CL Hart -From A Distance Page 6

  Time ticked away, giving Cori lots of opportunity to study her captor. She moved with silent confidence, but Cori could tell she was not at ease. Kenzie paced...and she waited. Several times Cori was certain she heard the woman talking to herself. It didn't take her long to realize they were waiting. The question was, waiting for what - or for whom?

  Many possibilities circled around in Cori's mind. Some were plausible, some unbelievable, but each supposition baffled her more than the last. She closed her eyes and fought to maintain some rationality in her thinking. "What exactly are we waiting for?" Cori finally asked as Kenzie looked at her watch for the umpteenth time.

  The wind lifted Kenzie's long curly locks and she brushed them out of the way in annoyance. She walked to the back door of the car and yanked it open. "We're waiting for a ride," Kenzie said as she unzipped her duffle bag, obviously irritated by the intrusion on her thoughts.

  A ride? Cori was surprised by the answer, mainly because she had not really expected to be given one. "From whom? From where?"

  Straightening up from the back seat, Kenzie pulled on a baseball cap and pulled her curly hair through the opening in the back. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out what looked to Cori like a thick pair of binoculars.

  "Who are we waiting for?" Cori asked again as she watched Kenzie scan the skies.

  Kenzie ignored the question as she searched the horizon and then back down the road they had traveled.

  "What are we waiting for?" Cori asked. Kenzie brought the glasses away from her eyes and Cori saw that they were not typical binoculars.

  Kenzie glanced down at her watch again. "I'm looking for a plane."

  "A plane? Here?"

  "Yes." Kenzie lowered the night vision binoculars, scanning the horizon with her naked eyes. "And they're late," she added, raising the expensive binoculars to resume her search.

  Cori watched her, frightened but intrigued by the quiet woman with the lethal skills. She wondered just how one became a hired killer. Was there a sign-up sheet outside the main hall in some university? As if her question was asked aloud, Kenzie lowered the night vision glasses and looked over at her. She felt the darkness of Kenzie's eyes and was reminded of what had transpired just that afternoon. This woman did not hesitate to shoot at people.

  Feeling uneasy and very vulnerable under Kenzie's intense stare, Cori looked away. She wondered whether she could kill someone if she were put into the right situation. Without hesitation, Cori knew the answer was no.

  Time dragged on and there was still no sign of a plane. It was quiet, until somewhere far off in the hills, a coyote cried out, breaking the silence of solitude.

  Cori looked over at Kenzie, her eyes hidden behind the binoculars that were continuously sweeping back and forth over the distant mountains. "Why are you here?" Cori asked, waiting for an answer as she studied the woman with the gun. The question received no immediate response. After a long moment, Kenzie turned tired eyes to her. Unnerved by the hardened gaze, Cori began to chatter nervously. "I mean - why here, why me, I don't understand. Who am I? I'm nobody. I'm just a girl trying to get by. So why me? What did I do?"

  Kenzie said nothing, but for once she didn't look away. The questions Cori was asking were the same questions she had been asking herself...and they were the only things keeping Cori alive.

  "You're some kind of hired killer, one with serious connections and the money to back up your mission - night vision glasses, your own plane." She looked around into the darkness. "Is this even a runway?" Cori waited but Kenzie didn't answer. She was not really expecting her to.

  Returning her attention to the skies, Kenzie was grateful for the silence that finally fell between them.

  Dejected, Cori tried to keep to herself inside the car, but time was not a comfort to her and neither was the quiet. "Can I ask you a question?"

  Kenzie turned around and faced her. "I haven't been able to stop you yet."

  Cori ignored the sarcasm. "Who sent you here to kill me?" Kenzie didn't answer, though several thoughts crossed her facial features, obvious even in the dark.

  "Can't you tell me who? I think I have a right to know. I mean, someone wants me dead and you must know who it is."

  Cori waited, she wanted answers, some kind of dialogue, but her captor would not oblige. "Okay, don't answer... At least tell me why? Can you do that? Can you tell me why someone would want me dead?"

  "That's more than one question." Kenzie turned away from her and went back to watching for the plane.

