Generations Beyond

Five hours later Christina landed at Andrews Air Force Base. Instead of calling the car company, she called a cab to drive her to the Landmark Mall in Alexandria, Virginia. Although late, were exiting the mall.

She paid the cab fare, and walked to the nearest payphone by the mall entrance while using her peripheral vision to make sure she wasn’t followed.

“Murphy’s,” a woman’s voice answered. “This is Alex.”

“Hi,” she said as she looked around the area to ensure that nobody was watching her. “I need to speak to Zak.”

“Sure, Hon,” Alex answered in a bored voice. “Zak,” her voice was muffled, “phone.”

“This’s Zak,” the deep voice rumbled through the line with the hint of a brogue.

“Great day for the beach,” she said into the line.

Silence and a few slow breaths answered her. “Yeah,” there was thick skepticism on the other end of the phone, “but the sand’s a bitch.”

Aarons’ eyes darted from one person to the next as they passed by her, “At least it’s partly cloudy.”

“Wait one,” the gruff voice answered before the sound of pure silence, but the line stayed live with a touch of static. After thirty seconds, “Eamonn’s on King. Thirty minutes.” The line went dead.

“Shit.” She hung up the phone and looked at her watch. Thirty minutes. She lifted her head and looked, nothing. Aarons walked toward the Metro station. Before she broke into a run, a cab wound its way into the parking lot. She waved her hands in the air, trying to get the driver’s attention. He pulled over, and she jumped in. “Eamonn’s on King, fast,” she told the driver.

Twenty-two minutes later, she handed the driver cash for the trip with a little extra for the speed. She turned to look at the meeting place; a two story brick building on the corner. She walking into an unknown situation and realized she hadn’t asked Cross what this Zak guy looked like. “Fan-fucking-tastic,” she muttered to herself and walked to the red door with the glass panel, opened it, and walked through the doorway.

The place was packed; no empty seats. Someone came in behind her a few seconds later, looked, and left. No one seemed to pay her any attention. No one except for a man who walked to her, smelling of Scotch and fish, and grinned, “Oi dere,” the voice slurred. It wasn’t the same one from the phone, but the man gave her a hug and against her ear whispered above the din. “Great day for the beach.” The slur gone. “Back hall, second on the left. Push me away.”

Aarons pushed him hard, swung her right fist and connected with his check before striding off to the back of the bar and disappeared in the hallway.

The man staggered and stumbled after she decked him and fell against someone who fell against someone. Before long the ruckus drew the attention of every single person in the room and she passed unnoticed. Ahead of her, a woman leaned against the indicated door.

“I need through that door,” Aarons said.

The slender woman wore a tank top and jeans. The woman had an athletic build with dark skin, dark eyes, and an auburn tinge to her long hair. She glanced at Aarons with a bored look. “Arms,” she motioned upward with one of her hands as she pushed off the door. “You armed?”

“I’m armed.” Aarons looked at her. She paused for a moment, assessing the situation. With her bag over her shoulder, Aarons held her arms up and put her feet shoulder width apart.

The woman smiled with a nod and set to her task. She ran her hands, over clothing, along about every inch of Aarons’ body. “Small nine at the back, knife at the ankle?” she asked, circling to the front, hand on the door knob. “Anything I missed?”

Aarons readjusted her breasts after the search got so intimate they might as well be lovers. “Nope,” she answered.

She nodded once and opened the door. She peeked her head into the room beyond and relayed the information, “Two. Gun at the back, knife at the ankle.” The woman pushed the door open the rest of the way and headed toward the front of the bar, leaving Aarons and the man to their business.

The seated man was large, but not in an unfit or lazy way. He was big, or maybe the room was small. “C’min,” he said, in a deep rumble from the phone, “get the door on yer way.”

She made her way in. She noted there was only one way in or out, or or one that was visible at least. No windows. Just the man and his furniture. She closed the door as she entered and stood in front of the desk. She looked at him, taking the man in. “You’re Zak?” she asked.

He nodded, studying her. “Yeah,” he answered before he stood and extended a hand for a shake. He got bigger as he stood, at least eight inches on Cross, and a hundred pounds. Bald, by choice as indicated by the stubble and a fiery red beard. “You’re?”

She reached with her gloved right hand and shook his hand. A firm handshake, but not so firm it seemed like a show of strength. “Captain Christina Aarons,” she introduced herself. Her eyes landed on the chair before she looked at him, “May I?”

