Roswelllostcause: There’s a definite plot to get rid of her, but why?
keepsmiling7: Yep, there’s a lot of truth in that one line.
begonia9508: Thanks for reading!
Eva: Lol, you certainly may.
Yep, with all those questions you wouldn’t be able to rest without the answers. She can’t let it go until she knows the truth.
Good question... perhaps we’ll get an answer to it today.
Earth2Mama: Lol, lots of questions and they seem to mirror Maria’s. The answers will come in time.
sarammlover: We’re so happy you’re enjoying the ride! There’s a lot more to come, so get ready to keep those guesses coming!
L-J-L 76: Thanks! That has yet to be seen.
jake17: Thanks! Maria’s got a lot of questions and it’s gonna be a rough journey getting to the answers.
Alien_Friend: Hm, who’s the mysterious Bane, that’s the question and the plot will thicken today.
How M&L as well as Alex fit into this story and what their parts are has yet to be seen, hehe.
It’s so true. Technology has come a very long way over the last few years. CDs are kind of totally old fashioned by now, but sometimes we take comfort in something “old” and Maria has a lot of questions about her past, so maybe that’s an explanation.
Part 3
Just off Campus – Georgetown University – December 2015
Thank God, Maria Deluca was a predictable woman, Bane mused when he drove his dark green Dodge Ram onto the side street where his target’s car was parked. He had watched her for the last two and a half days closely, trying to pick up on her habits and behaviors. The timeframe he had been given for this mission was fucking short – a lot of shorter than normal, especially when they wanted it to look like an accident.
Killing someone was one thing. If you knew the person, you found a way to do it without leaving a trace. Fast. Clean. Efficient. A staged accident was a risk. There was always a certain amount of unknown variables. The victim could still survive, a third person could intervene. On top of that, he hated to operate under a time constraint. It could lead to mistakes or worse, it could end up costing him his own life.
There was nothing to fear about the college girl though. She was the niece of a senator and he was sure the reason for the hit on her was connected to him. The man kept her on a short leash although she was already 21. Their home was heavily secured with several kinds of warning systems as well as a high end alarm system and guards at each entrance. Not a good place for her last breath. Whenever she was out at a later hour, a personal bodyguard accompanied her. He played chauffeur and chaperone all in one and made his job even harder.
His best chance of getting the job done was in broad daylight, while she was at college or doing random things like getting a coffee. No bodyguard accompanied her and she didn’t have a lot of friends. To be exact, other than her interaction with a guy named Alex Whitman, she didn’t seem to have any at all. There was the couple she probably considered her closest friends, Liz Parker and Max Evans. Little did she know.
She never parked her car in the parking lot in front of the building where most of her classes were held. Maybe it was something her uncle had taught her or maybe she just wanted to avoid the heavy traffic when classes were over. Whatever her reason, it worked in his favor. The street was mostly unoccupied during the day – no shops or diners, no video surveillance.
Bane parked his truck a few vehicles behind hers and got out, grimacing at his reflection in the side mirror. The last time he had been forced to dress like a college kid had been almost two years ago when he had been on a job in Louisiana. He hated the tee shirts and ball caps with stupid logos. Facing the victim directly was something he tried to avoid, but he didn’t have time to hire someone or to prepare a more solid plan. More than half of his allotted time for this job had already passed, which called for immediate action.
He made his way to the nearby coffee shop and stepped inside, paying no mind to the two women sitting in one of the booths as they chattered on about kids, groceries and the mountains of laundry waiting for them at home. In the corner by the counter music played over the headphones of an abandoned iPod while its owner talked to the barista about a recent game. A young couple sat next to the window, their hands joined as they discussed potential names for the child they’d just learned they were having. Conversations that were of no importance to him, but he tracked all of them out of habit. In his line of work he never knew when he might need to improvise and he’d learned early on that being aware of his surroundings was a key element to his success.
He ordered a coffee, black, and found a seat that would provide him with the best vantage point as he waited for the target to make an appearance. He knew it wouldn’t be long. He had memorized her schedule and she would be getting out of class soon. She would stop in the coffee shop and order a vanilla latte, consider the pastry options for several minutes and then decide against them in favor of a whole grain muffin.
