Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

For God And Country

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 08:

GPOV

Charlie and I walked out of the hospital with Bella between us. She was on crutches. The minute we hit the parking lot Bella stood up, walked, hopped the crutches to the wall of the hospital and began limping towards our rental car.

“Uh Bella, The nice man who went to medical school said you should keep weight off your leg for a few weeks.” I felt the need to mention, knowing it was going to do me absolutely no good.

“He had to say that Garrett. Hospital policy and liability. I needed it closed and bandaged. He did that. I’m good now.”

“Bella, maybe you should listen…”

“I know how to handle this Dad. I’m trained for this. If I stop training for a few weeks… look it doesn’t matter. Let’s go somewhere quiet without people around. We can’t go home. The team will be there for another few hours.”

I looked at Charlie and he nodded.

“Well, we were going fishing. We may as well head that way and take the boat out.”

“No.”

“What’s wrong with that, baby?” I asked her.

“Sorry Garrett. Everything is fine, bad guys dead and all but there is no way I am relaxed enough to sit in a boat in the middle of an open body of water where any half decent sniper could take a shot from any point around us. Lakes are out.”

The look on Charlie’s face was funny. Not that I would have laughed at him at this moment. But it was pretty funny.

“How about we go to the docks and sit under the canopy in the boat? Would that give you enough cover GI Jane?” Charlie asked.

Bella closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“That would be great, Dad.” She leaned into my side and closed her eyes.

I woke her up twenty minutes later when we arrived. I tried to carry her but she refused.

“The only way this is going to heal quickly is to use the muscle Garrett.”

Okay then.

We followed Charlie inside the boat and had a seat around a cooler. Charlie opened the cooler and grabbed a beer. He was about to close it before looking at Bella.

“You want one, Bells?”

“That would be great Dad.”

“Bella, should you have alcohol with the wounds and…”

“Mom! Lay off for a minute. I need to unwind.”

Bitch just called me Mom. At least she was smiling. Mom. I’ll show her how her Mommy gives bad little girls spanking… no that just… Lose the thought Garrett. End it there.

Charlie looked at Bella.

“Bells, let’s just start the whole visit over again. I will start. Hi Bells. How is work?”

“Dad I work for the CIA but you really can’t tell anyone. At all. Ever.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I couldn’t.”

“Bullshit! A lot of people work for the CIA. Hell, Bella I would still be proud of you. I think it’s great if you work for the CIA. What I don’t understand is how you came to be on top of a mutilated body in my house.”

“Dad you won’t find me on the official CIA roster. You won’t find me as a member of the armed forces. You won’t find anything about me period. I have a file somewhere that has been scrambled enough to hide all traces of my home town, my family, my friends. Only one man knows that about me. The crew at your house doesn’t know who I am. They do a job they are sent to do and that’s it. If I disappeared tomorrow you would never be able to prove that I was even born.”

That shut Charlie up. He then turned to me.

“Is this the guy who knows? Are you the guy? Who the hell are you really?”

I threw my hands up.

“Whoa there Charlie. I’m Garrett. I work for the DEA. Honest. Just an average guy.” Okay. My name was honest. But I had been telling stories to Charlie about the DEA for so long now I kind of felt a bond of brotherhood with them. Like I was a DEA agent.

Okay I was just lying to him.

“What is your last name?” He asked me.

“Dad, you don’t need to know. Garrett does very dangerous undercover work. The fewer people who know about him the better.”

“So you work for the CIA. Explain the body, Bella.”

“He came to kill me.” I guess she was going for honesty.

“Why?”

“For the reward for my head.” Bella replied. Still being honest. This is good for her.

“There is a price on your head?”

“No, the Cartel literally wants my head cut off and delivered to them. $10 million to the man who has my head in a box.”

Okay Charlie just went very pale. Maybe that was too much truth.

“How did he find you Bella? Do I need to hide you?”

“No. Todd worked at the CIA. We trained together. That’s how he knew me. He came to kill me and claim the ten mil. It won’t happen. No one else knows who I am.”

“If no one else knows who you are why is there a bounty on your head?”

“A bunch of very bad people know I exist. But they don’t know me. They can’t find where I live. They can’t find you or Renee. If he didn’t know who I was and had access to my address in D.C. he would have never gotten close.”

“What do you do for the CIA, Bella? Don’t lie to me.” Charlie whispered, not looking at her. This could be good and healing or bad and traumatizing. I didn’t know which to expect.

“I am an operative, an agent, an asset, a hit woman, an assassin, a cooler, a fixer. Whatever term you want to use doesn’t matter Dad. Basically the Government determines someone needs to die. They tell my handler. He tells me. I make it happen. It’s that simple.”

“How… how long have you been doing this?”

