Winter's Daughter

Chapter 1

It was a quiet night in Roanoke Virginia. Summer had just settled in the small town. Mark and Julia Roberts, a couple married for seven years with a six year old daughter, lived happily in the rural part of the Blue Ridge area.

"Vic, come in for dinner!"

Victoria, who was in the yard catching fireflies, ran inside at the sound of her mother calling. She slipped into her chair in a hurry causing her to slip and fall out of her chair.

"I'm okay!" The little girl said standing back up and sitting back down securely.

Mark set the plate of fresh baked chicken and gave everyone their desired piece. The couple watched the young girl dig into her chicken in mere seconds.

After forty minutes of eating as a family, Vic excused herself to bathe. Her parents watched her go off and once she was out of sight, they sat out on their front porch.

Unbeknownst to them, this was the last night they would be together.

After the little girl came outside, she jumped on Mark's lap and hugged him.

"It's almost seven. We should go inside." He said hugging  the little girl. Julia nodded and stood but listened quietly for a moment.

"Mark, there's someone here." The woman's voice was quiet and her face went pale as she looked at her husband with fear.

Mark stood up slowly and set the little girl down and bent down to hug her. "Go inside and hide anywhere you can. Don't come out."
He hid his fear from his daughter and kissed her forehead.

Victoria nodded and went inside the house. She deemed the closet as a good hiding place.

Heavy footsteps pounded against the wooden porch and stopped in front of the couple.

"Hello Mark. Julia. Good to see you again." The mans face showed a sick smile and his voice was low.

"Jason." Mark said standing in front of his wife protectively. "What do you want from us."

Jason held his smile and shoved his hands in his pockets. "You see Mark, when you left your cozy little office in the Pentagon, you came across some information. I'll be needing that back."

Mark narrowed his gaze at his colleague. "It should be at the Pentagon. I didn't take anything with me when I left."

"Why don't we take this inside? The air is starting to chill now that the sun has set." Julia directed Jason into their home.

Mark followed behind them and noted the dangerous gleam in Jason's eyes. He began to think of ways to get his wife and child out of the house safely in case things went south.

"Jason, can I get you anything? Coffee? Lemonade?" Julia asked politely, feeling a sense of dread in her chest.

"Coffee would be great. Just black if you would." Jason nodded and sat down in an armchair that was only a few feet away from the closet the little girl was hiding in.

Julia gave Jason the cup of coffee and sat next to her husband on the couch diagonal from where the visitor was sitting.

"Now, Mr. Roberts." He took a sip from his cup before placing it on the coffee table in front of him. "That information is extremely valuable and you were the last person seen with it. I suggest handing it over before I'm forced to do anything rash."

"Jason, I've already told you, I don't have any information on Shield or Hydra. That wasn't a department I worked in."

Jason laughed lightly and slipped a hand into his jackets interior pocket. He gripped a snub-nose pistol and waited for the right time to show it.

"You were seen with it. As you walked out of the building. You might not work for us anymore, but you certainly aren't cleared from our database. I suggest you hand it over."

Mark shook his head and put his hands in the air. "Alright, I'll look through my things." He said standing up and going to the staircase.

Jason saw this as the perfect opportunity. His aim rested on Mark and his smile faltered. "You'll take me to your things and I can look for it myself."

Julia watched with wide eyes as her husband was led up the stairs at gunpoint. A few minutes later the two men came back down. Jason has papers in his hands and Mark looked at Julia with fear.

"Now that that's been settled," Jason turned and fired his pistol at Mark, hitting him in the chest, killing him instantly. Julia screamed and ran into the kitchen to grab a knife to protect herself. Jason fired off another shot and hit her in the back.

From her place in the closet, Victoria heard everything. Footsteps filled her ears and she saw a shadow approach the door.

"Hello in there," Jason said as he opened the door, ruining the child's hiding place.

Victoria looked up at the man, unsure of what to do. "Where's Mommy and Daddy?"

Jason smiled at the little girl and knelt down to her level. "Taking a nap. They wanted me to take care of you. My name is Jason Gray. I'm a friend of your Dad's. What's your name?"

The little girl perked up when she heard that he was a friend of her fathers. "I'm Victoria. Mommy and Daddy call me Vic."

Jason grinned at the child. "Can I call you Vic?"

"Uh huh." She nodded and walked over to him.

"What do you say we get some Ice Cream?" Jason asked, pleased that he was able to gain the little girls trust easily.

"Please?"

"Of course." He smiled and led her out of the house.
A group of men had filed around the outside and looked at him for an order.

"Burn it." He said after he hefted the girl into his car.

One man nodded and tossed a grenade into the house after two other men doused the house in oil. Jason drove away before it went off, and the men trailed behind him.

As the explosion site faded behind them, Victoria sat innocently in the car. She didn't know about what had happened. She didn't know that she had been orphaned.

She didn't know that this was the beginning of a fate worse than death.