One Shot (Conclusion)

ONE SHOT – CONCLUSION

“As much as I thought this would happen, I can’t say that I believed it would.” Chief said, looking right at Olivia. “You are actually choosing him over me… That pains me, my child.”

“I’m sorry, Father. I didn’t mean to betray you. I really did try to complete my mission.” She looked at me and then back at him. “I just can’t do it.”

“I see.” He looked down and then back at us with pure hate in his eyes. “Unfortunately for you, I don’t have a problem killing you.”

He looked at the leader of his guards and nodded. I immediately held my hand up.

“Before you do that,” I began, “I just have one question.” He turned his attention to me. “Why are you so threatened by me? If I’ve been so good at handling your dirty work, why fear me before I even show signs of betraying you?”

“Fear you?” He started laughing. “There’s no way I could fear a nobody like you!” He looked at Selena. “Is that what you told him?”

“It’s the truth!” She yelled back.

“Is it though?” They stared at each other. Selena really had no idea what he was talking about. “Think about it, Selena. What’s the real reason he needs to die?”

I looked at Selena and she looked at me. I knew she didn’t know what he was talking about. We both looked at Olivia. She looked at us and was unsure of what was going on. Then she gasped…

“Father, you didn’t!!!” She yelled.

“Olivia, what is he talking about?” I asked her.

“The Desolution Project.” She said.

“No way, he actually completed it?” Selena wondered.

“What the hell are y’all talking about?” I asked, getting impatient.

“The Desolution Project is designed to extract the skills from someone and install it in another. Skills that can be copied as many times as necessary.” Olivia explained. “All he needs is your brain.”

“So whether I’m dead or alive doesn’t matter…”

“Well, there’s a time limit. 15 minutes post-mortem.” Selena added.

“Very good.” Chief said, clapping. “With Olivia’s betrayal, I’ll be inheriting skills of the two best assassins in the world.”

Chief looked at his lead guard again as I looked at Olivia and Selena. I couldn’t quite read the emotions on their faces. It was like a mix of defeat and fear. I didn’t know what to really tell them to settle them down….. Yea, that’s a lie.

“We’re not dying.” I stated. “We’re getting out of here.”

“I like your confidence but it’s pretty bleak right now.” Olivia said.

“I already told you, I’m not breaking my promise.” I smiled and pressed a button on the side of my watch. Three explosions rocked the sides of the house. “OUTSIDE!!!” I yelled to Selena and Olivia.

As they ran behind me to head back outside, I started shooting at the guards that were still standing or starting to stand. I then followed the women outside. We gained some distance from the house and regrouped half a mile away.

“There were way more guards than I expected.” Selena said.

“He usually isn’t that well-guarded.” Olivia commented.

“He must have been expecting us.” I stated.

“When did you plant explosives??” Selena wondered.

“Before we entered the house.” I said, not giving any details. “What do you think? Can we still get him?”

“I don’t know but he’s going to have reinforcements soon. We can’t stay here.” Olivia stated.

“This may be our only chance.” I claimed. “If we leave, we may not get another one.”

“How many did you kill before leaving the house?” Selena asked.

“Maybe 15.” I looked around, thinking I was hearing footsteps. “I think we lost our opportunity.”

“Yea, we should retreat.” Olivia stated.

“You may be right, but at the same time so is Lamar. We have to take this opportunity to kill Chief.” Selena said. “Lamar, what do you think is our best…” At that moment a grenade was dropped close to where we were.

“SHIT!!!” I yelled. I grabbed Olivia and Selena by the arms, pulled them both close to me and dove as far as I could before the explosion. My ears were ringing something serious. I looked around to see where the women were. “We no longer have the opportunity! We need to escape!” I yelled, still dealing with ringing ears. They nodded though and we all stood and started running.

