The "Boondock" Kids

*****
♥

The other passengers present at the time, gasp as the blonde girl is thrown out of her cabin. She lands on the deck, hitting the rail with a loud resulting thud. A crowd forms, Nakeem included. "What the hell...Charlotte!"

Charlotte groans as she rolls onto her other side, rubbing her arm where she hit the metal rail. "Merde...." she curses in french. She gets on her knees slowly as Christie walks out from the cabin. "Someone help me! She's trying to kill me!" she cries.

"What?! She's lying!" Christie points a menacing finger at Charlotte.

"Okay. That's enough." Nakeem swerves to the front and walks to Christie. "Nakeem! She-ah!" Nakeem doesn't let her finish, picking her up by her thighs and throwing her over his shoulder. "What the hell! Put me down!"

"Sorry for the inconvenience ya'll!" Nakeem apologises quickly as he rushes to his and her cabin. He closes the door behind him, pushing it with his foot.

"Nakeem!" Christie cries.

Nakeem puts her down on her feet. "Have you lost your mind??" He demands, eyeing her up and down.

"She works for Shadow!"

"What?"

"Charlotte! She works for the Shadow! She could be an undercover agent for all we know!"

"And how the hell would you know?"

"Because she has this..." Christie pulls up her sleeve, revealing the dots. "Its a sort of signature that shows us who our other agents are."

"So because she has dots on her shoulder. You beat her up."

"Its not like that! Its just...she's gonna take you in."

"You were planning to, so what's your point?"

"...I--"

"No I get it. You're just afraid that if she takes me, she'll get the pay."

"What? No!"

"I'm not stupid, Christie. Let me tell you now; whether she is an agent or not, none of you are taking me."

They stare at each other. Nakeem breaks contact by turning around and walking away. He reaches out to open the door.

"I'm not in it for any payday, Nakeem," Christie interrupts, making him look back, over his shoulder.

"What then Christie? What."

Christie takes in a shaky breath, still adjusting to being snapped at. She hated been snapped at, but now obviously wasn't the time to complain.

"I told you that my father was a loon...but I didn't tell you he died because of all those drugs." Nakeem watches patiently as she sighs and rubs her eyes. "But I lied about my mother, yes, she had left my dad because of his insanity, but she didn't choose to leave me. She wanted to take me..." She sniffs. "She didn't leave. She disappeared. Literally, the day she planned to take me, she never came home, I was scared...I was only nine then..."

"......"

"The cops had no clue where she was, and my dad was too caught up in his experiments to even know what was happening, I was alone. Then he died the year I turned thirteen...I was shifted from foster home to foster home...later that year I met him, the Shadow. He sort of just approached me and offered me information on my mom. I didn't give in at first, until he literally summarised my life story, getting me to trust him."

Nakeem shoves his hands in his front pockets, his expression, not harsh like before, but remorseful.

"Nakeem...he told me my mom was still alive, and promised me he'd take me to her...in exchange for working for him, he was aware of my fighting skill and knew it would come in handy, and it did."