The Tutor

Chapter 37

Marcus sat down across from Amy, Cora was on the couch resting her belly had swollen to epic proportions and everyone was wondering if it might be twins. Cora had allowed for the sonogram of course and the baby was healthy but that was all she wanted to know. She didn't ask if it was a boy or a girl or if there was more than one. She even made Marcus wear earplugs when they listened to the fetal heart rate. They didn't want any hints.

"Are you sure Amy?"

"I have to know Marcus, he has been in my life for six months now, I still only know that he likes to drink and he is an avid hunter, and he eats what he kills but beyond that, I don't know anything."

Marcus nodded.

"Besides I'm so in love with him at this point it wouldn't matter if..."

"Be very careful what you say there Amy, I know the man James as agent 44. He would go into an area in Iraq or Afghanistan, and well, when the troops would get there would be no one left to defend the village. I was on a few transports with him, I drove him near some locations. He would step out dressed like an Arab, no visible weapons except for a decorative belt knife. We would go back to pick him up a week later he would be sitting by a fire having tea or something.

You could drive through the town, the streets would be empty, you could smell the bodies though. Just flies, and the occasional camel or donkey wandering in the street. Most of the time the animals would run off though. We never stayed in those towns to look around. Occasionally he would have a prisoner, a man who would do anything to get away from him would tell you anything. When we delivered him to the CIA or Military Intelligence he would sing like a bird. Sometimes we would take him to the next town. Sometimes we wouldn't see him for months. He was in the convoy when we were attacked. I only saw him for a moment." Marcus took a long pull from his beer.

Amy wanted to ask a question but she also didn't want to interrupt Markus' story. She sipped her lemonade and listened as Marcus continued.

"We called in Air support, of course, Agent 44 did, anyway apparently he was a forward air controller, Puff started laying support before two A-10's flew in and obliterated the rest. He didn't pay any attention to the regular soldiers. He walked like he knew no one was going to hurt him. He would take a weapon from one and use it on another those who had survived. They were terrified of him. Though rumors or stories or whatever, they knew who he was and he just played their fears up by killing them, methodically one at a time. Never stopping never slowing never checking to make sure.

"You mean James is a killer?"

Markus took a swallow of beer again, and nodded, "He's far more than that"

"What do you mean?"

"He's the Angel of Death or was on the battlefield, I think mothers over there tell their children to be good or he will come in the night and kill their families."

"You can't be serious?"

"I can't tell you the true facts, I only know that they would turn him loose in a hostile area and suddenly that area would be very passive."

"Very passive?"

"There wasn't anyone left"

"Was he with the military at least?"

"I think he was at first, maybe a SEAL, Recon, Rangers, I don't know but he was very good, so good the intelligence community took notice and started using him for", he emoted finger quotes, "other things"

"But I mean he seems so gentle and kind?"

"He maybe, but I am pretty sure his mean streak scares world leaders."

"Thanks for telling me Marcus"

"Just don't go telling Cora, I don't need her having any more nightmares than she already has."

"Okay, I promise I won't," Amy said draining her glass.

She walked into the living room where Cora was resting, "Did you get the answers you wanted?"

"I got a story anyway Cora," Amy said smiling.

"A story sounds interesting coming from you," Cora said turning on her side to face Amy.

"Maybe someday, I'll share with you"

"I can't believe Marcus wouldn't let me hear"

"It's probably better that way"

Cora smirked, "stories about him drinking and chasing women"

"Yeah," Amy said, "Something like that, how long before your due?"

"The doctor says another three weeks"

"Wonderful"

"I made sure mom will call you when it's time"

"I can't wait!"

Amy gave her friend a parting hug and left for her new apartment. It wasn't as nice as her condo but that was okay she wasn't planning on living there that long. She worried about James, was he a monster like Marcus had said or was he the man she knew and loved. She dropped her keys on the table. She made tea and dropped some cubes of sugar into it stirring it silently with a spoon.

She hoped that Marcus was wrong about James, but then there were the men who came after her. Those men had meant to kill her. James had been calm, he had set her on a horse and made her run away. Because he couldn't handle them as she had thought or because he didn't want her to see what he was about to do. She knew that the men had fully cooperated with the police. She hadn't heard any complaints about their treatment, but it could be that they were too scared to say anything. Was that it? She sipped at her tea. The thought that James could have killed, killed entire villages, cities worth of people, frightened her, more frightening than the anger she knew he carried. Was it anger, now that she thought about it, or was it some self-imposed penance for what he had done? Is that why he lived the way he lived. Denied himself life because of what he had done? He was doing his job, that was a job, horrible though it was and he deserved forgiveness for that job. She had read the forgiveness was greater than revenge, that love was greater than hate and damn if she didn't love him. She just had to convince him that he was worth loving.