Truth Be Told (closed)

[zydrate]

Santa Fe, NM

Melissa Kramer

Her job was mundane but it was a job. Being a receptionist for a doctor's office was boring but again, it was a job.

How long had it been since she had gone into hiding? Over 2 years? She was safe. She had changed her name...her hair... but all that was a far cry of who she really was. Had it been really been over 2 years since someone had approached Melissa and told her husband wasn't who he really was. Of course she had denied it but when they showed her the proof...proof of her husband killing someone in cold blood...

She had approached her husband afterward and he didn't deny anything...it was then Melissa had made the decision to disappear. She figured she must have done a good job because he hadn't found her....

Or perhaps he wasn't even looking for her...?

 

[BeachBum25]

Shanghai, China

Paul Crozier was just finishing up a mission. Two people who had previously been colleagues were no longer breathing. They had moved to the other side and it had been Crozier's job to eliminate them. He was able to do so without anyone knowing he was even in the country. The car crash had looked like an accident. The large truck went through the traffic light and crushed the taxi that the two turncoats were riding in.... it was no accident.

Crozier headed back to the airport. He would be back on American soil in a few hours after boarding his flight to Hawaii. Once there, he would look forward to an update from a colleague that was helping him with a personal situation. He had asked his friend to help him find his wife. She had left him and changed her name while he was on a mission. At first, he was not that upset.

He knew she was upset when she found out about him killing someone. What she didn't know was that the one she knew about was just one of many. Crozier decided that he wanted to see her again, and explain what he did. Truth be told.... he missed her.

 

[zydrate]

Melissa had been invited to dinner by some friends and although she had wanted to turn them down, this would be the 4th time she would do so...and if she kept it up, she'd have no more 'friends'.

So, on a whim, she said yes. Now she was faking a laugh at a joke someone had told but with the wine she had consumed so far, she was starting to relax.

She had noticed that Dr. Michaels had placed his hand on hers a few times during the night. If this had been another life and another time, she would have been flattered but tonight, she was a little annoyed. He had tried several times over the past few months to get Melissa to go out with him but she had refused each time Now she was realizing what a mistake tonight was.

Excusing herself from the group, she grabbed her bag and her phone. One call to a taxi and she would be out of here...

"Hey Melissa...going some place?"

Putting on her best fake smile, she nodded, "I think I had a little too much wine so I'm going to call it a night..."

That should have been the end of it but no, the good doctor insisted he take her home and within the hour, they were at her front door. Turning to face Kevin, she smiled again, "Well, thank you Doctor... I appreciate it but really, you didn't have to walk me to my door..."

It was then he kissed her and that took Melissa by complete surprise, she pushed at him and gasped, "What are you doing?"

"Come on Mel, you know that there has been something between us from the beginning....invite me in and you won't be sorry.."

"No! Now...good night..." it should have been the end of it...right?

 

[BeachBum25]

When Crozier arrived in Hawaii, he called for an update on the search for his wife. He received news that his colleague believed that he was getting close. In fact, he thought he found her but he couldn't be certain. Crozier was told that he should have some news in the next 24 hours.

Crozier made his way to his hotel, changed clothes and went down to the pool bar. He wanted to rest and decompress after the last assignment. It had been stressful. He had worked missions with the two he had to terminate. Unfortunately, for them, they had switched teams.

The next day, while sleeping off the drinks from the night before, Crozier was awakened by the sound of his cell phone vibrating on the nightstand. It was his colleague who had been leading the search for Crozier's wife. "We found her. She is in New Mexico. However, the one bad piece of news is that she may have a new beau. She was seen going into her place last night with a guy."

 

[zydrate]

The next morning, Melissa felt better. She had asked the doctor to leave last night after his little attempt at kissing her. Today she was dreading seeing him at the office complex but decided there were worst things in life.

If her situation were different, sure she would have been flattered but somehow, she just didn't feel it was right. It was then her thoughts went back to Paul. She had just left him and he hadn't tried to stop her. She had left without seeking a divorce...after all, they were legally married still...

But if she did that, that would give her location away and she didn't want him to find her. Truth be told, she was scared of him now. Scared of him and the things he admitted to doing. Hell, she even went as far as thinking that he was going to off her next. She didn't want to deal with it. He had lied to her and that was something she could never forgive him for doing to her. The trust was gone but the thing is, the love was still there. She did miss him....

God, her head was pounding as she took a quick shower and got dressed. As she grabbed a cup of coffee, she contemplated not going into work today...but luckily, it was Friday and they would only be open until noon so she hoped she didn't see the doctor today.

 

[BeachBum25]

Crozier could feel his anger rising. He wasn't sure why he was getting angry. He could just tell that he was. She had left him over 2 years ago. He would be naive to think that she was not dating. As attractive as she was, he was sure that guys were chasing after her.

He told his colleague to keep an eye on her and to track what she was doing and where she was going. Crozier made arrangements to be on the next flight to the continent, and then he would make arrangements to get to Santa Fe.

The flight to California seemed like it took days, not hours. He was anxious to get there. He wanted to do his own recon on his wife. He wanted to see her, and figure out what his next steps were going to be.