  "Why don't you just let me go? I mean it's obvious that you have the wrong girl. It is possible you know - somebody somewhere mixes up a name. Maybe the wrong address..."

  Kenzie turned and glared at her through the broken back window of the car. "You don't get it, do you?" The question came out harshly. "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead, period. You're alive because I need you to answer some questions for me. I want to know why someone would want you dead, and why they chose me to do it!" Each word was a demand. Kenzie took a deep breath, as if to clear her thoughts. "Look...the only way I'm going to be able to figure things out is with your help. I'm not going to hurt you."

  Cori studied the woman outside of the car. "Am I supposed to take your word for that?"

  There was silence as Kenzie looked up to the stars. Kenzie stepped up to the driver's window and bent down to look squarely at Cori. "I have no reason to lie to you."

  For a brief moment, everything else was forgotten as they looked into each other's eyes, searching for answers and the truth that lay beyond their grasp. It had been a long, hard day for both of them, and the toll etched in their distressed and weary faces.

  Cori looked hard at Kenzie, eager to find something to give her hope, any sign that she might survive this ordeal. "You want me to trust you? Then tell me what happens when you find the answers. Are you going to kill me?"

  Kenzie backed away from Cori and her persistent questions.

  "Well?" Cori's courage was growing with her frustration. Throwing open the car door, she stepped out into the night and challenged the woman who was holding her captive. "That's what you were paid to do, isn't it? You were paid to kill me, weren't you?"

  Kenzie looked down at her watch again. "Nobody paid me anything. Now will you shut up? I'm trying to think." She started to walk away from the car, but she didn't get far enough.

  "What do you mean, nobody paid you? You're doing this for free?" Cori sounded confused by Kenzie answer. "I don't understand? Why would someone-"

  "I'm not that kind of a-" She searched for the right word, but none of them seemed accurate. Killer, assassin, murderer - the words were accurate all right, but she wanted to scream that they were not who she was. She did what she did because someone told her to, but suddenly that explanation seemed feeble and inept, and that frustrated her even further. Turning around, her eyes ablaze in fury, she sputtered out, "I don't work that way...I'm not that kind of - I do what I'm ordered to do."

  Shock registered on Cori's face. "What you're ordered to do? What does that mean! Exactly who do you work for?"

  It was not just a question, it was a demand for information, but Kenzie refused to answer. Instead, she moved further away from the car, away from the questions she couldn't, or didn't, want to answer. All she wanted was for the plane to show up, but she had no idea what she was going to do when it did. Her level of frustration boiled over, "Get your ass back in that car!"

  Cori did as ordered, but that didn't settle Kenzie down. She began to pace in front of the car and then beside it. Her mind was a melange of questions and doubts. She had so few answers, leaving her to question what she had done. Orders were orders, and it was not up to her to decide which ones she was going to follow. When Manuck found out she had botched another assignment...

  "Aw shit," she muttered in exasperation, wiping hard at her face.

  Hours passed in silence as Kenzie kept her gaze on the empty sky. Thankfully, Cori was sitting quietly in the front seat of her bea
t up car, giving Kenzie time to mull over the endless questions swirling in her mind. The assignment was a bust - again. Her extraction team had not shown up, stranding her in a foreign country. Why? She had no phone, no means of contacting anyone, and even if she had, who would she call? Moreover, what would she say?

  Looking at the young woman in the car only added to her dilemma. It was easy to see that Cori had spent the better part of the last few hours crying quietly. Kenzie tried not to care. She had too many other thoughts in her head and she didn't have the time to feel badly about Cori's tears.

  Feeling eyes upon her, Cori looked into the haunting gold eyes of her would-be killer. "What?" It was mostly a plea, but Kenzie remained silent to Cori's question. "Why are you looking at me? Answer me! What are you doing?" Cori demanded. "What happens if your ride doesn't show up?"

  Yeah, Kenzie! The thought screamed inside her head and she did her best to ignore it. The gray twilight of the predawn was beginning to lighten the vast Mexican sky. It would not be long before the sun would be up and they would be standing out in the open like sitting ducks with no place to go. We can't stay here forever. Kenzie looked down at her watch and knew that decision time was approaching fast. Think...think! What am I going to do? Kenzie looked at Cori and pondered the questions rolling around in her mind. Why? ... Who? Now that's a better question. Who would want this woman dead?