As we ran away from the compound, I was shooting any one that I saw. Out of nowhere, Olivia grabs me by the collar of my shirt and pulls me. Bullets decimated a tree that I almost ran in front of. We crouched down for cover. I looked at Olivia and signed “thank you” to her. She smiled and nodded. I scanned the area to try and map out my next moves. Olivia put her hand on my shoulder. As I turned towards her, she was already gone. By the time I looked forward again, she was a good 200 feet away, signaling us to come to her. Selena and I headed to her, passing several dead bodies on the way. She killed 12 people in an instant and I never been so turned on in my life! Makes me wonder if she took it easy on me during our fight.

“We should be able to get back to the car from here.” Selena said. Olivia and I nodded and then started scanning the area to see what the situation was. The silence was broken by Selena’s phone.

“I thought your phone was off?” I asked her.

“It was.” She grabbed her phone out her pocket and looked at it. “Oh shit!”

“What’s wrong?” I wondered.

“We have a hit on us for $2 mill each.”

“Oh shit!” Olivia and I said at the same time.

“They also know our location… We gotta get out of here!” Selena stated as she put her phone away.

We started running towards the car which was still half a mile away. I was slowly getting a bad feeling about the situation. I was losing confidence in our chance to escape. Guards were approaching in multiple directions. We did our best to take out each one, but the numbers were starting to take its toll. We stopped and took cover behind a group of trees.

“We can’t safely get to the car like this.” Olivia said.

“This is getting ridiculous.” Selena said. I took the moment to check my ammo.

“Alright, you two head to the car on my signal.” I told them.

“What are…”

“GO!” I yelled, interrupting Olivia…

I ran towards the first set of guards and shot them all in the head. I watched Olivia and Selena run the other direction but I was being pinned down. I took out three grenades and threw one to the right, left and ahead of me. As they all blew up, I knew I had about 4 seconds to get out of the area. I didn’t waste a single nanosecond as I got to the car just as the women got to it. Not wasting any time, the three of us got in and Selena drove off, getting far away as quickly as possible. As she was driving, she started cussing and banging the steering wheel. Clearly she was frustrated about the outcome.

“What do we do now?” She asked, mostly to herself.

“I think we need to lay low for a while.” I suggested. “With assassins coming after us, we’re not in a good position for another assault.”

“I think we missed our chance to actually get Chief.” Olivia stated.

“I think so.” Selena agreed. She banged the steering wheel again. “Ok, ok, ok…” She said, trying to calm down. “How much cash do we have?”

“Maybe 100.” I replied. “We can get the rest from the safe house.”

“Where’s the safe house?” Olivia asked.

“It’s just outside the city. We’ll probably be safe there for a couple days before we have to move again.” Selena said. A beep broke the momentary silence, indicating our need for gas. “Shit!”

“It’s ok, Selena.” I said, trying to keep her calm. “If we go another 25 miles, we should be able to reach a safe gas station.

“I think the BP that’s 52 miles away is a better option.” Olivia suggested.

“Can we make it?” I asked Selena.

“I don’t know.” She thought about it for a moment. “It’s too risky. If we break down, we’re as good as dead.”

“It’ll be dangerous.” Olivia warned.

“I know. We have no choice.” Selena proclaimed. I couldn’t disagree with either one. It was a horrible situation.

“Olivia,” I called, “you’ve been in the Organization for a long time. Which assassins do we need to worry about the most?”

“Honestly no one. We just have to avoid being caught off guard which is easier said than done.” She replied.

“What about Six?” Selena asked.

“Six is trouble, but his skills aren’t anywhere near my own. The thing is if he has us in his sights before we realize it, we’re dead.” Olivia explained. “Right now we need a plan. I know Chief will have assassins protecting him as well. Most likely snipers in positions around the clock.”

“I’m actually surprised he didn’t have snipers this time around.” Selena said.

“He had 12.” I stated. Selena and Olivia looked at me in confusion.

“There were 12 snipers??” Selena asked.

“Yes. They were part of my counts.” I explained.

“I didn’t see any at all…” Olivia stated.

“I doubt you were looking for them.” I told her.

“I still can’t believe we didn’t get that mothafucka!” Selena expressed.

“It’s ok, Selena. We will.” I declared. “Let’s just concentrate on getting to the safe house and regrouping.”

