Naitee
Once again I'm on a plane, watching the world outside of the window.
"I was afraid that I would find you dead or missing all your fingers you know?" Ross says and I look up at him. We're sitting in opposite seats and I meet his gray gaze.
"Yeah well, I held up pretty well. Only Alessio actually knew why I was there so the others were nice enough." Ross's eyebrows rise a millimeter.
"I noticed, well we should debrief when we get back. I'm sure you have some information." I nodd slowly and try to meet Ross's gaze for more than a few seconds but the shame stops me and I look out the window again.
"How did you find me so quickly?" I end up asking after the silence has been dragging on for too long.
"That's of no matter, I have some bridges that needed to be burned anyway." I feel a hint of suprise but it's like every emotion I feel is tamped down to only a little hint. It's weird like I'm actually regretting leaving Alessio but that would be crazy. On a new level.
"Okay well what's going to happen when we land? I'm pretty sure Alessio is going to come looking for me again and I need to be safer than last time." Ross almost looks a little hurt but then it's quickly covered by anger.
"I'll make sure of it." He says and I retract quickly, "I didn't mean it like that Ross." I say and he just nods solemnly.
"I know, it's just that I was afraid that I'd lost you. I was terrified." I reach out for his hand and grab it lightly.
"It wouldn't be your fault in any case." I say but his expression stays the same. He holds my hand tightly and I almost find it weird. Usually Ross never responds to any physical or mental affection.
"Remember your first day of college?" Ross asks and the question is so out of the blue that I just stare at him for a second.
"Yeah, I was eighteen and my parents were helping me move into my first dorm at Stanford. Why?" Ross shakes his head lightly and I could almost swear that I saw a smile on his face.
"No matter I just remember moving my daughter into her dorm, she went to Stanford also you know?" That is the second fact I've ever heard about Ross's daughter in the five yeard I've known him. The first fact was that she died a few years ago.
"Really? When was she there?" I ask, trying to sound as light as possible to avoid him clamming up about the subject.
"She dropped out after two years, got a little too into drugs and you know what happened after that." Ross grips my hand harder and his gray eyes are sad. It's like he's a different person from almost a year ago. Something changed him and I don't know what new me thinks of new Ross. He's not the bitter but gentle old man who trained me in the FBI academy and then picked me out of the class to be specially trained into an undercover agent. It's like the light he sees me in has changed.
"You know you can talk to me about that, right Ross?" He nods and looks away. I wonder if I said something wrong but Ross is already getting out of his seat. I watch him walk to the cockpit and realise something. I now know five things about Ross, his last name, that he grew up in New York, that his daughter went to Stanford and that his daughter is dead. A very healthy relationship overall.
I sink back into my seat with a groan.
My life is now irreversibly changed again. If Alessio ever finds me again he won't ever let me go so that means I can never see him again and my career as an undercover is now over aswell. Too many dangerous people know my face and that would mean I only could do small jobs and there's no fun in that.
Ross will help me as much as he can but I will have to change and dissapear again. I look down at my fancy black dress and suddenly I just have to take it off. I tear into one of Ross suitcases and take out a pair of jeans and button down shirt. I change quickly in the bathroom and when I stretch I feel something weird in the pocket. I reach my hand into the pocket and when I pull it out it's a thicker piece of paper. I unfold it quickly and it's a picture. Of me. When I was 18 or 19 maybe.
"That's weird." I mutter to myself and bring the picture closer to my face. It's looks like it was taken in some kind of cafe and I frown. I recognise the place.
-
It's two months into my first year of college and I'm sitting in a cafe, eating with my roommate. Her name is Hannah and she has dark brown hair and grey eyes. We both laugh at a joke she just told and she pulls out her camera. She's a film mayor and she tries to capture everything she can on film.
"Say cheese!" She says and I smile as the flash goes off and captures the moment to eternity.
-
I think back to Hannah and remember something else about her. She dropped out after our sophomore year without any explanation and I never found out what happened to her. The plane starts to turn and I grab the wall to steady myself.
Again I think back, really think back to the first day of college.
-
"Mom!?? Come on I need some help with this!" I call out as I try to heave the super heavy box up the stairs to my dorm.
