Assassin

CHAPTER 1

CASE JACOBSON STOOD at the window, arms folded across her chest, white surgical gloves and close-cropped blonde hair standing out against the jet black T-shirt she wore tucked into equally black jeans.

She watched the stage being set up for the afternoon rally, from her seventh floor hotel room window. She had a clear view of the entire platform, as well as the surrounding parkland. The day was overcast, making everything seem damp somehow, but the stagehands diligently went about laying the tarp over the cables strewn across the wood and metal framework. Several people started bringing chairs up onto the stage to prepare for the guest of honor and his entourage.

She stepped away from the window and turned back to the room. It was the usual setup; a double bed against the middle of one wall, a nightstand next to the bed on the left, a TV in a wooden cupboard against the opposite wall, a table with two chairs in front of the window, and a small standing closet near the TV. Off to her right was the door to the bathroom, which contained its standard allotment of two semi-large white bath towels and two small hand towels.

She took the two short steps to the bed and opened up the briefcase that was laid out on it. Then she bent over and unzipped the black nylon bag resting near her feet. Her eyes fell on the weapon nestled in foam. She lifted out the pieces of the small tripod that came with the gun and set it up in front of the window. She turned back to the bed and pulled out the various pieces that went with the long-range rifle and snapped them together with the cool precision of someone who had done this more times than they wished to count.

Case set the gun on its mount and returned to the bed. She removed the headgear that would allow her remote control of the setup. It fit over her head like a pair of heavy-duty wireless headphones, except for the little extra piece, which fit over her left eye. She tapped a green button on the tiny control box near her left ear. The eyepiece lit up. She reached up to the control box at her other ear and rolled the horizontal-control dial. She watched the tripod move to the right as the image relayed by the eyepiece did the same. Using her thumb, she rolled the vertical-control dial. The tripod's gears silently repositioned the rifle's aim upward, and the picture moved up with it. She moved a similar dial near her left ear to bring the picture into focus. It worked perfectly, so she hit the green button again to turn it off and removed the gear, placing it on the bed. She closed the empty briefcase and dragged the black bag over to the window.

She rummaged through the nylon bag and pulled out what looked like gray clay. She pressed the clay-like substance onto the gun until she was sure it would stick. She reached back into the bag again and retrieved a small electronic device, with two wires protruding from one end. She pressed the tiny box into the plastique and pushed both wires in as well. Her hand reached into the bag again and pulled out a small box studded with several buttons and a switch. She pressed the first button, then flicked the switch and saw a green light come on in the top of the small box embedded in the plastique. She nodded to herself and flicked the switch back and pressed the button again. The green light flickered off.

She set the device on the bed, next to the headgear, and zipped up the nylon bag. She went back over to the window and looked out. A podium had been setup and speakers were being placed around the stage, while the cables that had been laid out under the tarp were connected to the backs of the speakers. A crowd was gathering in front of the stage.

Case turned and grabbed her jacket off the back of one of the chairs. She slid it over her arms and settled it over her shoulders. Then she picked up the headgear and little black box and shoved each one into the pockets on the outside of her jacket. She reached down and grasped the nylon strap of the black bag and slung it over her shoulder, then reached for the briefcase and picked it up off the bed. She walked to the hotel room door and opened it with her free hand. She took one last look around the room and then closed and locked the door behind her. She pulled her gloves off and stuffed them in her jeans pocket.

She walked down the long vacant hallway and fished out her sunglasses from the inside pocket of her jacket, while she waited for the elevator. It arrived, empty, and she got onto the elevator alone. The walls were mirrored and she looked at her reflection. White skin, muscled body beneath the stylish hip-length black leather jacket and black jeans, green eyes behind the black shades, short blonde hair. She wasn't very tall, but she'd found that to be an advantage. No one ever considered her a threat until it was too late to do anything about it.

The elevator doors opened and she walked out into the lobby. She made her way out the front and arrived at her black SUV. She thumbed her remote and opened the rear door to throw in her bags. She slammed the door closed and walked around to the driver's side and got behind the wheel and keyed the ignition. She didn't go very far. She parked on the street in front of where the rally was about to take place.

Case pulled out the headgear and unfolded it, then placed it carefully over her head. She tapped the green button again and the eyepiece lit up. She fingered the dials to realign the image back on the stage. She barely had to twitch the dial under her left thumb to bring the picture into focus.

She watched as the people were led onto the stage. Finally, a tall, older man, slightly pudgy from a little too much deskwork, was shown to his seat near the middle of the stage. He flashed his artificial smile around and was rewarded with several camera flashes in return.

Case let her attention drift to the rest of the attendees still filing onto the stage. They were a mix of older and younger men, all colleagues and underlings of the Senator. She rolled the dials at her ears and brought the crosshairs overlaying the center of the picture back to him. She looked across the street to see the crowd settling down. Then she heard a deep voice come over the loudspeaker and returned her attention to the image filtering through the eyepiece.

A young man stood at the podium and began to address the crowd. She only half-listened to what he was saying, waiting for him to introduce the guest of honor. He finally did and she rolled the dials under her fingers, expertly keeping the image in focus and on target, as the older man stood and moved forward. He smiled and raised his hands in greeting to the crowd, as he walked to stand before the podium. She rested her left index finger lightly on the red triggering button that was positioned conveniently next to the green 'on' button.

The Senator waved his hands at the crowd again, this time trying to stop their cheering, so he could speak. Finally, they calmed down and he lowered his hands to the podium. He stood there for a moment, to gather his words, and she pushed the button. His head slammed back and he fell backward onto the stage. Several people rushed to his side.

After zooming in for a close-up to make sure the bullet had hit him square in the forehead, Case tapped the green button again and the eyepiece went black. She slid it off her head and folded it back up, then placed it back in her pocket. Then she reached into her other pocket and pulled out the small black box with the switch. She pressed the middle button this time and then flicked the switch. She could hear a muffled boom behind her and then she shoved the box back into her pocket. She keyed the ignition and pulled away from the curb.

CHAPTER 2

"I DON'T APPRECIATE your interference," Antonio Carlotti said with a slight Italian accent. "You put me in an uncomfortable position and I don't like it when I'm uncomfortable."

He sat at the head of the table in the darkened restaurant. His second cousin, Franco Rossi, sat at his left, while his female bodyguard stood tall and alert behind him. Antonio's own bodyguard stood behind his right shoulder, also ready should the need arise for his services.

Leonardo Spinella sat across from Antonio, a lackey on each side of him, and four of his own bodyguards looking smug at their greater numbers. Leo was pretty sure he had the upper hand, but he knew Antonio deserved a certain amount of respect due to his position as head of the organization.

"That's unfortunate. But I should remind you that we do now have the backing of Senator Stone, so..."

"No. You don't," Antonio cut the man off. "Leonardo. You should know better than to go behind my back. I told you that territory was off limits to you. Why did you disobey me?"

The tall woman kept her eyes moving around the room, staying alert for any possible threats to her charge, Mr. Rossi, while inconspicuously recording the conversation with her ears. The man Carlotti was speaking to paled noticeably, and she recognized the first signs of desperation entering his eyes.

This was Rain's first encounter with Mr. Carlotti, and she was beginning to realize that his reputation as a ruthless crime lord didn't do him justice. She could see the glint in his eyes. He was playing with the man.

"Senator Stone has most definitely agreed to..."

"Senator Stone is dead by now. So, I will ask you again. Why did you disobey me?"

Leonardo lost the last bit of color remaining in his cheeks. He darted his eyes around and could feel the prickly sensation of fear-induced sweat sliding down his sides and back. He felt little beads of water grow on his forehead and he dabbed at them with his suit jacket's cream-colored handkerchief.

"I meant no disrespect. I just thought..."

"No. You didn't think. And how could your disobedience show anything but disrespect and contempt for me and my family?"

"Sir..."

"Ah, now you try to show respect."

Antonio was thoroughly enjoying himself. Leo was about to piss his pants. Unfortunately, he had pushed just a little too hard. Leonardo dropped to the floor and his four bodyguards took that as his signal to open fire.

Rain had her guns out before the first of Leo's men could clear theirs from their holsters. She jumped in front of Rossi just as she was taking down the third man. Carlotti's guard brought down the fourth and then immediately put slugs through the two shocked lackeys and the cowering man under the table. Antonio clapped his hands.

"Beautiful! Beautiful! Franco, where have you been hiding this one?"

Franco grinned at his cousin.

"Ah, well, she just came to my attention a few months ago. She was a courier for Emiliano. One of my boys took a liking to her, but he was rather rude about it. She flattened him beautifully, so I took her as a replacement. She has the fastest reflexes of anybody I've ever seen," he bragged.

"Ah, I think I might know someone who's faster," Antonio countered.

His bodyguard stood a little taller at what he thought was a huge compliment.

"I'd be happy to test my skills against your man any day, Mr. Carlotti," Rain offered.

She knew she could beat his brute silly.

"Ah, Eduardo? No, no, I was thinking of someone else." Eduardo lost his puffed up demeanor, as Antonio continued. "But I don't think I want to see you two fighting. Why waste talent like yours? No. I think I will send you for training instead."

Antonio watched his cousin's face fall as he realized he had just lost his prized possession. He knew better than to argue about it, too. Antonio grinned.

"Well, that was pleasant. And... What was your name?"

"Erica Raineri, but everyone calls me Rain," she replied.

"Well, Rain, you'll be hearing from one of my people very soon. Goodnight, Cousin," he added to Franco, and then left, with Eduardo trailing behind him.

They reached the crime lord's personal limo, and Eduardo made sure to open the door for Antonio. He waited for the man to get settled before closing the door and getting in on the other side. Antonio hit the intercom switch near his right arm.

"Cruise Seventh Street. Stop at the first tall brunette you see," Carlotti ordered his driver.

"Yes, Sir," the driver replied.

It had been months since Carlotti had picked up any women from that area, so it was unlikely that the current streetwalkers would remember him. Even if he was recognized, Carlotti wasn't too worried about it. He'd just try another neighborhood.

In less than half an hour, the driver had pulled them over in front of three women: a short redhead, a medium-sized blonde, and a tall brunette. Antonio rolled down his window and grinned at the young women.

"Good evening, ladies," Antonio offered charmingly.

"Hey baby," returned the redhead warily.

"Nice ride," said the brunette as she practically climbed through the open window.

The blonde just smiled shyly. She was probably new.

"I seem to have gotten lost and my driver hates to ask for directions. Would you like to help me find my way?" Carlotti asked the brunette who seemed ready to jump into his lap.

"Sure baby," the brunette replied, but the redhead pulled her back and gestured for them to walk a few steps away so they could talk.

"We'll be right back," the redhead told him snidely.

Antonio almost lost his charming smile at the complete disrespect she was showing towards him, but he'd learned long ago that patience was a virtue. Waiting for others to make mistakes had kept him ahead of his rivals for many years.

The redhead glanced back at the handsome man sitting in the limo and then focused on her dark-haired friend.

"Shel, you can't possibly be thinking of going with that guy," the redhead started.

"Why not? Look, he's obviously rich, Joni. We'll make a fortune!" Shel said enthusiastically to the redhead.

"Yeah, he's rich, which means if he's gotta come here to get some pussy, then there's somethin' seriously wrong with him. Think about it," Joni implored.

"Oh, come on. This is just like in Pretty Woman. What if he falls in love with me and we live happily ever after? You want me to pass up a chance like that?" Shel asked.

"Maybe Joni's right, Shel. I just get a weird feelin' about 'im," the blonde said quietly.

"You get a weird feelin' about everyone, Gina," Shel derided the girl. "Come on. We could make enough money to not have ta work for a week. Come on," Shel pleaded.

"Nah, girl. I'm not goin'," Joni said decisively.

Gina shook her head in negation as well.

"Fine," Shel said harshly, trying to hide the hurt of having both her friends turn against her. "See if I come back here to help you guys when I'm off livin' the high life."

Shel turned on her heel and stalked over to the limo. She dropped her angry expression and put on her best come hither look.

"Hey baby. My friends have a prior engagement, but I'm all yours," she said seductively.

Antonio smiled and opened the car door for the woman to get in. She deliberately brushed against his legs and pretended to lose her balance, partially falling into him and grazing her hand over the hard bulge in his pants.

"Oops, sorry," she said unapologetically.

Antonio grinned as she settled into his lap. He hit the intercom switch.

"Take me home," Carlotti ordered.

Eduardo did his best to disappear into his seat a few feet away from the amorous couple, as the two got to know each other a little better physically. Almost an hour later, the car stopped and the engine cut off. The driver side door opened and closed, and a few moments later, the door next to Carlotti opened.

"We're here, Sir," the driver told him.

"Good," Antonio said, as he stepped out of the limo and then helped the young woman out.

"Oh my God! Look at this place! This is where you live?!" Shel said excitedly, as she finally got a look at the enormous mansion illuminated by numerous floodlights.

As Eduardo hopped out of the other side of the car, Carlotti turned to his bodyguard and driver.

"Be back here in a few hours. You'll have a delivery to take to the docks," he said cryptically, as he glanced at the woman.

The driver nodded solemnly.

"We'll be ready, Sir," Eduardo said quietly.

Carlotti turned back to the woman, who was still gawking at the gigantic house.

"Come on. I'll give you a tour," Antonio offered.

They went in through a massive front entrance, and Carlotti took them up a staircase that curved around both sides of the main lobby and up to the second floor. After a somewhat lengthy walk down several hallways, they stopped in front of two large white doors with solid gold doorknobs.

Carlotti pushed open one of the doors and led his guest inside his large office before closing and surreptitiously locking the door behind her.

"Wow. This place is amazing! What do you do for a living?" Shel asked curiously.

"It's not important," Carlotti dismissed.

Antonio stepped forward and forcefully brought the woman's lips to his own. Shel managed to push herself away from him after a few moments of struggling.

"Whoa, slow down, Romeo. We got all night, right?" she questioned a little uncertainly.

"Shut up," Antonio ordered and moved forward again.

Shel took a few steps back, and Carlotti grinned when he saw the fear in her eyes. Shel suddenly realized her friends' suspicions had been right.

"Um, you know, maybe you should just take me back to..." Shel began, but Carlotti's lightning fast backhand sent her spinning to the floor.

"I said shut up!" Carlotti yelled, completely unconcerned about being overheard.

When the extravagant mansion had been built, Carlotti had requested the best soundproofing available. It kept the noise of his sexual encounters from being detected by anyone outside the room, so he could enjoy the screams of his victims without worrying about who might hear. Though Carlotti had complete confidence that his staff would never betray him, he didn't want an overzealous bodyguard interrupting him because he thought Antonio was in danger. It ruined the mood.

Shel tried to crawl away from the maniac, as she felt her right cheekbone begin to swell painfully. She wasn't sure, but she thought he might have broken the bone.

"You better crawl your ass back over here, bitch," Carlotti said menacingly, as he watched the woman trying to get away from him. "Or do you need to be taught a lesson in obedience?" Carlotti grinned at the thought.

Antonio lunged forward and yanked the woman back up by her hair, so they were face to face.

Shel looked into the cold eyes of the man she'd briefly hoped would save her from a life of prostitution and began crying in despair, as she realized her fate had been sealed the moment she'd climbed into the limo. Panic flooded her body, and she struggled to get away, but Antonio was much stronger than she was.

"No! Let me go!" Shel screamed in terror.

Carlotti smacked her across the face again, causing her lip to split and a gush of blood to pour from the cut.

"Why? We got all night, right?" Carlotti mocked her, as he tossed her cruelly against his desk.

CHAPTER 3

"SPECIAL AGENT DAWSON speaking," came the voice through the phone.

"You are way too formal, Ronny," Rain smiled into the mouthpiece.

"Rebecca? You're not supposed to report in for another two weeks. What's going on?"

"Fuck, Ron, you know I hate that name."

"Well, I thought Special Agent Raines was too formal for your tastes," Ron teased her.

"That's why I make everyone call me Rain. Just because I'm not there to slap the shit out of you right now doesn't mean I won't later," she warned, a feral grin causing her teeth to sparkle white in the dim light of the alley.

"Fine, Rain, just tell me why you're checking in so early?"

"I just got a ticket to the inner circle," she said, and waited for the information to sink in.

"What do you mean? How?"

"Carlotti liked my style, so he's sending me for some kind of training."

"Training? Wait, when did you meet up with Carlotti? I thought you were working for Rossi? They haven't had contact with each other in over a year."

"Yeah, well, some meeting came up with Spinella. He's dead, by the way. Unfortunately, they didn't actually talk about what they were talking about, though Carlotti admitted to having knowledge about some Senator's death. Senator Stone. It sounded like he hired the hit, but that's all inference, totally useless," she relayed her latest information before continuing. "Anyway, I'm supposed to wait to hear from one of Carlotti's people. And I don't know what the training is, but it sounds like it's gonna be a lot more intense than the bodyguard type stuff I've been doing," she commented.

"I know this is what we've all been waiting for, but..." Dawson hesitated.

"What."

"Well, you've been sounding more and more like, well, like one of them. 'Bodyguard type stuff'? I don't even think that's proper English. You've been undercover for three years..."

"So, what are you saying? You think I've forgotten who I am? My name is Rebecca Raines. I am a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I am investigating one Antonio Carlotti under the fictitious name Erica Raineri in an attempt to gain evidence concerning illegal acts that come under the heading of 'organized crime,' which comes under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI, the division that I happen to work in. I know where my loyalties lie, Dawson," Rain finished.

"I'm sorry. I had to bring it up. It's happened before."

"I know. Look, don't worry about it. I'm fine. I'll check in at the regular time."

Rain clicked off her phone and slipped it into her long black trench coat. She needed to go home and get some sleep.

It was midnight when Case finally crossed state lines. She pulled over at the third truck stop she came to and brought out her cell phone. She hit the first memory button and waited.

"Doc," a deep voice came on the line.

He sounded a little impatient.

"Case, here. It's done. Package was delivered. Unfortunately, the receipt for delivery was lost due to a fire."

The plastique had destroyed the gun, as well as most of the hotel room, taking care of any useful evidence, including matching the bullet to the rifle. The explosives themselves would be traced back to an international supplier that would be an effective dead end.

Doc entered the information into his computer. The light from his monitor cast eerie shadows over his strong features. He smiled at the code phrases they were forced to use whenever they spoke. There was no way to tell if the smile ever reached his eyes because of the white computer screen image that was reflected from the lenses of his wire rim glasses.

"That's too bad." Case heard the clacking of a keyboard being used and then Doc came back on the line. "Payment for delivery has been rendered. I'll be in touch," he said, just before line went dead.

She closed down the phone and walked into the diner and ordered a breakfast plate. Two eggs, two pancakes, three strips of bacon, and four pieces of buttered toast with a little packet of grape jelly on the side. She sipped at her root beer and tried not to think about anything in particular.

She finished her meal and paid the check, then went to the back to use the restroom. Before leaving, she pulled the surgical gloves from her jeans pocket and dropped them into the metal trashcan. She walked out to her truck and got in. Once she was on the road again, she turned on the radio and found a station with music she knew and started singing along. After an hour though, she realized she was getting too tired to drive and pulled into the first motel she could find.

She brought her tote bag in with her and then collapsed onto the bed. After a couple minutes, she got up, placed the Do Not Disturb sign on the door, and undressed before turning on the TV. She flipped through the channels, letting the TV settle on a news program that seemed to be repeating from earlier in the evening. As soon as she recognized the stage and the crowd, though, Case grabbed up the remote again.

She flipped the channel and was happy to see that the porn station was part of the cable package that came with the room. She settled into the bed and tried to exhaust her libido. It really was an excellent diversion and she finally conked out just as the sky was beginning to lighten.

CHAPTER 4

CASE WAS GLAD she'd remembered to put the Do Not Disturb sign on her door, when she finally woke at three in the afternoon. She sat up and looked around the motel room. Images from the previous day's work flashed through her mind, but she refused to pay attention to them and they finally subsided back into her subconscious.

She pulled out her little black laptop and booted it up. Then she hooked it up to her cell phone and dialed her account. She checked her various e-mailboxes, deleting the junk mail as she went along, and answered the few messages that she deemed worthy of a reply.

Two of the e-mails were from colleagues. They were 'delivery boys' like her and she'd worked with both of them at different times, but where she had a boss, they were both freelancers. She envied them. At least they could pick and choose their assignments. Working for Antonio, she lacked that particular luxury.

Davey was just checking in, wondering what she was up to and when would be a good time to get together and 'shoot the shit.' Davey always used such colorful expressions. She told him she'd look him up when she was in his area again.

Jeff, on the other hand, was looking for some professional advice concerning his current target. She offered her expertise willingly since the type of job he was being paid to do was one she'd performed numerous times and wished him good luck. She coded her language even though all her messages were encrypted just in case the transmission was intercepted.

When she was done with her e-mail, she surfed around for a little while checking out her favorite sites for updates. She kept up with all the latest technological breakthroughs in her field of work. She'd found that it came in handy on the various assignments she was sent on and anyone who worked with her was always amazed at her knowledge of cutting edge weaponry and spy paraphernalia.

When she'd finally been forced to become an assassin for Antonio, a lot of people hadn't taken her seriously. Being a woman and only 5 feet 4 inches tall, the guys Doc had told her to contact for training and anything else she needed had basically laughed at her. She'd decided to go it alone after that and spent every waking moment perfecting the abilities she'd known she would need to fulfill Antonio's orders.

Less than a year later, her name had become almost legendary among the other hit men working for Antonio's organization and Case had started receiving requests for advice. Now, such requests were routine. She always knew the best weapon for a job and the best place to find it for the best price.

She signed off and shut down the computer. She stood up and went to the bathroom to take a shower, then brought out some clean clothes and put them on. She noticed it was after five o'clock. Food sounded almost good. She swiped her motel key off the table and left to find the closest McDonald's.

Case drove around the small city as she ate her Big Mac. When she was done, she pulled out her cell phone and checked her messages. She didn't expect any, not this soon after a job. She probably wouldn't hear from Doc for at least a week or two, but she always made sure to check the messages for that particular mailbox at least once a day, just in case. So she was rather surprised when a mechanical voice told her she had one new message. She pressed 1 on the phone and waited.

"Message One. Time... 2:53pm... Case. New job. This one's hot. Get to L.A. on the double. Money's in your account to cover expenses. Check back for the details once you get there... Please press 1 on your touch-tone phone to repeat this message or press 2 to..."

Case deleted the message and turned off the phone. Great, I need to find an airport. And I'm going to have to leave the truck somewhere..., she thought, as she headed back to the motel to get her stuff and check out, dialing information for a local travel agent on the way.

Rain showed up for work at Mr. Rossi's at 3pm as usual, but when he saw her, all he did was hand her a manila envelope and tell her good luck. She was escorted out of his home and got in her car to return to her own apartment. As soon as she was in the door, she sent her keys skidding across the dining room table and sat down on the couch to look through the envelope.

She pulled out several credit cards along with statements for each of the accounts. There was also documentation for a new cell phone account for the brand new state-of-the-art cell phone at the bottom of the envelope. There was a sealed letter that she tore open and began to read.

It detailed her new role as a hit woman for Antonio Carlotti, though neither his name nor hers was ever used. It also described new code phrases she would be required to use for all phone conversations with someone who was only referred to as 'Doc.' There was a phone number she was supposed to call and she assumed it would connect her with this Doc person.

She looked at her watch and saw it was almost five in the afternoon. She decided she would call in the morning. First, she needed time to reconcile the conflicting feelings she was having. She was excited to finally be taken into the inner sanctum of the Carlotti empire, but her oath to uphold the law had been sorely battered during her last three years as Erica Raineri, and she had a feeling it was only going to get worse from here on out. If she accepted her new position, and she had no doubts that a refusal would not be tolerated, then she was sure to end up in a situation where she would have to take an innocent life or blow her cover.

She knew that she would not be held accountable in that type of circumstance. In fact, she knew she was expected to commit criminal acts while undercover and no one would hold her legally responsible. A few innocents' deaths would be a small price to pay to take down Carlotti and his organization, but it didn't make her feel any better about the possibility. It was a lot easier to rationalize the deaths of the men who had attempted to kill her and those she was supposedly working for the night before.

Rain let her head fall back on the couch.

She had joined the FBI to do exactly what she was doing. Shortly after her fourteenth birthday, her older brother, who had been a police officer, had been shot and killed during a drug bust. Salvatore Carlotti had been responsible for the drug trafficking and he had paid the men who had gunned down her brother. The day after the funeral, she'd decided to join the FBI so that she could take down men like Carlotti and stop them from hurting anybody else.

She had the brains to become anything she wanted and she knew it. In fact, at age sixteen, she'd graduated with honors from the private boarding school where her father had sent her, and immediately began working towards a doctorate in psychology at the University of Virginia. She'd earned her M.A. by age eighteen, and then split her efforts between the University's Law School to earn her J.D. at age twenty-one, and the main campus to get her Ph.D. in psychology at twenty-three through a special accelerated program.

Splitting her time between the two goals had caused her to add an extra year to complete her Ph.D., but that had worked out fine. The FBI didn't accept anyone under the age of twenty-three, so the extra year had put her at the right age to apply.

With her degrees and superior athletic abilities, she'd been placed at the top of the list of her recruiter and had breezed through the whole application and acceptance process. Even the polygraph test hadn't fazed her. She'd finished the sixteen-week New Agent Training course at the top of her class, coming away from the experience with a new love for martial arts. As soon as she'd been assigned to a district office of the Criminal Investigative Division, she'd found a dojang and a teacher to instruct her in the Korean martial art of Taekwondo.

She'd gained her Ph.D. in psychology by focusing specifically on behavioral and forensic psychology, so she'd started out as a profiler. After a year, and a one hundred percent accuracy rating on all of the cases thrown at her, she'd gained a name for herself as one of the best profilers in the Division. She'd also earned her first-degree black belt, which proved to the chauvinistic agents around her that she was more than just a brain in a pretty body. She was a brain in a pretty lethal body.

After another year of flawless service, she'd finally requested a transfer to work in the organized crime unit. Her exemplary work had helped her superiors decide in her favor and she'd begun putting together cases against the various 'families' involved in the mob.

It had really only been recently that the familial structure to the Mafia had resurfaced. For a while, the whole thing had degenerated into loose affiliations between unrelated people, but then Salvatore Carlotti had taken over as head of the dying organization and breathed new life into it.

He'd managed to instill a sense of honor and respectability into his subordinates and brought back the idea that if one person was a member, then everyone related to them was a member and therefore should be taken care of with the same amount of respect. He gave people a sense of belonging that was missing in their lives. Unfortunately, he did it through extortion, assault, murder, torture, burglary, drug trafficking, and selling guns on the black market.

Two years later, Rebecca Raines had requested to be placed undercover as Erica Raineri and she'd been given the green light. The only thing she'd continued from her previous life was her martial arts training and she'd recently been awarded her fifth degree black belt.

Rain thought over the twists and turns her life had taken. She hadn't spoken to her father since shortly before joining the Bureau and she didn't really have any urge to do so. As it was, while undercover, she was to have no contact with anyone from her former life. It was just as well. She didn't have anything to say to him anyway.

She stood up from the couch and looked around at the dark living room. She flipped on a light and went to the kitchen to fix herself a late dinner. She'd call this Doc person tomorrow and deal with things as they came. She'd just have to focus on the greater good when it came down to crunch time.

The flight went surprisingly fast, and Case found herself at a motel on Western Avenue in Hollywood just a little after one in the morning. She'd checked her account to find the earlier deposit of thirty-five thousand dollars, along with a new deposit of five thousand, which had more than covered the one-way ticket she'd bought. She knew she could have stayed at a swanky hotel if she'd wanted to, but growing up poor had made her very aware of money and how to cut corners on spending it, so here she was at a motel that didn't mind customers that paid by the hour.

She was hungry and she remembered the 7-11 they'd passed as the cab drove down Hollywood Boulevard to drop her off onto Western Ave. Thinking back, she figured it probably wasn't much over a mile of a walk, so she grabbed her motel key and headed out. It didn't occur to her, until after she'd started walking down the lamp lit street, that she should probably feel nervous about walking around the city in the middle of the night. But she actually felt very calm. It was quiet for the most part, and there were no annoying tourists around to get in her way, so she strolled comfortably down the Boulevard, hands in her pockets, almost whistling.

As she stepped into the 7-11, the bright lights made her eyes ache, but she quickly adjusted from the darkness outside and went to the glass cases along the back of the store. She bought a sandwich, a soda, and munchies to take back with her to her room. On the way out, she gave the homeless guy sitting by the payphones her change, and then continued back to the motel.

Once back in her room, she ate, then checked her messages and got a simple "Call me" from Doc. She dialed his number and waited. On the seventh ring, it picked up.

"Doc."

The voice sounded crisp, but Case knew he'd been sleeping. Otherwise, he would have picked up by the third ring.

"Case. I'm here."

Doc grimaced as he tried to get his head on straight.

"Good." He punched the button to turn his monitor on and took the computer off stand-by mode. A couple clicks with the mouse and he had the right file up on his screen. "The package is to be delivered COD to a Mrs. Ryan at 436 Elmwood Drive. She'll be paying you in merchandise."

So, this would just be a simple hit, no background search required, but she would have do it in person and make it look like a robbery.

"What's in the package?"

"Some mail-order hunting knives."

Case felt her stomach knot up at the mention of knives.

"Window of delivery?"

"Between 10am and noon. Tomorrow. I've sent you a pic, so you recognize her."

"I'll check my mail. Anything else?"

"Nope. That's it."

"All right, I'll call ya tomorrow."

Case hung up before he could say anything else. She pulled the little laptop out of her bag and used the cell phone to sign on and then checked the appropriate e-mail account. In less than five minutes, she had the graphic of a thirty-something blonde-haired woman loaded on her screen. Now, she had all the info she needed to get the job done. At least this one wouldn't require the purchase of any high-tech equipment. She could just go to one of the shops on Hollywood Blvd., and pick up a $20 bowie knife.

She looked at the time. 2:08am. She could get a few hours sleep, get the knife in the morning, and catch a bus out to the address by 10am. She set the alarm clock for 8am and let her body crash into unconsciousness.

CHAPTER 5

RAIN TURNED OFF the buzzer on her alarm and sat up. Her long black hair was a complete mess and her bright blue eyes were heavy-lidded from sleep. She stood and stretched and headed for the shower. Normally, she wouldn't have gotten up until noon, giving herself three hours to prepare for work, but she'd decided to call the phone number first thing in the morning to give a good impression.

So, she was up at 6am even though she hadn't fallen asleep until after midnight. The hot shower woke her up and breakfast gave her enough energy to do a quick workout to get her blood pumping. By 7:30am, she was ready to make the call. She dialed the number using the new silver-colored cell phone that had come with everything else.

"Doc."

"Hi. I got a message telling me to call this number. I'm Rain," she introduced herself.

"Rain. You're late. You should have called me last night. All right, you got a pen and paper ready?"

"Yeah. Go ahead."

Rain didn't bother to explain that anything she heard, she remembered. She didn't think he needed to know that.

"You need to get out to California. Once you're there, call this number." He rattled off the digits and then continued. "You don't need to bring anything, just the stuff that came in the envelope. Your credit cards will cover all of your expenses until I set up your bank account. If she tells you to fuck off, just tell her the boss sent you and if she has a problem, she can call me. She's going to train you to be the best because she is the best. Listen to her."

The line clicked and Rain listened to the dial tone for a few moments before closing the phone. She went back over the conversation, if it could be called that, and realized she'd never gotten a name for 'she.'

Rain gathered up everything that had come in the envelope and then had a short crisis about her guns. She'd never get through the checkpoints if she wore them in their usual holsters and having them in a carryon wouldn't be much better. She could flash her badge, but there was too great a chance that someone would spot her and report back to one of Carlotti's people.

She decided to go as a civilian. It would feel strange to be without her usual armament, but she could pick up replacements when she landed. With that settled, she called for a cab to take her to the airport, so that she wouldn't have to worry about leaving her car in a parking garage for an unknown length of time. She had no idea how long her 'training' would take or even whether her mentor would have them stay in one place during that time.

The cab arrived and she took one last look at her apartment before locking it up tight, knowing somehow that her life was about to change irrevocably.

Case sat up. Her eyes were wide. Where the fuck..., her mind trailed off. Then she looked across the room and saw the alarm clock in several pieces on the floor.

"Whoops."

She fumbled for her watch and checked the time. It was 8:00am on the dot.

"I gotta stop trashing alarm clocks. Whatever happened to not killing the messenger?"

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She did a couple jumping jacks and then some toe touches before heading to the bathroom for a shower. She was done in only five minutes and opened her duffel to pull out a gray hooded sweatshirt and an old faded pair of blue jeans. She grabbed a bra and a black T-shirt and started getting dressed.

As soon as she was done, she pulled on her socks and tennis shoes. Then she brushed out her short hair. She grabbed her bag and the room key and headed for the front office to return the key.

She was walking down Hollywood Blvd. by 8:30am. She caught the bus and rode it all the way to Highland Ave., so she could get breakfast at McDonald's. By the time she was finished, it was close to 9am. She debated walking to get to the store, but the bus pulled up at the stop, so she got on. Backtracking the way she'd come, she got off on the block right before the knife store. It was only a matter of minutes, and she had the knife she needed. Ten minutes later and she was headed toward the Ryan's.

She got off the bus and caught a connecting line using the transfer she'd bought. By 10:10, she was on the 400 block of Elmwood Drive. It was very quiet, most people having headed off to work several hours earlier. She strolled down the street and kept walking passed the house. There were no cars at any of the houses near the Ryan's, though she knew that didn't really mean anything. The cars could be parked in the garages. She walked up to the house numbered 438 and went around the side. She ran behind the house to get to the backyard of number 436.

Case sidled up to the backdoor and listened. She could hear someone humming in the kitchen, then they moved away. A few moments later, she heard a vacuum turn on. She pulled a new pair of white surgical gloves from the box in the side pocket of her bag and put them on. Then she pulled out the knife, still sheathed, and stuffed it into the back of her jeans. She tried the doorknob and it turned. She opened the backdoor and quietly closed it behind her. Then she set her bag down next to it and moved towards the sound of the vacuum, drawing the knife from its sheath at her back.

She peeked her head around and saw a woman pushing a vacuum around a low coffee table. She looked around briefly to make sure there was no one else in the immediate vicinity and then ran forward. She used the hilt of the knife on the woman's left temple and the woman dropped to the floor. Case easily resheathed the knife at her back and then bent down to turn off the vacuum. She dragged the woman to a more comfortable position on the couch.

She looked down at the unconscious woman. She was quite pretty. Long, slightly curled, blond hair, rosy cheeks, a fine complexion, slim body, though not athletic. She matched her picture perfectly.

Case went back into the kitchen and grabbed her bag. Then she ran up the stairs and found the master bedroom. She started going through the drawers of the first dresser she came to, purposely making a mess, so that it would be clear to the police that the burglar had been in a hurry. She found only a few pieces of jewelry worth anything. She placed those into a clean surgical glove.

She moved to the second dresser on the other side of the room, and found much better pickings. There were at least half a dozen pairs of jeweled cuff links and over a dozen jeweled tie tacks.

She dropped the pieces into the glove and then tied off the open end and shoved it into her bag. Then she left the room and ran back down the carpeted stairs. She set her bag down in the doorway to the kitchen and walked over to Mrs. Ryan's unconscious form on the couch. Case leaned over and shook her shoulder.

Mrs. Ryan's eyes fluttered. She groaned a little and tried to sit up. Her head really hurt and she felt a little nauseous.

Case pulled her to a sitting position and then stood back a pace, grasping the hilt of the knife at her back. Mrs. Ryan shook her head and then put her hand to her left temple, gingerly pressing on the bruised area, and groaned a little at the tenderness she found.

"Mrs. Ryan?"

Mrs. Ryan looked up. Case stood before her with her hands behind her back.

"Who are you?" Mrs. Ryan asked.

"Mrs. Ryan?"

Case's voice was gentle and low.

"Yes. Who are you? What are you doing here? What happened?"

Mrs. Ryan tried to figure out why a young blonde woman was standing in the middle of her living room.

"Please stand up."

Case reached out her left hand and gently pulled the woman to her feet. She pulled out the knife. In a quick thrust, she shoved the knife into Mrs. Ryan's stomach and dragged it to the side. Mrs. Ryan's eyes widened in shock and she tried to inhale to scream, but Case withdrew the knife just as suddenly and used her left fist to backhand her across the left temple again. As she slumped to the floor in unconsciousness, Mrs. Ryan realized she wouldn't be waking up again and terror flooded through her last moment of awareness.

The stomach wound pumped out thick blood onto the recently vacuumed peach-colored carpet. Case stepped out of the way of the pooling blood and kneeled down. She watched as the pulse at Mrs. Ryan's neck slowed and then finally stopped.

She looked at her watch. 10:42am. She went to the kitchen and washed the knife and her still-gloved hands in the sink. She looked down to check her clothing, but there were no conspicuous bloodstains. She grabbed up her bag and went out the back door. She didn't remove the gloves until she was outside again, stuffing them into the side pocket of her bag. She transferred the knife to the bag, too. Then she traveled through the backyards of several houses, before heading towards the street again. She walked around the block, away from the house, and stopped at another bus stop.

It picked her up at eleven sharp. She settled into her seat at the rear of the bus and watched the streets go by. She arrived at the beach in a little over an hour and got lunch on the Promenade. Then she called to check in with Doc.

"Doc."

"Case. It's done. The package was delivered. I kept the receipt."

"That's fine. You keeping the payment, too?" Doc asked as he entered the update into his computer.

"Yeah."

"Good." Case heard the familiar typing sounds. "Payment for delivery has been rendered." There was a pause. "You got a new assignment."

Case raised her eyebrows.

"So soon? That'll be three in a single week. That's a new record."

"No, not that kind of assignment. You have an apprentice. She was chosen by the boss himself. He wants you to teach her everything you know."

Doc waited for the explosion. He wasn't disappointed.

"What?! Are you insane? I'm not teaching some little bitch of his how to..."

"She's not his, at least not like that," Doc amended. As far as Antonio was concerned, he owned all of them. "And she's not little either according to her profile. She's five-eleven and built like a Mack truck. Her pic shows her with long black hair and blue eyes."

Case sighed in resignation. She'd had her little temper tantrum and now it was time to get back to business.

"How did she get his attention?"

"She saved his life while she was working as a go-between for Franco. Took care of three of Spinella's guys before they even had a chance to do anything."

"Well, at least she's really done it before, so that won't be an issue."

"Yeah, she didn't offer any objections."

Case knew what he was referring to. She'd basically refused when Antonio had first told her he wanted her to become one of his assassins. He hadn't said anything at the time, but she'd gone home to find her cat dead and a note telling her that her own death would be a lot more painful, if she didn't learn her place in the organization. Then Doc had called and introduced himself. She'd tried to protest, but then he'd reminded her that she'd killed before and the jobs he would be sending her on would be a lot less personal than that had been. The image of blood covering her hands, the knife falling away to clatter on the tiles of the kitchen floor, had gone through her mind, and she'd thought, I'm already a killer. Why am I fighting this? So, she hadn't.

"So, does she have any special skills?"

"I think I'll let her tell you about herself. It'll be a bonding experience," Doc laughed. He had a feeling the two women would either get along great or kill each other. "You can call me to verify what she tells you."

"Fine. When do I meet her?"

"According to Northwest's computer, her plane should be arriving at LAX in half an hour. She has instructions to call you as soon as she lands."

"Fuck. You could have given me more warning."

"I just got the heads up last night and didn't talk to her until this morning," he defended himself.

"Excuses, excuses."

Case clicked off the phone so she wouldn't have to listen to his annoying laugh. She decided to stay at the beach to wait for the phone call. It was pleasant with the sound of crashing waves and a cool breeze and maybe if she were in a relaxed setting she wouldn't kill the woman when she met her.

Forty-five minutes later, her phone buzzed.

"Case."

"Hi. Doc told me to call you. I'm Rain."

"Yeah, he told me you were coming. You rented a car yet?"

"Uh, no, not yet."

"Well, get a car and then meet me at the Santa Monica Pier. You know how to get there?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Fine. See ya in a couple hours."

Case clicked off her phone once more and looked out over the ocean.

CHAPTER 6

RAIN STARED AT her phone and then finally turned it off. This Case woman had apparently learned her phone manners from Doc.

She cleared the terminal and caught a shuttle for the nearest rent-a-car place. Her Visa card was readily accepted and she was on the road in a new red BMW a half hour later.

Just as she was pulling out onto the Pacific Coast Highway from Colorado Blvd., she realized she had no idea what Case looked like. She guessed Case had been given her description, but it still meant she could end up wandering around for a while before she found the woman.

Rain parked her car in one of the paid lots and headed for the pier. She looked around, consciously trying to send out the vibe that she was looking for someone and hoped that particular someone would find her.

There were a lot of people around. Some were fishing off the side of the pier, their earlier catches sitting in buckets of water or laying out in coolers filled with ice. There were people sitting on benches taking a break from walking around and obvious couples strolling along the wooden planks. In another few hours, the sun would be setting and the pier would be filled with lovers trying to be romantic by watching the sunset together.

Rain walked slowly down the pier casting her glance from side to side to see if she could pick out Case without knowing what she looked like. For all she knew, the woman wasn't even there yet.

After two circuits of the pier, Rain was getting annoyed. She began making her way back down the pier to begin her third circuit when a voice behind her stopped her.

"Rain."

Rain turned around and immediately had to adjust her gaze downward to take in the short blonde. She was about to respond, but the blonde continued.

"Rule number one: Don't argue with me. You can discuss, but don't argue. Rule number two: Always get all of the information you need to complete the job you have to do. Don't count on someone else to do it for you."

Rain kept her mouth shut and just took in the words. She was pretty sure she was being scolded. She just wasn't sure for what. Then it dawned on her that Case meant she should have asked for her description instead of wandering around blindly for the past hour. Then she realized Case had probably been watching her the whole time.

Now she remembered seeing the diminutive blonde sitting on a bench halfway down the pier's end.

"You didn't give me a chance to ask, you hung up so fast," Rain explained.

"Rule number three: Don't offer excuses. Excuses show a lack of confidence in one's decisions, and if you're not confident in your actions, then there's no reason why I should be. And in response to your reasoning, you could have called me back and asked."

She turned around and began walking towards the pier's exit. Rain stood there for a moment and then used her long legs to catch up without looking like she was running after the woman.

"So, you're Case?"

"Yup. Where's your car?"

"Over there," Rain replied and pointed toward one of the parking lots off the Highway.

Rain made sure to get a little ahead of the short woman, so she could lead the way to the car. She went to the driver's side and opened the door, then turned around when she noticed Case had stopped a few feet away from the car.

"What's wrong?" Rain asked.

"Do you always pick such flashy things?"

Rain looked down at the car and grinned.

"No, actually, I'm usually pretty low-key, but..."

"You're nervous, you just got a brand new platinum credit line, and you wanted to impress me," Case smirked at her.

Rain thought it over for a second and was surprised to find that the woman was right. Usually she was on top of those kinds of things, but this case was too important and she was nervous that she was going to mess it up now that she was expected to work one on one with somebody else.

"Yeah," she replied a little sheepishly.

"I'm glad that's all it is. I'd have told Antonio to find you another line of work if you were just into living the high life," she said.

She dropped her bag into the back seat and pulled open the passenger side door. She slid into the car and waited for Rain to join her. Rain dropped into her seat and started the car. She paid the attendant and then they were on the PCH, driving north along the coast.

"Why is living the high life bad?" Rain asked in order to continue their earlier conversation.

"It's not bad, it's just not good in our line of work. It's really easy to get used to having the best of everything. You start to rely on it, get addicted to it. Then anything less is a hardship. It takes your focus away. It becomes a weakness. And you can't afford to have too many weaknesses in this line of work."

"So, how long have you been 'in this line of work'?" Rain asked her.

"Three years."

"How come I'm not being trained by the one who trained you?"

"You are. I trained me."

"So you did freelance and then Mr. Carlotti hired you?"

"No. I've worked for Antonio since I turned eighteen, eight years. He just noticed me a few years ago and decided I'd make a good assassin. I was sent to a couple of his guys, but they... Basically, they laughed at me, so I trained on my own."

"Those guys still working for Antonio?"

"No. They're dead. Got caught on one of their jobs. The Target happened to have a shotgun and didn't take too kindly to being shot at."

"So, he got away."

"No. I was sent in to clean up the mess."

The drive was silent while Rain took in the information she'd just been given. The sun was rapidly heading for the horizon and Rain started thinking about dinner. She hadn't eaten since that morning at the airport, while she'd waited to board the plane. She'd refused to eat the airline food.

"You hungry?"

"Yeah, we should head back to the city anyway. I have some things I need to take care of," Case replied.

Rain found a place to turn the car around and soon they were headed into downtown Los Angeles. Rain found a parking garage and Case tipped the valet a hundred dollars to stay with the car and make sure it remained untouched. Even though it was just a rental, she really hated complications, like explaining a missing BMW because some punk decided he liked the car.

Case carried her bag with her and Rain decided to follow her lead. Case walked purposefully into one of the many jewelry stores that lined the streets of Downtown and headed for the back. Rain glanced at the display cases and saw huge gold chains and numerous gold charms that she knew were a big hit with the girlfriends of the local gang members.

A man behind the counter came over to greet Case.

"Hey, Case, how's biz?"

"Fine. Got some shit for you."

Case unzipped a side pocket on her bag and pulled out an off white surgical glove with a knot at the wrist. The man took the bag and pulled out a switchblade from his pocket. He pierced the glove and a dozen pieces of nicely cut jewelry tumbled onto the glass countertop.

"A job?" he asked, referring to the glove that was their usual sign for when the merchandise came from a hit rather than a standard robbery.

She'd begun using Carlito for fencing stolen goods when she was still just a thief for Antonio. Then a burglary had gone bad and she'd had to kill two security guards to get away. That's how she'd come to Antonio's attention. She'd only fired two bullets, but both had found their marks in the hearts of each of the guards. Antonio had tested her personally on his private range and she hadn't even had to try. All her shots landed in the bull's eyes.

Now, when she was in the area and some of her hits called for her to stage a robbery, she still came to Carlito to move hot items along.

"Yeah. This morning," she replied.

He nodded and then started sorting through the pieces with his blade.

"I'll have to move these someplace else. No one wants this kind of shit here."

"You could take 'em apart. Melt the gold down for something else and reset the gems."

The man grunted noncommittally.

"How much?" Case finally asked.

He mumbled under his breath, adding up the different pieces and what he could get for them, then subtracting different amounts until he came up with a good profit for himself and an uninsulting price for Case.

"Six hundred," he offered.

"Nine hundred," she countered.

"Seven."

"Eight."

"Seven-fifty."

"Deal," Case said and reached out her hand to shake on it.

Carlito scooped up the jewelry and walked behind a curtain in the back. Case plucked the shredded glove off the counter and pushed it into her jeans pocket next to the pair still there.

Rain leaned down next to her ear.

"You did a job just this morning?" she asked in a low tone so no one else could hear.

Rain was a little shocked. Case just didn't seem like someone who should be in this business and yet she appeared totally calm about it all.

"Yeah. It was kind of short notice. Sort of like you. I didn't hear about you until a few hours ago."

"No shit," Rain said.

She'd figured Antonio would have had Case notified immediately.

"Yeah, Antonio's kind of a spur of the moment kind of guy. I'll bet he decided your fate in half a heartbeat," Case looked up at her with a knowing grin.

Now that Rain thought about it, Case was right. Antonio had just decided what Rain was going to do for him without giving it, or her, a second thought. She realized that though getting Antonio's attention was a good thing the first time, it would probably be best to go unnoticed forever after.

Carlito came back out and handed over a bundle of hundred dollar bills with a fifty on top. Case thumbed through it quickly and then stuffed it into her back pocket, as she snagged her bag off the counter.

"See ya 'round," she called over her shoulder.

"Yeah, later," he said.

They walked out of the store and started down the street.

"Where do you want to eat?" Case asked her tall companion.

"Where's good around here?"

"Depends on what you want. I know a good Mexican place. There's a good pizza place a few blocks from here and there's Chinese back the way we came."

"How 'bout pizza?"

"Sure."

Half an hour later, they were working on a large 'everything but anchovies' pizza. Case decided it was her turn to start the conversation and asked a few questions of her own.

"So, how did you get into the business? Doc mentioned you were working for Franco?"

"Yeah I was his bo... I mean his go between," Rain corrected herself.

The sheet with the new code phrases she'd had to memorize had been explicit about coding everything when in a public area. It had been different when she was just a bodyguard since she was almost never in a public place that wasn't owned and operated by a family member, and she wasn't supposed to speak much then anyway. Her new position basically gave her the feeling of being undercover while being undercover. The layers of deception were a little staggering.

Case smiled.

"You're learning," she complimented.

"Thanks. Anyway, he gave me the job after he saw me take one of his guys down a peg or two."

"What'd the guy do?"

"He pinched my butt."

"So, you're good in a fight?"

"Yeah."

"I'm looking for specifics. Did you take a self-defense class? Are you a bar brawler? What?"

"I'm a fifth-degree black belt in Taekwondo."

"So, you're a Master. Nice. I've only got my first degree in that discipline."

"You hold degrees in others?"

"I hold a second degree in Karate; I'm Sandan, or third degree, in Jiu-Jitsu; Yondan, or fourth degree, in Aikido; and I'm certified to teach Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do."

Rain whistled low. This woman was prepared for just about any kind of physical attack a person could level at her.

"You couldn't have learned all that in just the last three years, so it wasn't for work," Rain stated.

"No, I started training a month after I turned eighteen. It was one of my hobbies."

"One of your hobbies?"

"Yeah, computers were the other. It filled up my time when I wasn't running for Antonio."

So, she'd started out as a drug runner.

"So, is that why Antonio pegged you as a.. delivery girl?" Rain had to think for a second to remember the proper code for assassin.

"No."

Rain waited for an explanation, but Case didn't say anything further. In fact, Rain could see that Case had completely closed up. She looked around their table at some of the other patrons of the pizza joint and then came back to Case's face.

"So, when does my training start?"

"It already has. But we'll get into specifics tomorrow. There's a few books I want you to read and a bunch of websites you need to familiarize yourself with. I also want a demonstration of your martial arts skills."

Case looked down at the mostly demolished pizza. They'd paid for their food and drinks at the counter, so they were free to leave whenever they were ready.

"You got a favorite hotel you want to stay at?" Case asked.

"Um, I like Hampton Inns. They give you free breakfasts in the morning," Rain grinned.

"All right. Let's go find one. We can stop at a bookstore on the way, see if they've got what I need."

They left and were back on the road after collecting the BMW from their attentive valet. Case gave the kid another hundred for keeping the car safe for them while they were gone.

A quick stop at a Barnes and Noble and Case had several books and a couple of magazines for her new student to peruse. They covered everything from hunting rifles and martial arts, to auto mechanics and computer programming. A short time later and they were all checked in at Rain's favorite hotel.

Case looked around the room and chose the bed furthest from the door by dropping her bag on top of it. It crossed her mind that Rain didn't have any luggage with her and therefore, no change of clothes. That situation needed to be rectified.

"Okay, we've got home base settled. Now, let's go shopping," Case declared, and they headed back out to the car.

At least it would look like that's how she'd planned it. The fact that she was totally winging it with this new apprentice hadn't escaped her.

Their first stop was a Target, which Case thought was rather funny, her morbid sense of humor catching Rain a little off-guard. Rain picked out a few changes of clothing, as well as sleepwear and a few toiletry items.

Then they headed to a computer retailer and Case picked out a laptop for Rain, along with a ton of peripherals that Case insisted were necessary. When Case picked up several CD-ROM games, Rain raised an eyebrow at the 'necessity' and Case just grinned at her.

"I have to entertain my inner child somehow," Case explained.

"Your inner child likes running around dungeons and shooting demons?"

"Yup. I bet your inner child would like it, too."

