Trouble is, it would have been worth their agony if it had worked. It hadn't worked, which puzzled Kermit to no end.

"It should have worked," he mused out loud. "The assassin should have continued to come after me. My only guess would be that, by declaring LOUDLY, for everyone in the hospital to hear, that you had an idea to bring me back from death's door, you shifted the assassin's attention from me to yourself. So, instead of ambushing ME, where there was an ambush waiting for HIM, he followed you. And..." he waved his hand at Vanessa and Jim, "I'm sure you know the rest. When Dr. Sabourin found out you had left the hospital, she let me know."

Letting go a frustrated growl, he continued, "Then, I nearly ripped the young Detective Caine a new orifice for letting you get away and found out that you were on the next plane to MacDill AFB!" Allowing himself an evil grin, he added, "You'll be happy to know he was still looking for his car at the airport when I left."

Savannah smiled sheepishly.

"I raised heaven and hell to catch up to you! Thank God I made it." Kermit waited and took her hands in his. "I'm sorry, Scarlett. I should have let you in on it." He was relieved to read the acceptance in her eyes.

Still angry at another one of his many secrets but not surprised by his actions, Savannah offered her own explanation. "When the doctor told me that the *infection* could cause you to lose your kidney...I just started running the options in my head. You didn't have a great deal of time, or so I thought." Finally, she let him embrace her. "Things just got out of hand after I got that forged note from Jim."

"Yeah, the doc gave you too much information. Think she got a little carried away with the part herself." He kissed the top of her head and let himself be relieved to have HER in one piece.

Jim stepped forward, ignoring his mother as her eyes rolled circles at the scene of the make-up. "Now that we know your part in this, Dad, I'd like to know exactly why someone was trying to kill us."

"To keep you from saving my life," Kermit answered immediately, saving him from his first response, which was *Did he call me 'Dad'??? He called me 'DAD'!!!* He took initiative once more. "C'mon, show's over. Let's get OUT of here. I have a car right behind that gray three-story building. Savannah, you and Vanessa wait for us there while Jim and I reconnoitre the area to make sure we got all of them."

"Wait a minute!" Vanessa protested. "You male chauvinist! Why-?"

Kermit turned to look at her. "Please."

"Oh, all right." Vanessa took Savannah's arm in a friendly girl-chat fashion. "He never lets me have any fun!"

Kermit nodded to Jim. "Come on."

The two men watched as the women turned the corner. Vanessa still looked like a debutante but she held the gun at the ready. Savannah gripped hers tightly as she kept the barrel pointed to the ground. Kermit smiled - he knew Savannah really didn't like guns.

"You're sure they'll be okay?" Jim asked him.

"Yes, I'm sure. Thank you."

Jim blinked, sure that he had missed something. He knew Kermit wouldn't thank him for asking if the women would be okay. "For what?" he asked.

"For coming to help me," Kermit said, his expression not betraying his churned-up feelings for an instant. "Even though it wasn't needed. This time. I...appreciate it."

Jim smiled, waving off the thanks. "It was nothing....Say, remember what you said when we first met? I mean, when I knew who you were."

Kermit shrugged, not getting it.

"You said, 'you want me to donate a kidney or something.'" Jim grinned, finding the irony amusing.

Kermit chuckled as well. "Let's go to it."

*****

The hired help had been less than satisfactory. Anger bubbling at the impotence of the mercenary forces that had been summarily defeated at what should have been nothing more than a turkey shoot, the assassin flung down the binoculars.

"If you want something done right," came the mumbled disgust.

Griffin and the boy were after the stragglers. Leaving such a lovely target open for the taking. Murderous humor raked a smile over the assassin's lips.

"Ready or not, Mrs. Griffin. Here I come!"

Chambers loaded, the assassin began the hunt.

*****

"Hello there, 'sugar.'"

Savannah looked at the deadly brunette standing in front of her, gun in hand, praying that Vanessa was nearby. The woman had mimicked her accent derisively but she ignored it. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Isn't that obvious by now, sugar?" She pouted her lips and mimicked further. "'Oh, Kermit, *please* be all right...I love you...please!' God - I wanted to puke! I'm sure he was on the verge of it...."

Savannah, open-mouthed, regarded the woman. She was there at the dedication and she was here, now. She was the assassin! Suddenly, Savannah had to steel herself not to react. She saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. Vanessa had seen them. All Savannah had to do was to buy her time.

"Of course I said that," Savannah said calmly. "I was worried about him!"

"You pamper him too much," the brunette told her. "You should be tough - tell him to quit wallowing and get up! But that won't be your place anymore. You see, your time is over."

*Dammit, Vanessa! Where are you?!!* Savannah thought as she fought her fear.

