Emmy And Me

When Emmy finally got up I helped her get ready for the day. She was still unsteady on her feet, but not as bad as she’d been after the concert the night before. Of course I worried for her, but there was no point in burdening her with my concerns. She was going to do what she was going to do, no matter how far she was from being recovered from her injuries.

She did smile when I told her that Katrina Suárez wanted to have lunch.

“The naked Miami party girl?” she asked with a hint of a laugh.

“That’s the one,” I confirmed. “We’re supposed to have lunch at one thirty in the hotel patio restaurant.”

“I would like to meet her,” Emmy said. “Do you still think she is CIA?”

“Honestly, I doubt it. Her dad probably is, or at least has dealings with them, but I think Katrina’s just what she seems,” I told Emmy as I brushed her hair. “She doesn’t seem serious enough to actually be in that, um, industry.” Then, I added, “but two people I absolutely know to be in that field have reached out. Mr Han from Singapore said he’ll meet us… well, me, anyway, in Houston when we get there. That guy I told you about London, Roger Bridger, he sent a vague text suggesting that we need to talk. He didn’t say what it was about, though.”

“He is the one that wanted to recruit you, right?”

“That’s the guy. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if both of those guys want to tell me what I did wrong back in Atlanta and try to rope me into more training with them,” I said.

“Would you do that? Do training, I mean?” Emmy asked.

“As long as the strings attached weren’t too much,” I said with a shrug. “I’ve been feeling stale at the fight gym, you know?”

“I have not wanted to speak of that night in Atlanta,” Emmy said, turning to face me. “I think that is because I know that it is my fault-”

“Em, it’s not your fault,” I started to say, but she put a gentle finger on my lips.

“I do not mean that I caused the attack. What I mean is that I have been enjoying interacting with my fans, and that is what allowed these people to get so close. You saw the threat, but it was already too late. If we had kept the crowds away, as most performers do, they would not have been able to surprise us.” Still keeping her fingertip on my lips, she said, “You, Leah… You were an unstoppable force. Once you recognized the threat you leapt into action. I have never seen such directed violence. Your ability in that arena is incredible- truly incredible. If that crowd had been held a few meters farther back, none would have reached me or Angela.

“But that is not what I wanted. I did not think of the danger. I have been happy to pose for selfies or sign autographs, or even to simply say hello to my fans, never imagining that they could be used as camouflage. I had been encouraging that closeness, and it was used against us.”

I wanted to object, but Emmy wasn’t wrong. It was that proximity that we’d been allowing that gave the attackers the cover needed to get close.

“Em, I hate the idea of keeping you away from your fans, I really do, but yeah, we do need to do just that. Maybe not in more casual settings, like when a fan comes over to say hello in a restaurant or something, but definitely in larger groups. And honestly? I’m pretty sure they’ll all understand,” I said.

“I would expect so,” Emmy admitted.

“Also, we’re going to need to keep a fair number of obvious bodyguards around you for a while- at least until I root out the assholes who planned the attack. It needs to be obvious that another frontal assault won’t go anywhere, so whenever you’re out we’ll have at least four guys with you,” I told her. "We’re going to start a special program. It won’t just be Tiny- it’ll be a rotating group of guys.”

“How is Jeremy doing?” Emmy asked.

“I sent him to the townhouse in New York. I told him that the only thing he needs to concentrate on now is recovering from his injuries. Luisa and Wally can help him get back on his feet,” I said.

“And when he has recovered?” Emmy asked.

“He’ll be back here with you. He’s proven that he’s willing to sacrifice himself to save you, after all, and willing to kill to defend you. Once he’s back up to full strength I’m going to start working with him, to make him sharper than he’s ever been. He relies too much on his size and strength- he needs to up his game with his skills.”

“How does he feel about that?” Emmy asked.

“He resents the time he’ll be off his feet. He would be here now if I’d let him.”

“I wonder if he will get the tattoo now?” Emmy mused.

“Which tattoo is that?”

“Your ‘hitters’, Leah… They have started what has become a tradition, I guess. When they accept the position as a hitter, they get a tattoo of your dagger on their shoulder.”

“Yeah, that’s what I understand," I said, sighing.

“But those who have taken lives in your service, they get a drop of blood coming from the tip. One drop, one life,” Emmy said.

