The Way I Lie

Chapter 24

The girl in the basement
Christina McKenzie

The woman in their basement spits out blood as Christina punches her again. Chris shakes her hand and her knuckles which are already starting to tear from the previous punching.

" I'm coming back." Chris says as she takes another breath. " So you stay there." She barely says as she exhales. Dang that woman is stubborn, Chris thought to herself.

    Chris walks up the stairs to see Noah looking through the papers again. He's been non stop since they figured out Kay left about an hour ago. They don't know what she's up to, but no one ever does. Chris just hopes that Kay is okay. He glances up at her, then looks back at the papers.

" Still nothing on 'Edna' down there?" He asks grimly. Chris shakes her head, that Edna is one tough cookie.

" Did you notice anything weird when you first saw her? I'll take anything at this point." Christina asks.

" Besides her hair and the fact that she was kidnapping my kid sister, no I did not." Noah said sarcastically. Chris rolls her eyes. Her knuckles start to sting from the lack of skin protecting it. She opens and closes her fist.

" How are you not freaking out about all this? All this assassin spy stuff?" Chris asks Noah suddenly. He shrugs.

" Well, one, I knew your sisters wasn't a doctor, so she must've been someone doing something." Noah mumbles.

" Duh." Chris retorts. Noah glares at me.

" But the interrogation thing going down there, and the sneaking around, I've always been used to that." He mumbles. Chris arches her eyebrows, hoping that he will elaborate more. He sighs then continues on. His brown hair is in his face and not gelled up like usual. Seems like pretty boy, as Kay calls him, doesn't feel like looking pretty today.

" My dad got stuck with some dirty people on the streets. They had him wrapped around their finger. Growing up, we would always have them in our house, interrogating or torturing people. And when my dad left, they turn to me. So in order to protect my family and many others, I did my job. But 2 years ago, the crown caught them and they were done." He stayed silent but Chris thought of loosening the tension.

" On my first mission..." Chirs starts. He looks at me. Well, it's too late to back out now, Chris thought. She sighs and continues.

               " I was 13. I was taller than most girls and more mature so they sent me in. I had to trace this young man, he was a threat to the fellow neighborhood. He made bombs and gases and stuff like that." Noah just stares at her. It's kind of unnerving, so she moves her eyesight to the floor.

" A couple of days later, I got him in a corner and I had the shot. I didn't hesitate, he was going to kill hundreds. I shot him twice in the chest, once in the stomach. He died on impact. I walked up to him and he had a tattoo. It said his daughters name and..." She drifts off and looks back at Noah. She hates talking about her vulnerable moments. She takes pride in her work. At least sometimes.

" I wish you never got caught up in this. I would never wish this upon someone." Chris said. Noah smiles.

    " This became my life when Maggie got sick." He said but then his eyes go wide. He jumps from the barstool and grabs a picture on the table.