dozen police officers at our house, looking for you."
"Can she take a picture of one of the policemen?" he asked. "Especially his badge."
"Sure." Penny nodded and typed, then both had to wait three minutes before a reply came in form of several pictures, clearly taken in a way that had the phone inconspicuously held and not directly pointed at some of the men.
"Shit!" Leonard cursed. "Those aren't cops."
"Are you sure?" Penny wondered, looking at the picture. "Looks right to me."
"Look closely at the badge." he said and took off his shirt and pants to suit up like he had for his mission in Los Angeles, putting on a body glove, a new one by the looks of it and stowing various weapons and other things inside it before finishing off with loose pants and a long-sleeved shirt.
"What about the badge?" she wondered.
"It's fake." he said, pointing to her discarded top and then to her.
"How do you know?" she took the hint and put it back on, the lost chance of sex momentarily forgotten.
"There's nothing on the bottom." he looked at her, finishing with the gearing up. "Omaha police badges have the letters OPD stamped on the bottom. Also, look at the right man's rank insignia. It has three stars. The two on the left both have two connected bars."
"So?" she wondered.
"There's no three star insignia in the Omaha police force." Leonard said urgently as he pushed her towards the door. "Chief of police has four stars, Deputy Chief is two stars. Also, those two on the left? When has a police raiding force ever consisted of two captains?"
"Shit!" she cursed. "What now?"
"Come with me, you're driving." he said.
They ran to the elevator and rode it down to the first floor, Leonard steering her out of the building and following her to her car. Penny got in and unlocked the passenger side door so he could get in. She drove for ten minutes before she felt Leonard's hand on her right arm.
"Stop!" he said and she did.
"What?" she asked.
"Wait here, I'll be right back." he told her and exited the car, walking briskly into the clothing he made her stop in front of and coming back out three minutes later.
"What did you buy?" she wanted to know.
"Cover story." he replied and handed her the bag.
"Wow." she was impressed, seeing in it packages with underwear, a bra, a pair of pajamas and two shirts, all items even looking like stuff she would wear. "How do you know my size and taste so well?"
"I have eyes." he said cryptically. "Drive."
She started the car again and drove off, taking the main road towards the area where her parents' farm was located. Twenty minutes later, she arrived at the road junction that would leave to her parents' place and she was about to make the turn when she again felt his hand on her arm, making her stop the car right away without him having to tell her.
"Where are you going?" she asked when he stepped out of the car.
"On foot." he said, closing the door. "Go to your house and go in, act normal and then sit tight."
"But what if these guys simply decide to kill us?" she was worried.
"Take this." he said and handed her a tiny gun, small enough to fit completely in her palm. "If you think they are going to shoot, kill them first. Six shots only though and short range. Don't miss. And if you shoot one, run like hell."
"Crap!" Penny cursed again and tried to stay calm as she closed in on her home, seeing three unmarked SUVs standing outside the property.
She exited the truck and grabbed the bag with the clothes and stepped out of the car, trying to not hyperventilate as she felt her heart rate go up. With shaking hands, she opened the door and walked in, only to shriek when she was suddenly pulled into living room.
"What the hell?" she shouted. "What's going on here?"
"Who are you?" the officer in front of her asked.
"That's my other daughter." Meryl told the man.
"What's in the bag?" he asked, grabbing it and looking inside.
"Clothes." Penny told him, getting the bag thrown back at her while she noticed the other three men standing around the room. "What's going on here?"
"We are looking for this man." the man showed her a picture of Leonard, an older one by her guess.
"No idea who that is." she told him and turned to her parents. "Do they have a warrant?"
"Shut up." the man shouted and turned around to speak into his radio. "East perimeter, found him yet?"
"No." a voice came back. "The damn crops are shoulder high, how are we supposed to find this guy, if he's even here?"
"Shut up and keep looking." the man ordered. "West perimeter, found anything?"
"No." another voice retorted. "Like Grey said, hard to find... argh!"
"White?" the man shouted over the sounds of rustling coming from the radio. "White! What happened?"
"Sorry, I stepped into a fucking rabbit hole." came the voice back, though Penny could swear it wasn't the same guy because even though it sounded the same, the cadence seemed off. "We could use more help out here if you want this to finish before dark."
"You two, go and help them." the man ordered and two of the other three left the house through the kitchen.
The minutes passed in high tension, Penny holding her hand over her pants pocket where the small gun was hidden in. The man watched them and sometimes looked around the room while his colleagues searched the wheat fields. She wondered what Leonard was doing right now, if he was among them or still circulating around her property.