"I doubt she would even know how to tell the good guys from the bad," Rain replied.

"Oh, that's easy. You're the only good guy and you're on your own. Everyone else is the enemy. You can only rely on yourself to keep you safe."

"Sounds kinda lonely. Is there a way for more than one person to play at the same time? You know, kind of like a team effort?" Rain asked, suddenly realizing there was a whole other level to their conversation.

"Yeah, actually, there is. We can use the cable I picked up for your laptop to hook it up to mine and then we can play in a death match. It's fun. You'll see."

Rain just smirked and nodded. Inside though, she was frowning in thought. She was pretty sure she'd just gained some major insights into her new teacher. She just wasn't sure she liked them very much.

Their next stop was a martial arts outfitter. Case had Rain pick out a uniform and belt and chose a collapsible bo for herself. Rain saw the weapon and picked one up too, though hers was a bit longer to accommodate her height. Rain charged the items to her new credit card.

The next thing she knew, they were at a dark apartment building and Rain wondered at first if they were visiting one of Case's friends. Once they were allowed inside, however, Rain realized why they were there.

There were several tables set up with various guns and ammo laid out on them and Case went directly to one of the tables with handguns neatly stacked next to each other. She pulled out a set of surgical gloves from her jeans pocket and snapped them on, then picked up one of the guns. She held it easily in her hand, hefted the weight, checked the clip, mock aimed it, and then set it back down. She went through a few others and then turned to regard Rain.

"What's your preference?"

Rain remembered her two shiny silver Colt XS series LW Commanders, with their beautiful rosewood grips, waiting for her at home, and half-sighed with wistful longing.

"I usually carry a set of Colt Commanders. It's what I'm used to," she shrugged as though she didn't care.

"Hmm, they're good, but I think I want you to use a Smith & Wesson 9mm. Commanders are pretty, but the silver caste gives off too much of a reflection. They make you a target."

Case picked up the gun she'd mentioned and flipped the handle, so that she was holding the barrel, and offered it to Rain to inspect.

"Plus, the 910 model holds ten rounds, instead of eight, and that can make a big difference, if things go wrong. It's a touch smaller than what you're used to, and a couple ounces heavier, but we'll go to the range tomorrow and check you out on them."

Case pulled out the roll of bills again and handed over a hefty sum for the illegal guns and ammunition. She also picked up a nice leather double holster that could be adjusted to situate the guns either at Rain's sides or upside-down across her back.

They left and headed back to the hotel. Rain unpacked her new belongings and Case started fiddling with the computer. In under an hour, Rain was outfitted with free Internet access, several e-mail accounts, a fax number, and an imported set of bookmarks from Case's browser for Rain to check out.

When she was done, Case pulled out a plain black karate uniform that had a sleeveless top, along with a black belt. She looked over at Rain and gestured to her bag.

"I wanna go down to the gym and have a workout. Haven't gotten the chance in a couple days. Why don't you pull out your new gear and join me?" Case offered.

"Sure. Love to."

Case brought out her new staff and Rain took the hint and tucked hers under her arm as well. They arrived in the gym and changed in the locker room. Rain had chosen a black gi too, but hers was long-sleeved. She tied her hair back and walked out with Case into the unused aerobics room. Case bowed before stepping onto the hardwood floor and Rain followed suit. Any place that was used as a training hall, whether it was an established dojang or not, should be shown respect.

Rain started in on a few warm-up exercises, mostly to get used to the feel of the crisp new uniform. Case's uniform was almost gray from use, but Rain could tell it was well cared for. As Case started to move through a series of jump kicks, punches, and other maneuvers, Rain lost concentration on her own activities.

The lack of sleeves on Case's uniform top showed her arms to advantage. The biceps and triceps were cut nicely and, as Case performed an elbow strike against the palm of her hand, they stood out in high relief against the black of the shirt. Rain shook her head and went back to her own warm-up routine before she got caught looking.

They settled down after about ten minutes and Case stood at attention before Rain and bowed.

"Sabum Nim. Since you have only studied Taekwondo, that's what we'll practice. And since you hold the higher rank, I yield seniority to you."

Rain nodded and naturally flowed into teacher mode. As a fifth-degree black belt in the Korean martial art of Taekwondo, she'd taught many classes and knew that if she ever decided to get out of the FBI gig, she could open her own dojang with no problem.

"Let's run through all the patterns from green belt to black belt and then we can spar a little."

Case nodded.

"Yes, Sabum Nim."

They distanced themselves from each other by about six feet and Rain called out the commands to begin the first pattern.

"Daeryon Jasae. Won-Hyo tul. Sijuk!"

They moved in perfect unison, following a tempo that was natural to the pattern's maneuvers, yelling out the kihaps at the appropriate times, and finishing in the same spot they'd started. Rain grinned and Case smiled back.

"That was good. Blue stripe's next."

They continued through each belt's patterns, until they'd exhausted Case's knowledge of the art. Then Rain had them face each other and they prepared to spar. They hadn't picked up any protective gear, but Rain figured they were both experienced enough to keep from really hurting each other.

They bowed and then stepped back into their fighting stances. Both of them had relaxed looks on their faces and when Rain called for them to start, Case's body fluidly sprang into motion. Rain blocked the immediate side kick that was aimed at her waist and blocked the follow-up turning kick that went directly for the side of her face, before Case returned her leg to the ground.

Rain danced forward and swept up an outside crescent kick towards Case's head, but Case ducked and spun to throw her own inside crescent kick at the still moving Rain. But Rain continued to spin with her kick and dropped her leg as she brought the other one up to throw a back kick which neatly landed in Case's unguarded stomach. They danced away from each other and then Case moved forward to attack again.

It was beautiful to watch. The martial art focused mostly on the use of the legs and between Rain's long ones and Case's short, but powerfully built ones, it was like watching a ballet. They jumped and spun, changed direction at the drop of a hat, and threw punches and blocks with negligent ease. Even though Case was only a first-degree black belt, her other training had made her technique more on par with a third-degree.

After almost an hour, they both called a halt and then bowed to each other. A round of applause echoed through the gym and they noticed for the first time that they had quite an audience. Case shook her head and grinned and Rain tried not to blush.

One of the reasons Rain hadn't gone as far in her studies as her masters would have hoped was because she refused to enter any tournaments. She hated an audience. She was very glad she hadn't known the people were there or Case would probably have found her to be a much less formidable opponent. She had a tendency to freeze up when a lot of people were watching her demonstrate. Luckily, that never happened in real life situations, her adrenaline taking over before her phobia could.

"You're really good, Rain. Um, if you'd like, we could trade training. You could teach me more Taekwondo and I could train you in Jun Fan. I can't teach you any of the others because I'm not ranked high enough to do that, but I think one martial art at a time is enough."

Rain was glad Case had supplied that information. It was sort of an unwritten code that one did not pass on their knowledge of their art to just anybody, though many American students of the eastern disciplines hadn't seemed to catch on to that fact. It was an honor to be allowed to study the martial forms. Unfortunately, capitalism and the loophole created by the Equal Rights laws made it difficult for masters to turn down any prospective student simply because they felt like it, if that student happened to have the money to pay for lessons.

"Oh, I understand. I wouldn't train anyone who didn't follow the code. What is Jun Fan? I think I've heard of it, but I don't remember where."

"Oh it's the martial art system Bruce Lee came up with before he died. It's a combination of several martial arts forms along with a healthy dose of spiritualism and Bruce Lee's own personal style. My master certified me to teach it two years ago, but you'd be my first student."

"Well, I've taught classes before, but I've never actually had my own students, so you'd be my first, too."

"Cool. Then it's a deal?"

"Deal."

They changed clothes in the locker room and Case realized they'd never gotten around to using their staves. Well, there was always next time. They left the gym and headed back to their room. The workout had felt great and Case felt a lot more relaxed.

"You look a lot better," Rain remarked as they entered the hotel room.

"I've been a little stressed lately. Two jobs in three days is very unusual for me, especially when they're on opposite sides of the country. I haven't been able to have a good workout in almost a week and that always makes me tense."

"I know what you mean."

Case leaned back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She was suddenly very aware of the fact that she hadn't shared a room with anyone since the night before her eighteenth birthday. She surreptitiously glanced over at Rain, who was putting her things away and getting situated on her bed, and tried to decide how to handle the situation.

There were certain things she was used to doing that she'd never really thought about in terms of being in another's presence. Like the fact that she slept nude because she found clothing too restrictive. Or that anyone who was unfortunate enough to attempt to wake her usually ended up with a broken bone or two. Or the fact that she was pretty sure she had nightmares; she'd woken up many times with a scream dying on her lips. Though she could never remember the actual dreams, she had a pretty good idea of what they were about and it wasn't something she wanted to share with Rain.

She realized, a little too late, that she should have gotten them separate rooms. She knew she could just go down to the front desk and get another room, but then Rain would wonder what was going on and she didn't want to have to explain herself.

Case closed her eyes. Damn. Well, she'd just have to deal with it.

"Hey, mind if I turn on the TV? I'm not used to sleeping at night. When I worked for Rossi, my day didn't start 'til three in the afternoon," Rain broke into Case's thoughts.

Case opened her eyes and turned her head.

"Nah, go ahead. I'm a bit of a night person myself sometimes."

"Great. Thanks," Rain said, and reached for the remote control on the bedside cabinet.

She flicked the TV on and started channel surfing. Case watched as the channels flipped by. Rain would stay on a channel just long enough to follow what was being presented and then move on. It was hypnotic and made her sleepy. After a few minutes, Case turned over and faced the wall, closing her eyes. She would just get through this first night and then make sure they got separate rooms next time.

CHAPTER 7

CASE OPENED HER eyes and looked around. What...? She was standing next to the bed. Then she heard a groan and a cough. Oh shit... She peeked over the foot of the bed and saw Rain, as the woman got back to her feet.

Rain kept a wary few feet between them as she stood up.

"You awake?"

Case nodded.

"Good. I wanted to know if you were interested in breakfast."

Case smiled.

"Yeah." She looked at the ground where Rain had been, then back up at Rain's face. "You tried to wake me up, huh?"

"Yeah. Sorry if I caught you by surprise."

"I should've warned you. Don't touch me unless I know it's coming. If you need to wake me up, throw a pillow at me. It'll hurt less. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Gave my reflexes a good check-up."

Rain grinned and Case's apologetic look was replaced with a small smirk.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast."

They left the room and went to the dining area, which was set up with muffins, little boxes of cereal, and plastic bowls and spoons, as well as cups for juice, milk, and coffee. They fixed a couple trays for themselves, and found a table where they could sit and eat.

They didn't talk. Rain was still mulling over all the info she'd picked up from observing the compact woman, hearing both what Case said and what she didn't say with equal clarity. With that little display of hair trigger defenses, Rain was now positive that Case had grown up in a very abusive environment. What form that abuse took, she didn't know, but it had obviously gone on for so long that it was now a part of Case.

Rain decided the next time she made contact with Dawson, she would include reports of abuse against a juvenile Case in her request for a work-up on the woman. The more she knew, the easier it would be to get inside Case's defenses. A seemingly stray comment could help Case feel more at ease with her and then it would just be a matter of asking the right questions to get the information she needed. Rain needed to establish, without a doubt, that Carlotti was the brains behind the organization, that even though he didn't pull the trigger himself, the trigger didn't get pulled without his knowledge and consent. Case was that trigger and, with luck, Rain would be able to use her to tie the whole thing up in under a year.

Case, on the other hand, was trying to figure out how to teach Rain to be a good hit woman. Most of what she'd taught herself she felt had been common sense. Wear gloves, don't leave witnesses, don't care about the people you kill, make sure the weapon you use can't be traced to you through forensics or a paper trail.

She'd begun her martial arts training to learn how to use her body. Stealth was a handy skill, and controlling one's muscles was part and parcel of all martial arts. She'd also wanted to be able to handle herself even without a weapon, in case a job went bad, but in addition to learning how to use her body as a weapon, she'd also been taught how to use other objects in both defensive and offensive way. Luckily, Rain was already a martial arts master, so she wouldn't have to deal with that aspect of the 'training.'

Case set aside her empty bowl and glanced at Rain's profile. She was staring out one of the windows, a look of intense concentration on her face. Case thought she was quite beautiful. She also thought Rain was more intelligent than she seemed to be letting on. That was probably a product of having worked for Rossi as his bodyguard. You were supposed to act like furniture in most situations. Letting anyone know you were paying attention was asking for trouble.

At least Rain seemed to be a willing student. Case thought about that. Maybe she was too willing. Case shook her head slightly. Rain was probably just happy to have gotten a raise. She'd learn more about Rain as time went on. Right now, she needed to get them started on their day and she'd promised a visit to a firing range.

"Hey, you done?"

Rain brought her attention back to the table.

"Yeah, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

They cleaned up their dishes and went back to their room. Case took a quick shower and changed out of the clothes she'd slept in the night before. She started packing up her bag and looked over at Rain watching her.

"You all set to check out of here?"

"We're not coming back?" Rain asked, a little surprised.

"No. It's a good idea to move on after a job. Plus, I really don't like L.A."

Rain got up and put away her new laptop and pulled the tags off her new clothes before folding them up and stuffing them into the new travel bag she now owned. The clothes she'd worn the day before were the only things that had followed her into this new life she'd started. It was a strange feeling.

"So, where are we going after this?"

"I wanna hit a range and then return that rental. After that, is there any place you've been wanting to visit, but never got the chance?"

Rain thought about it for a moment. She'd always had a love of the outdoors.

"Um, Yosemite?" Rain suggested, as they got on the elevator.

"Sounds good. We can check out the Half Dome while we're there."

"You've been there?"

"Yeah, it's a great place to get away from civilization, among other things," Case admitted.

Of course. A national park would make a great hideout. Most of the parks allowed walk-ins, hikers who chose to leave their cars at home, so there wouldn't even be a license plate number to check against.

"So, we're taking a vacation before we even start to work?" Rain asked with a grin.

"Yeah, I guess so. I need a break. You're just catching me at the right time to benefit from my stress," Case replied, her own smile less than convincing.

Rain clamped down on her feelings. She had a duty to fulfill and feeling sorry for an overworked hit woman wasn't in the job description. It didn't matter that Case had probably had a horrible childhood. It wasn't an excuse for what she was doing now.

"My lucky day," Rain enthused.

CHAPTER 8

THEY ONLY SPENT an hour at the shooting range that Case had found by calling information. Rain concentrated on readjusting her aim to the new, smaller gun. The barrel length was shorter by just a quarter of an inch, but it was heavier by two ounces. It took a little getting used to, but after emptying four clips into the paper targets at the far end of her stall, she felt her aim realigning itself to fit the new gun.

She picked up the spare clips and the last two boxes of ammo that were resting on the high bench in front of her, and stepped out of the partitioned booth. She looked down the aisle and saw a small crowd around one of the stalls. Curious, Rain shoved the clips in her jeans pocket and carried the boxes of ammo in one hand, as she made her way to the cubicle that was getting all the attention.

Rain took advantage of her height and peered over the shoulders of several onlookers. At the bench, she saw Case with four different handguns laid out in front of her, and the short woman was taking individual shots with each one, setting one gun down to pick up the next after each shot. When she was finished, Case pushed the button that would automatically bring the paper target forward from where it was hanging on the clothesline.

Rain's eyes widened slightly when she got a look at the target. All the shots had landed within inches of each other in the heart and head areas of the target. Everyone started clapping and Case handed over three of the guns resting on the shelf to their apparent owners. Case's smile was somewhat bashful, but the edgy energy around her subconsciously kept anyone from reaching out to slap her on the back in congratulations.

Case caught Rain's eyes, and she nodded slightly to signal that she was ready to go as soon as she could get away from the group. Rain nodded back and waited patiently, as Case extricated herself from the amazed audience.

"Sorry about that. I like testing myself like that and it's easier than keeping different guns with me all the time," Case explained, as they left the building and walked back to the car.

"How do you do that? It took me almost half an hour before I felt comfortable with the 9mm."

They got into the car and Rain took the driver's seat. She easily maneuvered them into traffic and chose the right freeway to take them to the rental place.

"I don't know," Case said. "I don't even really aim. I just know where I want the bullet to go and it does. It doesn't matter what gun I'm using."

Case shrugged her shoulders and Rain picked up on the sad note in the blonde's voice, or maybe it was resignation.

"You don't sound like you're happy about it. It's an amazing gift you have."

Case snorted in derision.

"Oh yeah, it's great. I can kill people without even meaning to."

Case turned her head to look out the passenger side window. The conversation had gotten way out of hand, and she actually felt her throat tightening up with the need to cry. She blinked hard and swallowed several times and willed her feelings under control.

Maybe she really did need a vacation. That last job had just brought up too many memories.

Knives. I hate knives.

Case banished the thoughts and concentrated on the scenery flying by her window. The black asphalt and dashed yellow lines blended in easily with the concrete barriers that guarded the side of the freeway.

Rain studied the road in front of her in silence. She'd unintentionally hit a nerve and now she wasn't sure how to fix it. Judging by Case's last remarks, she'd probably accidentally killed someone. Maybe that was what had gotten Carlotti's attention.

But there was something more. Rain knew it in her gut. She needed to talk to Dawson to get some background information on the petite woman sitting next to her. At the moment, Rain was just winging it, which she was good at, but to really make any progress, she wanted an edge, and she had a feeling Case was her best shot.

Case pulled out her cell phone, as they arrived at the rental place. She'd almost forgotten that they needed reservations to stay at the campsite she preferred at Yosemite. With that taken care of, she put the cell phone away, and gestured Rain ahead of her. Rain returned the keys and settled the bill, and then they caught the shuttle to the airport.

Case picked up their tickets at the desk, and Rain noticed the thin roll of one-hundred-dollar bills the small woman slipped the clerk. The clerk gave a barely noticeable nod and typed several things into the computer at his right. He looked back up from the monitor and smiled his professional airline clerk smile.

"Your reservations have been confirmed Detective. Enjoy your flight."

"Thanks, I'm sure I will."

Rain followed Case, as they cleared the roped-off waiting lines.

"You know him?"

"Well enough," Case answered vaguely.

"Wish I'd known I could do that. I'd have brought my own babies when I came out here."

"You weren't supposed to know then. Now you are. You've moved up and outside most of the circles you were a part of before. What I'm showing you is not common knowledge and it needs to stay that way."

Case looked pointedly at Rain.

"Got it. Not like there's anyone for me to tell anyway."

Rain grinned and Case smiled back. It was true. Once you got tagged for this line of work, you basically became a loner, an outsider to the entire business. No one wanted to associate with the assassins because it was quite possible they were next up on the hit man's list. And, honestly, who in their right mind would want to hang out with someone who committed cold-blooded murder for a living?

It was one thing to be involved in shoot-outs, where people got killed all the time, because a deal went bad or someone decided they wanted more than what they'd gotten. But to actually just kill someone because you'd been told to... That was more than even the most ruthless crime lords that Case had met could take.

Antonio had enjoyed showing her off, in the beginning, impressing his rivals with her deceptively sweet looks and then announcing what she did for him. After a few months, Case had refused to go to any more of his so-called parties. Antonio had threatened her again, but she hadn't backed down, pointing out that she was of much better use to him actually doing her job, rather than hanging out with the upper echelons. He'd agreed and left her alone after that, at least until the Massucci hit had gone bad.

She'd disappeared for a month after that, and when she'd finally been found, half-dead from alcohol poisoning and malnutrition, he'd warned her that if she ever pulled a stunt like that again, he'd have things done to her she couldn't even imagine in her worst nightmares. Since she could never really remember her nightmares, she'd decided not to argue the point. She'd gone back to work and pushed the past as far away from her thoughts as she could.

Case pushed the thoughts away in the present, as the plane left the ground. Things seemed to be conspiring against her to make her think about the past. Maybe this little respite would give her a chance to regroup. At the very least, she would be able to get to know Rain a little better and enjoy some clean air for a change.

CHAPTER 9

THE FLIGHT WENT quickly and they set down in Fresno with barely a jostle. Case followed Rain off the plane, the larger woman naturally creating a large wake for Case to fall into. As soon as they were clear of the terminal, Case moved up to walk beside the tall woman. They'd only had their carry-ons, so they immediately went to the rental desk and Case put in an order for a large SUV. They got a hunter green Ford Explorer.

Case took the driver's seat this time and Rain buckled up on the passenger side. Rain was a little surprised when Case tore out of the parking lot and didn't slow down, as she made the turn onto the street. Case changed gears and sped up, tapped the steering wheel to the side in both directions, causing a slight swerve, and then switched back to a lower gear and slowed down.

Case caught Rain's look out of the corner of her eye and glanced over for a second before returning her eyes to the road in front of her. She smirked.

"I like to know what a vehicle is capable of before I need to find out," she explained and Rain nodded.

"You been in a lot of car chases or something?"

"No. Well, yeah, a few, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. And we're going up into the mountains, so it's nice to know how touchy the steering is. Most of the roads are sheer drops on one side and the curves come out of nowhere sometimes, so it helps to know how much I need to turn the steering wheel to get the tires to turn." Case glanced over at Rain again and then back to the road. "Unless you want to take a crash course in flying a vehicle that doesn't have wings?"

Rain groaned at the badly made pun and they both laughed. It eased the tension from earlier and Rain felt her chest lighten, as if a small weight had been removed that she hadn't know she'd been carrying.

The ride was quiet, for the most part, until the landscape started to change and then Rain couldn't help ooing and ahing over the beauty that was just outside her window. Case grinned at Rain's enthusiasm.

Case had grown up in Southern California, knowing only city life, until she'd started traveling as part of her work for Carlotti. She'd seen the beauty of upstate New York, namely the Adirondacks, then immediately gone off for a hit in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Grand Canyon was only a few hours north, so she'd driven up and decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Case had stood at the edge of the South Rim for hours just staring out at the orange and pink cliff walls below her. She was never really sure of all the thoughts that had gone through her mind as she stood there.

She'd contemplated jumping, a phenomenon she'd heard affected just about everyone who went there. There was just this strange pull that made you want to experience the free fall the canyon offered, regardless of the fact that your logical mind told you it would cause your death. Of course, Case had more than a few reasons to want to end her life, but she'd never moved from her spot at the cliff's edge.

By the time she'd left, she'd been converted to a nature lover. She'd driven further north to Zion National Park and looked up at the mountain for which the park was named. It had been a strange experience, after visiting the Grand Canyon, where just about everything worth looking at was below you. Mount Zion was absolutely breathtaking in sunset and again at sunrise. After that, Case had made it a point to visit the parks she was near after a hit.

She hadn't been able to do that recently with her back-to-back assignments, but with Rain's obvious interest, hopefully she could get back into it. She'd never been able to share her enjoyment of the peace that being away from the city brought her. The thought made her smile.

It took them over four hours to get to the Upper Pines campsite, mostly because Case kept slowing down, and sometimes even stopping, so Rain could see everything. Case couldn't get the grin off her face. Every time Rain exclaimed over some new discovery, Case felt warmth seep into her. It was a very strange feeling, like suddenly being immersed in warm water without ever having realized you were cold.

Case gave her name to the booth operator and received her reservation ticket in return for some cash. A few minutes later, Case was pulling into one of the campsites.

They settled quite easily into their site. The side trip to a camping supplies shop had been the other factor in their delayed arrival and both of them acted a bit like kids on Christmas day, as they opened up all their new toys.

Case and Rain worked side by side, setting up their sleeping bags and the brand new gas grill, and getting a fire started in the pit in the middle of their camp. It was as though they'd done this a hundred times before. Both were obviously consummate campers and it showed in how they silently communicated with each other while performing their individual chores.

Finally, they were done and Rain gathered up their cooking supplies to get some food started on the little grill. Case heaved an audible sigh of relief. When Rain had picked up the grill, she hadn't said anything and had hoped Rain didn't expect her to play chef.

"Oh, good, you can cook. Usually, I just eat trail mix and beef jerky strips when I'm out here," Case commented.

Rain smiled, then her expression changed to sadness before she could stop it.

"What?" Case asked.

"Nothing. I just... My mother was teaching me how to cook before she died. I took a home ec class after that. I wanted her to know it was important to me."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Case thought about her own mother and couldn't imagine ever learning anything from the woman, let alone something useful like cooking.

"It's okay. She had cancer. Nothing they could do about it. At least, not back then," Rain replied.

"How old were you?" Case asked.

"Eleven."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

With the somber turn the conversation had taken, Rain decided to distract them both by refocusing on Case, and at the same time, try to glean a little more information about the hit woman's past.

"What about you? Your mother never taught you how to cook?"

Case's eyes went cold in the firelight, but then she laughed, something Rain was learning was a cover for Case's more vulnerable emotions.

"Nah. The woman couldn't cook for shit. We always ate TV dinners. My dad could do scrambled eggs really well, but that's it."

Case looked away. Why the hell had she brought him up? Fuck, you're supposed to be getting away from this shit, not jumping headfirst into it.

Case shook her head and went to the back of the truck to find something to do. She pulled out her bag and started going through it. She found what she'd been unconsciously looking for and then put on a long-sleeved shirt against the cooling temperature of the air, as the sun set behind the trees.

Rain watched, as Case rummaged through her bag and then put everything back in order. Case then walked off into the surrounding forest without so much as a "be back later" to Rain. Rain looked down at the food cooking on the grill. You weren't really supposed to leave the things alone, but then again, Rain didn't think letting Case be alone at the moment was a good idea either.

Rain lowered the flame on the grill and closed it to keep the food at least warm, if not actually cooking. She put out the campfire with a bucket of sand set out for just that purpose and grabbed a sweatshirt from her bag. Then she followed Case's last seen direction into the woods.

Case walked for almost an hour. She knew she should turn around and head back to camp. Rain had probably already finished with making dinner and would be wondering where her teacher was. But she just couldn't stop yet. She looked down at the knife in her hand and saw the blade glint in the light from the rising moon.

She stopped walking and then mechanically bent down to dig in the dirt near a large tree. Once the hole was deep enough, Case dropped the knife into it and then shoved the excavated dirt back over it. She stood up and stomped a booted foot over the area to tamp the dirt back down to the level of the surrounding earth.

She looked up at the moon and then back down to the ground. She took a step forward and leaned against the tree. A song popped into her head, and she started singing it out loud.

The notes began low and soft, and Rain stood transfixed, as she listened to the beautiful voice singing into the night air. She had watched Case in the moonlight, as she dug the grave for the knife and then buried it. The grave imagery hadn't hit her until Case had begun singing, and then she'd just been unable to escape the feeling that she was watching a funeral take place.

Rain recognized the song Case had chosen. It was called Shelter, and it was by Sarah McLachlan, one of Rain's favorite artists. But the way Case had reinterpreted the lyrics for the present situation amazed the agent. Rain was speechless. The complexity of the woman standing only twenty feet away from her was daunting. As a profiler, she had a need to understand even the smallest details about an individual's personality in order to create a complete picture. But as a woman, and Rain only admitted this to herself in her most private thoughts, she simply wanted to learn everything there was to know about Case just for the sake of getting to know the woman.

Case stilled her breathing. There was someone close by. There had been no sounds to alert her, but something in the air was different and Case knew she was being watched. She realized she'd left her gun back in the truck and the one weapon she'd brought with her was now twelve inches under the ground.

Well, unless they had a gun, Case was pretty sure she could handle herself. And putting up a confident front tended to end potentially annoying situations before they even started.

"Show yourself, or I'll come find you."

Rain's ears pricked at the suddenly deafening sound of Case's voice calling out into the silence. She debated attempting to backtrack the way she'd come, but Case sounded sincere in her promise to come after whoever was watching her. Rain stepped forward into a wide beam of silver-blue moonlight coming through a break in the tops of the trees above her.

"Hi. I didn't mean to scare you," Rain offered quietly and continued to move forward, until she was only a body length away from where the woman was still leaning up against the tree.

"You followed me," Case stated accusingly.

"Yeah, you looked upset," Rain replied steadily.

"No, I didn't."

"You did to me."

Case looked away. She was a little annoyed that Rain could apparently read her so well. Case didn't think that was a good thing, but she did feel strangely comforted at not being alone.

"So, why did you follow me, if you knew I was upset?"

Rain looked blank. That was a very good question.

"I don't...I don't know. I guess I was worried about you and I wanted to make sure you were all right."

Rain shrugged her shoulders and looked around at the trees, as if they might offer her a better explanation to give to Case.

"Why would you care? You don't even know me."

Case tried to clamp her mouth shut. This was ridiculous. She was lashing out at a virtual stranger for no reason. It wasn't Rain's fault her mother had chosen her husband over her only daughter, even after... It just had nothing to do with Rain or anything else for that matter.

"I do know you," Rain argued. "At least, enough to care whether you're feeling bad or not. And anyway, we're going to be in pretty close quarters for a while, right? So it would be nice if we could be friends. And friends care about when the other one is hurting." Rain held up her hand to stall Case's immediate objection. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm here if you want to talk about it. I'm not going anywhere."

Rain was surprised at her impassioned speech, more because she actually meant it, than anything else. She also felt slightly guilty because it would be a great break for her, if she could get Case to open up to her. She pushed the guilt aside and went back to walking the line between liking Case and being a Federal Agent.

"You are kind of stuck, aren't you, since I've got the keys to the truck."

Case grinned and Rain smiled back. Rain hoped the attempt at humor was a good sign. It meant Case had gotten her emotions under control again, but maybe with a little gentle prodding, Rain would be allowed to get a better idea about what had set Case off. She knew it had something to do with Case's parents. Case had shut down at the mention of her mother and then pulled away completely when she'd spoken of her father. Rain really needed to talk to Dawson soon.

"You interested in a little night jogging?" Case asked.

Rain dragged her attention back to the outside world and replayed the question she'd halfway missed because of her internal thoughts.

"Yeah, sure. There's plenty of moonlight to see by."

They started off at a pace just barely above a walk and then gained speed as their bodies warmed up. They easily navigated the hard ground in between the large trees, which were illuminated by the bright three-quarter moon. What had taken almost an hour to traverse at a walk, took them less than a half hour to cross at a run. By the time they could see the truck glinting brightly in the moonlight, both of them were at a dead run.

Rain couldn't figure out how Case was keeping up with her long strides. She looked down at Case's legs and they were almost a blur in the diffuse light coming from overhead. They entered the camp together and skidded to a stop, Case using the side of the truck to brace against, as she caught her wind again. Rain was leaned up against a tree doing the same.

They looked up at each other at the same time and burst out laughing.

"Oh man, I haven't done that in a long time. That felt great," Case panted out.

"Yeah. I can't believe you kept up with me. No offense, I just know I've got long legs," Rain replied, as she caught her breath.

"None taken. I used to run when I was a teenager and I had to find a stride that could compensate for my shorter legs. Guess I've still got it," Case grinned.

"Yeah, you sure do."

Rain realized what she'd said and how it sounded and tried not to look as embarrassed as she felt. She looked around for away to excuse herself and noticed the grill.

"I'm gonna go check on the food," she said and quickly walk away.

Case watched the tall woman work over the grill, as she went through a short cool-down routine. Case had wondered if Rain played for the same team she did and now she was pretty sure her gaydar had pinged correctly. But Rain seemed to have some problems with it, at least where Case was concerned. That remark had obviously been spoken unintentionally and it pointed to an attraction that Rain was apparently unwilling to deal with at the moment.

Case stretched her recently worked muscles and used the time to think about her own feelings toward Rain. Rain was, quite simply put, the most beautiful woman Case had ever seen. She was tall, which Case preferred, and had long black hair, another plus in Case's book. And Rain had the most incredible eyes. They were a shade of blue that seemed both light and dark at the same time.

Rain was also very intelligent. No matter what average front Rain tried to put up, Case knew that Rain saw everything and understood things on more levels than most people even knew existed. And Case realized she was attracted to that intelligence because of the danger it represented to her internal world. In a flash of insight and precognition, Case knew Rain would come to understand more about her than she'd ever allowed anyone else to know.

Unless she stopped divulging any and all information about herself and she knew she wouldn't do that. She wanted Rain to know her. For the first time in her entire life, Case actually wanted to share her secrets with another human being. That in itself was dangerous and Case resolved to be careful. Trust was not something she thought she could ever give, having never known it herself, and this sudden feeling of safety was unnerving.

Case finished with her stretching and joined Rain at the grill.

"How's it look?" Case asked.

"Well, I think the stuff actually cooked while we were gone. I left it on low and I guess it worked like an oven. Get some plates and I'll dish it up."

Case pulled out two metal plates from their respective mess kits and grabbed their cups and forks, as well. They sat on an accommodating log that had been placed there for just that purpose and watched the flames of the newly relit campfire as they ate.

They spoke only a few words during clean up and then they both retreated to their sleeping bags. Case banked down the fire so that it would continue to do a slow burn during the night to keep them warm, without too much possibility of it getting out of control while they slept. They exchanged goodnights and then let sleep take them where it would.

CHAPTER 10

CASE WALKED AROUND the factory. The two women that had taken her in, and now held her captive, seemed familiar and yet, a part of her mind knew none of this made sense. For some reason, she had to get to the back of the factory. But she also knew she wasn't supposed to be in that area. She heard the voices of the women behind her, asking her what she was doing and why she was disobeying, but she didn't turn around or even acknowledge them.

Finally, she made it out to the back door and she opened it, somehow having a clear view of everything, even though she was halfway hiding behind the door. The two women were there in the back parking lot, greeting a tall man, and Case didn't even wonder at how they had somehow passed her without her knowing about it to get in front of her. The man turned his head and Case's heart stopped beating and then beat triple time all at once. What the hell was he doing here?

The man saw her and smiled, but it was far from nice. Case backed away from the door and somehow the man was suddenly in the doorway, stalking her as she backpedaled the way she'd come. This was not possible.

The man's smile disappeared and his face contorted in rage.

"Where the fuck have you been, huh? You trying to run away from me? Fucking bitch..."

The man lunged for her and Case tried to run backwards even faster, but she tripped. There was no jarring sensation as she hit the ground. She just immediately went into a spider crawl to keep trying to get way.

"Get your goddamn ass back here, you little bitch. Fucking cunt. You think you can get away from me?"

He started kicking at her legs and Case felt the impacts on her shins. He was going to break her legs again, she knew it. She started crying and kept trying to get away, but he followed her and kept kicking at whatever part of her legs he could reach with his steel-toed boots.

"Fucking little cunt. Stop or I'll really give you something to cry about. Goddamn bitch, you're just like your mother."

Each kick was heralded by a new abusive remark.

"Please, not again, don't, please, don't..." Case begged.

In the back of her mind, Case knew the two women were standing behind the man, and she begged him not to hurt her again, praying that the women would step in and stop him. It didn't matter that she'd never known mercy before. Her soul still longed for the protection she'd never received.

Then everything changed and Case was pinned to her bed by a heavy body. Her eyes were shut tightly, but the tears still leaked out in a never-ending stream down her temples and into her ears. Her ribs hurt and she knew her upper arms were purple and blue with bruises from hard hands yanking her around and holding her down. She could barely breathe from the weight on top of her and her throat hurt from screaming so much. She coughed as she tried to swallow the thick saliva that was trying to ease her dry mouth and her body was wracked with more pain as her ribs grated against each other.

But the absolute burning she felt in her vagina, as the man forced himself inside her again and again, blotted out most of that pain. She was completely dry, but he seemed oblivious. Her muscles futilely tried to clamp shut to keep him out, but the flesh was too tender and it only made it hurt all the more. She knew that from past experiences with him, but her body never seemed to get the idea.

It hurt so much. That was all she could think. She was used to the violation. She'd never known anything different, but the pain was always the same and it always got past her defenses. She couldn't block it out no matter how hard she tried. She could stop feeling with her heart, and had, for the most part, a long time ago, but the physical pain was too much to ignore.

She tried struggling again, but it was no use. And she couldn't keep herself from screaming at him to stop the way she always did. It was almost a ritual, saying the words and knowing it wouldn't change anything, that he'd keep going until he was finished and would come back again, probably within the week.

"Stop, please, oh God, it hurts, please stop, Dad, no, please, stop..."

Rain suddenly opened her eyes and tried to figure out where she was. Then she heard the sobs being wrenched from Case and quickly crawled out of her sleeping bag towards the twisting body of the blonde. Just before she reached out, she remembered Case's reaction the last time she'd tried to waken her.

Rain stood and then extended her foot to nudge Case's hip. The woman remained in her nightmare. Rain nudged a little harder and then Case's sobbing escalated and took on verbal form. Rain listened for a few moments, as Case begged her father to stop whatever he was doing to her, and then Rain gave up on keeping her distance from the writhing woman.

Rain knelt back down and then tried to decide what would be the best part of Case's body to make contact with. Abuse survivors had natural trigger areas, the wrists and neck tending to be the most common. Upper arms were usually a bad area, too. Rain settled for grasping Case's shoulders and held her gently while she called Case's name.

Rain was unprepared for the sudden movement of Case's body lunging up and into her arms. Case's arms wound around her torso and squeezed, as Case attempted to bury her upper body in Rain's chest. The sobs were wet and jolted Case's entire body and she continued her previous begging even though Rain was pretty sure Case had woken up.

"Oh God, no, please, no, please, God, no, no, please, no..."

Case's words trailed off and she just cried. She drew her knees up to her chest and rocked in Rain's arms. Rain rocked with her and wrapped her arms around the small frame of the assassin's body.

Case felt like several different people, all having different conversations in her head. One was nothing but the pain and the emotions she'd kept bottled up for so long and she just cried because she couldn't stop. Another was reveling in being held for the first time in her life. Another was absolutely terrified at that same realization, while still another was trying to figure out how to get out of this mess.

After awhile, they all merged back together into one voice and Case was able to calm down enough to stop the sobs that had been racking her body. Another few minutes and Case felt steady enough to raise her body from its uncomfortably angled position pressed against Rain's sternum. Her hands were still clenched in Rain's gray sweatshirt and she didn't let go as she eased herself into a sitting position.

Once she was upright, she released Rain's sweatshirt and used her own sleeve to wipe at her nose. It was disgusting and Case tried to remember if they had any tissues nearby. There were some napkins in the cooking supplies, so Case got up and found them. She blew her nose repeatedly, until she could breathe somewhat clearly again.

Case still hadn't made eye contact with Rain and Rain wasn't quite sure what to say. Silence seemed best until Case gave her a sign or something. Rain had wanted Case to open up to her, but having an abreaction in her lap was a lot to take in.

Case looked around at the forest still bathed in light from the setting moon. Everything was quiet, just insect noises and the rustle of leaves in the breeze every now and then. Case had a feeling if she didn't say anything, and just went back to her sleeping bag, Rain wouldn't say anything either and the whole thing would feel like a dream in the morning. But Case could also see that it would create a wall between them. It would set a precedent, somehow, that would be very difficult to change should either of them ever want to. And Case found herself unwilling to create that kind of wall with Rain.

Case's voice started out scratchy, but as she continued to use it, her vocal chords warmed up and her voice took on its more natural low, smooth tone. She spoke quietly, not disturbing the forest's natural silence with her soft voice, only bending it to accept her as part of the night sounds around them.

"My father was a sick psycho fuck. I don't remember a time when I trusted him, or my mother for letting him do those things to me. I remember this one time, I was hanging out with some kids. I was seventeen and everyone was talking about their first times, you know, when they lost their virginity. There were a couple rapes, some prom dates, a sweet sixteen, and even a few who were still virgins.

"Then everyone looked at me and I didn't know what to say. I couldn't remember a time when I didn't know what sex was. They were talking about when they'd lost their innocence and I'd never had any to begin with. So I lied and told them a story about some girl I'd been with before I'd been sent to juvie. Then we got called to dinner and it never came up again, so I was off the hook."

Case finally brought her eyes to Rain's face and gave a half-smile.

"Guess this wasn't what you were expecting when you said I could talk about it, huh?"

Rain shook her head, but not in negation. She started to speak, but her throat had gone dry, so she cleared it and swallowed, then tried again.

"It's all right. I told you I'd be here."

"Yeah."

Rain wasn't sure which emotion was winning out in the mix she heard in Case's voice: surprise, acceptance, or disbelief. She hoped for acceptance, but she knew it probably wouldn't be very long before Case closed up again. It was natural after such an exhaustive emotional release.

"You think you can go back to sleep?" Rain asked gently.

Case looked panicked for a moment, she shrugged. But then her expression returned to its normally emotionless state.

"Nah, I'll be okay. You go ahead."

Case looked everywhere but at Rain herself. That was new. Rain had noticed that Case didn't seem to have a problem with prolonged eye contact. She seemed to enjoy the challenge of meeting another's gaze; it was an act of confidence in herself. But Case was obviously feeling a bit vulnerable at the moment.

"Do you want to talk some more?" Rain offered cautiously.

Case looked up from where she'd been studying the ground. She shook her head.

"No. I'll be fine. Just go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke you."

Rain frowned. Closing up was one thing; burying everything again was something else altogether.

Rain got to her feet and took a moment to let the circulation begin again in her legs. Then, instead of heading to her sleeping bag, she walked over to where Case was leaning against the truck.

"You don't have anything to apologize for. It wasn't your fault."

Case looked up at the last words and Rain could see fresh tears waiting to fall from her eyes. God, those eyes were so full of pain. And guilt. What had she endured to become the woman she was today? Rain didn't let herself second-guess her reasoning as she pulled Case into her arms and held her as the woman cried softly into her shoulder.

After a few minutes, Case raised her head and wiped at her eyes with one of her hands, while she left the other one wrapped around Rain's midsection.

"God, I really need to get a grip here," Case chastised herself.

"I think you've already got one," Rain replied and looked down at Case's arm around her waist.

Case smiled.

"And that doesn't bother you?"

Rain looked at her in question.

"You seemed a little... nervous earlier."

Rain looked down and was glad the blue light of the moon hid her blush, or at least she hoped it did.

"I, uh, I didn't mean to flirt with you like that. We're supposed to have a working relationship, aren't we?"

"Well, relationships that work are usually better than those that don't," Case joked.

Rain smiled, but then looked at Case seriously. Rain had been about to say something, but the words either never existed or had been forgotten by the time she opened her mouth. Somewhere in Rain's mind, she knew that now was not the time, if ever, to initiate something sexual with Case. Case was emotionally vulnerable and was not in the greatest frame of mind to make that kind of decision about Rain and their relationship, whatever it happened to be. The fact that she was a Federal Agent wasn't exactly far from her mind either.

Case took the decision out of Rain's hands as she leaned up to brush her lips against Rain's. Where Rain thought Case needed time to get her thoughts in order, Case felt a need to establish that she was capable of being loved and loving someone in return. And physical intimacy would be a good start.

Rain thought she tried to stop the kiss, but her body had never received the message, so she caught up with what was actually happening and threw herself into it. Her hands pulled Case's body closer and her neck helped her head press her lips harder against Case's mouth.

They both groaned at the same time and then smiled against each other's lips. Then Case darted her tongue out to lick at Rain's lips and Rain pushed her own tongue out to meet Case's. Their tongues touched in the open air between their mouths and stroked over each other, until their mutual need was too much to deny and their lips met to seal their mouths together.

They continually pushed their lips together again and again, as their hands massaged the cloth-covered skin they found. Rain pushed Case back against the truck and Case widened her stance to let Rain fit between her legs a little better.

Rain reached up under the shirt Case was wearing and made contact with bare skin. Her hands were a little cold from the night air and Case flinched as the chilled fingers met up with her warm back. Then she relaxed into the touch and Rain's hands quickly warmed up in their new haven.

Rain ran her hands all over Case's soft back and realized, with the word 'duh' ringing in her mind, that Case wasn't wearing a bra. Neither was she, since they hadn't changed out of their sleep clothes yet. Rain brought her hands to the front and stroked up with the palms of her hands until she was cupping Case's breasts.

Case moaned and pushed into Rain's hands. Her nipples were already so hard that they hurt. She felt Rain run her thumbs lightly over the stiff flesh and groaned again. She was running her own hands through Rain's hair, but she wanted the barriers between their bodies gone, so she released Rain's mouth and removed her hands from the silky hair and reached for the hem of her shirt. She pulled it over her head and tossed it onto the hood of the car.

She looked down at Rain's large hands covering her breasts and was pleased at the image of Rain's tan skin contrasting with her own pale flesh in the moonlight. She placed her own hands over Rain's to encourage them to squeeze a little harder.

Rain watched Case and then bent her head again to recapture the mouth she'd lost when Case had removed her shirt. But now that more flesh was available, Rain couldn't help moving her mouth down to take it all in. She tasted Case's neck, sucked and licked at an earlobe, then lightly bit into the hard muscle of Case's shoulder.

Case's hands left Rain's and she pulled at Rain's head to push her harder against her shoulder. She felt Rain's teeth sink into the flesh and graze over her skin, as Rain lightly chewed, filling her mouth with the taut muscles that Case offered.

Rain released her slippery grip on Case's shoulder and kissed the area in thanks, then continued kissing downward, until she reached one of Case's breasts. She removed the hand covering it and reached around to hold Case's back, as she lowered her mouth over the sensitive nipple.

Case gasped and then moaned when Rain began sucking at her tit. Rain groaned in appreciation of the flesh in her mouth and pinched the other nipple with the hand that was still cupping Case's other breast.

Case ran her hands through the long hair flowing between her fingers and then brought her hands back up to cradle Rain's head. She urged Rain to continue what she was doing and let herself gasp and groan at the sensations Rain was causing in her.

It had been a long time since she'd enjoyed being with anyone. In fact, she usually shut down after the first few kisses and only really found enjoyment by herself. She'd known it was probably psychological, she'd read enough about it, but the reality of having some of those mental blocks removed just because she'd done a little crying was a powerful incentive for further exploration. Later.

At the moment, she was busy reaping the rewards of her little emotional breakthrough. Rain had moved lower and was kissing and sucking at her stomach and Case felt her stomach twitch involuntarily. She saw an image of Rain entering her with two fingers and her knees nearly buckled as her body cried out to make the vision real. The part of her mind that was still analyzing everything was surprised. Penetration normally shut her down completely and she had never in her life actually wanted to be entered.

"Oh God."

The exclamation left her lips with no censorship from her brain. She was still caught up between what Rain was doing to her stomach and the images in her mind's eye. She felt Rain unbutton her pants and looked down. Rain was looking back up at her, a question on her face. Case nodded and Rain continued with the plastic buttons, until there was enough give to bring the flannels down over Case's hips.

Rain barely got the pajama bottoms past Case's thighs when she smelled the woman's scent. She groaned and finished helping Case's feet out of the cuffs of the pants. Case's fingers in her hair were drawing Rain closer and Case replanted her feet wider apart to give Rain better access.

Rain's thumbs brushed through the center of the light curly hair that covered Case's sex and pulled her labia aside to expose what Rain's mouth was watering for. As soon as it was revealed, Rain wrapped her lips around Case's clitoris and twirled her tongue around the trapped little bud.

"Oh God!" Case exclaimed again and she leaned her upper back harder against the side of the cold truck in order to push her hips out more.

Case fell into a natural rhythm of circling her pelvis in time with Rain's gentle suckling. She moaned and whimpered and did what she could to heighten the sensations. She really wanted to lie down, though. Her legs felt like they were about to give out at any moment.

"Slee-Sleep -ing bag, please," Case got out and Rain let go of her clit, giving it one last lick with the flat of her tongue, before letting Case's nether lips close back over the bud.

Rain stood and held out her hand for Case to follow her to her sleeping bag. She picked up Case's along the way and quickly unzipped both bags completely, so that Rain's could be used to keep them off the ground and Case's could be used to cover them when they got cold.

Before Rain could lie down on her bag, Case caught her arm and kept her standing. Then she tugged at Rain's thin sweatshirt and helped her take it off, as well as the thin white T-shirt she wore underneath it. Then Case went to her knees and slowly, seductively, pulled Rain's shorts down around her ankles and helped Rain lift her feet out of them.

Case's hands went to Rain's hips and pulled her down gently. Rain came to a sitting position and then leaned back, until she was fully reclined along the length of the sleeping bag they were situated on. Case moved to extend her body along the length of Rain herself and let out a breath when she felt the skin-to-skin contact all along her body.

Rain's hands roamed all over Case's back and sides, up into her short blond hair, and around her neck. Her hands grazed over Case's breasts then played along the shorter woman's hips, until she was grasping at Case's butt cheeks.

Case's own hands moved over the newly exposed skin and she couldn't take her eyes off Rain's breasts. She wanted to touch them, but something kept her hands from obeying. Instead, her mouth descended and sucked in a nipple. Hearing Rain's groan, and feeling her arch her back to push herself against Case's mouth, Case lost the strange hesitation and her hands gripped around the base of Rain's breasts, milking them upward with each suck of her mouth.

Rain couldn't believe how turned on she was. Granted, it had been a while since she'd been with anyone. Her work had taken up most of her time the last three years and being undercover wasn't conducive to anything more than a one-night stand, which she really wasn't interested in, though she'd indulged a couple times, regretting it each time. But Rain honestly couldn't remember when she'd ever been so excited by someone else's touch.

Rain reached up and pulled at one of the hands attached to her breast and dragged it down her body. She needed to be touched.

Case opened her eyes and looked up at Rain's face. There was desire and a plea in Rain's eyes and Case let her hand be guided to where it was most wanted. Her eyes closed in reflex when she felt the slippery folds of Rain's sex. God, she's so wet, was the only thing Case could think. She rubbed her fingers over Rain's clitoris and Rain's breathing doubled, as her moans and whimpers became more audible. She'd been relatively quiet up until that point.

Case continued licking and sucking at the breast under her mouth and her free hand reached up to anchor against Rain's shoulder. Rain still had a light grip on her wrist, and after a minute or so, Case felt her fingers being urged lower. As she complied, Rain's thighs spread apart and Case easily slipped her fingers inside Rain.

Rain cried out at the temporary relief she felt from the new presence inside her vagina. Her hips gently bucked up and then the relief gave way to a more insistent need, and Case established her rhythm inside Rain.

Rain felt herself rising to a pinnacle her body hadn't been anywhere near in years. She continued to hold on to Case's wrist, though she didn't try to control Case's movements. At some point, Rain had closed her eyes and she opened them now to look at Case's face. It was nestled against her breast, sucking gently, and Rain used her free hand to grasp at Case's neck to pull her up.

Case opened her own eyes when she felt the pressure at the back of her head and she used the hand at Rain's shoulder to move where Rain wanted her. She was pulled down into a kiss and felt Rain's tongue filling her mouth. The kiss was deep and Case let Rain pour all her passion into the meeting of their mouths, while she concentrated on moving her fingers in and out of Rain at a constant pace.

Rain pulled back from the kiss and looked into Case's eyes. They glittered in what was left of the light from the almost completely set moon.

"More, Case, I need more," Rain groaned out.

Case added another finger to those already buried inside Rain and then pushed her other hand under Rain's head to claw at her neck.

Rain felt tingles run from her scalp, and throughout her entire body, to settle in her groin. She pushed up against the greater pressure now entering and leaving her body at a faster pace and her breathing turned into gasping. She was so close.

Case lowered her head again and filled Rain's mouth with her tongue. She moved it in and out in the same tempo as her fingers and felt Rain's hand clench at the back of her head, while her other hand gripped at Case's wrist. Her head ripped away from Case's mouth and she cried out her release.

"Oh God, Case!"

Case went completely still, except for her fingers moving in and out of Rain's body, and she felt slightly awed from watching Rain climax because of her touch. Rain's muscles clamped down on Case's fingers and her body jerked over and over again as her orgasm rolled through her. As Rain calmed down, Case bent her head and kissed at Rain's cheek. Then Rain moved her head to the side and Case was treated to an open mouth and a loving tongue, as she slowly removed her fingers from Rain's vagina.

Now that Rain was free to move again, she took the opportunity to roll onto her side and wedged a thigh between Case's legs. She pressed her stomach against Case's and then wrapped her arms around Case's torso, as she delivered a kiss that was meant to be both a thank you and highly stimulating. Case's groan told her she'd at least succeeded in conveying the second part.