“That’s… horrifying,” I said, covering my face with my hands, but laughing at the same time. “That has to be a joke.”

“No, it is not,” Emmy said. “Eddie has the most- four drops.”

I let out a breath, slowly shaking my head. “But Eddie… he was a killer before he ever came to us. He escaped King Marfan’s service because he hated what he was made to do. I wonder how many blood drops he would have had when he worked for Marfan?”

“I have never asked him,” Emmy admitted. “But I do think it was more than one.”

“Yeah, I think so, too,” I agreed. “But now he’s ours, and he’s proud, I guess? To display his body count.”

“Leah,” Emmy asked, her voice soft. “Are you?”

“Proud? Just the opposite, actually. Every one of the people I’ve killed deserved it, but I really wish there had been some other way of resolving things, you know?”

“How many?” Emmy asked, barely audible.

“Fifteen, I think,” I told her. “That’s three times as many as Jack The Ripper.”

“You did sound a little proud of that,” Emmy teased.

“It was just a random thought I had the other day while thinking about it,” I admitted. “I’d be among the worst female serial killers in American history if people knew.”

“But that is very different. You have not killed anyone who did not try to kill you first. You are not some sort of sociopath who cares nothing for human life. You are a soldier, fighting in a war. You do it because you must, not because you wish to,” Emmy objected.

“I guess… But try convincing a judge and jury of that if I ever get caught.”

“Just never get caught,” Emmy said, as if it were just that simple.

Katrina was already seated when we made our way down to the restaurant. She looked good, dressed in a sleeveless floral print top and khaki shorts. When she spotted us, she rose out of her seat with a smile. Her smile dimmed a bit as she realized that I was very nearly carrying Emmy, bearing the bulk of her weight as we crossed the dining room to the table.

“Oh my God!” Katrina said, her eyes wide. “I didn’t realize…”

Emmy smiled at Katrina and said, “I am still in quite a bit of pain. It is getting better, but it will be a while before I am back to full health.” Then, changing the topic as I helped her into her seat, she said, “Katrina? You are the naked snorkeling party girl that Leah told me of?”

“Is that how she described me?” Katrina asked, both amused and appalled at the same time.

“She did not use those words in that exact order,” Emmy admitted.

“But yeah, that’s pretty much how I described you,” I said, giving Katrina a smirk.

“Did she tell you that she was snorkeling naked, too?” Katrina demanded, taking her seat.

“She did,” Emmy admitted. “But Leah is widely known as an exhibitionist.”

“Can we not start on that again?” I asked. Turning to Katrina, I said, “I’m not really an exhibitionist. It’s just an old joke.”

“That would be a lot more believable if you actually had any sort of tan lines at all,” Katrina countered.

There was nothing I could say to that, so I just rolled my eyes and let it go.

“Since Leah here is being rude, let me introduce myself,” Katrina said to Emmy. “I’m Katrina Suárez, born and raised here in Miami.”

“Emmy De Lascaux, born and raised in Paris, France,” Emmy responded, reaching across the table to shake Katrina’s hand. “I feel as if I know you at least a little bit, from what Leah has told me of you.”

“Well, Leah hardly said anything about you,” Katrina groused. “Getting any sort of information out of her was like pulling teeth.”

“So it is true, then?” Emmy asked. “You do work for the CIA and were trying to get information from her?”

“Oh, God,” Katrina said, burying her face in her hands.

Luckily she was saved by the waiter arriving just then to hand out menus and ask for our drink order. Once he’d gone, Katrina leaned back in her chair and let her shoulders slump.

“No, I don’t work of the CIA, or the DEA, or the FBI, and anything like that.” Turning to me, she said, “But you know, ever since you brought it up, you’ve got me thinking, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find out Dad was working with them. I don’t think he’s, you know, an actual agent or anything, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear he has connections.”

“Everybody in Cartagena certainly seems to think he does,” I said with a shrug.

“So, I guess it’s realistic to think that once I get established in Dad’s company, they might, I don’t know, reach out to me or something,” Katrina said, playing with her napkin.

“Well, when they do, get them to send you to personal defense school or whatever it is they call it in Langley,” I said.

“Will they teach me to stick knives up peoples’ noses?” Katrina asked. “God, I can still see that guy, lying there on the ground, terrified for his life.”