"Did you like my slithery little friend, Savannah?"

Savannah's temper exploded before she could stop it. "You BITCH!! There was a baby in the car with me. My baby! That thing could have killed her instead!"

The woman started to giggle. A psychotic cascading sound. "That's just two for the price of one, my pretty." As Savannah gasped in horror, she mused, "So, where is the little one? Oh, well, I'll track her down eventually."

Savannah's fury caused her to take a step forward, despite the gun. "You keep away from her! Don't you touch her or...or...!"

"Ooh! I'm scared!" the woman taunted. "Somehow, your threats lack-"

She spun around as Vanessa took the last step at a crouch to sneak behind her. Vanessa stopped where she was, now finding a gun pointed one inch away from her temple.

"NO!" Savannah cried out.

The woman looked at her, not wavering the gun a millimeter. "Such concern for a fellow rival? I'm surprised, Savannah." Turning back, she gestured with her other hand at Vanessa. "Drop the gun, dear Vanessa."

Vanessa did so, reluctantly, never taking her eyes off of the woman and the gun.

"That was a mistake," she told Vanessa softly. "You know I'll shoot you both. Taking me out at the same time was your only chance."

Vanessa managed to sneak a glance at Savannah and threw her a look. It was a look that Kermit had often given her, one that said, "I'll distract them - you RUN!" Savannah tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Here Vanessa was offering herself as a sacrifice to Savannah's life! She vowed to repay her 'rival' the second she could get away to get to Kermit. She tried to sidle an inch away but the woman noticed.

"Don't leave the party yet, Savannah!" The gun muzzle was pressed up against Vanessa's temple. "You have to watch me execute her!"

Savannah froze, torn with indecision. If she bolted, the woman might just kill Vanessa. But if she stayed, she might follow through on her threat. She decided that the woman took too much enjoyment in taunting them so she should stay, hoping that that would delay the 'execution'.

"You can't tell me, Savannah," the woman continued, lifting Vanessa's chin with the muzzle, "that you can stand this bitch! She's always SOOOO perfect, so beautiful...You can't tell me that you haven't wished her dead!"

"I have had some stirrings of jealousy," Savannah confessed to try vainly to distract the woman.

"You see," the woman told Vanessa, stroking the underside of Vanessa's chin with the gun. "No one will miss you. You should thank me for ending your miserable existence....Did it ever occur to you that people, Kermit especially, found that pseudo-aristocracy BORING!????"

"I'll miss her," Savannah pleaded. The woman turned to look at her. "Please don't....We're very different but I'm proud to call Vanessa a friend...PLEASE don't...."

"Well, Savannah, I'm impressed." The brunette kept her gun on Vanessa. "That's very big of you to call your rival a friend. Even when you know that, the second you turn your back, she'll try to steal Kermit away from you. You know I'm right." The brunette matched her gaze with Vanessa's terrified brown eyes. "Savannah...bid your friend good-bye."

Savannah couldn't believe it. She didn't believe it even when she saw the woman tighten her grip on the gun. Saw Vanessa close her eyes. Saw the woman aim....

"NOOOO!" Savannah cried out helplessly.

The gun moved downward and fired a direct shot into Vanessa's chest, propelling the beautiful spy backward, causing her to slump bonelessly against the crates. Savannah then saw the gun being turned toward her. Tears sprang to Savannah's eyes while she leaped for cover.

*I can't believe it!* Savannah thought desperately as she tried to find a way out through the crates. *Vanessa....* Her husband's ex-wife wasn't a close friend, true, but to see the woman gunned down like that in cold blood....She suffered, knowing that Kermit would suffer...and what about how Jim would feel...?

Savannah forced herself to think of her own well-being. She could find no way out. These crates and boxes stacked up on top of each other offered no escape. Reaching a dead end, she turned around to see the woman holding the gun on her calmly. Savannah looked desperately to the right and then to the left. There was no way out.

Tears beginning to form, she closed her eyes. "I love you, Kermit," she said out loud, defiant to her killer. "I love you, Kat."

The woman laughed. "This is too easy."

Savannah tried not to gasp in surprise when she heard the woman's footsteps recede. She waited for a full minute before opening her eyes and cautiouslymaking her way back. There was no sign of the woman when she peeked out of the crevice where she had ran into when Vanessa was shot. But Vanessa was still lying there, unmoving. Savannah had to see if she was still alive. For Kermit and Jim, especially. Savannah had seen Kermit survive some heinous wounds....

Savannah went over to her and felt for a pulse. There was a very light one, but it didn't make Savannah feel much better. She had heard that a heart would beat, even separated from the human body. But at least she knew Vanessa had a chance.

