Unknown

"Oh my God, I adore you; you are just so gorgeous; I just love your red hair!" Victoria enthused, and gave Melanie a warm, loving kiss.

"Shut up!" Melanie argued, covering her face with her hands.

"But, Melanie, sweetie, listen, when I told you my name is Melanie, I kind of lied to you," Victoria said, kneeling on the couch next to Melanie.

"You what?" Melanie asked, looking at Victoria.

"You have any idea how fucking beautiful you are?" Victoria asked, letting long strands of Melanie's hair trickle through her fingers. "I would have told you anything to get to be with you. You'd have said you were into guys? I would have told you I got a dick, you're that beautiful. So, when you told me your name was Melanie, I just said 'me too,' you know, just so you and I, we'd have that in common."

"You lied?" Melanie asked, looking at her lover.

"Yeah, my real name is Victoria Lynne Stevens," Victoria said and pulled out her wallet. "See? Here's my driver's license."

"But you didn't need to lie," Melanie protested.

"I know, but you walked into that bar and I'd seen you on the bus the other day and oh my God! I wanted so bad to talk to you and then you come into that bar and I just couldn't let you slip away again so I bought you a drink and..." Victoria rambled.

"But as beautiful as you are," Melanie argued.

"God! Not nearly as beautiful as you," Victoria enthused.

She looked into Melanie's eyes, dark sunglasses hiding her own eyes from view.

"Forgive me?" she asked, letting a few more strands of Melanie's long red hair trickle through her fingers.

"I guess," Melanie agreed.

"Thank you," Victoria murmured, kissing the flustered woman.

"Now, let's get you fed," Victoria said to the now fussy Danielle.

"So, um, what now?" Melanie asked as Victoria bustled about.

"Couple more things, probably take me a day or two, you got anything to do next couple of days?" Victoria asked.

"No, not really," Melanie said.

"Put some music on; Pearl likes Taylor Swift too," Victoria said as she sat at the small table, the child in her lap.

----

"M.E. report right there," Detective Graham nodded with his head toward the file folder on Detective LaRocca's desk.

"Yeah? On who?" Detective LaRocca asked.

"Andy Anders," Detective Graham said and coughed into his handkerchief again.

"Who, oh, oh yeah, that kid got his throat kicked in," Detective LaRocca said and opened the file.

"Says here larynx crushed, bruise shows a small abrasion, nearly a puncture wound," Detective LaRocca mused aloud.

"Yeah? What's that mean?" Detective Graham asked.

"Like a woman's shoe, stiletto heel," Detective Larocca said, looking up. "Now, that boy was six feet; some woman kicked him that hard in the throat, either she was seven foot tall or he was already on the ground when she gave him that little kick."

----

Danielle shrieked with happiness as the two women fussed over her and bathed her.

She also shrieked with laughter as the two women splashed each other with the sudsy water.

Clean, happy, fed, the child lay down on the makeshift 'bed' of couch cushions and fell asleep.

"Now," Victoria said and began to tug at Melanie's wet tee shirt. "Let's get you out of these wet clothes.

"Gee, I wonder how they got all wet?" Melanie laughed.

"Anything else wet?" Victoria asked, rubbing her wet body against her lover.

"Mm hmmm," Melanie agreed, kissing Victoria deeply.

Chapter 6

Derek watched as the maintenance crew rigged up the scaffolding on the western wall of the building. Their intrusion irritated him, and the building's management company had been of no assistance whatsoever when he'd called for information.

"General cleaning, near as I can figure," the bored girl had suggested to him.

He looked up in surprise as he heard the bell's soft ding, alerting him that the service elevator was on its way up.

A quick look of the security camera in the elevator showed him that Victoria was on her way up to see him.

"Vickie," he greeted her, putting the nine millimeter pistol back into it's holster.

"Derek," she nodded back.

"Objective reached?" he asked.

"Of course," Victoria said. "Child was removed from foster facility; Children's Services doesn't even know the kid's missing yet."

"Good, good; anyway, what'd you do with her?" Derek asked.

"Safe and sound," Victoria assured him.

"I don't want her safe and sound!" Derek thundered, letting a rare moment of rage show.

"Don't worry; she won't be coming back on you," Victoria said, not letting his anger affect her.

"Do you understand me?" Derek spat. "I want the little bitch eliminated!"

"Understood," Victoria said and nodded toward the computer she always used.

"No!" Derek said. "You will get your money when the kid's no longer a threat to me."

"Okay," Victoria said and walked over to the elevator.

He typed on his keyboard, his anger causing him to strike the keys loudly.

"Yes?" he heard a deep male voice ask.

"You have a new objective," Derek said, pointing to the computer at the smaller desk.

Roger Scott sat at the monitor.

"Name's Victoria Lynne Stevens, last known address is..." Derek said.

"I can read," Roger informed his supervisor.