“No, I learned that from an old movie,” I said.

“Knife up a nose?” Emmy asked, puzzled.

“You didn’t tell her about that? You told her we snorkeled naked, but couldn’t be bothered to tell her about those guys that tried to jump us?” Katrina asked.

“Didn’t seem important,” I said, taking a sip of the Coke that had just been set down.

Katrina took in a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “I saw the video, you know,” she said, not looking at me. “You really could have killed those three guys that night. I couldn’t believe how fast you laid those guys out, but you… If you’d have wanted to, they would all have been dead before they even knew it,” she said, her voice just a bit shaky.

“Leah is a lion,” Emmy said, resting her hand on Katrina’s. “A true lion. The lesser animals of the jungle do not stand a chance against her. What happened with this man and his nose?”

“We went out to dance, you know? Katrina said, collecting her thoughts. “Me and Leah, we’d gone out before, and she saved me from being date-raped- did she tell you that?”

“No, I do not think she did,” Emmy said, looking questioningly at me.

“Well, this Canadian asshole roofied me, you know? And Leah, she brought me back safe to the hotel, so, like, I knew I would be safe if I went out with her, you know?”

“I understand,” Emmy said.

“So we went out again, because, you know, I was soooo bored there and my Dad didn’t want me going out by myself…”

“He sounds as if he understood the dangers better than you did,” Emmy said, but the tone of her voice kept it from sounding reproachful.

“Yeah, well, I guess so,” Katrina admitted. “Anyway we went out again, and as we were walking back to the hotel these three guys tried to mug us, you know? But Leah was like bam! Pow! She hit the three guys so hard and fast I didn’t even really see what happened. She told two of them to, like, fuck off, and they took off running. The third guy was lying on the ground with, I dunno, broken ribs or something, so Leah grabs the knife one of the other two dropped and sticks it right the fuck up this guy’s nose. Like so far up his nose that it had to be, like, poking his brain, you know?” she asked, making a gesture with her index finger to illustrate what she meant. “She tells me to tell him in Spanish that if they even so much as touched me, she would have killed all three of them. I mean, this guy is lying on the wet pavement, holding his chest in pain, and she has this knife stuck up his nose! Can you imagine that? She’s leaning down over him, this knife so far up his nose there’s barely any blade showing, and she tells me to tell him that he came this close to dying,” she said, holding her index finger and thumb about a quarter inch apart. “I was terrified, but that guy? I’m amazed he didn’t die of fear right then and there. So once Leah is convinced he understands how close he came to just getting killed, she pulls the knife out of his nose and casually, like, throws it away, as if it didn’t matter anymore. She takes my hand and pulls me along, and we stop a few blocks later for some pandebono like nothing ever happened.”

“How did that make you feel?” Emmy asked, leaning forward.

“God, that’s a hard question to answer, you know?” Katrina said, leaning back. “I was scared when the three guys tried to jump us, but Leah… She was so fast I didn’t even understand what was happening until she grabbed that knife off the ground and, well, stuck it up that guy’s nose.”

“That seems to have made a very big impression on you,” Emmy said.

“I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life,” Katrina admitted. “I’d never seen anything so…”

“Have you ever seen documentaries from Africa?” Emmy asked, getting a puzzled look from Katrina. “Have you ever seen a lion leap from the tall grass and take down an animal with a single swipe of her claws? That is Leah. Those men thought they were predators, but they were only small wild dogs, nothing but a nuisance for a real lion.”

“I was thinking that night that they might as well have stepped in front of a bus,” Katrina admitted. “They never stood a chance, and they just didn’t know.”

“They know now,” Emmy said.

“Oh, they sure as Hell do,” Katrina said. “That’s one of those life-changing moments, if you know what I mean.”

“Was it for you?” Emmy asked, curious.

“Was it what?”

“Life-changing,” Emmy clarified.

“I… Well, yeah, maybe,” Katrina replied, thinking about it. She paused while the waiter set our food down, then once he’d gone, she continued. “Like, John Wick seems a lot more realistic now. I mean, I actually saw somebody do that stuff in real life, right?”

“That is all?” Emmy pressed.

