7 I Can't Do That If You're Dead

Who on earth was this man? He hadn't so much as given Claire his name. He had been wearing a black hoodie with the hood up this entire time so she didn't know his hair color either.

He had sharp ice blue eyes and an oval face that was completely expressionless. He hadn't spoken a single word more than necessary during their interactions and she had been too terrified to ask any questions not directly related to what they were doing.

Once the shock wore off earlier she had been dying to know who those men in the park were and what they wanted with him but couldn't make herself form the question. Not with the cavalier way she had seen this man handle those three bodies.

He wasn't the slightest bit affected, as if he saw this every day. Like dumping bodies was as normal as taking out the trash.

Claire wanted to get back to normal and try to collect the shattered pieces of her sanity as soon as possible. Maybe if she slept this off she could pretend it had all been a nightmare. At this point that might be the only way she would be able to get past what happened.

Just a bad dream caused by watching crime shows by herself too late at night again. It had happened several times before because she was a binger that could not stand cliffhangers.

'I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine' repeated like a mantra in her head. If she thought it enough times, she might be able to believe it by sheer force of will!

Once the man finished his task he turned to look at her and spoke for the first time since telling her where to turn when they drove here. "You aren't safe. Those men were after you, not me."

Claire's terror at being spoken to momentarily vanished because of shock. She gaped at him unable to formulate a response other than "what?!"

"I don't get it," he continued. "You don't seem like the kind of person a hit would be taken out on at all. Who is paying to kill you? What sort of enemies do you have? I need to know if I am going to keep you alive."

Her mouth went dry. Enemies? When had she ever made enemies? She didn't even have friends! This was all way too mafia movie. She had never heard of a 'hit' happening in real life.

Hang on though…how would this guy know there was a hit on her if he wasn't somehow involved? Claire took two steps back from him. "Look, I don't know anything about enemies or hits. This has to be some sort of mistake!"

He sighed and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. "I suspected that might be the case. I'll do my best anyway. Come on, let's go back to your house. It will be a while before they realize those agents are gone and send new ones. We need to come up with a battle plan."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. He may have saved her life but she was not about to let some stranger who knew how to kill people into her house!

A little voice inside her head piped up. 'I don't think you really have a choice. You would be dead if not for him. He seems to know what he's doing so he probably can protect you.'

Which instinct was Claire supposed to heed? The stranger danger one that had been instilled in her since she was a child or the one telling her to cling to the strongest person in the room for survival?

Her head hurt from thinking too much but she had to make a decision. The more information she had, the easier that would be, even if it did make her headache worse.

She held up her hands in front of her. "Hang on just a minute. Who are you? How do you know someone is after me? How did you take down three guys by yourself? I can't bring you back with me unless I know what I'm getting into."

"Ah," he said calmly. "I'm Six but as for the rest…you have to promise you won't panic again if I tell you."

Claire squinted at him. That wasn't at all suspicious. "Six like the number? Don't you have a last name?"

He shook his head before turning away from her, looking out over the dark ocean. "No. Six is the only name I have. Do you or do you not promise not to panic?"

"Fine, I promise."

"I know there is a hit out on you because it was originally mine," Six admitted in a heavy tone. "Those men were from the same organization as me. I failed to kill you in a timely manner so you got assigned to someone else but I didn't want you to die so I left.

"I have been preventing you from being killed for the past several days. This was their third attempt and I doubt it will be the last. Do you understand now? If you want to stay alive, I am your best bet."

Claire gaped at the hooded man in front of her. Did he seriously just admit to being a hitman sent to kill her? Why would he say something like that?! No, that wasn't important. Why would he decide to protect her instead of do his job?

Her mind raced and it took several minutes to be able to gather her thoughts enough to respond. "Why?" she finally got out. "Why save me?"

Six finally turned back to look at her with a blank expression. "You're different. None of my previous assignments were anything like you and I want to understand why that is. I can't do that if you're dead."

Wow. So straightforward. As far as reasons went it wasn't the strongest one Claire had ever heard but she would have to trust it for now if she didn't want to die. She could die from another set of hitmen or from placing her trust in the wrong person.

In terms of risk she honestly wasn't sure which was worse. She needed more information. "How long have you been watching me?"

"Over a week now," he said flatly. "And you didn't notice a thing. You have no sense of danger; you would already be dead if not for me. Can we go now? Being out in the open is asking to get caught."