CL Hart -From A Distance (25 page)

"I think I got what you need. The antibiotic is a little old, but it should do." He sat down on the sofa across from Kenzie and placed a medical bag on the coffee table between them. "You need ah..." He stopped the moment he spotted the now red handprint on her face. "Nice," he said, nodding his head in her direction. "Deserved or undeserved?"

Kenzie lifted her gaze to Cori who was leaning silently against the bar. Cori turned to look at her, waiting for her answer.

"Deserved," Kenzie said as she looked directly into Cori's eyes. "Big Polly, could you umm..." She turned to look at their host. "Can you give us a few moments, please?"

He nodded in understanding. "I'll go get your paperwork and IDs started...after I get a photo of each of you." He held up a digital camera and motioned to the wall near where Cori was standing. "It'll just take a second. Cori should probably go first. That way your face can have a minute to absorb that handprint." Reaching behind the bar, Big Polly pulled out a long tube. "I've made arrangements. Your new bag is already on its way to your boat."

"Thanks. I'll wire your payment once I get there."

"Not a problem. I know you're good for it." He went over to where Cori was standing and positioned the tube horizontally on the wall. Pulling the tab in the center, he unrolled an off-white background screen. From a nearby closet, he quickly assembled two light standards that reflected their light onto the screen. Cori was watching him with interest and Big Polly smiled. "You can't have any shadow in the background of the picture or they'll know it's a forgery."

"Oh."

"Okay, let's take a couple of shots here, Cori," Big Polly directed. Cori stood at the wall, but her eyes were on Kenzie, not Big Polly. "You have to look at the camera, dear. You can deal with her in a minute." She turned to face him and he snapped the pictures quickly. "Okay, they'll do," he said as he reviewed the images on the camera's display screen. "Okay, Kenz, you're next."

"Fine," Kenzie said as she rose to her feet and moved to stand in front of the screen. She knew the drill. A couple clicks of the camera and she was done.

"All right, good enough. I know Kenzie doesn't have any real ID, but do you?" Big Polly asked Cori as Kenzie returned to her spot on the sofa.

"In my wallet." Cori reached into her pocket and produced a thin leather wallet, the only thing of hers that had survived their swim and then their hasty departure from Santa Rosalia. Opening it, she fished out two pieces of ID - her Washington state driver's license and her Mexican driver's license. She laid them in Big Polly's outstretched hand and then slid her wallet back into her pocket.

He nodded his head continuously as he examined the documents. "These are great. I'll keep them, if you don't mind. It will be better if I actually use one of these pictures for your new ID, instead of one I just took. It will lend some authenticity to the ID, and I won't have to doctor the picture."

"Doctor the picture?" Cori said.

He looked from Cori to Kenzie, "You both look like you've gone fourteen rounds in a very small boxing ring. It wouldn't be a good thing to have the same bruises and scratches in the pictures on your IDs. Now...you don't have anything else in your wallet with your name on it, do you?"

"No," Cori said. "Just that ID, and a little bit of money."

"American or Mexican?"

"Pesos."

"Good enough. Okay, I'll be back in a bit with some towels and stuff and a change of clothes. There's a shower and washroom just through that door." He pointed at the back of the room, in the direction of a dark wooden door. "Play nice," he said as he passed Kenzie on his way out.

When the door closed behind him, Kenzie turned her full attention to Cori, who had resumed leaning against the small bar.

The tension between them was palpable and Kenzie found herself unable to find the words to convey what she was feeling. She tried to read Cori's body language, but it was as if Cori was speaking in a foreign tongue. Regretfully, Kenzie knew she was the one who pushed too far and provoked Cori's reaction.

Feeling the tension within the room, Cori lifted her gaze from the floor and turned to look at Kenzie. She knew Kenzie was watching her - it wasn't hard to feel those golden eyes penetrating her thin veil of courage - but she didn't anticipate the feelings that surfaced with the look from across the room.

Kenzie unconsciously rubbed her cheek, but instantly regretted it when Cori looked away. It had not been her intention to hurt Cori's feelings again, but she knew she had. "Cori?"

Her tone was apologetic but she couldn't bring herself to say the words she knew Cori wanted to hear. She had screwed up and she knew it, but she was unsure of how to make things right between them. She collected the bottom of her shirt and slowly pulled it up over her head. Tossing her shirt to the side of the sofa, Kenzie reached down and touched her injured side. If she made a noise, she was unaware of it, but when she looked up, Cori was watching her.

"Please," Kenzie said as she leaned back against the sofa, presenting her wound as a peace offering.

Cori stood on the opposite side of the room, watching without moving, but it was only a moment before she pushed away from the bar. She said nothing as she took a seat next to Kenzie. She looked over the wound, but made no attempt to touch it.

"You can be a real bitch you know," she said keeping her eyes on Kenzie's stitches.

Kenzie nodded. "Yeah, I know."

There didn't seem to be much else to say, so Cori went to work cleaning up Kenzie's side. Big Polly's medical bag had everything she needed and soon there was a sterile dressing covering the injury and a full shot of antibiotic in her system.

"There. Hopefully this time you can keep yourself clean."

