The 5th Cycle

Chapter 1

“Jordan. Is that you?”

I put 2 shots in the wall where I thought Katie was hiding.

“That must be you. 4 lifetimes and you still can’t shoot for shit.”

I dropped the spent mag from my Browning High Power and slammed home another. The room was dark, almost pitch black and the air smelled of gunpowder. I could barely see my hand in front of me. I closed my eyes and listened closely. I could hear the sound of my heart pumping. I could hear the neighbor’s dog barking. What I couldn’t hear was movement or the sound of backup arriving. Cops never show up when you need them. If I could just hold out for a little longer, I could end this with some help. I wasn’t going to make it though. I was losing too much blood. That crazy bitch must have hit an artery in our scuffle. If I had my way, I was taking her with me.

“Jordan. You still with me?” She yelled from out of sight.

Again I fired at the wall. This time I heard a quiet groan and something metal hit the floor.

“That. Hurt.” Katie almost whispered between labored breaths.

I flipped on the barrel-mounted light of my Browning and peeked around the corner of the kitchen island. I swept the light across the entryway to the foyer and stopped on a bloody knife. My legs almost gave out as I struggled to stand up. I started to limp toward the entryway. I almost slipped in a pool of my blood. This was bad. As I got closer, I saw a trail of blood coming toward me.

With my gun lifted, I rounded the corner. There she was, slumped over like a sack of potatoes. Katie Speegle, the most elusive serial killer to ever walk the earth. She was wheezing as she stared up at me. I stared right back into those eyes. Eyes that had seen so much death. If there was a soul in there, it wasn’t showing itself today.

“I. Guess. You. Win. This. Round.” She said.

“I’ll. Get. You. Next.”

She never got to finish that sentence. She had stopped breathing. I dropped down beside her and began CPR. Where the hell were the cops? I needed her alive damnit! I continued compressions for as long as I could. Eventually, I began to feel lightheaded. I hit the floor right in front of her. I stared into those dead eyes of hers, hating her for getting away again. I had given her another chance. That’s why the last thing I saw was the smile stuck on her face.

Chapter 2

When I woke up I could feel the smooth skin of someone’s legs touching mine and someone else’s head resting on my right arm. The room was dimly lit by the moonlight streaming through the wall-sized window. I could just make out the 2 women in my bed. The memory of the previous night was slipping away like a dream half-remembered.

Without disturbing the 2 women, I slowly climbed out of bed to find my cell phone. I walked over to the bathroom of the hotel room and closed the door. I took a moment to check out the new body I would have to get used to. I was a man again. I hated being a man.

I dialed the familiar phone number for headquarters. It’s not like they could change it. A machine picked up and I spoke.

“Jones, Jordan. 8675309. Awake.”

“Please hold” The machine replied.

I waited a few minutes before a female voice picked up.

“Welcome back Ms. Jones. It has been 18 years, 9 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 9 hrs, and 46 minutes since your death. Please confirm the details of your most recent demise.

“Stabbed and bled to death waiting on the locals to arrive.”

“What city?” She asked in a practiced polite voice.

“Lawrence, Kansas”

“Who brought upon your early demise?”

“Katie fucking Speegle” I growled, remembering the details like it was yesterday.

“Thank you. Identity confirmed. Are you ready for extraction?”

“Affirmative”

“Please provide demographics for your current identity.”

“Newton, Francis. African-American Male, 18 years of age. 6'2 240 lbs. Oakland, California. 241 Tunis Rd. Lives with his father. Mother is deceased. No siblings.”

“Copy that. Extraction will be in 12 hours. That’s 1600 hours on June 17, 2032. The location is the Coliseum Bart Station. Please confirm.”

“Confirmed. Coliseum Bart Station in 12 hours”

I looked at my wrist and realized I didn’t have a watch on. Every man should have a few good watches. Even I had picked that up.

