The fire, my parents, my vision, the reason I went on my path, The American cabinet. The royal family. When I got to the baby I tried to take my hand away because I thought that's what she would've wanted but she held tighter. I went on: The effect meeting her had on me, Japan, Ni's injury, Why I really sent her away, Russia, China our breakup, someone chasing us, and finishing everything up and leaving for the States. When I finished it was then and only then that she finally relinquished my hand. She stood and walked around. I stood up myself. "Nala" She didn't stop. She seemed a bit manic. "Nala" I said it with force. She stopped. I stood up spun around in place, in a circle. I showed her every part of me "This is me. I'm standing in front of you having told you everything. I'm showing you who I really am." She looked at me for a long time.
"Does Nick know the effect he had on you?"
"Yes, the effect but not the extent, he works in government and I never wanted to compromise him like that." She nodded
"You 'aven't killed anyone in 'ow long?"
"Since about six months before we got back together. Before we left London when we finished selling our weapons this guy tried to rip me off and he pointed a gun at me that wasn't loaded… But you don't need to know the details..."
She paused again she seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "Ok"
"Ok?"
"Yeah ok. Do I need to bloody repeat myself or do you have residual ear damage from all the guns you've shot in your life?" She smiled in spite of herself and I couldn't help but laugh but…
"First off it's called tinnitus and yes I do. Guns are incredibly loud." We laughed again "Babe I need to know that you're ok with this. With me. With us. Truly ok. Without any doubt and I mean any."
"Love. I already parted with you once. And it seems what you just told me is what I broke up with you for. I told you then when you wanted to be 'onest with me I was 'ere. If you 'ad told me then what you're telling me now. I would've told you when you could choose me over your mission I'd be 'ere. Ty from what you've told me you and your sister have been through a hell I could never imagine and the result of it has made you change the world. Change it for the better in my opinion if you succeed. I haven't been sheltered enough or blinded enough not to remember how the world was before the world. Bigotry and oppression is worldwide epidemic. I imagine a lot of people feel the way you do just never have the means to do anything about it. So, they join the rat race because that's all they can do. That's all what your intention has ever been, to break that rat race. Do I feel like you're a maniac murderer? No. Am I happy about it? No. Will I join you in your crusade? No, I'm not built like that. I couldn't even imagine purposefully taking a life. Do I understand how you became so comfortable with it? Yes. What you're telling me is that this or at least almost all of it is behind you. So, I'm ok because I made a decision not to carry the past in our relationship when I agreed to marry you. So I'm not going 'nywhere but I will say this once and only once Thylonius. If something else 'appens you need to tell me. I swear to bloody Christ, I will be gone if you keep any more secrets from me. You 'ear me?" I didn't respond at first. I was taking my shirt off. "Oi Ty if you think you're tasting any of this without promising me you got another bloody thing coming…" I stopped her with a kiss.
"I promise you love. No more secrets" She smiled and I took her in my arms. I laid her down gently as I could I nuzzled her ear. She moaned. That sound always made me excited. Hearing her enjoy it… Hearing her enjoy me always gave me the most pleasure. I gently took everything off her perfect body and I teased her with kisses all over her until she couldn't take it anymore.
"Ty, I need you" she whispered.
"I need you more" I whispered back. And I took her. And she took me. And we went on and on until we couldn't breathe or move anymore. It was the most magical thing I'd ever done. It was transcendent, like I had been elevated by her to another plane. I know it sounds cheesy and nothing like me but it's true. Nala did that to me. She took me places I could never go without her. After hours, we held each other and stared into each other eyes like we were meeting for the first time because in a way we were. I kissed her on the forehead and we drifted to sleep.
In what seemed to me like mere seconds later came a banging on my door. Nala was deaf to the world snoring up a storm. I disengaged and put on some shorts and answered the door to find my sister dressed head to toe in black sweats. "What in the hell could you possibly want Ni? It's..." I looked at my watch to see it was Noon. "Not as bad as I thought, I got to sleep in a bit, in any case. I'm in here with my wife and I don't want to go anywhere"
She looked down and barely contained an embarrassed laugh "I can tell" She said. I grabbed my robe to hide my embarrassment and my laughing sister finally calmed down enough to speak to me "Look. I know we put we wrapped everything up in a tight bow but I got some new intelligence." I shook my head but I didn't walk away "Look the man whose looking for us. He's here. In Johannesburg." I was shocked. I thought our trail would of went cold in Columbia.
"How do you know this?"
"I just do, I need you to trust me"
"I do trust you but what you're about to ask me to do requires more than the 23 years of trust we've built in one another. Because you're about to ask me to assassinate" I was whispering now "The chief of an international crime bureau without any prep right before my fucking honeymoon!"
