“Take this knife. And this gun. Whatever you need.” Shawn rolled his chair back to his desk. “How many jobs do I have this month?” Mackenzie huffed and buried both the instruments into her purse.
“Not enough.” He rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Ever since Regis quit I’ve had too many job offers to keep up.” “Quit? You mean arrested.” “Same thing.” “I don’t feel right about murders, Shawn. I don’t want to get caught doing the dirty work.” “Oh, you liked being a secretary better? I’ll give you another raise then.” “I didn’t even know what I was getting into when I took this job.” “Well too bad. You’re in it now.” Shawn shoved her away. “Oh, just get out of here.” “But where’s my assignment?” “Here.” He slipped her a folder. “There’s a picture of the target inside. I’ve included instructions for how to take him out as well. I have too much on my plate right now to do it. He’s a threat to our main contact and he needs to be shut up. Forever.” She opened the folder to reveal a packet of scribblings and grabbed the picture. She softly stroked the edges in her hand. “I wonder if he has a family,” she said. “Who cares? Kill them too,” he snapped. She gasped and Shawn softened his tone.“Okay, you don’t have to do more jobs than necessary. Make sure he’s gone by tonight, okay? I’ll meet you at Panera tomorrow for our next mission. I’m using the code Ta-71. ” Their job was so undercover but they sometimes had to meet in broad daylight. Less suspicion, less scrutiny. Even though she was young, Mackenzie brought a lot to the table in this business with her foreign language college degree. From a real college, unlike the other agents. When she graduated from Harvard she was so excited to join a spy agency but didn’t know it was to spy against America and to plot attacks. At least this job had some adventure to spice up her otherwise boring life. Later she again regretted accepting this job when her fingers clicked open the American man’s door, sliding in with her knife. Spotting his sandy hair peeking above the couch, she reluctantly tried to make herself do the job she had been sent to do. Conniving against this powerful country was something not just anyone could accomplish, Shawn had said. He had yelled at her that killing this man would finally redeem her of all her previous failures. She noticed the cold gleam of her knife and sadly imagined slicing it through his veins. She sneaked toward the couch which would later be ruined with blood. A shame though. It was a nice couch. “Rosie? Is that you?” A rugged voice smoothed her soul. She gasped. He was awake? The agency usually killed sleeping victims. Who weren’t as cute, she realized as he turned around. Her fingers curled around the knife and tried to blend it into her belt. She’d say it was a new fashion item. The man stood up in greeting. “Hi, I’m sorry I missed your knock. It’s okay that you came in. I just thought you were someone else.” He almost choked on his voice. Ignoring the fact she had just broken into his house, she almost reached out a hand to comfort him but flinched back when she realized what she was doing. “Um are you okay? Where’s Rosie?” “Well, Rosie was my wife. She’s passed on. I’m sorry, you just look a lot like her.” “Oh no, I’m Mackenzie.” She flinched as she realized she had said her real name. “I’m here for a.. Another reason.” She stepped forward for the kill. But then he held out his hand. Mackenzie looked at it in shock. “Nice to meet you. I’m Drew.” the man smiled. “Never seen a handshake before?” She struggled to remember which hand held the knife. She clumsily took his hand in hers. The sensation of nerves shot into her heart, or was that something else? She had a warm feeling she hadn’t had in months ever since she had visited her grandma, whom the agency had killed shortly after. They hadn’t wanted her to make close friends, since half of them were on the hit list. She grimaced in remembrance. “Sorry if I make you nervous. I haven’t met a pretty girl in months. I usually stay in my house, you know.” “Oh really?” In a fluster of newfound emotions, Mackenzie tried to remember how to make a conversation with a guy. “ I know, I’ve been so grumpy lately I haven’t even returned my library books. Is that why you’re here? I probably left my door open when I fell asleep reading. I’m sorry.” He held up his book and grinned. “My best friends are books honestly..” “Great Expectations? That’s my favorite!” Mackenzie smiled. “And yes, I’m the… librarian. It’s okay, I’ll let it go for now.” She turned the corners up her mouth and hoped it was a smile. She hadn’t done that in months. “Great, I thought you were coming to threaten me with murder or something,” he joked. Mackenzie’s heart fluttered in grief. “Oh yeah, like that would happen.” she laughed, sliding the knife farther down into her pocket. Drew smiled and his energy flooded her soul. “It’s nice to meet someone who shares my taste in books.” An hour passed by as they talked about the plot of the story. Mackenzie got caught up in the details of the characters and how he described his