Rain broke the kiss and looked down into Case's eyes. She was so beautiful. The pain, the sadness, the joy and desire, it all mixed together to create a unique individual and Rain wanted nothing more than to bring Case to the same heights she'd just descended from.

"Tell me what you want. What do you want me to do?"

Rain's voice was low and husky and barely came out as a whisper with their faces only a few inches apart. Case thought of the vision she'd had earlier and felt her stomach clench again. She'd never felt that before, that need for penetration. Even though she'd known it probably had something to do with the abuse she'd endured, she'd always chalked it up to being a lesbian and that meant she didn't really have a need for something she'd always associated with hetero sex. But apparently, she'd been wrong.

"Touch me. I want to feel you... inside. I.. I don't... I never..." Case couldn't get the words out, but Rain nodded.

"I won't hurt you. I promise."

Case heard the sincerity in Rain's voice and felt another unfamiliar feeling. She actually believed Rain. She.. trusted Rain. At least in that moment in time. Rain kissed her gently on the lips, brushing them back and forth over Case's and puckering her lips every few seconds to administer little kisses to the soft flesh. Rain moved her mouth lower and kissed and licked at Case's throat.

Case moved her head to expose more of her neck to Rain's lips and tongue. She ran her fingertips over Rain's upper arms and shoulders, and then let one of her hands trail down an arm to Rain's hand. She let her palm rest against the back of Rain's hand and her thumb pressed into Rain's palm. She dragged the hand over her breast, letting Rain flick her nipple for a short while, before pulling her down to rub across her stomach.

Case released her hold on Rain's hand and stroked up the arm, until she was at Rain's neck again. She pulled Rain in for another kiss as she felt Rain's hand graze over her taut stomach muscles. Rain's fingertips just barely brushed against the top of Case's curly pubic hair, but she moved a little lower with each subsequent pass.

Finally, Rain's fingers were stroking through Case's hairs and slowly working themselves between Case's very wet folds. She pressed her fingers along the sides of Case's clitoris and drew her fingers up and down.

Case's hips jerked up a bit and her legs spread apart as she whimpered. The touch at her clitoris was incredible, but she was aware of an aching sensation inside her abdomen. It clenched and she was reminded again of what her body had been asking for since Rain had knelt in front of her earlier.

Case spread her legs apart even wider and angled her hips up to try to get the message across. Rain sucked at her neck and then moved back to her mouth. Rain kissed her deeply and then pulled away to look into her eyes, their faces only lit by starlight.

Rain let her thumb rest against Case's clitoris and moved the rest of her fingers so that one of them was poised at the entrance to Case's vagina.

"You want this?"

The look on Rain's face was completely serious. She wanted to make sure Case was really ready, though Rain was pretty sure from the way Case's body was moving that Case had few doubts, if any.

"Yes," Case panted out.

Case felt Rain slowly push her finger inside and Case had a flash of her father doing the same thing before she pushed the thoughts away and concentrated on the present and the beautiful woman that was loving her body so tenderly.

That, Case realized, was the deciding factor. There was nothing rough about Rain's attentions, nothing demanding. She was gentle in everything she did to Case's body.

Rain started out slow, dipping her finger all the way in, then pulling out again. Case's eyes fluttered back in her head and she groaned from somewhere within her chest. Rain could feel Case's muscles clenching around the slight intrusion and she made each of her penetrations deep and slow. She wanted Case to feel the full length of her long fingers. She scraped the top of the canal with the side of her finger and heard Case whimper and watched her thrust her hips up.

Rain decided it was time to test a little further. She added a second finger, but only went in halfway. She pulled out again and, with no protests from Case, pushed both fingers as deeply inside Case as she could.

Case gripped Rain's shoulders and used them to help leverage her lower body up for Rain. Her heels went as wide as they could and she pushed up against Rain's hand. Why hadn't this ever felt so good before? The question left her mind, to be replaced by more important matters, like the incredible pleasure her body was being given.

Rain kissed Case's breast and sucked at her nipple, as she worked her fingers in and out of Case at a leisurely pace. Every time she entered Case, Case groaned out a grunt and then sucked in another breath, as Rain retreated again. Rain wanted to hear those groans come a little faster, so she sped up her movements a little more with each thrust.

Soon, Case was rocking against Rain's hand and she was groaning almost non-stop, only pausing to take another quick breath. The deep ache she'd felt before was now a tight little ball of pleasure and she suddenly realized where the imagery of exploding during climax came from. That little ball was being filled beyond capacity with pleasure and she knew it was only a matter of time before it burst and took her body with it.

"Oh God, Rain?"

Rain looked up from her position at Case's breast and decided the questioning tone had been because Case's voice was rising in pitch as she neared orgasm. She quickened her thrusts a little more and she felt Case stiffen and then jerk against her fingers as Case's vaginal walls clamped all around them.

"Oh, Jesus Christ, Rain! Oh God!"

Case readjusted her grip on Rain's shoulders and pulled hard, as she thrust her body up to force Rain inside her again. Her head fell back and her mouth dropped open in silent exultation as she climaxed. Then her lungs started working again and her breaths came out in harsh gasps.

As her body stopped seizing, Case slowly relaxed back against the sleeping bag and took in deep lungfuls of air to try to calm her breathing.

"Oh God, Rain. That was incredible. That was... Holy shit. Is it always supposed to be like that?"

Rain smirked in the darkness.

"Uh, I think it depends on who you're with, but yeah, pretty much."

"Fuck, and I thought I was doing fine by myself. Shit. That was... That was... I mean, my whole body..."

Case shut up. She was babbling like an idiot. Rain wiggled her fingers inside Case, and Case let out a high-pitched grunt.

"Oh shit," Case groaned.

Case's hand went to Rain's biceps to hold her still.

The starlight was just enough for Case to make out Rain's serious look and she waited for Rain to say something.

"No one's ever... loved you like this before?"

Rain said the word tentatively, feeling it out even as she spoke it. She could feel that there was more there than just a euphemism for sex, but she wasn't sure what.

"No one has ever been this nice to me during sex, no," Case said matter-of-factly.

Rain leaned down and kissed Case gently on the lips, then pulled away again.

"This is how it's supposed to be, Case," Rain said softly.

Case just stared into her eyes and tried as hard as she could to believe that. Things were always too good to be true in her life. They started out good the first time and then spiraled into darkness as time went on. Working for Antonio Carlotti was an excellent example.

Rain wiggled her fingers again, but this time it was to warn Case that she was going to remove them. She slowly eased them out of their snug little home and brought them to her lips. She licked them patiently, until they were clean, and Case watched her every movement. When she was done, Case pulled her down for a kiss and Rain felt Case's tongue tasting the inside of her mouth.

"Can we stay like this?" Case asked, meaning their close proximity, but Rain also heard the unspoken fantasy that things would never change between them, that they could somehow remain apart from the world they lived in.

"Yes," Rain replied, and gathered Case's head against her shoulder, and the rest of Case's body naturally followed.

CHAPTER 11

CASE SUDDENLY BECAME aware of her surroundings, though her eyes remained closed. Birds were chirping, the air was crisp with morning dew, and Case knew she was outside. She also realized she was very warm and that was because of the firm, but soft, body beneath her own upper torso.

Case breathed in through her nose and felt a tingling throughout her body at the scent. She opened her eyes and then lifted her head to look down at the woman beneath her. Rain's eyes looked back up at her.

"How long have you been awake?" Case asked.

"Just now, when you moved," Rain replied.

Case looked around the campsite. The sun hadn't even risen over the trees yet, but there was plenty of light to see by. She looked back down at Rain. Okay, now what?

Case stared at Rain for an entire minute trying to read Rain's eyes. She wanted to know if last night was pity, lust, or something else. The way Rain was studying her in return, Case was pretty sure it wasn't pity, but she also didn't think it was just lust. Case smiled a little and Rain smiled back.

Case lowered her head and initiated a gentle kiss. Rain returned the kiss and ran her hands over Case's naked back. Their tongues took their time moving around one another and tasting each other. There was no urgency in any of their movements and Case just as gently pulled her mouth away, giving one last kiss to the lips she was leaving.

She stared into Rain's eyes for a few more moments, then easily pushed away and got to her feet. Rain grinned at the view she got of Case's naked body and Case grinned back. Then Case looked over to the truck and found the clothing she'd discarded hours earlier.

Case went over to retrieve her pajamas, but she didn't put them on. She opened the back door of the truck and unzipped her bag. She quickly withdrew a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and a bra and then stuffed her pajamas into the bag.

Rain joined her at the back of the truck and they both got dressed in easy silence. A few minutes later, Rain had the grill going and was able to put together a pretty nice breakfast.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Rain asked.

Case looked up from her food. She'd been thinking about just that since shortly after waking up. There was a lot she needed to teach Rain, but she didn't know how much Rain might already know.

"I think I need to test you; figure out what you need to learn and go from there. Do you know what kind of memory you have?"

"What kind?" Rain asked around a mouthful of food.

"Yeah. I have a photographic memory. You show me a picture once and I can remember every detail. If it's written down, I can read it back to you without the paper. If you show me how to do something, I can mimic you. But if I hear it, I can get confused pretty easily. Don't ever try to describe to me how to do something; I won't get it. It has to be visual. I want to know how you work."

Rain thought for a minute. She knew how her mind worked, but she wasn't sure that she wanted Case to know, too. The fact that the woman had even asked the question meant she would gain a lot from the answer. Rain made her decision.

"Anything I hear, I can remember. If you show me how to do something hands on, I'm likely to get it, but it works better if things are explained to me, too," Rain told Case honestly.

"Okay. So we need to work on your visual recall. I know you can handle a gun, but what about moving targets? Your scores were nice at the range, but that paper target wasn't going anywhere. And what about knives? Can you fight with them? Throw them? That kind of thing."

"I can shoot a moving target, but I haven't had that much practice at it. And I can handle a knife pretty well, but I don't usually use them. I prefer my own body or a gun. I've never tried throwing them."

"Okay. What about alarm systems and locks? Know anything about them?"

"I can pick a lock, but beyond that, I don't know a whole lot."

"Hmm, so you never did any burglary for Antonio?"

"No. I was a messenger for a while, then a runner for almost two years. That's when Rossi picked me up as his bodyguard."

"Oh." Too many emotions went across Case's face in too short a time for Rain to be able to make sense of them. "Guess we'll have to work on that, too. All right."

Case got up and took Rain's empty plate from her outstretched hand.

"Why don't you get everything locked up and put away around here and I'll go clean these up. Then we can take a couple hikes around the area."

Rain nodded and set about cleaning up their camp. She got the sleeping bags rolled up and stashed in the truck and then made sure the grill had cooled down enough before she packed it up as well. Case returned with their cleaned mess kits just as Rain was stacking their bought firewood in the back of the truck, along with what was left of their rolled up newspaper. Case tossed the kits in the back and Rain slammed the door shut and locked it.

"Where to?" Rain asked.

She figured she'd be happy no matter what trail they took. The area was simply breathtaking.

"You said you wanted to see the Half Dome. There's a great trail that will take us up pretty high and you'll be able to see the Dome and El Capitan, too. Most of it's shaded, too, so it'll be nice and cool."

"Great. Let's go."

It didn't take them very long to get to the trailhead. They both made sure their sports bottles were filled with water and headed up at a leisurely pace. The round trip was several miles and it was considered a moderate trail; it wasn't for absolute beginners, but it wouldn't kill them either.

Some areas were very steep and steps had been cut into the ground to make it easier to traverse, while other areas were just level ground and weren't any more taxing than a stroll through a park.

Almost all of their conversation was focused on the landscape around them and the previous visits each had made to different wilderness parks. They both laughed as they talked about camping disasters they'd suffered through, and even surprised each other when they caught each other noticing some rather beautiful athletic women along the trail. Neither of them seemed to feel any jealousy at the girl watching, and after that, they started pointing out the ones that caught their eye. When Rain pointed out how sexist they were being, Case waved her hand in dismissal.

"Hey, we're women, we're allowed," Case defended them.

"Somehow, I don't think those women would see it as being all that different," Rain replied.

"True, but as long as we don't tell them..." Case let her words trail off and Rain just grinned.

"We are so bad," Rain said.

"But it's fun," Case responded.

Case almost let her mood slip when she realized she hadn't enjoyed herself this much since she'd been a kid. But then Rain made another comment about the beauty around them and Case let the momentary lapse into her past fade away.

With their slow pace and frequent stops, it took them several hours before they made it to Glacier Point, the best lookout point of the entire park in Case's opinion. But Case spent most of her time watching Rain's face as Rain took in the beauty of the strange natural formation.

Rain had seen many pictures of the Half Dome, the most famous being Ansel Adams' black and white photos, but nothing compared with the reality. It was huge, even from this distance, and the way the sun bounced off of what looked like the perfectly smooth surface of the face of the mountain was beautiful. It almost didn't look real.

Rain took in everything around her. She walked around to get better views of the Dome and of El Capitan, as well as the valley below. There were a lot of other people around taking pictures and laughing, but Rain ignored them all in favor of the mostly untouched wilderness surrounding her on all sides. Even with the noisy people around, Rain couldn't help but get a feeling of peace from the lack of civilization that the rocks and trees and fresh air offered her.

Case followed Rain with her eyes and found her own spot away from everyone else to simply be. She couldn't completely tune out all the people nearby, but after a few minutes, she was able to focus on just the natural part of her surroundings.

Rain gradually tore her eyes away from the natural masterpieces in front of her and searched out Case's form. She found her sitting on a rock, near the edge of the cliff, staring out at the vast panorama before her. Rain saw the sadness in Case's eyes again and wondered if Case was thinking about something in particular, or if the sadness was simply a part of who she was at this point.

Rain walked over to Case and purposely made her steps louder than usual to alert Case to her approach. Case lazily turned her head and smiled a little as Rain came up to her.

"So, was it everything you thought it would be?" Case asked.

"More. This place is incredible. To think all of this just happened naturally, without any help or hindrance from humans. Kind of makes you feel a little.. unnecessary."

"Yeah, but it's also nice to know things will go on, even if you don't," Case replied.

Rain frowned slightly, but didn't say anything. There was a time to analyze things and a time to realize that not everything had a hidden meaning. Rain wasn't sure which time this was, but Case hadn't shown any of the usual signs of someone seriously considering suicide, so she let it go.

"You still have some of those granola bars in your pack?" Rain asked.

Case slid her hip pack around to the front and unzipped it to bring out two of the trail bars she'd brought for snacks. She handed one to Rain and opened the other to start munching on it herself. Taking sips from her water bottle with every other bite, they passed the time quietly looking out over the chasm that separated them from the Half Dome.

When Case was done, she crumpled up the wrapper and put it back in her pack. She held her hand out for Rain's trash and pushed it into the little fanny pack, too.

"You wanna hang out here for a while longer or head back down?" Case asked.

"I'd love to stay here all day, but that little granola bar isn't going to last long with me."

Case grinned.

"Me neither. Come on, let's go."

Going down was a lot faster and easier than coming up and they were back at their camp in less than two hours. Case brought out the loaf of bread and a jar each of peanut butter and jelly and made up sandwiches for the both of them, while Rain refilled their water bottles with cold water from the fountain by the washrooms. When Rain came back, they traded; two sandwiches for a bottle of fresh cold water.

"God, it really is beautiful here," Rain exclaimed again, as she looked around at their modest campsite.

"Yeah, I love it up here. Technology's great, but there's nothing like being out in nature. Sometimes I wonder what it is about us that we had to go and destroy so much of it. I guess the grass is always greener, you know?"

"Yeah. Can't say I'm unhappy with indoor plumbing, though. That would have gotten me working on progress, too," Rain laughed.

"Yeah, I guess the facilities are a bit sparse up here."

"Just a bit."

They lapsed into silence again until it was time to clean up their dishes. Case tried to take Rain's again, but Rain refused.

"No, I got it this time. You make sure all the food's put away," Rain said over her shoulder, as she walked away with Case's dishes.

Case shook her head and went about her chore. She made sure the lids were screwed tight to the appropriate jars and the bread was wrapped up and put away in the cooler. Even though there was no ice in the thing, it still managed to keep the food better than if it had been left out in the open. Rain came back with the dishes about fifteen minutes later and they both used a piece of discarded clothing to dry them before putting them away.

Case was sort of trapped between the bumper, the door, and Rain's large body, so she waited for Rain to move. Rain finished fiddling with her kit and turned to look over at Case who was waiting patiently. Rain realized the position they were in and smiled. Case caught the smile and then grinned herself.

Case used her hands and lower body to push Rain into a sitting position in the back of the truck and maneuvered herself between Rain's legs. Their mouths met instantly and Case massaged Rain's neck and shoulders with her fingers. Rain's hands held Case at the waist and pulled her forward a little more.

Rain let her tongue move deeply inside Case's mouth and let Case's tongue twirl around it. Rain groaned when Case pulled her tongue away, so that her lips could suck on Rain's tongue. Rain let that continue for a short while before her hands came up and began tracing patterns along Case's jaw and neck. She retracted her tongue and waited for Case to come seek her out. A moment later, Rain had Case's tongue and was gently drawing it deeper into her mouth.

Case took the hint and filled Rain's mouth, licking and tasting every crevice she could find. Rain moaned at having her mouth so thoroughly explored and opened wider, her legs seemingly attached to the same impulse because they widened as well.

Case took a half step closer and rocked slightly against the flesh that was at a level with her own mound. She smiled into the kiss, when she heard Rain whimper, and felt the woman's long legs wrap around her waist. Case let her hands trail down to Rain's hips and pulled her forward a bit more.

Case broke the kiss and slowly worked her way down to Rain's neck. She was wearing a plain white tank top that exposed her shoulders and neck to Case's great appreciation. Case licked low on Rain's neck and then sucked lightly, giving Rain a chance to push her away if Rain wasn't keen on the idea of getting a hickey.

Rain felt the gentle pressure and raised her right hand to cup the back of Case's head and pulled her forward.

"Yes," Rain encouraged.

Case wasted no time in applying more suction. Within seconds, Case knew she'd created a nice little red mark, but she couldn't stop sucking. She was enjoying it too much and, from the sounds Rain was making, she knew there were no complaints.

Case moved lower and started over. It wasn't long before she ran into Rain's bra and had to make a decision. Rain made it for her by pulling off her tank and her bra at the same time over her head and grasped the sides of Case's head to pull her in for more. Case obliged and wrapped her lips around one of the taut nipples in front of her face.

Rain felt her breathing increase again as Case's tongue went round and round her nipple. She wanted to lean back, but there were too many things behind her impeding her movement. She decided to make do with her current position and pulled Case's T-shirt out of her jeans. She ran her hands over the smooth skin of Case's back before reaching around in front and undoing the top button of Case's jeans. Rain let her legs dangle again to give her room and, with a little tugging on the flaps of the jeans, felt the zipper give way.

Rain reached around again and slid her hands underneath Case's jeans and cupped her buttocks. Case's lips left Rain's tit and started sucking at the flesh behind Rain's ear. Rain pulled Case into her body and Case ground herself into Rain's pubis, eliciting a moan from both of them.

Rain encouraged Case's thrusting and her thighs spread apart even more to expose her clit to the pressure of Case's body. Rain looked down and saw the curly blond hairs of Case's mound pushing against the crotch of her own jean shorts. She used the backs of her hands to push Case's jeans down even more and then pulled the woman hard into her own covered sex again. Rain pushed with her palms to rotate Case against her and knew when the seam of her jeans had slipped over Case's clitoris.

Case moaned a little and almost jumped when she felt the hard crease of Rain's jeans slide across her swollen clit. It was almost pain, but it didn't stop her from doing it again. Case nipped at Rain's earlobe and then sucked hard as she breathed through her nostrils into Rain's ear canal. The long groan she got from Rain was exactly what she'd been hoping for.

"I want you, Rain. I really want you," Case whispered into Rain's ear.

"Yes," Rain gasped out.

Case pulled away and then looked around their campsite. They were partially shielded by the back door of the truck from the people in nearby campsites, but if they tried to lay out their sleeping bags, they'd be giving a nice show for anyone who happened to turn their way. There was no room in the back of the truck and Case didn't think the back or front seats would be any better. So, Case gave up on the idea of getting to lie down with Rain and simply dropped to her knees.

Rain was about to protest, but Case's hands, quickly unbuttoning her shorts and pulling them off, didn't give her a chance. Rain was pulled to the edge of the carpeted interior and then Case buried her face in Rain's sex.

Rain wasn't prepared for the intense pleasure having Case's mouth on her produced. Her hands flew to the sides of the truck and gripped with all her might. A gasp was expelled from her lungs and then all she could do was whimper with each new sensation Case's movements caused. Her body automatically began rocking in a natural rhythm and she could feel herself rising higher and higher much faster than she'd expected.

Case licked and kissed at Rain's wet mound and let her nose massage Rain's clit. She slipped her tongue inside Rain and tasted the thick salty fluid that was slowly making its way out of Rain's body. She swallowed it and went back for more.

In a matter of moments, Rain's body was jerking from orgasm. She tried to keep her voice down in light of the families that were not a hundred feet away, but her cries echoed off the interior walls of the truck and she was sure someone had to have heard her.

Case continued to lick around Rain's vaginal opening and didn't stop until she was satisfied she'd gotten most of what she'd been after. She lifted her T-shirt and used the inside of the cloth to wipe her face clean. Then she stood up and started to pull up her jeans, but Rain stopped her.

Rain stared into Case's eyes. She knew Case hadn't climaxed with her, but she wasn't sure what Case wanted. Rain just knew she wanted to be inside Case again. Something about the fact that no one else had been welcomed inside the young woman before her was making Rain crave the sensation of entering Case. She wanted to feel Case on her fingers again.

"Can I be inside you? I want to feel you."

Case felt a fluttering of fear that she knew was pure reflex at the request. But then she remembered what it had felt like to have Rain moving inside her body and she knew she wanted that again. She nodded.

"Don't worry. I'll be gentle. I'll make it feel good," Rain promised.

Rain slid Case's jeans back over her hips and cupped Case's ass in her hands. She pulled Case forward a little and kissed her slowly and deeply, while her right hand moved between their bodies and rubbed Case's clitoris. Case's hips had a mind of their own and rocked side to side to control the tempo of Rain's moving fingers.

Rain dipped her fingers lower and brought forward some of the moisture she found to lubricate the skin around Case's clitoris. Case moaned at the pleasurable sensation and her tongue worked a little faster in Rain's mouth.

Case moved her legs together a little to get her jeans to fall past her knees, then spread them apart again when the jeans pooled around her ankles. With the wider stance, she knew Rain would have enough room to maneuver and so would Case.

Rain stroked her fingers back and forth over Case's entire folds and Case began to rock in a circle over Rain's hand. Rain coated her first two fingers in preparation. She held her fingers at Case's entrance and then slowly pushed up.

Case groaned and spread her thighs as wide as she could in her current position. Her hips moved forward and she couldn't help but attempt to lower her body onto Rain's fingers. Her hands gripped Rain's shoulders and her head fell forward onto Rain's chest as Rain continued to fill her.

It was not supposed to feel this good. It had never felt this good. Her body disagreed and reminded her of the night before. Rain pulled out almost all the way and then pushed in again and Case began to unconsciously ride Rain's fingers. Her breathing was fast and Rain's thumb played with her clit.

Case's movements sped up until she was thrusting hard and fast onto Rain's hand. Images of other times with men, being forced to ride them to bring them pleasure, surfaced in her mind's eye, but they were easily pushed aside. She lifted her head and looked into Rain's eyes. This was all about her own pleasure. Rain was getting her pleasure from giving it and that made all the difference for Case.

Rain held Case's eyes and when she saw Case begin to climax, she covered Case's mouth with her own. Case's hands went to Rain's face and ran through her hair roughly as she cried out her orgasm into Rain's mouth. She felt tears come to her eyes from the intensity and blinked them away, letting her body continue to ride the fingers pumping inside her.

Case's legs felt weak and she held on even tighter to Rain, as she pulled away from the kiss and tried to catch her breath. Rain eased her fingers out and brought them to her mouth. She really loved the way Case tasted.

Case watched Rain clean her fingers for a few moments and then bent over to pull up her jeans. She tucked her T-shirt into her waistband and then zipped and buttoned the front closed. She hopped up onto the edge of the truck and then pulled her right leg around behind Rain's backside and then leaned into the side of the truck, bringing Rain's still naked body with her. It was a lot more comfortable than she'd thought it would be and her hands naturally wrapped themselves around Rain's stomach to hold her.

Rain relaxed against the small body beside her. She maneuvered a little more until she was cuddled up into Case's arms.

"I like this," Case murmured.

Rain nodded her head, her left cheek rubbing against Case's chest.

Case felt completely safe, which was strange, since she was the one holding Rain. Her clothing, and Rain's lack of it, put her in a position of caretaking that made her feel warm inside, and that warmth seemed to translate into safety somehow.

Case stroked Rain's stomach in a way that was meant to be soothing rather than arousing and Rain felt herself drifting off to sleep.

"Thank you," Rain mumbled.

"For what?" Case asked.

"Letting me inside," Rain replied in a whisper, and then Case heard Rain's breathing even out and she knew Rain was asleep.

Case thought about it. Had she really let Rain inside? Not yet, her mind supplied. Case frowned. She'd never let her guard down before. This was risky territory, to say the least. She'd never had this kind of weakness before. Antonio had learned from the very beginning that he couldn't threaten Case with harm to her mother. She simply didn't care and would probably have even enjoyed watching the woman being tortured. And there wasn't anyone else in Case's life that had any kind of hold on her, then or in the recent past. But all it took was one fantasy of Antonio ordering her to shoot Rain and she knew she would refuse. Case looked up to the ceiling of the truck, but her gaze went far beyond it.

"What the hell have I done?" she whispered.

CHAPTER 12

RAIN WOKE UP from her nap half an hour later, and Case helped her sit up. Then she jumped down from the truck and picked up Rain's discarded shorts and held them ready for Rain to step into. Rain pulled her bra and tank top on as Case buttoned her up, and then Case stepped back a pace and seemed to be sizing her up. Case grinned.

"You know, I don't normally have dessert after lunch, but I could get used to that."

Rain smiled and pulled Case forward and gave her a long slow kiss.

"Me, too," Rain replied, after she pulled her mouth away. "So, what's next on the agenda?"

"We could go for another hike, but first I need to use a pay phone. I haven't checked in yet today and I wanna make sure there's a clear connection."

Case had made sure to use the pay phone at the supply store on the way up, even though she'd been positive Doc wouldn't send her on any hits until she'd had a little more time to work on Rain's training. But she had never missed a day and she didn't intend to start now, no matter how unlikely it was that she would have any messages.

Rain nodded. Case jogged off to where the pay phones were located near the bathrooms and Rain sat down again in the back of the truck. She quickly pulled over her sports bag and unzipped the top so that she could reach in and pull out her brand new laptop. She opened it up and waited for the machine to boot up, then checked her e-mail, using the satellite link-up Case had purchased for a phenomenal amount of money.

Rain quickly downloaded the initial report that was waiting for her and then reset her password. She'd made a quick call to Dawson to request the background on Case while she'd been up near the bathrooms doing their dishes and had given him her new e-mail address to send the files to. Within moments, she had the files hidden under several innocuous sounding directories and then closed down all the programs, except for one of the games that had come with the computer. She had just barely started the game when Case came around the side of the truck.

"Hey, whatcha doin'?"

"Just messin' around. You ever played Minesweeper?"

"Play it? I'm a master. My best score ever was one-twenty-three on the expert level, but usually I stay around one-twenty-eight to one-forty-two. I just can't seem to break that one-twenty barrier."

"Wanna show me how to play? I can't seem to figure out what it is I'm supposed to be doing."

"Oh, sure."

Case climbed into the truck to sit side by side with the older woman and pulled the laptop so that it rested half on her right thigh and half on Rain's left thigh. With only a little explanation, Rain was able to grasp the logic of the game and only blew up when she had to actually guess at where the bombs were. Her scores stayed at about two-twenty for the first dozen games, but she was soon averaging less than two hundred, as she gained speed with the mouse.

"You learn pretty quick," Case complimented her.

"Once I figure something out, I tend to remember it," Rain replied.

"Good, then I shouldn't have to repeat myself too much," Case teased, as she climbed back out of the truck.

Rain grinned and then shut down the computer. She shoved the laptop back in her bag and joined Case outside. Case slammed the door shut and locked it. They headed off for another hike, but Case changed her mind before they reached the trailhead and led them to a grassy open area where several families were having picnics and playing Frisbee.

"I thought we were going to climb another trail," Rain commented.

"We were, but I really do want to start working on your skills and this is a good place to do it. Close your eyes."

They stood in the middle of the clearing and Rain looked around for a moment, unsure, before closing her eyes and waiting for Case's next instruction.

"Now, I want you to follow my movements. I want you to be able to pick out where I am at all times as I move around you. Tune out the kids laughing and the people shouting and the dogs barking and listen to the air around you. It will tell you where I am. Use your hands to follow me. Begin."

Case quit talking, but continued walking around Rain. Rain brought up her hands and pointed to where Case had been when she'd stopped talking. Case paused and reversed direction, then did it again. She weaved around Rain's body and Rain's hands only managed to track her fifty percent of the time. The farther Case moved from Rain, the less Rain was able to follow her movements. After several minutes, Case stopped in front of Rain.

"All right, not bad," Case said approvingly.

Rain opened her eyes.

"Why is this something I need to learn? Don't I just point a gun at the Target and pull the trigger?"

"No. Sometimes, that's all that's required, but most of the time, it's a lot more complicated than that. And it's important that you be able to know where someone is without seeing them because a lot of the hits I've been on have been in the dark and sometimes they know you're coming. You need to be able to move around in a foreign setting, in the dark, and be aware of who is moving around in the dark with you. It could save your life."

"How many hits have you been on?"

Case looked away and stared unseeingly at one of the families gathered around a picnic table. Several dozen scenes of people dying at her hands flashed through her mind before she met Rain's eyes again.

"Seventy-two. Including the last one," Case said quietly.

Rain nodded. She wasn't sure what else to do. She hadn't expected Case to look so... lost.

Case shook her head. There was no point in dwelling on the past. Her life was what it was; she was a killer. That's all there was to it.

"Close your eyes, Rain."

Rain heard the change in tone and realized the teacher was back in control. She closed her eyes and waited.

"Describe the family at the picnic table to your right."

Rain started to open her eyes, but Case stopped her.

"No. Do it from memory. I don't expect you to be able to remember a whole lot, since I know you weren't paying attention, but that's something I want you to work on." Case walked around Rain in a slow circle. "Little details can become important when you least expect it. From now on, everywhere you go, I want you to be aware of how you would escape if you were ambushed. I want you to be able to recall the face and clothing of every single person you meet. Without having to try. I want this to become reflex. You need to learn how to take pictures with your mind that you can look at later on if you need to. It can mean the difference between finding your hit and losing him, or even becoming the target yourself." Case stopped in front of Rain. "Now, tell me about the family at the picnic table."

Rain racked her brain for the fleeting images she had picked up in her peripheral vision while she'd been focused on Case. She gave the most accurate description she could, including height, clothing, hair color, and even their positions around the table. When she couldn't come up with anything more, Case told her to open her eyes and look at the family.

Rain laughed a little at herself. Half of her descriptions were totally wrong, even the colors were completely off.

"Now, I want you to study them. Tell me what you see."

Rain started to describe the physical characteristics she saw, but Case cut her off.

"No. Tell me about them. Who's in charge? If you were to start shooting at them, who'd run for cover and who would shoot back if they could? If you walked over there and struck up a conversation, what do you think each person's reaction would be? Who would talk to you? Who would ignore you?"

Rain looked at Case. She was asking Rain to profile them and that really threw Rain. Case frowned at Rain's hesitation.

"A lot of the hits I've been sent on required me to study the Target and everyone around him or her. I needed to be able to predict everything. Antonio sent you to me, so I'm betting he's going to be sending you on the same kinds of assignments. You need these skills, Rain."

Rain nodded and began her profile, leaving out as many psychological terms as she could. Case listened to her and nodded every now and then when Rain made a particularly insightful comment that mirrored her own assessment of the people they were studying.

As the sun sank below the trees, they headed back to their campsite. They were both quiet as Rain prepared dinner and Case went through a few drills in the open area around the campfire. When Rain was finished getting the food going, they traded places. Case sat by the grill to keep an eye on the food and Rain practiced with her bo, twirling it around her body and moving through several of her forms. When she came to rest, Case hummed her approval.

"That was beautiful. Why haven't you ever fought in any tournaments? I'm sure I would have remembered you, if you had."

"You've competed professionally?"

"No, not professionally. I just keep track of who's who in the arts and I like to watch the matches when I get a chance. I've never had the time to devote to any competitions myself. I barely managed to set aside enough time to earn my degrees and that's only because I have a lot of masters all over the country that I can see whenever I want."

"Isn't that difficult? I just can't imagine Grand Master Kim being very happy, if I started learning Taekwondo from a bunch of other people."

"I helped them with a few problems. I also pay them an insane amount of money to not care or ask me any questions. So, they don't mind if I call them up at two in the morning to get my next lesson."

"What did you do for them?"

"Whatever meant the most to them. Master Wong's son was born with a heart defect. He needed a transplant, so I made sure he got one. Master Carlson had a bit of a gambling problem. I took care of it for him and now I make sure his debts are paid on time. That kind of thing." Case shrugged her shoulders. "People tend to be nice when you've helped them out."

Rain put away her bo and checked on the food.

"It's just about ready. Wanna get the plates?" Rain requested.

Case got up from her position sitting in front of the grill and pulled out their mess kits from the back of the truck. She grinned to herself as she remembered what they'd done there that afternoon. She closed the door and stood waiting for Rain to dish up their food onto the metal plates.

They sat in silence as they ate their dinners and contemplated the fire in front of them. Case finished her food and set the plate aside. She leaned back and then looked over at Rain.

"Rain?" Rain looked up and waited. "If you hadn't started working for Antonio, what do you think you'd be doing now?"

Rain looked down as she tried to come up with an answer. Finally, she just shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. I guess I never thought about it. What about you? You said you've been working for Carlotti for eight years. That's a long time. Was there something else you thought you'd be doing now?"

Case stared into the fire. Her voice came out in almost a whisper and Rain leaned forward to hear the woman's words.

"I didn't think I'd be doing anything. I always thought I'd be dead by now."

Rain put her dish aside and slowly walked the few steps to where Case was sitting on her sleeping bag. She sat down and gently put her arm around the small woman's shoulders. She didn't say anything, she just held her. After a few minutes, Case turned into the embrace and let Rain hold her more completely. It didn't take long before they were lying side by side, Case held securely in Rain's arms.

Rain listened as Case fell into a deep sleep. She watched the fire and tried again to reconcile her feelings for the assassin with her duty as an FBI agent. She just couldn't separate who she was from what she was feeling. When the time came, she would do her best to protect Case, but she knew she would do her job no matter what. Her brother deserved that. So did all the other families who had lost relatives and friends because of the Carlotti organization.

Rain mentally laughed at herself in derision. Here she was thinking about avenging her brother's death and she was sleeping with a woman who routinely killed people for the son of the man that had caused his death.

Rain shook her head. Not just sleeping with her. She really cared about Case. Rain tried to imagine the final bust. Taking Carlotti and his people down, which included Case. As she saw herself putting the cuffs on Case's wrists, her stomach clenched and she felt a pain in her chest. The vision changed and she saw herself letting Case go, telling the woman to run, to get away.

Rain squeezed Case a little tighter to her body and pulled the edge of the sleeping bag over their bodies. The fire had burned down low enough to be an unlikely danger and the truck was locked up. Rain closed her eyes. She was in a lot of trouble.

CHAPTER 13

"NO FUCKING WAY!" Case practically yelled into the pay phone.

She turned towards the phone in order to get a little more privacy, though there was no one around to listen in on her conversation. The sun hadn't even risen yet, though the sky was beginning to lighten. She'd gotten up to use the bathroom and had decided to check her voice mail while she was at it. She'd been surprised to find a message from Doc telling her to call him. Now, she was just annoyed and beginning to get a little pissed.

"I've barely had three days with her. She's not ready," Case insisted more quietly.

"What's there to be ready for? And anyway, you'll be there to help her make the delivery. He wouldn't make her go solo her first time."

"I did."

"Yeah, well, you were different."

Case sighed away from the mouthpiece and turned around to look up at the purple sky. The distant stars were beginning to fade in favor of the closest star's greater light. She shook her head. There was no getting out of this.

"All right. What's in the package?"

"A telescope. It needs to be hand-delivered and keep the receipt. No fireworks."

Case straightened.

"Doc, she's not ready for that. Those things are heavy."

Looking down the sight of a sniper rifle and pulling the trigger on an unsuspecting Target required a detachment she wasn't sure Rain was capable of yet.

"That's why you're going to be there to help her carry the thing. You just make sure the package gets delivered. If she can't handle it, she can go work for the local florist."

Pushing up daisies. Fuckin' great.

"He chose this job himself?"

"Yeah. He wants to know what she's made of."

"And I'm supposed to have turned her into Employee of the Month in less than a week? He's being fucking stupid."

"Yeah, well, he's the boss. He's allowed," Doc chuckled.

Fuck.

"Window of delivery?" Case asked with resignation clear in her voice.

"The next forty-eight hours. It's a private delivery, for his eyes only."

Witnesses would not be acceptable.

Case heard typing in the background and then one last key tap.

"I'm sending the complete file to you now," Doc said.

"Anything else?"

"If there is, it's in the attachment."

Case hung up the phone, loudly, and then scrubbed her face with her hands before running her fingers through her short hair. She looked up to the sky again and noticed it had turned light blue in the last couple minutes. She waited for answers to questions she hadn't asked, but none came.

Case headed back to the campsite. There were a few other early risers stumbling around their camps and Case nodded to them when they noticed her. As she came up to the site she was sharing with Rain, she saw the woman buried underneath the sleeping bag Rain had pulled over them during the night to protect them against the cold. Case could only see the top of the woman's dark head and she had to grin at the image of someone like Rain attempting to hide from the cool morning air.

Case knelt down next to the huddled body beneath the sleeping bag and pulled back the top edge to expose Rain's face. Rain's expression turned sour and she groaned a little as she tried to scoot down to regain the protective warmth of the cover. Case grinned again.

"Hey, sleepy. Time to get up."

Rain half-whined, half-groaned something unintelligible, but which was probably supposed to be a request for more sleep. Case thought about giving in, but only for a second. They would need all the time they could get.

"Come on. You gotta get up. Don't make me get rough," Case said in her most stern voice.

Rain opened one eye and looked at Case to gauge her seriousness. She decided Case didn't look like she was joking, so she sighed and turned over enough to face Case.

"What's so important that we have to be up before the crack of dawn?"

"Your first hit."

That woke Rain up.

"What?"

All trace of fuzziness left her and she sat up to get her blood flowing better.

"I talked to Doc. Antonio's decided he wants to know if you're up for this kind of work."

"Trial by fire, huh?" Rain tried for a little levity.

"Looks like it. Come on. We gotta get a move on. We have to get to New York, then get some stuff, and then I've got to walk you through a sniper hit before you do it for real."

Case stood up and began moving around the camp to gather their things and load them into the truck. Rain's stomach knotted up and she felt vaguely ill.

A sniper hit. She was going to have to kill someone or the last three years of her life would be for nothing.

Rain got up and began zipping up the sleeping bags, so that they could be rolled up and put away. The queasy feeling didn't go away, but Rain did her best to ignore it. She was just glad Case hadn't mentioned breakfast.

Rain looked over at Case and saw her sorting through things in the back of the truck. She carried the rolled up sleeping bags over to the truck and stashed them to Case's right. Case looked up at her.

"Hey. Why don't you go see if anyone around here would like any of this stuff? We can't take any of it with us on the plane."

Rain nodded and started with the campsite across from them, since it was clear they'd been up for a while.

In less than an hour, they'd given away all the camping equipment they'd bought and cleaned themselves up as best they could in the campground's sparse bathroom facilities. There was no sightseeing on the way back to the airport and almost no conversation either.

Case took care of everything with very little fuss. She returned the rental and bought their tickets, slipping the clerk the usual amount of money to allow them to carry their weapons on the plane, and Rain quietly followed her.

Rain couldn't seem to snap herself out of the strange daze that had come over her. Everything seemed surreal. It was like she'd gone on vacation and come back to an alternate universe.

When it came right down to it, Rain had never killed anyone in cold blood. She had killed before, but there had always been some kind of immediate threat that had needed to be eliminated. Pulling the trigger had never been a calculated maneuver on her part. Now, she wasn't sure she could do it, no matter what the consequences might be.

Rain watched Case as she walked slightly behind the short woman heading towards their plane's boarding gate. How did Case do it? How did she kill over seventy people just because Carlotti or Doc told her to?

Rain felt an urge to cry, which she quickly tamped down. It was something that happened to her sometimes when she unintentionally attempted to empathize with the people she profiled. She wasn't sure if she wanted to cry for them because they couldn't or because of the horrors they'd usually perpetrated by the time their list of crimes landed on her desk.

That thought reminded Rain of the files stored on her laptop regarding Case and she took comfort in the analytical side of her mind. She hadn't been able to do much more than save the files to the hard drive and she hoped she'd get a chance to read them soon. There were a lot of blank spaces in Case's story that she wanted to fill in.

Case came back from checking in and sat in the chair next to Rain.

"They'll be boarding us in about fifteen minutes. We timed this really well," Case said.

Rain nodded.

Case continued to look at Rain and decided she needed to say something to calm Rain down. She'd been wound pretty tight ever since Case had told her about the upcoming job and Case knew she had to get Rain to relax.

"Look, it'll be all right. It's really not that hard. You just can't think about it too much," Case advised.

Rain stared straight ahead for several moments before turning her face to look Case in the eye.

"How did you do it the first time?" Rain asked quietly.

Case looked around at the crowd and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"The first time it was a job, I just didn't think about it a whole lot. I just did it and that was it and then I did it again the next time and then it was just 'This is what I do for a living, that's all.'" Case finally looked at Rain again. "You just get used to it," she said, as she shrugged her shoulders and looked towards the windows that gave a clear view of the plane they would be flying in soon.

"But how?" Rain asked insistently.

Rain was very aware of the psychological qualities of the people who became serial murderers, but that was different from killing for hire. People who killed for money tended to be sociopaths rather than psychopaths, or they simply liked the money and power that came with the occupation.

But Case didn't fit any of those descriptions. She didn't have the charm of a sociopath, or the insanity of a psychopath. She disliked showing off her wealth and she didn't appear to be on any kind of power trip.

If the situation had been less serious, Rain would have had to say she thought Case had simply fallen in with a bad crowd and hadn't found her way out yet, but they weren't talking about cutting class or smoking weed. They were talking about killing people for the mafia.

"The people that we deliver packages to... They're not innocent. They're part of the business. They fucked up, pissed off the wrong people, and we're the messengers. That's all. We don't judge. We don't try to figure out if there's another way. We just do our job and get the hell out."

Case looked away again and heaved an internal sigh of relief when the boarding call was announced for first class passengers. She stood and picked up her laptop's briefcase and waited as Rain did the same.

They were in the air half an hour later and Case brought out her computer to work on, while Rain stared out the window. Case hooked up her cell phone and downloaded her e-mail. All the information she needed was there and Case did a quick search through her database for the best contact she had in New York for sniper rifles.

It would have to be something generic, so that when the bullet was identified, there would be too many possible leads for the police or FBI to follow. And since they would be keeping the gun and disposing of it quietly somewhere else, they wouldn't have to worry about having the bullet matched to it.

Case mentally crossed off several potential dealers, as she scrolled down the screen. Sometimes it was helpful to use a weapon whose markings could identify it as having been used in a previous unrelated crime, but she didn't think this was one of those times. Case continued with her mental planning and note taking until she was satisfied and closed down all the programs she'd been running. She opened up Minesweeper and began to play.

Rain watched the clouds go by and tried to relax. She was more shaken up about Case's announcement that she was going to have to kill someone than she had imagined she would be. Actually, that wasn't entirely true. She really hadn't thought much about what her new training was for. She'd been so focused on Case that she'd lost sight of the reality of the situation she was in.

Since going under deep cover, she'd been repeatedly forced to hurt or kill people because they'd attacked her or the person she was supposed to be guarding. But they'd all been "bad guys" in her mind, people indirectly responsible for her brother's death and directly threatening her or her employer, so she'd had a clear conscience about it all.

But the idea of simply killing someone when that person was not attacking her made her stomach flip-flop and her heart rate increase. She hadn't felt so nervous and out of control since her first field assignment, but she'd settled down as soon as she'd gotten to work.

Maybe that was the problem. She didn't have anything to do yet.

"Holy shit!"

Rain jerked her head around at the exclamation and found Case staring at her computer screen.

"What's wrong?" Rain asked.

"I just hit one-fifteen on the expert level. I don't believe it. Fuckin' aye. I am never gonna be able to beat that," Case shook her head in amazement.

Rain smiled slightly at Case's excitement over a computer game.

"Never say never," Rain said.

Case looked over at her and grinned. She turned back to the screen and typed her name into the box for the high score. She clicked OK, then exited the game and shut down the laptop before putting it away. She rested her head back against the seat and closed her eyes.

"I'm going to take a nap. You planning on staying up?" Case asked.

"Yeah. I think I'll play around with my new computer."

Rain grinned and saw Case smile, obviously hearing Rain's expression in her voice, since her eyes were still closed.

"Okay. Wake me up when it's time to land," Case requested.

"Sure."

Case squirmed around to get more comfortable while Rain pulled out her laptop and waited for it to boot up. Case's breathing had slowed and deepened into the rhythms of sleep by the time Rain was able to pull up the files she wanted to read. She also opened up the standard Windows solitaire program so that she could easily cover the screen if Case happened to wake up before Rain was done. As an extra precaution, Rain pulled the shade on the window and turned in her seat, so that the screen wouldn't be visible to Case if Case opened her eyes.

Rain began going through the records Dawson had sent her and couldn't help looking over at Case's innocent sleeping face after every few paragraphs. She'd read some pretty bad abuse histories, and she knew Case had been seriously traumatized by her father, but the story that took shape as she read about Case's childhood seemed like something out of a movie rather than real life.

Though there had been reports from friends of the family as early as age two describing her father's sexual abuse against Case, nothing had been done about it. Her mother had even reported her husband once when Case was four years old, but had later refused to press charges. The laws at the time had been such that the police couldn't press charges themselves, so the report had been filed away and forgotten.

Report cards showed Case to be an exceptionally bright child, but back then, there had been no resources to help Case explore her potential, so she'd been ignored academically for the most part. She didn't cause any trouble in class and the notes on her behavior talked about how quick she was to offer her help to fellow students.

However, there were numerous notes from teachers that described Case as being socially aloof and always tired. When asked why she kept falling asleep in class, she explained that she had been up the night before. Either Case had refused to give a more detailed explanation or the adults had neglected to ask why she'd been awake all night. But Rain recognized the pattern of a child in a perpetually abusive household.

It wasn't until the sixth grade that things went noticeably downhill for Case. She went from being a straight A student to receiving several F's, a couple D's, and a C- in the space of one semester.

Rain flipped through the windows to the file that contained the police report for the same time period and lost herself in the continuation of Case's life story.

At age thirteen, Case had been arrested for murdering her father. She'd stabbed him nine times in the chest, neck, and stomach with a kitchen knife. When the police had arrived, they'd found her rocking in a corner, covered in blood and seriously beaten. The knife had been on the floor near her father's body with her fingerprints all over it. Her mother had been the one that had called the police and she'd identified her daughter as the killer.

Her mother's statement painted a very different picture of the child Rain had read about only a few minutes earlier. She'd told the questioning officer that Case had attacked her and her husband had attempted to stop her 'crazy daughter.' Then Case had grabbed the carving knife and stabbed him over and over again.

Case's mother had obviously taken several hits to the jaw and stomach, but the sizes of the marks were much larger than a thirteen-year-old girl's fists would have been, especially someone as small as Case. And Case's father's blood alcohol level had been so high at the time of his death that if they hadn't had the puncture wounds as proof he'd been stabbed, they wouldn't have been able to rule out alcohol poisoning as the cause of death.

Case, on the other hand, looked like a truck had hit her. Several times. They'd obviously cleaned her up a little for the mug shot attached to the file, but the cut under her right eye, the split lip, and the egg-sized bruise on her forehead were still highly visible, as was the dried bloody nose.

The medical report inserted into the criminal report said Case had suffered a concussion and several cracked ribs, and was in a state of catatonic shock during the examination. A pelvic exam had also been performed and showed that Case had probably been raped only hours before. Previous scarring had been noted and it was a foregone conclusion that Case would never be able to have children. For reasons Rain could only shake her head at, the medical reports had not been allowed in as part of Case's defense in the trial that had followed.

Case had refused to testify in her own defense and had told her version of that night only once. When the officers had gone through their usual routine of re-questioning the girl about her story on the night of the murder, Case had simply stopped speaking altogether. Future questioning, even by her court-appointed attorney, had proven fruitless.

She'd been found guilty, her mother's testimony and her lack of defense apparently being enough to sway the judge against her. She'd then been sentenced to a juvenile rehabilitation center, a nice label for a kiddy prison. Case had regained her freedom on her eighteenth birthday, and doing a little calculating, Rain was able to figure out that Case had come under Carlotti's power that same year.

Rain looked over the rest of the files. There were notes about Case's incarceration, transcripts from the trial, light background sketches of her mother and father, and subsequent reports by various officers and therapists in Case's life. All of them pointed to a child who had been pushed to the breaking point and then punished for having the strength to push back.

Rain closed each file until she'd cleared her screen of everything but the solitaire game. She started to play the cards that had been dealt when she'd first opened the game, as her mind began going over everything she'd read.

"We almost there?" Case's slow, sleepy voice interrupted Rain's emerging thoughts.

Rain looked over at the bleary-eyed woman. She checked her watch and nodded.

"Yeah. Another hour."

"Whatcha playin'?"

Rain nonchalantly shifted the laptop around, so that Case could see the screen with the solitaire game in progress on it.

"Cool. Can I play, too?" Case asked.

Rain grinned. Case was adorable when she was sleepy.

"Sure. I don't think I'm gonna win this one anyway."

Case looked at the layout.

"Nope, doesn't look like it."

Rain clicked on Game and then Deal and they both set to work on beating the computer's obnoxious layouts until they were signaled that the plane was about to make its descent.

CHAPTER 14

"THAT CAN'T BE right. My truck is in lot 369," Case told the parking garage attendant.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. There's no SUV in that spot. It's a jag. You sure you left it with us?" the teenage boy asked again.

"Look, you little fuck. I know where I left my truck."

Case shook her head. The kid looked like he was about to piss himself.

"Who's your boss? Get him out here," Case ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," the attendant quickly replied and ran off, grateful to be off the hook.

"I don't fucking believe this," Case whispered to herself, but Rain still heard her.

"Are you sure this is the right place? You said you left it in kind of a hurry," Rain said.

"Yes, I'm sure. I always leave my truck at this garage, if I have to leave from New York. I know the owner. He owes me," Case said quietly.

The short blonde turned when she heard footsteps echoing off the cement walls of the parking garage. Case's face broke into a smile and her whole demeanor changed when she saw a fat man, wearing a business suit about two sizes too small for his considerably large girth, walking towards them. He grinned when he recognized Case in return.

The young parking attendant jogged up behind the older man and seemed to use him as a shield from the previously irate woman. But now that his boss knew who the customer was, the boy was shooed back to work.

"Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you paid these grunts to run the place for you," Case said in a much better mood, as the portly man came up to her and Rain.

"Well, you know how it is. Gotta make surprise inspections or they might think they could get away with somethin'. How you doin', Case?"

"Not bad. Hey, Big Gus, this is Erica Raineri, Rain for short. Rain, this is Gustavo Bigarelli, Big Gus for short."