"Trust me Ty I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I needed to." I shook my head. Nala was right my mission was over. I still had the skills but I don't do things this way. I think things through. This was a big ask besides all that…
"I don't have my weapons" Ni shook her head
"I have all your weapons ready. I have all the necessities for the nest set up upstairs." I looked at her incredulously
"You brought weapons to my wedding?" It was her turn to look at me incredulously.
"What we did isn't done. The global destruction may be done. But we're not in the clear, All I want is for us to be clear. For you to move on. For me to move on. I want this to be over. Truly over. So, my answer to that question is how could you not have brought your weapons when this isn't over?!" I looked at her for a moment. She lingered on the word 'Over' longer than usual. Her mannerisms, body language, and twenty-three years told me that there wasn't complete honesty in her words.
"Because it's my wedding and it is over. It's been over a year without even a blip on this particular radar and trust me I have been monitoring it. So why now? Why here? Have you asked yourself that?" She gave me a look I hadn't seen before on her face. It was doubt. True doubt. It was there for a second and it was gone almost as soon as it came and replaced with that resolute look she usually had.
"Thylonius, in this life. In our life. Nothing is an accident and something is only over when we kill it. Whether it's with fire, a knife, my fists, or a bullet. It's over when we kill it. So let's end this. With a bullet." I looked at her and nodded
"When?"
"Tonight, before you leave tomorrow."
"Ok I'll be set up"
I left a note for Nala telling her I would tell her everything after I returned and I went upstairs. Ni had left instructions for me she said she would create a distraction that would send him my way around midnight. I had got set up at 11:30. I saw everything up there. Every possible angle. I took a deep breath and instantly there was a silver aura wrapped around me and my eyes turned cold grey. I adjusted my scope to accurately strike spot Ni warned me about. It's been a while since I entered this state, but I was still as sharp as ever. Everything around me slowed, my vision and my perception widened. I could now hear everything in a 200-yard radius if I focused it on it. From the floor below where a couple was arguing about what to watch on TV to the civilian sitting at the bus stop listening to rap music on his headphones to a soft gasp behind hiding behind the door. It was just like riding a bike. A mass murdering bike but a bike all the same. Studying my surroundings, considering all the variables, and before I knew it was 11:59 and I heard a scream. The car I had been waiting for belted down the street. I hyper focused on it and everything in my vision came to a stop. I could see the target through the tinted windows. It was only him and his driver in the car. I let it fly, shooting in the direction of the tires first and shooting an incendiary round towards the engine a second after. I watched as the bullets flew in slow motion. Analyzing the impact of a car explosion. I exhaled and time started again… BOOM! The whole car had blown up leaving the two people inside burnt to a crisp. I wasn't sure what CniDaria had in mind giving me ammo that I had never used before, but I trusted her and cleared my area. Making sure there was no trace of me, I broke down the gun and packed it up in a briefcase. Some habits die hard. Now came the hard part.
"Nala" I said opening the door. She was waiting arms folded. Her voice was what I heard behind me before I shot. "Nala I just killed a man"
"I-i saw, Why?"
"He was the man who was after us. My sister and I." She looked surprised.
"What the bloody 'ell was he doin' 'ere?"
"I don't know. Ni brought it to me. I checked into it. Confirmed his identity and pulled the trigger" It still troubled me that the UN's Secretary General was here and someone that important wanted us captured but that didn't matter at that moment. I was more concerned with my wife's reaction to the fact her husband killed someone in front of her.
She looked at me for a long time and nodded "Ok"
"Ok?"
"Bloody Christ…" There she was "Yes love. Ok. I told you to tell me, you told me. It proves to me and much quicker than I thought it would I might add. That you 'ave changed. That you ar' the man I 'greed to marry. That man has his pas' and tonight you dealt with it. I much more concerned with our future. We're going home to Australia tomorrow and not seeing any part of Australia but our resort in Sydney for a whole week agreed?" She kissed me deeply at that point. "And what are we going to do 'bout eight months from now."
"Eight months from now?" I said it absently and she started dancing away from me rubbing her belly. My mind went blank "You're not… You're not serious…?" She just nodded tears of joy in her eyes and a smile on her face. I hugged her. She let a sigh of relief go in my ear. "I was going to wait to tell you. I knew you were going to tell me something this weekend. I wanted to make sure I was ok before. The fact is. I've never been 'appier. And it's because I know you and I know you've 'lways loved me. When you met me after that… That baby." I hung my head "That doesn't matta It doesn't. I finally know that through everything you've 'lways felt 'bout me the way I've felt 'bout you. I love you Thylonius. I always have and I always will. However, consider this, I'm a grown woman. Yes, I can take care of myself and make my own decisions. This baby inside me is different. You have to make a choice, will your child know Thylonius the Assassin, the Killer? Or something else? Something greater, something you didn't have." I considered her words and took it to hearts.
"I'm so happy I bumped into you that day Nala, I won't let you down." She smiled and we kissed, and somehow, someway, it was even more amazing than the night before.