  Kenzie turned back toward the car, stepping awkwardly on a stone that made her stumble. That sudden movement saved her life. A bullet she didn't hear coming sliced the skin along her temple just before she dropped to the ground.

  The sudden flurry of action startled Cori. She screamed because it was all she could do.

  "Shut up and stay down," Kenzie ordered touching her temple. "Son of a bitch," she grumbled angrily, wiping the blood off her fingers and scrambled to the car. "Close, way too close," she cursed to herself as she opened the back door of the car and pulled out her duffle bag.

  There was a ping of metal as another shot searched for its target. Cori screamed again, hunching herself into a ball and slipped to the floor of the car.

  Kenzie paid her no attention as she concentrated on acquiring her weapon. Within a minute, she had her rifle out, assembled, and the telescopic sight clicked into place. There was no time to re-zero the sights. She hoped her assembly of it onto the sniper rifle was true. She crawled carefully over the ground toward the rear of the car. Kenzie turned her ball cap around, settled into the familiar position, and began to ready her mind for what she did best. Everything around her grew soundless and disappeared as she searched the distance through her scope.

  Several minutes of stressful silence had gotten to Cori. Kenzie heard a quiet whisper. "Can you see anything? I can't see a thing." Kenzie continued to scan the horizon. "You won't. It's a high-powered rifle. Now shut up and stay down." Kenzie closed her eyes and relaxed, tuning out everything around her before she opened them again. This is what she did, what she excelled at. She searched with all her senses, looking for shapes in the distance, something innately human, something shiny. Mother Nature didn't make things shiny - man did. She sought out the shadows, looking for something that didn't blend in, for a silhouette against the skyline that shouldn't be there, and she listened for a sound nature didn't make. The five Ss had been drilled into her until they were a part of her. Shape, shine, shadow, silhouette, and sound - these were the basic principles of hunting an individual, and they paid off.

  The rising sun reflected off something down the road that they had traveled the night before. Kenzie focused in and saw a shadow where there shouldn't be one. She checked the wind, and then estimated the distance. Not an impossible shot, but still... When the shadow moved again, Kenzie let go a breath, squeezed the slack from the trigger and fired the shot. She wished for a moment that she had a silencer, but by the time the shot was heard, it would be too late. The crack of the rifle echoed around the car and throughout the low valley as the distant shadow slumped into a heap.

  Kenzie disassembled her rifle, put it back into her duffle bag, and threw the bag into the back seat. "Let's go."

  Cori was curled up in a ball on the floor. She looked at Kenzie in startled disbelief as she climbed into the driver's seat. "That's it? Let's go? What if they're still out there? What if they shoot at us again? They aren't going to shoot again, are they? You just shot someone! You just killed someone, didn't you? You just killed another human being. Who was it?"

  Kenzie didn't answer, not because she didn't want to but because she didn't have an answer. She turned the key and the Honda's overworked motor whirled to life. She had no idea where they were going, but she knew they could not stay where they were. Plane or no plane, they had to go.

  They had traveled only a few minutes when Kenzie stopped the car. Cori lifted her head just enough to see Kenzie pull one of her guns from its holster. Climbing from the car, she walked across the dirt road and stood at its edge. Watching in puzzlement, Cori was shocked to see her pull back some of the vegetation to reveal the white Renault. How Kenzie had seen it, Cori had no idea. She hadn't had any inkling the car was there, but Kenzie had. Then Cori saw the body crumpled on the ground next to the car. She had seen a dead body before, but it still made her stomach roil as she watched Kenzie rummaging through the dead man's pockets. When she returned to the car, Cori could see she was angry about something.

  "That's nice, first you murder him and then you rob him."

  Kenzie turned to face her but didn't answer as she put the car into gear. A moment later they were back on the dusty, bone-jarring road. Cori had no idea where they were going, and she really didn't care.

  After a few minutes, "I didn't rob him," Kenzie said flatly. "And I didn't murder him."