"Anyway, objective to be activated forty eight hours from now," Derek said.

"Again, I can read," the man said and stood up.

"Thank you, Roger," Derek said and looked out the window as a maintenance man used a long handled squeegee to clean the window.

He then watched the man check the window's seals. The man reached into a buck and began applying a thick paste to the window's joints. Then the man used a putty knife to tamp down the sealant. The procedure was repeated several times around the periphery of the entire window.

"man takes pride in his work; that's for sure," Derek mused aloud. "Anyway, back to it."

----

The old woman entered the library and went to the bank of computers. All of them were in use so she sat to wait her turn. Finally, one of the old men sighed loudly and logged off.

"All yours, Sugar Pie," he leered at the old woman.

"Thanks," the old woman muttered and sat down.

She blinked in irritation; her account not only did not contain the hundred thousand for the elimination of Danielle Brady, it was divested of the three million, eight hundred thousand that was supposed to be there.

She smiled tightly to herself, typed a few times on the sticky keyboard, pulled up another page and made several rapid fire commands on the keyboard. She smiled in satisfaction, then purged the computer's History then set the computer to do a scheduled defragmentation and rose from her seat.

----

"Got your woman," Detective Graham informed his partner then began laughing, which led to a severe coughing spell.

"What the fuck you talking about?" Detective LaRocca asked.

"Holding her in Pod three," Detective Graham said, smiling.

"Pod... With the men?" Detective LaRocca asked.

He left the room and walked down to Pod three.

There, he saw the nearly seven foot tall transvestite sitting on the lower bunk, dangling an impossibly large high heeled pump off of one foot.

"Hey Sweet Lips, what'd they pop you for?" Detective LaRocca laughed.

"Solicitation," the transvestite glumly said.

"Mind if I take a look at your left shoe?" Detective LaRocca asked.

"Fifty bucks, you can look at whatever you want," the man suggested.

"Just the shoe, darling," Detective LaRocca said.

"Fine, here, hard as fuck to walk in," the man said and kicked the shoe over to the cell door.

"Be hard as fuck kill someone with it too, huh?" he muttered to himself as he looked at the bottom of the shoe.

There was very little possibility that the fat heel of this shoe could have killed Andy Anders.

"Hey, Sweet Lips, own any stiletto heels?" Detective LaRocca asked, sliding the man his shoe.

"No! Who would try to wear those? Oh, but I do have some very sexy platform boots," the man said, slipping his shoe back on.

"Thanks, Baby," Detective LaRocca said. "Now, you get out of there, you are a good girl, you hear?"

"Oh, believe me, I have no desire to come back here," the man said.

"Very funny," Detective LaRocca smirked at his partner, which caused Detective Graham to have another coughing fit.

"Fuck man, go home, and get someone else sick besides me, huh?" Detective LaRocca said and looked over the files on his desk again.

----

"Yeah, Mr. Ali-Jabi asked me to get that passport," Melanie said as she watched Victoria put together the high chair for Pearl.

"And I got one, got one for Pearl yesterday," Victoria smiled as she put the last screw into place, then picked up Danielle, who was busy playing with the box the new chair came in.

"Think he wanted me to go to Syria with him; said he was planning on going there next summer," Melanie went on. "Why?"

"Parlez vous francais?" Victoria asked as she began feeding Danielle.

"What?" Melanie asked.

"Do you speak French?" Victoria asked.

"No, not really," Melanie said.

"No problem, I do," Victoria said and smiled as Danielle happily opened her mouth for more of the sweet apple sauce.

"Are we going to France?" Melanie asked.

"Calgary, Canada first, then Paris," Victoria said and looked at her lover. "That okay?"

"Are you kidding?" Melanie asked.

"No, is that okay? Or do you have family here that would be all worried about you?" Victoria asked.

"No, my dad took off when I was seven or eight; my mom died two years ago and my step-dad don't want shit to do with me," Melanie said, spitting the words out.

"Okay; I'll get the tickets tomorrow; pack up anything you just CAN'T live without," Victoria smiled as Danielle finished her applesauce.

"Um, Victoria? Are we...?" Melanie tried to ask.

"We're leaving, Melanie," Victoria said flatly.

"Are we, are you in some kind of trouble?" Melanie whispered.

"No; just want to get out of here," Victoria said

"Victoria, please?" Melanie begged. "Please don't lie to me, please?"

"Okay, Melanie, here's the truth, plain and simple," Victoria sighed.

She looked at the bottle of vodka on the counter and then smiled tightly at Melanie.

"Fix us a drink first, okay? You're going to need it," she said.

Melanie got to shaky legs and fixed them both strong drinks and sat back down at the table.

"My name is Victoria Stevens; you're the first person outside of the agency to know my real name in, oh God, six years," Victoria said. "This isn't Pearl Ann Billings, though, Pearl Billings died three months ago, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. This is Danielle Rayne Brady. I eliminated her mother four days ago. For the agency."