15 minutes later, we arrived at the 7-Eleven that Olivia warned us about. Selena and I did agree with her, but there was no way we could make it to the BP. I grabbed some money from my bag.

“Does anyone want anything in particular? I don’t think the safe house has much food.” I asked.

“A bag of skittles for me.” Olivia requested.

“Doritos, a Pepsi, a snickers and two Slim Jims.” Selena requested. That combination is what she eats whenever she’s nervous. I took her hand into mine.

“We’ll be ok.” I assured her. She nodded and took a deep breath.

“We’ll be ok.” She repeated.

“Now I’m going to buy gas first. When I do, I’ll wave to you. Olivia, stay lookout while Selena pumps. If anything happens while I’m gone, leave me.” I then raised my hand, holding up my finger. “No disputes! If anything happens, leave me and then call me so I’ll know where to meet up.” I looked at both Selena and Olivia, awaiting for an acknowledgement. They both reluctantly nodded.  “Alright. I’ll be back.”  I got out the car and started walking towards the convenience store.

“Is it me or is something different about him?” Olivia asked Selena.

“Something is definitely different about him. He’s more focused…Protective… In control…I’ve never seen him take control like this.” Selena replied.

“Me neither. It’s really turning me on…” Olivia shared. Selena looked back at her. “I’m sorry, he really is.” They both chuckled.

“I can honestly say that you’ve changed as well. You used to be so heartless and cold, putting on an act to get what you want. Everything that you’re doing right now is the real deal and I’m not used to it.”

“Neither am I. I feel so submissive when I’m around him. Maybe that’s what I needed.” Olivia looked towards the convenience store to make sure Lamar wasn’t raising his hand. “For everything that’s happened between you and I, I hope you can forgive me.” Selena looked at her. “I know you still resent me for some of the altercations we had and the task that was put before me. When we make it out of this, I hope you and I can completely make amends and become good friends.” They stared at each other for a moment. Selena was trying to figure out if what Olivia said was genuine. She then smiled.

“I came to peace with everything a little while ago. You were making my son happy so I buried everything. I do appreciate your apology and graciously accept it. After all, you are my future daughter.”

“Wow… That made my body tingle.” They both chuckled again. “That is the first time I heard you refer to him as your son.” Selena looked up at Lamar, noticing him waving. She got out the car and Olivia rolled down her window.

“There’s something I want to tell you but you have to promise me not to tell Lamar.” Selena said as she started to pump gas.

“I promise.” Olivia said with a bit of concern but remained on alert.

“Lamar’s parents adopted him at birth. It was an order from the Chief. His parents were assassins as well. In fact the three of us grew up together, absorbed the same lifestyle, trained together to become top assassins and were recruited by the Organization at the same time. I guess that’s a lie too.”

“What do you mean?” Olivia wondered.

“We weren’t really recruited. We were groomed to be killing machines to begin with and Chief finally put us to use. There’s a reason you and I always clashed. Chief took you in and raised you like his own daughter. He did that after casting his own daughter aside the moment I told him I was pregnant.” Olivia, with a wide-eyed look, immediately turned to Selena. “I know, hard to believe. There’s a reason why I stayed in the Organization after the whole fiasco. My father brainwashed me into thinking that I meant something to him.”

“So you’re Lamar’s real mother?” Olivia asked, knowing the answer.

“I am.” She said with a little bit of sadness.

“Oh my god, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok. Even though Father made me give him up, in his eyes he showed true kindness by allowing me to still be around him. It really made things worse. Seeing him grow right before my eyes, keeping the truth from him.”

“Why didn’t you tell him the truth when he recalled the memory about his parents?” Olivia wondered.

“I didn’t know how. I didn’t know what that would do to him.”

“Selena, I’m going to say this in complete awareness of reality. All of us could die before this is over. Do you really want that to happen without him knowing the truth?”

They looked at each other for a little bit as Olivia awaited a reply but Selena didn’t know how to answer that. She peaked inside the convenience store to see no one in there.

“Where did he go?” Selena asked Olivia. Olivia looked inside the store.

“He was there a moment ago.” She replied.

