"Não é da sua conta."

None of my business? Is he fucking kidding me? “Since you’re following me and trying to kill me, it kind of is my business.”

He tries to swing his head forward to head butt me, but the forearm against his windpipe prevents such movement. An evil grin spreads across his face, and I know what he’s going to say even before it comes out of his mouth. “That whore loved every minute of my cock inside her.”

My left fist smashes his mouth in and I feel the gratifying crush of jawbone under my hand. Blood sprays out of his mouth onto my shirt. It’s linen. Blood is fucking hard to get out of linen. There’s no Tide Stain Stick for Assassins at the supermarket. Playtime is over.

With a swift upward jerk of my knee, I introduce his balls and cock to his kidney. “Guess you won’t be using that anymore.” I release him to fall to the ground at my feet, moaning out of his broken mouth. Deciding the world can do without one more rapist, I twist his head to break his neck with one swift motion.

My shirt is covered with his blood and spit. Crap. Can’t go into the hotel like this. At one of the street vendors, I buy the first shirt I can find. It’s bright blue and can be seen for five miles in the dark, but it’s better than the fluid-splattered cotton I’ve left in the alley shrouding the dead man.

The whole thing has only taken about five minutes, and I’m at the hotel in no time.

My visit to the hotel shop takes longer than I’d hoped. They want me to make decisions about color and fabric. Patterns or solids. I don’t care and I’d venture to guess that Regan doesn’t either. After about fifteen minutes of nonsense, I buy everything they recommend. I pay for the load of clothes and shoes and underwear and other female stuff in cash and no one blinks. It could be because I’m a stupid North American tourist or it could be that crime is so common that no one cares if my money is clean or dirty so long as it is negotiable currency.

I take my three shopping bags and hurry back to Regan. My watch says I’ve been gone an hour. It feels like two days. As I approach the door I hear the chamber on the Ruger being pulled back. “Daniel here,” I say while knocking and then move to the side in case she shoots through the door.

Inside there are some muffled sounds and then a curse. Finally she says with resignation, “Come in. I’ve got the gun pointed at the ceiling because I don’t know how to do the fancy thing with the bullets.”

Disengaging the lock, I go in low in case there is anyone else with Regan, but it’s only her. She has a funny look on her face, but it’s indecipherable to me.

“Something happen to your shirt?” She gestures toward my shirt. Not wanting to tell her that Gomes has sent yet another man after us, I shrug. “I like blue, what can I say?” Holding up the three bags, I ask, “Trade?”

She sets the gun down on the floor in front of the sofa, barrel pointing toward the wall. Smart girl. She picks up stuff fast. I like that I don’t have to repeat anything with her. She knows and goes.

“What’s all that?” Her head jerks toward the bags.

Setting them down on the table where I cleaned my guns, I pick up the abandoned Ruger off the floor. “Stuff for you. Clothes, shoes, shit,” I reply absently as I shake out the bullet and then eject the magazine. Once everything is back together, I go into the bedroom and pull on a nylon holster vest and stick my two Rugers inside the breast pockets.

When I get back into the living room, Regan is sifting through all the stuff. The near-sleepless night and early morning excursion is hitting me. I stretch out on the sofa and watch her as she unpacks the bags.

“This is a lot of stuff.”

“Figured you can tell the consulate that you lost all of your luggage but a carry-on. Not sure how long it will take you to get them to ship you back, so I got you a bunch of stuff. There’s a carry-on for all that shit in one of the bags.”

Regan looks pissed at something, but I decide that I’m too tired to care. The adrenaline spike from my fight outside is fading fast. I’ve been hunting for her for weeks now and getting into Gomes’ whorehouse wasn’t easy. I figure that killing the last scout bought us a little time. I need some shut-eye if I’m going to do Regan any good because I can’t think right now. I’m too fucking tired.

“I’m going to take a quick refresher and then we’ll talk about taking you back to the consulate.” My eyelids are heavy, and I allow them to drift shut. “By the way,” I say sleepily, “there are biscuits in the refrigerator. They’re for breakfast.”

Regan

I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT the breakfast he’s left for me. I can’t possibly eat, not when he says he’s going to take me back to the consulate. That can’t happen, and I need to act.

My mind is whirling a million miles a minute as Daniel relaxes on the couch and pulls the blanket over himself. He looks exhausted, and part of me feels a little bad that he’s clearly been run ragged looking for me. The panicky part of me doesn’t care though, and it’s screaming in the back of my mind. It wants me to run over to him, shake him awake, and force him to protect me from the world.

Sad how quickly Daniel has become the only safe thing in my life. Pretty sure there’s something fucked up about that.

The clothes he’s picked out are garish, in bright, touristy grandma-ish patterns that I would have laughed at back before all of this. Now, I touch the soft fabric of a cotton sundress and appreciate that it’ll cover all of my body. There are bras and panties here, too, and some boho-looking leather sandals. They don’t match the clothing, so it’s clear he was trying to find me something practical for my feet. Nice thought.

I pull out a bra and underwear, frowning at the sight of them. These are not granny-like in the slightest. These are a bit slutty. The fabric of the bra and matching panties are sheer and clearly meant for romance and not practicality. I shoot Daniel a suspicious look, but his eyes are closed and his face is relaxed as he sleeps.

Or pretends to.

I consider the lingerie. Did he buy this with an ulterior motive in mind? Or was this the only thing he could find? I don’t know the answer, but I don’t trust men anymore, so I suspect the worst. It confirms that Daniel wants me. As long as I can use it against him, I’m fine with that.

I watch his sleeping face as I slide the panties under my clothing and tug them on. They’re a little tight across the ass, but I don’t care if I have a plumber’s crack. They’re clean. That’s all that matters. I don’t leave the room to put on the bra, either; I slide my arms under my current clothing and work the clasp around my back, watching Daniel as he sleeps. I should go to the other room and change, but I don’t want to.

The thought of leaving the room kind of freaks me out. It’s like, if I leave, he’ll vanish and I’ll be alone all over again. So I stay, switching out my clothing piece by piece, pulling off tags as I do so. Daniel sleeps through all of this.

When I’m dressed, I sit down at the kitchen table and try not to panic. I’m clothed now. I’m clean and I’m clothed. I should be feeling human now, more relaxed. Instead, I’m shaking with fear, my mind whirling and chaotic. When Daniel wakes up, he’s going to take me back to the consulate. If he takes me back to the consulate, Mr. Freeze is going to find me and I’m going to end up right back where I started. If I tell Daniel, though, will he care? He’s made it clear that he’s ready for me to be out of his hair, and I only made things worse by falling to pieces last night. I could kick myself for having a sniveling sob-fest last night because I think it scared him.

Think, Regan, think.

I drum my fingers on the table, and my gaze rests on his lightweight blazer on a hook by the table. I bite my lip, look over at Daniel, and when I see he’s still sleeping, I get up and approach his jacket. I search his pockets, curious to see what I’ll find. Condoms? Bullets? Knives?