Discovering Beauty

by Robyn Peterman

  Tex. I needed to talk to Tex.

  “Do you have a burner phone? Mine’s dead.”

  Nodding, she stood and grabbed a duffel bag that was sitting next to the door. Georgia dumped the contents on the bed—laptop computer, jump drives, jeans, two shirts, change of underwear, a few toiletries, four protein bars, two knives, three guns, a sniper rifle and about ten burner phones.

  Fuck. She was definitely military.

  “I’m about to call Tex. Anything else you want to tell me before I do that?” I asked, picking up one of the phones and checking it.

  “Umm… tell him hi.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Is that bad?” she asked confused and then froze.

  She sniffed the air then began to frantically shove her belongings back into her bag. Her terror was real and her eyes grew wild. She handed me one of her guns and a knife while breathing in short gasps of air.

  “Georgia,” I said in a calm and commanding tone, making her pause for a brief second. “What are you doing?”

  “They’re here,” she whispered as she carefully made her way to the window and peeked out the corner. “They’ve come for me—five of them.

  “Five of who?” I asked, arming myself, getting low to the floor and moving to the window.

  “The men in black—faceless evil bastards who always wear black. They want to take me back to the cages. I won’t go,” she choked out, loading her guns and strapping her knife to her belt. “You have to promise to kill me if they get me. Promise me,” she demanded harshly.

  “How about this? We eliminate the men in black, borrow whatever vehicle they arrived in. Then I take you to a real safe house and you tell me the rest of the story.” I suggested, scanning the area in front of the not so safe house we were hiding in and counting five men in black. She’d gotten that right.

  I almost laughed at the cliché, but the bastards were packing and clearly had a mission and a target. Right now no one was getting Georgia except me. I had no intention of keeping her, but my instincts had kicked in. I was going to make sure the crazy cat woman stayed safe.

  She stared at me as if I were nuts. I was, but I was also completely serious.

  “There’s five of them and two of us,” she stated flatly.

  “Your point?” I asked, making sure I was locked and loaded.

  “No point,” she replied, still staring at me. “Just facts.”

  “You’re a trained killing machine, right?” I asked, with a smile pulling at my lips.

  She paused and ran her hands through her wild hair as she pursed her sinful lips in thought. “Well, I’m a killing machine, but I wouldn’t add the trained part to the description.”

  Shit. I could take out five men in black, but I couldn’t cover Georgia from Georgia at the same time. I really hadn’t planned on dying today, but it was as good a day as any to go if my time was up. I’d simply remove the threat and leave Georgia alive. However, my guess was that the bastards were carrying tranquilizer guns if Georgia was worth as much to the government as she said she was.

  “But you can hit targets?” I pressed, forming a plan as I spoke.

  She nodded and giggled. “I can.”

  “Fine,” I said with a grin and a shake of my head. She was every kind of insane to giggle at a time like this. “Can you hit three in the space of fifteen seconds?”

  She nodded again, dropped to her knees and silently pushed the bottom of the window open.

  “I’m gonna two-hand the two sons of bitches on the right at the same time,” I told her as I got to my knees and placed a loaded gun in each hand. “You pop off the three on the left on Mi.”

  “Mi?” she questioned in confusion.

  “Do, Re, Mi,” I replied.

  A smile lit her face and I drew in a sharp breath. Tex knew exactly what he was doing when he sent her to me. I was as crazy as she was. Georgia from Georgia made me feel alive again and I was going to make sure she stayed in one piece.

  “You ready?” I questioned quietly, as I scanned the area once again.

  They were awfully sure of themselves only sending five men. However, I was certain there were more in the area.

  “Born ready,” she whispered as she sighted her weapon and waited for the go ahead. “The hills are alive.”

  “Not for long,” I replied with a chuckle. “Men in black don’t deserve the sound of music. The only sound they’re gonna hear in these hills is the explosion of gunfire.”