Maria shivered as she stepped out of the old building holding the last class for the day.
“Hey,” Liz approached her and rubbed her hands together in attempt to keep them warm, “I’m meeting Max at the diner. Come with me?”
“Not today,” she denied. “I need to do some grocery shopping and I have a paper due tomorrow that I haven’t even started yet.” Okay, that was an outright lie, but the truth – ‘I’m on my way to a little hidden place out of town that my Dad showed me when I was a kid and I’m gonna look over an illegally-gotten police report’ – sounded like something Liz didn’t need to know.
“You sure? Come on. There’s plenty of time for that later.”
“I’m sure. And I’m not hungry. Tell Max I said hi.” She waved and left to head for her car, feeling slightly guilty about dumping her friend like that, but she just couldn’t put off checking the new information any longer. Her pace was hurried to get out of the cold, especially when the wind picked up as soon as she rounded the corner to get a latte to go from her favorite little coffee shop.
“There she is,” Dave, the barista behind the counter, smiled when she entered at her usual time.
She smiled and joined him. “Here I am. And surprise, surprise, I’ll take the usual.”
“One vanilla latte and a muffin.” He nodded and placed everything on the counter. “That’s-”
“Five fifty-five,” she interrupted and placed seven in front of him. “Keep the change.”
“I was gonna say it’s on the house if ya finally agree to go out with me.”
Maria chuckled. “Nice try.”
“You’re cold.”
“Nope.” She sipped her latte, ready to leave. “But you ask every female walking into your shop. Makes me feel incredibly special.”
Bane tried to control the urge to gag at their encounter. What did people get out of a nonsense conversation like that?
“I don’t ask ‘em all.”
“Give or take a few.” Maria waved at him and prepared to leave. The muffin was still a little warm and smelled like heaven – it wouldn’t last until she arrived at her destination.
“See you tomorrow?” Dave asked, getting ready to serve the next customer.
“You know it.” She left and shivered as the cold from outside touched her cheeks again.
Bane emptied his coffee without looking hurried. He’d give her another minute to figure out that her car wasn’t working before he left the café, ready to be the nice guy that fixed it.
Maria turned the key in the ignition and frowned at the
rrrrr-rrrrr-rrrrr sound that followed when the engine refused to turn over. She thumped her fisted hand against the steering wheel and turned the key again, releasing it when the sound repeated once more.
“Damn it,” she muttered and abandoned the key in favor of rummaging through her bag for her cell phone.
From a safe distance Bane watched her and as soon as she went for her phone he pressed a button on the device in his pocket and smirked to himself when she paused to hold the cell out in front of her. She squinted at it and shook her head before uttering what he was sure was a very creative curse and tossing it aside.
Impossible to make a call to roadside assistance when you didn’t have a signal, he thought. He released the button on the jamming device, knowing she wouldn’t be attempting another call before he got to her.
Maria ran a hand through her hair as she shot a baleful look at the dashboard. She couldn’t believe the way things were going right now. An engine that wouldn’t start, a phone that wasn’t getting a signal… what else could go wrong? She checked the rearview mirror and after a moment decided if the car didn’t start this time she’d just run over to the café and make the call to roadside assistance.
Her hand rested on the key ring dangling from the ignition and she inhaled a slow deep breath before closing her eyes and turning the key.
Rrrrr-rrrrr-rrrrr. “Piece of crap,” she snarled at it. “And to think when I saw you I thought you were the most perfect car I’d ever seen. What I’d give to have you hauled off to the junkyard right–” She jumped and nearly screamed when someone suddenly knocked on the window.
Bane forced a neutral expression on his baseball cap shaded face, knowing she wouldn’t accept his help if he came across too grim. He studied her through the window, watching her expression as it changed from shock to surprise to resignation.
Slowly and with a still pounding heart, she lowered the window a bit.
“Sorry for startling you,” Bane said, his voice rough from lack of use. “Problem with the car?”
“Yeah,” she sighed, looking from the dashboard to the man next to her. He had kind of a creepy attitude, but what she could see of his face seemed to be handsome, it even felt a little familiar. “No clue what’s wrong. It was working fine this morning.”