I opened the clock on my phone and set a timer for 11 hours. I was still naked, so I turned off the light and went back into the main room. The women were still asleep, sprawled out on the king-sized bed. I searched for my clothes in the dark, got dressed, and left.

Oakland was a beautiful city again. A lot must’ve happened since I died. I got an Uber home. I sorted through my memories on the way. As Francis, I had a full-ride scholarship to Florida State. I was going to major in Marine Biology and my father was very involved in my life.

Cutting ties with previous loved ones was often ugly. Protocol states that I would have to disappear and make contact later with a cover story provided by the company. They had a whole department dedicated to extracting agents from their new identity’s lives. Protocol was stupid and often left the loved ones with more questions than answers.

I made it home and grabbed a few things. Unfortunately, my father wasn’t there. I guess this was going to be an easy extraction. I decided to send him an email. Francis knew how to send an email that would erase itself after being opened. I could at least say goodbye and give his father a little closure.

When I was finished I had time to waste, so I continued sorting through my recent memories. Reincarnates remember everything from every life they have lived. It’s taxing on the brain, but you get used to it.

I arrived with 15 minutes left. The Bart Station was large and I had no specific pick-up point, so I waited. At 1559 hours my cellphone beeped with a new text message.

“Walk to the Amtrak station pick-up area.”

I started walking. When I arrived a black Mercedes-Benz S-Class was waiting. As I approached the driver exited the vehicle and came around to open the rear passenger door. I thanked him as I got in. A Caucasian woman was sitting behind the driver. Curly red hair pulled back in a ponytail and a business suit. She wore wire-rimmed glasses and had the most gorgeous green eyes.

She handed me a tablet and asked me to place my right hand on it. I did as requested and my fingerprints were scanned. I did the same for the left hand. While my identity was searched through every database known to man, we spoke.

“My name is Merida. Make a joke about that Disney movie princess and you will have to cycle through again. I will be your handler should you prove to be who you claim you are. You will go before the verification board and answer questions about your known previous lives. Should you pass this test you will move on to re-education. A lot has changed in your absence. Do you have any questions?”

“Has she shown up on the grid yet?”

“I’m assuming you’re referring to your last assignment. As you should well know, I am not at liberty to discuss company business with you until you have passed the verification process. Any other questions?”

“Wake me when we get there,” I said as I faced forward and closed my eyes.

I can’t say exactly where our HQ is, but I can say that it required a flight or two. When we arrived I was escorted to the verification room. I guess it’s supposed to be intimidating to those trying to lie their way in. There’s a raised platform where the board members sit and stare down at you.

I spent the next few hours answering questions about my past lives and missions. Everything was recorded, so the process of verification didn’t take long. They ask a question and immediately know if your answer is accurate. In the early years, this process took days sometimes weeks. Everything was analog. They had to have sleep rooms for those waiting to be verified.

When they are done questioning you they say nothing. You are told to exit the room and wait for your handler. Merida was waiting for me outside.

“You passed. Report to the marking room.”

“And from there?”

“From there you will report to building C. Your apartment there is waiting.”

I did as instructed. The Marking Room is a fancy name for a “tattoo parlor.” Every agent of the company is marked on their left-hand palm, just beneath the thumb. Rumor has it the marking is supposed to be the Tree of Life. You know, from the Garden of Eden. To me, it’s just a tree.

I got my marking and made my way across campus. The campus sits on about 15,000 acres. That’s just the living quarters, training facilities, and office space. Those 15,000 acres are on a private island in the middle of the ocean. There are research facilities, labs, and who knows what, on the other side of the island. I’ve never met anyone with clearance to go there. I know some of the research they do is what makes our work possible. No one knows why some people remember and others don’t. We aren’t even sure that everyone is a reincarnation.

I made it to my apartment. Because of the nature of our work, agents’ rooms are locked by electronic security measures. No keys or anything like that. You have to pass a test that you set up. A hologram of my former self popped up as I got within range of the proximity sensors. This wasn’t here before. It used to be a tablet.