"And what is Case short for? You've never told me," Gus asked.

"It's a long story," Case replied, in an attempt to steer the conversation to more important matters, like where her truck was, but Gus didn't let it go that easily.

"I have time. Do you have time?" Gus asked Rain and answered for her before she could even register the question. "Of course you have time. We all have time for a story. Tell me the story," Gus said very seriously.

Case looked at Rain, and then back to Gus, and then finally sighed in resignation. It would be a lot faster to just tell him the story. She'd never get him to focus on her missing truck, otherwise.

"All right. I tell you the story and you'll find my truck?"

Gus nodded.

"You tell us the story and I'll find your truck," Gus sealed the deal.

"All right. When I was a kid, about eight or nine, I had this friend, named Casey, and she had a little sister, named Janie. Janie always shortened Casey's name to Case. I guess it was easier or something; she was only three. My mom had named me Cassandra, but she always called me Cassy, even though I hated it. So, when Janie started calling me Case, just like her sister, because Cassy sounded like Casey to her, well, I had no problem with it. Then Casey started calling me Case too, as a joke, and her mom played along, to make Janie laugh."

Case smiled at the memory of a little brown-haired girl laughing herself into hysterics from the game of "Which Case is Case?"

"Is that Case? Oh no, that's Case. Wait, no, that must be Case!" Casey's mom said, as she pointed back and forth between her older daughter and her daughter's best friend.

Janie giggled and screamed, and ran forward to her sister to tag her as the 'real' Case, and then she went back to her mother, before she turned around and ran forward again to tag the other Case as the 'real' one. The two young girls ran around the living room with the little three-year-old chasing after them to tag the right Case.

Case shook her head at the memory. It all seemed kind of stupid now, but Casey and Janie had been one of the few bright spots in her childhood. Case's smile changed to no expression at all as she remembered what had happened next.

"Then Casey got hit by a car and died. Janie accidentally called me Case at the funeral and her mom started crying and apologized for it, but I said it was okay if they kept calling me Case. After that, it kind of stuck. And I never liked Cassandra anyway. It sounds so damn pretentious on me. I think my mom did it just to piss me off. So, that's the story. Now, where's my truck?" Case asked threateningly.

Gus started laughing to break the somber mood and held up his hands against the little woman's mock threat.

"Okay, okay. It's in lot 509. I sent it out for a wash and wax when I heard it was yours. And let me tell you, it really needed it. What have you been doing? Running through every mud puddle you could find? Wait, no, don't tell me. Antonio would have my ears. He'd take my tongue if he knew I even asked," Gus said, and Case could hear the slight question in the older man's tone.

"Like he'd ever find out," Case reassured him.

They started walking towards the elevators to get to the fifth level.

"So, how clean is it?" Case asked.

"Very clean. They even vacuumed and bagged up the trash," Gus replied.

"Thanks, Big Gus."

They stepped onto the elevator and Rain pushed the button for the fifth floor.

"So, where did they put all the trash?" Rain asked nonchalantly.

Gus smiled at Case, who was smiling at Rain in appreciation.

"She your partner now?" Case nodded. "She learns quick," Gus commented, as they stepped out of the elevator and onto the fifth level, before he went on to answer the tall woman's question. "The trash is in a garbage bag in the back of her truck. I would never deprive Case of the honor of taking out her own trash, or she might deprive me of my life," Gus said reasonably.

"Nah, I wouldn't kill you. I'd probably just take a few things in payment. Like your legs, your eyes, maybe some teeth."

Rain looked at Case to try and gauge whether the small woman was kidding or not. From what Case had told her, the young blonde had never done any kind of work like that, but the look on Gus's face showed he probably wasn't aware of that fact.

"Hey, Case, you know me. I would never mess with anything work-related. It's just, Antonio said you'd been working really hard lately and he thought it would be a nice idea to clean out your truck and have it all neat and polished for you when you came back to pick it up, that's all."

Case almost stopped walking, but she kept her pace steady as they made their way down the rows of cars to the black Ford Expedition.

"He said that?" Case asked.

"Yeah."

"That was nice of him. Hey, listen. Why don't you go back to work? I've got some errands to run with Rain here, so I'll see ya later. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure. You take it easy."

"Yeah, you too."

Case watched Gus disappear around the last cars in the row to head back to the elevators and then she turned to Rain.

"What's wrong?" Rain asked before Case could say anything.

"I don't know, but Antonio never does anything to be nice."

Case pulled out her keys and unlocked the doors. Then she threw her shoulder bag into the back of the truck, next to the black-green garbage bag, and motioned for Rain to toss in her own small bags.

"Come on. There's a few places we need to go," Case told Rain.

And then I need to figure out what the hell Antonio's pulling.

CHAPTER 15

THE SUN WAS just setting when Case pulled into the hotel parking lot. It only took one trip for them to bring in their bags and the equipment they'd picked up from three separate places for Rain's upcoming performance.

Case tossed her bags at the foot of the bed and set the new bags on the bed. There was one sniper rifle, an SSG 3000, complete with dual-leg barrel rest and a box of bullets; two night-vision goggle sets; two sets of jeans, shirts, socks, shoes, and undergarments, all shrink-wrapped; two brand new Smith & Wesson 9mm handguns, in case things went to hell and they had to do clean up; and another two boxes of ammo for the smaller guns.

Case pulled out two sets of white surgical gloves from her bag's side pocket and handed one pair over to Rain. They both pulled the powdered latex coverings on and then Case unzipped the gray rifle bag and pulled out the SSG 3000. It was a beautiful weapon, made to look pretty and deadly all at the same time, and the black matt finish kept the gun from causing the holder to become a target as well.

"All right, have you ever used a rifle?"

"Yeah, a couple times, but not in the last few years," Rain replied.

"It'll come back to you. Here, feel the weight," Case said, as she handed over the weapon.

Case opened up the barrel rest on the gun, while Rain held it, and then she motioned toward the carpet.

"Lay down and let the weight fall on the rest. It'll help with aiming."

Rain lowered herself down to the floor of the hotel room and used the legs of the rest to steady her aim. She practiced maneuvering the shaft of the gun using the rest as a fulcrum on which to pivot her line of sight. She looked through the telescoping lens attached to the top of the gun, even though she couldn't focus on anything at such close proximity. It did, however, let her feel the position she would need to maintain in order to use the weapon at ground level.

"Loosen up. You look like you think the gun's going to get away from you," Case joked.

Rain visibly relaxed her shoulder and arm muscles and let them fall into a more natural position.

"All right, let's try it up on the bed," Case said and helped Rain up into a kneeling position in front of the bed.

Rain placed the two legs of the barrel rest onto the edge of the bed and resituated herself to the upright position. She faced the windows of the room and played with the focus on the lens.

"Hey, could you open the curtains a bit?" Rain requested.

"Sure, just a sec," Case replied and pulled the cord to part the curtains by about three inches. "Is that good?"

She didn't want anyone from the outside getting a glimpse of the sniper rifle, if they happened to look their way.

"Yeah, that's fine. Could you get the lights, too?" Rain asked, as she sighted through the scope.

Case grinned.

"Yeah. Anything else, Master?"

Case walked over to the light switch and flipped it to the off position.

"Yeah, how about a foot massage? Oh, and those little chocolates the really nice hotels put on your pillow."

"Right."

Rain smiled and went back to focusing the rifle's sight. She scanned back and forth as much as she could through the break in the curtains to get a feel for how the gun moved and then sat back on her heels. She turned to look at Case's black outline in the dark room.

"It seems to work okay, but I need to actually fire this thing to figure out how it aims and what kind of kickback it has."

Case flipped the lights back on and walked over to the bed.

"Yeah, I know. In the morning, we're going to a range and you'll be able to practice long-distance shots. The hit takes place tomorrow night."

Case opened her bag and pulled out her laptop. She opened it and waited for it to boot up.

"According to the info Doc sent me, we'll have about eight minutes to make the shot. That's how long the Target spends in his garden after dinner smoking a cigarette. Then he'll go back inside and the only way to get to him is to break into his house, and if we tripped the alarm, the police would be there in less than five minutes."

"Yeah, right," Rain laughed at the idea of police officers showing up that quickly.

"He's got most of the patrols around his house on payroll. Past alarms have had the first officers arriving in as little as two minutes. He's got his address and name flagged as special priority, so that's why we've gotta do this while he's outside."

Case slid her mouse arrow around and clicked to bring up the various files that contained the details Rain needed to look over.

"Why does it have to be right then? Why not get him while he's out somewhere?" Rain asked.

Several aerial shots of the Target's mansion and surrounding grounds popped up on the screen, as well as a detailed report on how and where to attempt the shot. Case turned the laptop towards Rain, as she answered Rain's question.

"You worked for Rossi. How easy would it have been for someone to take him out while he was 'out somewhere' and still live to receive payment?" Case asked the ex-bodyguard.

Rain thought it over.

"Okay, I see your point," Rain conceded.

She began looking over the documents and had to suppress a smile at the similarities she noticed between them and the government reports she'd read most of her adult life.

Case pointed at the screen.

"I think that's where you should attempt the shot from, right there. It's a straight line of sight from there to the garden and there're only a few areas where the guy could get out of your range of vision. We can get there through this little outlet, here. It'll also make a great escape route because it's not even listed in the blueprints. The guards probably don't even know about it, which means it won't be protected."

Case pulled her gloved finger back and scrolled the image down a short ways.

"This is the main road and that's the driveway entrance, right there. We'll be stopping back here to wait for the shift change at three. All the bodyguards, maids, cooks, everyone who isn't a close personal friend of this guy, have to enter the grounds through this maintenance gate. We should be able to get in over here, while the new people are arriving."

"It's going to be broad daylight. What if we're seen by someone?" Rain asked.

"Shoot 'em. We leave no witnesses. No matter what."

Case reached into the bag at the foot of the bed and pulled out a box of silencers.

"These aren't the best around, but they'll work for three shots each. Then you'll have to change to a new one."

"Three shots? That's all?" Rain asked skeptically.

"If you need more than three shots, then the whole place probably knows we're there and using silencers won't be our main concern anymore," Case answered.

"Yeah," Rain replied, and went back to looking over the written report.

The people that had gathered the information, and Rain could tell it had been compiled from more than one source, had been pretty thorough. There were even notes regarding the most usual routes the Target took on his stroll through his garden after dinner, depending on what kind of day he'd had.

Rain looked back and forth between the words and the pictures and her face scrunched up into a puzzled frown.

"Hey, Case? It says here that we should use the main gate and come in with the Target's accountant. He always shows up right before Sunday dinner, so it would be perfect timing. And this part says the best place to take the shot is from this little gazebo up here," Rain said, as she pointed at the spot where the little white building was situated.

"Yeah, well, don't believe everything you read. Whoever wrote that didn't know what they were talking about. There are three guards stationed at the main gate and we'd be lucky to come within fifty feet of the driveway before we were caught."

Case scrolled the window up from where Rain had moved it to and pointed back to the spot she'd mentioned before.

"This gate only has one patrolling guard, who watches over this whole area, from here to here, which means he has to keep moving to keep watch over everything. And he'll be distracted during the shift change, so we should be able to practically walk right by him without being noticed."

Case sat back on her heels.

"It's actually a pretty stupid set up they have, but they probably don't think anyone would try to get in that way because they'd have to go straight across this open courtyard to get to the house, which is the only target they seem to have accounted for. But we don't need to get to the house, we just need to have a clear shot from here," Case pointed to the top of the hill she'd selected as the sniper site, "To here." Case moved her finger across the screen to the semi-closed area of the rose garden off the side of the mansion. "Whoever they got in to do the security was only thinking about overt attacks on the house and the people inside it, not a stealth assault on a single individual from several hundred feet away, while that individual is outside the house. It definitely makes it easier on us, that's for sure," Case finished.

Rain nodded her head. Once Case had explained everything to her, it made more sense. Hearing the words seemed to make everything clearer in her mind. She went back to studying the pictures and trying to memorize the layouts and positions of everything.

"So, what did this guy do, anyway?" Rain asked, while she clicked on various windows to pull them forward or hide them behind others.

Case shook her head, as she tapped a hot key sequence on the keyboard to pull up a video file of the Target walking out of a building and getting into a car.

"I don't know."

"We're supposed to kill him and we don't even know what he did?" Rain asked, a little surprised.

Case closed down the ten-second video file and opened a scanned blueprint of the grounds to match them up with the aerial photos. It would give Rain a better idea of how the grounds were laid out without the clutter of shadows affecting everything.

"Why does it matter? It doesn't help you get the job done, so who cares what he did?" Case replied absently.

Rain turned her head to look at Case.

"Well, yeah, but I'd still like to kno..."

"Why? When you worked for Rossi, you killed people, right?" Case asked impatiently.

"Yeah," Rain allowed.

Case stood up and picked up the rifle and began putting it away.

"Well, did you ever stop to think about the people you killed? Did you ever ask yourself if maybe they had a good reason to be shooting at Rossi? No, you didn't. You didn't give a shit if they were right in wanting him dead. You just shot back until they stopped coming at you because that was your job."

"Yeah, but that was different. It was self-defense," Rain protested.

Case looked up from the gray bag she was beginning to zip closed and laughed.

"You really think so? Have you ever really looked at what self-defense is? It's simply one person asserting their right to live over another's. That's it."

Case set the rifle bag on the floor and pulled over the other one, which contained the rest of their purchases. She looked back and forth between Rain and the items she pulled out of the bag, as she went on.

"When Antonio pays me to kill someone who's threatened him in some way, is it self-defense? If the friends of the person I kill hire a hit man to kill one of Antonio's people because they know if they don't retaliate, they'll be seen as weak and will be attacked again, is it self-defense? And if the person they went after was Rossi and you killed the assassin, would it still be self-defense? And even if all those instances could be called self-defense, would it even matter at that point?"

"It's only self-defense if you're being actively attacked," Rain stated, very sure of her opinion on the subject.

"And you don't think Antonio's rivals are actively attacking him with all the things they do to undermine his authority?" Case asked.

"But that's different," Rain protested again.

"No, the actions are different, but the outcome is the same. If I told Antonio you weren't doing well and he decided to get rid of you, is that really different from me putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger myself?"

Rain was thrown for a second as she imagined Case turning on her at a single order from Antonio, but then she almost laughed. Personally, she felt that the two scenarios Case had described were very different, but it was Case's argument that she hoped to prove right in court.

Antonio had never been known to pull the trigger himself, but he had been responsible for countless deaths, and it was Rain's job to make sure that Antonio was held accountable for his actions. The idea that it was his assassin who held the view that could get him sentenced to life in prison, and not the agent assigned to his arrest, seemed ironically funny to the raven-haired woman. She kept her mirth to herself, though.

"Okay, I see what you mean. But I'd still like to know what the guy did to deserve being killed," Rain said.

"It doesn't make it any easier when you do," Case said quietly.

She'd learned early on that knowing what a person had done to warrant a death sentence was worse than not knowing because then it became a judgment call on her part, trying to decide whether they deserved to die or not for what they'd done.

It was a lot easier to just pretend that the person had done something really bad, or that she was just the messenger, that the person would be killed no matter what she did, so why cause her own death by refusing the order? It wasn't like any of these people were really innocent. Even if they weren't directly involved in the business, they always benefited from it in some way.

"But at least then you'd know. I think it would make it easier for me," Rain said.

"Right. And what if you didn't think the person should die? What are you supposed to do then? You still have a job to do. You can't just call up Doc and tell him you object for moral reasons and to please find another assassin. Trust me, not knowing is a lot easier most of the time."

"So sometimes you do find out what they did?"

"Yeah."

Case did not want to be having this conversation right now. They had things they needed to do, but Case knew Rain had to settle herself down, before she'd be able to go through with the job, and talking out the morality of the work they were expected to do seemed to put Rain's mind at ease.

Case knew it was her job to make sure Rain was ready when the time came and she intended to give Rain every advantage she could. Case had expected to have at least another two or three weeks before Antonio put Rain to work. Case wasn't sure why she hadn't been allowed a longer amount of time to train the woman, but she'd learned to work with what she was given.

It was just that Case herself had trained for over a month on her own before Doc had sent her on an assignment. Case had always been under the impression that all new assassins were given that amount of time to learn what they needed to know to carry out their jobs. The only strange thing about Case's training was that it had been solitary. This rush to put Rain to work didn't make any sense, no matter how Case looked at it.

The fact that Case knew she would be the one that would be asked to take Rain out, if Rain was unable to perform the way she was supposed to, didn't make things any easier on Case. She was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to carry out such an order and it was that fact more than anything else that was causing her major problems. But she had an idea.

"Hey, go get your laptop out. I wanna copy some files to your hard drive. They might help you figure this stuff out for yourself."

Rain dutifully brought her laptop to sit next to Case's and Case hooked them up together so that the file transfer could take place directly. They both sat in front of the bed, while the two hard drives ground out their work, and Case explained to Rain what she was doing.

"These are the files I was talking about. I really want you to read the Tao Te Ching and the Art of War first, as soon as you get the chance. You'll want to take the Tao Te Ching in small bites, but the Art of War reads pretty quickly. The rest of them, just look them over at least," Case requested.

Case also transferred a copy of the files that Doc had sent to her regarding the hit and then she closed up her laptop and returned it to her bag. Rain shut down her computer too, as Case went back to the bag she'd been rummaging around in before and pulled out the two sets of night goggles. When Rain was done putting her laptop away, Case handed a pair over to the tall woman.

"Here, put these on. Don't turn them on until I cut the lights. You'll blind yourself."

Rain waited for Case to turn off the lights again, so that they could test their latest toys. As soon as Rain heard Case flip the switch, Rain turned the goggles on.

It was amazing. Everything was lit up like it was daylight, but in green tones instead of full color. Rain turned her head and looked in all directions, but the light intensity stayed almost the same. She could even make out what was in the corners of the room, though those areas would normally have appeared pitch black to the naked eye.

"We'll be using these after you've shot the Target so that we can get away quickly without being slowed down by the dark the way the guards will be. The garden is lit with Japanese lanterns, so you won't have to worry about not being able to see him to make the shot. Think you've got the hang of them?" Case asked from next to the light switch.

"Yeah," Rain answered and turned the goggles off and pulled them over her head.

Case pulled her own goggles off and then flipped the lights back on. She walked back over to the bag and took the goggles from Rain's outstretched hand and placed both pairs back into the bag. Then she picked up the packages of clothing she'd laid out on the bed and handed a set to Rain.

"We don't open these until we're there and we change outside of the truck."

"Wait, what? Outside of the truck?"

"Yes. There's going to be a major investigation for this one. They're gonna be combing those hills for every piece of evidence they can find. I want them to find black lint that hasn't touched anything but the plants and dirt they're found on. If we wore this stuff in the car on the way over, it could pick up fuzz from the seats and identify the car. If we'd already changed here, they could find clues that would lead them to this hotel and then it doesn't take them very long to narrow it down to my truck and me and you," Case explained.

Rain nodded. She was a little surprised at the forethought Case had put into this hit, but she realized she shouldn't be. Doc had said Case was the best. There was a reason the woman had never been caught. And from the reports Rain had gotten from Dawson, she wasn't even a suspect in a case.

Rain put the clothes in her bag and then stood up and turned around to see what else Case had pulled out. She found a plastic-wrapped pair of black combat boots in her face and flinched back a little in surprise.

"Shit!"

"Sorry. Here. These go with the clothes. Same rules apply. They don't go on your feet until you're standing on the ground there. I don't want soil samples giving them any leads."

Case grabbed both 9mm handguns and gave one to Rain, then handed her one of the boxes of ammo.

Rain looked at Case with a question on her face.

"I already have two of these."

"This is only for this job. If it gets used, then it gets trashed. If everything goes fine and you don't need it, then you can stash it somewhere. If there ever comes a time when you need a clean gun, or just any kind of gun at all, then you'll know where to find one," Case said.

Rain thought about that for a moment.

"How many stashes do you have?" Rain asked.

"Fifty-one weapons, six clothing, and thirty-seven tools and miscellaneous," Case replied from her internal filing system.

Case neglected to mention the stashes of money, both physical and electronic, but she didn't think Rain really needed to know about those. If she couldn't figure out something like that for herself, then Case's original estimation of the woman's intelligence had been way off.

"Wow. So, most of the time, you buy weapons that you never actually use? That seems like a waste of money."

"Depends on your point of view. I spend a couple hundred bucks on a gun I never use or don't spend any money to get a gun I end up needing, which costs more in the long run?"

"Good point. I'll have to remember that."

"Guess that's why I'm the teacher and you're the student," Case grinned.

Rain smiled sarcastically and then followed Case's example and pulled off her surgical gloves. Her hands had been sweating inside the latex and the cool air of the hotel room gave them relief from their self-generated heat.

Case dragged the second bag off the bed and let it sit on the floor. Then she plopped herself down on the bed and looked over at Rain.

"We should get some sleep. It's late and we need to be up by ten tomorrow to have enough time to get you into a range and then finish up the preparations before we get to the Target's place by two-thirty."

"What else do we have left to do?" Rain asked.

"Well, we'll need to eat before we head out and I want us to get some snacks to bring with us in case we get hungry. People can get shaky when they need food and, on a sniper hit, that's not good. And there's a few other things I want to do, but we can always wait until after the job, so it's no big deal. It's just better to be well rested. You think more clearly and, if things go wrong, you can handle it more efficiently. So no staying up late tonight," Case waggled her finger at the tall woman and got a laugh in response.

"Yes, Mom," Rain replied and sighed loudly as she began getting undressed for bed.

Case continued to lie on her bed and watched as Rain stripped, though Rain was unaware of her mentor's voyeuristic observations. Finally, as Rain climbed into her bed, Case stood up and began her own striptease, but this show was completely intentional.

Rain watched from under her covers as Case slowly pulled her T-shirt off and then tossed it to her bags. Then Case bent all the way over, emphasizing her extreme flexibility, and untied her shoes and slipped them off her feet. Rain marveled at the tight ass she was given an excellent view of through Case's jeans and couldn't help imagining squeezing those butt cheeks in her hands.

Case slowly drew her socks off and then tossed them over to her bags, too. She brought her body up to a standing position and unhooked her bra's front clasp. She left it partially dangling open and turned her body to the side to give Rain a nice profile view. Then she unbuttoned her jeans and slowly peeled them down her thighs until they dropped to the floor.

Case refused to bend over, now that Rain would finally have a clear view of naked skin, and simply kicked the jeans off her feet. Lastly, she finished removing her bra and tossed it over to her bags to join the rest of her clothing. Then she turned to face Rain for a moment. The look of lust in the woman's eyes was practically tangible.

Case walked over to the main light switch and flipped it to the off position and then she made her way back to her bed. She bent over to climb into her bed and made herself comfortable.

"Goodnight," Case said cheerfully, and listened as Rain groaned theatrically.

"Oh, that is so evil," the aroused woman complained.

"Sweet dreams," Case replied innocently.

CHAPTER 16

CASE LISTENED TO Rain as she eased into the slow deep breaths of sleep. After counting off a full twenty minutes, beginning with the first natural sounds she'd heard from Rain, Case slid out of the side of her bed and onto the floor.

She crawled silently across the carpet to her bag and slowly began unzipping it. It took her nearly five minutes to complete the operation, but Case could be very patient when she needed to be. Each click of the zipper was muffled by Case's hand until the opening was finally large enough for her to pull out the laptop.

The next part took just as long, as Case eased her laptop out of the black bag and onto the carpet. Keeping the hard zipper from hitting and scraping along the hard plastic of the computer called for more hands than Case had, but somehow she managed.

She thought about moving to the bathroom, but she didn't want Rain to be out of her sight while she worked. If Rain woke up and caught her in the bathroom with her laptop, there wouldn't be anything Case could say to completely erase the suspicion she knew Rain would feel. There were obvious excuses that came to mind, but even though they were plausible, she knew the image of her huddled over a laptop in a separate room from Rain would forever be imprinted on the woman's mind. Also, hotel bathrooms tended to echo and this one hadn't been any different. She stood a better chance of not waking Rain if she stayed in the room with her. It would give less of a feeling of hiding something, too, if Rain did wake up and saw her on the computer.

Case turned off her speakers to keep the modem signal quiet and then signed online through her sat-phone.

Her first search went through the usual channels. There were the standard files that came up when she ran any background check, but she was looking for something a little more in depth. She used the information gathered through her initial searches and put it to work for her in several national databases that the better private investigators had access to. It took a little work to narrow down her results to something more useful, but she was finally starting to find what she'd been looking for.

The birth record Case had found for Erica Raineri helped her track down the woman's parents and then she was able to pull up their records as well. The death records for her parents matched what little Rain had told Case. Case continued to look for files pertaining to Erica Raineri and she found them. There were school enrollment forms, W-2 forms issued to Rain and her parents, DMV files, and everything else that Case usually looked for to find out whatever Antonio wasn't telling her about certain jobs she'd been sent on.

Everything checked out. Case sat back and looked over at the sleeping woman. Case's forehead scrunched in concentration as she watched Rain's chest rise and fall in the dim orange light coming through the break in the curtains.

Why did she feel like Rain was more than what she appeared to be? Everything checked out, so she should close down the computer and put it away and go to sleep. But there was something off and Case just couldn't let it go.

She looked back at the copies she'd made of all the files. There were dozens and they all seemed to confirm one another. There weren't even any typos on the names or misspelled words within the documents themselves and all the dates matched.

The dates. Case decided to check the dates the files had been uploaded onto their respective servers. Within minutes Case was staring at a list of DNS links that all led to the same TCP/IP address and contained the same upload date. Case realized she'd stopped breathing and tried to start again without gasping.

The woman sleeping in the bed only a couple meters away had been created only three years ago and in such a way that the agencies that supplied the information probably weren't even aware that it was false. Case herself couldn't create that kind of legitimate fake identity and she was a consummate hacker, having studied computers just as intensely as she had martial arts. In fact...

Case pulled up a security hack program she herself had designed and continually updated and began bouncing signals off satellites. It took her over an hour to get the number of hops she wanted and then she went straight for the database she knew would probably have the answers she was looking for.

Only the CIA, NSA, and FBI had the ability to create false identities and input them into so many different governmental databases without being caught. But the CIA worked almost exclusively in international affairs, while the NSA only seemed to work in the encryption field. Though that kind of information had probably been used in cracking the databases that had been altered to create the illusion of a legitimate identity, only the FBI did those kinds of things on a routine basis, like for the Witness Protection Program. So, that's where Case was headed.

It was actually fairly easy to access the area that Case was interested in. She uploaded an image from Rain's records and fed it into the face recognition search, after starting a copy/paste loop that disregarded previous saves and overwrote her presence by copying over every spare bit of the server's latest logs. With her presence being obliterated even as it was logged, Case let the new technology of face-mapping lead her to what she already knew was there. Rain's file flashed up in the window and Case quickly copied all of the information to her hard drive.

Case glanced at the clock and knew that if anyone was tracing her, they were getting close to her actual physical location. She uploaded a tiny file and sent it through the chain she'd created with her hops. It began the process of redirecting all those links to break them and then wrote over its own origination point as she logged out and then cut the connection.

Case looked down at her little computer and began reading. It was nice to know she hadn't underestimated Rain's abilities. But with each new fact she learned about the tall woman, her heart began to sink a fraction of an inch in her chest. The things Rain had told her had been true, except for the slight name alteration, but she'd even gotten around that by keeping the same nickname.

She'd just neglected to mention the fact that she was a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation on an undercover mission to gather enough info to take down the Carlotti organization.

Case shook her head in amusement. Rain had definitely gotten more than she'd bargained for. Even Case knew Federal Agents weren't supposed to get involved with their suspects. Unless that was actually part of the operation, such as when one posed as a prostitute or had to participate in drug usage and ended up going over the line while intoxicated.

Case thought about it. Rain was good, but she wasn't that good. Sleeping with Case was not part of the job and if she hadn't truly been attracted to Case, she wouldn't have given in to Case's advances, nor reciprocated them. It only made the job more difficult because that closeness led to natural slips that even Case would be hard put to avoid and she had detachment down to a science.

No, she fucked up and now she's probably shitting bricks trying to figure out how to fix it, Case thought to herself. Then Case had another thought. How in the hell is she going to be able to pull off a cold-blooded hit?

In the blink of an eye, Case realized that everything had changed. She wasn't training a street-savvy woman, who'd gotten involved with the mob, to kill a little differently than she had before. She was trying to get an FBI Agent to disregard all of her previous training and sworn oaths and murder someone in cold blood, something that was definitely against her code of honor, not to mention the law.

Case went back to reading and clicked on the family history link. It wasn't long before Case had her answer as to why Rain had been given this particular assignment. She'd requested it for a reason. Her older brother had been killed during a raid on one of Carlotti's father's warehouses.

Case did a double take. The man who had been in charge of that particular operation had been Danny Cutillo, "Cutie" to all his friends because he'd been a handsome kid and hadn't lost his boyish good looks even into his mid-thirties, and that was how old Danny had been when the sting had gone down and he'd personally shot Rain's brother.

Case remembered when she'd mentioned that one of the other hit men had been bragging about one of his recent jobs. Doc had warned Case never to do that because Antonio wouldn't like it. He'd then gone on to tell her the story of Cutillo and how he had gloated about shooting one of the cops that had attacked his warehouse during an important drug deal.

Danny had apparently gotten a hold of photos of the crime scene and then managed to match up who he'd shot with the officer's identity. It had been months before he'd stopped announcing himself as "the killer of Officer Timothy Raines."

Antonio had only been out of his teens for a short while when the story had hit the papers and he'd tried to convince his father to have Danny taken out for his blunder, which had brought so much light onto their dark activities. But the elder Carlotti had simply brushed his son off and given Cutillo a new route to run.

After Salvatore had died and Antonio had taken over, he'd decided to abide by his father's wishes, but he'd never forgotten Cutillo's bungling of a million-dollar drug deal and the loss of a lucrative trade route.

Case pulled up the Target's file and looked at his picture. Sixteen years later, "Cutie" was still a young looking man with only a few gray hairs to show for his fifty-odd years of life. Apparently, Antonio had decided he'd honored his father's wishes for long enough and it was time for Danny to go.

Case closed down the files and set a new password for her desktop. The numbers were completely random, but with a photographic memory, she knew she wouldn't forget them.

She shut closed down the laptop and put it back in its bag, along with the satellite phone. She went just as slowly as she had before and wasn't back in bed until ten minutes later.

Case closed her eyes, but she could still see her computer monitor clearly in her mind's eye. She'd told Rain that knowing who the Target was usually didn't help with getting the job done. This time, though, Case was pretty sure she'd found the exception to the rule. Maybe if she could let Rain know who she was going to be killing, it would make the job easier.

Case tried not to think about all the other things that had flashed through her mind when she'd first seen Rain's FBI file come up on her screen. Like how they could possibly be together or what Rain would do when it finally came time for her to move in on Antonio.

Case drifted off to sleep, as one thought rose above all the others in her mind.

I have to find a way out. For both of us.

CHAPTER 17

RAIN QUICKLY RELEASED the ropes that held her wrists tied behind her back. Luckily, the ropes had been bound over the puffy cuffs of her dirty white poet shirt and her maneuvering of the sleeves out from under the ropes had given her the slack she'd needed.

The ropes dropped from her hands and she stood up from the grimy floor of the basement she'd been locked in. It only took a moment for her to force the lock on the door and she ran into the main part of the house. She looked above the stone fireplace and saw the crossed swords.

"Perfect," she said, as she took one down and hefted its weight.

It felt good in her hand and she turned to dash out the front door. She ran over green grass made dull by the misting fog that had settled over the land. She looked down and saw that her feet were bare, but she didn't feel the chill of the morning dew. A flash of lovemaking and then being marched into the basement by her duplicitous lover explained the lack of footwear.

She saw the castle through the haze and ran faster. There, just coming through the gates and readying their horses, were the ruffians she sought. She slowed her pace as she came upon them and called the leader out.

"Don't do this," Rain told her now ex-lover.

"I didn't think you were this stupid. Get out of our way," she replied.

"No. I challenge you," Rain said.

The men and women all looked at their leader. She couldn't refuse or she'd lose face.

"Fine, I accept."

Rain backed away to let the woman get down from her horse and readied herself for the coming battle. They'd sparred before, but Rain knew they'd both been holding back.

"You don't have to do this. You could come with me," the short blond-haired woman offered.

"And you could come with me," Rain replied.

"You know that's impossible."

"Just as it's impossible for me to go with you," Rain sadly responded.

The woman nodded and then took a ready stance.

"On Guard!" she yelled, and they joined the fight.

Their metal blades clashed as the woman's band of thieves and cutthroats looked on. They were both impressive in their manipulation of their swords, but Rain was the first to find an opening and she plunged the blade home. She withdrew it just as quickly and the woman looked down at her shirt where red was beginning to appear in the middle of it.

One of the women from the gang screamed and charged forward with her sword drawn and Rain let her own sword point to the ground to allow the oncoming blade to find its mark in her chest. But her ex-lover turned around to face the attacker and spread her body in front of Rain to protect her. She began to fall and Rain grasped her under the arms and backed away from the screaming woman, who Rain now knew had been this woman's lover before Rain.

Rain continued to drag the woman back toward some trees and finally found a place to sit and cradle her dying love. As the gang mounted their horses and rode off, Rain never released her hold on her lover and tried to think of something to say.

"I care about you. I think I'm even in love with you."

The woman nodded and smiled. Her eyes began to fog over and Rain knew she was losing her. She grabbed the sides of the woman's head and forced eye contact.

"Wait. You have to promise me something first. You have to promise me this won't happen again in our next lives."

"I love you," she whispered and then coughed as blood spilled over her lips.

Then she was gone.

Rain sat up. It wasn't until she opened her eyes that she realized she had tears in them.

"What the hell was that about?" she whispered to herself.

She looked over at the other bed and saw Case's naked body sprawled across the sheets with the blanket bunched up around her feet. Her hair was a tousled mess and it made Rain grin. Then she remembered the dream again and the grin disappeared.

"No, it's not going to happen again."

The woman in the dream had definitely been Case and it wasn't too difficult for Rain to figure out what her subconscious was trying to tell her. She was worried about the choices she would make when it actually came time for her to make them. Would she make the right ones? And the right ones for who? For herself, for Case, or for the FBI?

Rain shook her head. She could think about it as much as she wanted, but she would only know for sure when she actually made her decision in reality and had to deal with the consequences. She knew she'd been stupid for getting involved with Case. But looking at Case's sleeping face, she also knew there'd been no other choice for her.

In the dream, she'd said she thought she loved Case. Looking at her now, Rain knew it was true. Only love could feel like this, overriding all her sensibilities and putting her in a position she didn't want to be in, though she wouldn't give it up for anything in the world. She'd only spent a few days with the assassin, but the hit woman's first bull's eye had been Rain's heart. And that was going to make doing her job almost impossible.

Rain looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand and then swung her legs over the side of the bed. It was just after seven, meaning she could have gone back to sleep for another three hours, but she was awake now, so she decided to get up and take a shower. She was a little sweaty from the dream and didn't like the grubby feeling it was giving her. She lifted her arm and took a whiff.

"Oookay, definitely need a shower," she told herself and stood up.

Ah hour later, she was showered, blow-dried, and dressed. She looked at Case, who was still asleep and didn't look like she'd moved an inch during that whole time.

Rain picked up one of the pillows off her bed.

"Case. Case, wake up."

Case didn't move. Rain tried a little louder.

"Caaase. Wake uuup."

Case mumbled something unintelligible and turned her head to the other side.

"Case. This is your last chance and then I'm going to have to get rough with you," Rain repeated Case's warning from the morning before. "Wake up, Case."

Case didn't show any sign of acknowledgment, so Rain threw the pillow at her head. It bounced off and Case's face wrinkled into an expression of annoyance. Rain picked up the other pillow on her bed and tossed that one at her sleeping beauty, too. This time, Case opened her eyes up to slits and looked around for the offending party.

"Hey, what you doin'?" Case slurred in a hoarse voice.

"Time to get up, sleepyhead."

Case turned her head to look at the clock and then groaned when she saw the time. Technically, she still had two hours left of sleeping to do. Her head flopped back on her pillow and then she made a concerted effort to sit up. Being early on Rain's first hit wouldn't be a bad thing.

She groaned again and got to her feet. She slowly leaned all the way over until her hands were flat on the carpet and listened as her back popped and stretched into a relaxed pose. She straightened her legs as much as she could to increase the stretch and then stayed in the position for a minute to help her circulation get going.

She stood back up and then started jumping a little in place, mostly just bending her knees and pumping with her thigh and calf muscles. As her strength picked up, she went into full-fledged jumping jacks, crossing her ankles in front of each other instead of just bringing them together. After a hundred of them, she stopped and stretched some more.

"Okay, now I feel awake," Case said, as she headed into the shower.

Rain was still entranced from watching the nude mini-workout and shook her head to try and break the spell.

"Oh, that was mean," Rain mumbled under her breath, and then set to work getting their stuff together while Case took her shower.

There wasn't much to do, since Case had made sure to put everything away the night before, so Rain just double-checked to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything. Then she moved everything closer to the door and sat down on her bed and waited.

Case was done in less than ten minutes and she dressed in half that time.

"McDonald's?" Case asked.

"Yeah, sure," Rain replied, and picked up her half of the bags.

Case grabbed up the rest and they left. They decided to eat their bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits on the way to the closest firing range and were finished by the time Case pulled into the parking lot. She found a space close to the entrance and turned off the ignition.

"All right, we've got about four hours to spend here if you feel like you need to, since we got a much earlier start than I thought we would. We're running about two hours ahead of schedule, so don't feel like you have to rush or anything," Case said.

"Got it," Rain replied.

They exited the black SUV and Case grabbed the rifle bag. It only took a few minutes to get onto the enclosed outdoor range. Rain set up the gun and loaded the ammunition. The first magazine of five bullets was exhausted in a few seconds, as Rain triggered multiple shots to get a quick idea of how the weapon felt as it was being fired.

The next five shots took longer with Rain carefully lining up her aim and learning which direction the gun wanted to pull. By the seventh clip, Rain was hitting dead center of the target with every bullet.

"When did you say the last time was that you used a rifle?" Case asked.

"About three years ago," Rain replied.

It had been during her last training exercise before going undercover. She'd run the entire obstacle course, then gone to the range to practice with several different weapons, a rifle being one of them. The fact that she'd only missed one shot out of ten with the long-barreled weapon, after running through a strenuous physical test, hadn't escaped the notice of her superiors.

"Well, you've still got it. I think you're better with a rifle than anything else I've seen you pick up. I guess I know who to call the next time I have a long-range job," Case grinned.

"Yeah," Rain said, and tried to put a little enthusiasm into her voice.

Case noticed it and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You'll do fine. All you have to do is aim, don't think about it, and pull the trigger. Then we run."

Rain nodded and then went back to working with the rifle. She felt comfortable with the gun, but she knew she was going to be nervous and she could use all the practice she could get.

Case walked off to leave her to it and found a few people who were willing to take her up on her challenge that she could hit any target they could and with any gun. A round of betting was started and then she got down to business. Once she'd proven her expertise, she was able to relax and more people arrived to offer her new challenges with different guns. After a while, the betting was forgotten and she simply went through her normal routine of picking up the guns she was loaned and firing them without thinking.

Finally, she'd had enough and left the group with a few farewells and promises to do it again sometime. She returned to find Rain packing up the rifle.

"You feel good?" Case asked, as she nodded toward the rifle bag.

"Yeah. Thirty shots in a row, no misses."

"Sounds good. As long as thirty-one isn't the exception."

They left the range and Case drove them to another McDonald's where they bought lunch.

"Your home away from home?" Rain asked with a smirk.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, I've always liked McDonald's. Grew up on their cheeseburgers until I graduated to the Big Mac when I was about four."

"You could eat a Big Mac when you were four?" Rain asked in amazement.

"Yeah. I ate like four or five hamburgers one day and my dad kept going back to the counter to get me another one until he came back with the last one and said, "Next time, you're getting a Big Mac." So, the next time we ate at McDonald's, that's what I got. I could eat a lot when I was a kid."

"Yeah, it sounds like it."

"Yeah, well, you're a big girl. Don't tell me you ate salads as a kid," Case shot back with a grin.

"No. Steaks. I think my mom used to put them in the blender and feed them to me when I was a baby. I can't remember a meal that didn't include beef, or something from a cow, at any rate."

"What, are you from Texas or something?"

"No, but my mom was. She was raised on a cattle ranch. She used to play this game with my brother and me where she'd lasso us and then hogtie us. She'd get one of us to time her while she went after the other one. I didn't get to be the one with the stopwatch until I could tell time. Man, was I in a hurry to learn how to read a clock," Rain laughed, as she remembered begging her older brother to teach her what the numbers meant.

"You have a brother? Where is he now?" Case asked.

Rain came out of her reverie and realized who she was talking to and who she was supposed to be.

"He died a long time ago."

"Oh. I'm sorry. Guess that's why you don't talk about him."

"Yeah."

"So, I guess it was your dad that was Italian."

It took a moment for Rain to understand what Case was referring to, but then she nodded.

"Yeah. I don't know too much about it. He didn't talk about it very much. I don't think he wanted me involved in this stuff, but I guess that's life."

"Yeah."

Rain mentally hit herself. Her name was Erica Raineri in this life she'd made up, which made her Italian. It was something she'd chosen on purpose in order to have an inborn association with the group she was trying to infiltrate, which was mostly made up of people of Italian descent. And now she'd practically denied having any Italian heritage whatsoever.

They finished their lunches and headed back out to the SUV. In less than half an hour, they were parked in an alleyway and Case jumped out of the truck before Rain could say anything about it. She quickly joined the short blonde outside.

"Hey, what are we doing here?"

"Inventory," Case said, as she opened up the back and dragged out the black garbage bag.

She set it on the ground and opened the top of the bag. There were clothes, wire segments, used surgical gloves, mail, loose papers, pens and pencils, bubble gum wrappers, and a whole host of other objects too numerous to name. Case methodically went through it all and shredded certain things and threw them into the nearest dumpster, while tossing other things into the truck, and shoving the rest back into the huge plastic bag.

"We need to get to an incinerator for the rest of this stuff," Case said.

"People still use those?"

"Hospitals and morgues do. You just have to know the right people," Case said confidently.

It didn't take them long to get to the hospital with Case's nearest contact and they were emptying the garbage bag in the basement furnace soon after. Case snagged another box of surgical gloves on her way out and smirked at Rain's raised eyebrow.

"What can I say? I've always loved five-finger discounts."

"Do you steal silverware from restaurants, too?" Rain asked mischievously.

"Nah, don't need it. I wouldn't have anywhere to put it anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Huh, I thought you would've noticed by now. I don't actually live anywhere. For one thing, it would give me a weak spot, a place for people to attack me. And it's too easy to end up with documentation that could lead the police to me. So, I just live in hotels or in my truck. I move around so much for work that I'd never see home anyway, so what's the point?"

"Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Thanks for the tip."

"No problem."

They got back into the truck and Case looked at the dashboard clock. It was just past one o'clock.

"Okay, let's go get some snacks and then we can lead Danny Cutillo to his maker."

It took a moment for the name to sink in.

"What?" Rain asked a little hollowly.

She knew that name very well. Several surviving officers from her brother's police unit had named him as his killer.

"I said lets go get some snacks and then we'll go to Cutillo's." At Rain's questioning gaze, Case continued. "Look, you said you wanted to know who it was you were going to have to shoot, so I figured telling you his name wasn't that big of a deal. It's my compromise for the year, so don't ask me for another one," Case said lightly.

"But how do you know his name? It wasn't in the report Doc sent."

Case started the truck and kept her eyes on the road. She knew she had to play this off as nonchalantly as possible, or Rain would know something was up.

"I recognized him. I've seen him before and Antonio hates him. He blew some drug deal a long time ago and Antonio never agreed with his father about not punishing him. I guess what goes around really does come around," Case added.

Rain nodded her head as her thoughts reeled. She'd been worried before about what she was going to feel when she finally looked down the gun sight and saw a total stranger. She hadn't been sure that she would be able to pull the trigger. For some reason, this new information didn't seem to make her any more confident about it.

Then a feeling of excitement began to form in the pit of her stomach. She was finally going to get the man who killed Timmy. For the last few years, she'd been focusing all of her anger and loss on the head honcho, Salvatore Carlotti, and his son, mostly because they had been an easier target and made more sense in her line of work for the FBI. But now, all of that rage pinpointed itself on the man she was supposed to kill in only a few hours.

Rain had thought of revenge on many different occasions, but she'd never considered herself a vengeful person. Now, with the life of the man, who'd dealt the final deathblow to what had been left of her family after her mother's death, solely in her own two hands, she understood what the power of life and death and revenge truly felt like. It was invigorating and consuming all at once.

"Hey, don't psyche yourself up too much yet. You'll overload and be no good for the job later," Case said, as she watched Rain's breathing out of the corner of her eye.

"Right," Rain agreed, and tried to calm her breathing down from its steadily increasing pace. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

They stopped to get candy and chips, as well as soda and water to wash it all down with, and then went directly to the site Case had decided would be the best place to leave the truck while they waited to complete the hit on Cutillo.

They pulled off the road and the two women went around the side of the truck to the back door. Case pulled it open and put on a pair of surgical gloves. Then she handed Rain a similar pair to put on before she gave the tall woman her clothes, boots, and weapons. They quickly changed in the shelter of the open door and then Case grabbed up her backpack with the food and drinks and the night vision goggles. Rain picked up the rifle bag and slung it over her shoulder, as Case locked up the truck.

They slowly made their way into the hills that surrounded one side of Cutillo's property. Case checked her watch and motioned for Rain to wait while she looked back to the road to see if there was an influx of cars on it yet. The trees hid both her and Rain from anyone looking towards them, but Case made sure to place most of her body behind one of the tree trunks and Rain did the same.

After a few minutes, Case saw a string of cars go by and she gestured to Rain to get moving. They crested the first hill and Case made sure the coast was clear before urging Rain forward again. They both felt rather vulnerable in their black clothing in broad daylight, but Case knew that once they made it to the spot she'd selected they'd be fine.

They topped the second hill that overlooked the employees' entrance/exit gate and saw the guard, who was supposed to be patrolling the inner hill, watching over the arriving and leaving staff members. They quickly went in the opposite direction and settled into the secluded and bush-covered area that looked out across the courtyard to the garden.

Case checked her watch again. It was three-fifteen and the report had said Cutillo always ate at seven-thirty. He usually finished around eight-thirty or nine and then went out to have his cigarette alone, no matter who he'd invited to dinner. Case set her watch's alarm for eight o'clock. She looked over at Rain and drew her gun and screwed a silencer into place on the end of the barrel. Rain followed suit with her own weapon.

"Now, we wait," Case said quietly, as she sat back and tried to find a comfortable position on the hard ground from which to keep guard on their surroundings.

CHAPTER 18

AT FIRST, RAIN found the waiting nearly impossible. She was anxious to get the hit over with, and waiting in the bushes for the time to come was making her nerves raw. But after a while, she couldn't help it as she was pulled into old memories the more she thought about who it was she was going to kill soon.

There was very little known about Daniele "Cutie" Cutillo. She'd seen a few smudged pictures taken when he was a young man with dark brown hair, but it could have been anybody.

Cutillo had become somewhat of a backstage player after the raid that had gotten her brother killed. He'd learned to keep his head down and the FBI had been unable to maintain up-to-date information on him. The last reports Rain had read three years ago had been vague to say the least and hadn't even been able to pinpoint where he lived, let alone his level of criminal activity at that time.

Rain remembered the day, at age fourteen, when she'd been told her brother was dead. She'd been pulled out of history class, a happy occasion in and of itself. But the somber nature of the school clerk who had come to bring her to the headmistress' office had filled her with dread the closer they'd come to the heavy wooden door that marked the old woman's personal domain. She'd expected to be told she was being expelled or that her father had passed away from a heart attack or anything other than the words, "Your brother, Timothy, was killed in the line of duty last night. I'm sorry."

Her first thought had been that the old woman hadn't needed to say his name; she only had one brother and she wasn't likely to forget his name. Her next thought had been more of a feeling of loneliness than anything else. Timmy had been her last connection to their father after their mother had died.

Rain had been eleven when her world had been turned upside down. Before that, she'd enjoyed a loving family with plenty of money to cater to her every wish. Luckily, there had been plenty of discipline to go along with it, so she'd never exhibited the spoiled brat syndrome that so many other children with her social standing usually demonstrated.

But then her mother had been diagnosed with cancer. It had already spread from her breasts to the rest of her body and there was nothing anyone could do except to prescribe medication to ease her pain. Rain had watched as her mother had gone from a vibrant loving woman to a drugged out zombie in the space of a few months. Her father had simply closed down and spent less and less time at home, unable or unwilling to watch as his wife took her final steps to the grave.

One month to the day after Rain's eleventh birthday, her mother had succumbed to her disease. The next day, her brother had moved out and her father had packed her off to an elite girls-only boarding school. She'd lost her mother, her father, her brother, all her friends, and the only home she'd ever known in just a few days.

She'd managed to stay in touch with her brother through constant letters and phone calls, but her father had in essence died before her mother had. The phone calls they'd endured had consisted of inquiries as to her grades, which he'd already known from reports he'd received from the school, and whether she'd needed any money. She never went home for vacations or breaks and he never arrived for a visit.

In later years, and after many psychology classes, Rain had realized the fact that she was almost an exact duplicate of her mother, just as her brother looked like a carbon copy of their father, was probably too much for him to take, but it didn't stop the pain she'd felt at his rejection of her at a time when she'd needed him most in her life.

When her brother had died only three years later, it had been the last straw for both her and her father. The lines of communication had all but dried up and there had been no family left to try to put back together. For all intents and purposes, Daniele Cutillo had murdered her family.

Now, it was time for some paybacks. Rain still loved her father, no matter how deeply she had buried those feelings to hide from the pain they caused, and she felt the loss of his love and support as if it had been taken away from her that very morning. No one could have told her that her father had already pulled away by the time her brother had been killed. As far as Rain was concerned, Timmy had been her last link to both of her parents and Cutillo had shot that link in the head, taking with it any hope she'd ever had of having her family in one piece again.

"Hey, are you all right?" Case whispered.

Rain looked up and blinked away the tears that had started to form in her eyes. It was nearly pitch black where they were. The lanterns that had come on in the garden and the lights that now illuminated the central courtyard were barely getting their light through the bushes up on the hill where the two women had settled. So, Rain was pretty sure Case couldn't see her watery eyes. She was probably just checking in.

"Yeah, I'm ready whenever you tell me it's time," Rain whispered back.

"Good. You want a snack? It's only quarter after seven, so there's plenty of time to digest it," Case grinned in the darkness.

"Okay."

Case slowly and quietly pulled out a bag of peanuts and a small bottle of water from her backpack and handed them over. She took Rain's gun in trade, so that Rain could open the bag without having to worry about her gun going off in the process. She muffled the sounds as much as she could and Case nodded her approval. Rain offered the bag to her, but Case shook her head and held up the two guns in explanation.

"I'll eat after you, so you can cover me," Case whispered.

Rain nodded and upended the bag to pour half a dozen peanuts into her waiting mouth. She crunched through them and then took a moment to open the bottle of water so that she could wash them down. She cringed at the loud cracking sound that came as the safety seal was broken on the cap of the bottle, but Case shrugged her shoulders and shook her head to indicate that it wasn't as bad as Rain thought. Rain's hand around the cap made the sound barely audible and Rain was responding more to the vibration she felt than the actual sound being made.

A few minutes later, they traded activities and Rain held both guns at the ready while Case took time to down some food and water. Rain just shook her head at the almost complete lack of sound that came from Case. It took her half a minute to open her bag of peanuts and it was the same for the water, but the sounds she made blended in with the night sounds of animals and tree branches brushing together, along with the wind moving by.