Once he landed, he made plans to get to New Mexico. It was going to get him there sooner than he thought. Once he landed, he was picked up by one of his colleague's team members, and they rendezvoused near his wife's home.

 

[zydrate]

Melissa hadn't even put the car into park after pulling into the driveway of her rental home when she heard the squeal of tires behind her and someone jumping out of the car and rushing toward her.

Whirling around, Melissa saw Dr. Michaels heading toward her. He had a small grin on his face as he approached her, "Hey, I didn't get to see you today at work..I wanted to apologize for last night, I-"

Shaking her head, Melissa smiled, "No, it's alright Ethan, let's just move past it and pretend it never happened..."

****
From the car, Nicole could sense Paul getting pissed as they watched his wife and that doctor again.

Nothing personal was said between Nicole and Paul as she drove him to see his wife...or at least, to the spot she had parked a few houses down from her home.

Parking the car, she saw the good doctor approached and before they knew it, Melissa lead the doctor into her home...although from what Nicole could see, she didn't look too happy about it.

Finally, Nicole spoke up, "I did a little digging on the guy...nothing much except that he hasn't been in New Mexico long...he just moved from Washington to join a practice here. He has no priors...not even a parking ticket. He's clean."

 

[BeachBum25]

Crozier looked at Nicole as she gave him the rundown on the guy that had just gone inside with his wife. "So, she is dating some kind of goody-two-shoes now. Yea, I guess that makes sense after me. All she knows about me is that I kill people for a living."

He looked back toward his wife's door. There was a part of him that wanted to kick down the door and grab the guy by the throat. That probably would not work out very well with his wife. In fact, it wouldn't work out well at all.

Looking back at Nicole, Crozier asked, "so, what name is she going by? If it took us this long to track her down, she obviously changed her name.... maybe several times." He waited for Nicole's response before looking back at the door. "So, Jessica took the name of Melissa. That is interesting. It was her best friend in high school's name."

Crozier sat there silently for a while. He had spent a great deal of time and money tracking Jessica down. What he hadn't spent time on was figuring out what he was going to do once he found her. Now would have been a good idea to have that plan in place.

 

[zydrate]

"Can't say I blame her.." Nicole said, being straight up with him.

As they sat there a while longer, Nicole was starting to get antsy, "Listen... something needs to be done...either drastically or easy. Now, for drastic...well, you could kidnap her...make her listen to reason." It seemed like a practical idea...at least for Nicole.

"As for the doc, I could take care of him...straighten him out..." She sighed, "You better figure it out soon, man, because if you don't, you've lost her for good."

*****************************************
Inside the house, Melissa didn't offer the good doctor anything...instead she stood by the door. Just as she was about to say something, the doctor loomed over her, "Why are you scared of me Mel?"

"I'm not scared.." Melissa said, her voice barely above a whisper. She was backed up against a wall and couldn't escape. She took a deep breath, "What do you want Ethan?"

 

[BeachBum25]

Crozier got out of the car. He turned to Nicole as he headed for the front door of his wife's place. "Take care of the doctor and make sure he never remembers anything. It will be in his best interest."

When Crozier got to the door, he didn't slow down. He kicked the door and it flew open. Before the doctor and his wife knew what happened he was grabbing the doctor by the throat. "There is a woman on her way in. Go with her and don't give her a hard time and you might be okay.

Crozier turned to his wife. "Jessica, you are coming with me. We are going to work all of this out. You are going to listen to me and get the whole story. Not just the little pieces you have. "

 

[zydrate]

The scene with Cozier and Mason getting out of the was probably enough to frighten anyone but luckily, it was the middle of the day and no one was around.

All in all, it would have been redundant to try to tell the man to calm down or at least ease up, but Nicole knew better so instead, she grabbed the good doctor by the arm and to her surprise, he didn't say anything.... in fact, he looked frightened.

On the other hand, Paul's wife looked super pissed. Nicole didn't bother to say anything as she escorted the doctor outside and led him to her car. They would be talking soon enough and he if ran well, she'd take care of him right here and now.

As soon as the two were out and Jessica was alone with Paul, she grabbed the nearest thing in reach and threw it at him, "You think I'm going to just go willingly with you?!" She tried to reach for something else but was stopped...

 

[BeachBum25]

Crozier did not think she would go willingly, although he had hoped that she would. He grabbed her by the wrist and before she could react, he had her wrists zip tied together. His hand covered her mouth as he whispered to her, "Jessica, I don't want it to be like this, but you are going to hear the truth.

He turned her to face him. You are going to hear all about me... all of it. Not just the little bits and pieces that people may have told you."

He knew that taking her forcefully was just going to make his task harder, but it didn't appear he had any other option. He knew the location he would take her. There was a safe house by a lake that he would use. After stuffing a dish towel in her mouth, he carried her to the car. It was a risk doing it this way, but nobody would find them once he got her to the car.

 

[zydrate]

It wasn't until she felt his hot breath against her skin did Jessica realize what Paul had done to her. She should have felt fear but there was none of that... there was a lot of hate but that was soon vanquished when he took her from the safety of her home to her own vehicle.

Luckily, he didn't place her in the trunk as he figured he would.