“Hello, Jordan. In your 2nd cycle, who was your 1st crush?”

“Leslie Finkler” I responded.

“Correct. Why didn’t you pursue her?”

“Same-sex and interracial dating was taboo at the time.”

“Correct. Welcome home Jordan.”

I entered my studio apartment. It was only lit by the light above the stove. Everything looked the same as it had almost 19 years ago when I left. A few appliances had been upgraded, including a new TV. It wasn’t a big space, but it was mine.

I was starving, so I went straight for the fridge. As always, it had been stocked. I grabbed a few ingredients and got to work. Before I worked for the company, I was a Chef in a past life. So naturally, I kept up with my skills in each life. The meal I made was simple but delicious. Medium Rare Porterhouse steak in a red wine reduction, with a side of roasted potatoes and asparagus.

After my meal, I went into my bathroom and took a much-needed shower. When I got out, I unpacked my things. Two photos from this life and the revolver. In each cycle, I always kept 2 photos. One of the walls in my room was nothing but these photos and paintings. Yes paintings, I’m that old. I may have only been with the company for 4 cycles, but I’d been reincarnated about 16 times before that.

Now in my last cycle, each agent was given a tablet. This tablet was the company’s way of contacting you. Where my tablet usually sat, there was a metal bracelet. I slipped it on my left wrist. A voice came from the bracelet.

“Please identify yourself.”

“Jones, Jordan. 8675309.”

“Identity confirmed.”

A holographic screen appeared on my forearm. The screen showing was the company database login. My name and password populated automatically. A new home screen came up. The schedule, mission details, and search are all that showed on the page. Since I currently had not been assigned a mission, I clicked on schedule. As promised by Merida, I was scheduled for re-education tomorrow at 0600. Luckily, being a military brat meant I was used to waking up at zero dark stupid.

I left the schedule and hit the search bar. I typed in her name. Her previous picture showed. Underneath it, the word “Deceased” showed in bright green words.

I clicked on a tab that said “recent activity”. There was a photo I didn’t recognize. I read the information beneath it.

Jones, Jordan

Age: 19

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Sex: Male

Height: 6'5" Weight: 235 lbs

Status: Unknown

The suspect’s name and activities suggest this is the reincarnation of known serial killer Speegle, Katie. 2 victims have been found dead in the same manner as Speegle’s previous kills. Jones was seen on CCTV within 10 miles of both bodies. Court documents confirm that on his 18th birthday Stevenson, Jeffery, changed his name to Jones, Jordan. Current evidence is circumstantial and therefore insufficient to assign an agent.

I searched for the victims that were found. 1 was within the last 6 months, but the other was almost 2 years ago. That means she had woken up long before me. Which also meant there are likely more victims that have yet to be found. She always started like this. Leave a few in obvious places to be found, to draw me out. Once she knew I was back in the chase, the trail would go cold. She was good at hiding her tracks, but she was a creature of habit. She always killed in the same cities. That’s how I always found her. Sadly, many victims of hers are never found. The number of actual murders she committed, only she knew.

I didn’t know everything this bracelet could do and I needed to contact Merida. So of course I just tried talking to it.

“Contact Merida.”

“How would you like to contact Handler Merida McGoldrick? Call, text, or email?”

“Text.”

“What would you like the text to say.”

“I need to be reinstated immediately. Re-education will have to wait.”

“Do you want to send the message?”

“Yes.”

“Message sent.”

I sat there and waited for a response. It was 20 minutes before I got anything.

“All requests for reinstatement have to be cleared by corporate. Would you like me to put in a request on your behalf?”

“Respond to text. Yes, put in a request immediately. Send.”

30 seconds went by and I got a response.

“What is your reason for immediate reinstatement?”

“Respond to text. I know how to find Katie Speegle. The sooner I get on the case, the sooner she is caught. Send.”

The response came back a few minutes later.