Case even munched quietly, letting her saliva soften the nuts until she could slowly bring her teeth together to mash the food into a paste that could be chewed without any noise coming from her mouth. Case didn't even appear to be aware of the amount of care she was taking in being quiet and Rain wondered if she would ever have that kind of patience with anything. Then she thought about the past three years of her life and realized she was a lot more patient than she gave herself credit.

When Case was done, she put the trash back in her pack and then retrieved her gun from Rain. She checked her watch and saw that it was only a few minutes before eight. It was time to set up the gun and prepare for their getaway. Case turned off the vibrating alarm on her watch and motioned to Rain that they needed to get into position.

Rain nodded and they gathered up their things and moved out of their hiding place. It was only a dozen paces to the edge of the embankment. It made up a wall of dirt and grass, which sat directly across from the mansion and its garden.

Rain set up the sniper rifle and quickly got into position to line up the sight within the general vicinity of the garden. When she was satisfied, Case motioned her away so that she could take the woman's place and watch for the Target.

Case had already told Rain that on a hit like this, it made more sense for Case to watch and take the strain of the position for the time that they would have to wait for the Target to show up. Then she could let Rain take over with a fresh set of muscles. It was better than Rain having to stay tense the whole time and possibly ruin her very good muscle control by the time she had to make her shot. Though practice could allow a sniper to maintain the same position for hours and still be able to make a perfect shot without any problems, Rain hadn't had time to build up that kind of stamina or discipline.

While Case watched the lighted interior through the dining room's sliding glass doors, Rain worked on relaxing her muscles and practicing the shot in her mind. She knew how important visualization was from her martial arts studies. Sometimes, just seeing yourself perform a maneuver perfectly twenty times in your mind was more beneficial than practicing it twenty times in real life. If you believed you could do it, you had a better chance of making it happen than someone who wasn't so sure.

Case saw the Target stand from the table and nod to his guests before heading toward the sliding glass door in front of him. Case pulled her eye away from the telescoping sight on the rifle and sat up. Rain was immediately at her side and taking her place on the ground in front of the gun. The dirt was warm from Case's body heat and it had a relaxing effect on Rain's nerves, one that had been eluding her.

Case reached for her backpack and pulled out one of the pairs of goggles and put it on. She kept them flipped up, so that they didn't interfere with her already night-adjusted eyes, and then she pulled out the second pair of goggles and prepared them for Rain to put on as soon as the woman was done. Case zipped up the bag and put the straps over her shoulders, so that she wouldn't have to worry about carrying it and possibly dropping it during their sprint.

Rain settled herself and grasped the rifle, her right index finger wrapping around the trigger comfortably. She watched, as Cutillo stepped out onto the cement patio and reached into his inside jacket pocket for a polished silver case of imported cigarettes. He slid one out of its holding slot and brought it to his lips. He replaced the case in his pocket and then went to an outer side pocket to bring out an equally shiny silver lighter. He cupped his hand around the end of the cigarette, as he flipped the lighter open with his other hand, and Rain watched, as he sucked at the stick to help it catch light.

Cutillo put the lighter away and started his stroll through his gardens. Rain kept the crosshairs centered on him as best she could and after a minute, she recognized the path he was taking. He must have had a very good day. He continued to follow one of the paths she had memorized, but every time he paused long enough for her to attempt a shot, one of the Japanese lanterns that lit up the garden got in her way. She could have shot through it, but she knew that would immediately alert the guards to a problem and both she and Case were hoping to already be on their way when it was realized that something was seriously wrong.

Rain went ahead in her mind, following the path that Cutillo was taking, and set up her shot between two bulbous glowing lanterns. All she had to do was wait for Cutillo to enter her sights again. She kept both eyes open and let the overlapping images tell her exactly when the man walked into the shot. He didn't pause, and neither did Rain, when his eyes passed through her crosshairs.

"You killed my brother, you bastard," Rain mumbled, as her finger squeezed and she saw Cutillo fall to the ground.

Rain watched for another moment and saw the hole just above his left eye where her bullet had tunneled into the hard bone of his skull and then easily entered the soft tissue of his brain. A quick scan down his body showed that there was no pulse in his neck and his chest wasn't moving. She aimed another shot for the heart and pulled the trigger again. Sometimes people survived shots to the head against all odds, but adding a shot to the heart would be pretty much impossible for anyone to survive.

"It was only supposed to be one shot," Case whispered, as she pulled on Rain's shoulder to help her up.

"I wanted to make sure," Rain replied calmly, and quickly collapsed the gun and shoved it into the waiting bag Case was holding open for her.

Case shook her head and handed the goggles to Rain after the tall woman had slung the rifle bag over her shoulder.

"Come on, we've gotta go," Case whispered, and took off into the bushes.

Rain flipped on the goggles and took one last look at the dead man below her.

"I got him, Timmy," she whispered, and then turned to chase after Case's retreating form.

CHAPTER 19

Rain stared out into the darkness beyond the passenger side window. She'd been ordered to strip off the clothing and boots and shove them into a plastic garbage bag in the back seat, as they'd left the scene of her first hit. She'd pulled out clean clothes and shoes from her duffel bag and put them on before climbing back into the front seat. Then Case had pulled over and Rain had taken over driving while Case had changed and then gathered everything together for disposal.

Now, Case was back in the driver's seat and they were headed for a hotel room almost two hundred miles from Cutillo's estate. Case had made the reservation by cell phone, so their room would be waiting for them when they arrived, which would be soon.

The dashed lines of the road had a hypnotic effect on Rain and she spent many long minutes not thinking about anything. The adrenaline high of killing Cutillo, and then making the sprint to the truck, had worn off and left in its place a kind of mild depression. When Rain did actually have coherent thoughts, they were focused on her family.

There were images of her brother, mostly from times spent alone with their mother when they'd been children. Timmy, as she'd always called him, even after he'd told her he preferred Tim, had been seven years old when she'd been born. They'd looked almost nothing alike, his wavy blonde hair duplicating their father's, while her own straight black hair mimicked their mother's. But they'd been best buddies from the first day Rain had been brought home from the hospital.

Rain remembered the often-told story concerning how a seven-year-old Timmy hadn't even asked, he'd just picked up the baby from his mother's arms and held his new little sister.

"Timmy! Be careful," Patricia Raines scolded her son, and attempted to get her baby back safely into her arms.

"It's all right, Trish, he's not hurting her," Dennis Raines tried to soothe his wife's fears.

"But..."

"Timmy, why don't you sit down, so you stop giving your mother a heart attack," Dennis offered as a compromise to them both, and then helped Timmy find a comfortable place on the floor in front of the couch.

"Now, be careful with her head. Her neck is very weak and she has a soft spot on the top that you can't touch, or you'll hurt her," Patricia said, not quite letting go of her nervousness just yet.

"I wouldn't never hurt her, Mama," Timmy gave his solemn promise. "How long 'til she can play with me?"

"Well, it'll probably be a long time," Dennis told his son, knowing time was a fairly new concept for the seven-year-old at this point.

"How long?" Timmy persisted.

"I'd say about another two years and then she'll be walking and talking a little."

"But I can hold her 'til then?" Timmy asked hopefully.

Both of his parents nodded, so he proceeded to make his way slowly to his feet, with a little stabilizing help from his parents, and then walked off with her to his room, apparently expecting to keep her to himself until the baby was old enough to play with him.

Rain smiled at the many times her mother had told her that story. Timmy had always acted embarrassed and she'd laughed at her brother's innocence. But looking back now, she knew how special her brother had truly been. She'd only been five when he'd become a teenager, not turning six until a few months later, but only on a few occasions had he ever made her feel like her following him around wasn't appreciated.

She had practically worshipped the boy. Everything he'd said had been "The Truth" in her eyes and there was very little that could have shaken her faith back then. Even the time he'd gotten caught stealing a pack of cigarettes when he was fourteen hadn't been enough to tarnish her view of him. She'd argued for him against their parents, citing peer pressure from his friends and even quoting from their parents' own lectures about how everyone made mistakes and that was how people learned what not to do.

Patricia and Dennis Raines had been so impressed with their seven-year-old's verbal skills, that they'd shortened their son's grounding from three months to only one, and signed Rain up for testing to find out her IQ. She'd hit genius level and her parents had immediately hired a private tutor to help their daughter put her little super brain to use. She'd skipped several grades that way, so when her mother had died four years later and she'd been sent to a boarding school, she'd ended up being housed with girls three and four years older than she was.

At first, she'd thrown herself into the schoolwork, trying to forget her mother and the rejection of her father, as well as not having her brother there to constantly lean on anymore. Timmy had been in the process of moving out to start his own life when their mother had been diagnosed with the cancer. He'd put his own plans on hold to offer support to Rain, knowing their father was incapable at the time, but he'd only stayed until the funeral. He'd moved out the next morning, really only having a suitcase left to take with him, having already packed his things and taken them away piecemeal to his new apartment over the previous few months.

Rain had been put on a train later that day by their father with barely a word of good-bye from him. She'd kept in touch with her brother through letters and phone calls and he'd encouraged her to work hard in school, which she'd done to the best of her ability. But then she'd received a phone call from her father, telling her that she wasn't to speak with her brother anymore. Timmy had refused to give into his father's wishes and work toward a law degree after finishing at the police academy, and as punishment, he'd been denied access to his sister.

Rain had spiraled into a deep depression after that. At the end of the year, she'd been told she would have to repeat the entire grade, that no amount of resubmitted work or retaking of tests would get her passed on. Her father had finally relented, after being advised by the school's counselors that Rain needed her older brother in her life, and the letters and telephone conversations had resumed.

Then, less than a year later, Timmy had been gunned down. Instead of sending Rain back into a depression, though, it had hardened her resolve to do the best she possibly could in school, just as Timmy had wanted. After learning about the circumstances of her brother's death, Rain had chosen a career in the FBI, but it had been her father that had led her to the psychological foundation she now possessed, though he hadn't intended it that way at the time.

Rain remembered that pivotal conversation, which she'd had with her father the day after Timmy's funeral.

"I'm going to get him," Rain said confidently.

"Get who?" Dennis replied absently from the portfolio he was looking over at the breakfast table.

He would have to call his stockbroker and get him to invest a little more in this particular company; it looked like a gold mine.

"The man that shot Timmy. I'm going to send him to prison and all the people that he works for are going to join him."

Dennis looked up momentarily from the papers and then quickly sent his gaze back to the black and white pages. The older Rain got, the more she looked like her mother, and that blade was still razor sharp in his chest.

"Rebecca, be reasonable. You're fourteen. There's nothing you can do about it. The police will handle it."

Rain's face twisted in disdain at the use of her given name; she'd hated hearing it since the day her mother had died. She'd told Timmy to call her Rain and he'd gone along, understanding what she'd needed from him, and all of her school associates - she couldn't bring herself to call them friends - had said Rain was a cool nickname. But her father had refused to call her anything but Rebecca.

"Maybe not now, but someday. I told you I'm going to join the FBI, so then..."

"And I told you that's not going to happen," Dennis said with finality.

"You can't stop me. What are you going to do, take me out of school?" Rain sneered.

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? And pray tell me, how do you expect to get into such an elite profession, Rebecca, when you can't even keep up with your schoolwork?" Dennis replied with more sarcasm to his child than he knew was appropriate.

"I'll do better," Rain promised quietly and Dennis got the distinct feeling that she wasn't speaking to him.

"I hope you do. And stop all this nonsense about the FBI. You're an intelligent girl; you can be anything you want to be, a doctor, a lawyer, a psychologist. Just get your head out of the clouds and think practical. Go where the money is and you'll be fine."

It wasn't until later, doing research on what an FBI Agent really did, that Rain had seen the one real requirement for acceptance into the law program, which was a J.D., and had added that to her recent discovery of the occupation of profiler. She'd remembered her father's remarks about what he considered to be a respectable profession for her and in their next telephone conversation, she'd told him she'd decided on a career in either law or psychology. He'd gladly promised to pay for her tuition fees as soon as she graduated and he'd made good on that promise two years later.

It was after she'd turned twenty-three and had finally earned her Ph.D. in psychology that she'd revealed to him her true intentions. That had been the last time they'd spoken; she could still hear the dial tone of the cut connection sounding in her ear after her final refusal to change her mind.

He couldn't touch her trust funds, which had been set up before she'd been born and had been released to her when she'd turned twenty-one, but he'd closed every single credit card account, her savings account, and her checking account in the next twenty-four hours, since they'd all been in his name. She'd hardly used the cards, and had only written checks for food and rent, and there was plenty of money in the trust funds that were still at her disposal, so she hadn't missed the money.

But the message behind the acts had cut her deeply and she'd finally lost that last vestige of hope that she might ever have the kind of relationship with her father that she'd had with him before her mother had died. She'd entered the four-month New Agent Training program and had never looked back.

Until now.

The dashed lines were replaced with a single thick white line and Rain looked up to see Case pulling them onto an exit.

"Almost there," Case said, having noticed that Rain had finally come back from wherever it was she had been.

Rain nodded and went back to staring out the window until they pulled into the parking lot in front of the hotel. Case found a spot towards the back of the building and they walked around with their bags to the front desk.

"We have a reservation?" Case prompted the sleepy-looking man behind the counter.

"Name?" he asked.

"Smith, Laura," Case gave the name she'd used over the phone.

The man typed it into his computer and then tried to offer a smile through his tiredness when the reservation popped up on his screen.

"ID?"

"It's in the suitcase somewhere. Will this do?" Case asked, as she passed over a fifty-dollar bill.

The man studied the greenery and then gave a genuine smile as he pocketed the money.

"I'd say it's a close enough likeness. Sign here, please?"

He slid the register over for her to endorse. Case signed the receipt and then paid it, handing over several more medium-sized bills.

She received the keys in exchange and was given directions to their room and then told which floors contained the vending machines. A few minutes later, the two women were dropping their bags by the door and checking out what the room had to offer.

"Hey, you need to call Doc and confirm the hit," Case told Rain, as the tall woman stretched out on one of the beds.

"Now?" Rain asked, looking at the time and really just wanting to go to sleep already.

"Yeah, now. I should've had you call him earlier, but you seemed a little out of it. Just let him know it's you and then tell him the job's done. Then he'll send the money to your account and that should be it," Case instructed.

Rain struggled to sit up and groaned theatrically at the effort it took. Case rolled her eyes and went to her bag to get out her flashlight.

"I'm going to go take a look at the truck. I'll be back in a few," Case informed Rain as the woman pulled out her cell phone and hit the first memory button to make it dial Doc's number.

Rain nodded her consent, or understanding, she wasn't sure which, as the blonde left the room, and then she listened to the phone ring once before she heard the click that signaled the connection had been made.

"Doc."

"Hi, it's Rain. I just completed delivery of the telescope. Everything went fine," Rain rattled off into the little phone.

"Good work." Rain listened to what sounded like plastic being tapped on plastic and realized Doc was typing at his computer. "Payment for delivery has been rendered." There was a pause and then Doc continued, much to Rain's surprise. "Are you alone?"

Rain glanced down at the phone.

"Yeeah," she drawled cautiously.

"Good, 'cause Case doesn't need to know this and if you're smart, you won't tell her."

"Hey, I know where my loyalties lie," Rain replied smoothly, suddenly very awake.

"Yeah, I thought you did. So, here's the question. Do you think you could take over for Case in a month or two?"

What?

"Why?"

"Just yes or no."

"Yeah, no problem, but why?"

"The boss isn't too happy with Case right now. It looks like she's been working with our competitors and he was hoping you'd make a good replacement. Guess he was right."

"Yeah," Rain said noncommittally.

"So, from now on, you start checking your messages every day. You'll get your assignments directly from me. And when you get that one assignment in particular, you'll be ready."

"Right."

"I'll be in touch."

The phone clicked again and then Rain heard the dial tone signaling that the line had been disconnected. She turned off the phone and put it away, and then sat in silent contemplation for several long minutes before looking towards the door Case had exited through a short time earlier.

"What the hell is going on?" Rain finally asked the empty room.

CHAPTER 20

CASE SLID ALONG the concrete underneath the SUV, using her shoulders, back, and feet to push her body along, as she checked every crevice she could find with her flashlight. She'd already checked the tire wells and had found a small tracking device magnetically attached to the underside of the metal. She'd realized it had been too easily found, so that was why she was now doing a thorough examination of the underside of her truck.

After twenty minutes of searching, she found the second beacon. It was disguised as part of the truck itself, but Case had inspected her truck the day she'd gotten it and her memory told her this piece of metal didn't belong. She didn't move it, or even touch it, but continued with her search.

Nothing else looked out of place, so Case climbed out from under the vehicle and did a check of the interior. There were no bugs, but Case wasn't surprised at that. No one in the organization had ever been known to use wires, since the recordings could just as easily be used to incriminate the user as they could the one being spied on.

Case sat in the driver's seat of her truck and tried to figure out what Carlotti was up to. It was obvious that he intended to set her up. But for what and how, she had no idea. Or why. That was the really frustrating part.

During all her time in Carlotti's employ, there had only been two instances in which Case had disobeyed Antonio. The first time had been when she'd refused to become one of his assassins, but he'd changed her mind about that by having her cat killed. The second had been after the Massucci hit and the threat of personal physical torture had been enough to put her back to work.

There was only one other major event that came to Case's mind and that was the start of Rain's training. Things had been out of whack ever since.

For a moment, Case considered the possibility that Antonio was working with Rain. Case's knowledge of what went on and who was who would make her the perfect fall guy, if Antonio had decided to turn state's evidence in order to earn himself immunity. But the more Case thought about it, the more she was inclined to dismiss the idea.

Antonio thrived on his position of power. He would rather go down with a gun in his hand than work with the FBI. It would be an insult to his pride to admit that kind of defeat, one that he would never accept.

Case shook her head. She was sure that Antonio had no idea that Rain was a federal agent.

And Rain working with Antonio made no sense at all. If she'd had that kind of inside help, she never would have had to go undercover in the first place, let alone for the last three years. The fact that Antonio was in charge of the organization that had caused the death of Rain's brother was another big hole in that theory. Which left Case at a loss as to why her boss seemed to think she was a threat to him now.

Antonio never did anything without a good reason. He was intelligent, which had made him one of the best leaders ever to head the organization. And he never made idle threats, something that had set him apart from the rest of the pack. If Antonio said you either do something or he'd have your balls on a plate, you knew he meant it literally. In fact, he'd probably send the doctor to you himself, and pay for the hospital room too, just to make sure you survived the procedure.

Case locked up her truck and headed back to the hotel room. If Antonio really was intending to take her out in some fashion, she needed to know more, and fast. She had some investigating to do.

"So, did the truck check out?" Rain asked before Case could even close the door all the way.

Case went to her bag and put away her flashlight.

"Well, I found two trackers. The first one was really obvious, but the other one wasn't, so I think it was there in case I found the first one. I left them both intact. I don't want Antonio knowing that I know he's watching me. I just wish I knew why. It doesn't make any sense."

"Did you do something to piss him off?"

"Not that I know of. I've never taken an outside job and I've never asked for more money. And I've only told him no twice, but we worked that out a long time ago."

"So, there's nothing you could have possibly done to maybe make him nervous?" Rain asked.

Case's face took on a puzzled expression.

"What do you mean? Do you know something I don't?" Case asked, suddenly suspicious of the phone call she knew Rain had made to Doc.

Rain only took a second to think and decided to tell Case what Doc had told her.

"Well, Doc seems to be under the impression that you've been working for Carlotti's rivals. Do you have any idea why he would think that?"

Case sat down on the bed and Rain made room for her. The assassin went over her movements of the past eight years again, but she didn't come up with any more answers than she had the last time.

"I can't think of anything. I don't associate with anyone, so I couldn't have been seen with someone. The only calls I make are to my voicemail and Doc and whatever places that have to do with my assignments." Case suddenly had a thought. "What else did Doc say?"

Rain looked into Case's eyes and found herself unable to lie. It was an unsettling feeling, since she realized if Case had asked her point blank who she was, she would have told Case the truth.

"He expects me to take your place in a month or two. I'm supposed to take you out when he gives the word, but..." Rain trailed off, unable to explain why she was willing to throw away the last three years of her life, as well as her career and possibly her entire future, in order to keep Case safe.

Case looked away. There was something in Rain's eyes that put Case on edge. Maybe if she didn't look, she could ignore it.

"Don't worry about it. If you'd planned to go through with it, you wouldn't have said anything, so I know you don't," Case reassured her.

Rain nodded and Case continued.

"All right. For now, we do nothing. I'm still training you and we're still going on hits for Antonio. As far as they're concerned, nothing's changed," Case said decisively. "I'll figure out what's going on and try to talk some sense into Antonio. I've got connections. Maybe someone can tell me what the idiot is so freaked out about."

Case stood up and began to undress.

"It's been a long day. Get some rest. I'm going to go take a shower," Case informed her student, and continued to pull off her clothes as she entered the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Rain sat on the bed and listened as the shower came on.

"I'm in way too deep," she said to herself.

She turned her body to let her legs fall over the side of the bed and leaned over to take off her shoes and socks. Then she stood up and continued with the rest of her clothing.

CHAPTER 21

CASE STOOD UNDER the hot water and tried to think. She knew there was no talking to Antonio, regardless of what she'd told Rain. Whatever had made him decide to get rid of her, she knew he wouldn't change his mind about it. It would make him look weak and he couldn't afford that.

She still had no idea why Antonio had turned on her, but she supposed it didn't really matter. The fact was that he had and now she had to find a way to survive.

Her first thought was to run. Now that she was sure Antonio intended to have her killed, there was no reason to stick around. She had planned for this eventuality shortly after accepting her position as assassin.

Case had been slowly migrating her money overseas, making small cash withdrawals and then transferring them from one bank account to another until the bulk of the money could be wired to accounts outside the United States. It also made the funds untraceable to Antonio and therefore free of suspicion or possible seizure. At last count, she'd estimated that she could live comfortably off the interest alone for the rest of her life. But she'd always known that doing so would mean leaving the country and that didn't exactly appeal to her. Not to mention the fact that Antonio didn't just let people leave his organization. But she could technically leave tonight, if she wanted.

Of course, if she did that, there would be no doubt in Antonio's mind that Rain had tipped her off and he'd probably order a hit on the woman.

Case imagined Rain being hauled in front of Antonio. The torture Rain would have to endure as Antonio tried to find out if she knew where Case had gone. Then Rain's half-dead body being dragged to some out of the way place, before someone like Case put a gun to the back of her head and blew her face off.

Case felt nauseous with the fear and helplessness that suddenly tried to overwhelm her. She could feel her chest tightening and the need to scream was intense. The feelings were familiar, but she'd learned to suppress them long ago, along with all her other emotions. She concentrated on her breathing and forced everything away from her. Nothing mattered and she didn't care about anything.

Case shook her head and continued to soap her body as the feelings faded into numbness, though her heart continued to thud slightly in memory.

Rain would just have to take care of herself. She had the entire government backing her, whereas Case was on her own. Case's mind flashed on several scenes of Rain's death and Case gave up the act almost as quickly as she'd begun it. She couldn't leave Rain to face Antonio alone.

Case leaned against the wall in resignation for a few moments and then suddenly slammed her wet fist into the tile.

"Fuck!" she hissed out.

It was stupid to even consider protecting the FBI Agent, now that her own life was on the line, but she found herself doing just that. If she stayed, she was asking for a bullet in the head.

Case ran through several scenarios, trying to find one that worked.

She thought of faking her death, making it look like Rain had followed through on Antonio's orders early. But Antonio would want to see Case's body and if there weren't one, Rain would probably be executed on the spot for attempting to deceive him.

Another thought flitted through Case's mind, but it didn't take long for her to reject it. Rain would never agree to come with her because of her obligation to the FBI. The fact that Case even considered asking the woman to run with her made Case extremely uneasy.

But running wasn't the answer anyway. As soon as she disappeared, Antonio would alert his subordinates and then they'd set their own people on her in order to please the boss. Though his rivals might protect her for a little while to gain information, they'd eventually sell her out to the highest bidder, which would almost certainly be Antonio.

At least she knew no one was gunning for her, yet. According to Rain, Antonio was waiting for the apprentice's training to be a little more complete before he issued Case's termination orders, which meant she didn't have to decide anything tonight.

Case rinsed her hair and body one last time and then turned off the water. After drying herself off, she picked up her clothes from the floor and carried them out into the room.

Rain was watching TV in the nude, one leg raised and the other straight out on the bed.

"Hey, I thought I told you to get some rest," Case said.

"I'm not tired," Rain replied.

"Bullshit. You're exhausted."

Rain went back to staring at the television screen. She'd been dead tired before her conversation with Doc, but now her mind was racing and she knew sleep was a long ways off.

Case threw her clothes on top of her bag and walked over to the bed. She sat down facing the brunette and crossed her legs into the pretzel position.

"What's going on?" Case asked bluntly. "Was there something else that Doc said that you didn't tell me about?"

Rain continued to stare at the TV as though she hadn't heard the question, but just as Case was about to ask again, Rain spoke.

"What are we going to do?"

It was Case's turn to look away. So far, she'd come up with a lot of no-win scenarios, but at least she was narrowing down the possibilities.

"I'll think of something," Case said confidently. "Now go to sleep."

Case started to get off the bed, but Rain reached out and caught her wrist. Without thought, Case twisted her wrist to break the hold. A split second later, she'd caught Rain's hand with her own, pressed her thumb into the woman's palm, and twisted her arm up behind her. The move turned Rain partially over, while Case used her other arm to push on Rain's shoulder to turn her over completely and pin her to the bed. As Case was about to bring her knee up to press into Rain's spine, she realized what she was doing and let go, and then backed away.

"Sorry," Case mumbled, and continued to stand where she was about a foot from the edge of the bed.

Rain rubbed her wrist and shrugged her shoulder to make sure it was okay.

"It's all right. I shouldn't have grabbed you like that. I just..." didn't want you to leave, Rain finished the thought silently.

"What?" Case asked.

Rain shook her head.

"Come on, what?" Case asked again, a little more impatiently, as she sat back down.

Rain racked her brain for a plausible response that would sidetrack Case without actually talking about anything that was really bothering her.

"How did you deal with it? Your first hit," Rain finally said.

Case relaxed a little and then nodded in understanding.

"I threw up. Then I worked out until I could barely walk and then I passed out. When I woke up the next morning, I just made myself not think about it."

Case didn't continue, but now Rain was curious.

"Have you ever fucked up on a job?"

Case was surprised at the question, but she nodded her head.

"Yeah, once."

Rain waited, but Case didn't say any more.

"What happened?" Rain finally asked.

Case looked around the room. Why was it that Rain always seemed to want to make her uncomfortable when she was the one that was freaking out about something?

"Things were supposed to be a certain way when I got there and they weren't. I handled it."

Rain snorted.

"Could you have been just a little more vague? I think I might have understood some of that."

Case rolled her eyes. She really didn't want to talk about this, but she had a feeling Rain wasn't going to let it go.

"All right. If I tell you what happened, will you go to sleep?"

Rain thought it over.

"You'll tell me the whole story?" Rain asked.

Case nodded her head.

Rain studied her, but finally nodded her head in return and used the remote to turn off the TV.

"Okay, tell me the story," Rain agreed, doing a good imitation of a five-year-old as she settled herself into the bed a little more comfortably.

"Promise," Case ordered.

"I promise to go to sleep if you tell me the story."

Case nodded her acceptance of the deal and then tried to figure out where to begin. It took her a moment, but then she simply started right in.

"There was this guy, named Tony Massucci, who decided to try to cut a deal with the Feds. Antonio found out and I got the call to take care of the problem. I had a week to figure out how to set up the hit and the only rule was no witnesses, so I could do it any way I wanted. I decided to take him out at his home, one bullet to the head. His wife was supposed to take their three kids to some concert they'd been planning to see for weeks, so I figured that would be the perfect time. Tony was always working and he almost never went out with them, so they hadn't even bought him a ticket. I'd cased the place, so I knew exactly where he'd be. I timed it so that I would get there half an hour after the family had left.

"I went in and everything was perfect. Massucci was right where I'd thought he'd be. He started begging right off and I told him to shut up, but he wouldn't. He just kept going on about his kids and how much he loved his wife. He even told me he could set up a deal for me, if I let him and his family live. I laughed at him. I was about to kill him for turning narc and he wanted me to put myself in the same position. I told him he was an idiot and then forced him onto his knees. He just kept begging me not to kill his family and that's when I realized what he meant."

Case remembered the dread that had flooded through her body and made her heart thud when she'd understood that the wife and kids were still in the house. She'd known instantly what she was going to have to do. She'd tried to tell herself that as long as they stayed upstairs, where Tony had said they were, she could leave without being seen and therefore leave no witnesses, but the more calculating part of her mind had known the truth.

"Massucci finally just started begging me to kill him, but to leave his family alone. I told him he should've thought of that before he went to the FBI. But then he kicked me and we started wrestling for the gun. It went off, but the silencer kept it from making too much noise. But we crashed into some stuff while we were fighting and I guess they heard it upstairs. They all came down to investigate. By the time they were in the doorway, I'd gotten the gun back under control and shot him.

"They just stood there and stared at me, all crowded in the doorway."

Case stopped talking. She'd never told anyone about this, never even said the words before.

"What did you do?" Rain asked, though she had a pretty good idea of what had happened next.

"I killed them. All of them."

Case was numb and Rain could see the absence of light in the assassin's eyes. As the silence continued, Rain realized Case was gone. She was somewhere in her past and she'd probably stay there unless Rain could bring her attention back to the present.

"So, then what happened?" Rain asked.

It took a moment, but Case eventually looked up.

"I took off. I guess I tried to leave. I'm not sure. When Antonio's men found me a month later, I was almost dead from alcohol poisoning and malnutrition. Then I went back to work."

Case shook her head a little as if to clear the emotions away.

"Well, there's the story," Case finished.

Case quickly stood up from the bed, so that Rain wouldn't have a chance to grab her again. Even the idea of being touched was making her feel like a caged animal. But at the same time, she just wanted to disappear into Rain's embrace.

Case closed her eyes the way she always did to give herself an extra second to adjust to the dark before turning off the lights.

"Night," Case offered.

A few seconds later, Case headed for the second bed. Rain watched the dark form move silently through the room. The vibes that Case was throwing off screamed at Rain to just leave her alone, to turn over, and go to sleep. But Rain's own need to be touched at the moment overrode her usual acceptance of Case's need for space.

Rain quietly got up and knelt down next to Case's bed, so that she wasn't towering over the reclining woman. It only took a few seconds for Case to roll over and look at Rain's shadowed face.

"What?" Case asked gruffly.

She didn't have any spare energy to coddle Rain at the moment.

"Can I hold you?" Rain asked quietly.

Case felt the tears spring to her eyes in half a heartbeat and her throat closed up from too much emotion. Her first instinct was to run, to scream, to kick the shit out of Rain for making her feel anything. Instead, she nodded her head and scooted over enough for Rain to join her in the bed.

Rain was surprised at how quickly and easily Case snuggled up to her. Case's arm wrapped around her torso and held on for dear life. Rain returned the tight hug and that was when she felt the silent sobs that were shaking Case's body. Rain squeezed tighter and began muttering soothing words to the crying woman in an attempt to ease her suffering.

As Rain watched the black sky change to a gray-blue through the breaks in the curtains, Case finally drifted off to what seemed to be a restful sleep. But Rain remained awake, alone with her thoughts and her fading hope.

She didn't have a prayer of getting them both out safely and she knew it. At the very least, Case would be facing the death penalty for having killed so many people. Rain herself would be on dozens of hit lists as a key witness against Carlotti, so it was possible she wouldn't even live to see him go on trial for his crimes. But with all the evidence Rain and the others on the case were gathering, she knew he would eventually end up in prison. It was her only consolation, along with the fact that she had killed her brother's murderer.

Rain closed her eyes and her arms tightened unconsciously around Case. As she followed Case into dreamland, she promised herself she would do anything it took to keep them both safe. Anything.

CHAPTER 22

CASE SETTLED HER holsters on her hips and checked the distance from the guns to her hands. She adjusted the left one to hang a little lower. When she was satisfied with their placement, she picked up her duster and pulled it on. Last, but not least, she placed her black Stetson on the top of her head and then canted it to the side.

As she walked down the sidewalk, her boots thudded into the hard wooden planks and her spurs jingled. Everyone got out of her way and she could feel the excitement build, as she took up a spot in the middle of the town's only road.

She looked up to see the sun's placement in the sky and then back down at the sun-bleached dirt of the road. She closed her eyes to rid them of the spots leftover from the sun. As the purple circles faded, she opened her eyes and saw she wasn't alone anymore.

Another lone figure stood at the other end of the street. Dust settled around her feet as she came to a stop and faced Case. They both knew the whole town was watching them from behind partially closed shutters, but they ignored their audience and focused only on each other.

"You know, you don't have to do this, Deputy."

"That's Sheriff now, thanks to you," the woman said.

"Well, I guess congratulations are in order. And you don't have to thank me. I'm glad I could help," Case replied sarcastically.

"You didn't have to kill him. He was a good man."

"He challenged me. I never would have wasted my time on him otherwise."

"He was in love with me. What did you expect him to do when he found us?"

"Walk away. Accept that the better woman won. His death was his own doing. I just pulled the trigger," Case argued.

"He never would have challenged you, if he'd known who you were."

"And you never would have slept with me, right? Outlaw not good enough for ya, huh?"

"It was never like that. I don't care who you used to be. I care about who you are, who you're going to become."

"And that's why you challenged me?"

"I challenged you because I'm the law around here and you killed a man. I didn't have a choice."

"Neither do I."

There was silence as they stood and watched each other. By unspoken agreement, there were no more words exchanged. A minute went by and then Case watched the Sheriff draw her gun. It seemed to happen in slow motion and by the time the tall woman had her gun free of its holster, Case had already pulled the trigger on her own gun three times.

It took a moment for it to register on the other woman's body that she'd been shot, but then she fell to her knees and collapsed onto her side. Case stood there in shock for another moment as she realized her reflexes had reacted without her permission. She'd never meant to kill her. She hadn't intended to draw her gun at all.

Case ran forward to the Sheriff's body and skidded in the dirt on her chaps-covered knees. Her gun was still clutched in her hand, but she barely noticed it as she tried to pull the woman's body into her arms.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. Please don't die. Please don't leave me. Not again," she cried, the tears leaving streaks of white down her dust smudged face.

The Sheriff looked up at her and smiled.

"Next time," the woman coughed a little on the words.

"Wait! No, don't go. Not yet. I need you."

The Sheriff reached up to her leather vest. She grasped the silver star pinned to her chest and pulled it off. She lifted her arm and pushed it into Case's hand. Case closed her fingers over the hard metal and the soft flesh.

"Never forget," the Sheriff coughed and Case could smell the copper scent of blood coming from the back of the woman's throat. "That I love you."

The Sheriff closed her eyes, and then her body went limp in Case's arms.

"I love you, too," Case whispered.

As Case closed her own eyes, everything seemed to shift and dissolve. Instead of holding her lover's body, she was standing in a room. A man lay dead on the floor and she could hear a woman and children crying.

Case didn't open her eyes, but she could see nonetheless. A little boy and two young girls were huddled with their mother in the corner of the room. She'd herded them there after killing the man. They were all crying and the sounds were increasing as their hysteria went unchecked.

"Shut up!" Case yelled.

She couldn't think with all their noise. The crying subsided a little, but it didn't stop completely.

"Just let the children go. Please, they're just children. They don't understand any of thi..."

"I said shut up! Just shut up!"

The little boy began wailing and his mother tried to put a hand over his mouth to quiet him down. It didn't really help and Case could feel her control slipping. She was no longer detached and she knew that was not good in her line of work.

Case knew what she had to do and stalling wouldn't make it any easier. She couldn't stop the tears and she didn't even try. She knew it wouldn't throw off her aim.

Case raised her eyes and then her gun. In four quick shots, she placed a bullet in the boy's head, the mother's, and then the two girls'. It was suddenly very quiet and the only sound she could hear was her own breathing through the ringing in her ears. Then she turned the gun around and raised it to her own head. She heard the click and that was all. Then her photographic memory reminded her that the gun had already been fired six times; the accidental shot, the shot to Tony's head, then the four shots for the rest of the family. She resolved to use a different gun in the future, one with extra bullets.

With the lack of an easy out, it suddenly hit her again what she'd just done and she had to get out of there. She ran through the house trying to find the front door, but every door seemed to lead to another room or a stairway. Finally, she found the way out. She went through and Rain stood there waiting for her.

Case opened her eyes. Her heart was pounding, but she didn't make a sound or move a muscle, as she tried to sort through all the images from her dreams.

Normally, she couldn't remember anything about her dreams, except a lingering feeling of terror or dread, but this had been crystal clear. She could almost taste the dust in her mouth and smell the acrid scent of gunpowder embedded in her nostrils. The images of the old western town were still vivid in her mind's eye and hadn't faded away. She felt an ache in her chest when she remembered holding Rain's dying body in her arms. There had been nothing she could do to take her actions back, though everything in her had wished that she could trade places with the woman, if it would just save Rain's life.

And Case had no doubt that the woman was Rain. The hair was a little different and the face was a bit more angular, but it was still her. And she'd killed her. She didn't have to think too hard about what that probably meant. She was afraid she was going to lose Rain, maybe even have to kill her herself, or maybe she'd end up doing something that would get the agent killed.

As she went over the dream again, she remembered what had woken her up. The Massucci hit. She'd made a mistake and it had cost a woman and three kids their lives. Antonio had actually commended her for that part, though. He'd appreciated her thoroughness. If she'd left any witnesses, he would have been forced to have her killed too, in order to make sure there were no living connections that could lead back to him.

But with that thought came the first glimmer of an idea.

No witnesses. No loose ends. No connections. No evidence.

Antonio wanted her dead, but he hadn't made it public yet. Only a few select people probably knew about it. Doc, maybe some of the other bosses. Antonio's personal staff.

The outside world disappeared for a moment as a plan began to take shape in her mind. She was a little surprised at how easy and how crazy it was, but if everything went smoothly, both she and Rain would be home free. Maybe not together, but alive. And that was what mattered.

As she felt Rain stir beside her, Case pushed the bulk of the plans to the back of her mind. Rain was very cute when she was first waking up and Case enjoyed the feeling of protectiveness that came over her when Rain was in such a vulnerable position.

Rain slowly opened her eyes and then turned her head to see Case watching her.

"Morning," Rain whispered, and then cleared her throat.

"Actually, it's about three in the afternoon," Case informed her with a smirk.

Rain shrugged.

"Same difference. So, what's for breakfast?"

"Wanna order pizza?"

Rain thought about it for a second and then nodded.

"Yeah. That sounds good."

Case extricated herself from Rain's embrace in order to reach for the phone book on the bottom shelf of the nightstand. Rain sat up and looked around the room for a moment and then stretched before she climbed out of bed.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," Rain said, and went to the bathroom, while Case found the number for the closest Pizza Hut.

Case placed their order for a large pizza with ham and pineapples, as well as breadsticks and a two-liter of Coke. After getting confirmation that it would be delivered in about half an hour, she hung up and then checked her voicemail. There were no new messages, so Case placed a new phone call, one that would begin putting her plan into action.

"Joe, here. You got the word?"

"Babycakes."

"Yeah, you got the word. Who'm I dealin' with?"

"You don't recognize my voice? I guess it has been a long time since I needed your particular skills," Case grinned.

"Case? That you? What's shakin'?"

"My ass, but you still can't touch it."

Joe laughed.

"And that's a damn shame. So, whatcha need, girl?"

"I need five demolition charges with a blast radius of fifteen meters each and remote detonators to link them to one control with an activation area of one kilometer."

"Okay, I can get you the explosives, but you'll have to talk to someone else about the detonators. Day after tomorrow soon enough?"

Case thought about it. As long as she didn't get a new assignment, a few days wait would be fine.

"Yeah. I think that'll work. So, you know somebody I can contact about the detonators?"

"Of course. All ya had to do was ask."

Case could hear the smile in his voice and listened as he gave her a number and reference password that would let him get a nice kickback if Case made a purchase. After a few pleasantries, she hung up and dialed the number.

"Hello?"

It was a woman's voice.

"Hey, Joe said I should call you. Sweet cheeks."

There was a loud exasperated sigh.

"God, I don't know why the hell I let him choose that as his password. The guy's touched in the head." The woman sighed again. "So, what can I do ya for?"

"Well, Joe said you might have what I'm looking for."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"I need a detonator set for five demolition charges that will link all five to a single key that can then be activated from about one kilometer away."

"Will the charges be near each other or in different places within the specified one kilometer area?" She asked, all business now.

"They'll be within twenty meters of each other in a single building."

"All right. Yeah, no problem. I've got several different packs that can be modified for that kind of setup. Do you want the cheap shit or do you want a little assurance that the stuff'll blow when you push the button?"

"I want the best. Money's not an issue."

"Great. How soon do you want it?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"All right, call me again when you're ready to pick it up and you'll get an address."

"Right. Later," Case said, and hung up.

She looked at the time and decided she'd better get dressed soon. There was no sense in giving the delivery guy a free show. She went to her bag and pulled out a T-shirt and shorts and a twenty for the food. Just as she was finishing pulling the shorts on, there was a knock at the door and she heard the shower turn off. Case paid for the pizza and then knocked on the bathroom door.

"Pizza's here," she called through the door.

"Great. I'll be right out," Rain's muffled voice came back to her.

Case set the box on the bed and then lost the clothing again. She still needed to take a shower herself and there was no point in stinking up the clothes until then. Case detested going to the laundromat and tended to wear her clothes until they looked or smelled dirty rather than washing them simply because she'd worn them before. In fact, judging by the size of the dirty bag, it was probably about time to do another load again.

Case dodged around the thought of having to perform the annoying chore and turned on the TV. She sat down on the bed and began eating from the pizza box while she flipped through the stations. A few minutes later, Rain came out of the bathroom and surveyed the situation.

Case pulled another slice from the box and held it up to the clean naked woman.

"Wan sthum?" Case offered through a mouthful of food.

"Oh, that's pretty," Rain replied, as she took the food and bit off a mouthful.

Rain took up position next to Case on the bed and watched the TV channels go by faster than she could really follow. She looked down at the pizza to take another bite and felt a wave of nostalgia come over her suddenly, as an old memory flashed through her mind.

"You know, this was my brother's favorite kind of pizza," she commented softly. "It took him forever to get me to try it, but I've loved it ever since."

Case stopped flipping channels and looked at Rain with a somber expression.

"It must've been hard losing him," she offered.

"Yeah."

Rain went back to eating the pizza and Case continued with her channel surfing. They lapsed into silence for a while until Rain had had enough of the melancholy mood.

"So what are we doing today?" Rain asked.

Case hadn't thought about anything past the phone calls she'd already made, but Rain's question reminded her of something she hadn't done in over a week.

"Actually, I should probably go see one of my instructors. It's been a while since my last training session and I usually try to get in every few days, but it's been crazy this past week," Case said.

"Ain't that the truth," Rain mumbled in agreement.

"You could get some practice in, too. How 'bout it?"

Rain nodded.

"Yeah. I could definitely use the exercise. I'm used to working out just about every day, but this hopping on a plane and flying across the country every other day isn't real conducive to a normal schedule."

"Ah, you'll get used to it," Case grinned.

"Yeah, right."

They finished the pizza and then Case grabbed some clothes from her bag and headed into the shower to get ready to go.

Rain took the opportunity to check her voicemail and was thankful to find no new messages from Doc. She didn't think she could handle another job so soon. Though, when she really thought about it, she wasn't sure she would be able to handle another job like that ever again.

The only reason she'd been able to go through with it at all had been because the Target had been someone she'd wanted to kill for a very long time. She didn't think she would be able to perform quite so well if the person was a stranger. And there was always the possibility that it would be someone she'd met, or even hung out with, before Antonio had moved her into this new line of work.

Rain shook her head. The rate things were going between Antonio and Case, there was no telling how much longer she'd be able to remain undercover because one thing was for sure. Rain wouldn't be able to kill Case if Doc gave her the order and she wouldn't be able to stand aside and watch someone else kill Case either. Not that Carlotti would let her live after she refused one of his orders, but that was beside the point.

"Hey."

Case's voice finally penetrated Rain's consciousness and she looked up.

"You in there?" Case asked her, concern showing on her face.

Rain sat up.

"Yeah, sorry. Guess I got a little lost in my thoughts."

"Yeah. So, are you planning on going like that?" Case grinned and nodded towards Rain's lack of attire.

Rain blushed, which made Case smile even more.

"Give me a minute," Rain mumbled and brushed past Case to get to her bags.

"Oh, don't rush on my account. I've got all day," Case happily informed the naked woman, while she watched Rain pull clothes from her bag and begin getting dressed.

A few minutes later, they were on their way to Case's nearest martial arts instructor.

CHAPTER 23

CASE DROVE DOWN the highway with Rain in the passenger seat. She held her cell phone to one ear, as she steered with her free hand.

"Good. I'm glad we understand each other," Case said crisply, and then hung up.

Case put the phone away and glanced over at Rain before letting her eyes go back to watching the road.

"He'll be ready by the time we arrive," Case informed her.

"Did we interrupt something?" Rain asked.

"He was busy with his girlfriend, but he never could turn down my money, so it's not a problem."

"Right."

Rain had listened to the almost argument between Case and the instructor. Though Case had never raised her voice, the threatening tone had been enough to send chills up Rain's spine, and Case hadn't even said anything explicit.

"So, what's he teach?" Rain inquired.

" Jiu-Jitsu."

"That's one of the wrestling arts, right?"

"Yeah. Lots of throws and holds, and we use weapons, too."

"So, how does that work? Is what's-his-name your only Jiu-Jitsu instructor?"

"No. Master Carlson is one of six who teach me that particular martial art. He just happens to be the closest instructor from where we're staying. Basically, I'll show him what I've learned since the last time he taught me. Then he'll give me some pointers on how to improve on what I've learned, and then he'll show me some new stuff to work on. If I see one of my other instructors before I see him again, I'll go through the same process with them."

"He's the gambler, right?"

"Yeah," Case said, a little surprised, but then she remembered Rain's perfect recall for anything she'd heard.

Rain nodded at the information and settled back into her seat. Neither of them chose to break the silence for the rest of the hour-long ride, and Case was soon pulling onto an extended driveway. She parked in front of the garage and then got out of the truck, with Rain right behind her. Case went to the back to get the bag that held their uniforms and other equipment and then locked up the truck.

Rain followed Case up to the front door and waited as Case pushed the buzzer. A minute later, a fit, middle-aged man with short, sandy-brown hair answered the door. He was already wearing his training uniform.

"Hey," Jack Carlson greeted them, studying Rain suspiciously for several moments, since Case hadn't mentioned bringing a friend.

"Yeah. This is Rain," Case introduced her with a jerk of her head back to the tall woman standing behind her. "She'll be practicing by herself, while you work with me."

Case stepped forward without waiting for an invitation, and Jack moved back to let her in. Rain remained quiet as she followed Case into the house. She could feel Jack checking her out from behind, but she ignored him.

The stuffy hallway they'd entered opened out onto a large, enclosed patio room with wall-to-wall floor padding. One entire wall was made of glass and it looked out onto a beautifully landscaped backyard. There were cloth wall hangings that encouraged students to follow the basic martial arts principles of honor and respect, as well as paper posters describing certain kata and other individual moves. A water cooler stood in one corner for anyone who needed to replenish their body's resources.

"Come on," Case motioned to Rain and led them through a side door and into a changing room.

They quickly changed into their respective uniforms. This time, Case's pants, called a hakama, were a bulky black, the individual legs almost impossible to discern, making it look like a dress. The special pants were traditionally reserved for higher-ranking students and Case had only begun wearing them after reaching her first-degree black belt.

After they came back into the dojo, Case pointed to the other end of the room.

"You can warm up and practice over there, while I work with the Master. When we're done, I'll come back and play with you," Case grinned.

Rain smiled in return and nodded. She bowed to show respect to the training hall and then went all the way to the end of the room and faced the sliding glass doors that made up the bottom half of the glass wall. She heard Case and the instructor begin their tutoring session, but then she blocked the voices out so that she could focus on her own practice. This time, since she didn't have to stop where Case's knowledge left off, she planned to go through every pattern she knew as her workout. But first, she needed to warm up.

Meanwhile, Case easily fell into her role of student and took in everything Jack told her. Some of the techniques she'd learned since her last visit to him needed some work, and she enjoyed getting to show off her skills of mimicry. As she followed his movements, she refined her technique to imitate everything the Master was doing.

Jack praised her honestly. Of all the students he'd ever taught, Case had been the fastest learner, not just of the techniques themselves, but also of all the other things involved in the martial art, like its history and leaders. When he'd conferred the rank of Sandan on Case, it hadn't been honorary; she'd earned it in all respects. Case had told him she'd tested with her other instructors and they'd passed her on to her Third Degree black belt, as well.

It wasn't until two hours later that Case finally bowed farewell to her Master, and he left her to her friend who was still diligently refining her own techniques in her chosen martial art.

Case watched Rain work through her current pattern as she slowly walked over to her. The practice form was full of double and triple sidekicks, and Rain seemed to float through the air, as her legs shot out multiple times in rapid succession. Finally, she finished, and Case grinned at Rain's heaving chest. It was difficult getting a hundred and seventy pounds of muscle into the air over and over again like that.

"Hey," Case said, and Rain turned her head.

"Hey," Rain replied, and stepped back into attention, before relaxing and shaking out her limbs. "You done?"

"Yeah. You wanna spar for a little bit? After you get your breath back," Case tempered.

Rain smiled.

"Yeah. Give me a minute. Those patterns really take it out of you when you haven't done them in a while."

"Yeah. That was pretty amazing. Maybe you can teach me some of that someday."

Case quickly turned around and walked away before Rain could respond. She couldn't help but hope that somehow she'd get to be with Rain once the current situation had been dealt with, but she knew it would never work. She would never be accepted into Rain's world, and she didn't think Rain would just pack up her life in order to be with a cold-blooded assassin.

While Case retrieved a couple cups of water from the cooler, Rain analyzed what Case had said. There were several implications that came to mind, but Rain couldn't escape the feeling that Case had no intention of being around long enough for "someday" to ever happen. But Rain also didn't miss the fact that the statement itself implied a future together, which Rain hoped was a good sign.

Case returned with two white paper cups and handed one to Rain. As Rain eagerly downed the liquid refreshment, Case spoke.

"So, what was your brother like?"

Case wasn't sure what prompted her to ask about Rain's brother. She just knew she wanted to know as much about Rain as she could, and time was running out. It was this sinking feeling in the back of her mind that, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't shake. Though working out had seemed to give her a little reprieve.

Rain paused at the abrupt change in conversation, but then she remembered mentioning him earlier that day. She realized Case was probably just continuing that previous train of thought. She swallowed the contents of the cup and then slowly replied.

"Well, he was seven years older than me. He looked exactly like our dad, all wavy blond hair and green eyes. I look like our mom. He was always really protective of me. When mom died, it... Well, my dad pulled away from both of us, and it was kind of me and my brother against the world for a while. He was the one that took care of me and tried to make sure I did well in school and didn't get into too much trouble. Then, when he died, that was it. There just wasn't anything left after that. When I... uh, decided to get into all of this, it was kind of the last straw. My father never wanted me to get into this line of work, so when I did, he cut me off completely. We haven't spoken since."

Rain glanced away for a moment and then shook her head.

"I think I'm ready for that sparring you mentioned," Rain said, and tried to smile a little.

Case nodded.

"Sure."

They took up their positions and then started the match. Case threw in a few maneuvers from some of the other disciplines she knew, but Rain was able to block them well enough and the sparring continued. They settled into a natural rhythm and Rain decided to continue their conversation, but in the opposite direction.

"So, what about your family?" Rain asked, as she ducked a crescent kick and blocked the follow-up back kick.

"What about them?" Case replied evenly, and jumped back to get out of the way of the side kick Rain tried to level at her head with one of her long legs.