It seemed to take forever before they stopped. Jessica didn't have a clue as to where they were or how long they had driven but this time, when he took her out and got her to her feet, she didn't fight him. She'd play his game for now, but there was no way she was going to be one of his 'victims'.

 

[BeachBum25]

He said nothing as he drove to the safe house. He knew that she was pissed and she was going to battle him every step of the way. It wasn't ideal, but he was going to have to deal with it.

Once they arrived at the house by the lake, Crozier opened the door and helped Jessica out of the car. He removed the towel from her mouth and led her inside. He said nothing to her until they were inside. He had her sit at the kitchen table and he cut the zip ties from her wrists.

"I know you don't want to be here. If I thought there was any other way of getting you to listen to me, I would have done it, but I know that isn't the case. We are in the middle of nowhere, and you have no way of finding your way out of here. So, if you try to run, you will just get lost and have to rely on me to save you. Oh, and if you are thinking of trying to take the car, don't bother. It won't start."

 

[zydrate]

Jessica didn't say anything as she rubbed her wrists and leaned back in the chair. Paul didn't have to worry about her running, she didn't like the woods anyway... never in her life was she the outdoorsy type of person and Paul knew this. She was a city girl through and through.

As for the car...well, it wasn't like she could fix that so for now, she would put up with all this for now.

"So, if I don't agree to anything you have to say then are you going to kill me?" She didn't wait for his response, "And who was that person you were with?!"

 

[BeachBum25]

"Kill you. No."

"The person I was with is a colleague. She has been leading a team of my colleagues who have been searching for you. They are good at what they do."

Crozier walked to the refrigerator and took out two bottles of water, and gave one to Jessica. Then, he sat down at the table with her.

"When you settle down, and understand that I am not going to hurt you in any way, then, I will explain to you what this is all about."

 

[zydrate]

"Paul..." Jessica said she pushed her bottle of water away, "I don't want to listen, I just want..."

What?

What did she want?

The lust was still there. That was something she couldn't deny. But what about the love?

Fuck. It was still there too. Even though she ran away from him, deep down she was relieved to see him when he pulled the doctor off of her. If that shit kept up, she was sure she would punch the doctor herself.

"What's to explain? You're a killer. Simple as that."

 

[BeachBum25]

"Yes, I am. I am a killer."

He stopped and stared right at her.

After pausing for several minutes, he said, "I am a killer for my country. I work for the government eliminating people who are a threat to our way of life. So, yes, I am a killer, but the freedoms that you enjoy are a result of the work that I do, because I am real good at what I do."

 

[zydrate]

"Ohh...God..." Jessica said in a hushed whisper as she stood up from the table and hurried to the door... she needed fresh air.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to keep the world from spinning. He said it all so matter-of-fact and that...was scary. She couldn't get the look of his face out of her mind.

What did she expect? She had more than enough time to deal with all this, why was it all so...real now?!

"I need to leave... I can't do this now Paul!" She felt his arms wrap around her, keeping her from leaving...

 

[BeachBum25]

"Ssshhhh. No Jessica. You are not leaving. You are going to stay here.... with me. You are going to hear it all. You are going to understand what it is I do."

He pulled her back against him...his lips close to her ear as he whispered to her.

His grip on her was not too tight, but it was firm enough to let her know that he was not going to let her go..... not now... not ever.

 

[zydrate]

Fuck.

How she missed his arms around her. The feelings he brought out in her were nothing like that sick bastard of doctor's arms felt. No... Jessica didn't fight to get out of his hold, instead, she relaxed against it...against him.

"I missed you.." she whispered and leaned into him, "I didn't want to Paul..."

Jessica didn't notice the door had closed. Hell, she hadn't even realized she was back fully into the kitchen, leaning against the table.

 

[BeachBum25]

"Jessica, you are all I want. I know all of this is a shock to you. I know that I have hidden a lot from you."

He kissed her cheek as he sat her back in the chair. He sat down across from her.

"I was wrong to hide things from you. I want you to know everything now. Everything."

 

[zydrate]

"Well....explain." Was all she could say to him.

"But I don't think it'll change my mind, Paul... look at it from my point of view." She started to slowly peel the label from the water bottle, "You wake up one morning thinking everything is fine and the next, you find out the man you've been married to is a killer."

She leaned back in her chair, "I mean, who was that man who told me?! Why did he tell me about you like that?"

 

[BeachBum25]

"The man that told you works for foreign interests. They have been trying to get me for years, but they have been unable to. They figured that if they could weaken my relationship with you, they would be able to get to me. It didn't work... other than to mess up our relationship."

He looked right into her eyes. He wanted her to know that he was being straight with her.

"The work that I do saves many lives. Yes, I take the lives of others, but they are bad people.... people who would hurt Americans."

 

[zydrate]

What was she supposed to say? There was a long silence before she quietly asked him, "What about now Paul? Do you still do it?"

She didn't wait for him to answer, "And will you ever stop? Or will someone come to kill you too?"

It was a fair question. She believed him but didn't tell him that she did. There were things about the government that were always in question...so why couldn't be one of them? Why was it just relevant in movies and stories?