Bane followed the movement of her hand when she ran it through her long blonde hair. “I bet it’s just a loose cable. Typical for this model.” He looked along the car and nodded at the front. “Pop the hood, my Dad owns a garage and I learned a few things. Maybe I can help.”
She studied him for a few long moments, shivering when the wind blew through the open window to brush against her exposed skin. “Are you sure you know about cars?” she asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
“You see anyone else offering to help?”
Maria cleared her throat at his question. No, no one else had stopped to offer assistance, but that was no reason for him to be rude about it. She started to tell him as much but before she could get the words out he spoke again.
“Lady, in case it’s slipped your notice, it’s cold out here.”
“Right, sorry.” She had no idea why she was apologizing to him. He was the one with the attitude. She leaned over and reached for the lever to release the hood, keeping a cautious eye on him as he moved to the front of the car.
Bane reached for the latch and gave it a nudge, muttering under his breath as it gave and he lifted the hood.
Maria forced her body to relax. He’s just helping you out, she reminded herself, knowing if Uncle Reggie found out she would no longer be able to get rid of Rob the Mob during the day. Oh no! She would NOT let that happen.
“Can you see anything wrong with it?” She leaned her head out through the open window but couldn’t see him behind the open hood.
Bane frowned when the control section in his hand was a little too large to attach where he needed it to go. The device needed a firm place to be secured otherwise the risk was too high that he wouldn’t be able to control her car while she was driving. “Just what I thought. It’s a loose cable. I have zip ties in my truck to fix it for now. You should go an’ get it fixed properly soon though.”
“Alright,” she said, relieved. “Thanks.”
Bane jogged to his Ram and got the zip ties before he went back to finish the installation of his device. Once it was set he pulled his cell out and connected to it. “Alright. Try again.”
Maria shifted in her seat and turned the key again, smiling when the Mercedes came to life with its usual soft purr.
He nodded to himself and slammed the hood shut, looking at her though the front window. She was a fine kind of woman, too bad her life would be ending soon. From everything he’d learned about her she wasn’t even involved in any kind of crime.
“Thanks,” she said, her voice trailing off as she stared at him. There was something so familiar about him, but at the same time she was certain they’d never met.
“Yeah, well, just get ‘er to the shop soon as you can. That zip tie will keep the cable from coming loose for a while, but I wouldn’t advise waitin’ more than a couple days.”
Not that you have that long, he thought.
“I’ll take it in soon, promise,” she said with a wide smile.
One side of his mouth lifted without his intention, the feeling of even the minuscule smile so foreign to him. He nodded rather than responding verbally. He’d already used up more vocabulary with this woman than he normally used in the course of most months.
Maria’s eyes widened and she shoved the door open, not even noticing the way his body went taut in anticipation of a potential threat. “Oh, my god, Michael Guerin!”
Years of training kept him rooted to the spot. Never show weakness. Never back down. Never allow a target to get in a position to compromise the mission. They were rules he lived by. Rules that had been drilled into him since he was seventeen years old. “You should get in your car. It’s freezing out.”
“Don’t you recognize me?”
“Name’s Jefferson, not whatever it was you just said.”
She moved closer to him, reaching out with the intention of pushing his hat back when one of his hands shot out to clamp around her wrist, preventing her from getting any closer. “Michael?”
He frowned at her determined voice. “My name is not Michael,” he said firmly and only turned her wrist free when she made an attempt to lower it.
“But you look-” She swallowed as she realized he probably just looked a lot like the boy she knew was dead. “Sorry, you look a lot like someone I knew.”
“Well, I’m not him.”
“No, no, of course not,” she said slowly.
“Get inside before you freeze to death.” That would definitely be accidental but he wouldn’t get paid for that unless it happened someplace obscure. He shook that thought off. He already had a plan in place. “Like I said, next few days have those cables tightened.”
“I will, thanks again.” Her eyes strayed back to his face, moving over his features to memorize them. She paused when she reached the small half-moon shaped scar on the left side of his jaw. The blemish was visible where the light growth of beard shadowed his jaw, not growing over the scar.