"Well, you've told me your mother couldn't cook, and your father was psychotic. I'm sure there's more to it than that. Did you have any brothers or sisters?" Rain persisted.

"No. Thank god."

Case gritted her teeth in annoyance with herself. She knew her extraneous comment would bring a follow-up question from the undercover agent, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She tried to clamp down on the faint stirrings of emotions in an attempt to keep them from coming to the surface. It seemed to work, as she landed a turning kick that was light and controlled to Rain's left shoulder.

"Why? They're not so bad," Rain smiled, and sent a jump front snap kick to Case's head, but the short blonde blocked it by crossing her arms at the wrists.

"Because I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to go through what I did," Case replied curtly.

Then she grimaced, as she realized she'd spoken her heart again. There was too much truth in her words. She redoubled her efforts to get her emotions under control and tried to bring her attention back to the sparring match.

"Oh," Rain said, a little more subdued.

The realization of exactly how alone Case had been for her entire life made Rain's chest feel heavy. She'd always had the love and support of her brother, not to mention both her parents, at least until her mother had died. Those early memories had continued to be a source of strength for her, even after their deaths and the breakup of her family. The reality that Case had survived the things she had all by herself was difficult to imagine and pulled at Rain's heart.

As Case saw Rain's mouth open to presumably continue her current line of questioning, Case quickly overrode her.

"Look, can we talk about something else?" she requested impatiently.

Rain felt her own walls come up, as Case's sharp tone sliced through her and derailed her previously compassionate thoughts.

"Sorry. I thought since I told you about my family's less than stellar history, it wouldn't be a big deal if you told me a little about yours," Rain challenged, as she used her long arms to get inside Case's defenses and land a few whisper-soft blows to Case's cheeks.

"Yeah, well, you thought wrong," Case told her coldly and frowned, as she realized her concentration was being thrown off to have allowed such an easy opening to Rain.

Case tried to tune everything out, as she sent a hook kick to Rain's face, then a double-feint turning kick to Rain's thigh, before raising her leg to reach Rain's face again. But the tall woman blocked all the attacks.

"What are you so afraid of?" Rain questioned abruptly, her frustration mounting at Case's refusal to trust her.

"What are you talking about?" Case retorted and continued to frown in concentration, as she tried to penetrate Rain's perfect defense and ignore her annoying questions.

"Why won't you talk about your family? I know they put you through hell, but sometimes talking about it helps," Rain tried to reason, as she retreated behind her safe background in psychology.

Case's anger, which was only just barely being contained, broke through the surface and quickly took the opportunity to be released. This time, she didn't try to stop it.

"I did talk about it! I told my mother what my dad was doing when I was four. She already knew. She didn't do shit to stop him."

Case feinted a high kick, which got Rain to raise her arm to block. As soon as she had her opening, Case landed a hard turning kick on Rain's side. Rain grunted, but let her muscles do their job of absorbing the impact for her.

"She let him fuck me when I was seven years old!" Case continued.

Case extended her reach to throw a punch at Rain's face, but then feinted it and spun to offer a reverse turning kick. Rain ducked out of the way and then attempted a sweep of Case's legs, which Case easily jumped over. But while Case was in the air, she shot out her leg unexpectedly and clipped Rain's jaw with the hard outside edge of her foot. Rain tasted blood.

"She watched him beat me and then rape me over and over again!"

Now that the floodgates had been opened, there was no stopping the torrent of emotions that Case had been trying to keep in, and Rain belatedly realized that maybe she had pushed a little too hard. Case's attacks had lost their practice strength and were starting to come faster and harder. Rain tried to adapt and added more force to her blocks to counteract the heavier blows.

"She never protected me! She was supposed to protect me!"

Rain managed to block the series of punches aimed at her chest and face, but she missed the kick that came out of nowhere and grazed the top of her head. The maneuver brought their faces close together for a moment and Rain saw the glassiness of Case's eyes. She realized Case was nowhere near as detached as she'd thought a few moments ago. A trickle of fear passed through her, as Case's moves began to speed up beyond what Rain knew she was capable of countering.

"Why didn't you protect me?!"

Case's voice started to crack with the yelling and it was difficult for her to breathe, but her frontal assault against Rain never faltered. At the change from past to present tense, Rain started defending herself in earnest, but it only seemed to fuel Case's rage.

"Why didn't you make him stop?! He wouldn't stop!"

Rain could tell that Case didn't even see her anymore, though she seemed to be able to attack, block, and counterattack Rain's every move. As Rain found herself being backed up towards the wall behind her, she tried to circle around, but Case was relentless and blocked every attempt at escape.

"He just kept coming at me and you wouldn't make him stop! You wouldn't stop!"

The pain and fear Case felt inside was overwhelming. She wasn't supposed to feel anything, but now it was the only thing she was doing. In the back of her mind, she told herself that breaking down like this would only make things worse, would only open her up even more to the one woman who was able to get inside her without even trying, but nothing seemed to be able to stop the flood of rage and pain that consumed her.

"I couldn't stop you! I hated you! I hated you both! I still hate you!"

Tears finally made their way past Case's eyelashes, blurring her vision, but it didn't prevent her from continuing her assault on Rain. She kept up her advance until she had Rain completely backed up against the wall.

"I hate you!"

Rain felt her back touch the wall and knew she was in trouble. There was nowhere for her to go to escape Case's rage and she had no doubt that it was directed solely at her, if for no other reason than she was the closest target.

"I hate you!"

Rain saw Case's stance change and knew what the short woman intended to do, but she only had a split second to prepare herself.

"I hate you!"

Oh shit, here it comes! Rain thought and brought her arms in and tensed up her midsection to protect her stomach and chest, as she waited for the rock hard blows to land.

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

With each uttering of the word "hate," Case hit the wall to the side of Rain's midsection. Rain could hear the plaster beginning to crack under Case's constant pummeling, but the blows never touched her.

Even through her haze, Case didn't want to hurt Rain. She knew Rain truly cared about her and that was what made Case feel safe enough to let go of some of the pain she'd been holding in for most of her life. Unfortunately, her body had been in a constant workout for the past several hours and it couldn't keep up with the demand Case was putting on it.

Case started to fall to her knees in exhaustion and Rain went with her to the padded floor. Case limply curled up into Rain's arms and Rain held her as she listened to her cry.

"I hate you. Why didn't you love me?" Case repeated over and over again through her sobs.

Rain rocked with her, completely forgetting her anger and fear of a few minutes ago, as her heart was wrenched out of her body by Case's unanswerable question. She brushed Case's bangs off her forehead and constantly planted little kisses anywhere her lips could reach.

"I do love you," she whispered without a second thought. "I don't know how your parents could have done what they did to you. You were just a child. You deserved to be loved," Rain continued quietly.

"I hate you both. I hate you so much. It just hurts. You didn't love me," Case cried, unable to hear what Rain was telling her, but subconsciously aware of the caring arms and soft tone that allowed her to finally give a voice to her oldest and deepest wounds.

"It's okay. Everything's going to be all right," Rain gently soothed.

"I feel like I'm broken inside," Case whispered, and her tears renewed their earlier strength into full-fledged sobs, as she tried to burrow deeper into Rain's arms.

Rain hugged Case tighter and continued to offer any comforting words that came into her head, until Case finally passed out. Rain gently resituated Case's body in her lap and tried to get comfortable against the wall that was still at her back.

As she sat there and listened to Case's slow breathing, Rain was surprised to feel her own anger begin to burn, now that she had a chance to think about it. If Case's father had still been alive, Rain knew she would have found it difficult to refrain from hunting the man down and killing him herself. As it was, it didn't take much for Rain to begin focusing her anger and contempt on Case's mother.

How could she let Case be abused like that? Rain mentally asked no one in particular. How could any mother?

But Rain knew it wasn't that simple. From the reports she'd read, Rain knew that Case's mother had been just as much a victim as Case. But the fact remained that she'd been an adult and responsible for changing the situation, while Case had only been a child.

When Rain had first read the files regarding Case and the murder of her father, Rain had been sympathetic to the plight of a young Case and her desperate solution to a problem everyone else had intentionally ignored. Now though, she realized she felt a fierce pride in Case for surviving and doing what she could to save herself and her mother. Of course, that only made her mother's betrayal all the more painful, and Case's sad question echoed in Rain's mind with crystal clarity.

"Why didn't you love me?"

Rain wondered how different Case's life would have been if her mother had supported her, instead of trying to act as though her husband had been a role model for loving fathers and caring husbands.

She wouldn't be here, that's for sure, Rain acknowledged and felt her heart flinch at the thought.

The truth was that they probably never would have met, if Case's childhood hadn't put her in a position to join Carlotti's organization. And Rain knew that if her brother hadn't been killed by one of Carlotti's people, she never would have joined the FBI and dedicated her life to bringing down one of the largest mafia organizations in history.

But Rain couldn't count the number of nights she'd spent as a child, and even as an adult, praying for just such a miracle. She had obsessively fantasized about waking up before the raid and telling Timmy about it in order to prevent him from getting killed, believing that if she just wanted it bad enough, it might happen through some sort of wish fulfillment. Then everything would have been okay. It was called magical thinking in psychological terms and had been one of the only things that had kept her going when she had no other reason.

Rain felt her brain tilt and her eyes went wide, as she was struck by a completely new understanding of the notions of good and bad. The realization that the loss of her brother, and all the pain that had come with it, had ultimately led her to Case took her breath away and pushed all her other thoughts aside for several minutes.

It was a strange sensation, the feeling of acceptance and closure that slowly flowed through her, though she could also feel the guilt forming in the pit of her stomach for choosing Case over her brother.

Rain's loyalty to her brother had always been a hundred and ten percent. No doubts. No hesitation. But that loyalty had found a new home in Case. Rain knew in her heart that, given the choice, she wouldn't bring Timmy back. It would mean losing Case and that was unacceptable to Rain. The very thought gave Rain a panicky feeling, but she quickly focused on Case's face, her head still cradled in Rain's lap, and began brushing her fingers through Case's bangs in a motion that was soothing for both of them. It was real and grounded her in the moment instead of letting her drift in what ifs.

But it didn't take long before Rain's analytical mind began working again to fill the internal silence, and she came up with an imaginary test of her loyalty to Case, which she failed miserably.

She'd decided that her brother's life wasn't too high a price to pay for having Case in her life, but what about Case's tortured youth? If she had the power, would she replace Case's horrific childhood with a nurturing one, knowing that if she did, Case would grow up healthy and probably never even come into contact with the likes of Antonio, let alone become his best assassin and eventually her lover?

No! Rain's soul answered, and her heart couldn't argue, though her mind wanted to.

It was unbelievably selfish of her, but Rain knew she was secretly glad Case's life had turned out the way it had because it had brought Case to her. As much as Rain wished things had been different for both of them, she wouldn't change a thing if it meant never getting to know Case and falling in love with her.

And if there was any good to be found in her brother's death and Case's traumatic childhood, it was the love she felt for Case and hoped Case felt for her in return. Anything was worth that.

Rain took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing thoughts and heightened emotions. She didn't have the power to change the past, so there was no point in thinking about it. It certainly didn't help their current situation to create moral dilemmas that didn't exist or scare herself with fantasies of being trapped in a life without Case.

Rain looked down at Case's puffy, tear-streaked face and sighed as she continued to run her hand through Case's soft hair. The sensation of the short, silky strands flowing between her fingers was hypnotic and addictive. She found it impossible to stop and if she'd been double-jointed, she would have leaned over and kissed the woman. However, considering recent events, she doubted whether the action would be well received or not.

Rain sighed again. She'd been in a similar position earlier that morning after Case had told her about the hit that had gone so wrong. Case had so much pain, between her childhood traumas and her work for Antonio, and Rain wondered if Case would ever get a chance to work through it all.

Rain shook her head and dismissed the question. As long as she was around, Case would always have someone she could talk to. No matter what happened, she would be there for Case.

CHAPTER 24

CASE OPENED HER eyes and groaned at the crick she felt in her neck when she tried to sit up. She heard Rain moan behind her, probably from her own protesting muscles, as she also attempted to move. Case looked around and noticed it was dark outside through the glass wall.

"He didn't come to tell us to leave," Rain said, a little surprised.

"I didn't expect him to, not with what I'm paying him."

Case planted her hands on either side of her body to push herself to her feet and immediately regretted it, though she followed through with the maneuver and stood up. She glanced down at the backs of her hands as inconspicuously as she could and saw the already dark blue and purple bruises across her knuckles. The flesh was hard and swollen and she quickly started flexing her hands to limber them up. Her fingers were stiff, but nothing was broken.

Rain didn't notice Case taking personal inventory. She was a little busy trying to get the feeling back in her legs again. Case had been sprawled across her lap, and the weight had caused Rain's legs to go numb.

Case watched Rain shake her legs and beat her thighs to encourage the blood circulation, until Rain finally felt confident enough that her legs would support her when she tried to stand. Case felt a strange, internal warmth flow through her as she looked at Rain, and she suddenly had the urge to make physical contact with her. She wasn't entirely sure where it was coming from, but as soon as Rain was upright, Case made the decision not to hold back and pulled Rain into a hug.

She held the startled woman there for several minutes and refused to let go until Rain settled into the embrace. Case's emotions were a confused mess, but there was one thing she knew for sure. She just couldn't say it yet and holding Rain seemed to be the best way for her to get the feelings across to the woman.

But it wasn't long before the feelings of trust stirred her need to be on guard again. She couldn't let herself feel safe for too long. Her body wouldn't accept it just yet.

Case pulled back and turned away. She wished being with Rain wasn't so difficult for her, but she was still way too new at experiencing her emotions to be able to stand any kind of prolonged stationary contact. She needed to do something.

"Come on. Let's change our clothes and go back to the hotel," Case suggested.

Rain nodded, though she knew Case hadn't seen her. In fact, they barely made eye contact the whole time they were changing their clothes. Rain wondered what was going on in Case's head, but she didn't say anything. After her last few attempts to get Case to open up, she wasn't sure forcing Case to do anything was a very good idea.

The drive to the hotel was silent, and they entered their room just as quietly. Neither of them bothered to turn on the lights. There was enough illumination coming through the breaks in the curtains from the streetlamps outside to see the room fairly well. The darkness also made it easier to ignore the obvious tension that had built up during the ride over to the hotel. At least for a few moments anyway.

Rain kicked off her shoes, and Case followed suit. Then Case reached for Rain's tucked in shirt and started pulling it out of Rain's jeans. Rain placed her hands over Case's and halted the action, getting a flinch in response.

"Um, Case, can we talk for a moment?" Rain asked hesitantly.

Case looked up and nodded. They walked over to the bed and sat down facing each other, both of them half-bathed in blue-white, fluorescent light, causing the other half of their faces to be hidden in dark shadows.

"What did you want to talk about?" Case asked warily.

She didn't think she could take it if Rain said she didn't want to be with her anymore. Rain was the only thing she felt like she could count on at the moment and the phrase "I need her" kept echoing in Case's mind.

Rain tried to figure out where to start.

"Well... Every time something happens, we have sex. I just don't want that to be how you escape from all the stuff you're dealing with. I want you to want to be with me because..."

"I do," Case stopped Rain from saying anything further. "It's not that. I just... I think feeling all that shit is letting me feel other things. Things that I can't usually. Like what I feel for you. It's there, but I can really feel it right now. And I want to take advantage of that because I know it's going to be gone again." Rain opened her mouth to speak, but Case shook her head and held up her hand to stop her. "I want to be with you. I want to make love to you. Please."

Case couldn't believe she was actually asking to make love to Rain. She'd never done that in her entire life. She'd never felt close enough or had enough trust in anyone to risk that kind of rejection before. She'd never let anyone have that kind of control over her and she was still trying to process exactly why she was allowing Rain such a dangerous privilege.

Rain studied Case as she thought over what the blonde had told her. She knew Case had grown up stuffing her emotions in order to survive. Now that she was finally starting to work through some of the original traumas, it was opening her up to feeling in general and Rain didn't want to do anything to stop that. She wanted Case to feel as deeply for her as she did for Case, but sex wasn't always the best way to express that.

"What if we just held each other?" Rain asked, though her libido popped up and soundly disagreed with that idea, acknowledging that afterwards it would be great, but not just that.

Case lowered her head and tried to figure out how to explain to Rain what was going on inside her. The tips of her fingers were itching to feel Rain's skin, to make contact with another human being and just be herself, no conditions or threats. She didn't want to have to keep up her walls. She didn't want to be seen as a killer, or a hurt child, or an avenging daughter. She just wanted to be Case, a woman in love with another woman.

Case looked back up and held Rain's eyes with her own.

"I can feel you right now. I want to be with you. I want to touch you and know that it's okay. That you want me to touch you and you want to touch me. That it's not a bad thing and you're not going to hurt me. I want to be able to show you what I'm feeling. I can't do that with just a hug. And I don't have... I can't... There are words, but I can't say them.. yet." Case sighed. "Do you understand? I need you. Please don't make me push that away. Please."

Case turned away, unable to look into Rain's eyes anymore. This whole baring one's soul thing was a leap for Case and she wasn't sure she could take much more of it. What if Rain didn't care as much about her as she did for Rain? Thoughts started swirling through Case's mind, different scenarios, all of them bad, and it took a moment for Rain's next words to sink in.

"I need you, too," Rain admitted. "And I want to feel you. I want to make love with you, Case."

Case looked up and Rain saw the relief in Case's eyes, as they sat there in silence for a minute. Then Case stood up and reached out her hand to the still sitting woman.

"Take a shower with me?" Case entreated.

Rain smiled and nodded, as she took Case's hand and stood up. Rain was immediately pulled into a tight hug and she squeezed Case in return. It felt wonderful just holding Case and she never wanted to let go. Case's frame was solid, but also soft, and Rain could feel Case's ribcage expand and contract as she breathed. Rain didn't know why, but she felt like expelling a sigh of relief to have such solid proof that Case was alive and in her arms, as though she'd been told Case had died, but it had all been a mistake.

Case inhaled Rain's scent and let it fill her up with all the emotions she associated with the tall woman.

Safe. Cared for. Content. Understood. Cherished. Accepted. Loved.

The feelings were treasured all the more because Case knew it wouldn't be long before her walls came back up, and she would only be able to view the world from a distance the way she usually did. She knew enough psychology to know that she wasn't going to suddenly be healed of all her pain simply because she'd cried a few times. It had just made enough space for her to have a few hours with the woman she loved, unencumbered by the bulk of her past. And Case wasn't going to throw that opportunity away.

Case turned her head slightly and pressed her lips into the soft cotton of Rain's T-shirt. The need to bring her lips into contact with Rain's even softer skin caused her to drag her lips over the cloth until she brushed passed the collar. She kissed the side of Rain's neck and felt Rain tilt her head to give her more access.

Rain felt tingles run through her body and she pulled Case a little tighter to her in an effort to keep from moaning. Then she realized there was no reason to stay silent and let the sucking sensation at her neck draw a gasp from her and then a groan.

"God, Case. That feels good," Rain whispered, and let her head fall forward to nuzzle into Case's neck.

"Mmm," Case agreed.

Rain pushed her hands underneath Case's shirt, her fingertips and the palms of her hands running over Case's exquisitely soft skin. She moaned and heard Case do the same.

Case brought her own hands down far enough to pull up Rain's half-untucked shirt and drew it out even further, so that she could experience the pleasure of touching Rain's bare skin the way Rain was touching her. As her hands glided up, she ran into Rain's bra and immediately started undoing the hooks.

Rain smiled, as she felt what Case was doing, and pulled back a little to look into Case's eyes.

"You know, it would probably help if I didn't still have this on," she pulled at her shirt.

Case smiled and nodded in agreement.

Rain reluctantly removed her arms from where they'd been cradling Case's back and reached for the hem of her shirt. She pulled it off over her head and Case took the opportunity to do the same. As Rain let her already loose bra slide down her arms, Case reached behind herself and quickly performed the same procedure for her own undergarment, though the twisting of her sore fingers against her back was a bit uncomfortable.

As soon as the clothing was tossed aside, they found themselves in each other's arms again. Case looked down at the beautiful breasts slightly overlapping her own and hugged Rain tighter. There was no way either of them could have described the feeling of warm, soft, sensitive skin meeting up with even more warm, soft, sensitive skin.

Case buried her face in Rain's neck and simply basked in the feelings of contentment and love. She knew she'd never felt this way before and there were no guarantees that she ever would again. Her heart hurt for a few moments with that realization, but she refused to let it consume her. She had tonight. She wanted to enjoy it.

Rain held Case and stroked her fingers up and down Case's bare back, enjoying the privilege of being able to touch Case in such a relaxed way. Things had been so frenetic the past couple of days, or really ever since she'd teamed up with the assassin. Just being able to stand in the middle of a hotel room, with a half-naked Case in her arms, was a wonderful place to be.

Case felt the skin beneath her mouth and puckered her lips to offer a kiss. But one was nowhere near enough and Case moved her lips down half an inch to place another kiss on the neglected skin. Once she'd started, she couldn't stop, and Case placed kisses all over Rain's shoulder and neck.

Rain let her head drop forward and drank in what Case was doing to her. She absentmindedly raked her fingers through the short hairs at the back of Case's neck and scratched and pulled a little at the hair, as she groaned in appreciation. Her other hand continued to roam over Case's naked torso and she felt a sudden urgency to attach her lips to some part of Case's body.

Rain pulled on the hair in her grip and, though Case resisted at first, it wasn't difficult to redirect her to Rain's needy mouth.

Oh God, Rain thought, as their lips and tongues finally made contact.

It was too intense. Case felt her mind go wonderfully blank, as all her concentration went into tasting Rain's mouth. There were no thoughts of past encounters in which she'd been taken against her will. There was only Rain, here and now, and Case's need to never stop kissing the woman.

Case's hands grazed over every bit of skin she could reach. There was so much energy inside her, feelings that had never been expressed, emotions she'd never allowed herself to experience. Touching had always been a threat and the lack of fear weighing her down gave her a sense of exhilaration that she wanted to share with Rain.

Rain couldn't pull away from the kiss. Even the thought of losing contact with Case's lips was too much to bear. Her tongue tasted every part of Case's mouth, and swirled around Case's tongue, feeling the texture of the muscle.

Rain's hands gripped Case's waist, sliding down to where her jeans covered her hips, and she tried desperately to push them down, but didn't have much luck. She slipped her hands around and squeezed them between their bodies in an attempt to unbutton Case's jeans without breaking the kiss, but Case felt what Rain was trying to do and released her mouth, so that Rain could do the job properly. And quicker.

Rain looked up from her task and smiled at Case, who smiled back. Rain barely finished unbuttoning Case's fly before she was attached to Case's mouth again. Rain's hands were finally able to push the jeans down enough to allow her access to Case's buttocks, and she pulled Case's lower body into her own.

Case tightened her grip on Rain's neck and speared her tongue deeply inside Rain's mouth, filling it completely. Rain started sucking on her tongue and Case ground her hips into Rain and whimpered. The feeling of her exposed pubic mound pressing against Rain's jeans only increased Case's arousal.

Rain groaned from hearing the sounds Case was making. Having Case's tongue in her mouth was one of the most sensual things she'd ever experienced. The taste was all Case and Rain wanted more. It was only the thought of getting Case completely naked that allowed Rain to disengage herself from Case's mouth, so that she could slowly slide to her knees.

Rain finished what she'd started a minute earlier by pulling Case's jeans further down her legs and off over her feet, taking her socks with them. Case held Rain's shoulders, as she balanced and lifted each leg in turn for Rain, and then Rain tossed the unnecessary clothing away.

Rain stared at the hair that was conveniently at eye level for several moments before leaning forward and hugging Case's lower body firmly to her own. She pressed her cheek into the soft, curly fur and allowed herself a moment of pure indulgence. Then she drew back a little and gently kissed Case's mound, but Case urged her back to her feet before she could start anything.

As soon as Rain was standing again, Case decided it was her turn to kneel down, but she took her time. She kissed Rain's breasts, sucking on each nipple for several moments, which wasn't nearly long enough in Rain's opinion, and then continued down Rain's stomach, tasting the skin until she reached the top of Rain's jeans.

Case slid her hands down Rain's torso and brought them to rest at Rain's waist. Case pulled the strap out of the buckle and then drew it completely out of the loops around Rain's waist. The sound had an electrifying effect on both women and Case grinned up at Rain's smiling face.

Rain looked down and watched, as Case popped each button of her fly, one by one. Finally, she had them all undone and spread the flaps apart. Rain was wearing white cotton bikini briefs, so as Case pulled the jeans down, she made sure to grab the underwear, too. She helped Rain step out of them and then pulled her socks off to complete the job.

Case placed her hands on the powerful thighs in front of her and nosed the dark, curly patch of hair between Rain's legs. Rain's hands, which had been resting on her shoulders for support, came up to cup the back and sides of Case's head. Case had a definite urge to forget about the shower and just start feeding on Rain right then and there, and she was pretty sure Rain wouldn't object. But she really wanted to make the night something to remember. Something to hold onto for later.

Case stood back up and moved into Rain's embrace once again. Feeling Rain's arms naturally wrap themselves around her body was the most amazing thing in the world to Case. She wasn't sure how she could miss being held by Rain after only a couple minutes, but she did.

No one had ever cared about her the way Rain did. In her more disconnected moments, Case found it impossible to believe that Rain was for real, but for right now, she felt Rain's love and allowed it to come inside for a little while. She knew it would be gone again and that the doubts and fears would return, but that made feeling it now so purely all the more precious to her.

Rain felt her body mold itself to Case's and couldn't get over how completely aroused she was for Case. She couldn't stop running her hands over the woman's skin and every movement of their bodies together made her breathing come faster. They both groaned at the same time and hugged each other tighter to increase the percentage of skin-to-skin contact.

"You feel so good," Rain moaned, as her hands instinctively moved to touch as much of Case's skin as possible.

"So do you. God, Rain," Case whispered into Rain's chest.

Rain bent her head and licked Case's ear. She felt Case shiver and Rain smiled against the side of Case's head, a grain of pure joy centering itself in the core of her being at the knowledge that she had caused that reaction and was probably the only one who ever had.

She was the one who Case had let in. She was the one who Case trusted. And even though Case hadn't said it explicitly, Rain could feel that she was the one who Case loved. There was absolutely nothing in the world that could top the feeling that gave her in that moment. Except maybe feeling more of it.

As Case pulled her head back from where she'd been rubbing her cheek against Rain's chest, Rain ducked her head and captured Case's lips in a tender, yet passionate, kiss.

Case whimpered and decided to ignore her instinct to keep everything inside. Tonight was about showing Rain how she felt and letting herself have free rein to feel whatever it was she was feeling. There was no rush and no urgency. And she made a quiet promise to herself that she wouldn't run; she wouldn't go away. She wouldn't let herself get so caught up in the physical that she lost out on the emotional. She wanted it all and she refused to settle for anything less.

Case softened her tongue and licked the inside of Rain's mouth. She sucked gently on Rain's upper lip and felt Rain's tongue licking at her own bottom lip in return. Case couldn't believe how soft and silky Rain's lips were.

"God, you taste so good," Case half-moaned into Rain's mouth, as she went back for more.

"I love your lips. They're so soft," Rain complimented in return when she got the chance.

Case smiled and could feel a slight blush warming her cheeks.

"You know, we're never going to get to that shower at this rate," Case mentioned, as she continued to brush her lips against Rain's as often as possible.

Rain nodded and smiled guiltily.

"Sorry. I know we both need it after the workout we had. Come on."

Rain gently disengaged from the very comfortable position of holding Case in her arms and motioned for Case to precede her. Case took Rain's hand to lead her into the bathroom, refusing to be separated from Rain for more than a few moments. After she flipped on the lights, though, Case was forced to release Rain's hand in order to turn on the water and make sure the temperature was just right, while Rain set out the towel mat on the floor in front of the tub.

Case stepped into the water's spray and reached out a hand to help Rain climb in after her.

"What the hell?" Rain exclaimed.

Case looked down to where Rain was staring and ducked her head in mild chagrin.

"It's not that bad. It barely even hurts," Case said convincingly.

Rain glared at her.

"Why didn't you tell me you'd hurt yourself that bad?" Rain accused.

In the harsh brightness of the bathroom lights, the bruises on Case's knuckles looked horrible. They were a shocking mix of violet and indigo, and with the flesh around her knuckles swollen to nearly twice its normal size, it was easy to think that the pain must be excruciating.

In reality, though, Case knew that as long as she didn't stop moving her fingers for too long, the soreness wouldn't go beyond a dull ache. In the morning, she would barely be able to move her fingers, but the day after that, she probably wouldn't even show a trace of bruising. She'd been through the process enough times to know how her body worked.

"I didn't want you freaking out. I'm okay, really. They're just a little stiff, but the hot water will probably make them feel better."

"You should put ice on them, not heat," Rain advised.

"Yeah, well, they're getting hot water. Unless we stand here long enough and then they'll get cold water," Case said pointedly.

"Case..." Rain started.

"Just get in here, okay? And don't worry about it. It's not like I've never had bruised hands before," Case admitted almost proudly.

Rain looked at her for several moments longer, trying to stay mad at Case, but then she grudgingly stepped the rest of the way into the shower. Case eased her body into Rain's, placing her hands behind Rain's back and out of sight, and Rain had no choice but to hug Case in return. Not that she didn't want to hold Case, but she was still upset.

Case decided she needed to do something to distract Rain, and her brain immediately hit on the most logical activity: kissing. It was a simple plan that Rain was helpless to resist and she was quickly caught up in the tastes and textures of Case's mouth again.

The kiss was slow, but hungry. Case's fingers tangled in Rain's hair and she easily maneuvered them under the water to get them both wet, but neither of them stopped kissing the other. To keep from drowning, they took shelter in each other, letting the water cascade around them.

Finally, Rain stepped back, bringing Case with her, and Case opened her eyes to take in the sight of a naked and wet Rain. The look of desire in Case's eyes almost made Rain insist that they leave the shower and go straight to bed, but she was enjoying Case's loving attention, so she held her tongue.

That is until Case recaptured it and started sucking on it. Case blindly reached for the washcloth she'd set on the bar in the shower and managed to soap it up with the small, complimentary bar that came with the room, while continuing to kiss Rain. Case started washing Rain's back and easily fell into the exquisite sensations of Rain's mouth once more.

Rain gripped Case's butt and squeezed, trying to match the rhythm of her tongue's movements in Case's mouth. She just couldn't get deep enough. She wanted to taste everything, feel every texture. And Case's hands on her back, the slipperiness of the soapy washcloth, were a wonderful addition to the many sensations her body was experiencing.

Case let her right hand slide down until she could slip the cloth into the crack of Rain's ass and began massaging the area. Rain groaned into her mouth and Case smiled through the kiss. Case slid the washcloth down the back of Rain's left thigh and broke the kiss, as she went down on one knee to follow the cloth's trail over Rain's leg. She switched to the other leg and came back up, washing the front of Rain's body this time.

Rain watched as Case took special care to wash her pubic area and then ran the cloth over and around Rain's breasts. Her nipples were hard from the stimulation of the soft cloth. Case ran the soapy cloth over both of Rain's arms and then moved out of the way, so that Rain could rinse under the spray of the water. Case set the cloth back on the bar and helped where she could, making sure all of the soap was washed away from Rain's body.

Rain finished and turned around, so that she could face Case again. Case picked up the travel-sized container of Rain's shampoo and squeezed out a healthy amount for Rain's long hair.

"Turn around," Case said, just barely loud enough for Rain to hear over the shower.

Rain stepped forward and then turned around to face the water again. Case reached up and slid her fingers through Rain's hair and started working in the shampoo.

The scalp massage sent tingles down Rain's spine and caused goose bumps to rise on her upper arms and thighs. A low moan escaped Rain's mouth and she reached her hands back to place them on the outsides of Case's thighs. She just needed to touch Case.

Case stepped forward slightly and pressed her body into Rain's back, resting her head on a muscled shoulder blade. Her fingers left the back of Rain's head and she reached around to hug the tall woman to her. Rain's hands came up and settled over Case's arms and they stood there for a short while, basking in the closeness of the position.

Rain thought she felt Case's jaw move against her back, but she couldn't be sure. She debated whether to ask if Case had said anything, but then decided against it. If Case wanted to tell her something, she would.

Case slowly disengaged from Rain's body and stepped back. She nudged Rain to move forward under the water again. Case refused to let Rain lift a finger and worked the soap out of Rain's hair for her. She did have an ulterior motive, though, since the more she used her hands, the less they hurt.

Once all the shampoo was washed away, Case picked up the small bottle of conditioner and poured a large amount of the liquid into her hand. She carefully worked the conditioner through Rain's thick hair and the movements soon became another scalp massage that had Rain moaning again in appreciation.

Case finished up, as she realized she was very ready to leave the shower and get to bed.

"Rinse," Case ordered hoarsely.

Rain dutifully complied and was allowed to use her own hands this time to get the bulk of the conditioner out of her hair. Then she turned around and couldn't help herself as she lowered her head and began kissing the hell out of Case's mouth, if the whimpers and moans coming from Case were any indication. Rain finally pulled back and grinned.

"Sorry, just had to do that first," Rain explained.

"No problem," Case replied a little breathlessly.

They switched positions and Rain helped Case rewet her hair from having been out of the water for so long. Case turned around to face Rain and the tall woman began working a dime-sized amount of shampoo into the blonde hair. Rain couldn't resist for long, though, and held Case's head, as she leaned over to kiss Case again, completely forgetting her task as she reveled in the soft, wet mouth she was exploring. After a long minute, she pulled back again and Case quickly rinsed her head.

Rain used the time to get the conditioner ready and as soon as Case was out from under the water, Rain combed her fingers through Case's hair to get the conditioner all the way to the roots. She scratched at the back of Case's head and Case's eyes closed as she moaned.

"Oh God, Rain."

Rain smiled and didn't even try to resist the temptation to tilt Case's head up so that she could kiss her again. She just couldn't get enough of Case's mouth. Case's tongue went on the attack and devoured Rain's mouth. Case's hands gripped at Rain's wet hips and tried to pull her closer.

"Please," Case whispered through their open lips and Rain pushed them both under the water to hurry up the rinsing process.

When they came out from under the water, Rain quickly grabbed the washcloth and passed it over Case's body. It started out as an unromantic rush job, but then Rain got caught up in touching all of Case's skin again and Case was soon being treated to a long, slow, teasing caress over her entire body.

But Case decided she'd had enough of the teasing and stepped back under the water to end it. Rain chuckled at the frustrated look that showed so clearly on Case's features and put the cloth back on the bar. She helped slosh the water over Case's body to make sure all the soap was rinsed away and then Case turned off the water.

They stepped out of the tub and Rain grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Case. She slowly patted the woman dry, taking several extra minutes to carefully dry Case's hands and gently kiss her fingers. Then Case returned the favor with another towel she pulled from the same stack. When she was almost dry, Rain took the towel from Case's hand and dropped it onto the floor. She backed Case up against the door and kissed her deeply. After a few minutes, Case managed to push them both off the door and opened it so that they could get to the other room.

Rain followed Case and they fell softly onto the nearest bed. The kissing never stopped and Case absently tried to figure out how she could kiss this woman so many times and never feel like she was repeating herself.

Rain did her best to pull Case's body into hers. She couldn't get close enough. She wanted to feel Case everywhere and there just didn't seem to be a way to do that all at the same time, so she had to keep moving her hands and body to feel as much as she could.

Case pulled away from Rain's mouth and kissed along her jaw until she reached her ear.

"I want you," Case whispered.

Rain felt a shiver roll up and down her spine from the words, as well as the sensation of Case's hot breath in her ear.

"Please," Rain replied.

Case grinned and licked at Rain's ear before beginning a slow trail down Rain's body. She kissed everything she could, spending a long time on Rain's breasts to the point where Rain actually forgot where Case was originally headed. Case sucked on Rain's full nipples and mouthed each entire breast in turn until Rain was groaning from the sensations.

Case's tongue alternated between rough and gentle, as she licked and sucked on Rain's nipples. Rain didn't think she'd ever felt anything like it before. Her tits were so hard and full that they hurt, but Case's constant attention seemed to turn the pain into pleasure with every suck, bite, or lap of her tongue. By the time Case was ready to continue her trek down Rain's body, they were both moaning in pleasure.

Case licked under each of Rain's breasts in turn before moving lower and kissing the centerline of Rain's hard abdomen. She grazed her teeth over the taut flesh and sucked at the skin before kissing it and moving down another inch to repeat the process all over again.

Rain couldn't believe the throbbing that was taking place in her body. When Case licked across Rain's pubic hairline, Rain's hips left the bed and she cried out as though Case had licked her clit.

Case took a deep whiff of Rain's scent and groaned. It had been several days since she'd tasted Rain and that was several days too long.

Case repositioned herself so that she was on her stomach between Rain's thighs. She raised Rain's long legs so that they rested over her shoulders. Then she used her hands to spread Rain's nether lips.

Case looked at Rain's sex and felt her mouth water. She had to taste Rain. Case stretched out her tongue and licked the entire length of Rain's sex, from the opening of her vagina, to the tip of her clitoris.

Rain tensed and groaned as she felt Case's tongue make contact with her sex. But it didn't take very long for Rain's sexual frustration to mount, as Case went on to repeatedly avoid Rain's clit, while she licked every other part of Rain's pubis that she could reach.

The tip of Case's tongue explored each crease of Rain's folds and she dragged the flat of her tongue over the insides of Rain's lips. Case sucked at her labia and then moved lower to press her tongue into Rain's vagina. The moaning woman was slick and Case twirled her tongue over and around Rain's opening to gather the warm fluid into her mouth.

The panting Case heard coming from farther up the bed, along with the writhing hips beneath her face, told her that Rain was getting desperate for some clitoral stimulation. That suited Case just fine, since she was very ready to start feeding on that part of Rain's anatomy.

Finally, Case's mouth descended over Rain's clitoris, sucking it gently into her mouth and letting the tip of her tongue graze across the hard nodule over and over again. Rain jerked as her body started to orgasm, but the stimulation wasn't quite enough and Rain cried out in need for more.

Case repositioned her fingers and let one hand do double-duty to hold Rain's lips apart and used her newly freed hand to place several fingers at Rain's entrance.

"Please, Case, yes," Rain pleaded.

Case swirled three of her fingers around the opening to lubricate them in Rain's juices and then slid one of them just inside Rain's vagina.

"Yes, more," Rain encouraged.

Case smiled around the clit in her mouth and added another finger, but she still refrained from pushing very far inside. Rain rocked her hips to try to push Case in deeper, but it didn't work.

"More, Case. Please, I want you inside of me, all the way," Rain told her.

Case felt warmth wash through her entire body and she didn't hesitate to add the third finger and push as deeply into Rain's vagina as she could. Rain was wet and tight and it felt like a balm to Case's bruised digits. Rain groaned loudly and whimpered as Case gave up all pretenses at being slow and gentle and started pounding into her. Case's mouth sucked and her tongue swirled around Rain's clit again and again.

"Oh God, Case!" Rain yelled out as her orgasm finally took over her body.

Rain's back arched and her body jerked over and over again in climax. She called out to Case with every wave of pleasure that passed through her, begging Case not to stop. It felt as though it would never end and Case didn't stop her thrusting or release Rain's clit until Rain's body came back to rest on the bed. Rain's breathing slowly returned to normal, though her mind remained in a slight haze from the powerful orgasm.

Case let her body relax and rested her head against Rain's inner thigh, as she removed her now throbbing fingers and licked them clean. When she was finished, Case eased up onto her elbows, and then her hands and knees, and Rain helped her crawl up to lie beside her. Rain gently kissed Case's lips and slowly rolled over so that she was half on top of Case. The kissing was lazy and tender and easily reignited Rain's recently spent passion. She wanted to give Case everything Case had given to her and more.

Case felt Rain's tongue exploring her mouth, while Rain's right hand roamed over her body and tried to touch everything it could. Case pushed her body up into the caresses and encouraged Rain's touches in particular places, such as her breasts, especially her nipples. Rain took the hint and removed her mouth from Case's lips and replaced it over Case's right nipple. The tit was hard and extremely sensitive to Rain's strong sucking pressure.

Case gripped Rain's hair with both hands and held her head in place, as her nipple was treated to a tongue bath. She was barely conscious of Rain repositioning her body so that she could use her left hand to start playing with Case's clit, at least until Rain started actually touching it. Then Case became very aware of what Rain was doing and did what little she could to help Rain continue the movements.

Case spread her legs apart and Rain lifted her head to look down at their bodies, as she moved her left thigh over Case's to hold her legs open, not that she thought Case would be closing them any time soon. Rain easily slipped a finger inside Case and was rewarded with a gasp and a moan of pleasure. Rain used her thumb to graze over Case's clit, as she moved in and out of her, and Case's hips pumped up in reaction.

Rain lowered her head again and sucked on the new nipple that was now conveniently close to her mouth and groaned at how much she enjoyed touching Case. The knowledge that no one had ever been like this with Case was both a pain and a pleasure for Rain. She wished Case had never been hurt the way she had been, but she also liked the fact that she was the only one who had ever brought Case so much joy.

"Rain, deeper," Case gritted out through clenched teeth.

Rain immediately complied, pushing her lone finger as deep inside Case as she could. She wanted to add another finger, but she decided to wait for Case's request, if it came at all. She knew this was a sensitive issue for Case and if she pushed it, Case could shut down and that was definitely not on Rain's agenda for the evening.

Case strained to bring Rain closer to her, deeper, anything. She just knew she wanted more.

"More," Case echoed her thoughts.

Rain slowed her movements and eased in a second finger. She pushed inside slowly and gave Case plenty of time to change her mind. All she got was a groan and a pelvis thrusting up onto her hand. Rain took that as approval and went back to her previous tempo of fast and deep, her thumb rubbing harshly over Case's clit.

Case was in a daze from the sensations running through her body. It was still amazing to actually be enjoying having someone inside her vagina after so many years in which that action was pure pain. It reinforced how different Rain was from everyone else she'd ever been with and how much she felt for Rain that she'd never felt for anyone else.

"Oh, Rain, I need you. I need you," Case spoke her heart and let the admission increase her state of arousal, as her arms tried to wrap more tightly around Rain's shoulders.

"Oh, Case," Rain mumbled around Case's nipple.

Rain had an overwhelming need to tell Case how much she loved her, but she had a feeling the disclosure would startle the woman rather than bring her to orgasm, so she kept her mouth firmly clamped onto the nipple she was sucking.

"Rain, Rain, God, Rain..." Case's voice took on a higher, more desperate tone.

Rain redoubled her efforts and practically pounded inside Case, which was all Case needed to come. Her release was loud and physical, as she convulsed in Rain's arms and yelled out her name again and again. The pleasure was so intense that it blocked out everything else. Rain refused to let go and rode out the waves of satisfaction with Case.

As Case calmed, she turned over and cuddled into Rain's chest. Rain quickly pulled her fingers out of Case and immediately wrapped her arms around the woman. She could feel wetness on her chest where she was sure Case was crying, but she didn't say anything about it.

Case pulled back slightly.

"God, Rain. I... You just... There's something..."

Case couldn't seem to finish a sentence and gave up trying. She just melted back into Rain's arms and decided Rain either understood or it could wait until later.

Rain squeezed Case tight in her arms and held her. There was no other place in the world she wanted to be. This was home and it was an incredibly calming feeling.

Case's tears subsided after a short while, the intense emotion coupled with the strong orgasm having brought on the small crying jag as another form of release. With the crying done, Case felt a sense of peace come over her and she relaxed in Rain's limp embrace, the woman having dozed off shortly after Case had stopped crying.

Case listened to Rain's heartbeat as it settled into a deeper state of sleep and after a while she sat up slightly to watch Rain. She traced the skin between her breasts and watched Rain's lips twitch slightly. Case lowered her head and kissed the tip of Rain's right nipple.

"I love you, Rebecca," Case whispered.

Case couldn't remember ever saying those words before and feeling such intense emotion run through her. She thought over what the next few days would probably bring and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Case lowered her head again and closed her eyes. She loved Rain more than she'd thought she was capable of loving anyone, but she couldn't let her know her cover had been blown. Not yet. She was afraid Rain would try to do things the FBI way and that wouldn't work. Case had to take care of this her way or they were both dead.

CHAPTER 25

CASE CAME TO full wakefulness in an instant. Her heart raced a little as she tried to remember where she was and who she was with. The answers came quickly and her pulse slowed to a more normal pace, as she realized there was no immediate threat.

She gently eased herself out of the bed and stood up. The act of removing the blanket and pushing herself off the mattress reminded Case of the abuse she'd put her hands through the night before. Even the sheet brushing over her knuckles made Case wince, and she carefully flexed her hands several times to try to loosen up the stiff flesh.

Case looked down at Rain, who was still asleep, and decided she wanted some time alone before she had to deal with the FBI agent again. The intensity of her emotions had dulled considerably since last night, but her feelings were still closer to the surface than she preferred.

Case gingerly picked up the jeans and bra she'd discarded the night before and grabbed a clean tank top from her bag on her way to the bathroom. She tried to brush her teeth first, but it didn't work very well. Her damaged hands were incapable of making a fist, and she couldn't hold onto the toothbrush enough to apply the amount of pressure she needed. Finally, she gave up on the activity and decided to just take her shower. She set the temperature as hot as she could stand it and then stepped into the spray.

The hot water felt good on her tortured hands, but she gritted her teeth as she worked the shampoo into her hair. In her attempts to block out the pain, however, her thoughts inevitably went to the events that had caused it.

The thing she couldn't, or didn't want to, understand was why Rain had stayed. Case had been actively trying to kill the woman and yet Rain had held her when she'd cried and then made love to her afterward. If Rain had any kind of sense, she should have shot Case while she was passed out. But she hadn't, and Case was having a hard time accepting the most likely reason why.

It was one thing for Case to admit she loved Rain. She'd also been aware that Rain was in love with her ever since she'd found out that Rain was FBI. But to accept Rain's love... That was something else altogether.

How was she supposed to do what she needed to do with that kind of knowledge hanging over her? She couldn't start caring what Rain thought of her. There were things she needed to do, and she couldn't let Rain's love for her get in the way. She couldn't be soft, not yet. If she survived and managed to get Rain out too, then maybe she could give into the need she felt for Rain, but not right now.

Distance. I need distance, Case thought to herself.

She rinsed her hair and picked up the little bottle of conditioner.

Rain slowly opened her eyes and squinted at the bright light coming from behind the curtains. The sun had obviously been up for a while, and Rain confirmed the late morning hour with a glance at the clock.

She looked around the room and finally noticed she was alone. Her heart started beating a little faster with the subconscious fear that Case had left, but then she heard the shower and realized Case was just in the bathroom. Then she felt stupid for panicking so easily. Wasn't she supposed to be a hardened Federal Agent? Not that any of her training could help her when it came to Case.

Rain shook her head and dismissed the stray thoughts. She sat up and flipped the covers back, and then stood and walked over to their bags to rummage for clean clothes. She found an unopened package of boxer shorts that she'd purchased shortly after meeting Case in L.A. She grabbed another unopened package of gray T-shirts, and then put on the pajama-like ensemble. If she had it her way, they weren't going anywhere today.

Of course, it was quite possible that the people in charge had other ideas, so she quickly pulled out her cell phone and checked her voice mail. She grinned when she heard the lack of messages. Since she and Case were still supposed to be working together, and Doc had said that any new jobs would be sent directly to Rain, it was a good bet that Case didn't have any commitments either.

Rain turned off the phone and walked back to the bed to get the phone book from the nightstand. She checked under food delivery. There were only a few places listed, but it looked like there was enough variety that they wouldn't be eating the same thing twice, so she closed the book and set it back on the bedside table.

Rain heard the water turn off, so she reached for the remote control and watched TV while she waited for Case to finish. Case took longer than Rain had thought she would, and Rain was just starting to get into the movie she'd found when Case came out of the bathroom.

"Morning," Case greeted her.

"Good morning," Rain replied with a smile and scooted over to offer space for Case to sit next to her.

Case took the hint and climbed onto the bed. She needed emotional distance, not physical distance. Of course, then Rain noticed her hands and Case started to wonder if physical distance might not have been a good idea, too.

"Jesus, Case," Rain exclaimed.

Rain attempted to grab at Case's nearest hand for a closer inspection, but Case was quick to move the limb out of reach before Rain could touch the tender appendage.

"Don't," Case said shortly.

"Let me see," Rain ordered, though she did try to gentle her voice as she realized Case was actually afraid.

Case looked at her for several moments and then sighed as she slowly brought her hands back over so that Rain could get a better look at the injuries. As Rain reached out again, Case couldn't keep her fear from making her speak again.

"Be careful," Case said, and felt a wave of shame wash over her, as she heard the pleading tone in her voice.

As a child, Case had been very good at taking her father's beatings. Most of the time, she'd barely even cried from the violent blows. But the day after had always seemed to be more difficult. Every muscle in her body would be sore from tensing up all night from the pain. Then her mother would try to clean up the wounds, and she was never gentle about it. She always found a way to make Case feel even worse, either with her rough ministrations or her harsh words intended to guilt Case into being 'a better daughter.'

Rain watched Case's eyes dart around the room to look everywhere but at Rain. She made a guess as to the source of Case's fear and waited until the skittish woman finally glanced her way before speaking.

"I won't hurt you," Rain said gently, and reached to hold Case's forearms instead of her hands. Then she looked down at the bruised limbs. "Damn, Case, this looks really bad. I think you should get checked ou..."

"No," Case said, and pulled her arms away again. When she saw Rain getting ready to protest, she continued. "They'll be fine by tomorrow. You won't even know they've been hurt. I swear," Case insisted.

Rain thought it over.

"If they still look like that tomorrow, will you go to a doctor?" Rain bargained.

"If they still hurt, I'll go. But I'm serious. You won't even be able to see a bruise tomorrow," Case promised.

Rain wasn't convinced, but Case had said she would see a doctor if she was wrong about her body's healing abilities, so Rain decided she'd won this little argument.

Case took Rain's almost satisfied expression as a sign that she wasn't going to be pestered anymore and relaxed a little. She noticed the TV and decided to change the subject.

"So, whatcha watchin'?" Case asked amiably.

Rain accepted the new topic and leaned back against the headboard to find a more comfortable position. She focused on the TV again and tried to remember what had been so interesting before she'd been reminded of Case's injuries.

"I don't know. It's got Christina Ricci, and Demi Moore is doing the narration. It's about these four girls and..."

"Oh, it's Now and Then," Case interrupted, as she recognized the scene that was playing. "It's a good movie."

"Yeah, I like it so far anyway," Rain commented. "So, do we have anything we have to do today?" Rain asked expectantly, as she remembered her goals of doing nothing for the day.

Case frowned in thought.

"I don't think so. Let me just check my voicemail real quick," she said, as she got up and used her phone to do just that. After a few moments, she cut the connection and set the phone back on the table. "Nope, nothing. Why, did you have something in mind?"

"Yeah. This past week has been insane. I would like to request a day off, Teach, if you don't mind. I think you could use a bit of a vacation, too," Rain said, gesturing at Case's hands.

Case shrugged off the final dig about her hands, but then she smiled as she contemplated taking a break.

"I think I could be persuaded. Why don't you get dressed and we can go out for breakfast, and then maybe..."

"No. I don't want to go anywhere. I just want to stay here and watch TV or something else that's just as stress-free and doesn't involve other people," Rain declared, and reached for the phone book. She quickly found the page she'd marked earlier and looked up at Case. "We can have pizza, Chinese, burgers, or sandwiches. Since we had pizza for breakfast yesterday, I'm thinking sandwiches."

Case grinned at Rain's sudden take-charge attitude. But then she took a moment to wonder at Rain's actions. It crossed her mind that last night might finally be catching up to Rain, and she was trying to hide from the reality of their situation. Or maybe it was the reality of who Case was that she was trying to ignore. Considering Case was attempting a similar retreat, she decided that indulging the woman in a little denial was very acceptable. On the other hand, Rain might be planning to talk to her about 'things' and that was not okay. Case decided she would just have to be careful not to let the conversation get too deep.

