Keep your friends close, your enemies closer by ReeseisLAVAhot

Chapter 1
A woman's voice I had never heard before spoke from behind me. "Hello, John. It's been a long time."

John quickly shoved Liliana and I behind him and pointed his gun at a slim, dark-haired woman standing about ten feet from us.

“Relax, John. I’m not here to hurt anyone…well except him that is.” And she nodded in the direction of Snow’s body.

“Looks like you beat me to it though.” The mysterious woman stood there looking expectantly at John but not making any moves.

I saw John take a deep breath and then he spoke in a low, cold voice. “Kara. So you made it out alive too. AND in one piece.”

So THIS was Kara Stanton, his old CIA partner I thought. The one who, incidentally, shot him on the last job they worked together.

“Yes, well, I was hoping we could discuss that.” She said softly.

John’s voice became hard and quiet. “What is there to discuss? I don’t know what you’ve been up to for the past three years and frankly I don’t care. I’ve moved beyond the Company and I’m never going back.”

“I can see that John.” And she nodded in the direction of Liliana and I. “Please John, just for old time’s sake? Can you spare me just a few minutes over coffee? Please.”

I put my free hand on John’s shoulder and leaned up to whisper in his ear. “I refuse to be looking over my shoulder all the time wondering where this woman is and what she wants. I think you should find out.”

John acknowledged my words by covering my hand with his and said to her. “Alright. You have one hour and then I don’t ever want to see you again. On one condition, I want to hold onto all your weapons.”

Stanton frowned. “Ok, have it your way.” John growled. “Get in the car Cecilia, we’re leaving.”

“No, wait. Here.” She said and handed him a Sig from the waistband behind her back. Then she withdrew a Glock from a holster underneath her coat, handing that over as well. She reached up and drew a stiletto from her pulled back hair and then held that out too. “Satisfied?”

“Not until you give me the knife in your boot.” He spoke to her sharply and his voice became hard.

Stanton’s mouth curved up into a smile. “So you remembered. Remember when I had to use that…”

“Shut up and just hand it to me, Kara. I’m not in the mood to reminisce and I doubt you’d want me to considering I might remember what it felt like when you shot me.”

“Alright that’s it.” She said. John just looked at her, not saying anything. “Really! That’s all I have. Besides, where else would I hide anything in these jeans?” John gave her a sharp, penetrating look. “I’m sorry, bad joke. Geez, you always were too serious, John.”

“Thank you, by the way for giving me a chance.” She said, looking at me.

I nodded and stepped out from behind John, walking towards the car. I didn’t trust this woman for anything and the fact that she’d had a lot to do with shaping John into the remorseless killing machine he felt he was, made me want to shoot her in the stomach and leave her to bleed out. But the fact that she seemed glad Snow was dead, at least showed that we shared a common ground on something and frankly, I was sick of dealing with all of the crap that the CIA had thrown into John’s and my life. I just wanted to get this over and done with. I put Liliana into her car seat and started to climb into the back seat with her. I turned to watch as Stanton walked over to the car and picked up the gun that my kidnapper had brought. Without blinking an eye, she emptied the gun into Snow’s body.

I must have had a shocked look on my face because as she approached the car she said, “I wanted to make damn sure he was dead THIS time.”

I glanced at John and noticed he had his fists clenched, obviously trying to control his anger. “Damn it, Kara! Now I’m going to have to dispose of a body!”

“What? Why? They’ll think he shot Snow.” She said, nodding at the body of my kidnapper.

“Not when ballistics show he was shot left handed by a right handed man! Look at the guys hands! Don’t you see the calluses! You’ve gone soft in the past three years.” John was practically shouting.

I saw her eyes narrow as he accused her of being sloppy, “Fuck you, John!” Then she took a deep breath and said more calmly. “You always could get to me. Look, I’m sorry. I’ll help you dispose of the asshole with pleasure.”

“Just help me get him in the trunk, I’ll take care of the rest.” He walked around the side of the car to the back and I got out again and opened the trunk. John grabbed one of several large pieces of plastic that he kept for these types of emergencies and together he and Stanton put Snow’s body on it and wrapped it up so that there would be no tell-tale patches of blood in the trunk.

As they hoisted the body into the trunk, I heard Stanton tell him, “Not teeth and no fingers, remember.”

“I know how to do my job!” He snarled at her. “Now get in the car before I change my mind about this!”

As John drove, I watched Stanton from the backseat. She had the same cautiousness and alertness as he did. Her head and eyes were always on the move and they met mine in the mirror several times. Each time I held her eyes until she looked away. She might have some idea what John was capable of, but I wanted to be sure that she knew that I wasn’t afraid of her and that I would do anything and everything to protect what was mine.