"Thanks," Kenzie said as she reached for her shirt.

Cori helped Kenzie put it back on, and once Kenzie was clothed and settled on the sofa, Cori gently placed a hand on her arm.

Kenzie turned at the touch and was surprised at the compassion on Cori's face. Feeling more than a little awkward, Kenzie fidgeted in her seat. "I ah...I'm sorry I said that...earlier. I didn't mean to embarrass you or to make you feel uncomfortable.

It's just that...I guess I haven't been around many women...or rather, a woman like you, in my life, and I guess I've forgotten how to act."

It was Cori's turn to watch Kenzie squirm and she had to admit that she liked it. "Funny, I got the feeling that you'd been around more than your fair share of ladies."

Kenzie found herself on the other end of a blush, and though she wanted to fire back with a snappy retort, she bit her tongue. It was the truth, after all, and sometimes the truth hurts. She looked away. "Most of them I wouldn't call ladies."

Cori was surprised at Kenzie's reaction to her comment, and it made her immediately regret it.
Tough assassin, maybe; tough woman, not so much.
She reached out and turned Kenzie's face back to her.

Why Cori was drawn to Kenzie, she didn't know, but she was. On the run or not, she could not stop the feelings she was having. Everything about Kenzie should have had her running in the opposite direction, but instead, she found herself wanting to get closer. She wanted to get to know her, in more ways than one.

Throwing caution to the wind, Cori leaned in and kissed Kenzie. It was everything she wanted it to be: soft, tender, and returned. Growing desire blazed through her body as she pushed her lips harder into the kiss. It excited her that Kenzie responded with an equal degree of passion, but a small voice of warning tried to quell her rising excitement. Feeling the heat radiating from Kenzie's cheek, she pulled back and looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry I slapped you."

Kenzie attempted a smile. "It's okay. I deserved it." There was an awkward moment of silence between them, something Kenzie was unaccustomed to. She struggled for something positive to say. "I've been pretty tough on you. I mean it's not like you're used to being shot at." Her smile this time was genuine, but Cori didn't smile in return.

"Are you?" Cori asked as she let go of Kenzie's face. "Used to being shot at, I mean."

"Actually...no. I'm usually on the other end of the gun...long gone by the time the chaos and panic set in." Kenzie pulled away from Cori's touch and rose from the sofa. She walked over to Big Polly's desk and looked over the phones still scattered on its surface.

"So do you do everything from far away?"

Kenzie kept her eyes on the desk and her thoughts to herself.

Rising from the sofa, Cori walked up behind Kenzie and turned her around. "From what I've gathered, you've lived your life from a distance, and that's not living, Kenzie that's existing There's a whole world out there, and not all of it is filled with guns and wars...and dying." She took both of Kenzie's hands into her own. "There are millions of people working and playing, making love, having babies, going to restaurants and movies, enjoying their lives the best way they know how."

Kenzie's demeanor grew serious as she looked into the innocence of the woman before her, "And those people are living in denial, Con. They no more control their lives than you or I do Governments and corporations make the decisions on how this world will evolve. Their greed for power and money make this world go around. Those that want it will do anything to get it and those that have it will do anything to keep it. Make no mistake - the rest of us are just pawns on a chessboard."

"I don't agree with you," Cori said, shaking her head.

"Then you're naive." Kenzie studied her face for a moment. "Life is just a sexually transmitted disease and I hate to tell you this, but it's always fatal. No one gets out alive."

The sting of the comment splashed across Cori face and Kenzie drew back. She had not meant to hurt her again, but she knew she had. Cori tried to pull her hands from Kenzie's grasp but the stronger woman refused to let go.

There was a quick knock and the door opened. Big Polly entered with a stack of towels and clothing. Looking at their close proximity, he knew he had interrupted something again "Sorry but I ah..." He cleared his throat. "There's a bus leaving for the Tijuana Artisan Market in three hours and you need to be on it Get in there, get cleaned up and changed." He placed his bundle on the edge of the sofa.

The phone in Kenzie's pocket buzzed. She reluctantly released her hold on Cori's hands, reached into her pocket for the phone and flipped it open. "Yes."

"Katherine?"

The voice on the other end of the phone was loud enough for Corito hear as she watched Kenzie's strong features relax.
Katherine?

"Judge," she answered with a sigh as she closed her eves "I think I need your help."

Far away in Seattle, the judge pulled his chair up to his desk. "Whatever you need or whatever I can do, all you need to do is ask," he said as he reached for a pen. "Where are you?"

"Is your line secure?" Kenzie asked.

"I'm a judge in a federal court building. I sure as hell hope so."

"Yeah, me too. Look...I've run into some trouble."

"I gathered that much or we wouldn't be talking."

"The assignment I was on, well, something went wrong... very wrong."

"Are you okay?"

The concern came right through the phone and it caused Kenzie to smile. She looked down over her battered and bruised body and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"What do you need, Katherine?"

"A couple of things. First, my extraction team never showed up and I need to know why."

"Okay. I'm not sure what I can find out about that, but I'll try. What else?"

"I want to know who ordered the hit."

"Then I'll need the name."