Then Case remembered she'd been given a list of food options and realized a reply was in order.

"Okay. I guess I could go for a turkey club," Case said.

Case climbed back onto the bed and laid back as Rain called the local deli and ordered what everyone else would call lunch at that time of day. It only took a few minutes and then Rain hung up the phone.

"He said it'll be here in half an hour."

"Good, I'm really hungry. Oh, hey, you have to watch this part, it's hilarious," Case said, as the young actresses on the TV found their male counterparts in a rather vulnerable state.

The food arrived in short order and they sat and watched the rest of the movie while they ate. Once the food was gone and the entertainment had ended, Rain started searching her mind for things to do that wouldn't require getting dressed or leaving the room. Several ideas popped into her head, but Case was already up and dragging out her laptop.

"What are you doing?" Rain asked curiously.

"This is one of the things I do to relax. I play computer games. I think I've got some that you'd like," Case said, as she booted up the computer.

"Like what?"

Case brought out a thick CD wallet filled with game CD-ROM disks that she tossed to Rain. Rain unzipped the case and started looking at the titles on the disks as Case explained what was available.

"There's a few shoot 'em up games, some strategy games, and then there's the adventure games, which are pretty cool and are probably more your style. The graphics are amazing, and you don't have to worry about dying most of the time. I think you'd like the puzzles, too."

Plus, the adventure games didn't require intensive use of the keyboard the way the first-person shooter games did, which would bother her hands, but Case didn't mention that part.

"Let's try one of those then," Rain suggested, as she held out the CD holder to Case.

Case took it and flipped through the disks until she came to one she thought might entertain them both.

"Well, we could do Riddle of the Sphinx, but it's a really long game. It took me fourteen hours the first time I played it. The graphics kind of suck during the three-sixty-degree parts, but the rest of it's incredible. They actually recreated the chambers inside the Great Pyramid. They added on a bunch of new stuff for the game of course, but the beginning part is like taking a tour of the real thing."

"We could just do that part. It sounds interesting," Rain allowed.

"Okay," Case agreed easily, and inserted the disk into her CD-ROM drive.

The game loaded quickly and Rain sat next to Case at the table, as she watched the intro movie. It didn't take long for Rain to get caught up in the game and they were well into the fictional chambers of the pyramid before Case mentioned food again. Rain was surprised when she looked at the clock and then noticed the artificial light of the streetlamps had replaced the natural light from the windows.

"Let me get the lights," Case said, after saving the game.

She stood up and stretched a little before walking to the switch and turning on the lights.

"Ow," Rain said, as her eyes started to ache from the suddenly bright surroundings.

"Sorry," Case apologized, and returned to her seat. "So, dinner?"

"Chinese?" Rain replied in the same tone.

"Sounds good. You wanna call? I need to use the bathroom."

"Sure. What do you want?"

"Chicken chow mein, egg roll, pork fried rice, and some sweet and sour chicken," Case rattled off.

"Got it," Rain said, and went to the phone.

Case returned quickly and then it was Rain's turn to relieve herself. A few minutes later, they were back in front of the computer and playing the game. The arrival of their food was only a minor interruption and then it was back to the game again.

"You know, this is addictive," Rain commented, as she scooped up her low mein noodles with the wooden chopsticks that had come with their meals. "It's just one puzzle after another, but they keep adding on top of each other."

"Yeah, Riven and Exile are like that, too. Though, they've got better graphics," Case said, and Rain didn't miss the note of hopefulness in her voice.

"You want to play one of those instead?" Rain asked innocently.

"You don't mind? The graphics are just unbelievable. It's like you're really there, but none of it's real," Case said, even as she closed out the game and removed the CD from the drive to replace it with a new one. "You have to see the plesiosaurs. They're not really plesiosaurs, but they look like them. You even have to sneak up on them to keep them from running away before you get too close. It's neat."

Rain smiled at the enthusiasm she heard in Case's voice. It gave her a glimpse of the person Case might have been if she'd grown up under different circumstances. She could just see Case working with a team of programmers to create a new adventure game. She thought Case would really enjoy something like that.

As the game's intro movie began playing, Rain could see why Case was so hyped up about the 'graphics.' Live actors were placed into computer-generated environments and those environments were as realistic as anything Rain had ever seen.

"Myst was the first one. This is the second one, and Exile's the third one," Case explained. "Let me show you the plesiosaurs," she continued, and took Rain through the game as though they were on a virtual nature hike.

As the evening progressed, Case had to admit that she enjoyed showing off her favorite computer worlds to Rain. They were like her secret places and getting to share them with another person felt good.

Case also admitted it was a way to feel close to Rain without actually sharing any personal information. Case was still worried that Rain intended to have them talk about last night, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. So, she made sure to keep Rain occupied until it was obvious that Rain was ready to go to sleep.

As Rain curled around Case underneath the covers, Case pushed back into Rain's body to increase the contact. There was something that felt so right when Rain was wrapped around her body. The warmth that spread over her back from Rain's front did more than just heat her skin. It made her feel safe. It wasn't in the physical sense. Not even Case's own martial arts training ever made Case feel physically safe. But Case could feel a kind of protection around her heart. Rain loved her and cared about her and even though there were weaknesses in that for Case, she wasn't blind to the strengths that could be gained from it as well.

Case closed her eyes. She pulled Rain's arms around her a little tighter. Tomorrow, it would all be over. One way or another.

CHAPTER 26

RAIN LOOKED UP at the ceiling and listened to Case's deep, even breathing. She'd been awake for a while now and had been watching the room get brighter as the sun rose higher in the sky.

As she turned her head to study Case's sleeping face, her eyes scanned across Case's body, and she noticed the woman's hands lying on top of the covers. Rain paused and looked a little closer. She almost gasped, as she realized there wasn't a single mark on Case's fingers. They had been blue and purple the day before, but Rain couldn't even see a hint of green or brown now, which usually characterized the last stages of a bruise.

Rain shook her head in disbelief and returned her gaze to the peaceful features of her lover. Sometimes, Rain found it difficult to believe that Case could possibly be the cold-blooded killer that she was.

Probably because she's not really a cold-blooded killer, she only pretends to be, Rain thought.

Or maybe she was just trying to rationalize Case's actions into something more palatable in order to reconcile her love for someone who had done the kinds of things she knew Case had.

Rain let her head drop and went back to looking at the ceiling.

In only one week, she'd gone from knowing exactly what she had to do, to not having the slightest clue. As an FBI agent, she had a duty to uphold the law and stop the bad guys. As an undercover agent, that duty included a little leeway to break the law as long as the ultimate result was stopping the bad guys. But as a woman, she was finding life to be a lot less clear-cut than that.

Falling in love with an assassin for the mob had never been part of the plan. It certainly had never entered her mind as a possibility when she'd requested the assignment three years ago. But wasn't that the great mystery about love? You never got to choose when and where, or even who, it just happened and then you had to deal with the consequences.

Rain sighed again and sat up, doing her best not to jostle the bed as she climbed out from under the blanket. She should have felt well rested since they'd gone to bed somewhat early the night before, but she seemed to be stuck in an annoying haze. She decided a shower would probably wake her up, so she headed for the bathroom.

Case listened to the sounds of Rain moving around in the other room. When she heard Rain turn on the water, Case knew it was time, but she continued to lie there for another minute. She wanted the world to stop. If everything just stopped, then she and Rain would be okay.

"Don't think about it. Just do it," Case whispered harshly to herself.

The spoken order seemed to work and she quickly swung out of bed and went for her cell phone. First, she checked for new messages. She found none, so she immediately dialed another number from memory. Besides falling apart herself, the only thing that could go wrong at this point was if Antonio had already booked the place.

"Hey, Alonso, it's Case," she said as soon as the phone was answered.

"Hey, Case, how's it goin'?" Alonso asked cheerily.

"I'm good. Listen, the boss is havin' a get together tonight. That warehouse of yours available for it?"

"For him? Of course."

"Good. I'm his go between for this one, so I wanna make sure the setup's clean."

"Oh, it is," Alonso said quickly. "I remembered what he said, so it's still out there by itself. I haven't built anything else near it, even though I could really use the extra storage facilities," Alonso said and Case knew he was fishing for a pay increase.

"I'm sure he'll take that into consideration," Case told him. "I'll be out there later today to check it over myself. The meeting's at seven tonight, so I don't wanna see anyone else around until then."

"Right," Alonso said.

"And remember, he's got ears everywhere, so don't even think about telling anyone else about this meeting, or I'll be meeting with you instead," Case threatened.

"Hey, you know I can keep my mouth shut," Alonso sounded offended.

"Right. Later," Case said and hung up.

She quickly dialed up the next number on her mental list.

"Joe, here. You got the word?"

"Babycakes."

"Hey, Case, that you?"

"Yeah, you got my charges?"

"Sitting right in front of me. You ready for pick up?"

"Yeah, how's eleven?"

"We'll be ready. The code's three, two, five," he said, referring to the pattern of knocks that would get his front door open.

"See ya then."

Case hung up again and punched in the last number.

"Sweet cheeks," Case said after the woman greeted her.

"I hate that man," the woman muttered. "What do you want?"

"I ordered some detonators the other day. Are they ready?"

"Yeah, you got the money?"

"How much do you want?"

The woman gave her a price and Case immediately gave a counter offer of a few hundred less, though she could have easily afforded to pay what the woman was asking. It was just the principle of the thing. After a few more rounds, they settled on an amount they were both mostly happy with. Then the woman rattled off an address, which Case quickly visualized to help her remember it. Once Case confirmed the location and the time of pick up, they hung up.

Case checked the time and figured she had another ten minutes before Rain would be finished with her shower, and at least another ten after that before Rain would come out of the bathroom.

Case turned on her laptop, which was still sitting out on the table from their game playing the night before. Case smiled a little as she remembered how much fun she'd had just being with Rain.

Case shook her head and let the smile fall away.

"I don't have time for this shit," she muttered to herself, as she hooked up her satellite phone.

As soon as the computer was ready, Case logged on to one of her Internet accounts and then signed in to the first of her many different bank accounts. With a few confirmations of her passwords, she set the time for her banks to begin the chain of transactions that would carry her money out of the country and beyond US jurisdiction.

She considered just moving all of the money now, but with Antonio watching her, she figured it was better to leave the accounts alone until after she'd put her plan into motion. There was no way of knowing whether he'd be alerted if the balances on her main accounts suddenly dropped to zero. And even though she was sure he had no knowledge of her other accounts, she didn't feel a need to test that confidence. So, the money wouldn't be sent until late that afternoon.

Case heard the water shut off just as she signed out of the last bank account. She quickly brought up her favorite travel site and started making single reservations on half a dozen different flights. Depending on how things turned out, she wanted more than one escape route. The identity she used was completely new and unlikely to be on Antonio's alert list, so she didn't think setting up her potential exit plans now would cause any problems. As soon as her credit card was confirmed, Case exited out of the site and moved on to the final and most difficult part of her plan.

At least, she'd thought it would be the most difficult, but it turned out to be rather easy, since she'd been there before. A little hacking and a little swapping of information completed the last segment of her preliminary goals. As soon as she was done, Case cut the connection. Since Rain still wasn't out of the bathroom, Case logged on again, using a different ISP and checked her e-mail.

She was just shutting down when Rain walked back into the room.

"Hey, you're up," Rain said.

"Yeah, we've got a job. It's a local Target. The place is heavily guarded, but I know the guy, so we should be able to get in pretty easily," Case told her, while she continued to watch her laptop to make sure it shut down properly.

"Who is it?"

"It's not important," Case dismissed the question and quickly stood up. "I'm going to go take a shower. Get your stuff together. We won't be coming back here after we're done."

Rain watched Case enter the bathroom and close the door behind her. Their vacation was apparently over. But Rain couldn't help feeling there was something more going on than just another job. Case had refused to make eye contact, and that wasn't like her.

Rain picked up her phone from the nightstand and checked her voicemail. Maybe Doc could shed some light on the subject.

However, there were no new messages. Rain glanced at the bathroom door and frowned. She'd thought for sure that Doc would leave a message for her too, since he'd said she would be getting new assignments directly from him. Which meant Case might not be telling the whole truth. But why?

Rain set the phone down and began gathering up their things. Sooner or later, Case would have to tell her what was going on. Then again... Rain debated, as she looked down at Case's laptop. It was a good bet that the information was somewhere in Case's computer, if Rain could just find it.

But even as Rain was contemplating sitting down and booting up, she heard Case's shower end. There was no way she could get in and out in the few minutes it would take for Case to dry off and get dressed, so she slid the laptop into its case and finished checking the room.

Less than half an hour later, they were on the road.

CHAPTER 27

"NOW, WHERE ARE we going?" Rain asked in exasperation.

"We just have one more stop before we go to the Target's residence," Case said calmly.

Rain felt her level of frustration rising as Case turned down a new street to presumably bring them closer to wherever it was they were going. Case had barely said anything to her over the past two hours as they'd gone from one place to the next. Each time, she'd ordered Rain to stay in the car without any explanation and then returned with mysterious packages that she again refused to discuss. There had been a total of five separate stops and each time, Rain had hoped Case would fill her in on their assignment, but each time, Case had simply started the car and headed off to a new unnamed destination.

Rain remained in angry silence for the rest of the ride. Since Case obviously wasn't going to talk until she was ready, there wasn't much else Rain could do.

After a while, they entered what appeared to be a warehouse district. Case continued to drive past the tightly packed buildings until she pulled onto a road that took them directly to a medium-sized warehouse sitting alone in a large fenced off area. Case parked in front of the huge hangar-like doors and exited the car without a word. Rain ground her teeth a little and then got out of the vehicle to follow her. If Case wanted her to stay in the truck this time, she was going to have to say something.

Rain walked around to the back of the truck where Case was pulling out some of the packages Rain had seen her with earlier. Case handed her a box.

"Here. Open it and separate the wires by color," Case ordered, as she opened a larger box and started pulling out what Rain recognized as explosive charges.

"What the hell is going on?" Rain finally asked and put the box down in the back of the truck.

She wasn't moving until she got an answer.

Case continued working on the charges and didn't even glance Rain's way.

"It's part of the assignment, so stop asking questions and just do your job. We can talk about it later." Case paused what she was doing and turned her head to stare coldly at the taller woman. "Unless you'd like to take it up with Antonio."

Rain felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle and her rigid posture deflated a little as she considered Carlotti's response to one of his subordinates refusing to do something simply because they didn't have all the information. She sighed in resignation and picked up the package as she pulled out her pocketknife to start slicing open the box.

With both of them working together, it didn't take long to place the explosives where Case designated. When they were done, Case led them back to the truck and brought out three more boxes and a bag.

Rain noticed the black metal box Case had come back with from their first stop, and she was surprised when Case opened it to reveal a large sum of money. A good portion of it seemed to be missing though, judging by the dip in one of the neatly arranged stacks. Case pulled out a thin bunch of one hundreds and folded them before placing them in her jeans pocket. She closed the box and pushed it to the side.

Then she pulled the larger of the two cardboard boxes closer and opened it. She withdrew half a dozen guns, all of which were already in small clip-on holsters.

"Are we going to war?" Rain half-joked.

"I told you. The place is heavily guarded. We shouldn't have to shoot our way in, but we can't leave any witnesses and they're not going to just line up for us."

Rain felt a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach begin as Case handed her two of the guns and then stuffed another two in the back of her own jeans. A third went near the front of Case's left hip in a position that would make it easy for a quick right-handed draw. She gave the last gun to Rain without even looking up. Rain reluctantly took the guns and mimicked Case's placement and then fluffed her leather jacket over the weapons just as Case had.

Case tossed the empty box back into the truck and opened the bag. She pulled out a silencer and then withdrew one of the two guns from her shoulder holsters. She started attaching the silencer to the gun and nodded for Rain to do the same. Then she replaced the gun in its holster before pulling out the other gun and repeating the actions.

They were both quiet as they worked side by side on their weapons. Case let the welcome silence pull her into the familiar routine of preparing for a hit, and she purposely ignored everything but the two metal objects in her hands. She knew she couldn't think too much about what she intended to do.

And she certainly couldn't talk about it. Talking about it made it real. Case would deal with the consequences later, if she survived today, but not until then. If Rain couldn't handle that, then it was her problem.

Case finished screwing on the silencer and grabbed another handful of them from the bag to put in her jacket pocket. Rain hesitantly followed suit, and then Case zipped up the bag and opened up the last box.

It was packed with ammo clips and Case filled her remaining pockets with as many as she could, motioning for Rain to grab some, too. After they'd emptied the box, Case closed the truck's back hatch.

Case walked around to the driver's side without a word and climbed into the truck. Rain hurried to the passenger side and tried not to swear at Case's reticence. At this point, she wouldn't have been surprised if Case drove off without her. But Case did wait for her to strap herself into her seat before starting up the truck. It was a little uncomfortable sitting in the captain's chair with two guns pressing into her lower back, but Rain repositioned herself and just sat up a little straighter.

As Case began driving them away, Rain waited for the woman to pull out the detonator she'd seen her stuff into the glove compartment. But Case just kept driving until they were back on the main road.

"I thought we were supposed to blow that place up?" Rain asked in confusion.

"That comes later. This was just prep work. Now, we go take out the Target," Case informed her. "But first, we need lunch. Taco Bell okay with you?"

Rain nodded and they were soon pulling up to a drive-thru window. They ate in the car while Case continued to drive. Rain almost didn't eat, but they'd skipped breakfast and it was after noon already, so she pushed the butterflies away and kept chewing and swallowing until she was done.

Case seemed to be perfectly calm and Rain wondered for the hundredth time what was going on. Case had withheld information before, but she'd given reasons for doing so. This time, Rain had no clue as to why she was being kept in the dark and it was really starting to get on her nerves.

Just as she was about to voice her questions once again, Case turned onto a road that was clearly marked private property. It was lined with tall trees, and after a few minutes, they pulled up to a black wrought iron gate with a stylized C in the center of it.

A security station off to their left emitted a guard and Case prepared to greet him.

"Hi, Case. It's been a while," the guard said as he walked up to her truck.

"Yeah. I've been working a lot lately."

"Right." He looked uncomfortable at the mention of her 'work,' since he knew what she did for a living. "Well, he just called down, so you can go on through."

"Thanks, Rick," Case smiled as he nodded and returned to the guard station.

Case had been hoping the trackers that were still on her car would get her inside. It showed she was still in the dark about her own impending death, so she wasn't a threat. Plus, who in their right mind would attempt an attack when it was obvious the enemy had forewarning?

A moment later, the gate opened down the middle and the two halves slowly swung inward to allow Case entry. Rick waved as she put her truck into gear and moved forward. The road continued for a little longer and then the thick trees dropped away to reveal an expansive glade with a typically extravagant-looking mansion sitting in the middle of it. The place was so big, it actually had a small parking lot set off to the side, and Case took advantage of the first empty space and parked.

"The Target knows you're coming?" Rain asked, completely bewildered now.

"Don't talk," Case muttered, as she exited the truck and headed for a side door of the mansion.

Rain shook her head and followed. The door opened before they reached it.

"Hello, Case. We weren't expecting you today," a woman greeted her and held the door open for both Case and Rain to enter.

"Yeah, well, I was in the neighborhood," Case explained with a sarcastic smile.

"Right," the woman said with a disbelieving look, but she knew better than to ask any questions.

Rain just kept her head down and nodded her greeting when the woman eyed her.

"Come on," Case said and Rain trailed after her as they left the kitchen.

They entered a large reception area with two staircases that circled the sides of the room leading up to the second floor. Case went up the stairs on the right and then led them down a plush carpeted hallway. They went down three more halls, passing several armed men standing at attention at each of the intersections, before stopping in front of a pair of large white doors. Case turned the gold knob of one of the doors and pushed it open as she walked in.

"Ah, Case," came a familiar voice and it took Rain a moment to place it. "And Rain. What a pleasant surprise."

Case closed the door behind Rain and then walked around her to stand in front of the woman. She glanced at the three bodyguards standing around the room and then back to the man behind the desk.

"Antonio," Case said evenly.

Rain could only stare in shock.

"How have you been? I heard the training was moving along nicely," Antonio commented and gestured for them both to sit.

Case stepped forward and then turned slightly as though she was going to let Rain go ahead of her. Then she drew the gun from her left shoulder holster and shot the closest guard, followed by the next closest, and then the last one.

In the two seconds that had taken, Carlotti had jumped up from his desk and headed for the rear exit. But Case was already tracking him and shot him in the leg, blowing out his knee. He crumpled to the floor and Case calmly replaced the silencer on her gun, while she watched him try to crawl back to his desk, probably to get the gun he should have already had on him.

Rain didn't move. She seemed glued to the spot, while the part of her brain that wasn't rendered catatonic was quite amazed that Antonio hadn't screamed yet. Then she realized the determination on his face, along with the anger, was a result of his pride, which would never allow him to give Case that kind of satisfaction.

Case holstered her gun and then grabbed Carlotti and dumped him in his desk chair. She pulled him around the side of the desk so that he couldn't reach anything in it. Then she pulled out a syringe and a small glass bottle with clear liquid in it and placed them on the table. She ripped the sleeve off his shirt and roughly tied it around his thigh, just above the wound in his knee, to lessen the bleeding. Then she motioned towards the syringe.

"I'll ease the pain, if you do what I tell you," Case finally spoke.

Carlotti's response was short, but not very sweet. He spit in her face. Case immediately backhanded him and then wiped the saliva off her cheek.

"One more time. You do what I tell you and I make the pain go away," she said. "Otherwise," Case left the rest unsaid and then kicked his knee.

This time, he couldn't remain silent, and Rain flinched at his high-pitched shriek.

"You can scream all you want. No one's going to hear you," Case said.

It was true and Antonio knew it. The office's soundproofing insured that anything that went on in his inner sanctum couldn't possibly be overheard by anyone not actually in the room. Even someone standing outside with their ear pressed to the door wouldn't hear the slightest sound.

As Antonio tried to cope with the stabbing pain in his leg, he nodded. If it had been anyone else, he might have considered holding out, but he knew Case wouldn't think twice about slowly cutting him up into little pieces, and cooperating would leave him in a better position to retaliate when he got the chance.

"Good boy," Case said and picked up the syringe.

She filled it with a small amount of liquid from the bottle, and then jabbed the needle into his upper arm and emptied the contents into him. It wasn't enough to make him pain free, but it did take the edge off, and Antonio couldn't help feeling a little grateful.

"Case?"

Rain finally found her voice and motioned for Case to come over to her. She tried not to notice that her hand was shaking.

Case put away the medical supplies and pulled her gun. She held it in front of Antonio's face, and he nodded in unspoken acknowledgment. He wouldn't try anything.

Case walked over to Rain, and they walked a little further away from Carlotti.

"What the hell are you doing? Is this your plan?" Rain whispered in disbelief.

Case nodded.

"Yeah. I'm getting out. Antonio may want me dead, but it's not gonna happen."

"Are you insane? You can't just waltz in here and take Antonio Carlotti hostage. What do you think you're going to accomplish? Besides getting us both killed?" Rain questioned, trying not to let her voice become loud enough for Antonio to overhear.

Case shook her head.

"This is the only way to get us both out alive. Your order to kill me wasn't made public. That means that probably only the top bosses know about Antonio's plans for me. Once they're out of the way, we're home free," Case said logically.

Rain's eyes went wide in sudden realization of what Case was planning, and she shook her head vigorously.

"No. No way. You want to take on the entire Mafia?! You are insane!"

Case kept her eyes steady.

"Maybe," she admitted.

Rain didn't know how to respond to that. Agreement during an argument didn't help keep it going. Rain sighed.

"But we don't even know why he wanted you gone. Maybe you can talk to him, get him to rescind the order," Rain hoped. "That's what you said you were going to do," Rain reminded her.

Case looked away. She'd known the instant Rain had told her that Carlotti wanted her dead that there was nothing she could do to change his mind. Even if he found out Case was innocent of whatever he thought she'd done, he would still have to follow through or else lose face.

However, she was still curious as to why he'd ordered her termination, so she walked back over to the sitting man. She also knew her actions might help placate the undercover agent for a little while longer.

"Why did you intend to have Rain kill me?" she asked without preamble.

Antonio snorted and rolled his eyes in disgust.

"You know why," he said.

"No, I don't. Tell me," she ordered.

Antonio looked like he was thinking of refusing, but Case flipped the gun in her hand and held the butt ready to whack his knee. He shrugged as though he wasn't afraid of her, but he still gave her what she wanted.

"I know about your overseas accounts. You didn't really think you could hide something like that from me, did you? I don't know who's been paying you, but I don't stand for traitors in my organization," Antonio said contemptuously.

Case stared at him for a long moment and then slammed her fist into the top of his desk in anger.

"God damn it, you stupid fucking paranoid idiot!" Case swore. "Shit!"

Rain was a little confused as to what Case's response meant, so she just asked.

"Is it true?"

"No!" Case said angrily.

Antonio huffed at her denial and the look on his face said he didn't believe her for a second.

"The money was from you, you asshole," Case said derisively. "I was just laundering it and stashing it someplace safe in case I ever had to get away. I would have kept working for you indefinitely, if you hadn't pulled this shit on me. You should've trusted me..." Case paused as she realized this line of conversation wasn't going to get her anywhere. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. "Okay. I know you can't rescind the order. So, who knows you intended to have me killed?"

Antonio looked blank, and Case realized he wasn't planning on telling her. Case tried another approach, the truth. Or at least part of it.

"Look, if I can take out all the people who know about the order, then maybe I can leave you alive and just disappear. It's your only chance, and you can always find replacements. Otherwise, I just start going after everyone, starting with you."

Antonio was obviously not happy with Case's proposed deal, but it didn't take him long to realize he didn't exactly have a choice. He nodded.

"All right. But you have to give me your word that you'll let me go after I tell you," he insisted.

"I give you my word I'll let you go," Case promised.

With that settled, he started naming all the people he'd discussed her death sentence with. Case was glad it was a small list, though it included all of Antonio's sub-bosses. It was less than a dozen people, including Doc and Rain, and Antonio was confident that his people hadn't discussed the subject with anyone else since he'd ordered them not to. Case wasn't so sure, but she knew that they'd bring their seconds with them to the meeting she had planned, and since those were the people she figured they would've most likely talked to, she decided it was a risk she was willing to take.

"All right. I want you to call a meeting at that warehouse on State Street for seven tonight."

"It's too short notice. Everyone won't come," Antonio argued.

"They will if you give them the impression you're going to be announcing their promotion."

Antonio thought it over and then nodded.

"Then make the calls," Case ordered. "And don't even try to use any coded language I don't recognize, or I'll just kill you now and hunt the others down one by one. You know I can do it, so don't fuck with me. Got it?"

"Yeah," Antonio nodded.

He dialed the number of the first person on the list and easily maneuvered him into agreeing to the meeting. He dialed the next number and started all over again.

CHAPTER 28

RAIN COULDN'T BELIEVE Antonio was going along with what Case was planning. Granted, his own life was on the line, but these were supposed to be his trusted associates, and he was selling them out just on the off chance that Case decided to keep her word and spare his life, which Rain was slowly realizing wasn't very likely.

As Antonio continued to call his lieutenants and arrange for their attendance at the meeting, Rain found herself watching everything with a strange detachment. She imagined herself trying to overpower Case to stop this whole thing from going any further, but she'd gone up against the woman only a day before, and the only reason she wasn't dead was because Case had somehow refrained from killing her.

Even if she did manage to stop Case without killing her in the process, Carlotti would execute Case for what she'd done. Not to mention Rain herself for telling Case what Antonio had planned for the assassin. Then again, maybe she could arrest Carlotti.

Yeah, right. And I'm going to get him out of a house full of armed guards, how? Rain thought to herself sarcastically.

Rain closed her eyes, as though that could help her shut out the sounds of Antonio sweet-talking his colleagues to their deaths. Rain didn't want to be a party to mass murder, and there was no other way to describe what Case was about to do. Unfortunately, Rain's clinical mind couldn't escape the fact that if Case succeeded, the Carlotti organization would be finished and there wouldn't be a need for court proceedings that could go on for months and years with appeals.

The honorable part of her reminded her why the judicial system was split up, that no one was supposed to be allowed to play judge, jury, and executioner. No one should have that kind of power. But she played devil's advocate with herself and couldn't help but remember that only a few days ago, she'd essentially done just that with her brother's killer. There was also no doubt in Rain's mind as to Carlotti's guilt, while a court might decide there wasn't enough evidence to convict him.

"Great, I'll see you there," Carlotti told the man on the other end of the line and then pressed the off button.

"Last one and then you get another dose," Case said, and Carlotti nodded.

He was sweating and his hands were getting shaky from the pain, or possibly the loss of blood, he wasn't sure which. He pushed one of his memory dial buttons instead of the phone number itself and waited.

"Doc," came the gruff voice over the speakerphone.

"Doc, I'm having a meeting this evening and I need you to bring the spreadsheets for last quarter's shipping revenue."

There was a slight pause before Doc replied.

"Are you being audited?" he asked calmly.

Case frowned as she recognized a code phrase, but she didn't know what it meant.

"No, of course not. Everything's fine. I just want some numbers to back up my proposals for the meeting and you always have a way of explaining that shit," Antonio soothed his fears. "I had a brainstorm this morning and I want to make some immediate changes," he added.

There was another pause and then Doc spoke.

"Okay. I'll be there early to meet with you and discuss your plans before the meeting," he said and then the line went dead.

Case pushed the off button and then kicked her foot out, landing it squarely on Antonio's knee. She grabbed the front of his shirt as she pushed her gun into his cheek, and he screamed as tears filled his eyes.

"What the hell does 'brainstorm' mean?!" she yelled over his incoherent screams.

He could barely think, but he did manage to form a few broken words.

"It's just... a word," he sobbed, and she held him at arm's length so she could kick him again.

"What does it mean?!" she asked again and then Carlotti went limp as he passed out. "Fuck!"

"Stop, Case! Maybe he was telling the truth," Rain said, but Case ignored her.

Case slapped him several times, but his eyes barely fluttered. She let him drop back into his chair and looked around the room. There was a vase on one of the tables against the wall and Case went for it, removing the flowers as she came back. She poured some of the water over his head and he finally came back to consciousness. As soon as he seemed aware of his surroundings, Case started in again.

"What does 'brainstorm' mean?" she asked.

He stubbornly clamped his mouth shut and she punched him in the face.

"What the fuck does it mean?!"

When he refused to answer, she slammed her fist into his stomach and he coughed, almost throwing up from the blow to his abdomen.

"I can do this all day, Antonio," she threatened and reached down to squeeze his knee.

His scream gurgled out of his throat and then he passed out again. Case laughed, though there was no humor.

"Guess you can't," she muttered and started slapping him again before she poured the rest of the water from the vase onto his head.

"Case! Stop!" Rain said.

Rain moved forward to prevent Case from inflicting more damage to the man, but then Antonio opened his eyes, and Case stopped on her own. Rain stood uncertainly only a few feet away.

"What the fuck was the code word?" Case questioned and just lightly grazed her hand over Antonio's tortured knee.

It wasn't enough to make him pass out again and Antonio knew he wouldn't be finding oblivion anytime soon. The pain was excruciating and he just wanted it to end.

"It meant... I wasn't... alone... And... I couldn't speak... freely... And... I needed... backup," Antonio got out as he gasped through the pain.

He wished she'd just cut off his leg. It would hurt less.

"How soon will they be here?" Case asked in alarm.

He was about to open his mouth to answer, but the doors burst open and half a dozen men rushed into the room. Case pushed Carlotti down behind his desk and grabbed at Rain as she dove to join him. She came back up firing and brought down three men before she had to take cover again. She heard a sound behind her and turned her head to see Antonio trying to crawl away. She slammed the butt of her gun onto the base of his neck and knocked him out. She turned to Rain. The woman had two of her guns out, but she was looking at Carlotti's unconscious form with a frown.

"What the hell are you waiting for? They don't take prisoners!" Case yelled at the woman, as she switched to two new guns with full clips so that she could offer more counter fire.

"We've got Carlotti! We could use him as a hostage and get out of here!" Rain shouted over the sound of gunfire and bullets hitting wood and plaster all around them.

Case looked at her like she was insane.

"Are you stupid? They'll kill Carlotti themselves and just say it was us, then elect a new boss! Why do you think he was trying to get away?!" Case yelled back.

Rain's shoulders slumped as she realized Case was right. That kind of thing had happened several times throughout the mob's infamous history.

"Fuck," Rain cursed under her breath and leaned around the side to offer a few rounds to their assailants.

Case popped up over the top of the desk for just a second and then fell back again. Six men had entered the room in those first few seconds. She'd killed three while Rain had just sat there. That should have left three, but she'd just counted seven. Case knew Antonio always kept a compliment of two-dozen men on hand just in case the cops or the Feds ever decided to try to bust him.

Case peeked again from another angle and narrowly avoided getting her face blown off. There were fourteen now.

"Doc must have called the guard station and alerted them. Shit," Case swore. She turned to Rain again. "We've got to take them out before Doc arrives with reinforcements."

"Nice idea. You got a plan to go with it?" Rain questioned, as she fired off eight more shots, only landing two of them, but the men went down.

"Yeah. Take them down as fast as you can and make sure they stay down," Case ordered as she followed through on her own words and killed two men with three shots.

"That's easy for you to say. I'm not the one who never misses," Rain replied, but she brought down another pair of guards with only four shots that time.

They both ducked behind the desk at the same moment. They could hear the bullets impacting on the wood, along with a slight metal thrum as they ran into the steel reinforcement. Case reloaded her guns while Rain did the same. She looked over at Rain.

"You go right. I'll go high. Aim for the targets on the left and I'll take the right," Case said. Rain nodded in acknowledgement. "Go!" Case yelled.

As Rain dove around the side of the desk and fired across the room at the men on the left, Case stood up and used both of her guns to take out individual targets on the right. She felt a bullet graze her hip and then another burned her arm, but she dropped four guys in half as many seconds before hitting the deck herself. The afterimage of the room imprinted on her mind's eye to let her see that Rain had removed only one target, leaving three.

The firing stopped and Case took a quick look. All she caught was a glimpse of one of the men retreating.

"Fuck!" Case said as she jumped up and ran after him and his friends. She called back over her shoulder to Rain. "Stay here and watch Antonio! If anyone comes through those doors, shoot 'em!"

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"To clean up," Case said and then closed the heavy doors behind her.

Rain looked over at Carlotti's unconscious body.

"Great, just fucking great," she mumbled.

CHAPTER 29

CASE MOVED DOWN the hallway at a healthy pace and only slowed when she came to the first intersection. She carefully looked around both corners and then moved towards the center of the mansion.

Before she could get to the next junction, eight guards came around the corner led by Doc, and she shot him and two of the guards before they even had a chance to register her presence. The other six scattered back behind the corner for cover, and Case quickly ducked into a nearby room. There was an exit at the opposite end, which led to another room, and Case ran through the next room until she was at another door. She'd basically circled around behind the men in less than ten seconds.

Case stood off to the side and slowly twisted the knob of the door. It opened onto the hallway where the men were most likely still waiting for her to make her move. She waited for the door to be blown to bits, but nothing happened, so she pulled it open a crack. She glanced around the door and saw the men trying to decide whether to take the chance of going around the corner to find out where Case was.

She recognized the three guards who had retreated a few minutes earlier, and she heard one of them talking about what a good shot she was. She smiled and opened the door a little wider so that she could take up a position using the doorframe as partial cover. She shot the first three in the back and took down the other three before they could aim their guns at her location half-hidden in the doorway.

By Case's calculations, there were still three maids, two cooks, two chauffeurs, and however many men Doc had brought with him. Though Case thought Doc would have probably kept his group all together, there was no way to be sure he hadn't split them up to search the house while he went to rescue Carlotti.

Case put away the hot guns and pulled out the two with silencers on them. It was time to stop giving away her location every time she fired her gun. She replaced the clips with fresh ones and took a deep breath to settle herself.

Case headed down the hall, moving in sudden bursts from one spot to the next so that she always had some kind of cover nearby in case she was ambushed. She made it all the way to the kitchen without meeting anyone else, but just as she was about to leave, two of the servants entered. They were both armed and they immediately pointed their guns at Case.

Case pulled the door open in front of her body and felt tiny shards of hot metal strike her fingers as the bullets impacted on the swinging steel door. She turned her head away as the glass from the round window shattered. Then she heard the clicking of their empty guns. Case let the door go and it swung away as she raised her hand and aimed her gun at the maid first. Case squeezed the trigger, sending bits of the woman's brain onto the wall. Then she moved her arm a few inches and shot the retreating cook in the back of the head. His body hit the floor with a thud. She stepped over him and moved on to the next room.

Rain went around the office and checked for survivors. She found a few weak pulses, but the blood was pumping out of their bodies too quickly. They needed to already be in a hospital if there was going to be any chance for them to live. Unfortunately, there was nothing Rain could do about that.

After a few minutes, the last man breathed his final breath.

"Fuck!" Rain swore to herself.

She turned away in disgust and paced back over to where Carlotti was still lying on the floor behind his desk. He was breathing and his pulse was regular. He appeared to still be unconscious. She stood up from her squatting position and looked around the room, as she ran shaky fingers through her hair.

What the hell had Case been thinking? Things had gotten so out of control. Rain was supposed to be gathering evidence against Carlotti and his criminal organization, not wiping them out herself. It had never even occurred to her that Case might try something like this.

"Damn it, Case," Rain muttered.

She knew she needed backup, and she needed it now. She pulled out her cell phone and prepared to dial the number for Ron's emergency cell. She got to the third number when an image of Case in a body bag made her hesitate. Visions of Ron and his team showing up flitted through her mind, as she considered what would happen if she finished dialing the number.

First, they'd arrest Carlotti, but he'd end up in the hospital rather than lock-down. They'd probably arrest her too, though it would mostly be for show until they could figure out what the hell had happened.

But they'd also try to bring in Case. That is, if they could take her alive, and Rain didn't have much faith that they'd be able to do it. It was good odds that Case would end up killing several agents before they finally managed to take her down permanently. Unless Rain could somehow convince her to give herself up, but Case would still be facing the death sentence, or at the very least, life in prison, for all the crimes she'd committed over the years.

Then Rain had a thought. Case had been Carlotti's most trusted assassin until recently. If she testified against him, she could request immunity for her own crimes. Antonio was the big fish, but with the knowledge Case had of the organization as a whole, they could bring in everyone, rather than just the higher-ups. The information Case had would be enough to get her into the witness protection program and possibly even free of all criminal charges.

Of course Rain wasn't blind. Her superiors might decide they didn't need Case's testimony. Case was an assassin, and she wouldn't exactly be the best witness with that kind of background.

Rain looked around the room again. The place was a total wreck and Carlotti could definitely use that to his advantage in a court of law. He could say Case attacked him and killed his employees, goaded by a rogue agent bent on revenge for the death of her brother.

"That'd make a great headline," Rain mumbled sarcastically.

In less than an hour, they'd managed to kill nearly two-dozen people. Most of it had been in self-defense, but they wouldn't have needed to defend themselves if Case hadn't put them in this position in the first place.

Maybe if she'd known what Case had been planning, she would have been able to take her in before all of this had happened. But Rain knew only a bullet would have been capable of stopping Case, and Rain just wasn't prepared to go that far to stop Case from killing the people she herself hoped to receive the death sentence in court.

Rain sighed. Regardless of any of that, she needed to stop Case from going any further. They had the perfect opportunity to bring in all the sub-bosses and their lieutenants, and Rain just couldn't pass that up. Maybe she could get Case to just run if she didn't want to take a chance on trusting the FBI.

"Anngghshhhit!" came a moan from behind the desk.

Rain looked over at Carlotti and found him groggily trying to orient himself in the room. Just as she came over, he was reaching up to his desk drawer.

"I don't think so," Rain told him, and she pushed his hand away from the desk.

"You fucking bitch!" Carlotti ground out. "You're a dead woman. No, I'm going to fuck you 'til you're begging me to kill you. Nobody fuck's me like this, you goddamn bitch!"

Carlotti continued to hurl invectives at the tall agent, but Rain ignored him. She put her phone away so that her hands were free and then slowly pulled Carlotti into his partially destroyed desk chair. The material had been shredded from the numerous impacts of bullets, but the chair itself was still intact, since it had been made from steel, probably as an added protection against the type of situation that had recently transpired.

Carlotti cried out as his knee was moved, but he wasn't so far gone that he didn't take the opportunity to reach for one of Rain's guns as she leaned over him to put him in the chair. Luckily, Rain had fast reflexes, and he didn't even get it out of its holster before she chopped at a nerve in his wrist to make it go numb. She took a few steps back.

"Nice try," she said smugly.

"Fucking cunt!" was his immediate reply.

There was no way he could outrun the long-legged woman, and he knew it, so he just sat there and glowered.

Rain considered tying him up, but decided it was a pointless exercise. He wasn't going anywhere. Instead, she removed the gun from the desk and stuffed it into the back of her jeans. Then she pushed Carlotti's chair into the middle of the room so that she could keep an eye on him.

Carlotti spit at her the way he had at Case, but Rain dodged the glob of saliva, and it hit the floor instead. Rain walked out of his range, but she kept him in sight, as she contemplated pulling out her phone again.

A few weeks ago, she wouldn't have hesitated. She would have followed procedure and done her job to the best of her ability. But she couldn't stop thinking about what would happen to Case. And for what? So that a few assholes could stand trial instead of being blown to bits?

Rain reached for her phone. There had been too much death already. It didn't matter how she felt about it. Her duty was to uphold the law.

"Hey, bitch," Carlotti called out.

Rain's hand paused in her pocket, and she looked over at him, waiting.

"You know when she comes back here, she's probably going to kill you, too. I don't know what she's paying you, but if you let me go, I'll triple it," Carlotti offered.

"She's not paying me anything," Rain said disdainfully, though she didn't know why she was even talking to him.

Understanding dawned in his eyes, and he grinned lewdly.

"Oh, I'd have paid to see that," he laughed.

Rain turned away and ignored him. He realized he was fucking up his best chance out of this mess, so with this new information, he tried to think what would get through to her.

"Hey, I'll make you a deal. You let me go, and I'll let Case leave the country alive, and you can go with her. I'll even throw in a bonus for you, say a couple hundred grand?" he tempted.

Thoughts of torturing them both to death once they were in another country made him grin even wider, though the pain in his knee turned it into more of a grimace.

Rain turned around and stared at the man incredulously.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

His face fell, as he realized she wasn't going to agree quite as easily as he'd hoped, but he couldn't just give up, so he tried again.

CHAPTER 30

CASE SYSTEMATICALLY SWEPT through the entire place and executed everyone she met. It took her almost an hour, but she'd killed everyone she knew would be in the household, as well as several new faces she'd never seen before.

She couldn't say she was very upset to see them die. At this point, she wasn't sure she'd even be upset if she found Rain dead. She couldn't feel anything, except the most basic need to stay alive. It was what kept her moving through the house until she was sure she'd emptied it of everyone except herself, Rain, and Carlotti.

Finally, she entered the security room. There were several workstations and one wall full of monitors that showed every room of the mansion, except Carlotti's office. It included the surrounding countryside and the main front gate. She hadn't expected to see anyone at the guard station, since she'd shot Rick as he was coming into the entryway of the main lobby, and thankfully, she didn't.

She double-checked the grounds to make sure she hadn't missed anyone and then stepped back into the doorway. She removed the silencer from her gun and started shooting. She emptied the clip and several more after that until every single piece of equipment had at least several bullet holes in it.

She looked over the destroyed closed-circuit TVs and computers, including the two backup systems, and nodded in satisfaction. Antonio had gone digital shortly after the technology had been invented, so once she'd destroyed the computers, all records of the events in the mansion had been destroyed as well. She did one last sweep of the room to make sure she hadn't missed additional backups and then left.

It was a quick trip back to Antonio's office, and she made sure to yell out a quick identifier before entering the room. Antonio was awake and in his chair, and she calmly walked over to him. She raised her gun.

"Wait, you gave me your word," Antonio reminded her as he brought up his arms to shield his face, though he knew it was useless.

"I said I would let you go, not let you live," Case said and was about to shoot him point blank, but Rain's voice stopped her.

"Don't do it, Case," Rain said and was unprepared when Case whirled on her and pointed the gun at her instead.

"Don't think I won't kill you, Rebecca, because I will," Case said, her voice devoid of emotion.

It was a strange moment for both of them. Déjà vu didn't quite describe it, though there was definitely a feeling of having been in that particular situation before. Of course, any feelings of familiarity were quickly pushed aside as Rain realized two things. One, this was the first time she'd heard her name spoken, and liked it, since her mother had last called her Rebecca. And two, Case knew her real name.

"How long have you known?" Rain asked calmly.

"Since the night before your hit."

"Why didn't you kill me?"

"I already... I just didn't want to," Case said, as she faltered for a moment.

"What's going on?" Carlotti asked.

His voice broke the tension, and Case laughed, as she glanced at him for a moment, but not long enough for Rain to take advantage.

"The replacement you chose for me is an agent for the FBI, you idiot," she grinned sardonically.

His face registered surprise and then rage. Case turning traitor was one thing, but an FBI agent? He almost stood up to go after her, but the pain in his knee made him rethink that move, and he sat in impotent fury.

Case ignored him as she returned her attention to Rain. She took a gamble and slowly lowered her gun. The truth was, she could shoot Rain faster than Rain could get to her, but it was still a risk, and Case was trying to show that she trusted Rain, if only a little under these circumstances.

"So. What do you plan to do now?" Rain asked, trying to buy herself some time to think.

"Kill him, then kill the rest. Then get the fuck out of the country," Case said.

"What about me?"

"I won't kill you unless I don't have any other choice," Case said matter-of-factly.

"How comforting," Rain said sarcastically.

Case wanted to look away as Rain's eyes showed the betrayal she felt, but Case couldn't take the chance that Rain might try something and get herself killed.

"I'm sorry. But I can't just walk away from this."

"Neither can I," Rain replied.

Case turned her head to see Carlotti attempting to slowly inch his way back using his good leg to push the chair along the carpet. He'd been hoping they were so engrossed in their conversation that they wouldn't notice. Case pointed her gun at him again.

"Stop," she ordered.

"Or what, you'll shoot me?" Carlotti asked half-hysterically.

She was already going to kill him; what did he have to lose?

"Case, I could take you into custody. The FBI would protect you until the trial. You could get a new identity..." Rain broke in.

Case looked back over at Rain, ignoring Carlotti since in his current state he really couldn't get very far. She interrupted Rain before the woman could continue any further.

"Now who's insane? You really think they'd just let me go after the things I've done? I've killed a senator. I've killed cops. I've killed women and children. They don't let people like me start over," Case argued.

As much as Rain wanted to disagree, there wasn't anything she could say. She'd already thought of those things herself.

"This is my last job, Rain, and then I'm gone," Case said quietly, trying to make the agent understand. "I just want my life back."

Rain felt like she was being pulled in half a dozen different directions. Her duty was to the FBI. But she was in love with Case. Case was a killer, and Rain should have arrested her. But Case wasn't like most of the people in the upper echelons of the mafia. She didn't want to be part of the organization. She wasn't interested in gaining more status or power or wealth. She was just trying to find her way out and doing it the only way she knew how.

Whether it was right or not, in Rain's mind, the balance of Carlotti's life and the lives of the other men who helped him never even came close to tipping the scales against Case's life.

Rain thought she was probably going to go to hell for even considering letting Case go through with her plans, but she'd already felt that way after her first year of working undercover. She'd always tried to tell herself the things she'd done had been for a higher purpose, and the government had sanctioned it all as a necessary part of Rain's job, which supposedly took away Rain's responsibility for her actions. Of course, the Nazis in Germany had tried to say the same thing after the Holocaust. They'd just been "following orders," which was exactly what she and Case had been doing, though they'd been on opposite sides of the law.

But Case had been right when she'd said killing was killing whether it was in self-defense or not; the ends didn't justify the means no matter what the reasons. It was simply one person deciding that their rights were more important than another's. It just depended on whose side you decided to take because the argument could be turned around and used for either side of this particular situation.

Was it worth all the lives that had been lost and corrupted just so that the government could proclaim its version of justice on all the people that had been involved in Carlotti's organization? Especially when Case had the means to bring the whole thing down in a single night. On the other hand, was it worth sacrificing Case's and Rain's souls, their honor and self-respect, and violating the sacred trust that the public had in the law, just so that Case could carry out her plans and basically get away with murder?

Rain's mind raced as she tried to sort through all the thoughts running around in her head. But they all looped back to one point. The people Case intended to kill were killers themselves, and while Case would probably never even so much as shoplift if she got the chance to live her life in peace, those men would continue to hurt people every chance they got. It was the only equation that mattered to Rain.

After what felt like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds, Rain nodded in agreement.

Case turned without a second thought and shot Antonio in the chest, and then several more times in the stomach and chest again, and then one last time in the head. She put her gun away and walked over to Rain.

They stared at each other for a long moment, both knowing that something had changed between them, but not quite knowing what. Case was the first one to shake off the bizarre feeling, and she gestured toward the two large doors.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Case said, and they headed for the exit.

CHAPTER 31

CASE PARKED HER truck and cut off the engine. They were out of sight from the main road behind the last building before the long stretch of emptiness to the rigged warehouse. She got out of the truck and met Rain at the rear bumper.

"Antonio was always paranoid about you guys, or the cops, getting a chance to spy on him. That's why he made sure to keep the place isolated, just like his home."

"How are we going to get close enough to..." Rain started, but Case interrupted her, anticipating the question.

"We don't need to. All we need to do is watch for the cars. This is the only road that goes to the warehouse, so they'll all have to go by us. I know the plates. Carlotti made me memorize them, and Doc sends me... Well, he used to send me updates whenever someone bought a new vehicle." She handed Rain a small pair of binoculars with night-vision capabilities for when it became dark. "You can use those to watch the road and check off the numbers I'll give you to make sure that everyone shows up." She picked up another larger set for herself. "And I can see well enough through these to make sure everyone goes inside. Then I blow the place," Case finished.

Case found a notepad and a pen and wrote down the license plate numbers for all the possible vehicles that the bosses had at their disposal. For some, the list was unbelievably long, for others, it was relatively short. Once Case was finished, she gave the paper to Rain.

As they sat quietly in the back of the SUV, waiting for the time when they would actually have something to do, Rain tried to think of something to say, but she was at a total loss. Her brain seemed to have shut down after she'd decided to go along with Case's plans. She couldn't stop questioning herself as to whether she'd made the right decision or not.

In fact, Rain didn't think there was a right decision in all of this. On the one hand, she had an assassin who intended to kill a bunch of people who were just as guilty of the horrible crimes Case had committed. While on the other, the law said she was supposed to protect those criminals until they could be put on trial, and if that meant killing Case, the woman she loved, or even just putting her in prison until she died of old age, then so be it.

Rain was supposed to put aside her personal feelings and just do her job, which sounded an awful lot like what Case had done in order to survive the past few years. The realization of her loss of faith in the system made Rain feel like she was in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight and no chance of rescue.

Next to Rain, Case sat pensively as she tried not to think about anything at all. She'd dragged Rain into her crazy plan, and she knew Rain probably hated her for it. But no matter how hard Case tried to see things from Rain's point of view, she couldn't get past her own understanding of the way the world worked.

You couldn't trust the cops or anyone else to protect you. They had their own agendas and it didn't matter what was right or wrong. They just wanted to do their jobs and go home and feel good about themselves. If that meant they put the blame on a teenage girl for taking the law into her own hands when no one else was willing to protect her and her mother, then that's what they did. They didn't have to feel guilty that they'd let some kid get hurt. They could congratulate themselves that they'd caught a psycho in the making and put her behind bars.