“No… I guess not,” Katrina admitted. “Thinking about it afterwards, what made the biggest impression was how calm Leah was about it all. She was, like, completely unfazed by any of it. I mean, she very believably threatened to kill three guys and it seemed like it would be a minor inconvenience at best. I’d never seen anybody so casual about, well, murder, I guess. I don’t mean in a joking way, either. That guy with the knife up his nose, he absolutely just fucking knew his life was hanging by a thread. And what was most terrifying about it? How casual Leah was, I mean, seriously, she could have been paying a taxi driver or something for how emotionally she was invested in the whole thing. Like- God, I don’t even know. Like a shark- or maybe like a train running you over because you happen to be standing on the tracks. The train doesn’t care, but you’re just as dead.”

“And yet you reached out to her today,” Emmy said.

Katrina let out a breath again, then said, “Well, the thing is, none of that, um ‘scary Leah’, was directed at me. She told that guy the only reason he was still alive was because none of the three had even so much as touched me. She saved me from that roofie rapist, too. I took the core psychology series in my sophomore year, so I know what, well, I mean, I know the signs of, like, a sociopath, and that isn’t Leah. Leah’s, like, the most dangerous person I’ve ever met, but… Well, not towards me, if that makes sense.”

“It does,” Emmy said, nodding.

“So… when I saw the video online, um, I guess it didn’t surprise me, you know? My roommate saw it first and told me I had to watch it. I’d told her all about what happened in Cartagena and told her you were Emmy’s wife, Leah, so she knew… Well, I mean…” Katrina said, her thoughts jumbled.

“But, like, I’d already told Tish about what happened, and how you beat those guys up, and the knife and all that, right? So she saw this video and she, um, connected things. She told me I had to watch it, and so I did, but I really kinda wish I never did.”

“Was the violence too much?” Emmy asked, her voice gentle.

“Well, yeah, but… I guess I’d half convinced myself that Leah had, like, put on a show there in Cartagena and was just playing tough when she told that guy she would have killed all three… But now, there’s no way to deny it,” Katrina said. “You know, back in Colombia, Leah kept giving me a hard time about being a CIA agent, right? She must have told you, because you asked about it right when you sat down, right?” Katrina said to Emmy. “It sort of became part of a running joke, that and drug smuggling-”

“And hidden landing strips,” I added.

“And landing strips,” Katrina admitted, rolling her eyes. “So after the whole nose knife thing I gave Leah a hard time about being a hired cartel killer or something. Well, if she wasn’t on their payroll, they were seriously missing prime hire.”

“They couldn’t afford me. Besides, like I told you, I’ve never killed anybody for money,” I said.

Katrina looked as if she was going to say something, but stopped herself. After a moment of thought, she turned to Emmy.

“I’m sorry to say it, but I’ve never been a fan of The Downfall, but after hanging out with Leah in Colombia, I got tickets to the show when I saw you were going to play here in Miami. Then, with what happened in Atlanta, everybody assumed the show would be canceled, you know? But then you announced that you weren’t going to cancel the tour, so… You know, I saw tickets like mine going for over a thousand bucks on scalper sites? I almost sold mine, but then thought I’d regret missing it… So Tish and I saw the show last night, and wow… I don’t even know what to say. At the end? When you sang ‘Beautiful World’, I freaking cried like a baby. I mean, seriously, just thinking about it now I’m starting to tear up,” Katrina said, her voice definitely getting a bit husky.

“Why did it make you cry?” Emmy asked.

“It’s just… Anybody could tell you were in pain up there on the stage, and everybody in the whole world knows you just lost your, um, other wife and both babies, right? But you sang that song so beautifully- it was like Pandora’s Box, with hope the last thing to escape. God, does that sound cheesy?” Katrina asked. “But yeah, like, despite all this shit that happened to you, you could still sing about how wonderful the world is. It was literally heart-breaking.” Taking a moment to think, Katrina said, “So, I guess I just hoped that Leah would introduce us, you know? I wanted to meet the person who could do that. The person who could find the good after so much bad.”

“I am glad that you reached out to Leah- I was curious about you, too,” Emmy admitted. “She told us about the two of you going dancing, and of course, the naked swimming, so I wanted to meet the woman who could get Leah to let her hair down.”

“She is pretty serious, isn’t she?” Katrina said, glancing over at me.

“Very,” Emmy said with a genuine smile.