She also kept glancing at John with a strange expression on her face. I had no idea what she was thinking but the amount of times she did it had me feeling very nervous. I reached over to Liliana’s diaper back and pulled out a long blanket. Slowly and stealthily, I wound the blanket tightly together until it was hard and rope-like. I’d never used a garrote before, but if push came to shove, I wanted to be prepared.

“You look good John.” She finally spoke.

“Cut the crap, Kara.” John spoke harshly. “You just show up, out of the blue, three years after having shot me. Don’t pretend to be concerned now.”

“I’m sorry John.” She said and there was silence in the car for the rest of the trip.

Ten minutes later, we pulled up to a small coffee shop. As we got out, I grabbed Liliana and her diaper bag with the gun. I had no idea what was going on here but I wanted to be prepared. I hung back a little on the pretense of getting Liliana out of the car and touched my earbud.

“Harold? Are you listening to this?”

“Yes, MR and I’m worried about the price that John will have to pay this time if he gets mixed up with this woman. It didn’t work out so well for him the last time.”

“I know. Can you monitor the situation and track her when she leaves?”

“Already done. Leave your phone on please.”

I agreed and followed John and Stanton into the coffee shop. John and I sat across from each other while Kara slid into the booth next to him.

“John, I know you don’t have any reason to trust me, but do you think you could point that gun away from my side? I promise I’m not here to hurt anyone.”

“Just a precaution Kara. You taught me to always be prepared for the worse.” He replied and she sighed but said nothing.

When the waitress came, we all ordered coffee and waited anxiously while she cooed over the baby as I sat her in my lap. I could feel the tension between the three of us and I wondered what had brought this woman back into John’s life after so long and would it turn out to be a good or bad thing? When the waitress finally brought us all our coffees, we sat there for a second waiting to see who would start the conversation. Liliana started giggling and shaking her toy keys and trying to stuff them into her mouth. It served to break the tension and I saw Stanton smile as she watched Liliana.

“May I hold her?” She asked me.

I looked at John for guidance. He nodded his head very slightly. My lips tightened but I reluctantly transferred Liliana from my lap to hers. Liliana was very easy-going and didn’t make a fuss. I saw Stanton wrap her arms around the baby. She leaned her cheek over Liliana’s head and closed her eyes, rubbing her cheek into the top of Liliana’s fuzzy head. A minute later, Stanton opened her eyes and I thought I saw tears in the corners.

“You are very fortunate John, I never thought it would be possible to have a family after the things we’d done and seen and yet here you are with a wife and child. I envy you both.” As she said the last sentence, she was looking at me and I could see the naked longing in her eyes.

“How did you know I was married?” John asked.

She sighed and began telling us her story. “I’ve been following Mark Snow for about a year now, trying to decide the best way to ‘thank’ him for what he did to us. I quickly realized that he was after someone else and watched at a distance as he searched fruitlessly for you. I can’t tell you how surprised I was to find out you’d survived Ordos! That bastard lied to us and I believed him! I’m VERY sorry that I shot you, John. It has bothered me ever since that night.” John just grunted a little but didn’t say anything. I couldn’t tell whether she was telling the truth but resolved to ask him at the first opportunity.

Stanton shook her head and continued when she got no response from John. “So, that’s when I came up with the idea to lure Mark out by pretending to be you. I left a trail for him to follow to the Royal Manhattan hotel. He and his goon snuck into my hotel room, guns drawn. I took out the goon and shot Mark in the leg, hoping to get some answers out of him about how far up the chain the order had come from. To make a long story short, he got away from me at one point and I’ve been trying to track him ever since. I just caught up with him yesterday and was waiting for a good time to ‘re-introduce’ myself to him when he went after your wife.”

She looked at me. “I never would have let him shoot you. If John hadn’t dived in when he did, I would have taken Mark out. I swear.” She swung her eyes to John and said fiercely. “I’m glad you took him out. I wish I had been the one to do it, but you had just as much of a right to as I did. In a way, death was too good for him.”

John’s eyes were still dark with suppressed anger. “Alright Kara, so you’ve apologized and like the rest of us, you’re are glad that Mark is dead. Now why did you want to talk to me? What is it you want?”

Stanton handed me back Liliana and took a deep breath. “John, ever since Ordos, I’ve been focused on finding and then killing Mark. Now that he’s dead…” Her voice trailed off.

“Now that he’s dead what?” John asked. I held my breath; afraid of what she was going to say next.

“Well, now I find I need a job. I’ve thought of hiring out as an independent contractor but I don’t know the players here in the City. You seem to be doing rather well for yourself. Perhaps you could use a partner? If you can forgive me that is, for what I did. We worked well together for years John. Please give me a second chance.”