She got out the car and Selena finished pumping gas and returned the pump to the receptacle. They both started to head into 7-Eleven…

As I started walking towards the 7-Eleven, I tried to figure out our next move. What do I know about Chief to help in this situation? What do I know period? I shook my head and opened the door to the 7-Eleven entrance. Before I went to the counter, I looked around to gauge what the environment was like. I slowly made my way to the counter.

“Good evening, sir.” The clerk greeted.

“Good evening. May I have 50 on Pump 3?” I requested.

“50 on 3.” He confirmed, punching in everything on his screen. I handed him the money. “Do you need a receipt?”

“No thank you.”

“Ok, you’re all set.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I turned towards the entrance and started waving to Selena. When she started to get out the car, I stopped waving and started shopping. The first thing I grabbed were Olivia’s tropical fruit punch Skittles, Selena’s Snicker’s and Slim Jims, and a Twix for myself. I then went to the frozen section and grabbed a few pizzas. Lordy, I really wish they had a basket or something. I went to the counter, placed it all down and then went to get the Doritos, Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream, BBQ Fritos, Pepsi, Mtn Dew, and Mtn Dew Code Red. I returned to the counter.

“May I also get a pack of wood tip, wine black and milds?” I requested.

“Yes, sir, may I see your ID?” I showed him one of my fake IDs. He nodded and grabbed the black and milds. “Your total is $22.56.” He said. I gave him $25. “$2.44 is your change and let me bag this up for you.”

“Thank you, sir.” I replied. I looked outside and noticed that they were still ok. What are we going to do? I wondered that for a moment.

“Here you are sir and have yourself a good night.” The clerk told me.

“Thank you, you too.” I replied. I grabbed the bags and started to head towards the door. Shit, I forgot to get a slurpee. “Damn,” I said as I turned around, “I forgot to get a Slurpee.”

“It happens.” He said after chuckling.

I went to the Slurpee machine and grabbed a big cup and top. I then mixed a few good flavors together and tasted it. Damn, I’m feeling calm already. I went to the counter and placed $2 down.

“Thank you, no change.” I said.

“Thank you, sir.” He replied.

As I turned back towards the door, a rope wrapped around my neck from behind me. I managed to get my fingers between my neck and the rope to prevent it from completely strangling me. Even with that, I was struggling for air, yet that wasn’t my immediate danger. 3 men came out of nowhere and started beating my legs with clubs. Wincing in pain, I dropped to the floor and started to be dragged. I was pulled to the back room and hung up like a pig in a butcher shop. My captors started punching my mid-section. I tried to concentrate on breathing and keeping the rope off my neck.

“One Shot.” A man from behind me started to walk into my view. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.” I recognized him…. It was the assassin, Force; a man that killed people by first kidnapping them and then torturing them to death. This was not good. “To think that I’d be the one to kill you.” In a blink of an eye, he shoved a knife into my abdomen. “I think I just came a little bit.” He whispered into my ear. The pain was excruciating. I wanted to yell out so bad. He removed the knife and licked the blood off of it. “Just as sweet as the rumors stated.”

“You sick fuck!” I struggled to say.

“I’m ok with that.” In another blink he stabbed me in the abdomen again, 6 inches to the right of the first strike. Blood oozed out of both wounds. “Right now, on two different occasions I’ve become more intimate with you than Cut Throat.

Hearing that sparked thoughts of Olivia. I made a promise to her and I was not going to break it. With Force so wrapped up in the situation, I took a risk. I let go of the rope, causing it to have a complete grasp on my neck. Choking, I grabbed Force’s head and snapped his neck. I pulled the knife out of my abdomen and threw it at the person holding the rope. The knife lodged into his head, causing him to drop immediately, as well as me. I landed right on my feet, pulled my .45 out and shot the remaining two. Realizing that all were dead, I tried to catch my breath, coughing and clearing my throat. At the same time, the door busted open. I pointed my gun towards it and then realized who it was.

“Lamar, what happened?” Selena asked.