The way she was looking at him was odd. Was it possible she knew something about his past? No, he decided. What were the chances he would meet someone who knew a part of his life that he didn’t remember? “Well, lady, have a nice life.” Even if it’s a short one.
She nodded, her eyes following him as he took off in the direction of his truck. Was it possible for two people to have that exact same scar? To have the exact same features? Maybe, but even if she could rule those two things out, could two people have the same eyes? She wasn’t so sure that one could be so easily dismissed. The same color, sure. The same intensity? No. But then again, they did say everyone had a twin somewhere in the world, right?
She turned and pulled her door open, sliding into the leather seat and running her hands over the steering wheel while her body adjusted to the warm interior. She shook those thoughts off, turning her attention back to her personal mission. Hoping that his quick-fix job with the zip ties held out she pulled into the light afternoon traffic and headed out of the city.
Bane waited behind another corner for her to lead the way. He got his cell out and slid his thumb over the screen a few times until a map appeared and on it a red blinking signal. He would follow her slowly until he found a firing place for the car to accidently crash. He glanced at himself in the rearview mirror, wondering what she had seen in his face. Or more likely, who.
Maria’s thoughts were running wild as she drove. There were so many questions and she didn’t have any answers. At least any that made sense. Yet. She just hoped when she reached her destination she could put some of the pieces together. She turned the stereo on and selected a CD before turning the volume up and singing along with the songs. There wasn’t much traffic the further she got out of the city and she enjoyed the freedom of the open road. Uncle Reggie meant well, but sometimes his controlling nature nearly suffocated her.
She drove along the winding roads, time seeming to fly as she neared her destination. Berkeley Springs was a couple of hours out of DC and she was the only one who ever came up to the cabin. Her parents had purchased it when she was two years old and kept its location quiet. Her dad had been cautious about revealing it to people because of his position within the FBI. She knew he had dealt with dangerous people in his job and she could understand why he’d kept so much to himself. She left the highway and began the slow drive along an unpaved road.
She applied the brakes when she pulled into the circular drive in front of the rustic looking cabin. Her mother had designed the interior herself while allowing it to maintain its natural ambiance in deference to her husband’s preferences. It was comfortable and familiar and it was the place where she could still feel her parents’ presence the most. There were so many good memories in this place and she only wished there were more. She turned the car off and got out, taking a moment to inhale the crisp, cold air that was so much fresher and clearer up in the mountains.
Bane waited for a safe while before he followed her down the lonely road. He parked his truck far enough away from the cabin to make sure she wouldn’t see it and made a connection.
On the way there had been plenty possibilities for her ‘accident’ but he had decided against it, wanting to find out about her destination. He was still wondering about her weird behavior and the fact she had been so sure about knowing him.
At one point she would go back the same way and he’d already located the perfect place for her last breath.
She walked up to the cabin, taking the three steps that led up onto the deck and looked around as she selected the key without even looking at it. The lake was so calm it looked like a sheet of glass and while there was snow on the ground it wasn’t heavy yet. She exhaled and her breath formed a cloud that quickly dissipated, but served to remind her of just how cold it was outside. The wind blew causing the leafless branches to sway, some of them creaking in protest and others bending without resistance.
It wouldn’t be much warmer inside the cabin but at least the wind would be blocked. She wanted to start back before nightfall so there wasn’t time to start a fire in the fireplace or turn the heat on. There was limited daylight this time of year and with the weather’s unpredictability during the winter she didn’t want to risk being stranded on the side of the road after dark if anything happened. She stepped inside and closed the door, leaning back against it as her eyes adjusted to the dim interior. After a few moments she flipped the light switch on the wall next to her and light flooded the room.
She smiled as she looked around, feeling warmer in spite of the lack of heat. If she closed her eyes she could easily picture her parents there; Mom in the kitchen cooking or baking something that would chase the chill away and Dad over by the fireplace stoking the fire and telling her stories about work. She knew now that most of those stories had been made up because his work had been classified and he wouldn’t have been able to share it with anyone outside of those he worked with, and of those, only the ones in need to know positions.