  “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me,” she said, gazing at me in wonder.

  Time seemed to stop for a brief moment as her eyes met mine. Unsure of what was happening, I nodded and glanced away. I was a hardened husk of a man. My soul had been destroyed years ago and I had nothing to give. I barely had a hold on my own sanity, yet this unbalanced puzzle of a woman had me feeling real emotion.

  However, it wasn’t a real good time to get in touch with my feelings. Maybe I’d have time for that later—after we disposed of the men in black. Feelings were something I didn’t do. Ever. Not even for a beautiful mess of a woman who could quote the movie that had saved my life.

  “If that’s the most romantic thing you’ve heard, you need to get out more,” I replied gruffly, dismissing her and my ridiculous inner turmoil.

  Focus. What was needed here was razor sharp focus. The rest could wait—probably forever.

  Breathing in slowly through my nose and expelling it through my lips, I gave her one last glance. She was ready. Gone was the laughing woman and in her place was something I recognized—a calculated killer.

  “Do. Re… Mi.”

  And the party started. They fell in time with the rest of the musical line… Fa, So, La, Ti, Do.

  She was as good as she said she was and so was I. They went down quick and clean—never even got a shot off. Clearly the CIA employed idiots. I felt nothing but relief that they were no longer an issue. However, Georgia was clearly shaken.

  “Time to go, Georgia from Georgia,” I said as I grabbed her pack and her arm.

  “You sure you don’t just want to kill me and take off?” she asked in complete seriousness. “I think I’m going to be a lot of trouble—a real problem.”

  “Like Maria?” I couldn’t help myself. She was the first person in my life who recognized my Sound of Music references.

  Her laugh was what I was going for. I won.

  “Maria was a nun—not a beast,” she reminded me, still smiling. “Your life would be simpler if we just offed me. Just saying.”

  “Maybe I’ll off you tomorrow,” I replied, kicking open the front door as I steered her toward my car that miraculously was still working. Figuring theirs had a tracking device on it I was relieved mine was still there. “But today, I’m finding complicated quite interesting.”

  “You’re insane.”

  “Pot, kettle, black,” I replied as I started the car and sped away from the carnage.

  Her laugh rang in my ears and my gut as I floored it.

  She was definitely going to be a problem. My problem. And I was going to figure out how to solve her…

  Chapter Four

  Georgia

  Carter Davis was beautiful and he’d just killed for me. I mean, I’d helped, but he’d defended me even though I knew he didn’t buy my story. My mind raced and my heart beat so loudly in my chest I was certain he could hear it.

  What was I talking about? I was a freakin’ idiot. This wasn’t a date—not even close. Offing bad guys didn’t qualify as romance. Sure, the man was all kinds of nuts. However, I was sure I was more nuts than he was—not to mention I’d just offed three bad guys—which never made me feel good about myself. I was a far better baker than killer.

  In another life we might have been made for each other, but not in this one. I was far too broken and dangerous. He was the personification of beauty and I was just a beast.

  “How do you know Tex?” Carter questioned as he pulled into a crowded parking garage
and parked.

  We’d been traveling for an hour at speeds that made me grip the seat of the car in fear for my life. I was fairly sure I’d punctured the leather. And I had no clue where we were headed. It was random town after random town, but Carter seemed to know where he was going. I knew he didn’t completely trust me or even believe me, but I felt totally safe for the first time in my life.

  “Tex was tight with my uncle—the man who was more of a parent to me than my real ones.”

  “And your uncle is…”

  “Dead,” I replied flatly.

  My Uncle Tim had been everything to me. He was my hero and my de facto father. He’d never married and never had any children of his own. My freakish abilities had never scared him—Tim made me feel almost normal. He was basically married to his job. His job was the CIA. It was why I’d joined up. Worst decision of my life, but again… hindsight is twenty-twenty.

