The
address given was a secluded one, which Michonne was glad for, because it meant
less risk that an innocent bystander would be harmed or that the police would
be called in.
She,
Andrea, and Jacqui pulled up to a house set off of one of the many back roads
that Georgia had to offer. They climbed out to the sound of tortured cries.
They assumed it was Shane making those sounds and when they reached the back
yard they discovered they were right.
“I’ve
been waiting months for this moment, you fucking piece of shit,” Negan said.
Shane
lay on the ground, curled into a ball, while Negan repeatedly kicked at him.
Jacqui nudged Michonne in the side.
“I
see two,” she whispered. “One on either side of the yard.”
“Take
them out,” said Michonne, nodding at Jacqui and Andrea. “I’ll get Negan.”
Andrea
and Jacqui took out the two guards with head shots. The men fell and Negan
stilled, looking around for the source of the shooters when he saw his men
lying dead at their posts.
“Martinez!
We got company!”
“We’ve
got this,” whispered Andrea.
“I’m
going to circle around,” Michonne answered, and left to move toward the front
yard. She encountered a man exiting the front of the house. She tried to fire
but he kicked the gun from her hand and made to swing at her. He was a huge man
with a shaved head and tattoo sleeves on each arm. He was so pale, with reddish
white eyes, he could only be an albino.
“Name’s Tiny.”
“How
very inappropriate,” she responded.
“What’s
yours, cutie?”
“None
of your damn business.”
“Shame.
I’d like to have had some fun with you before I beat you to death. I just might
still.”
“No
funnin’ is gonna happen between us,” she said. She pulled a knife from her belt
and took a swing. He brought his hand up to block the blow and the scalpel
sharp blade slid through his hand like butter. He didn’t cry out but he looked
at his blood spilling from his wound with a look of disbelief.
Michonne
pulled the blade back and used his surprise to her advantage by driving the
knife straight into his forehead. His body fell to the ground, jerked a few
times, and went still. Michonne put her blade away, grabbed her gun, and
circled around back while Jacqui and Andrea exchanged gunfire with men who
emerged from the house.
In
the back yard, Andrea nailed the final assailant but not before he fired off a
round that put a searing pain in her right side. She fell to the ground while
Jacqui trained her gun on Negan, who now had Shane on his feet and pressed
against his body, using him as a shield.
“Well,
ain’t you cold as ice, Pretty?” Negan said, watching Jacqui keep her eyes and
her gun trained on him and ignoring Andrea, who lay on the ground sweating and
grunting in pain. “Not even a glance for your partner.”
“Let
Agent Walsh go,” Jacqui said.
“You’d
make a fine addition to my team. Whatever they’re paying you, I can triple it.”
“Slavery
ended a hundred fifty years ago so I’m not for sale.”
“Take
the shot,” Shane said.
“I
can’t risk it,” Jacqui answered.
“I
said, take the shot, Razor.”
“I’ll
take the shot only if Ringleader gives the order.”
“That’s
your little code name? Razor? Why is that?” Negan asked. He was obviously
stalling for time.
“She’s
got razor sharp eyes and a steady hand. She can make the shot,” Andrea said.
“Hold
the shot,” Rick’s voice said through the earpiece that Jacqui, Andrea, and
Michonne were wearing. “Hold the shot. Take him alive if possible.”
Negan
slid behind Shane even more, trying to narrow his head and his body with
Shane’s, but Jacqui knew she could nail him. Her fingers itched to pull the
trigger but she didn’t. She followed orders.
“You’ve
got incoming,” Rick said. “I can see them on the Satellite feed. Two trucks.”
“We
need to end this, now,” Jacqui said. “We’ve got incoming.”
Negan
began to laugh. “My boys are gonna eat you bitches alive.”
“Let
him go.”
Michonne
had snuck up behind Negan and put the gun to his head. He froze for a moment before
releasing Shane.
“Slap
these on him,” she said to Jacqui, who holstered her gun and put cuffs on
Negan. Michonne grabbed Shane, putting an arm around him. He kissed the side of
her face.
“I
never should have let you go.”
She
rolled her eyes. “God, he’s beaten you silly.”
“No,
I mean it. Thanks.”
“You’re
welcome. I’m back with Rick.”
“Oh…
My bad luck.”
They
reached the truck, with Michonne having to help both Andrea and Shane, while
Jacqui put Negan in the bed of the truck. Shane held a gun on him in case they
needed him hostage to escape any pursuit, but they were gone in the opposite
direction before Negan’s men reached the driveway to the house.
Shane
looked at Negan. “You’re under arrest, motherfucker.”
.
Daryl
sighed and rested his head on Beth’s shoulder. She stroked his hair, feeling him soften
inside her. He held her against the wall as though she weighed nothing. Warm
water from the shower rained down on them as they caught their breath and
smiled at one another.
He’d
walked into the shower with her to scrub her back and things quickly got out of
hand.
“Now
we actually need to get clean,” she said, laughing.
“Sorry.
Couldn’t help myself.”
“Don’t
ever be sorry for giving me mind-blowing orgasms.”
“Deal.”
They
did the job of washing one another, running their hands over each other’s
bodies, their eyes rarely breaking contact.
“I’d
better get this,” she said, taking the washcloth and cleaning between her legs.
Daryl gave her a roguish grin.
“If
you insist.”
They
came down to breakfast to find a new face mixed in with the familiar ones
sitting around the table. She was a beautiful black woman with a sharp sense of
style and keen eyes.
“What
took you guys so long?” Rick asked. He looked up from his coffee, noted their
hair wet from the shower, the ruddy glow to their faces, and said, “Oh. Never
mind.”
“Daryl,
Beth, this is Jacqui. Jacqui, our clients, Beth Greene and Daryl Dixon,” Rick
said, introducing them.