“Request sent. I will contact you when I have an answer.”

It was getting late and it had been a long day. So I set my alarm and went to bed. My alarm went off at 0330 hours. I checked my comm bracelet but there was no new notification.

I got out of bed and began my morning routine. When it was time to leave I still had no notification. Corporate ran 24/7 with satellite offices around the world, someone always had to be home. With nothing to stop me from going. I headed to the re-education center.

Chapter 3

Re-education is just a pretty way of saying “shits changed since you died. Here’s what’s new.” I reported to the instructor and took my assigned seat. We went over the new technology that had come out in recent years. Discussed new weaponry and tactics. Listened to a few current agents discussing the pros and cons of modern tools of the trade.

As we were preparing to go to the firing range, I noticed Merida signaling the instructor. He got up from his desk and slowly walked over to her. Merida spoke and pointed at me. The instructor signaled for me to come over. I did as instructed. Merida spoke first.

“Your request for immediate reinstatement has been granted. We are to report to briefing room 13, immediately.”

Without another word, she turned and walked off. I said goodbye to my instructor and followed her. When I caught up, she spoke again.

“This is unorthodox and unsafe. Agents must go through re-education before being put back into the field. What is so special about this case?”

“She was 1 of us. Passed all the entrance exams, with flying colors. After graduating top of her class, she dropped the facade and killed the verification board. All 5 of them.”

Merida stopped walking. She turned around and stared at me with an awestruck look.

“I thought that was just a myth. There’s nothing in the records about this. Why do you know about it?”

“Because she’s my sister.”

Merida let out a gasp. I looked at her face and couldn’t hold it anymore. I started cracking up laughing.

“I’m just messing with you. Lighten up, Merida. You’re more serious and stoic than I am and that’s saying a lot.”

Her face turned red and she had balled her fist up at her sides. With a raised voice, she expressed how she felt about my little joke. Eventually, she calmed down and asked again.

“Why is this case so special.?”

“She’s killed more people than any known serial killer and she keeps getting away. It’s like she knows when we’re closing in on her and she just resets. My last cycle was the closest I’d gotten to capturing her.”

We continued walking in silence. When we arrived at the briefing room there was a short stocky man in a tailored blue suit, waiting for us. We both stepped in and closed the door. There was a small table in the room, with 2 chairs on this side and 1 on the other. I grabbed a chair, took it to the other side of the table, and sat down. Merida came around and sat next to me. The man looked at us both with an unpleasant gaze, before speaking.

“My name is Bryan Griffith. I am with the U.S. Marshal Service. I am part of an international task force burdened with capturing the fugitive known as Katie Speegle.”

“Let me cut you off there Mr. Griffith,” I said as I leaned forward in my seat.

“I have been chasing Katie for 4 cycles. I know all her tricks, her habits, the places she likes to frequent, the food she likes to eat, pretty much everything there is to know about this woman.”

“Yet you haven’t been able to catch her.” He said, now cutting me off.

“You made a request for immediate reinstatement and with that comes 1 string. Me.”

He let that sit in the air for a moment. Bringing people in who didn’t, couldn’t understand reincarnates, was never a smart move. The fact that he was here almost 12 hours after my request was submitted, told me that corporate had signed off on this.

“So what you’re telling me is that you’re going to be following me around for the foreseeable future?”

“I’ll be your partner, Ms. Jordan.”

I looked over at Merida who hadn’t said a word since we got in the room. Whatever she was feeling, didn’t show on her face. I turned back toward Bryan.

“I don’t have time to explain all the ways this could go wrong, but I will say this. If you choose to follow me, you do what I say, when I say it. Let there be no misgivings about whom is in charge. Do you understand?”

He simply nodded. I turned back toward Merida.

“I hope you’re ready for this handler. While we are in the air, I need you to read up on my previous attempts at catching her. Ensure you read my mission notes, not those of my previous handlers. If you have any questions about this last cycle, you know how to reach me. Please get clearance for a flight. I’ll also need my weapons.”

