Scarlet Angel (5 page)

The man’s breaths came in ragged gasps. “Fine...
Derrick. Derrick Martins.”

The name stung. She was not quite sure why, but that
man’s name, connected with her attempted murder was like a knife to
her heart. “Why? Who am I to him?”

A cough burst from the man’s lips. “I don’t know. I
think it had something to do with the accident, the explosion.”

Scarlett’s confusion only deepened. Scraps of
memories raced through her mind, but none of it made sense. She
looked down at the floor and the smeared blood puddle. “I...”

Her vision exploded in a flash of pain and light.
She felt her body falling backward and her mind threatened to black
out. Scarlett resisted the urge to slip into the darkness and
landed hard on the floor.

She shook her head just in time to see the man
lunging at her. His body descended toward her with his hands
outstretched toward her throat.

Without thinking, Scarlett flipped her legs up. Her
thighs clamped down around her attacker’s neck. His body slammed
into her, shoving her along the smooth floor with his momentum. He
fell to the floor with a thud and scrambled to get traction.

Scarlett locked her ankles and squeezed her legs
like a vise. Rage filled her again, rage at her own distraction and
the opportunity she had given him. Her eyes burned and her lips
were curled in anger. She watched as his arms flailed, trying
anything to reach her. She clenched her teeth and relished in his
helplessness.

His eyes bulged in his skull. Their gazes locked for
a brief moment. Then she wrenched her legs to the side, snapping
his neck with a sickening crack.

Scarlett’s fury evaporated instantly. She looked
down at the burst blood vessels around the white edges of his
eyeballs. The horror of what she’d just done slammed into her chest
and took her breath away.

Cash and Ruby burst through the door to find
Scarlett with her legs around the dead man’s head. Ruby was the
first one to speak. “Oh my.”

Scarlett glanced up at her brother and mother then
back down to the man she’d just killed. Her face was a mask of
shock and terror. She shoved herself away from the now lifeless
body. With her back to the wall, she stared at the motionless
corpse.

“
I killed him. I don’t even know
who he was, and I killed him.”

Chapter 7
A Magic Trick

The physical act of taking someone’s life is easy.
Living with it, now that’s the hard part.

* * *

Ruby dabbed the washcloth on Scarlett’s arms and
face, erasing the tiny splatters of blood. Scarlett knew she would
always see those red spots, always feel their sick wetness against
her skin. Even several minutes later, she could still feel the
crack of the man’s neck reverberate through her bones.

Scarlett stared off into the distance, reliving that
moment over and over in her mind. “I can’t believe I did it.”

Ruby stepped over and rinsed out the cloth in the
kitchen sink. “Oh sweetheart. Ya did what was necessary.”

“
I know ma, but... Is this who I
really am? Was I like this before you found me? A
killer?”

Ruby sat back down next to Scarlett at the cherry
table and wrapped her arms around her daughter. The older woman’s
voice was tired but soothing. “Ah may not have given birth to ya,
but I know ya well ‘nuff. Yer definitely not a cold-blooded
killer.”

There was a long pause before Ruby spoke again, but
when she did, a tiny bit of strength had returned. “He’s the one
who tried to kill ya before, isn’t he?”

Scarlett just nodded as she reached up to wipe away
the tear trickling down the side of her face.

“
An’ he was here to finish the
job?”

Scarlett nodded again. The older woman patted her
hand.

“
Then Ah’d say the bastard got
wha’ he deserved.”

Scarlett turned to look up at her mother. “Does that
make what I did right, ma?”

Ruby stared for a long moment into her eyes. “I
don’t know, sweetheart.”

The swinging door into the front room burst open and
Cash strolled through.

“
Yes. It does,” he said. “Yes, it
absolutely does.”

Cash walked right up to Scarlett and pulled her to
her feet. “Scar, that sonofabitch was here to kill us.”

“
He came for me.”

“
And we were just in his way. He
didn’t care.”

The younger woman looked down, her hands hanging
limp in her brother’s. “I just...”

