Chapter 7

Case opened her eyes and looked around. What...? She was standing next to the bed. Then she heard a groan and a cough. Oh shit... She peeked over the foot of the bed and saw Rain, as the woman got back to her feet.

Rain kept a wary few feet between them as she stood up.

"You awake?"

Case nodded.

"Good. I wanted to know if you were interested in breakfast."

Case smiled.

"Yeah." She looked at the ground where Rain had been, then back up at Rain's face. "You tried to wake me up, huh?"

"Yeah. Sorry if I caught you by surprise."

"I should've warned you. Don't touch me unless I know it's coming. If you need to wake me up, throw a pillow at me. It'll hurt less. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Gave my reflexes a good check-up."

Rain grinned and Case's apologetic look was replaced with a small smirk.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast."

They left the room and went to the dining area, which was set up with muffins, little boxes of cereal, and plastic bowls and spoons, as well as cups for juice, milk, and coffee. They fixed a couple trays for themselves, and found a table where they could sit and eat.

They didn't talk. Rain was still mulling over all the info she'd picked up from observing the compact woman, hearing both what Case said and what she didn't say with equal clarity. With that little display of hair trigger defenses, Rain was now positive that Case had grown up in a very abusive environment. What form that abuse took, she didn't know, but it had obviously gone on for so long that it was now a part of Case.

Rain decided the next time she made contact with Dawson, she would include reports of abuse against a juvenile Case in her request for a work-up on the woman. The more she knew, the easier it would be to get inside Case's defenses. A seemingly stray comment could help Case feel more at ease with her and then it would just be a matter of asking the right questions to get the information she needed. Rain needed to establish, without a doubt, that Carlotti was the brains behind the organization, that even though he didn't pull the trigger himself, the trigger didn't get pulled without his knowledge and consent. Case was that trigger and, with luck, Rain would be able to use her to tie the whole thing up in under a year.

Case, on the other hand, was trying to figure out how to teach Rain to be a good hit woman. Most of what she'd taught herself she felt had been common sense. Wear gloves, don't leave witnesses, don't care about the people you kill, make sure the weapon you use can't be traced to you through forensics or a paper trail.

She'd begun her martial arts training to learn how to use her body. Stealth was a handy skill, and controlling one's muscles was part and parcel of all martial arts. She'd also wanted to be able to handle herself even without a weapon, in case a job went bad, but in addition to learning how to use her body as a weapon, she'd also been taught how to use other objects in both defensive and offensive way. Luckily, Rain was already a martial arts master, so she wouldn't have to deal with that aspect of the 'training.'

Case set aside her empty bowl and glanced at Rain's profile. She was staring out one of the windows, a look of intense concentration on her face. Case thought she was quite beautiful. She also thought Rain was more intelligent than she seemed to be letting on. That was probably a product of having worked for Rossi as his bodyguard. You were supposed to act like furniture in most situations. Letting anyone know you were paying attention was asking for trouble.

At least Rain seemed to be a willing student. Case thought about that. Maybe she was too willing. Case shook her head slightly. Rain was probably just happy to have gotten a raise. She'd learn more about Rain as time went on. Right now, she needed to get them started on their day and she'd promised a visit to a firing range.

"Hey, you done?"

Rain brought her attention back to the table.

"Yeah, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

They cleaned up their dishes and went back to their room. Case took a quick shower and changed out of the clothes she'd slept in the night before. She started packing up her bag and looked over at Rain watching her.

"You all set to check out of here?"

"We're not coming back?" Rain asked, a little surprised.

"No. It's a good idea to move on after a job. Plus, I really don't like L.A."

Rain got up and put away her new laptop and pulled the tags off her new clothes before folding them up and stuffing them into the new travel bag she now owned. The clothes she'd worn the day before were the only things that had followed her into this new life she'd started. It was a strange feeling.

"So, where are we going after this?"

"I wanna hit a range and then return that rental. After that, is there anyplace you've been wanting to visit, but never got the chance?"

Rain thought about it for a moment. She'd always had a love of the outdoors.

"Um, Yosemite?" Rain suggested, as they got on the elevator.

"Sounds good. We can check out the Half Dome while we're there."

"You've been there?"

"Yeah, it's a great place to get away from civilization, among other things," Case admitted.

Of course. A national park would make a great hideout. Most of the parks allowed walk-ins, hikers who chose to leave their cars at home, so there wouldn't even be a license plate number to check against.

"So, we're taking a vacation before we even start to work?" Rain asked with a grin.

"Yeah, I guess so. I need a break. You're just catching me at the right time to benefit from my stress," Case replied, her own smile less than convincing.

Rain clamped down on her feelings. She had a duty to fulfill and feeling sorry for an overworked hit woman wasn't in the job description. It didn't matter that Case had probably had a horrible childhood. It wasn't an excuse for what she was doing now.

"My lucky day," Rain enthused.