~Chapter 20~

Wraith chose a small motel in view of the freeway for them to stop for the night. They rented three rooms, one for Scarlet and Emma, one for Wraith, Max and Nathan, and the third for Josh and Lexy.
Emma plopped her bags on the small, one-person bed and sat down on the edge. She looked around the run-down room and sighed.
“Is it always like this?”
Scarlet pushed her duffel under her bed and lay a .22 on her pillow.
“Sometimes its worse.”
A knock sounded on the door and Scarlet snatched the .45 out of the holster attached to her belt. She went to stand next to the door, gun at the ready. She motioned Emma to get down before she reached for the door knob.
“Who is it?”
Her voice was sweet and bright, nothing to give away the tension in her body.
The rough voice from the other side of the door caused her to relax.
“It’s me, Nathan. Open up.”
Scarlet opened the door and let the Merc inside.
“Hi.”
Nathan brought on of the Mossberg shotguns out from where he had hidden it under his leather jacket.
“This one is for you ladies. I recommend keeping it by the door.”
He leaned it against the wall just next to the door handle. Next to it, he dropped a box of shotgun shells.
“Got you a box of chocolates to go with.”
Scarlet made a face, “Oh, thanks. You are so thoughtful.”
Nathan grinned and made a motion as if tipping his hat.
“Ma’am.”
And with that he backed out of the room and shut the door.
Scarlet picked up the gun and checked it over. Satisfied, she sat it back against the wall.
Emma watched her with interest, “You know… he likes you. A lot.”
Scarlet put the safety on the .45 and holstered it again. She walked over to stand beside her bed again and, chambering a round in the .22, set the safety on the pistol and slid it under her pillow.
“Oh, yeah, sure. The Lone Wolf has a crush now?”
Emma put her hands behind her head and shrugged slightly.
“Whatever you say. But he does like you. Do you like him?”
The red-haired assassin sat on the bed and leaned against the wall. She stared at her feet, her mind racing, looking for a denial.
“Like him? Nathan? Um… No, yes… maybe, I don’t know…”
Emma laughed out loud, “You do like him!!! Why don’t you tell him?”
Scarlet sat forward and rested her head in her hands.
“You… can’t tell Nathan things like that. He’s a lone wolf, a stranger to love and compassion. I think he is afraid of them. If you try to show him anything, he shies away and shuts you out.”
Emma became a bit more serious, “Yeah… I guess I understand that… Nathan does seem to be a bit of a hard-case.”
“A hard case? That’s one hell of an understatement!”

Nathan’s and Wraith’s room was only 2 doors away from Emma’s and Scarlet’s.
Nathan sat outside on the porch just outside the room. His ragged leather jacket was around his shoulders and a tequila was clasped in his left hand. He scratched the scar running down the left side of his face with his free hand and stared into the starry sky.
“Are you an assassin?”
Startled, Nathan looked up at the old lady who had come out of the room between his and the girls’. She was a wrinkled old woman with graying hair that was rapidly going white. Her blue eyes were sharp and knowing.
Nathan smiled kindly at her, “Sorry, Ma’am. I aint no assassin.”
Granny laughed and, slapping him on the shoulder, took the seat next to his.
“Oh, that’s a load of crap if I ever heard one. I know you got a pistol under that coat of yours. And a knife in your boot.”
Nathan stared at her in surprise, “Hell, Grandma, how’d you know all that?”
The old lady took the bottle from Nathan’s hand and took a long swig.
“My ex-husband was an assassin. I know about all yer tricks.”
Nathan gazed at the woman in awe, “Damn, girl. What happened to him? I hope he went down fighting.”
Granny laughed harshly, “Go down fighting? Like hell he did. He ran off with some hooker in Reno and I aint seen him since.”
Nathan smiled slightly, “Damn old fool, leavin’ a lovely lady like yerself.”
Leaning in as if to tell a great secret, Granny winked secretively at Nathan.
“Think I’m sexy now? You should have seen me back in my prime!”
Nathan winked back and stole his bottle back.
“Ma’am, I don’t doubt you in the slightest.”
Wraith came out of their room door and approached the two. His eyes flicked over them, taking in every detail.
“Nathan, who’s your friend?”
Nathan grinned up at the green-eyed man, “This is my new drinking buddy. You would like her, she knows crap.”
Granny also bestowed a grin upon the tall man.
“Hello there, you are an Informer, right?”
Wraith’s sharp eyes narrowed, “What makes you say that?”
The old woman shrugged, “The eyes, the look, the voice, all says Informer.”
Nathan took a long drink from his bottle before passing it back to Granny.
“She was married to an Assassin, ran off with a hooker. Like I said, she knows crap.”
Granny motioned to the door Wraith had purposefully left open.
“So, what you got sitting in there? My husband kept a Stoeger M2000 just inside the door, always in reach.”
Nathan grinned, “Smart. I prefer a Mossberg 500.”
Granny nodded thoughtfully, “I guess that works too. To each his own, eh?”
Nathan got up, “Damn right. Listen Ma’am, I got an early morning to look forward too. You can keep the bottle, ‘kay?”
She grinned and raised the bottle in a toast to the Merc.
“I thank ‘ye, Sir. Have a nice night, and good luck on whatever mission you are on.”
Nathan bowed and turned to follow Wraith into the hotel room.
“Yep; let’s hope suicide isn’t as bad as people say.”

The next morning Josh and his crew were up later than they expected. Wraith and Josh woke up sometime after six, but Nathan was sleeping off a hangover.
Scarlet woke up an hour later and snuck outside without waking Emma up and went to sit with Josh and Wraith on the porch.
Max had gotten up around the same time as Wraith and had gone out for muffins and juice. He got back just as Scarlet emerged from her room.
“Poppy-seed?”
The marksman was short and terse, obviously not much of a morning person.
Scarlet smiled sleepily, “Sure, thanks.”
Josh grinned up at Sniper, “No coffee?”
Max glared at the other man, “Shut up.”
The sharpshooter looked back to Scarlet, “She up yet?”
The red-haired assassin shook her head, “Nope. Not yet.”
Josh got to his feet, “It’s about time they all got up.”
He entered the room he shared with Lexy, emerging a moment later followed by his wife in a tight black t-shirt and blue mini-shorts.
She blinked owl-eyed at the others and smiled sweetly.
“Good morning, everyone. Oh, are those muffins?”
Josh strode up to Emma and Scarlet’s door and pounded on the wood.
“Emma, get up!”
He waited a moment before pounding on the door again.
“Emma!!!”
The sound of someone stumbling across the floor came through the door and a second later Emma opened the door groggily.
“Hello, I’m up.”
Josh next went to Nathans door and did the same routine. When there was no sound from inside and no answer after he had pounded on the door four times, Josh opened the door and entered the darkened room.
A moment later Nathan came hurtling through the door and collided against the porch railing.
The Taske heir walked through the door a moment later and tossed the inebriated mercenary his black cowboy hat and dark sunglasses.
“Eat something, have some juice. You can sleep it off on the road.”
Emma stared in shock at Josh, Max and Wraith just exchanged amused glances and went on with their breakfast.

And so the Taske Force hit the road once more.