“
Cut the crap, Scar. That guy was
walking garbage! He...”

“
Cash!” Ruby
interrupted.

“
He was! He was a low-life hired
thug. You saw the sores and the tracks on his arms.”

The older woman rose and stepped up to her son. “His
life still matters, he was still a person.”

Cash’s gaze burned into his mother for a moment
before he turned to Scarlett. “No. It doesn’t. He was walking
sickness. But he’s dead now and we have to deal with
that
.”

Scarlett looked over to her mother then back to
Cash. “So, what do we do?”

“
We call the police.” Ruby
squinted and cocked her head to the side.

Scarlett felt small under her mother’s gaze, as if
she’d asked the most ridiculous question ever.

“
No.” Cash’s voice was firm and
commanding.

“
Excuse me? This is mah home. This
man broke into mah house and tried to kill mah family. Why the hell
not?”

Cash turned his head slowly to look at his mother
again. “Mama, I know this is hard, but you gotta trust me. We need
to think of the bigger picture here. So far, we’ve had no idea the
circumstances of Scarlett’s amnesia. Now it’s clear someone, that
man, tried to kill her.”

An uneasy feeling crept in at the edges of
Scarlett’s mind. It was the same feeling she had when she left
Rishabh’s. Her family was in danger, because of her own actions.
“He’s right.”

Ruby looked between her children with a wrinkled
brow. “Not sure Ah understand.”

“
Whoever tried to kill her before,
did it because she was a threat,” Cash continued. “Up until now
they thought she was indeed dead. Now, they know she’s alive. And
they’re going to make sure she does not stay that way for very
long.”

“
Won’ they jes’ send sum’mon
else?”

Cash shook his head and leaned against the table. “I
don’t think so. I heard this guy talking on the phone. He was just
a hired killer. My guess is that he got Scarlett’s license plate
number and had someone look it up. Scarlett’s current identity died
with this man, for now.”

Scarlett spoke up. “Then we’re back to the question
of what to do.”

“
First, we get the blood cleaned
up. Ma, I know you’re no stranger to blood. Can you take care of
that?”

Ruby nodded.

“
Good. Scarlett, I want you to
stay here. Don’t come out of this room.”

Cash started to walk out of the room when Scarlett
called to him. “What about you? What are you going to do?”

He stopped and turned his head, just enough to see
his sister from the corner of his eye. “I’m gonna make a phone call
and get rid of this body.”

* * *

The old car rumbled down the freeway. Scarlett was
amazed that the beat-up machine could even reach fifty-five miles
per hour. When they finally reached highway speeds, the doors
rattled and vehicle shook like it was going to fall apart. One of
the half-melted knobs for rolling up the windows fell to the
floorboard with a thunk.

Instead of a media and navigation interface, the
dashboard held a simple radio with a narrow slot. Two tiny, fading
letters, CD, sat below the slot. Scarlett had to keep the windows
down to air out the stale liquor and sun-baked vinyl odors.
The
damn thing doesn’t even have autodrive.

They’d been on the road for more than an hour now.
Scarlett had no idea where they were going, only that they were
heading west. Every time she prodded him for a destination, Cash
avoided a direct answer. Finally, she lost her patience and
confronted him directly. “Where are we going, Cash?”

Cash sat in the seat next to her, a baseball cap
pulled down over his eyes. “Just stay on this road. I’ll tell you
when to exit.”

“
C’mon, give me a little more than
that. What’s with you anyway?”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Cash, you took control real quick
back at the house. Clearly you’re no stranger to situations like
this. Does it have something to do with your time in the
military?”

“
Something like that.”

Scarlett flipped on the turn signal but nothing
happened. She laughed to herself and nudged the car over into the
next lane. “Cut the BS. Ruby and Emma aren’t here, so there’s no
point in avoiding it anymore.”

Cash eyed her from under his cap. “Avoiding
what?”

“
Do you think no one notices how
you divert the conversation anytime it comes up? Do you think your
own mother didn’t notice how you quickly and efficiently you took
control back at the house? She didn’t argue or fuss.”