He nodded. “Nice to meet you, Cap’n.” He settled into his chair and looked at her a long while. “We have a mutual friend,” he said with skepticism in his voice. “That friend spent time in the desert. What did he find in a house the first week?”

She knew this would happen, the interrogation. She had to play this game and time was running out. But, Cross asked her to do this. “A mother cat with her kitten,” she answered. “He took them to base with him,” she finished.

His face transformed when he smiled. “Aye,” the big man chuckled, “he did, the pussy.” He leaned forward and rested his arms on the desk. “What ya need, girlie?”

“The friend and I are partners now,” she said as she watched Zak. “But, I’ve been called here for a solo mission.” She rolled her head back and forth. “The friend and I… we’ve shared our past demons with each other and he asked me to call you. I don’t know the details of the mission yet, but they gave me less than 48 hours.”

He nodded a few times, digesting, before he reached into the top left drawer of the desk and pulled out a plain old flip phone. “You call me,” he said, sliding the phone over to her, “if you need anything. I’ll keep an eye on you while you’re here, too.” He grinned, “When you’re done, we drink.”

“You got it.” She stood, took the phone, slid it into her pocket and held her hand out for him. “I can’t wait to finally drink with someone again,” she said, giving him a big smile.

He stood and gave her hand a shake, short and firm. “Get yer ID from Alex on the way out,” he smiled and knocked once on the desk; the sound cued the woman from the hall.

“She owes me the ID and dinner. Most people don’t get as far with me as she did during that body search!” Aarons walked to the doorway and held out her hand to Alex.

Alex held the leather folio with a smile and a wink. “Business, love.” she glanced at Zak. “This one’s cute, Z. Think Jonny’s smitten?” Alex laughed and edged around Aarons to sit on the couch with her arms stretched along the back.

Aarons shook her head with a soft chuckle and made her way through the hallway, out of the bar and into the night. She looked at her watch. “Shit,” she muttered before she got in the closest cab and headed to her quarters.

Though two months had passed since she returned to her apartment, nothing had changed. As she walked in, Aarons tossed her bag onto the chair in the kitchen and locked the door. As expected, a plain folder waited for her on the top of the counter. Christina took a deep breath, grabbed the file, and walked to the couch.

Aarons opened the folder, pulled the contents and laid them on the coffee table. It included schedule, photographs, descriptions, and mission objectives. As she feared, it also contained an assassination order for a U.S. Senator. Put it in a box, she told herself.

She picked up the schedule and looked it over. It appeared the Senator had a wife and a mistress. He and the mistress were meeting at the end of Dyke Marsh Train. Christina’s mind worked. The orders were to complete the assassination of the Senator and to make it either look like an accident or to frame the mistress.

Aarons grabbed her keys, the flip phone and left the apartment. She walked with no destination in mind. She opened the phone and dialed the number on the contact list.

“Heya, girlie,” Zak’s voice boomed across the line.

“The friend said you wouldn’t ask questions.”

“No important ones.”

“Tonight, one hour, the end of Dyke Marsh Train. No matter what you see tonight, and you’ll see weird shit, not a word.”

“Gonna rain?” His voice sobered as he got to business.

“Yeah.”

“You the rain man?”

“Not by choice and not much longer,” she answered him.

“Me or Alex?”

“Friend vouched for you, no one else.”

“Alex is good, but if you prefer me, it’s understandable.”

Christina pulled the phone from her ear and stopped. She resisted the temptation to throw the phone onto the ground. She took a deep breath and put the phone back to her ear. “You trust her with your life? With mine?” she asked.

“Yes.” No hesitation or doubt in his answer.

“Fine, send her. But, by God, you owe me that drink.”

“I’ll buy ya two.” The line went dead.

Aarons closed the phone and put it in her pocket. She sprinted to her apartment. By the time she changed, had a car drop her off, and made her way to the rendezvous point, midnight approached. She stayed to the bushes and shadows, keeping out of sight. Once she reached the end of the boardwalk, she stopped.

Alex, in a pair of black leggings and a navy hoodie, came jogging by and pulled ten yards past Aarons. Alex stopped, bent and stretched, playing the part of random jogger and scanned the area. Finding no one but Aarons, she walked toward her and gave a curt nod.

Aarons stood and nodded to her. “Anyone else along the boardwalk?” she asked as she looked both ways. She took off her gloves and stuck them in the pocket of her black tactical pants. Aarons wore a plain long-sleeve black shirt and a separate hoodie to hide her blonde hair.

“Negative,” she said in an easy to understand whisper. Her eyes darted to the ungloved hands but didn’t linger there before looking into the night. “Target on site?”