“Nice
to meet you,” Daryl said, kissing her hand.
She
smiled brightly at him. “It’s very nice to meet you, too.”
There
was a flirtatious tone to her voice.
Beth
shook her hand, wanting to inform her that Daryl was taken, but decided that
would make her come off as insecure as she felt. Jacqui wasn’t only pretty, she
was closer to Daryl’s age. She had no problem with the age gap but she worried
Daryl would change his mind once the novelty wore off and the years started to
pass.
They
sat down to breakfast and Beth noticed the absence of a few of their own.
“Where
are Michonne, Lori, and Andrea?”
“Michonne’s
tending to Agent Walsh. He was hurt last night,” Rick explained. “Andrea was
shot and Lori’s taking care of her.”
“She
was shot?” Beth asked in alarm.
“Just
a flesh wound. A few stitches and some ointment and she’ll be fine. More
importantly it looks like you’re going to be okay, too. There’s been a break in
the case. We’ll know more about it as soon as Shane is up on his feet.”
Beth
took Daryl’s hand in hers. “Maybe this nightmare is finally about to end.”
“Let’s
hope.”
.
TWO WEEKS LATER
Beth
took aim with the crossbow and fired at the target. She hit the outer edge of
the board. It was a massive improvement from the earlier lessons in which she
failed to hit the target at all.
“Much
improved, Sutton,” Daryl said, startling her.
Beth
pointed the bow toward the ground. “Not by much.”
“At
least no animals died this time.”
“Daryl,”
she said, tilting her head to the side.
“Don’t
feel guilty about that raccoon, either,” he teased. “You nailed it right
through the heart. It didn’t feel a thing.”
“Daryl!”
He
laughed aloud, a rare thing with Daryl Dixon, and kissed her.
“Load
another bolt,” he said.
“Why,
you gonna show off?”
“Me?
Show off? Never.”
He
helped her take aim and fired the bolt. It hit dead center on the target.
“I
think you just wanna press your body up against mine,” she said quietly.
“I
think you might be right,” he whispered, before kissing her lightly on the
neck. He could tell something was off, however, and he stopped the kissing to
turn her to face him. She let the bow hit the ground and threw her arms around
him.
“Today’s
the day,” she said.
“I
know. You’re gonna do fine,” he assured her. “Just tell the truth. That’s all
you can do.”
She
nodded. The early morning fog shrouded the grounds in a dense mist. She wore a conservative
black skirt suit with a white blouse. Her hair was pulled into a bun and she
wore just a touch of makeup. She looked older than her nineteen years. Daryl
was dressed in a gray suit. He’d trimmed his hair and looked sharp enough to be
an attorney about to question her as a witness in the Cooper murder case.
“He’ll
be there,” she said.
“He’s
not a threat. You’ll have six assassins there and one really protective
boyfriend who’ll kill a motherfucker if he tries anything. You’ll be safe.”
She
nodded. “I know. I just wonder if it’s really going to be over now.”
“From
what you told me, Cooper was a good man, but he’s small change compared to the
other stuff Negan’s mixed up in, Beth. Your part in this is over. Whoever Negan’s
mixed in with doesn’t consider you a threat now that Negan’s been captured.
Come on.”
He
took her hand and led her back into the house. As soon as they opened the door
it was to chaos. Everyone was dressed in suits and hurrying to get ready to
leave. Jacqui emerged from the kitchen with Andrea.
“You
missed breakfast, Sweetie. You’ll have to wait until after court to eat,” she
said.
“I
couldn’t eat right now if my life depended on it.”
“Oh,”
Andrea said, and kissed her lightly on the cheek before baldly admiring Daryl. “Hey
good-lookin’. You sure do clean up nice.”
“Why,
thank you, madam,” he said suavely, as he kissed her hand.
“When
you’re done with him, Lori and I will take him.”
“That’ll
never happen,” Beth said. She wanted to smile but her stomach was twisted in
knots. Andrea put a comforting hand on her shoulder and then ran up the steps
to hurry Lori along.
Rick
and Shane called Beth into the kitchen. The smell of fried eggs and bacon
normally whet her appetite but today it only upset her stomach. She belched and
prayed she didn’t puke, even though her belly was completely empty.
“You
might feel better if you ate a little something. Toast, maybe,” said Rick.
“I’ll
pass.”
“We’re
taking you to court in Savannah. They’re trying the case there because Negan
won a change of venue,” he explained.
“There’s
been two attempts on his life.”
“Daryl
said Cooper was small change. Then why did the government come after me?”
“Negan’s
been singing like a canary to save his own ass,” Shane said disdainfully. “He
got in with an agent named Carstairs. Carstairs took care of the money while
Negan did the hits for several higher ups in the FBI and CIA. These killings
were strictly for personal grudges and gain. Four agents have been arrested in
addition to Carstairs.”
“So
why do I even have to testify?”
“Because
you saw him murder an innocent man,” said Shane.
“What
charges are being brought against him now?”
“Today
we’re testifying about the Cooper murder. That’s your part in it. Then Negan
goes on trial for attempted murder against Shane. We received this.”
Rick
slid a sheet of paper to Beth. She read it over quickly.
The
Greene family is no longer a threat.
“Who
sent this?” she asked.
“We
don’t know. Probably never will,” answered Rick. “The point is the Cooper
murder is just a side issue. Now that Negan’s been arrested and he’s talking,
you and your family are no longer on the radar.”
“So,
I’m free?”
Rick
smiled and nodded. “You’re free.”
Michonne
poked her head into the kitchen. “We’d better leave a little early. Traffic’s a
bitch. Accident on 84.”
“Let’s
roll,” said Rick.
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