She ran to get Kermit and Jim.

*****

She found them as they were taking care of the last of the thugs. "Kermit!" she screamed out loud.

Kermit's head snapped up. *What the hell?!!* He scanned the scene to find Savannah screaming out his name and waving her arms for his attention and cursed. "Is she crazy?" he snapped out loud to Jim as they finished off their opponents. "If there're any more, they are going to go right to her! I'm going to shoot her if they don't beat me to it!" In desperation to get to his wife, Kermit drew and, with his usual deadly aim, fired three shots to take care of the last three. "Come on!" he shouted to Jim and made his way over to Savannah's side.

Minutes later, he was grabbing her by the arms. "Are you crazy?!" he snapped to her face. "You're making yourself a target! Why the hell didn't you waitin the car-?!"

"SHUT UP!!!" Savannah snapped back.

Stunned, Kermit closed his mouth. Then, he finally began to realize his wife's condition. Dirty dress, dried tears on her face, haunted, grief-stricken expression....

Seeing that she'd finally gotten through to him, she continued, but no less urgently, "It's Vanessa! She's been shot! Come on - I'll show you."

Feeling like the worst kind of jerk, Kermit followed with Jim close behind. "Who was it?" Kermit asked Savannah urgently.

"A woman," Savannah told him. "She didn't say her name but she knew all about us! About Vanessa! Vanessa seemed to know her but nobody would say her name."

Kermit frowned. It must be one of his enemies in the agency, trying to pay him back for something he did. But, with one look at Vanessa, he knew he didn't have time to think of it now.

When Kermit saw her, he rushed to her side, checking her pulse. "Nessie! Come on, don't do this!" he blurted without thinking. He smoothed her hair back from her face and gently examined the wound. "Get me a cloth, someone."

Savannah gave him a cloth without a sound and Kermit applied it to stop the leeding. "We're going to have to move her," Kermit said. "No choice - onlya hospital can help her. Jim, go get the car. Keys are in the ashtray."

Jim dashed off as Kermit inclined Vanessa's body slightly to lift her up. As she was lifted, her head lolled back and her eyes fluttered open. She moaned softly against the tidal wave of pain.

Hearing her, Kermit carefully took her in arms. "It's okay, Nessie. You're going to be okay."

"Ker...." A tortured cough broke from her and tears welled up against the pain.

"We're getting you out of here," reassured Kermit. "Ness...can you tell me who did it? Who was it?"

"Kermit!" Savannah chided. Leaning closer to Vanessa, she said, "Don't talk, Vanessa. Just relax. We'll have you to the hospital in no time."

Vanessa's eyes locked with Savannah's for a few seconds and mouthed a word."What?" Kermit leaned down so that he could hear her better. She apparentlywas successful as Savannah saw Kermit gasp ever so slightly for breath at the name. Whoever they were up against, it was major.

Exhausted by the effort, Vanessa closed her eyes and returned to blissful, painless unconsciousness as Jim sped up towards them with the car.

*****

Kermit, Savannah and Jim took up positions as sentries in the hospital waiting room. The torturous waiting began.

"Who is it, Kermit?" Savannah asked, her arms wrapped around his. "What didVanessa say?"

Kermit paused. "Julia," he said with an effort. "My second wife."

Savannah felt a cold chill lance through her. Julia was a psychopath. An agent with such deep-seated unbalance that she should have never been loosed on the world. Julia loved violence in all forms. As an inflictor of terror...and sickeningly enough, also as a recepient.

It all made sense now. The snake. The dedication ceremony. All products of a twisted mind. Even Paul Blaisdell had the shudders when he spoke of her.

Having told her in great detail of Julia's insidious history, Kermit didn't have to explain now. Julia had been a refuge. A pair of open arms to his own insanity at the time. Fresh into 'the business' and stripped of his family, he was ripe for the picking....

*****

Kermit Griffin slipped unceremoniously into his apartment. Diving into the darkened sanctuary that had become home. But it was a poor excuse for home. Home didn't exist anymore. A luxury now beyond his means. He didn't spend much time here anyway. This apartment, purchased with the proceeds of his first bloodbath of a mission, was merely a resting place for his things. The remnants of another life that seemed a hundred years past.

At twenty-three, he was a killer. Inside and out. His only option after those animals had planted an assassin inside of him in Vietnam. He couldn't rip it out or repair his altered nature. It had cost him Marilyn and David and hope. Inflicting pain was all he knew now.

A rancid job...but profitable. The blood money was piling up and he planned to ship as much as possible to Marilyn. Just like he'd promised. Even so, Kermit Griffin was developing a lifestyle to cushion the shards of loss. The finer things. Good wine. More records than he could store. Time to read all the books he wanted when he wasn't on a mission.