  “My uncle was CIA and he loved me like a daughter. Died of a heart attack four years ago and so to honor his memory, I wanted to become just like him. Pretty stupid,” I muttered as I watched Carter clear out the glove compartment of his car and grab my duffel and his own.

  “You still didn’t answer my question,” he pointed out, pausing a moment and pinning me with his intense blue eyes.

  God, he was so otherworldly beautiful, I almost forgot what the conversation was… but then the ugly reality of my life came roaring back. “My Uncle Tim gave me a number for Tex before he died. Told me to use it if my back was ever up against a wall. He said Tex was a good man and would help me. My back was definitely up against a totally fucked up wall when I contacted him.”

  “Keep going.”

  “Umm, okay, but why are we in a parking garage?” I asked, confused. I didn’t think it was real safe to be out in the open considering what had gone down just an hour ago.

  “We’re upgrading. Can’t be sure they didn’t tag my car,” he replied and shrugged. “More story.”

  “You’re kinda smart,” I told him with a smile.

  “So I’ve been told,” he shot back. “Talk.”

  “Right. So I contacted Tex. He hid me for two weeks while I got some strength back and then sent me on my way… to you.”

  Carter’s eyes narrowed as he stared. I knew he was trying to detect bullshit, but there was truly none to be found. I’d left out a few facts like Tex had run tests on my blood and had asked me to prove my insane story. We’d spent the better part of a week hacking into CIA files and I’d hit pay dirt. Sabrina Wenbo and Don Jarred had kept meticulous records of their fucked up experimentation on their subjects, as they like to refer to them. Not people—subjects.

  It was also very clear they’d gone rogue and were working for themselves at this point. The systematic and methodical way they were enhancing people and destroying lives was a project outside of what the CIA was doing. Not that the CIA was innocent… Ever.

  “Leave stuff out much?” Carter questioned, getting out of his car and looking around the lot.

  “Yep,” I replied, hightailing it after him as I had no freaking intention of getting left behind.

  Quickly and quietly he jimmied the lock of a black SUV and hot wired the car. Tossing our bags into the back seat, he went around the back of the truck, took down the license number and tucked the paper into my hand.

  I had no clue what he was doing. Tex said he was different. I was different. Different didn’t bother me, but this was bizarre.

  “Umm, why did you give me this?” I asked, hopping into the front seat and strapping on my seatbelt.

  “You tell me the rest of the story and I tell you why I gave that to you,” he replied easily, taking his burner smartphone and plugging it into the charger.

  “I really don’t want to be dropped off on the side of the road,” I said. “I was thinking I would share the rest when you couldn’t get rid of me so easily.”

  “Stop thinking. It’s overrated. Start talking or I will drop you off,” he said with a lopsided grin that made my heart skip a beat.

  I was pretty sure he was joking about dropping me off, but the rest of it was no joke.

  Shit.

  “I have proof of what they’re doing—to me—to others. I hacked in and it’s far more fucked up than I ever could have imagined. They killed about forty new agents during the experiments and plan on recruiting new ones.”

  “Where’s the proof?” he asked, pulling out of the garage and out of yet another random small town.

  “Tex has it. I have it. Plus, I saved it on a shit load of jump drives.”

  “Smart and pretty,” he muttered with a grin.

  “Don’t forget crazy,” I said, feeling warm inside that he’d called me pretty. I might be pretty on the outside, but that was simply luck of the draw. On the inside I was broken and ugly, but letting myself pretend for a brief moment that I was a normal girl felt so good I almost cried.

  “And crazy,” he agreed with a chuckle. “Get your computer. I need you to hack into a little something.”

  “Don’t have internet,” I said, leaning into the back seat and grabbing my laptop. “Maybe we can go to a library or something if you need me to hack.”

  “Not wearing a shirt here,” he said as if I needed to be reminded of the distracting fact. “Don’t think that’s gonna fly in a library. As soon as my phone charges, we’ll have internet.”

