Rogue Angel - Footprints Part 73

"I've got the chance to make my life what I've always wanted it to be. My visions have the chance to become reality now."

"And how are you going to manage that? You're just going to waltz down to their contacts and sell them the drugs?"

"Why not?"

"You think they'd even deal with you?"

"I've got the merchandise."

"But they don't know you from anyone. You could be a cop. You could be wearing a wire or something. Trust me when I tell you that drug dealers aren't the kind of people you want to be messing around with."

Jenny ratcheted the slide on the pistol. "Well, maybe this is the new Jenny. And frankly, the new Jenny just might have some tricks up her sleeve that the old one didn't."

"You're going to need them if you hope to come out of that meeting alive and intact."

Jenny smiled. "Why don't you come with me?"

"Me? No way."

"Why not? You could be the security blanket I need. Keep an eye on things and make sure it all goes to plan. I'll split the money with you. There's more than enough for both of us to go anywhere we want and live like queens."

Annja shook her head. "You haven't been listening to me, have you? Didn't you hear what I said earlier? I can't live my life the way I want to. The sword controls me now. It's not overt, but I can feel the pressure from it to journey where there's evil and help rout it."

"Throw the sword away, then."

Annja shook her head. "As if it was that easy."

"You threw it easily enough at Tom there."

Annja nodded. "And look where it ended up."

Jenny glanced to her right and so did Annja. But the sword wasn't embedded in the trunk of the tree anymore.

Jenny frowned. "Where is it?"

Annja tapped her chest. "Back with me now. Inside. Always with me. No matter what."

Jenny pointed the gun at her. "Don't even think about pulling it out. I won't hesitate to shoot you."

"Yes, you will."

The explosion made Annja wince as the air broke near her left ear. A single sh.e.l.l casing spun out of the ejector port on the side of the pistol and spiraled to the ground.

Jenny regarded her now with a certain detachment. "I don't think you want to make a wrong a.s.sumption again, Annja."

"Guess not."

Jenny nodded at the truck. "How much have you placed inside?"

"A few bags. Not that much."

"And what do you think the street value would be?"

"I have no idea. But it's not enough. Remember, these guys you'd be dealing with are expecting a full shipment of drugs. You show up with just a few bags and they'll think you're holding out on them. That's not the kind of thing that endears you to criminals."

"So you'll help me load the rest of it, then. Just like we were doing before."

Annja shook her head. "I won't."

Jenny waggled the gun. "Don't make me shoot you. I'm getting tired of saying it."

"I'm getting tired of hearing it." Annja sat down. "You're going to have to accept the fact that I am not going to be a party to your new criminal enterprise."

"So that's it?"

"That's it."

Jenny looked down over the pistol. "This isn't how I wanted things to end with you, Annja."

"Could have fooled me. You seem perfectly at ease with what you're about to do."

"I suppose stress and anxiety have a way of making you reconcile the certain necessary evils of life." She shrugged. "And I'm sure it's nothing that a couple million dollars won't help me forget all about."

Annja shook her head. "If you think for one split second that you'll ever forget about this, then you're sadly mistaken."

"Am I really? And how would you know?"

"Because I carry the memory of every person I've ever killed. They never leave you. They never go away or dull over time. They're always there in your mind. Whenever you think they're not, they just come back even stronger than before."

"I guess I'll have to learn to live with it. Just like you did, huh?"

Annja nodded. "Yeah, but the people I've killed have all been bad. The world was better off without them." She looked at Jenny. "I've never had to kill a friend before. I've never done what you're about to do."

Jenny was quiet for a moment. She frowned when she looked back at Annja. "All of this talk is just designed to get me to think twice about my actions."

"I'm trying to talk some sense into you before you make the biggest mistake of your life."

Jenny shook her head. "The biggest mistake I ever made was not doing a better audition for Chasing History's Monsters. Chasing History's Monsters. I could be where you are right now." I could be where you are right now."

"They came to me," Annja said. "I never searched them out at all."

Jenny smiled. "Oh, sure. I read all about it in the newspaper. How you were chosen out of a hundred or so hopefuls. I was one of those hopefuls. I thought I had a legitimate shot at the role. I didn't know at the time that the fix was already in."

Annja shook her head. "I didn't know about that. I figured it was just propaganda put out by the studios to help sell the show. No one really expects anyone to believe it. I didn't know you tried out for the show. I never knew what it was that made them pick me. I'm sure you would be a huge hit on the show."

"Stop trying to b.u.t.ter me up. It won't work."

Annja sighed. "This is getting us nowhere. You're going to shoot me so you can run off with bags of drugs, sell them to people you've never even met, think that they won't smoke you as soon as they get a shot and then ride off into the sunset on some Fantasy Island Fantasy Island regurgitation." regurgitation."