Cash lifted the front of his hat with a finger.
“So?”

“
Your mother plays dumb and
doesn’t ask questions because she thinks it’s some form of PTSD.
Emma just thinks that you’re too proud to talk about it. But that
bullshit doesn’t play with me.”

Without looking, Cash pointed to a holo-sign ahead.
“There, take Beach Street. Go on.”

“
I may not understand everything
you did, but I’m betting it wasn’t all rosy. I think you don’t talk
about it because some of it you’re not proud of.”

He set his jaw. “I’m very proud of my service to
this country.”

“
I didn’t say you weren’t. You and
I both know that sometimes the wrong thing has to be done to get
the right result.”

“
My little sis, when did you
become such a cynic?”

She glanced at her brother. “When some asshole tried
to kill me for a second time.”

Scarlett guided the car off the freeway and turned
right. A quarter-mile further, they pulled up to the gates of an
old seaport shipping dock. The chain-link fence was tattered and
the docks beyond were long-abandoned. Hanging on one side of the
fence gate was a rusty padlock. It was unlocked.

Cash pointed at the gate and waved his hand. “Just
keep going slowly. Nudge it open.”

She inched the vehicle forward. At the first bump,
the gate swung open, screeching with every inch.

Cash raised his hand and pointed to the left.
“Before we stop I want to tell you something that I think you
should know.”

Scarlett eyed her brother. “Go on.”

“
It’s about your
vision.”

She followed her brother’s instructions and stopped
the car facing an empty pier. “Okaaay.”

“
I had a friend look into what you
described, into whether there was any kind of accident at Universal
Dynamics, and it turns out there was. I’m not sure of the details,
since they’ve done a helluva job at cleanup, but a lot of people
died.”

Scarlett put her hand over her mouth. “Oh my
God.”

“
Only four people are listed to
have survived the explosion. Of those four, only you and one other
are still alive. The others died of mysterious causes.”

Scarlett stared at the undulating water in the
distance. Her voice was soft and distant. “Derrick Martins.”

As she said the words, an image flashed through her
mind. She saw his face above her, sweat beading on his brow. He
wore a warm, passionate smile. In his eyes, she saw love.

“
How?” Cash turned to look at his
sister, his eyes wide. “How did you know?”

“
Our unfortunate passenger told
me,” she whispered.

“
Oh. So you know who he
is?”

Scarlett shook her head. “No. I mean, I know I know
him, but I don’t know how.”

“
Ah, well... He’s the new Chief
Development Officer at Universal Dynamics.”

A knock on the window made her jump. Outside the car
stood a man in a black wool coat, waiting patiently.

Cash nodded his head toward the man. “We’re here to
meet him.”

They climbed out of the car. Cash walked around to
stand next to his sister and shook the stranger’s hand. “Scarlett,
this is Neil. Neil, Scarlett.”

This is what a man who disposes of bodies looks
like? He looks so... normal. Do I still look that normal, now that
I’m a killer?
His grip was firm and confident. “Nice to meet
you, Neil.”

Neil was taller than both Cash and Scarlett by a
full head. He looked down at her, his face expressionless. He
nodded then turned to Cash. “This is the one you called me about
the other day? Hmm. Are we all set? Did you tell her?”

Cash shook his head. “No, not yet.”

Scarlett’s brow furrowed. Her eyes darted between
the two men. “Tell me... Tell me what? Cash, what’s going on?”

Her brother breathed in and let out a deep sigh. He
looked down at his wringing hands. “Scarlett... Neil’s not really
here to dispose of the body and the car. I mean, he’s going to do
that. ” Cash looked up and stared into her eyes. “But the real
reason he’s here is to take you with him.”

Scarlett’s eyes widened. “WHAT?”

Cash’s voice cracked with fatigue and emotion.
“Scar, you have to go.”

Chapter 8
Neil

Sometimes betrayals are for your own good. And
sometimes, they are to protect others. The understanding that comes
later does not lessen the pain now.

* * *