  “Hmm,” I said with a giggle. “Smart and pretty. You’re Beauty and I’m the Beast.”

  His glance over at me was sharp and it startled me. His demeanor had turned on a dime.

  “What did Tex tell you?” he questioned.

  “Not following.”

  “About me.”

  “Not a lot,” I admitted. “He said you were damaged by what you’d been through, but he would trust you with his life. Always. He said you would help me… and…”

  “And?”

  “And that I might end up helping you,” I replied quietly. “But I didn’t. I hurt you.”

  His hands gripped the steering wheel lightly and he didn’t seem bothered at all by what I’d just said. I could only assume that he still didn’t believe me and had no clue how much I might have damaged him.

  “Let’s chat about that,” he said as if we were simply discussing the weather. “You bit me with your… fangs… and I passed out for three days?”

  “I know it sounds like some really stinky B-movie plot, but yes,” I said with a wince. “Do you still feel weird?”

  “You like that word,” he observed.

  “It’s accurate,” I replied.

  “I feel fine,” Carter said as he maneuvered the vehicle on to the highway and glanced over. “What do you think happened? And while you figure out what half-truth to placate me with, put the license plate number into the computer and find the name and address of the owner.”

  “The owner of the car we just stole?”

  “Yep. Need to send unmarked bills to replace the vehicle we borrowed.”

  “You mean stole,” I corrected him, while falling a little more for the man with every new thing I learned.

  “Semantics. I don’t steal.”

  “Got it,” I said with a laugh.

  We rode in silence while I found the owner and the address. Also, just to be ahead of the game, I researched the make and model of the car to get the value. I took a bit more time than necessary to avoid the conversation that needed to be dealt with. Because I was terrific at avoidance, I pulled up a site that I’d missed desperately during my year in hell.

  “What are you doing?” Carter asked, glancing over. “I thought you were an expert hacker. Shouldn’t take you this long.”

  “Umm, it didn’t,” I replied sheepishly. “I’ve had the info for twenty minutes. I was just…”

  “Just?”

  Inhaling through my nose and letting the air escape in a huff, I let my chin drop to my chest. “I was playing Soda Candy Crush,” I whispered.

  “Repeat.”

&n
bsp; “I. Was. Playing. Soda. Candy. Crush. And it’s kind of devastating. I was up to level 1900 before I was turned into a freak of nature and now I have to start over. It’s all kinds of sucky. I mean I know how to cheat to get more lives, but that only works on a phone and my burners are flip phones—totally prehistoric. So now I have to wait to get more lives because I can’t have a credit card online because it’s fucking traceable. I spent months on end trying to imagine the damned game in my head to stay sane. Do you feel me?” I said, and then purposely banged my head on the passenger window.

  What in the ever-loving hell was wrong with me? I had crazed government scientists after me, I’d killed men in black today, and I might have turned my deadly knight in shining armor into an animal like me. Now I was bitching about a mindless video game? Stupid. Stupid.

  “I feel you,” Carter replied quietly. “And you really need to stop banging your head on things—gonna give yourself a concussion.”

  “You get it?”

  “I get it. The Sound of Music saved me more times than I can count,” he replied, keeping his eyes on the highway. “Weird, huh?”

  My giggle startled me and made him grin. He did get me and I got him. I had no clue if I was going to end up dead or alive, but I was going to enjoy this bizarre and strangely beautiful time in my life.

  Chapter Five

  Carter

  In the space of a few hours, I felt more comfortable with Georgia than any other person I’d met in my entire life. Of course it shouldn’t surprise me that the person was right out of her mind. Someone as damaged as I was would never be attracted to a woman who was sane. And a woman who was sane would never be attracted to me.

  Georgia from Georgia was not sane, and for the moment, that suited me just fine.

  There was no future for us, but there was now. Right now we were alive. That could change in a heartbeat.

  “So what did they do to you to make you an animal?” I asked keeping my eyes glued to the road.