“I went to the Army after high school. That wasn’t a lie. I spent two years there doing what you think I do now, got recruited by my handler and trained for a year, 24/7 with no breaks and I have been active for three years. The first year was on a limited basis. Easy assignments for the most part. The second year was busier. The past year I have been going at it pretty hard.”

Charlie took a long drink of his beer and crushed the can. He pulled another out. Bella also crushed her can and held out her hand. Charlie handed her another one as well.

“Who… I mean how… who do you kill Bella?”

“Whoever I get sent after. Whoever pissed Uncle Sam off that week. Weapons dealers, terrorists, Drug Cartel heads…”

“Cortez. That was you?”

“Yep.”

“Bella, how many people have you killed?”

“Do you really want to know Dad?”

I was kind of curious about this myself. Did Charlie really want to know? I think if I were him I would say nope, drink another beer and pretend I didn’t learn my little angel was actually the angel of death.

Charlie looked Bella in the eyes and nodded.

Bella took a deep breath.

“I’m not really sure Dad.”

“What do you mean you aren’t really sure? How can you not be sure about how many people you have killed?”

“I go after targets but targets have bodyguards, security. I am not sure of the exact number I have killed. Sometimes I have to shoot and run and don’t have time to make little notes in my ledger.” She told him looking down.

Charlie took a deep breath.

“Why don’t you take a guess for dear old Dad, Bella?”

Bella huffed a little. I bet this is what she looked like when she was having to admit doing something bad as a child. It was so cute.

“Fine, my first year I went after 6 targets and killed 4 guards for a total of ten. Most of the targets the first year were easy. I told you that.

Second year, I went after 12 targets. I would guess the collateral damage amounted to around ten kills meaning I killed 22 people.

This past year, I have killed 17 targets, one hit man in the Seattle airport who was working for the guy who tried to kill me, and that guy in your house. I have killed somewhere around 16 guards. My targets have been higher profile. Garrett do you have any idea how many of Cortez’s guards I took out?”

I didn’t exactly.

“I would guess with the two inside and the valet probably twelve?”

“Sounds right give or take a couple. So around 79 or 80 people in the last three years Dad. Rough estimate of course.”

“And 5 dogs.” I helpfully added in.

“What?” Bella asked. She must have forgotten.

“5 dogs. At Cortez’s compound? You killed 5 dogs.”

“I thought it was 4.”

“No, you took out three with the first shotgun blast and two with handguns. I am fairly certain it was five.” See, this is knowing your partner and paying attention to the little things. Those relationships books I have been reading when Bella wasn’t looking were paying off.

“You killed dogs Bella?” Charlie asked, seeming more upset about this than the 79 people she just mentioned.

“Guard dogs, Dad. They had to go. I don’t walk around shooting pets for fun.”

Not unless they are from La Push anyway, I thought to myself.

“Okay. But people are trying to kill you now?”

“People are always trying to kill workers in my profession. It comes along with the job, Dad. But don’t worry. After today you are safe. Mom is safe. If I hadn’t been here you would have never been discovered in the first place. I am sorry I dragged you into this. I didn’t want to think that we had been betrayed by our own man.”

We were all silent for a few minutes. I hated silence but I honestly couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t get me glared at or shot.

“Bella?”

“Yeah Dad?”

“I don’t know how the clumsy emotionally wrecked girl who left my house 6 years ago has become you. But I want you to know that I am damn proud of you and I love you. I am going to go grey worrying about you now, but I love you. I want you to know that.”

I saw Bella wipe her eye with her sleeve.

“Thanks Dad.”

“Anything for you. So when do you have to go back? How much longer can you stay?”

“I suppose I could stay another few weeks while my leg is healing but I probably need to get home. I don’t want to endanger you anymore than I have too.”

“Don’t be stupid. If someone shows up I don’t know, then I get to shoot them and call those guys in the black vans to take care of it. I can’t imagine anything else that would be as much fun.” Bella smiled and looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders. I would go where she went.

“Yeah Dad. Sticking around a few more weeks would be cool. I’ve missed you so bad. Now that you know about me, I want to tell you all about my real life.”

“You and Garrett. Is he really your boyfriend?”

“Yeah Dad. I’m pretty much completely in love with him.”

Charlie smiled at me.

“I suppose this is the part where I tell you if you hurt her, I will kill you. But I have a feeling she would kill you before I have had a chance to, huh?”

I smiled. “She has been known to shoot at me occasionally Charlie. Let me tell you about the first time I met her.”

We sat there telling slightly altered, vampire-less versions of our relationship to Charlie. He thought it was great that she got the drop on me in the parking lot and my determination to insert myself into Bella’s life by renting the apartment next to hers didn’t bother him at all.