“Force.” I replied. They looked at the dead bodies. Olivia came to me, knowing I was injured. “We need to get out of here. Olivia helped me up and we started walking out of the convenience store. “Where’s Selena?” I asked, realizing she was not with us.

“Getting our food.” Olivia said as we got to the car. “Lay down in the back. I’ll get the kit out the trunk.”

She opened the door and helped me in. Wincing, I stretched out across the back. Seconds later, Olivia got in. She reached forward and started the car. Seconds later, Selena got in the car, placing the bags in the passenger seat before speeding off. She handed something to Olivia and then Olivia gave it to me.

“Selena noticed you dropped your Slurpee, so she got you another one.” Olivia said. I grabbed the big cup from her and tasted it. It tasted just like the one I originally had and the state of calm returned.

“Thank you. Thank you, Selena!” I said.

“You’re welcome baby. Relax and let Olivia tend to your wounds.” She replied.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Take these.” Olivia said to me, putting pills in my mouth. I sipped my Slurpee to wash down the pills. “Have a handful of these too.” She started feeding me some chips. She then placed them in my hand so she could tend to my wounds.

“Did Force say anything helpful?” Selena asked.

“No, ma’am. He found pleasure in having the opportunity to kill me. Judging by that, I may have more enemies fueled by jealousy.” I replied.

“That could work to our advantage.” Olivia commented. “It could cloud there judgment to a point that they slip up.”

“Just like he did.” I stated. “All he had to do was end me but he wanted to savor it.” I started to prepare for the pain as I saw what Olivia was doing.

“Don’t worry, you won’t feel a thing.” She said.

“So…..you………say….”

Out.

When I woke up, Olivia was laying on my chest and we were on a bed. As I looked around, I knew we were at the safe house. I turned to the side and saw Selena on her computer. I felt my stomach and didn’t feel a thing but when I lifted my shirt, I saw the wounds. They looked healed already.

“Technology is amazing, isn’t it?” Selena said, noticing I was awake.

“Indeed.” I replied. I slipped from under Olivia, kissed her forehead and stood up. “When did we get here?”

“About 2 hours ago.” Selena replied. “You were out for 6 hours.” I sat down across from Selena.

“What are you researching?” I asked.

“I’m looking at flights out of the country.” She said with no hesitation.

“We can’t leave.” I told her.

“What makes you so sure?”

“I think the situation at 7-Eleven was caused because I used an ID. I believe they know all of our aliases. We wouldn’t be able to get through security and the last thing we need is to be on a flight with multiple assassins.”

“Shit.”

“We have no choice but to face them head on.”

“Easier said than done. I have no idea where all of the assassins are.”

“We’re better off not focusing on the assassins. We need to get Chief.”

“But how? He’s in a fortress.”

“His mistress!” Olivia popped up saying excitedly. “We can use his mistress!”

“I didn’t even know he had a mistress.” Selena said.

“Not many people know about her. She’s well protected in an estate off the California coast. He goes out there immediately any time she calls for him.”

“What about the plane situation? Any other form of travel would take too long.” Selena wondered.

“We may just have to risk it.” I replied.

“Not if we fly private. We can highjack Chief’s private plane. His airport is only a few miles away from here.” Olivia stated.

“Wouldn’t he expect that?” I wondered.

“Yes, so we’ll have to be prepared for anything.”

“Alright, let’s go.” I said.

“You wanna go tonight? You don’t wanna rest?” Selena asked.

“I’ve rested, but I know you two need to get some sleep. I’ll stand first watch.” I offered.

“Ok.” Selena closed her laptop and put it away. “I’m not stubborn enough to turn that down.” She stood up and got into the other bed. She almost immediately fell asleep.

“Can you lay with me until I fall asleep?” Olivia asked me.

“Of course.” I said, almost immediately walking over to the bed and lying next to her.

“I almost can’t even fall asleep without you near.” She said, closing her eyes as she lied on my chest.

“Thank you for treating my wounds.” I told her. “I know you’re going to tell me that I don’t need to thank you, but I do appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.” She said softly. “I’m sorry we didn’t notice your disappearance soon enough.”