She moved to the wall that faced the lake, made of several sections of glass that was partitioned by thick wood beams. Her attention was caught by movement in the woods and a moment later a deer appeared, its head raised to check the area before fully emerging to make its way down to the water. She watched it for a moment before moving across the room to the large fireplace, crouching down next to it and taking a seat on the hearth. She twisted around and reached up inside, running her hand over the hidden door built into the stone and feeling around for the latch that would release it.
Bane moved around the cabin, quiet as a whisper. He stayed in the shadows, using trees and high grass for cover. The air smelled like snow – it wouldn’t be long before it fell. After a while he found a good enough cover. No one was up here but them and he used the scope of his sniper rifle to peer inside the cabin.
Photos where spread over the floor in front of her while she held a written file in her hand with a frown. Whatever she was checking, it was providing more questions than answers if her confusion was anything to go by.
Maria glanced over the report, her focus on the details of the so-called accident itself rather than the facts of the deaths that had been the result of it. She wasn’t prepared just yet to read through the reports detailing the final moments of her loved ones. She had been there and she had seen the destruction in the aftermath of the explosion. Ten years later that scene was still burned into her brain, there was no escaping it. She had seen it with her own eyes, heard it with her own ears, and she wasn’t ready to revisit that day just yet. Not that part of it anyway.
The explosion wasn’t an accident as she’d been led to believe. There was no way her uncle wasn’t aware of the truth, but why would he hide it from her? What did he think he was protecting her from? She turned the page and her eyes scanned over the list of deceased, her vision blurring as her fingertips ghosted over the names of her parents, aunts and uncles, cousins... she swallowed with difficulty and traced over one of the names. Alisha. For all of the good times they’d had together, the trouble they’d managed to get themselves into, the happy little girl she had been best friends with for most of their young lives, she had trouble picturing her beyond that moment she’d seen her bloody, broken body lying on the ground.
She closed her eyes and shook her head to force the memory away. “No,” she whispered. “No, don’t go there,” she ordered herself. She drew in a deep breath and composed herself as she continued searching the list of names and near the bottom she finally found him. Michael Guerin. “You’re dead. I know you’re dead and yet I could swear you were standing right in front of me today, that you stopped to help me.” She exhaled loudly. “But it couldn’t be, could it?” She started to close the file but slowly reopened it. “Or could it?” There were so many lies surrounding that day that she just didn’t know what to believe right now.
Maria sighed as she opened a little box where she stored the photos she had taken the day of the wedding before everything had gone to hell. She took a photo of the boy she had crushed on out and stared at it several minutes.
The same scar. The same features. And those eyes.
Had she made a mistake? Should she have tried to keep that man from leaving? He had claimed to be someone else, yet his face was burned into her memory. She took a pencil and turned the picture over, writing down the license plate of the Dodge Ram as well as the name Jefferson with a question mark.
Bane lowered the rifle and released a frustrated breath. He didn’t have a clear enough view to see what she was looking at or writing and somehow he had a feeling it was important. “You just bought yourself a little more time, girl,” he muttered. Whatever held her attention, he needed to know what it was. She moved and he brought the rifle up again, watching her through the scope as she returned the items to their hiding place. She was sure the documents she was searching were safe from being found, and under normal circumstances she would probably be right.
He had done his homework on her, researched her background, and unearthed the truth about the explosion with little effort. He didn’t know why she had been told lie upon lie, but he had a feeling it wasn’t only for her protection. There was more to the story but it wasn’t his job to look for the answers or try to piece the puzzle together. But he’d never run into a situation where a target seemed so certain he was familiar. He had precious little time to figure out what was going on. The clock was running out and his deadline was fast approaching. He had to get into that cabin and get a look at those documents. He could always catch up with her on the drive back and make sure the accident happened when and where he had determined it should happen.
He waited until she left and then sneaked into the cabin with little effort. The hidden door wasn’t secured properly so it took him under ten seconds to get to the information she felt the need to hide. The first folder was a police report about the day she had lost her family. He skipped through it briefly and then went for the other box.
Nothing could have prepared him for what he found there though.