Page 33 of His Target
Now that I have someone like Porter in my life I want to keep living. He makes me not want to give up and I pray to everything in the universe that will listen that this works so I can remain by Porter's side. He's going to train me to be like him, and maybe in the future we can work together. Take the men out on that list.
I don't know what he's going to say to his family about me. Will he tell them the truth? At the end of the day, all of his brothers will have met me, I don't know about his sister, but I only recently found out about her. She's a hitman as well.
I glance at the clock. It's an eight-hour journey both ways. It's nearly midnight as it is, they should be here any moment. A movie plays for sound in the background, but I don't have a clue what's going on. I feel like I'm waiting to get life-changing news. I mean, I guess this is. The demons that have been chasing me for years will have finally stopped.
The hatch opens and I look down the hall toward the ladder. Part of me still gets scared that it won't be him coming down it, but someone else intent on killing me so they can get paid. I let out a sigh as Porter comes down the hall toward me followed by two more people. One of them drags a case. While the other has a bag on his shoulder. This place wasn't built to handle more than two people at a time. So as they all come into the room, it feels like it gets ten times smaller.
I stare at the two other men. It's clear they're his younger brothers. One has a similar hairstyle to Porter but it's light blond and almost clear blue eyes. They're striking. The one next to him has curly brown hair that looks like it was short, but he hasn't cut it in a while. Warm, eyes stare at me. He has a goofy smile to match.
I glance at Porter, waiting for him to introduce me or something. I feel awkward just standing here. He motions to the blond man first. "This is my brother Silas. He's the one that helps out when we need to change our appearances. He's fantastic at it and he'll be able to make it look like you've been shot no problem."
Silas gives me a nod of his head. "Hey, I may not be as talented as this guy, but I wouldn't have any other man as an older brother." He slings his arm around Porter's shoulders and Porter grins.
They seem to get along better with him than Porter did with his older brother Cason.
Porter then motions to the younger man. "And this is Beckett. He handles any tech issues we have, making sure that everything stays secure. He also provides us with identities when we need them. He'll be providing you with a whole new identity. He can give you any name you want."
Beckett lifts a hand in a wave. "Hey. Nice to meet you."
I nod to them both and sign to Porter. "Can I have my name, Gwen? None of the people who took me know it was my name. My parents used my birth name in the news and not the one they took to calling me after."
"She's asking if she can use the name Gwen, it was never made public, but it's the name she used to go by."
Beckett shrugs. "As long as there's no public record of the name going with her face, it should be fine. There's plenty of Gwen’s in the world."
I smile. That's a relief. I love going by Gwen. I don't want to stop now, or only have it be in the bedroom with Porter.
Silas rolls the case behind him as he moves to the sofa. "Come sit with me, Gwen. I need to make you look shot and dead."
I look at Porter. "They're okay with this?"
He nods.
Well, I hope that remains true.
Beckett takes a seat on the bed. "And let's get started on your history. Tell me what kind of things you want in your background, that way if you tell anyone about it and they go looking, it all matches up. Porter can translate for us." He pulls out a laptop from his bag, but it looks heavy-duty, it's not a simple laptop you get for a couple hundred bucks at the superstore.
This is going to be a long night. My heart hasn't stopped hammering all day. I don't know what the future holds. But for once in my life, I can't wait to experience what is ahead.
* * *
I lay on the ground outside the hatch, but far enough away that no one should be able to figure out where I am just from the leaf litter around me. Porter stands over me with a camera that can take pictures in the dark without a flash.
"Don't hold your mouth close, let the force of the ground push it how it wants to go, and close one of your eyes halfway."
I adjust myself making my body relax even though I'm freezing my nips off out here.
"Yes, like that. Now hold it for thirty seconds. Don't breathe." The camera clicks with each photo he takes. He walks around me taking them from all angles and with close-ups. I focus my eyes at the tip of a leaf and hope that they look devoid of life. The contacts Silas gave me to use to get that effect was trippy to look at in the mirror. They're not so clouded over that they look like I've been dead for hours, but more like just enough of a matte look to them that it's clear I'm no longer alive.
Porter steps back. "Okay, you can move."
I do so, sitting up. My cheek is like ice after having it pressed against the frozen dirt. I resist the urge to rub at it. I don't want to ruin the makeup Silas skillfully put on my face, to dim my coloring and also make it look like a bullet had gone through my skull. He added blood and viscous stuff to the back of my head. He really has a talent and he did it so fast. I thought it would take hours, that it would be morning before we could get to the pictures, but he had everything done by two.
Porter holds a hand out to me and helps me up. I sign. "Do you think that those will work? Will they actually think I'm dead?"
He motions for me to go back to the hatch. "We can look at them together if you want in the bunker."
He goes down first and then waits for me. I grab the hatch door on the way down and turn in his arms to wrap mine around his neck. I kiss him for a moment, softly. It's sweeter than our other kisses. I look into his eyes. I one-hundred percent know I'm falling for this man, and I'm falling for him hard. In his arms, I feel like I'm home for the first time in a long time.