Pouring himself a glass, he sank down onto the sofa and tried to wash the memory of his good days work down his throat. The monster had run free this afternoon. Bones crushed under the force of his knuckles. That shallow, greedy double agent begging for mercy as the framework of his face melted into shattered fragments.

It felt good. That was the frightening part. Kermit had enjoyed it. He knew it. At that moment in time, the dark side lashed out and lived. It made himsick.

Leaning forward to pull an LP from the bookcase, his body tensed into readiness. A muffled sound. A fist into a pillow. Soft clinking sounds....

Feigning ignorance, the newly trained agent eased up from his seat, scanning the room for the telltale shadow. In three steps, the man reached the lightswitch. On fluid sweep snuffed the lights and jerked his weapon from his waistband.

The attack he expected remained stalled. No force from out of the darkness. No whiz of bullets or slice of blade.

Then there was another sound. He had to strain to hear it. To define it. Skin sliding over sheets. Rustling fabric.

He stepped closer.

A giggle. Light and mocking.

"Are you going to stand there all night or come in here?" called the taunting voice from his bedroom.

Sliding through the shadows littering his apartment, Kermit inched toward the voice. Crouching low, he peered around the barrier of the bedroom door into a room flickering with a single candle.

"Oh, what are you waiting for?! I won't bite." Grinning and stretching her nude body out over Kermit's bed, the woman added, "Unless you bite me first."

"What makes you think I want to?" The adrenaline was morphing fear into annoyance.

The woman laughed an eerie unwholesome cackle. "Because I KNOW you."

Slamming his fist into the lightswitch, he stomped through fury to snatch the woman up by her wrist. Meeting no resistance, he pulled her up to growl into her face. "Who the hell are you?"

Groaning in apparent ecstacy, the woman licked her lips. "Your babysitter, Julia." No fear met his glare. If any emotion allowed definition, it was indescribable joy at the rough treatment. Not the reaction the young man was going for.

Julia's mouth formed a pout as Kermit released her wrists, flinging her back onto the bed. "Leroy has me evaluating you, dear one. They have this idea that your particular *disposition* could be difficult to manage." At his shocked expression, Julia seductively grabbed the headboard and stretched out. "You have left quite a bloodbath in your six months of services, Griffin. They're starting to worry that you can't be controlled."

"I can't." She was hot. An experienced agent he'd never met, only heard of from the occasional loose tongue. Dark hair licking her face. Granite eyes boring through his mask of indifference.

As evenly as if she were wearing a business suit instead of her skin, Julia filled a glass with champagne and offered it to her prey. "Don't you want to know what I told Leroy about your *smashing* performance today?"

Snatching the glass, he spat, "To pack my shit and ship me to Siberia?"

"Nooooo," she purred and crawled closer to the wary man perched to spring at the slightest provocation. "I told them that the mark's own people did that plastic surgery on his face." Laying a cautious hand on his arm, Julia teased, "Such a shame. He was very pretty...and connected."

Lines were forming between the dots of his confusion. "So I'm supposed to be grateful to you?" Ice formed down his back as her hand traced the ridged backbone.

"You just don't get it, do you? I LIKE the way you are. It's raw...and honest...and necessary..." Julia punctuated her words with sharp teeth digging lightly into his neck. "They should leave you alone and let you operate. I'll help you do that...if you'll let me."

Her breath felt like a silken rope tangling around his neck. Choking and burning. She wasn't fragile or afraid. The woman slithered into his lap and violently probed his mouth with her tongue.

It was dirty and angry. He felt angry and she didn't care. She was warm and there and it had been so long for him without comfort. Decent women were a memory. Julia was indecent but accepting. For the moment, a fair trade. Returning the driving passion, Kermit freed his hands and threw his revolver onto the floor. Burying himself in her flesh and mouth.

Without warning, a small hand wrenched his head back by the hair.

Off guard, he yelped, "Hey! What's your damn problem?! Stop doing that!" Heshook his head free only to nod it into a razor sharp slap.

Icicles fairly dripped from her lips as she hissed, "Make me."

Seeing his temper barely cloaked with a film of humanity, Julia slapped himagain. The sting biting into her palm. "MAKE ME, SOLDIER!!!"

The slaps remembered from that hellhole thousands of miles and years away sprang to life. Throwing her body back onto the bed, he held the offending hands at bay. Blinded in the maelstrom of sex and violence and nightmare those sharp slaps had dragged to life.

Immersed in the violence she had provoked, Julia reveled in the pain and pleasure and control she could wield over the man whose bed she ruled.

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