But Case wasn't quite as jaded as she tried to pretend to herself. She knew there were plenty of good cops, but she also knew that didn't make them better than everyone else. They were still human just like all the judges and all the people who held office. Being a representative of the law didn't make a person automatically right. Even Rain, as much as Case loved her, seemed to be under the impression that the law was more important than the people it was supposed to protect, and Case could never accept that. Sometimes, the law had to be broken in order to protect the people.

Justice was in the hands of the most powerful, not the most morally wise or correct.

Case tried to shake off the philosophical thoughts. They didn't do her any good and she needed to be in the here and now, not off on some mental trip. She was just getting herself grounded again when she heard her stomach growl loudly.

Rain heard the sound of Case's hunger and took the opportunity to focus on something other than her confused thoughts. She moved further into the truck to bring out the deli sandwiches they'd picked up on their way over to the warehouse. She opened two bottles of water and passed one to Case.

"Thanks," Case said, as she unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite.

It was quiet again as they ate, sitting side by side with their legs dangling over the bumper, but when the silence continued after they'd finished their food, Rain had to speak.

"So, what happens after this?"

Case looked over at her for a moment. Her eyes seemed to fill with emotion for a brief second, and then they went dead again. She turned her head away to look around at the yellow-orange glow reflecting off everything from the soon-to-be setting sun.

"I disappear and you go back to your life," she said with finality.

Rain thought that over for all of about two seconds.

"No."

Case rolled her eyes and began to protest, but Rain didn't let her start.

"No. This isn't over between us," Rain declared and took a breath to continue, but Case beat her to it.

"Of course it is. You're an FBI agent and I'm part of the organization you were investigating. Once all those bosses are dead, the investigation's over and you get to stop pretending to be some thug. Or are you still planning on trying to bring me in?" Case asked with an edge to her voice.

"No. That's not what I was talking about. This... What we feel about each other was never part of my assignment. I don't think you can just toss it aside so easily."

There was silence for a while as Case tried to come up with a response that would get Rain to give up, but none of it sounded convincing even to her own ears. Her shoulders slumped slightly in defeat as she studied the ground.

"It won't work. I can't live in your world. Not after the things I've done. And you don't belong in mine. You can't stop being who you are any more than I can."

Rain leaned into Case and lifted her chin with the tips of her fingers. Her expression was one of understanding and she spoke gently.

"You're not a killer, Case."

Case laughed in her face.

"There are a few people who I think would disagree with you. If they could," she said, and shrugged off the tender touch as she hopped off the back of the truck to put more space between them.

Rain let her hand drop, but she didn't give up as she spoke to Case's back.

"All right. Yeah, you've killed people. But you're not a killer. I've profiled killers. That's what I was before I was finally allowed to go after Carlotti. I was a profiler and that means I know the difference between someone who kills because they have to and someone who does it for fun. Case, if you never had to defend yourself from an attack ever again, would you seek someone out to kill them just for sport?"

Case looked back over her shoulder for a second and then faced away again as she shook her head in negation.

"No, of course not," Case answered tersely, sounding offended just from being asked the question.

"That's my point." Rain stood up and walked closer to Case, but refrained from actually touching her. "I'm not saying the things you've done are okay. They're not and I have no idea how you're going to deal with it when it all catches up to you. I don't really know how to deal with it myself, except to keep telling myself that if you hadn't followed orders, you'd be dead and that's unacceptable to me. Those are extenuating circumstances in my opinion. But the truth of the matter is that you never wanted to kill anyone. It's not who you are."

"That's not true," Case admitted quietly and slowly turned around to face the tall woman, though she wouldn't meet her eyes.

"What?" Rain asked in surprise.

She hadn't expected a rebuttal.

Case stood in front of Rain with her head bowed as if awaiting judgment for her sins. She spoke to the ground as she answered Rain's question.

"I wanted to kill my dad," Case confessed. "I hated him."

Case swallowed as images from her past flashed across her mind's eye. She'd only spoken once about that bloody night and she'd held it all in ever since. But for some reason, she wanted to tell Rain about it. The need was so powerful, in fact, that Case started speaking without quite knowing what she was going to say.

"My dad... One night, he was so drunk and he started beating my mother. She kept screaming for him to stop, but he just kept hitting her and kicking her." Case's voice cracked and tears started pouring down her cheeks, but she continued through the pain. "I tried to stop him. I tried to pull him off her, but then he started beating on me, too. I ran. I think he was too drunk to remember he'd been hitting me and he went back to kicking my mom. I was gonna go after him again, but then I saw the knife in the sink, so I went for it, and when he came at me, I stabbed him. But he kept moving, so I just kept stabbing him and then I couldn't stop. I just hated him so much and I just wanted him to stop hurting us. He was always hurting us."

Rain stepped forward to hug Case, but Case quickly stepped back and held up her arms to stop the agent. She squeezed her eyes tightly to wring out the last of the tears and shook her head. She took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes again, Rain could see the light was gone.

"Then I realized he was dead." Case's voice had also lost its emotion and Rain stood there helplessly. "I just kind of... I don't know. I spaced out for a while and then the cops were cuffing me. My mother said I was crazy and that he never hurt me. I wished I'd killed her, too, then." Case finally looked up and Rain's heart clenched at the cold expression she saw on Case's face. "So, you're wrong. I have wanted to kill. I enjoyed it. It was a relief to know he'd never be able to hurt me again. That I finally got him back for what he did to me. Only I didn't. Nothing could ever repay that. Nothing."

Rain knew she had to do something to pull Case back from the old memories. She needed to remind Case that the past was over and she had a chance for a new life now. Only one thing came to mind.

"I love you, Cassandra."

Case looked up, startled at the use of her name and the words she'd never heard directed towards herself before. She tried to speak, but her throat was too tight. Rain continued as she took another tentative step forward to close the distance between them.

"I love you and no matter what you've done or what you ever do, that won't change," Rain promised. She caught Case's eyes again. "I've dreamed about what it would be like to lose you and I can't take that again. Never again."

Rain slowly reached up and brushed the tears from Case's cheeks. Case finally accepted the touch and closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy it. Then she opened her eyes and stared into Rain's with so much intensity that Rain actually stopped breathing in anticipation.

"I love you, Rebecca."

Case felt more tears come at finally saying those words out loud and letting Rain hear them. It felt wonderful just to say them, and the joy she saw on Rain's face made her feel so good inside. She wanted to be with Rain so much.

Too much. It would destroy her if she lost Rain. She couldn't take the risk of believing they had a chance together, only to be devastated when it all finally fell apart the way she knew it would. So, she did the only thing she could to keep herself safe. She pushed away her heart and clamped down on the feelings that threatened to overwhelm her if she gave them half the chance. There was nothing else she could do.

Case sighed in resignation as she gently disengaged from Rain and turned away.

"But it doesn't matter. We just weren't meant to be together," Case told the agent as she crossed her arms in a subconscious attempt to console herself.

Rain felt her heart stop beating as she stared at Case in shock. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. Nothing seemed real. A cold numbness was quickly sweeping through her body and the intellectual part of her mind recognized the beginnings of panic.

She'd been holding onto the fantasy that Case would stay with her. She'd believed that once they'd each told each other how they felt, they would naturally choose to be together. Forever. That was just how it was supposed to be.

But the reality was that Case truly intended to walk out of her life forever. Their love wasn't enough, and after tonight, she would never see Case again. The woman was just going to disappear and nothing Rain said or did would stop her.

In that instant of clarity, something inside Rain broke. She'd lost too much, seen too much death and pain. Anger exploded inside her and Rain suddenly screamed without thinking.

"NO!"

Case jumped and turned back around to find tears streaming down Rain's cheeks. Rain shook her head violently and began pacing as she continued to shout furiously.

"We were always meant to be together, damn it!" Rain yelled. She didn't know where her conviction came from, but she was sure it was true as she continued to speak without censoring herself. "We just keep fucking it up! And now you just wanna walk away?! Well, fuck you! I didn't come here to lose you, god damn it!" Rain paused as the pain in her chest made her gasp on a sob. "Please," she cried, and found she almost couldn't draw a breath to speak, so she whispered. "Don't leave me."

Rain felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach and she slowly went to her knees on the asphalt. Only the news of her brother's death had come close to causing her the kind of anguish she was experiencing right now. She swallowed to keep from throwing up and her voice was hollow when she spoke.

"I'd rather you just killed me," she requested.

Case stood in shock. It was the absolute dejection in Rain's voice that got through to her and made her move. She knelt down in front of Rain and pulled the sobbing woman into her arms and held her tightly. She kissed the top of Rain's head several times and suddenly felt a sense of relief to know that Rain was alive and in her arms. She never wanted to let go and she felt stupid for even considering a life without Rain. She finally allowed herself the briefest hope that they could actually work something out.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Case's tears fell onto Rain's hair, but she smoothed them away. "I promise, we'll make it. Somehow, we'll find a way. I swear," Case promised from somewhere deep inside herself.

Rain nodded in acceptance and wrapped her arms around Case in return. They stayed like that for a long while, just rocking with each other as they held one another. Eventually though, Case pulled back again. She wiped at her tears as she spoke.

"I've dreamed about losing you, too. I did kill you, only I didn't mean to. I didn't want to, but everything happened so fast... And then tonight, I almost..." did it again.

Rain put her fingers to Case's lips.

"Shh. It's all right. You didn't kill me. It was just a dream," Rain said, more to convince herself than the assassin, as her own dream of killing Case played clearly in her mind's eye.

Case nodded slowly and hugged Rain a little tighter. She wished she could stop time and stay with Rain in that moment forever. She just never wanted to let go of the woman.

But it was only a few minutes later when Case's watch alarm informed her it was time for them to begin their vigil. A slow and tender kiss marked their parting to reaffirm their pledge to stay together. Then they went their separate ways to carry out Case's plan.

Rain took up a position that allowed her to watch the road, so that she could check off the license plate numbers from the notepad. Case moved to the other side of the building they were hiding behind in order to keep watch on the warehouse itself.

Half an hour before the meeting was supposed to begin, the first string of cars arrived. Case zoomed in with her high-powered lenses and tried to make out all of the people who exited the three cars. Case recognized the shortest man as a boss, second only to Antonio himself, while the two men on either side of him were his seconds.

Another two men took up posts leaning against one car each, while the only woman stood by the third car. Case knew the last three were the drivers and she had been counting on the woman's presence as the boss's favorite chauffeur. In fact, without her, Case would have been in trouble, and she breathed a small sigh of relief that everything had worked out so far.

A few minutes later, another string of cars arrived, and then another. Case watched as each group exited the cars and entered the building. She wondered what they were talking about, whether they'd started arguing with each other or were ignoring each other completely. She almost wished she'd set up listening devices so that she could hear what they were doing, but she knew it wasn't important to her goal, so she let it go.

Case continued to observe the latest arrivals through her binoculars as new groups showed up every few minutes.

CHAPTER 32

RAIN WATCHED THE road through her binoculars and placed a mark next to each of the license plate numbers she saw as the next string of cars went by. As the sun began to set and the time came closer and closer, she tried not to think about what she was helping Case to do, but her conscience was relentless.

There had to be a way for her to remain with Case without having to kill the leaders of the Carlotti organization. That wasn't what she'd been assigned to do, even if she was starting to think it might be justified. It wasn't her place to decide their punishment for breaking the law. If she'd wanted to do that job, she would have become a judge.

Carlotti was already dead, and there was nothing she could do about that. If she was being really honest with herself, there was nothing she wanted to do about that. But she was going to be responsible for the deaths of nearly six-dozen people, since by her count, for each boss that had been invited, they all seemed to be bringing two seconds and each of their drivers. Criminal or not, Rain didn't think she could allow herself to become a party to mass murder. If she went along with it on the grounds that they deserved it for the things they'd done, then she had to agree that Case deserved to die as well, and Rain didn't believe that was true.

She loved Case and she would stand by her through everything, but she couldn't justify so many deaths simply because she loved Case. Those were people in that building, and they were going to die if she did nothing.

As Rain continued to watch the road, she finally made her decision and entered the emergency number on her cell phone. It rang twice and then she heard the line pick up.

"Special Agent Dawson speaking."

"It's Rain. There's something big going down at the warehouse at the end of State Street in about half an hour."

"What's going on?" he asked.

Rain smiled wryly. She'd been asking that question all day.

"Just hurry up and send a team with a bomb squad," she ordered, and then hung up before he could protest.

Rain put the cell phone away and checked off the numbers she saw on the next few cars that passed her by. She didn't want to think she was betraying Case, but it was hard to look at what she'd done as anything else.

Rain sighed. The deed was done and she couldn't take it back now. She continued to mark off the cars that drove by until there was at least one for each boss. Then they stopped coming.

Rain heard Case walking over to her a couple minutes after the last set of cars had driven past and she looked up as she put the binoculars down.

"Let me see the notepad," Case requested, and Rain handed it to her.

Case scanned the list to double-check her own mental inventory and nodded her head.

"They're all here. The last ones just went inside," Case said, and turned to go back to the truck for the detonator.

Rain grabbed her wrist.

"Wait. You don't have to do this."

Case stopped and turned around to face her. The look on her face was patient, but not incredibly open. Rain went ahead anyway.

"You can testify against Carlotti's men and bring them to justice the right way. I know you don't trust the law; you've never been given much reason to, but trust me. I won't let anything happen to you."

"You're not the one I have to trust. You don't even have the power to make that kind of deal. And the kind of justice you're talking about is bullshit. It doesn't matter whether those guys are behind bars or not. As long as they're alive, they'll continue to run the organization. And then they'll know it was me and I'll end up with a death sentence."

"But we can protect you," Rain argued. "I'll personally see to it that you're kept safe from harm. I've had experience as a bodyguard and I know you can take care of yourself. Together, no one should be able to touch us," Rain said confidently.

"God, you just don't get it, do you?" Case said in exasperation. "I don't want to be on the run for the rest of my life, Rebecca, and I don't want you to have to look over your shoulder all the time either. But that's how it's going to be if I don't kill them now. You're just going to have to trust me on this one. I know these people better than anyone because I'm one of them, or at least I used to be," Case amended. "If someone double-crossed me the way I'm about to do these guys, I wouldn't rest until they were all dead. In fact, Antonio is a good example. He crossed me and now he'll never have the chance to cross me again. The men in that building knew what he was planning and went along with it, so as far as I'm concerned, they get everything Carlotti got. No loose ends. If I let those men live, they'll find out I killed Carlotti. And then if I testify, that'll be another dozen nails in my coffin. Not to mention yours. FBI agents aren't immune to having hits put out on them either. This is the only way to take care of all those problems once and for all. Can't you see that?"

"No. There's always another way," Rain protested.

"Not this time," Case replied quietly.

"I can't just stand aside and watch you kill..."

"Why not? You've been doing it for three years," Case interrupted her.

Rain paused in confusion.

"What are you talking about? I only met you a week ago."

"But you've been working for Carlotti for three years. You've killed people to protect his people. You've helped him sell drugs, kept him in power. You've done just about everything I have, but somehow it's okay because you weren't doing it for real. You could walk away at any time and just go back to your real life. But all the people he hurt, all the money he made... You were living off that money the same as the rest of us."

"I was undercover. I couldn't..." Rain began to protest.

"Oh, so it's all right because you were going to do something about Carlotti. How many people have died in the last three years, huh? How many women have been raped and killed? How many people have gotten addicted to the drugs he sold? How many cops have been killed? How many agents? How many kids have gone to bed each night knowing they're going to become part of the business, if they aren't already? How many people have lived in fear for the past three years because they didn't know if they were next on my list? How many people have been blackmailed and threatened each day just to keep their mouths shut or cough up some money for "protection"? All while you "gathered evidence." Did you ever do one damn thing to help those people?! Did it ever even occur to you? And now suddenly when it's all on the line, when it's all real, you want to tell me no?!"

Rain stood speechless. She wanted to argue, but her mind was a blank. Everything Case had said was true. She'd been so focused on putting a case together against Carlotti and his people that she'd never once considered any other alternatives. She'd grown up in the system believing it was the best and only way to do things, while Case had lived outside of the system, learning about its flaws firsthand, as she became one of its casualties.

"You can live in your goddamn fantasy, but it doesn't change a thing. Your cop friends can't come in here and just make it all better. If they could, they would have been able to stop Carlotti a long time ago, but that's not how the system works." Case sighed. "Maybe you can't take responsibility for the things you've done, but I am. These people aren't going to have a change of heart and I'm not going to let them live just so you and your friends can feel like you did the right thing. It's not the right thing, and maybe what I'm doing isn't right either, but at least they'll never be able to hurt anyone else again."

Rain looked down and noticed the time on her watch. Her gut twisted as she realized she'd made a terrible mistake. She looked up at Case.

"I already called for backup. They'll be here in only a few minutes. You better hurry."

"Shit!" Case cursed and started to turn away.

"I'm sorry. I had to do something. I couldn't just let you murder several dozen people," Rain explained.

Case rounded on her.

"I know about Danny Cutillo, so don't even try to pull that sanctimonious shit with me!" Case spat out. She pointed angrily towards the warehouse that was nearly a mile away. "The people in that building did more than take a brother from me. They took my life away. They made me a slave and turned me into the person that is now going to do whatever I have to do to get my life back. This is my last job and all I want is my freedom and a chance at a normal life. I don't care what I have to do," Case swore.

Rain nodded guiltily. One life or dozens, revenge was revenge. She knew Case also saw it as self-defense, their earlier debate on the subject easily coming to mind. But either way, Rain realized if she truly intended to stop Case, she was going to have to kill her. And Rain decided that just wasn't going to happen. Especially not for something she couldn't even argue against very well.

Case ran to the truck and grabbed the detonator from the glove compartment. She ran over to where she'd been watching the warehouse before and brought up the binoculars. Then she depressed the red button under her thumb, but it wasn't until she released it again that the bombs were triggered.

The building exploded in several different places, intensifying the initial shockwave and sending the nearby cars flying through the air, the drivers themselves on fire from the blast of flames that billowed out of the obliterated structure. Case just barely remembered to close her eyes during the opening flash in order to keep from being blinded by the night-vision lenses of the binoculars. After a few more seconds to confirm the lack of living movement, Case ran back to the truck, and then over to where Rain was standing at her lookout point.

"The team just drove by," Rain informed her hesitantly, unsure of where she stood with Case.

"Get in the truck," Case ordered, as she ran for the black vehicle.

She thought she should still be mad at Rain, and in some ways she was, but she knew Rain had only been doing what she thought was best. And now they were sort of even for the way Case had manipulated Rain into helping her. She never would have been able to pull the whole thing off if it hadn't been for Rain's assistance, and she still needed her help.

"Where are we going?" Rain asked, as she quickly buckled herself in.

"I'm going to drop you off at Carlotti's. We need to figure out how we're going to explain everything, without actually explaining everything," Case said, as she put the truck into gear and pulled out onto the street. The long line of FBI cars and trucks were already far down the road going in the opposite direction. "I hadn't planned on them showing up so soon, so we're going to have to change a few things."

"Like what?" Rain asked.

"Well, I'd intended to make the whole thing look like a takeover between Carlotti and several of his bosses, and the bosses were taken out by someone else, though they'd never figure out who. And you could just say I left you at the hotel, but with the way things went down, that's never gonna fly," Case said as she maneuvered the massive SUV through traffic. "And I'm supposed to be dead back there in all that wreckage," she added.

Rain nodded and took a deep breath. She was going to have a lot of explaining to do back at headquarters, and she'd have to make it look good if she wanted to have any chance of keeping her job, or staying out of prison for that matter.

She considered joining Case and leaving the country with her in order to avoid that risk, but she knew it was a one-way ticket. If she left now, she'd never be able to come back, and she just couldn't burn that bridge yet. She didn't know if it was loyalty or stupidity, but she wanted the FBI to have some kind of closure. Or maybe it was just she who needed the closure. She felt as though if she ran with Case now, she'd always be running.

"What do you want me to tell them?" Rain finally asked.

Case glanced at her and then went back to watching the road.

"Well, the one thing you can't tell them about is your involvement with me. If they even suspect that we were lovers, you'll end up with your own prison sentence."

"I know," Rain said, though she didn't like the past tense Case used to refer to their relationship.

"And you can't tell them you weren't at Carlotti's. All they'd need to do is find a single strand of your hair and your story would be blown out of the water," Case continued as she thought out loud.

"Okay, so I was there. But why?" Rain questioned, starting the process of fabricating her account of that night.

They went back and forth, one throwing out an idea and the other trying to punch holes in it, as they formulated what they hoped was a good cover story for the day's events. By the time they reached Carlotti's, they'd gone over the whole story several times, making sure Rain had it down pat. They made a few changes to the scene of the crime to conform to the story, and then walked outside until they came to a stop in front of Case's black SUV.

As they stood in the parking lot, Case had a hard time looking at Rain. She'd never said goodbye before. Leaving had never been important since she'd never cared about anyone she left behind, but at the moment, her feelings seemed to be on the surface, raw and exposed, and it hurt. She didn't want to say goodbye.

Rain was having the same problem. She was terrified she was never going to see Case again. She didn't want to let the woman out of her sight, but as much as she wished time would stop for them, the clock was still ticking.

Rain moved first and pulled Case into a hug. Case took it stiffly, but after a few moments, she returned the hug, holding Rain tightly. Case didn't want to cry, but the tears fell from her eyes anyway, and she could feel little tremors in Rain's body that told her the agent was crying, too.

Rain kissed the side of Case's head and slowly made her way down to Case's mouth. Their tears mingled as their lips met, and their tongues slowly moved over and around each other. They both tried to memorize the taste of the other's mouth, not wanting to lose this last chance to be close to one another. Finally, they pulled away and leaned their foreheads against each other as they tried to catch their breaths.

It was another minute before Case was able to break the tableau, as she began edging her way towards the driver's side of her truck.

"You have to go," Case told her.

"I know," Rain replied, though she didn't move.

"I guess... I'll see you when I see you," Case said.

Rain nodded. They'd already discussed where Case was going, along with her new identity, but Rain knew it would be at least a month before she could meet her. It would take that long to wrap up the investigation if the FBI bought her story. If they didn't, Rain probably wouldn't be going anywhere for 10-15 years.

"You could come with me," Case suddenly said on impulse.

Rain smiled softly, but she shook her head.

"No. I need to do this. I can't..." Rain took a deep breath. "I have an obligation. I just need to see this through."

Case nodded. She'd already known Rain wouldn't be able to just leave. She wasn't even sure why she'd suggested it. She felt so off balance. In less than a heartbeat, Case straightened up and pulled away from Rain's embrace. She had to leave now. She quickly swung open the door of her truck and jumped in, closing it behind her.

Rain stood by the open window, startled at Case's abrupt departure. She hadn't meant to hurt Case's feelings.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

Case realized what her actions must have looked like and she shook her head.

"No. It's not that. I just can't... It's taking too long," Case choked out.

Rain nodded in understanding. They were just prolonging their torture.

"I love you, Cassandra," Rain said thickly.

Case nodded. She tried to return the words, but her throat was too tight. Instead, she just mouthed them and hoped Rain could see her in the dark. She started up her truck and backed up. She did a one-eighty turn and then sped down the driveway. The motion detectors activated the gates, and they opened just in time to let Case through.

Case blinked away her tears so that she could see to drive. She felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest over and over again and she couldn't breathe. She drove on autopilot, hardly even seeing the signs that brought her closer to the airport. But as she got further away from Rain, she managed to get herself back to a more natural state of numbness.

She remembered to stop at the hospital on her way, and she snuck past the few attendants that were around in order to gain access to the incinerator. She pulled out her guns, popped the clips, and emptied the chambers of their bullets. Then she tossed the guns into the furnace. She watched the metal melt to slag, and then headed for the nearest bathroom. She threw the bullets into a trashcan and then went back out the way she'd come. She casually dropped the empty ammo clips into the trash receptacle beneath an ashtray near the exit. Then she continued on to the airport.

By the time Case was entering the long-term parking area, she'd completely focused herself on finishing the last part of her plan and getting herself out of the country. She chose a spot towards the back of the carport and then hopped out. She brought out her bags and then cleaned out the truck completely. She didn't even leave the owner's manual in the glove compartment.

Though she fully intended to continue to pay for the space for her truck on a monthly basis to keep it from sending up any red flags in the computers, she didn't want there to be any way for it to be connected to her or Carlotti if anyone did get curious about the vehicle. She didn't think it would be a problem, since she'd registered the vehicle under a false identity, which was completely unrelated to the one she was traveling under now. Plus, if she ever did come back, it would be nice if she had a vehicle waiting for her.

Case headed towards the entrance to the airport. The only thing she had to worry about now was being spotted by someone she knew.

Case slung her bags over her shoulder and walked to where she could see who was working the check in counters. She recognized one of the clerks, but he was taking care of the domestic flights. If she kept her head down, he probably wouldn't see her in the intercontinental airlines section.

Case stood in line and made sure to keep several people between herself and the guy's line of sight, but he appeared to be oblivious to everyone except the woman in front of his counter.

As the line slowly moved forward, Case couldn't stop thinking about the different flights she'd booked. She'd told Rain her first choice, but she hadn't mentioned the other possibilities. If she wanted to, she could pick a different destination, and Rain would never be able to find her. She'd never have to see Rain again and risk the possibility of losing her. She could just end it now and never have to deal with her feelings, or Rain's, ever again.

Finally, she was at the head of the line, and then she was called forward. She went through the routine of questions and check-in procedures. She made her decision and gave the confirmation number for the flight she'd decided on. Her bags were checked in and then she received her boarding pass and headed for her gate.

Two hours later, she was on her way.

CHAPTER 33

RAIN DROVE AS QUICKLY as she could towards the warehouse. She felt like she was trying to outrun her own thoughts. What if Case had lied about where she was going? What if Case had lied about everything? Maybe she was just using Rain to save her own ass, and she had set up Rain to take the fall for her.

But Rain remembered the look in Case's eyes when she'd told Rain she loved her. She couldn't have faked that. And everything they'd been through together had been real. Case had wanted her to leave with her and it had been Rain who had decided to stay. Case was the one who was actually taking a big risk just by letting Rain live. If Rain gave away the fact that Case was still alive, sooner or later, she'd be found. It was the story of Case's death that would keep anyone from looking.

Rain slowed down as she turned onto the road leading to the warehouse. She pulled up to the chaotic scene and looked around. There were half a dozen vehicles marked with the FBI seal and another half dozen police cars parked all over the place, while several fire trucks were being manned by the firemen who were attempting to get the blazing inferno under control. Several news vans were covering the scene and Rain wondered what they were reporting.

Then Ron jogged up to her car. She rolled down her window and the smell of smoke and fire drifted inside.

"You shouldn't be here. You could blow your cover," Dawson said, as he stopped at her window.

"There's really no point now," Rain said, and Dawson frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain at the debriefing. You better bring me in," Rain said.

Rain sat in a fairly uncomfortable chair at a table in the middle of the room, though the chair had been comfortable when she'd first sat down in it almost ten hours ago. There was a large mirror on one side of the room, which she knew probably hid every single one of her superiors behind it. Dawson sat across from her and he leaned back in his own chair.

"Let's go through it all one more time just to make sure we didn't miss anything important," Ron said, as he put a new tape in the recorder, and Rain rolled her eyes.

"Ronny, we've been over this a dozen times already," she complained.

"Rain, a lot of people are dead. There are questions that need to be answered..."

"Couldn't they be answered tomorrow?" Rain whined. She sighed. "Ron, I'm tired, and I just wanna go home and get some sleep. Okay?" she said, and started to get up, but Dawson didn't move.

He looked at her and then finally relented.

"All right. How 'bout we just take it from when you set the bombs at the warehouse," Ron said placatingly and Rain reluctantly sat down again.

"All right."

"Now, you said Cassandra Jacobson, otherwise known as Case, woke you up yesterday morning, telling you that you had a new hit job, meaning you were supposed to kill someone."

"Yes, but she wouldn't tell me who the target was. I found out later that was because she didn't know either. Once we were done placing the bombs where she'd been instructed, we went to lunch."

"Without detonating the bombs," Dawson interrupted skeptically, though he'd seen the explosion take place himself as they'd been driving down the road to the warehouse.

"Like I said before, I was surprised that we didn't blow up the place then, but she told me our job was just to set up the bombs and nothing more," Rain replied.

She waited for another interruption, but Ron gestured for her to continue.

"Anyway, after we finished lunch, we went to Antonio Carlotti's mansion. Case told me she needed to get the next part of her assignment from him..."

"I thought you said..." Ron looked down at his notes. "A man named Doc issued the assignments for hits. Why wasn't Doc handling this one, too?"

"Case said Antonio had told her this one was special and that he was overseeing it personally. He also liked to see her in person every now and then to check up on her, but Case said she thought they would probably end up talking about me and my training."

"To be a hit woman like Case," Ron added.

"Right," Rain confirmed. "So, Case took me up with her to meet Carlotti."

"What time was that again?" Dawson asked casually.

"I remember looking at the dashboard clock before we got out of the car, and it read three-forty-six," Rain said, though she'd given him that information at least ten times by now.

"So, you met with Antonio Carlotti," Dawson prompted.

"Yes. He greeted us and asked us to please sit. He told one of his bodyguards... there were three of them in the room with us... He told the bodyguard to call in another man who he referred to as Ricky. I never caught a last name."

"And you'd never met him before?"

"No. This was the first time I'd met anyone from Carlotti's inner circle, besides Case."

Ron added a note to his pad and looked back up at Rain expectantly, so she went on.

"Case said that she didn't know he, meaning Ricky, had gotten a promotion. She appeared to be agitated, though I don't know why. I can only assume that the two had a history together. Carlotti said he'd decided the man's talents were better used as a delivery boy than a chauffeur, and then the bodyguard returned with Ricky."

Case had decided to use one of the chauffeurs that had been near her body double when they'd both been killed in the explosion, though neither of them knew whether the man would ever be identified. If he were, then it would just add to the credibility of Rain's story. If he wasn't, then Rain was hoping it would be assumed he got away.

"Carlotti told Case to give Ricky the detonator. Case handed it over, though she appeared reluctant to do so, and Carlotti told Ricky to go to the warehouse on State Street and wait until a quarter after seven and then blow up the building."

"A quarter after seven?"

"Yes, those were his exact words," Rain replied, trying to keep her temper in check.

Dawson made another note and Rain continued.

"Anyway, Ricky left, and Case asked who the Target was and why she wasn't finishing the job herself."

"Do you remember her exact words?" Ron inquired, though Rain had already given a complete transcript of the conversations she'd heard that day.

Rain frowned.

"Of course I do," Rain said contemptuously.

Case had spoken the dialogue that had supposedly taken place between herself and Carlotti so that Rain could record it in her memory. It would also help her pass a lie detector test if they decided to go that far.

"She said, 'Who the hell pissed you off so bad you're blowing up you're favorite warehouse, and why is that idiot the one who gets to push the button?' Then Antonio said, 'I'm trying to break Little Ricky in slowly. I also wanted to talk to you. It's been weeks since we had a nice chat. So, how is Rain's training coming along?' Then Case said, 'It's going well. I've been testing her on the range and teaching her how to plan a job from beginning to end. I think she'll be ready for her first assignment in another few weeks.'"

Rain and Case had discussed whether or not she should say anything about the hit on Danny Cutillo. Since there was no evidence that they'd ever been connected with that particular job, Rain had decided to not even mention it. It was easy enough to skip, and she'd almost convinced herself that it had never happened. Almost, but not quite.

"Was there any mention of what that first assignment would be?" Ron asked.

"No. Probably whoever was on his shit list at the time," Rain said.

"So, you talked for a few minutes. Then what happened?"

"Actually, Carlotti and Case did all the talking. I just listened," Rain clarified, and Dawson nodded.

As Rain continued, she tried to make herself see it all happening in her mind's eye.

"Anyway, Carlotti said that Doc had found out that a group of his seconds were planning on killing Carlotti and then taking over. So, Carlotti had decided to take them all out and replace them with people he could trust. He said he'd gotten them all to agree to the meeting by telling each of them that he planned to make them his successor because he wanted to retire. They shared a laugh over that and I joined in. I've been studying Carlotti for years, and it just doesn't fit his profile to retire. He enjoys the power too much," Rain added.

Dawson nodded for her to continue.

"Well, then, just as Carlotti said he was going to have one of his servants bring us all some drinks, the door slammed open and a group of men ran into the room with their guns drawn. I didn't know what the hell was happening, but I drew my own guns and looked for cover. Case did the same, but Carlotti headed for the back exit. He was shot in the leg before either of us could get to him and so were the three bodyguards. I dove behind the desk for cover and Case dragged Carlotti with her to join me. Then a firefight ensued. Case said she recognized them as Carlotti's guards, but that they obviously weren't taking orders from Carlotti anymore. More guards showed up, but Case and I were able to take them all out."

"You mean you killed them," Dawson interrupted her.

"Yes. They would have killed us, and I was trying to maintain my cover as being loyal to Carlotti," Rain defended her actions.

"I was just clarifying," Ron half-apologized. "So, after your assailants were dealt with, what did you do?"

"Case ordered me to stay with Carlotti to keep him safe, while she went to check the rest of the house."

"For what?" Dawson asked, though Rain had answered that particular question several times now.

"More renegade guards. I think Case took it as a personal affront that Carlotti had gotten hurt while she was around. And after what had just happened, there was no way to know what the situation was outside that room. For all we knew, we were going to have to fight our way out of the house to get Carlotti to safety."

"Then why didn't you go with her to back her up?" Ron asked pointedly as he leaned forward to add more emphasis to the question.

Rain sighed in exasperation.

"Case had ordered me to keep Carlotti safe. And Case is a very capable woman. It never even crossed my mind that she wouldn't be able to handle a few bodyguards."

Dawson studied her for a few moments and then sat back in his chair again.

"All right. So, then what happened?"

"While we waited for Case to come back, I ripped off one of Carlotti's sleeves and made a tourniquet for Carlotti's leg to lessen the bleeding. He'd lost a lot of blood in those first few minutes and he'd already passed out."

Rain and Case were both taking a gamble that the amount of blood and timing would match up. Carlotti had been shot over an hour earlier than Rain had reported, since she was trying to make it look like Carlotti had made all the phone calls on his own before they'd arrived at the mansion, rather than having been coerced by Case into making the calls.

Though he'd had the tourniquet on for over two hours before Case had shot him, in Rain's version of events, it had been barely an hour before Carlotti was killed. He still ended up with the tourniquet on for a while, so the amount of bruising and tissue damage would hopefully make enough sense when the autopsy was performed.

"When Case returned, she told me it was Doc who had orchestrated the ambush. She said she'd shot him in the hall heading towards Carlotti's office. Since he'd also been the one that was feeding Carlotti the information about his lieutenants, Case was pretty sure that meant they hadn't betrayed him, only Doc had."

"She said Doc told her this?"

"No. She said, 'Doc tried to kill me, but I got him first. He was leading a bunch of guys here, but a couple of them got away. Did they come here?' I said, 'No, I've been alone the whole time.' Then she nodded and said, 'They must have cut out of here when they realized things weren't going their way. I think they intended to finish Carlotti off. Doc must have been the one that set this whole thing up. He goes and gets Carlotti to kill off all his best people and then he sweeps in and takes out Carlotti and becomes the new don. Fucking bastard. I bet the only one who betrayed Antonio was Doc himself. Come on. We need to wake him up and let him know what's going on.' That was when we helped Carlotti into his chair and tried to wake him up. Case finally got him awake by dumping water on him and she told him what had happened. He was pretty out of it from shock, but he finally understood and told her to get to the warehouse to stop the bomb from going off. He told her not to come back if she didn't succeed. Case told him not to worry and then ordered me to watch after him again. Then she took off."

"And what time was that?" Ron questioned.

"I don't remember looking at my watch again until after Carlotti was shot, which was five-oh-seven, so I would guess it was about five o'clock at that point."

Rain was pushing the time forward by about twenty minutes, since they'd left the premises by quarter to five, but forensics would never be able to pinpoint the man's death down to the minute.

Dawson nodded and Rain continued.

"Once Case left, Carlotti told me to call his personal physician for his knee, but he couldn't remember the number. The phone in the room had been shot to hell, so there was no way to call up his electronic phone book. So, he told me to go to his bedroom and use the phone there. I left to make the call and was barely down the hall when I heard shots being fired. I pulled my gun and ran back to the office."

This was the one part of her story where Rain had to trust Case completely since she'd been unable to remember which guards she'd shot during all the chaos. But Case's photographic memory had been clear. She'd assured Rain that the guy they'd given the gun with which Case had used to shoot Carlotti had been one of Rain's victims. They'd had to reposition the man's body in the room so that it looked like he fell while facing the door to the hallway, but other than that, they'd been able to leave the room pretty much as is. Rain remembered to put in the fact that she was squatting so that the bullet paths would add up.

"I crouched down and looked around the door to see what the situation was. I saw Carlotti, presumably dead, and the shooter standing over him. The shooter had a wound in his arm from where he'd been shot during the earlier gunfight. He turned when he realized I'd come back, but I shot him before he could fire at me. Then I moved in to check Carlotti's vitals, but he was dead. It was at that point that I glanced at my watch and saw that it was five-oh-seven," Rain put in and Dawson nodded.

"I checked the rest of the room to make sure there were no other potential threats, but everyone was dead. Then I searched the house for other survivors, but they were all dead, too."

Case had switched a couple of her guns with several of Doc's men so that it looked like they'd shot the rest of Carlotti's staff. Since their deaths had all taken place within less than an hour of each other, there was no way to prove that Doc had died before Case had cleared the house herself. And Case had assured her that the bullet-matching for the guns would add up during the forensics investigation, since she hadn't used the same guns for the staff that she'd used on the bodyguards and Doc's men. And since she'd said that a couple of the men had taken off, any bullets without a matching gun could be attributed to the missing men.

Rain just hoped Case's memory was as perfect as she'd made it out to be.

"I waited for Case to return, but after another hour and a half, I realized it was possible that she'd run into trouble with Ricky. That's when I made the call to you. I knew you had a team in the area and I hoped you'd be able to get there in time to keep the bomb from going off and arrest Carlotti's people. But I guess you didn't," Rain commented as though she hadn't seen the cars pulling up to the blazing warehouse.

"Why didn't you call sooner?" Dawson asked suspiciously.

Rain looked away. She knew she looked guilty, but one of the tricks to lying well was being able to come up with good reasons for why you appeared so uncomfortable. Self-recrimination tended to work very well.

"I think I was still a little shell-shocked from everything that had happened. I mean I'd finally made it into Carlotti's inner circle, and then the next thing I know the man is dead. I admit I wasn't thinking as clearly as I should have been. I was still worried about blowing my cover, though I should have realized it didn't matter anymore. I just kept thinking that if Case returned and found Carlotti dead and me gone, it wouldn't look very good. But another hour went by and Case didn't return, so I decided to head over to the warehouse myself. When I saw the bomb had gone off, I realized Case hadn't been successful, which meant she was probably dead. With Carlotti dead, and most likely all the bosses that Carlotti had called to the meeting dead too, I decided you should bring me in. So, here we are," Rain finished.

"That's a pretty incredible story," Ron commented.

He'd said the same thing the first time she'd told it, and Rain just looked at him. He held her gaze for several moments as if trying to decide whether she'd been telling the truth or not.

"Is there anything else you'd like to add?" he asked finally.

Rain shook her head.

"No. I just want to get some sleep. I've been up since yesterday morning," Rain reminded him.

He nodded, as he turned off the tape recorder and ejected the tape.

"I'm sorry, but you know we have to be thorough." He stood up. "Thank you for your time, Agent Raines. We'll let you know if we have any further questions for you."

"Does that mean I'm free to go?" Rain asked as she slowly got to her feet.

"Yes. With Carlotti dead, your assignment's over, so there's no reason for you to go back."

He escorted her out of the room and down the hall. On the way, Dawson checked in the stack of tapes with the attendant guarding the evidence room. Though most of the tapes were simply repeats of Rain's account of the day, the first one was Rain's straight transcript of everything that had been spoken in her presence, and Dawson considered it to be the most important.

"I'll walk you out," Ron offered, and Rain nodded her acceptance.

They rode the elevator down to the street level in silence, and Dawson followed her out into the early morning air.

"Hey, I have something for you," Ron said, and pulled out a small black wallet.

He handed it to her and she flipped it open to reveal her badge and photo ID. The golden emblem of her profession glinted in the bright sunlight and she looked at it for long seconds before closing the wallet back up and putting it in her back pocket.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Um, do you need a ride home? They've impounded the car you were driving, so..."

"Nah. I think I'll walk for a while and then catch a cab," Rain said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'll be okay."

"All right. Well, you know, they don't expect you until Monday, so..."

"So, I've got three days to get my shit together after spending three years out there."

Dawson remained quiet.

"Sorry. I'm just tired," Rain mumbled and then sighed. "This was just so not how this investigation was supposed to turn out."

"I know. I was just going to say take it easy. Read a book. Watch some movies. They're going to want to do a psych eval before you're allowed back full-time," Dawson reminded her.

"Yeah, I know," Rain said.

They stood quietly, neither of them looking at each other. Then Dawson spoke.

"Rain...?"

"Yeah?" Rain replied.

"Is that what really happened?" he asked quietly.

Rain looked him straight in the eyes.

"Yes."

He kept watching her for another minute until he finally nodded his head in acceptance.

"Okay," he said.

Rain glanced around the street.

"Listen, I need to go home. Take a shower, eat, you know, the usual."

She walked to the curb and hailed a cab.

"I thought you were gonna take a walk first?"

"I think I just wanna go home. I haven't been there in three years and it would be nice to see the place again."

"Well, it should be clean. The housekeeper's been there twice a month to keep it up," Ron informed her needlessly, since she'd been the one who had set up the service in the first place.

"Good," Rain sighed and opened the car door. "I'll see you on Monday."

"All right. Take care," Ron told her.

CHAPTER 34

IT TOOK FIVE weeks for all the reports to come back from the various experts in the crime labs. Rain was on edge the whole time, though she did her best to act like she wasn't worried. Technically, there wasn't supposed to be anything for her to worry about. But all it would take was one discrepancy between her account and what forensics said had happened and the validity of her own report would be called into question.

In the meantime, she went through several psychological evaluations. She knew it was routine for any agent who'd been undercover for as long as she had, but it still annoyed her. She just wanted the whole thing to be over with already.

Finally, the last report came in and Rain was informed that the investigation was being closed, though a search for Ricardo "Little Ricky" Garavini was still going strong. Everything else had checked out.

Among other things, forensics had reported that there was only one female corpse in the wreckage. The online dental records from Cassandra Jacobson's time in juvenile hall had matched, and unfortunately, there was nothing else left of the charred corpse with which to verify its identity. The FBI had requested the original hardcopies of the files, but they'd been told the originals had been destroyed in an incident several years earlier when someone had broken in and set the place on fire.

It wasn't too difficult to put two and two together. Apparently, Case had been trying to erase her identity and hadn't known the files were kept in an electronic database as well. Lucky for the FBI, they'd still been able to ID the body despite Case's attempt to thwart their inquiry, so their investigation didn't drag on forever looking for a dead woman.

Sorting out the rest of the bodies had been a little more difficult. Most of the dead bosses were being identified based on the cars that had been parked outside the building, since their bodies had been almost completely destroyed in the blast. They were mostly going on hearsay from other agents still in the field, since a lot of the vehicles had been registered under false names, but the DA was finally satisfied that they'd accounted for the most important people involved in the mess.

Reports from current undercover agents also corroborated Rain's statement that Carlotti had been the one that set up the meeting, which had been a major point of contention among her superiors. They didn't like taking anything on faith, and since Carlotti himself was dead, and no one else had apparently survived who had taken part in the conversations, it had been important to have unrelated sources confirm the existence of those talks, even if it was just rumor from household servants who had overheard their boss's excitement at possibly becoming Carlotti's replacement.

In fact, because of the major loss of nearly every single boss within the Carlotti faction, the resultant shuffle of personnel had led to several agents being bumped up into highly influential positions, giving them unprecedented access within the remnants of the organization. Hopefully, new partnerships with other crime families would result in future arrests and convictions.

But it wasn't until a few days after the investigation was officially closed that Rain's evaluations came back. They all returned the same recommendation: temporary leave of absence for a minimum of three months. Rain accepted the recommendations quite willingly. She even doubled the amount to six months, adding up all the vacation time she'd never used, and agreed to take off immediately, much to everyone's relief.

She'd made her reservations the very next day and retained the services of the same company that had taken care of her place while she was undercover for the past three years.

Now, Rain was packing and trying to make sure she didn't forget anything important, like her favorite shampoo. When the phone rang, she walked over to pick it up. She hit the talk button and brought it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Rain, it's Ron."

"Oh, hi Ronny. Don't tell me you're calling me to cancel my leave," Rain warned.

"Heh, no. I just thought you'd like to know they're going to be issuing a formal statement this afternoon on behalf of our department, the NYPD, and the DA's office."

"Maybe you should tape it for me. I've got a plane to catch."

"Oh, that's today? Sorry, I forgot," Dawson apologized. "So, what have you got planned for the next six months?"

Rain smiled.

"I'm going to do a little traveling. I think that psych evaluation was right. I need to relax and get in touch with who I am again."

"You know, I never thought you'd take it so easily. I figured you'd fight it all the way," Dawson commented.

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm not as stupid as I look," Rain joked, and Ron dutifully laughed. "I just... I need some time. It was... I did a lot of things that I'm not proud of." She heard Dawson take a breath, but she overrode the protests she knew he was about to make. "I know I was just doing my job, but it was still hard. For three years, I was the kind of person I normally arrest. And now that I'm me again, I... I need to work some things out. You know?"

"Yeah," he said sympathetically. "Listen, if you ever need to talk, you know I'm here, right?" Dawson offered.

"Yeah." Rain looked at her watch. "Well, hey, I've gotta go. I have a flight in a couple hours, so..."

"Right. Well, I'll talk to ya later. Send me a postcard, huh?"

"Sure," Rain promised. "Bye."

Rain pushed the off button and put the phone back in its cradle. She finished packing and then did a final check of her apartment to make sure everything was in order. She heard the honking horn of the taxi that was waiting for her outside and shouldered her two suitcases. She set them down again outside the door so that she could lock up. She took one last look around her apartment and then closed the door.

The air was clean and warm, the water was an unbelievable blue, and the sun was wonderfully bright.

Rain frowned. After the past month of nervously waiting for her superiors to find something that would prove she hadn't been completely honest with them, it was a very surreal setting.

Rain shielded her eyes, even though she had on dark sunglasses, and peered down the beach. In the distance, she could see a small figure stretched out on a lounge chair, and she headed towards it. Along her right was a thick forest of palm trees and ferns, while the clear blue water lapped at the shoreline on her left. She angled her path closer to the water, the firmer and cooler sand a little easier on her bare feet.

As she got closer, Rain recognized the familiar shape of the woman sunbathing in the nude on her stomach. She smiled. When Rain was only a few meters away, the woman spoke without turning her head.

"You made it."

Case had recognized the agent's footsteps as she came closer, and her heart was beating a little faster. She didn't know whether Rain had shown up to arrest her or not, but she was prepared to fight, clothing or no clothing.

"Yeah, I did."

Rain took the vacant chair next to the woman and leaned back.

"For how long?" Case asked warily.

"I received a six-month paid leave of absence. I'm still not sure whether it was supposed to be a punishment or a reward for how the investigation ended up. By the way, you're dead."

Case breathed an internal sigh of relief and sat up as she turned to face Rain.

"So, it worked."

"Yeah. I still want to know how you hacked into all those databases. They're supposed to be locked up tight," Rain frowned in mock reproach.

"Trade secret. Maybe I'll teach it to you sometime," Case smirked.

Rain looked into Case's eyes and removed her sunglasses, so that Case could see her eyes as well.

"I missed you, Cassandra."

Case paused. She wasn't sure how to react. She'd spent the past few weeks in a constant state of limbo. She'd wondered if Rain had lied to her about loving her in order to keep Case from killing her. Then she'd decided Rain did love her, but that Rain had just realized the whole thing had been a mistake. Rain would probably tell the story they'd come up with just to save her career, and then she'd forget all about Case.

The endless wondering had made Case shut down in an attempt to keep herself from being hurt, but now that Rain was here and quite obviously still cared about Case, the ex-assassin didn't know what to do.

"Case?" Rain inquired.

It seemed to take forever, but in only a few seconds, Case's face screwed up into an expression of intense pain. She'd stopped breathing and when she suddenly inhaled, a sharp sob escaped. The sound was the catalyst and tears poured from her eyes as she tried to curl in on herself.

Rain had come back. Rain loved her. Rain wasn't going to leave her. Rain was here.

For Case, knowing that Rain loved her hurt worse than if Rain had never showed up at all. Case had never been loved unconditionally before, and it created a safe space, which allowed her to feel things she'd never permitted herself to until meeting Rain. In order to touch the love, she also had to touch the fear, rage, pain, and hate she'd bottled up for so long. If she were going to feel anything, she would have to feel everything.

It was a testament to the strength of her love for Rain that Case was willing to go through all the pain to get to the love.

Rain watched the transformation from detached confidence to tortured pain, and she didn't think twice about reaching out to comfort Case. As soon as Case felt the arms moving to hold her, she tried to pull away, but Rain refused to give up. Finally, Rain's insistence convinced Case that it wasn't a trick, and she climbed onto Rain's lap and held on for dear life. The soft denim of Rain's cut-off jean shorts and thin tank top were almost as comforting to Case's body as the warm skin beneath them. Rain wrapped her arms around the small blonde's naked torso and held her as she cried.

After a while, Case calmed down and she raised her head from Rain's shoulder to look into Rain's eyes.

"I love you, Rebecca," Case whispered.

Rain tenderly brushed the bangs off Case's forehead and smiled.

"I love you, too, Cassandra," she replied. "Are you okay?"

Case looked down and shook her head minutely.

"No. But I will be."

Rain nodded in understanding. It would be a while before either of them could ever say they were "okay."

Case laid her head back down on Rain's shoulder and forced herself to relax in the comforting embrace. She was so successful that she was almost asleep when she heard Rain's voice again.

"So, what do we do now?" Rain asked.

Case brought her head up again.

"I don't know," she said quietly. "Maybe we can... Maybe we can start by just talking. I want to know who you are. No more disguises."

"The same goes for you. I never want you to hold back from me," Rain requested.

"I won't," Case promised.

She didn't know how she was going to keep that promise, but she would do her best, and hopefully Rain would forgive her when she didn't quite live up to it.

Case paused as she realized she was actually thinking long-term where Rain was concerned. She was putting herself in a very vulnerable position. But the patient understanding in Rain's eyes reminded Case that she didn't need to fear anything when it came to Rain and how she felt. She took a deep breath.

"Will you show me how?" Case asked pensively.

Rain smiled gently.

"Yes," Rain promised. "But you're going to have to help me, too."

Case nodded. She could live with that. She could live with anything if it meant Rain would be there with her. It was because of Rain that she was willing to try at all. If Case had remained on her own, she would have been comfortable staying numb for the rest of her life. But Rain's unconditional love had given Case a glimpse of who she could become, and she'd liked what she'd seen. She just had to take a chance and trust Rain.

Rain felt some of her fears fade away at the glimmer of hope she saw in Case's eyes. For Case, she would do anything. She already had. What surprised Rain the most was that she didn't regret any of it. Everything she had done had led to this new beginning with Case, and if she had it to do all over again, she would. Case was worth it.

Case leaned forward and kissed Rain softly, her gentleness and love infusing the contact with more emotional intensity than a mere physical brushing of the lips could ever hope to imitate. Rain smiled into the kiss and they slowly renewed their connection with one another, as Rain held Case protectively. When it was over, Case rested her head on Rain's shoulder again and sighed in contentment.

They both knew they still had a long way to go. Case had demons that might never be fully exorcised, and Rain was far from being whole herself. And despite any promises or commitments they made to one another, there was no way to know what the future held for them. But for now, they were simply content to be in each other's arms. They'd deal with tomorrow when it came.