“Your weapons will be waiting for you on the plane. Where should I tell them you’re heading?”

“Lawrence, Kansas.”

Chapter 4

The jet was prepped and ready to go when I got there. I grabbed a seat across from Bryan and made myself comfortable. A Stewardess brought a large case over to me and set it on the table. I opened it to find my Browning High Power, 3 mags, and a concealed carry holster. I checked over the familiar weapon and made sure it was in working order. Once satisfied, I closed the case and looked at Bryan.

“Why Kansas?” He asked.

“It’s the last place she died, which means it’s the first place she killed. Her first victim was a local. The 2nd lived about 20 miles outside of town. If we are going to find her, that’s the best place to start.”

I spent the rest of the flight briefing him on Speegle and my many attempts at capturing her. By the time we landed, he knew as much as was needed for him to be effective in this manhunt.

It was a little after midnight when we landed at Lawrence Municipal. We rented a car and headed out. On the way, I called Merida.

“You’re on speaker. What can you tell us?”

“She had all of her funds transferred to her new identity, about a month ago”. Merida told me.

“Are you able to track the new account?”

“Yes. She used her credit card as recently as 3 days ago, out in Topeka.”

“Anything else of note in her finances?”

“She purchased a house. A few weeks ago she bought a house in Lawrence. Sending you the address.”

“I don’t need it.”

I stepped on the gas.

“Where are we going?”

“The only place in this city she would bother buying is someplace with sentimental value.”

“Where exactly is that and why are you so sure?”

“It’s the last place she died. The place we both died. Owning it would be like getting a trophy.”

The house was dark when we arrived. The was no car in the driveway. There were windows on the garage door and I was able to see in. No vehicle there either. As a matter of fact, it was empty. I walked up onto the porch. The curtains on the front window were open. I looked in and saw that the house was empty as well. Figuring she wasn’t here, I began to pick the lock.

“Murderer or not, you can’t just break into someone’s home. You need a warrant.”

“No Deputy Marshal, you need a warrant. I just need to catch her. I thought you knew how this worked.”

He said nothing else as I continued. I finally got both locks picked and we entered. It was strange standing in a place you know you had died. Kinda like standing on your own grave. There was no grave for me though. Agent’s bodies are retrieved and destroyed. Their belongings were sent back to HQ.

We began a search of the house. As we were searching, I noticed cameras spread throughout the house.

“She’s watching us”. I said to Bryan

Before he could respond, a male voice spoke from one of the cameras.

“Jordan. Is that you?”

I kept silent. I signaled Bryan to keep searching. If she was here, we needed to find her before she had time to run.

“Oh yes, that’s you. I would know that stoic look on your face anywhere. Not to mention the body language. So many lifetimes and you still move the same. You’ve really got to change that up.”

Bryan had finished searching and gave me the all-clear.

“Of course, I’m not there. I knew you would come. I didn’t know you would bring a friend. The company doesn’t think you can do this on your own? Can’t say that I blame them. It’s only been 4 lifetimes. Maybe the 5th times the charm.”

“Why don’t you make this easy for all of us and give yourself up?” Bryan asked.

“Hush child. The adults are talking.” Katie retorted.

“Where are you, Katie? Let’s just skip to the part where I track you down and we fight it out. I promise not to shoot you this time.”

Bryan leaned closer to me and whispered.

“I’ve seen your past qualification runs. 4 lifetimes and you still can’t shoot for shit. How is that?”

A chill ran down my spine and my heart started pounding in my ears. I took in a slow deep breath to calm myself. What I was thinking was impossible. I went back to concentrating on our invisible audience of 1.

“I’m going to find you, Katie. I always do.”

“Not until I want you to.” She replied.

I said nothing else, but turned around and walked out of the house. She wasn’t here and probably wasn’t even in the same state, let alone this city. We would have to wait for another clue to pop up. For now, we would return to the island.

