The Mind Virus

Chapter 12 - Part 2

The car was parked quite a distance away from Eddie's house, but she still had a good view of the residence from there. Now it was time to wait, though she didn't know for how long. On one hand, it might have been better to follow him as he left work, but that might attract too much attention. No, Harriett had a much better plan, but that meant waiting for him to come home.

The sun crawled across the sky as she waited, causing the shadows in the sleepy suburb to dance their purposeful dance. They reminded her of the last time she and Eddie had spoken. They had both left the military at around the same time, and this last meeting happened not long after that. They were sitting in a small cafe in Virginia. Eddie was talking about the future that he envisioned for them. He spoke of marriage and mortgages, and children and cheering at their football games or ballet recitals. His next move didn't surprise Harriett. He pulled out a ring and proposed to her. She had been silent throughout the exchange, but now it was her turn to speak. She told him it would never work out. She told him that they needed to go their separate ways. It was not for lack of love that she did so. She truly did love him more than anything in the world, but she knew her new career path would put a lot of strain on their life together, and she didn't want to put him through that. She could abandon her ambitions, but she felt that would only make her resentful toward him for missing out on the life she wanted. She explained it all to him, but he didn't take it well. He screamed and swore and thrashed before he was escorted out of the cafe by the staff. His last words to Harriett had been a litany of insults, but she didn't blame him for it, nor did she love him any less. She had to let him go for both their sakes, and that was all there was to it.

A guilty hand wiped away an escaped tear as she replayed their last moment together in her head. She cried not for the past, not for what she had done, but for what she would have to do now.

*

After what seemed like an eon of waiting, Eddie's car appeared. He pulled into his driveway, got out, and entered his house. He looked handsome still, even if the years and stresses of the job had weathered him a bit. Harriett waited a good few minutes to make sure he wasn't coming straight back out, and when she was sure that was the case, she got out her floppy beach hat and stepped out of her car. Pulling the hat down low over her face was a safety precaution. She wasn't sure whether Eddie would still recognize her – she wasn't quite sure Eddie would even remember her – but as she always did, she played it safe.

A surge of emotions once again ran through her as she walked up to the house, purse full of nefarious objects under her shoulder. She was half tempted to just go to his front door, knock on it, and be reunited once and for all. She could leave her job behind. Her bank account was fat enough that she could probably get by for a decade or two without working. In fact, if she was with Eddie, he could support her with his salary like he'd wanted to do all those many years ago. Harriett's ship had more than likely sailed as far as having kids was concerned, but that wasn't to say that they couldn't have a happy life together regardless. They could be a cozy family of two.

A labored sigh was the only response her body could muster to these thoughts. It was silly. There was no other life. This was what Harriett had become. This was who she was and who she would always be – a knife in the dark, a gun for hire. She didn't deserve a family, not with all the families she'd torn apart.

This was a poor time to get sentimental and an equally poor time to reflect on a life not well spent. Her many victims would have to take a back seat in her thoughts for a moment. She was standing on the sidewalk in front of Eddie's house. She walked up to his car while pulling out her wallet. Standing next to the red Chevy, she dropped her wallet onto the ground, and as she leaned down inconspicuously to pick it up, she took a small device out of her handbag and planted it on the undercarriage of Eddie's car near where her wallet fell. She grabbed her wallet with one smooth motion as she pulled her hand away from the car, put it back in her purse, and walked in the same direction she had been walking on the way to the house. Going around the block to get back to her car would be a bit of a trek, but the alternative was backtracking from the Chevy and looking really suspicious to any prying eyes that might have been on her.

She turned back to look wistfully once more at Eddie's house, imagining another life wherein she would be sharing it with her beloved. Oh, what could have been, she thought. No matter. The die has been cast.