Hitman's Creed - 63

 

"Not true. I do it, just for the…" Glenn made quotes with his fingers, "the good guys."

"That was the trade-off; they wiped the slate clean in exchange for your becoming their private hitman?"

"I prefer the term liquidator, and, yes, for two years I was exactly that. Now I'm freelance."

"Freelance?"

"They have jobs for me, I can say yea or nay, depending."

"Why not just totally walk away now that it's safe?"

Glenn smiled a bit. "I guess because now I am working for people who are trying to keep the world safe, as cliché as it might sound. I'm one of the best around, and that's no brag, so why not put it to use in some positive way to make up for how I was before."

"I suppose it would be naive of me if I didn't get that what you're doing is necessary."

"But you don't like the idea. Understood."

"Did I say that? Don't go putting words in my mouth. I'm a cop, maybe just a small town one but I do know there are people out there who don't deserve to be left alive. Unfortunately there's nothing I can do about it, being what I am, how I am. That doesn't mean someone else shouldn't."

Glenn cocked his head in agreement. "So now you know what I am, and why, well part of the reason why, I did my best to keep you at arm's length."

Joey nodded slowly. "When you ran… umm, was it after that when you decided to talk to those people?"

"Yes. At that point I really had nothing to lose. I could have stayed, no one knew who I was and I'd made damned sure no one from my past could ever find me. But I didn't see that as an option. I..." Glenn pressed his lips together as if trying to keep the words in. "Even if you had been willing to be with me, as old as I am, everything we might have had together would have been based on a lie."

"Damn it," Joey growled, "will you drop it with the age thing. I've had that up to here." He touched the top of his forehead. "I can see what you were thinking however. At that point, if you'd admitted what you had been, I would have run like hell, and if I found out later it would have been the end of it because you hadn't trusted me enough to tell me."

"Exactly. So as I said, I had nothing to lose by trying to get my life onto the track I wanted. I had something to offer them if they were interested, in exchange for my… freedom, I guess."

Joey frowned. "You could be sitting in the penitentiary right now."

"True, that was a definite risk but at that point I really didn't care. Well…" he added with a small grin, "not too much anyway."

Joey looked around then, taking in the house and the property that surrounded it, before returning his gaze to Glenn. "Why did you come back?"

"Because this is my home."

"Oh." Joey tried to hide the hurt he felt. "Well, welcome home. Thanks for being honest with me about… everything. Now I guess I should leave and let you get back to whatever you were doing."

"Fixing the roof." Glenn watched as Joey stood. "I also came back because you were here," he said very softly. "Against my better judgment, but I did."

Although Joey felt unbelievable elation when the meaning of Glenn's words sank in, he showed none of it on his face. In fact he frowned, his hands tightening into fists. "And what if there's someone else in my life now? What then?"