  "Really? You put a bullet through his head and then rifled through his pockets. What the hell would you call it?"

  "I didn't murder him. He shot first, remember?"

  "He shot first... Is that how you justify it? You're a murderer, and no matter what you say, that's what-"

  Kenzie snapped. "Will you just shut up?"

  Kenzie's explosion was enough to silence the questions in the car. Cori was scared. She could feel it from the pit of her stomach to the shakiness in her hands, but watching Kenzie's steely confidence settled her somewhat. She looked at her profile again and saw the fresh wound on Kenzie's temple, "You're hurt."

  Cori heard a quiet compassion in her own voice, and it appeared to calm Kenzie's simmering anger. Kenzie reached up to touch her injury. Leaning forward, Kenzie looked at herself in the rearview mirror. The bleeding appeared to have stopped, and Kenzie attempted to wipe away some of the dried blood. "I'm fine," she muttered as she looked back to the road.

  There was an uneasy silence in the car for a long while, as if each one was waiting for the other to speak. Then softly, Kenzie stated, "I wasn't robbing him."

  Cori was lost in her thoughts and didn't hear her clearly. "Pardon?"

  Kenzie cleared her throat. "I said I wasn't robbing that..." she hooked a thumb back towards the Renault, "...that guy."

  "Could have fooled me."

  "I think...I..." Kenzie paused, choosing her words carefully. "I was looking for his identification."

  "Why would it matter? Are you going to notify his next of kin?" Cori saw the muscles tense in Kenzie's jaw as she considered the question.

  Cori leaned back against her seat and looked at the road unfolding before them. As Guadalajara's majestic skyline rose in front of them, she realized they were going back the way they'd come the night before.

  Kenzie gingerly touched her throbbing temple and then rubbed her eyes. She sighed deeply, resting her head against her hand for support. "I didn't know him," Kenzie finally said, "but I know his type, and they don't usually have family."

  "Know his type? What does that mean? What? Does he work for the same people you do?"

  Kenzie glanced in the rearview mirror again, "Meaning we need to find another way out of Mexico."
<
br />   "Who exactly do you work for?"

  Kenzie hesitated, then answered, "Let's just say I follow orders."

  "You said that before. But whose orders?" Cori was scared, confused, and exhausted. "I mean, why would they send you down here to kill me?"

  Sighing deeply, Kenzie turned to look at her, "That's the answer we need to find."

  Further down the road, Kenzie suddenly veered off onto a frontage road and Cori braced herself against the car door. "A little warning might have been nice," she said as they pitched back and forth inside the car.

  Kenzie made no comment as she maneuvered the car toward a Pemex gas station. Cori glanced around at all the people and then back at her captor. This was the chance she'd been waiting for. There would be no way for Kenzie to stop her from fleeing without making a big scene. Could it be as easy as that? Her freedom and her life had seemed to be beyond negotiation, but now she might just have a chance. They rolled forward toward the pumps and a young Mexican came up next to Kenzie's door.

  "Fill 'er up." He nodded with a broad smile and reached for the hose. She watched him with annoyance. "Clear the pump before you start," Kenzie said in perfect Spanish as the young man looked over the shattered, bullet-riddled car. He nodded his understanding and turned to zero out the pump before starting to fill the car.

  "I'm going into the gas station to clean up...and to get a map and some supplies." Kenzie turned and looked at Cori. "You're free to go."

  "What? Just like that you're letting me go?"

  "Just like that...or you can choose to stay." Kenzie opened the car door and exited the vehicle. Closing the door, she leaned down and looked at a startled Cori. "But keep in mind, no one ordered a hit on me."

  Cori had her hand on the door handle, but didn't move as the comment resonated in her thoughts. If she didn't stay with Kenzie, where was she going to go? A thousand unanswered questions clamored for her attention. The "who", "what", "why", and "where" seemed secondary to her absolute desire to run, but she had nowhere to go. Her eyes went to a man on a telephone next to the rundown gas station. Outside phones were commonplace in Mexico; however, one that was working was a rarity. This one obviously was and she watched the man hang up and walk away. She could make a call, but to whom?