“It’s alright. It happened so fast that I doubt you could have prevented it.” I assured her. “When this is over, we’re taking a cruise to the Bahamas.”

“That sounds amazing.” She said, quickly drifting to sleep.

“I’m going to give you body massages, make love to you every night, and show how much I love you.”

“You don’t need to do any of that to show me how much you love me.”

“I know, but it’s what I want to do.”

“No arguments from me.” She said as she turned upwards to kiss me. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

We started kissing again, embracing each other. I then stopped…………SHIT!!! I rolled us off the bed, grabbed Selena’s shirt and pulled her to me a mere fraction of a second before bullets sprayed across the bed. I held both of them close to me, protecting them as much as possible as we lied on the floor between the two beds. I couldn’t believe how fast they found us, but it didn’t matter. I knew this would happen. I reached onto the nightstand that I was leaning against and felt around for a button. It took a few seconds to find, but when I did I immediately pressed the button. A few explosions occurred and then it was silent except for a few screams here and there.

“So much for sleeping.” Selena stated.

“We have to go.” I stated. We all stood up, grabbed our things and rushed to the garage. “Wait in the car. I’ll clear us out.”

As they got in the car, I went upstairs and manned the sniper rifle that was permanently in place at the window. I looked through it and scoped out enemies that were still alive. I spotted 9. I had 8 bullets. How did that happen? No matter. I shot the 8 people that were furthest away. I then took out my .45 and shot the last person. Clear. I ran down to the garage. Selena looked at me and I nodded. She started the car as I opened the garage. Before doing so, I could see a faint blinking light emitting from under the car. I knelt down and saw a tracking device. That explains how they found us at the gas station and here. I removed the device and placed it on the table. I opened the garage and got into the driver’s seat.

“Seems we were being tracked.” I said as I started driving. “They must have installed it while we were making our escape from Chief’s safe house.”

“We have to end this.” Olivia said.

“I agree. I’m heading to the airport now. Everyone is unharmed, right?” I asked.

“We’re all well.” Selena said after looking at Olivia. In the process, she noticed a car speeding towards us. “We have company.” I looked in my mirrors and noticed the car.

“Got him.” Olivia stated.

She grabbed her 9mm, rolled down the window, stuck her head out and immediately started shooting at the car. She shot everyone in the car and then the driver last. She then saw another car and did the same thing with them. Before completely reentering the car, we all started to hear a helicopter.

“Well that’s unexpected.” Selena said.

“Olivia, trunk.” I said.

Olivia dropped the backseat of the trunk and pulled out a mini rocket launcher. It was the size of a sawed-off shotgun but fired very effective rockets. She aimed it at the helicopter and fired, destroying the helicopter upon impact. She looked around, checking to see if we had more pursuers.

“All clear.” She said as she reentered the car and rolled the window up.

“Nice shooting babe.” I complimented. “That helicopter most likely came from his airport.”

“Meaning we’re close.” Selena concluded. “It may also mean that he’s aware of our intentions. We need to prepare for any and everything.”

“Agreed.” I agreed.

An hour later, we arrived at the airport. As expected, men were everywhere. I started to wonder if we had enough to do this. I then saw the prime reason why there were so many people.

“Seems luck is on our side.” I stated.

“What makes you say that?” Olivia asked. I handed her the binoculars. She looked through them and immediately saw what I was referring to. “No fuckin way! Chief is here!”

“Seems we can end this tonight.” Selena stated. She started aiming the mini rocket launcher.

“Take out the plane.” I suggested.

“Why not him?” She asked.

“This is the last rocket we have. If you miss, he could easily get in the plane and fly away. Take the plane out and we cut off that option.” I explained.

“Roger that.” Selena agreed.

As she aimed, Olivia and I prepared our assault, starting off with preparing our sniper rifles. We only had 10 rounds so we had to make them count. It then dawned on me… What were we trying to accomplish? What’s the whole point of all of this?

“Don’t take out the plane.” I told Selena as I aimed.

“What? Why?” She wondered.

“We’re getting out of here as soon as this is over. We need a fresh start. All of us.”