love for them. However, he remained mostly calm and reserved, a man who connected with her soul who just happened to be an FBI agent a terrorist wanted to kill. Her mind wandered to her troubled past. He’d never love someone like her. She heard Drew say something about how he was thankful to have met someone like her to talk to, bringing her mind back to the conversation. “I just wanted to say.. I haven’t met anyone like you recently either,” Mackenzie said. She realized her courage was gone and she couldn’t kill him. Maybe tomorrow she could come back. With a shock she found her emotions were getting in the way of this job. She couldn’t end his life tonight. Because she wanted to be with him tomorrow. Drew seemed to be a kind, lovely person, exactly the kind of man she would have wanted. Not to kill, but to marry. Marriage had always been her goal until the terrorist agency took her under their wing. And now again, her goals seemed to change. She finally sat next to him on the couch and forgot about the knife, her job, her raise, and the terrorists who would want to kill her too if they found out she was in love. She had never been in love before. His arm wrapped perfectly around her shoulder and she would never be the same. She cringed at the thought of him ever being dead. “I better leave,” Mackenzie stood up in guilt at the life almost lost. Drew nodded and walked her to the door. “Will I be able to see you again? At Panera perhaps?” Mackenzie almost said no but thought better of it. She had almost killed someone because she had no motivation in life, but that was no longer true. “I would love to meet with you. But perhaps a different restaurant.” Before she ran out of his house to hide the knife, they planned to meet at Olive Garden. Mackenzie might have been blinded by love but had enough sense to try to avoid Shawn. They met for dinner the next day. It seemed Drew was falling for her as well because he asked her for an official date. As they continued to get together Mackenzie forgot about her job and the endless phone calls from Shawn that she chose to ignore. She actually applied to be a real librarian and sat next to Drew at church. Her love for him grew as well as her love for God. When she accepted God as her Savior as Drew already had, she realized she had to tell him the truth. She was in love with the person she almost murdered. “Drew?” They sat at the quiet restaurant, hands cuddled together. “Yes my love?” “I have something to tell you. But it’s a secret. An important one.” The stress level was pounding. Drew shooed away the disappointed waiter who was just starting to bring the wine. Drew sighed. “I do too. I’ll go first actually. I am an FBI agent and people have been trying to kill me. I wanted to propose to you tonight but I don’t want to drag you into his mess.” His eyes lowered to her other hand curled on her drink.“I wanted to put a ring on your beautiful hand.” Mackenzie wanted to cry, and not just from the almost-proposal. “Yes, I know the terrorists are trying to stop you… Because they tried to get me to kill you.” Drew was stunned. “You wanted to kill me?” “No, I never wanted to. But I lied to you about being a librarian. I worked for them, and had come to you that night to kill you. Not sure why they trusted me because I botched up every other murder before. When I met you that night I couldn’t go through with it. Because I fell in love with you.’ “You love me?’ “Yes, I do. I’ve never said that to someone before. And I’ve never wanted to protect someone more.” “I love you too. So much.” He tenderly stroked her hair, looking worried. “It looks like you need to be protected though. Won’t the terrorists be coming after you once they found out their plan was foiled?” They both glanced around, making sure no one could hear them, and started plotting together. Not against each other but against the terrorists who had tried to ruin their lives and infiltrate America. They promised each other they’d never try to leave each other but join forces in marriage. She had confessed her own secrets but thank goodness she knew some of the deepest secrets of the other side. She would try to join along with the FBI, and help to make up her wasted years for the enemy. They were soon married in an exquisite church in a beautiful wedding to which none of Mackenzie’s former acquaintances were invited, including Shawn. She may have lost her job but she gained an amazing man who forgave her for her deepest sins that almost took his life. Their past was healed and the future was formed together in excitement. Their honeymoon was spent traveling abroad trying to escape the terrorists before going back to foiling their other many plots. The odds were against them. But nothing would stop their love. Together they would save each other, and fight for America.
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about the authorAs a 21 year old aspiring teacher, Karissa loves to write, travel, play piano, and read. Many creative things have her heart. archives
November 2021
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