“Affirmative,” she said, looking away from Alex to the end of the boardwalk. “Two targets, one male, and one female. I need you to hold the male while I subdue the female. I will make him unconscious until we dump his body in the river.” Aarons stated the facts with a deep frown.

“Understood.” Alex replied, taking one last look before landing her eyes on Aarons’ face, “Your lead.”

“Go,” Aarons said as she ducked, moved along the edge of the weathered boards, stepping lightly. They were twenty feet from the end of the boardwalk,. They heard soft sounds of two lovers over the gentle breeze.

As soon as Aarons got close to them, she could see that the woman was on top of the man. She rushed her, wrapped one arm around her and laid the bare hand on her naked arm. She placed her hand over her mouth and pulled her off the man.

Quick as the wind and as quiet as a cat, Alex bounded atop the man, pinning him with her weight on his abdomen. “Not a sound,” she warned in her clear whisper as she reached back and took a handful of scrotum and testes. “And no moving,” her fingers tightened; enough to make her point clear.

The woman in Aarons’ arms struggled and fought, but the longer Aarons held on, the weaker she became and the less she fought. Soon, she became limp in Aarons’ arms. She didn’t lay her beside the man until she counted to twenty-five, long enough for a good nap.

Aarons turned her attention to the man on the ground, pinned by Alex. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She knelt, placed her hands on both sides of the man’s face and held on until she counted to thirty.

Alex didn’t move until she felt the man’s body go limp. Once she was certain, she stood and looked around until she found a man’s shirt. “Disgusting,” she muttered then used the shirt to clean her hand off with a wrinkled nose. She looked at Aarons and gestured at the man. “Swim time?”

Aarons stood and put her gloves on, careful to pull it over the ring she didn’t take off. “Yeah, he needs to go for a dip now.” She looked at Alex before she put her hands under his shoulders, ready to lift. Alex nodded and took hold of the man’s ankles.

After a short hike to the edge of the river they stood at the water.

“I got this now, Alex. Go. I’ll be by tomorrow for drinks,” she said to the other woman.

“Not until you clear the area,” she arched a brow, “orders.”

“Zak?” she asked as she arched her own brow.

She nodded. “Johnny wouldn’t forgive me if I let his girl get hurt.”

Aarons didn’t say another word, not confirming nor denying. But, she would remember to ask him about Jonny. “Okay,” she said, “let’s get him in and get gone.”

The two women got him into the water without getting too wet themselves. Aarons didn’t leave until the body sank under the water. He’d be found, but not until it was too late. When they made it to the boardwalk, the other woman still lay unconscious.

“All right, we’re good. I’ve got a car picking me up.” Aarons tried to hand the flip phone to Alex. “Thank you, both you and Zak.” She managed a forced, sad smile.

She shook her head, “Phone’s for life, Blondie,” Alex offered a half smile. “You’re family now.” She pulled her hood up and leaned against the railing. “When you’re in your car, I’m out.”

“Okay, together. When you see me in the car, go home.” Aarons walked along the boardwalk before she veered off to the path that lead to her car.

Alex fell in beside her, hands in the pockets of her hoodie. “You like Indian?” she asked out of the blue.

“Gives me heartburn,” Aarons chuckled, “partial to Italian.” Aarons looked to the woman beside her.

Alex snickered, “like Italian’s into you.” She shot a glance with a knowing smile.

“He and I are partners,” she said.

Alex rolled her eyes and nodded. “Sure, Blondie. He never bought me rings.” Her eyes cut over. “But you tell yourself what you need to.”

“Trust me, it’s part of our cover in Colorado.” She shook her head. “He’s not my type,” she said the rehearsed line.

“Okay,” Alex shrugged, “drinks tomorrow.”

“Drinks tomorrow,” she held out her hand.

Alex took the hand in a light shake, but offered no additional commentary. Aarons stopped walking as the woods cleared and the road became visible. She held a hand up to Alex, motioning her to stop. Aarons looked to Alex one last time before she stepped out.

A black car had stopped on the side of the road fifty feet away from where Aarons emerged. Aarons strolled toward it. Suddenly, a car pulled behind Aarons, two men jumped out, put a black bag over Aarons’ head, zip tied her hands behind her back, shoved her in the seat of the car, and left without a trace.

Alex almost headed off in the opposite direction of Aarons, but the arrival of the second car made her pause. The grab job made her stop, hands on her hips as she watched it drive off, “Well, fuck me.”