Chapter 5

On the flight back, Bryan asked more questions about my past dealings with Katie. This time though, the questions were more personal. It kinda put me on edge. No one had asked me things like this before and I didn’t like it.

“So how does it feel to have the same person get away so many times?”

“How would you feel if your fugitive got away repeatedly?”

“I’d feel like shit. Especially if they killed so many people afterward. Do you know how many she’s killed?”

“No one knows but her. We have a rough estimate, but as I said before, those are just the ones she wanted found.”

“How is it she keeps outsmarting you and your company? Not to mention the countless law enforcement agencies.”

“She’s old and clever. She had centuries to perfect her craft before she was even noticed.”

“I read that she killed someone close to you. A brother from one of your past lives right?”

Again a chill had gone down my spine. I hadn’t told the company that. Only 2 people in the world knew that. Katie and me. It still didn’t make sense though. Katie died that night. I watched the life leave her eyes and now was chasing her yet again. The company must’ve done more research on me than I realized.

“Yes. She killed my brother. That’s why I joined the company.”

“Is that why you’ve killed her so many times, instead of capture?”

“If you think I would let my need for revenge get in the way of my job, you have misjudged me! Each time she gets away, she kills more people. I wouldn’t sacrifice them just so I could kill her over and over. What’s in store for her is much worse than death.”

“My apologies. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

We sat in silence for a little while. I turned on my bracelet and sent a message to Merida.

“You said that what’s in store for her is worse than death. What do you do with the people you capture?”

“We put them on ice. They are preserved perfectly. As long as the life support system continues to work, they will survive indefinitely. Never dying, never to be reincarnated again. A true death for someone like me.”

Bryan’s face paled for a brief moment, then it was back to normal. He didn’t speak again for a bit.

About an hour before landing, my bracelet chimed with a message from Merida. As I read it, my heart rate jumped up and my mind started racing. Bryan was sitting across from me staring out the window. I slowly started to reach for my Browning.

“What gave me away?” Katie asked as I pointed my gun at her chest.

“The company doesn’t know that you killed my brother. If they had, they wouldn’t have put me on your case. How did you survive?”

“You saved me. Your last act was to perform CPR on me. Shortly after you died, the cops arrived with an ambulance. An emergency surgery or 2 later and I was on my way to recovery.”

“The cops knew you were a murderer. Their hire-ups would know to call the company. How did you avoid capture?”

“By being smarter than the cops of course. It’s not hard. I pretended to be worse off than I was, so they kept me in the hospital. I got lucky with one of my nurses, she was a fan of my work. She told me how to fool the monitors to make it look like I was getting worse. I waited for an opportune moment and killed the cop on my detail. After that, I was home free.”

“But you’re a Marshal and you look completely different. None of this makes sense.”

“It’s called surgery, Jordan. As for the Marshals, well I needed to lay low until you got back. That got boring real quick, but I knew I couldn’t kill in the same manner as before. So I became a killer of killers. I caught enough people to stay off the radar, but a few of my cases are still open. The suspects have been hard to find.” She had a smile on her face for that last part. She was enjoying this.

“What about the kid pretending to be the new you?”

“A young copycat who was nudged in the right direction. Give him access to a few bank accounts in my name and I knew you’d come. The hard part was arranging to be teamed up with you.

“Well, now you’re caught. You got too cocky, thinking you could fool me.”

“I did fool you Jordan. You and your entire company.”

“And where has that gotten you? Stuck on a plane with me, headed for your imprisonment. Great plan.”

“Oh, it’s cute that you think I’m going to your little prison. See, I know that you aren’t going to shoot me. If you do, you risk me dying, again. Not to mention the lives of the crew”.

She had a point, I had to take her in alive. I holstered the gun and lunged at her. She dove from the seat onto the floor and popped back up. She faced me, a smile on her face. Her shoulders were low and her hands hung loosely at her side. She had a faint smile on her face.