"Do you need help?" Someone asks and I accept gratefully. It's a man, maybe in his late thirtees with grey eyes and a kind smile.
"Yes, please. My dorm is 213." The man looks suprised for a second before smiling.
"Really? That's my daughters dorm aswell!"
"Oh really?" I say at the same time as he grabs the box from my hands and I let go gratefully. I follow him up the stairs and he leads the way to my new dorm. I'm finally going to live on my own, have my own life!
The man sets my box down on the bed that isn't occupied and grunts a little.
"Thank you so much, my parents were supposed to help me but they dissapeared somewhere." I laugh as I say it and hold my hand out to the man.
"I'm Naitee." The man smiles and reaches out with his own hand.
"Aaron, Aaron Ross." My parents rush into the room with wide smiles on their faces and suddenly the man is forgotten in the haste of unpacking and saying goodbye.
-
My legs give out from under me and I sit down on the toilet seat. Ross is Hannahs father and if what he told me is correct Hannah's dead. Why wouldn't he want me to know that we knew eachother before the academy and why didn't I recognise him?
Two knocks on the toilet door, "Naitee, you okay?" I clear my throat.
"Yeah just a little sick from the plane moving."
"Okay." Ross answers but he doesn't sound convinced. For some reason my gut is telling me that it's a really bad idea to ask him about the college thing. He's obviously still torn up about Hannah and he for some reason doesn't want me to remember that he's her father.
I take a deep breath before I open the door and come face to face with with the man in question.
"Hi." I get out and it sounds a little squeaky.
"I see you changed." He notes and I nodd. His eyes trace my body, probably looking for anything weird but there's not anything. I made sure of that. The picture is now flushed safely down the toilet and I don't have anything incriminating on me.
"Yes, it felt weird wearing that dress." Ross nods slowly and I push past him. The calm feeling I had half an hour ago is now long gone and exchanged for a slight illness.
"We land in two hours." Ross calls out from behind me and I simply nodd. I'll be gone as soon as the plane touches ground. One thing Ross actually taught me in the apparently nine years we've known each other, is to trust my gut and my gut is not feeling trustfull right now.
I'm on edge for the rest of the hours and I barely respond when Ross talks to me and he seems to notice that I'm acting weird because in the end he leaves me alone to sit with my thoughts.
Ross has been a father to me for the last five years, why am I doubting him? I take a deep breath and the light for the seatbelt turns on. I click my belt into place and slowly the plane starts to descend. The airplane comes to a halt with a shake and the engines slowly turn off. I don't recognise the airport we're in and I stand up carefully.
"Where are we?" I ask and Ross meets my gaze.
"I figured a commercial airport would be stupid, too easy to track so I found this one instead." That's actually a logical decision and I follow him down the stairs to the private plane. It's smaller than Alessio's but it's still comfortable.
The cold winter air hits me straight in the face and I start freezing immediatly.
"Damn, i-it's c-cold." I shatter, my teeths smashing together and Ross laughs a little before handing me his heavy FBI jacket. He had showered when we stopped after the helicopter but there was still splatters of blood on his jacket. I ignored it.
"Well we'll be warm in no time." The airplane started up behind us again and I turned around to look at it.
"Why is the plane leaving?" I couldn't see a car or anything to get us out of this desolate place and with the plane leaving we're the only ones here. Ross starts to walk toward the cabin house and starts walking backward when I don't follow.
"Well they aren't the ones who need to hide out now are they?" I still don't move and Ross stops.
"Come on Naitee, let's just go." I start to walk back toward the plane. The stairs are still down and my body is itching to leave this place.
"No, no I don't think so Ross." I say and start to walk toward the plane. I don't dare to look behind me at Ross as I start to walk quicker toward the plane. Something is seriously wrong here. The stairs start to close and before I even have the chance to call out a hand slaps over my mouth. A hand holding a cloth of some kind with a weird smelling substance.
"You don't think I would let you go again now did you?" Ross asks in a whisper and I don't recognise his voice. It's dark and emotionless and scary as hell. I try to rip myself out of his stony grip but it's pointless my body is already going lax.
The mother fucker drugged me.