“I can appreciate a man who sees something of value and will go to extreme lengths to get it.” He then hugged me. Charlie is a very touchy feely person when he gets wasted. Weird. Charlie was very wasted. Bella, however drank two beers and made the next two stretch for hours. She was smiling. We were having fun. This was good.

This was good.

BPOV

Oh God this is bad. Every morning I wake up and stretch my leg out. It still hurts like hell in the morning until it warms up. I walked stiffed legged down the stairs where my man was waiting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee.

“Thank you Garrett.” I told him, taking the coffee and kissing him on the cheek. Tomorrow we flew back to D.C. Kevin had assured me that all potential leaks were plugged. The Cortez Cartel had gone through an internal war and the new head thought the old man was stupid for going after a Senator. He canceled the bounty on me, chalking it up as his predecessor biting off more than he could chew. This was probably a show of good faith to the CIA since they put a lot of time and money into training me and didn’t want amateurs taking shots at me while I was at work.

“Garrett, I want you to take me out tonight. Let’s go to Port Angeles. After Dad goes to bed.”

He looked at me in surprise. “I thought you wanted to slaughter Dirk Diggler and Bearfucker tonight online.”

“It’s getting old, Garrett.” I rolled my eyes. For having vampire reflexes they really weren’t very good at video games.

“How can you say defeating Peter Whitlock and Emmett Cullen gets old?”

“Easy. It’s boring. They go down like fluffers on a porn set. It’s ridiculous. I need an assignment. This video game crap is just teasing me.”

“Why don’t you kill Emmett a few times and then tell him who you are? Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Maybe next time, Garrett.” I shrugged my shoulders. It should not be this hard to convince my 28 year old boyfriend with a couple hundred years added on, that he should put down the video games and take his woman out.

“Do you want to keep our relationship a secret, Bella?”

I looked up from my coffee and paper and saw he was looking at me very intensely.

“A secret from who? The Government? I mean, yeah. I’m not going to advertise to the CIA that I am dating a vampire. But I am thinking of telling Kevin. Not the vampire part of course. Just about you. He needs to know. The problem is when I tell him he is going to go over your entire life with a fine tooth comb. You need to have a name and history that is set in stone. Bank accounts, education records, employment history. You get that together, you say the word and I will let Kevin know. Kevin doesn’t come over a lot though, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I wasn’t talking about Kevin or the government, Bella. I was talking about vampires I know. Do you want it kept from the Cullens?”

Oh. Did I? “Give me a minute okay?”

Garrett nodded and went back to his paper.

Did I want him to hide our relationship from the Cullens? What would they possibly do to stop us? Nothing. Even if one of them did get the balls to try to break us up, Garrett and I wouldn’t let that happen. Honestly, I…

“Garrett?”

“Yes dear?”

“I don’t care.”

“You don’t care if the Cullens find out?”

“I don’t care if anyone finds out. I would hope you wouldn’t want to hide our relationship. At least I like to think you are kind of proud of me. I’m sure as hell proud to be with you. I guess you just kind of caught me by surprise. I mean the Cullens? I haven’t really given them more than a passing thought in a while. Even when we play Call of Duty, Emmett is just a really bad player on the other end of a joystick. I guess, I have gone through so many changes in the years since they left, I really don’t feel one way or another about them. I don’t really hate them. I don’t really like them. They just don’t matter to me now. Does that make sense?”

“Yes, Bella. That makes perfect sense. I just wanted to know your thoughts and wishes on the subject. I don’t plan on going out of my way to tell them but I won’t hide my love for you either.”

“Good, then it’s time to talk about taking me out.”

“Port Angeles Bella? Really?”

“Yes! I want you to take me to the bars by the docks. I want you to leave me alone. I’m going to walk into a dark alley where you will be. Then I want to watch you drain whoever follows me in.”

Who knew you could make vampires seem to move any less than they normally do. Garrett was staring at me with his mouth hanging slightly open.

“Baby? You okay?”

He shook his head. “Did you just say you want me to drain someone in front of you?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because… I don’t know. I mean, I sometimes forget I’m a vampire when I am with you and I guess I don’t want to remind both of us.”

“Who is being the bigot now?” I whispered.

“What?”

I sat on his lap and wrapped my arms around him. “You are a vampire. That’s a big part of who you are. I love all of you. Even that part. Feeding is a part of being a vampire. You have seen me kill. You don’t judge me. I want to see you kill. I won’t judge you. I love you. You want some bad guy? Fine. Let me be the bait. I will bring a bad boy for you and you will drain him for me. Let me know you Garrett. Let me watch you. Please?”

He grinned at me.

“You are a little too good at seduction, you know that?”

“It’s impossible to be too good at seduction.” I whispered.

It was dark as hell when we pulled into the dock area at Port Angeles. What little moon was out was hidden behind thick clouds.