“What are you planning?” Olivia asked.

“We forced things the first time,” I began, “it was a bad idea to attempt to kill him at his well-guarded safe house. We got lucky and managed to escape. The fact that he’s appeared before us so simply is proof that this is our chance. This is why you named me One Shot, Mother.” I said as I looked at Selena. Her eyes widened and mouth opened in shock. “It’s why you nor Olivia would be able to truly pull the trigger on him. He’s a father to both of you. It has to be me.”

At that moment, I fired one shot…. At that moment, I freed us with one shot…. At that moment, I solidified the reason why my name is One Shot. It felt like a lifetime for that bullet to hit its target, but it did, without fail. The bullet entered and exited Chief’s forehead, causing him to fall immediately. I then exhausted the rest of my bullets, killing as many as possible. Olivia joined me as she exhausted her bullets. Around 35 men were still alive.

“Let’s go.” I said, leading the charge towards the plane.

“The plane is running. They may try to take off before we get there.” Olivia stated.

“We have to hurry. There’s…” My statement was interrupted when a bullet penetrated my right pectoral. Son of a whore!!! That really hurt!

“Lamar!” They both yelled as I dropped to the floor.

“GO!!!” I yelled back to them. “I’ll draw them in, you two get on the plane! If I’m not on there in 5 minutes, get out of here!”

“We’re not leaving you!!!” Selena said as they both ran to me and pulled me behind cover.

“You will.” I said. “I’m not dying here but I need the two of you to get out of here!” I could see the severe reluctance on both of their faces. “Look, there are explosives all over this place. I saw it in the scope. They will blow this place up so I need you two to get out of here…..” Tears started to stream down my face. “Please…. Go!” Tears started to stream down Selena’s face.

“I’ll go on one condition. Tell me why did you call me Mother?” She asked.

“Because you are. I’ve always thought it but I could never say for sure. The reason I got caught at 7-Eleven is because I got complacent. I was reading your lips when you were telling the story to Olivia.”

“How did you see that so far away?” Olivia asked, still shooting at people.

“I don’t know.”

“I’m so sorry, Lamar.” She cried, immediately hugging me. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright. I understand. You’ve been my mother for so long that it really doesn’t affect me. If anything, it makes me really happy that it’s official.”

“I love you so much, Lamar.” She cried. “Please come back to us.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Selena kissed me on the cheek and switched positions with Olivia. “This is not a goodbye I assured her.”

“You assured me that you’ll maintain your promise. I’m going to hold you to that.” She said.

“And I expect you to.” I said with a grin.

She hugged me and then kissed my lips. It didn’t feel like a “goodbye” kiss, which made me happy to know that she believed in me. Glad that one of us does.

“I love you, baby!” She cried. That was expected I guess.

“I love you too.” I told her, tears streaming down my face as well. “Go…” I said as I stood up and started running across the field.

The remaining 22 men started shooting at me as I sprinted across the field. Without aiming, I shot back just to keep them honest. I shot a couple more, but most importantly, I made a path for Selena and Olivia. They managed to slip behind the men and onto the plane. Bullets started to really riddle the metal box that I was hiding behind. I reloaded my guns and started shooting at a few of the guys that I could see, taking them down one by one. I could then hear a Humvee approaching. No way, does Chief have a National Guard squadron? This doesn’t look good. I had no choice but to start the fireworks early.

I took out my detonator and set it to the standard frequency that the Organization tends to use. I detonated the explosives in the hangar, blowing it up and really startling the men that were 100 feet away from it. At the same time, it caused Olivia and Selena to start moving, which was my real goal. I could see Olivia and I knew she could see me. I blew her a kiss and waved bye to her. As they started to get further away, I started detonating the rest of the explosives………….

With the explosives going off, Selena started to get things ready for takeoff.

“We have to go!” Olivia yelled to Selena.

“I know.” She cried. “I just can’t…”

“This is his sign… We can’t waste it!”