I waited to see what John would say. The thought of working with this woman made me uneasy. She was an unknown in the equation. John may have worked well with her but I was pretty sure that Harold wouldn’t. While we were working together, Harold had told me several occasions that his biggest fear in recruiting John would be: could he put aside the morally ambiguous decisions he was used to making or were they too far ingrained into his way of thinking? I tried to reassure him then that John was able to put all that aside, but now, with addition of someone else who also thought that way, I just wasn’t sure.

I saw John draw a deep breath and his eyes softened just slightly. “Kara, Cecilia is more than just my wife, she’s my partner too. So you see I don’t need another one.” His eyes darted to me and then back to her. “But perhaps on occasion we could call you in if needed.” I had to bite back my gasp at his unexpected words. Was he really thinking of working with her again? “If things work out, I might also have someone else who could use your skills. How can I get in touch with you?”

Stanton hesitated. “Come on, Kara. If you want me to trust you, trust you with my life essentially, you need to trust me with your number at least.” He told her. She nodded and slid a piece of paper across the table to him. He took it and put it in his pocket. “I want one thing understood right now Kara, you are to stay away from my family. If I catch you following any of us, you won’t even see it coming. I WON’T tolerate any danger to my family. None. Do you understand me?”

“Of course, I would never…..”

“Just stay away until I call you.” She nodded and we all got up to leave.

“Thank you John, you won’t regret it.”

“I better not or you WILL.” He growled.

John and I got into the car and I turned to him and immediately asked, “John? Do you mind telling me what’s going on here?”

“Yes, Mr. Reese. I’d like an answer to that question as well.” Harold spoke into both our earbuds.

“Calm down the two of you. Haven’t you heard the phrase keep your friends close and your enemies closer? I have this situation well in hand. I’ve wondered for years if Stanton had really been killed and I’ve already thought of what I’d do if she showed up.”

“Well then, enlighten us Mr. Reese.” Harold spoke with a bit of impatience.

“And spoil the fun Harold? Never. Besides, part of this depends on you and MR being convincing when the time comes and neither of you are good actors.”

“Mr. Reese….”

“Relax Harold. I have something to do and then I’m taking MR and L home. We’ll be in touch in the morning.” And John reached up and pulled his earbud out and then reached over and removed mine.

“John, you know I trust you.” I said to him. “It’s HER I don’t trust. I wish you’d tell me what the plan is.”

“I know, sweetheart, but not yet. Right now, all I want to do is get you both home safe and sound.” His hands reached over and cupped my face and he leaned his forehead down on mine. “I didn’t think I’d be able to get to you in time. I was afraid you’d be dead when I got there.” He took a deep breath and rubbed my lips with the pad of his thumb, kissing me gently, lovingly. “I promised you that I’d keep you both safe and once again I almost failed to protect…”
I didn’t want him to dwell on what had almost happened. He had enough self-imposed guilt as it was, so I leaned up and kissed him deeply, cutting off what he was about to say. I knew the second I’d said yes to him, that day that he’d asked me to work with him, that I would always be in danger. I accepted that fact. And there was nothing either of us could do about it, so I didn’t see the point of allowing him to have a misplaced sense of guilt.

I pulled away finally as we both began to breath heavily but I kept a hold of his hand, entwining my fingers with his. “Take us home John.”

He nodded and started the car. “We need to make a few stops along the way.” He said jerking his head towards the trunk of the car. I couldn’t believe that I’d already forgotten about the body in the trunk. At one time, the thought a body in the trunk would have had me wide-eyed and worried, but I’d been working with John long enough that all it did was elicit a shrug from me.

“Let’s hurry up then. It’s been a long day.”

We drove to the outskirts of the City, near Staten Island and pulled up to a small deserted park of the bay. Liliana was sleeping, thankfully, as I helped John remove Snow’s body from the trunk and lay it down next to the water.
“Go on and wait for me in the car, Cecilia. I don’t want you to see this.” He said, pulling on gloves. I just nodded and walked back to the car, removing some clean clothes from the trunk. I heard several pops and the sickening sound of bones cracking but I was careful not to look in John’s direction. I knew it would bother him for me to see him doing the gruesome work of his old job. When he was done, John waded into the water, dragging the body with him. When he was far enough out, I saw him make several slashing motions and I knew he was disemboweling the body so that it wouldn’t bloat with gasses and rise to the surface. He then allowed the current to take the body as we both saw it submerge.

Slowly John waded back into shore, picking up a small cloth bag from the shoreline and when he got to the car, he removed the gloves and I handed him the clean clothes. He didn’t say anything and didn’t even look at me. I sighed, knowing that he’d be haunted by bad dreams again tonight.