Melanie sat, staring at her lover. Her pale features were even more pale as all the blood had left her face.

"That's what I do; I'm an assassin," Victoria said and took a sip of her drink, then coughed slightly. "Fuck, Melanie, trying to get me drunk?"

"Are you going to kill me too?" Melanie sobbed out, terrified.

"If I was, you would already be dead," Victoria said, no smile on her lips. "Anyway, for whatever reason, my supervisor ordered me to eliminate Danielle too. She's eight months old. She hasn't even taken her first step yet. Well, I couldn't do it. So, we're leaving and taking Pearl Ann Billings with us."

"If I don't want to go?" Melanie asked, voice trembling with fear.

"Then I guess I'll have to go without you," Victoria admitted.

She linked her fingers with Melanie's and looked into Melanie's eyes.

"But I'm begging you to come with us; I love you," Victoria said. "Melanie, you're the first person I've ever loved since I don't know when. I, Melanie, I want you to go with me, with us."

Melanie guzzled her drink, then got up and wobbled down the hallway to the small bedroom. Victoria watched the young woman as she entered the bedroom and looked around slowly. Then Melanie disappeared from sight.

Melanie reappeared a moment later, carrying a purse. She came back into the small kitchen/dining room and sat back down.

"Okay, I'm ready," Melanie said, voice still shaking.

"Thank you," Victoria said, letting out a breath she did not know she had been holding.

----

Derek looked out the window at another beautiful sunrise. Behind him, Roger sat at the monitor, memorizing the file on Victoria Lynne Stevens.

"Anonymity is the greatest weapon an assassin can have," he muttered.

"No, it's the mind," Derek argued, still looking out the window.

"Ah, but the chameleon quite often catches smarter prey, simply by disguising itself," Roger reminded his supervisor.

"Anyway," Derek said, indicating that the discussion was over.

"Uh huh," Roger said and shook his head at yet another one of Victoria's known disguises popped up on the screen.

Derek frowned as the red line buzzed.

"Lieutenant Colonel Thompson," he barked into the telephone.

"Hi Derek, you sitting or standing?" Victoria asked.

"Vickie, you are not supposed to ever call me on this phone," Derek spat, outraged at her insubordinance.

"Uh huh," she said easily. "Anyway, might want to check your account."

"What?" Derek spat and typed on his keyboard.

"Really Derek, stealing from me?" Victoria giggled as he sucked in his breath.

"How did you?" he said through clenched teeth.

"Hey, I only took back my three point eight," Victoria said. "But I understand . Why leave that kind of money when the member's going to be eliminated, huh?"

"Precisely," Derek snapped, highly irritated.

"Well, good bye Derek," Victoria said lightly. "Oh, and tell Roger 'Tough shit.'"

"What? Why tell..." Derek asked.

Victoria pushed the 'send' button on her cell phone, activating the plastic explosives she'd spackled around Derek's window.

The large window imploded, cutting Derek and Roger into several small chunks of meat.

"Fuck, that was loud," Victoria said, stepping off the service elevator.

She put the two handguns that had been used in the elimination of Andeer Ali-Jabi, Cofor, and Husbah into Derek's desk drawer, along with Booger's can of nuts. Several small packets of crack cocaine and crystal meth also found their way into Derek's desk drawer.

She looked around and smiled as she saw one of the security cameras still dangling from its mooring. The red light was not on, though, indicating that it was not recording.

It would not have mattered if it had been recording, anyway. Derek's security tapes were located in a mobile home in a trailer park he owned. No one would think to look for such top secret evidence in such a run-down trailer park.

She stepped onto the elevator and entered the code to descend.

----

Melanie looked around nervously. The waiting room was filling up quickly. Their flight for Calgary would be leaving in just thirty minutes and there was still no sign of Victoria.

Suddenly, the older brunette woman that had accosted her that night in the bar staggered over to where Melanie and Danielle sat, waiting.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't little miss 'my shit don't stink,'" the woman drunkenly sneered at Melanie. "Still think you're too good for anyone buy you a fucking drink?"

"My lover will be here any minute now and I don't think she'd appreciate you speaking to me like that," Melanie said bravely.

"Just because I ain't as pretty as you don't mean I'm a piece of shit, stuck up bitch," the woman shrilled and staggered away.

"Good God, what was that all about?" one of the gate attendants asked no one in particular as the brunette swayed drunkenly into a restroom.

Melanie sighed in relief as Victoria hurried out of the restroom and located her and Danielle.

"Man!" she said as she took her seat next to Melanie. "There was some drunk woman hollering and yelling about some red head out here," Victoria said then looked sharply at Melanie.

"She talking about you?" Victoria accused.

"Maybe," Melanie smiled playfully. "You're not the only one thinks I'm pretty."

The End.