Surrender

Chapter One

There she was standing right in front of me. Her brown eyes glued to me with a shivering cold look. The girl I once knew was gone. This isn't the same girl I fell for because the girl in front of me was holding a gun to my chest. 

"Don't even think about it. Take out the gun around your waist." She back up just little giving me space to do what I was told. The glock in her hands still aimed at me. I couldn't stop looking at her. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that she would pull the trigger. "Now!" She yelled. 

I did what I was told. "Disarm it and kick it to the side." Slowly, I did exactly that kicking the gun to my left. 

We were behind an alley alone or at least the ones alive. There were four dead bodies surrounding us. She had fought and killed them all on her own. All four men were armed. There was only one of her. She didn't fight like FBI or CIA. Whoever she was working for wasn't known to any United States government branch. 

 I was stupid to come without any back up. I had no idea I would even be seeing her. Hell, she was supposed to be dead. For the last 5 years I thought she was gone and there was no way I can make up for what I did back then. 

"The switchblade in your right shoe." 

"Anna."

"Don't!" She yelled. "You don't get to call me that. Not after everything that has happened. Again, the switchblade in your right shoe." 

I wasn't sure about the words that came out of my mouth. I didn't believe it but I said it anyway. "You're not going to shoot me." 

She laughs with no humor. "You think I won't shoot you right here right now? I won't hesitate to put a bullet through your chest Micheal." 

"So what's stopping you?" 

"Because slow torture is the way to go."  She tells me in a stern voice. "Micheal, switchblade now.  And don't try to do anything funny." 

I reached over to take out the switchblade. I couldn't do anything even if I wanted to. She would shoot me before I even get a chance to aim. So I tossed over the switchblade. "Why are you doing this?" 

"I have my reasons." She says. 

"Anna, let me help me you. I can get you out of whatever trouble you're in." I wanted to help her. I mean that. I don't think she would see it that way though.

"Help me?" She says raising her voice. "Micheal, I'm not what I used to be. That girl is buried six feet under and she isn't coming back. Look around you. I killed those men without hesitating. Tell me, is that something old Annabelle would do?" 

A flashback of her in our first apartment flashed before my eyes. Her laughing as she tried to make breakfast but failing miserably. 

Looking at her now, she looked so different. Her chestnut brown hair was now black. There was no warmth in her eyes. No sign of the girl I knew once. A part of me wonders if I am to blame.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask her almost scared to hear the answer.

"I have my reasons." 

"Who do you work for?" 

"No one." She was giving me nothing.

Sirens could be heard from far. "I would love to stay and chat Micheal but I am afraid I have to go." 

" Anna -" I couldn't finish what I was saying because a sharp pain caused me to scream. She had shot me in my shoulder. Blood was rushing out as I put my right hand over the wound trying to stop it from bleeding too much.  I looked up to see if she was still there. I wasn't surprised when she wasn't. I can hear my team coming toward me. It was too late. She was gone. At least for now.

***

 As I sat down at my desk, I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened today. I was back in my apartment all patched up. My shoulder still hurt but it was something I am used to. As an FBI agent, you tend to get shot at a lot. However, I never knew my ex girlfriend would be one to shoot me. 

Thinking back to when she and I were behind the alley, how is it that I never asked her right there and then how the hell she was still alive. Had she faked her death all those years ago? If so, why? How the fuck did she learn to fight like that? It was like as if she was trained to be an assassin. None of this was making sense. What was she even doing chasing after the same guys we were? 

I was starting to get a headache. With the little energy I had left in I turned on my laptop. I put her name in our FBI database for a background. Sure enough, it popped up. There was a picture of her. I remember it. It was from her driver's license. Matter of fact, I was there with her that day. We were running errands that entire day. She needed a new picture for her license and renew her card. She had her long chestnut  brown hair. Her light brown eyes full of light and warmth, something I didn't see tonight. She was smiling at the camera looking like an average 21 years old. 

Annabelle Marie Aguilar 

Born: Seattle, Washington. January 22, 1990.

Death: May 26, 2011 

Cause of Death: Suicide 

The rest of it showed her education, job history, credit card information etc. The only thing that caught my attention was the word suicide. 

I remember that day so vividly. I had gotten a call from our neighbor in hysterics saying I needed to come home as soon as possible. Anna wasn't breathing. There was pills laying there next to her and that she might have overdosed. Five days later, I was standing at her funeral. Friends and family were there. Her dad passed away couple yeas ago. It was just her mom. The woman couldn't even stand straight. Her eyes kept shedding tears for her baby girl. Anna had been an only child. It was just her and her mom. I left the service before it had even started. I never spoke to Mrs. Aguilar that day or the days after. A month later I was shipped off to Iraq for my second tour. After my third tour, my contract was done with the US Marines. I signed up to become an FBI agent after that. 

She wasn't Anna anymore. I don't know who she is now. 

Tonight's operation was just simple surveillance. The club downtown owned by Ari Zetrov was a front for smuggling weapons, drugs, and human trafficking. Ari Setrov, a Russian high profile criminal set up in New York City now controlling his shady empire. The FBI didn't have enough to go in there and bring the son of a bitch down. We needed hard evidence to put him away for good. I was never a patient guy but I knew this needed to be done right. Innocent girls lives were on the line. I couldn't risk it. 

One hour before I had caught Anna in that alley, she had raised hell in the club. She somehow managed to get in there, take down a bunch of guys heavily armed and trained, free the girls that were victims of Zetrov's human trafficking, get Ari alone and torture the bastard. When I had rushed in there Ari Zetrov was beaten to a pulp, handcuffed, with a hard drive hanging around his neck.  

I caught a glimpse of a girl running out the back door so I chased after her. I caught up with her in the alley only to see her fighting the four men out there like I've never seen before. She didn't miss a beat. When she turned around, I was shocked by the dead girl standing in front of me. She had knocked out the gun in my hand when I let the shock take over. The rest is history. 

I told my boss I would explain everything to him tomorrow and hand in the brief reports also.  I didn't know what I was doing or what I was going to do. I just knew I needed to see her again for answers. It wasn't going to be easy. I knew this was the beginning of something. I had just jumped into a rabbits hole.