For the next hour we drove around the city, stopping at various bridges and dumpsters to dispose of the teeth, fingers and clothes. All of the dumpsters we stopped at were ones that were slated to be picked up within the next day or two. At no time during the entire hour, did John say anything or meet my eyes. Finally, we reached the apartment and John pulled into the parking garage.

“Take Liliana in for me please.” I said as I removed her heavy, sleeping body from her carseat.

“Cecilia, I don’t….”

“Just do it, John.” I interrupted. I knew that one thing that would help bring him back to us would be for him to hold his daughter. “I have a lot of stuff to take in.” Was the excuse I gave him. I handed her to him and watched as he closed his eyes and held her tightly to him. He opened his eyes and they were shining with unshed tears. I took his free hand and led him to the elevator.

Once we opened the door to the apartment, John took Liliana straight to her room while I put her diaper bag and toys on the couch. When John didn’t emerge from her room right away, I walked down the hall to Liliana’s room and peeked in the door. John was sitting in the rocking chair, holding Liliana as she slept with her head on his shoulder. I quietly went into the bathroom, turned on the water and let the tears roll down my face as I cried.
Several minutes later, I heard John walk past the bathroom to our bedroom, so I wiped away the tears and quickly washed up and changed into my satin nightdress. As I came into the bedroom, he was sitting on his side of the bed, head bowed. I approached him, stopping directly in front of him and spoke softly, telling him the only thing that I knew he would accept from me right now; a plea for his help.

“John?” I placed my hands on his head and gently ran my fingers through his hair. “John, after what happened to me today, I need you. I need you to make love to me and to help me forget.”

Still not looking up at me, he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me close and buried his head in my mid-section. I continued to stroke his head and shoulders for a minute and then said, “Please, John.”

He squeezed my sides and then spoke in a voice rough with emotion. “Take off your clothes and lay down.”

I did as he asked and climbed into bed next to him. He got up and removed his own clothes and lay down next to me on the bed but he still he wouldn’t look at me. He reached over and began to caress one of my breasts, bringing the nipple to a hardened peak and then he leaned down and took it in his mouth. “Mmm.” I moaned and pushed my chest up into his mouth and his hand that had started rolling and pinching my other nipple. He kept this up for several minutes and my body responded to his skilled hands and mouth. I felt myself becoming slicker and slicker with need, but I knew there was something I needed more. As his hand began to travel downwards, I placed a hand on top of his, halting him.

“John,” I gasped out as his mouth continued its magic with my nipple. “John, I need you..to…kiss me…please.”

He hesitated and I reached down to grip the side of his face and pulled his head up to mine. Suddenly, his mouth came up to mine and he began kissing me as if he was a starving man, given an unexpected feast. I returned his kisses with equal fervor and heard him moan into my mouth. My hands quickly reached over his shoulders and I pulled him up flush against my body. I could feel his erection, engorged and hard at the apex of my thighs and I opened them, welcoming him with my warm sheath, fitting myself like a glove around that most sensitive part of his body. He groaned again and started moving inside me, and then it was as if a damn burst inside him and he began pounding into me, setting up a punishing rhythm, losing himself inside my body as I’d hoped he would. I began to realize though that he was holding back, not allowing himself to take his pleasure in me.

“John!” I cried out. “Please! You…need…to…let go!” And I squeezed him with my inner muscles.

“No.” He growled into my mouth.

“Yes! Now, please!” I begged.

“No. Not until you are….” He never finished because at that moment, he felt my body tense and shudder as his thrusts pushed me over the edge. I just barely registered it as his body began its own series of tremors and his climax took him.

After I came back to myself, I squeezed his body tightly to my own and kissed his lips repeatedly. I felt his answering squeeze as his body rolled off mine, still holding me close. “I love you John. I always will.” I said softly into his ear.

He kissed me then and finally looked me in the eye. “I know. I have no idea what I did to deserve you but I love you too. With every fiber of my being, I love you.”

“Don’t ever let me go.” I whispered.

“Never.” He replied and kissed me sweetly again. “Now go to bed, sweetheart.”

I sighed and fell asleep in his sheltering arms.

***********************

As I expected I would, I woke in the early hours of the morning to an empty bed. I got up and walked into Liliana’s room where I knew I’d find John. I came up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my head against his warm, bare back. His hands reached down and covered mine and I held him this way for several minutes as he stood and watched Liliana sleep. Finally, he turned around in my arms and tilted my head up and kissed me. I felt him lean into me and I returned his kisses before saying, “Come to bed with me.”

He just nodded and took my hand, leading me back to the bedroom. Once again, we made love and I could feel him slowly coming back to me from whatever dark place he’d been inside his mind. As he came, he called out my name and I gripped him with every bit of strength I had. We lay together then, holding each other close and just as I was falling into the oblivion of deep sleep, I heard him whisper, “Thank you Cecilia, for bringing me home.”