Gracie - Sherry Foster Page 0,12
dead four months by the time the organization found out about him and sent you to take him down. And you interrupted my story, again. So there I was, standing in the pouring rain, holding you up.”
“I believe I was the sober one and I was holding you up. And we were under an awning so we were not standing in the pouring rain.”
“You know, sometimes you let pesky facts get in the way of a good story.” Gracie muttered.
“Do continue. You are getting to the best part.”
“Yeah, yeah. I looked up at you but you weren’t screaming, you weren’t trying to run away, you were waiting. You had the hardest look on your face, almost like you were daring anyone to approach you. I didn’t know you were waiting for the rest of your team to take out the guys inside. I didn’t know you had people inside. But I knew when I saw the look on your face that I hadn’t imagined the hand striking out. I knew then that you were the one who drove the knife into my sister’s kidnapper. I decided right then and there I wanted you on my side. You dress like you are going to a party as the guest of honor, you prance like a diva in her first beauty pageant, but that night your expression told a tale I could never have imagined. I saw death in your face that night and I wanted him on my side.”
Halo winked at her. “I was your avenging angel that night.”
“Yes you were. And instead of leaving me there you took me home with you and fed me, dried me off and asked me why I was after the man. You could have laughed at me, your team laughed, but instead you took me in and gave me a purpose. You found out what happened to my sister and you asked me if the only person I cared about was my sister. You gave me a reason to keep going. You were my night in shining armor.”
“Oh, no, not armor. Armor is so tacky and out of date, darling. I would never be caught dead wearing armor. No one can look good in armor. Too restrictive.”
“Now I am asking you, is the only person you cared about that little boy we couldn’t save? Cause the world is full of other little boys and girls we can save, if you get your head out the bottle and back in the game. You didn’t train me to be the best at this game just to leave me to walk alone. So the bottle? It has to go. Same thing you told me so many years ago. The bottle is not your friend and you can’t save anyone if you bury yourself in an alcoholic daze.”
Halo’s lips twitched, “My words come back to bite me. The story was good right up until you changed the ending.
“I didn’t change the ending. What happened then is still going one. We are a team. Maybe not unbeatable, but a team all the same. I can’t carry you like you carried me. I need you to walk beside me when we storm the gates of hell going after the scum who should have died before they were born.”
“Gracie, love, that little boy looked like Trace. Maybe if he hadn’t looked like Trace. Maybe if—”
“I know. Halo, I know. I am sorry, more sorry than words can convey. I hurt for you. I wish, a thousand times a day, I wish the little boy had looked like anyone but your brother. But we can’t change the past. We have never been able to and we never will. We both got into the game because someone evil took someone good from our lives. There are a thousand people every day who lose someone good to someone evil and they need us. They all need us. But if you can’t put the bottle down we can’t help them.”
“It is like mourning twice for my loss.” Halo’s eyes drifted to the screen again. The only thing on the screen was the back of the new partner Hendrix had. Hendrix, or whatever that thing was, wasn’t visible anymore but his gaze still studied the screen. Anything to take his mind off the past. But studying the screen gave him an entirely new set of problems and problems were not something he could handle at the moment. His leave didn’t end for another week and if