"Sit rep." the man spoke into his radio, receiving only silence. "I said, sit rep!"
"Situation normal, all fucked up." a whisper came back.
"Shit!" the man cursed and drew his weapon, the other guy doing the same and both taking up position at the hallway that lead to the kitchen and out of the house. "Do you see something?"
"Nothing." the other guy said. "That guy can't have taken out all the others, could he?"
"I told you he was good." the first guy was clearly worried.
"At least we have hostages." the second guy pointed at Penny and her family.
"Kill one of them." the first guy ordered and Penny began to panic, fumbling for the small revolver Leonard had given them but the expected shot didn't come. "I told you to kill one of them!"
"Oh god!" she whispered, when she saw blood coming out of the second guy's mouth.
"Green?" the first guy looked questionably at his bleeding companion before he fell forward, the knife Leonard had slit into the back of his throat coming out.
Faster than she could comprehend, Leonard jumped forward and tackled the other guy, both crashing over their living room table, overturning the piece of furniture. Both jumped back up, Leonard holding the knife the way he had shown her with the scalpel, blade part back and in line with his forearm, while the other guy also produce a knife.
"I've waited a long time for this." the man said. "How are you John?"
"I've been better." Leonard said, the other guy apparently unaware of Leonard's real name. "What do you think you are doing, Caspar?"
"Proving that I'm better than you." Caspar told him, both circling each other.
"By threatening outsiders?" Leonard looked disapprovingly at him. "Very brave. The bomb, was that you?"
"Yes." Caspar nodded. "Though you could have done me the favor of dying in the explosion, old man. It's a young man's world."
"Why?" Leonard scoffed. "I'm still better than you."
"Oh, shut up!" Caspar shouted and attacked.
"Jesus." Penny gasped when she saw the two move, both masters of their art.
The sound of their knife blades colliding rang up the room, making Penny and her family jump up from the couch and run towards the stairs that lead to the bedrooms. Her dad ran upstairs and returned with his shotgun, unable to use it because the two men were too fast and intertwined for him to take a shot.
Penny gasped when she saw Caspar slice into Leonard's arm but cheered when Leonard retorted with a snap fist into Caspar's face, something in the man's nose visibly and audibly breaking and blood squirting out of it. Penny could see that Leonard was favoring his right side and she was worried that the wound on his hip had torn open again, which would be a bad omen if the fight took much longer.
Caspar sliced forward, Leonard leaning back and in doing so, his leg snapped up, his foot connecting with Caspar's wrist, the knife flying from the man's hand and eliciting a pained shout from the man. The victory was short-lived when Caspar threw a plate at Leonard, with him lifting is arms to shield his face but when he lowered them, Caspar did a roundhouse kick, causing Leonard to lose his knife as well.
Leonard rallied quickly, attacking Caspar with his bare hands, the other man defending. Penny had seen a few martial arts movies in her time but this was very different then those. This was a fight to the death, no move done for style but only for killing the opponent. Their arms and legs connected again and again in offense and defense, both dancing through the room and using whatever they found, which damaged or destroyed quite a bit of their furniture.
Suddenly, Caspar grabbed Leonard's knife from the floor but it had a smaller handle than his own due to Leonard's smaller size. He still attacked and Leonard desperately evaded, Penny seeing his troubles due to the hip injury and as Leonard moved around the room with the other guy after him, he grabbed a frying pan from one of the cupboards, using it as a shield and club.
Caspar yelled in pain when the pan connected to parts of his body, his shoulders, hands and once on his head. Apparently, he had enough of the fight because suddenly, he threw the knife at Leonard who deflected it with the pan but when he lowered it again, Caspar was holding a gun, pointing it at Leonard but before he could pull the trigger, Leonard threw the pan, Caspar blocking it with his arms.
When Caspar lowered his arms, Leonard slammed into him, both men rolling on the floor again. Leonard's injuries must have been worse than she though because Caspar, with his superior size and weight rolled on top of him, holding him down and slamming the barrel of the gun against Leonard's wounded hip, making him yell out in pain.
Penny screamed when the shot rang out.
A man came to my door today. I hate that guy. Everybody I know hates that guy. He introduced himself as Cliff. Cliff Hanger. He said he would stay for weeks or even months, but there's something that Cliff Hanger really, really hates and that's reviews. The more he sees, the faster he leaves again. :D So...
Review please :)