“You know, in all the encounters we’ve had, I can only remember 1 that ended in hand-to-hand combat. If I remember correctly, we both died. From the same knife, I might add. Let’s see who wins this time. We can leave the knives out of it.”

She pulled a pocket knife out of her left pants pocket. Then another from a sheath on her left ankle.

“Is that all of them?” I asked.

“You’ll pay to find out.”

Then, she attacked. Now, I’ve been around for a long time. I’ve studied and mastered several forms of hand-to-hand combat. The problem is, a lot of that relies on muscle memory. Being in a new body makes muscle memory impossible.

The first strike was at my head. I used my right hand to block it and jabbed at her with my left. She dodged and stepped in closer. She grabbed me by the shirt and swung me around, into the cabin wall.

The commotion got the attention of the stewardess. She came out of the rear room to see what was going on. She took a look around the cabin and realized there had been a struggle. Katie started moving toward her. I grabbed Katie’s legs and she toppled to the floor. As we wrestled on the ground, the stewardess kept standing there.

“Lock yourself in the back!” I yelled as I continued to struggle with Katie.

The stewardess jumped when I yelled at her. It took her a moment to register what I said. Once she did, she ran in the back and closed the door.

I managed to get on top of Katie. I pinned her left arm down with my right and did my best to hit her in the head. She blocked most of my strikes, but enough got through to hurt her. I was sweating and my limbs were getting heavy. My breathing was fast and shallow. Katie saw an opportunity and bucked me off of her.

I rolled to the side and stood up as quickly as I could. Katie was already up on her feet and in a fighting stance. She didn’t give me the chance to get my bearings. 2 punches to the head and a knee to my inner thigh, brought me down to one knee. She tried to knee me in the face but I was able to block it and land a counterpunch to her pelvis. She didn’t seem to feel it and doubled her efforts. She landed a few body shots as I stood back up. I tried to take a few steps back but she closed the gap quickly. All I could do was block and hope she started to fatigue. I had no such luck though. She continued to methodically tear me apart.

After a few minutes of doing her best to beat me to death, there was a break in the onslaught. I was on the floor, leaning up against the cabin wall. It hurt to breathe. Katie stood a few feet away, barely sweating. She pulled out a knife. I knew it was over for me. I was about to die. Again.

“You said we would leave the knives out of it”.

“You know, it’s too bad you figured me out so fast. We could’ve had some real fun before I killed you.” She said as if I hadn’t just spoken.

“You can always let me live and we do this another day.”

“And get trapped wherever it is we’re going? I think I’ll pass.”

My mind started to race. How was I going to get out of this? I didn’t fear death because there was no true death for me. What I feared was her being left to do as she pleased. Sure the company would send someone else to find her, but that never worked out. She always gave the other agents the slip or just killed them. For reasons unknown to me, she liked dragging things out when I was on the case. She loved the chase.

She took a step toward me and then I remembered. My browning high power cleared my holster just as she bent down to end my life. 5 rounds hit center mass and Katie’s body fell on top of me.

“You promised”. Katie said.

At the same time, the oxygen mask dropped from the ceiling and the plane lurched to the right. A few of the rounds had passed through her. I pushed her off of me and immediately checked her pulse. She was dead. I didn’t bother trying to save her life this time. I would just have to try again.

I got up off the floor, sat in a seat, and put an oxygen mask on. The captain’s voice came from the overhead speakers, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I felt the plane level out as we started to descend.

Several hours and another plane later, we were back at HQ. Merida met me at the runway and debriefed me as I was transported to the infirmary. I would have to make an official report as soon as I was cleared by the doc. I was checked out and put up in a room. I had a severe concussion, a few broken ribs, and lots of bruising. They hooked me up to an IV and pumped me full of meds. I remember thinking, less than 48 hours back on the job and Katie had gotten away yet again. It made me angry, but there was nothing I could do to change it. Maybe the 6th time would be the charm.