I got out of the car and walked into the bar. All eyes turned when I did. I didn’t dress like a slut. No short skirts. No tight tops. No makeup. I put my hair down around my face. I was wearing jeans, a tee shirt and a cotton zip up jacket over my tee. I would not cheat. I was not going to seduce some horny kid who wants to follow me into an alleyway to try to get my number. No. There would be no doubt about their intention.

I looked at myself in the bar mirror. I looked a lot like I did when I was 17 and got cornered here. I blow dried my hair out making it seem fuller. I went without contacts and let my big brown doe eyes look in awe over the dangerous men I was surrounded by. Edward Cullen rescued me then. Today I would have killed them all with only my hands. I like who I am a lot better now.

A few guys offered to buy me drinks and I politely refused. They were good natured about it. I tried not to make eye contact. I had to seem shy. I swept the area once with my eyes and saw him. He was in the back corner. It was dark but he was looking at me. He was staring at me. I locked eyes with him and saw what I was looking for. The eyes of a predator.

Hello Handsome.

I looked down quickly once I learned what I wanted. I bit my lip to set the hook and casually rose, heading for the door. I didn’t look to see if he was following. I knew he would.

The open air was refreshing after being in that smoke filled bar for so long. The air was thick with moisture. I crossed the street and heard the bar door open. Again I didn’t have to look but I did. Sure enough, it was him. He looked away when I looked up but I heard him cross the street. He was walking faster. He got on the sidewalk behind me. I turned and looked one more time. He knew I saw him. I started walking faster. He started jogging. I took off.

An alley was up ahead. I ran inside and waited near the back. He came around and stopped when he saw that I was trapped. He sneered and slowly walked up to me. He really was a big ugly guy. He came within feet of me.

“Hey little girl.”

“What do you want?” I asked trembling my lip. Making the snake think you are a mouse instead of a mongoose is always the easiest way to kill someone.

“I suppose I could tell you a lot of lines but what I really want to do is give you a choice.”

“What choice would that be?”

I could smell the alcohol and tobacco on his foul breath.

“Do you want me to slam you against the wall and fuck you or do you want me to throw you on the ground?”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Yeah, it is little girl.” He reached for me until a tap on his shoulder stopped him.

He turned and we both saw Garrett. His eyes were blazing red. He was dressed completely in black but he had a large overcoat on. A silver chain with a dagger emblem hanging down his chest. He looked angry. He looked like a goddamned vampire. I never wanted him more.

He opened his mouth and clasped on to my would be suitor’s neck. The guy tried to scream. It came out as more of a moan. The guy was trying to push Garrett off. Garrett didn’t budge. The whole thing took less than a minute.

Garrett tossed his body into a dumpster. He lit a match and poured a flask of lighter fluid and tossed them both inside. The dumpster lit up the alley causing me to hide my eyes for a second. A second is all it took for Garrett to have me on the rooftop in his arms. I looked at him. He was licking blood off of his lip. He had a little drop on his cheek. I wiped it off with my finger and placed it against his lips. He took my finger in his mouth, gently cleaning it off with his tongue.

“Only you Bella, would feed a vampire blood directly into its mouth with you finger.”

“Only you would be able to stand it without killing me.” I told him grinning.

“I love you so…”

“Garrett shut up. I need to talk to you about something.” I had better put the brakes on before we started calling each other lion and lamb and shit like that.

“Now?”

“Yes now. We are alone. No one around. You just ate so you should be in a good mood.”

“Okay.”

“Tomorrow we go home. I don’t want to go back to my apartment. I don’t like the idea that anything is in my name. I need a place I can feel comfortable and unwind. I know no matter where I go you are going to go some poor little old lady out of her home. Truthfully I don’t want to sleep without you holding me at night. Not after sleeping with you for so long. I don’t want to go back to a warm bed. I prefer a cold one with your cock in it.”

That got a laugh out of him.

“So what are you saying Bella?”

“I think we should move into a place together.” There. It was out. I made a step before he did. He wasn’t saying anything.

Why wasn’t he saying anything?

“If you don’t want to I understand…” I really didn’t.

“Bella of course I want to live with you. I’m just so proud of you. You made a step in our relationship without me pushing you into it.” He was smiling. Now he was laughing. I wanted my scary vampire back.

“Actually Garrett, I made the first move to have sex.”

“Oh yeah. You did.”

“Speaking of… you want to take me home or take me? Cause I have to admit, seeing you draining that guy has got me so turned on I’m going to soak the car seats if you don’t take care of me.”

I felt his lips on mine and lost myself in him. I barely noticed my shoes being slipped off by his feet. Barely noticed my jeans and panties hitting the rooftop. Barely felt his hands lifting my ass and wrapping my legs around his waist, locking them around his back. I…

Oh fuck yes I felt that.