As more explosions occurred, Selena finally took up the courage to takeoff. As the plane took off, Olivia looked out the window and saw the entire airport base blow up. Balls of flames and smoke engulfed the tail end of the plane, causing a bit of turbulence but no real damage. Olivia covered her mouth, fearing the worse. She grabbed the binoculars and looked through them in hopes of seeing Lamar.

“Come on baby..” She softly said to herself.

“Do you see him?” Selena asked.

“No ma’am… Keep circling!” She said.

Selena continued to fly in a circle as the flames and smoke subsided. Olivia proceeded to look for Lamar but couldn’t find him anywhere. She then saw a stack of bodies and in the hand of one was the scarf that she gave him on their first date.

“No… No… I refuse to believe that…” She said, starting to get hysterical. She then started to see more guards show up to the area. “We have to go. Helicopters and possibly jets are going to head out here.”

Selena stopped circling the area and started flying away.

After two months of constant moving, Selena and Olivia managed to get situated in the suburbs of Phoenix, AZ. It was there that things finally calmed down enough for them to really realize that Lamar was gone. Neither one really believed it, especially Olivia. As hopeful as she was, it started to really dawn on her what reality was. Selena and Olivia didn’t really talk much, both understanding the way things were and both dealing with grief in their own ways. Olivia spent a lot of her time in her room hugging the last teddy bear that Lamar gave her. A knock broke the silence.

“Hey, are you hungry?” Selena asked her as she opened the door.

“No, ma’am.” She said in a somber tone.

“I figured you’d say that.”

She walked into the room and sat on the bed. Nothing was really said because neither really knew what to say. Selena started to smile though.

“I was watching Lamar one day when his parents were out of town. He must have been around 5 or 6. It’s when I really saw how amazing he was. We were playing hide and seek and I spent hours looking for this kid. It was to a point that I really started to worry that he was no longer in the house. I mean this was a small safe house; one story, 2 bedrooms, about 800 sq ft… I mean there was no reason why I can’t find a 5 year old for hours on end. I’m not exaggerating either.” She started to laugh a little bit as well as Olivia. “So I started frantically calling him, scared out of my mind. I guess he realizes how serious I am so he comes out with a knife in hand yelling, “Get off my Selena!!”.” They both laugh. “I look at him like, where were you and why do you have a knife?? He looks at me with such innocence and says, I was everywhere. Any time I felt you get close I would move. I was near you the whole time. At this point I’m shocked because I, a professional assassin, was outdone by a 5 year old. So I go back to my other question asking about the knife and he calmly says that he lost sight of me for a moment but heard me cry out in such anxiety that he thought I was in trouble.”

“So his desire to protect started off early…” Olivia commented.

“Yes it did. Just sitting here and thinking about the fact that Lamar isn’t here because of what Lamar is prone to do and that’s protect people.”

“Protect….” Olivia repeated. A moment of silence deafened the room again.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Selena suggested as she stood up.

“And go where.” She wondered.

“To the Grand Canyon. Lamar left a will and I have to follow it.” Selena started walking towards the door.

“Selena?” Olivia called. Selena stopped and turned around. “Thank you for trying to cheer me up.”

“You’re welcome sweetie. I hope you’ll come with me. I’m leaving in an hour.”

“Ok.”

A few hours later, Olivia and Selena arrived at the Grand Canyon. Looking out into the vast, beautiful wonder of the world, a sense of calm was experienced for the first time for both of them. Olivia looked at Selena.

“I’m pregnant.” She revealed. Selena’s eyes widened. “It’s why I took it so hard the last couple weeks because I couldn’t stand the idea of raising a child without him.”

“I understand sweetie.” Selena hugged her.

“It’s ironic, ya know,” Olivia began, “the night we conceived this baby, we attempted to kill each other.”

“The craziness of y’all relationship can be summed up by that notion alone.” Selena said. “I’ll be here to help you any way I can.”

“Thank you. Thank you for everything.” Olivia said.

“I think this was a good idea.” Selena said.

“Me too.”

“Honestly, it was a great idea since I almost left.” They both turned and saw Lamar with a full goatee, drink in hand and a ring in the other. “Promise kept.”