A Matter of Trust by ReeseFan75

A Matter of Trust

Chapter 1

The Blonde woman rushed along the crowded New York sidewalk looking over her shoulder every few feet. John Reese watched the woman through his M82A1’s scope, his finger at the ready on the trigger. He was just as comfortable tracking his target from the fifth story window of the building he was currently in as he would be following her on foot. Reese had been watching over and studying the woman, Janet Crawford, for three days now; ever since The Machine had provided Finch with her number. They had come to find out through Finch’s research and Reese’s surveillance that Janet was being stalked by her abusive ex-husband who had every intention of killing her.

Reese could tell that Janet was becoming more frightened. Her pace had increased and she was looking behind her more often than where she was going. She bumped into a red-headed woman walking the opposite way. To anyone else it would have looked like a complete accident but Reese noticed the woman slipping something into Janet’s purse.

Reese touched his earpiece and spoke quietly. “Finch, I think we might have a problem.”

“What is it Mr. Reese? Is Ms. Cochran alright?”

“I’m not sure. A woman just slipped something into Janet’s purse. Bumped into her, made it look like an accident. Can you pull up the footage and keep her in sight?”

“I’m pulling it up now.” Finch responded.

Reese had a split second to decide whether to get down to Janet or remain in his position and be ready to fire. What happened next made his decision for him.

The redhead watched Janet continue to rush down the sidewalk for just a moment before she continued on her original path. Reese watched as the woman slid her hand under her leather jacket to the small of her back; something Reese himself had done countless times before. He watched her slide something slowly forward yet still kept it hidden under her jacket. Instinctively he knew it was a firearm.

“Mr. Reese, I have the woman on screen now. I’m trying to find out who she is but the facial recognition scans are coming back with nothing. I’ll keep trying. “

The woman altered her course slightly so that she was walking straight into the path of a very large man. The man, Reese knew, was Janet’s ex-husband Ron Cochran who had been following Janet for almost five blocks.

“Mr. Reese, are you seeing this?”

“Yeah Finch, I’ve got eyes on her.” He watched with morbid curiosity as the redhead purposefully walked straight into Ron.

Ron immediately started yelling at the woman. Reese couldn’t hear what they were saying but he could tell that Ron was extremely agitated and Reese was now worried for the woman’s safety.

Compared to Ron’s height of 6’3, the woman looked to be about 5’7. He knew not to underestimate an opponent strictly because of their size but this would definitely not be a fair fight. Ron was now trying to force the woman out of his way but she was having none of that. She used her shoulder to shove Ron sideways into the alley they were right in front of. Reese couldn’t see their exchange clearly now but he could tell that Ron now had the woman pinned up against the wall on the far side of one of the large dumpsters lining the alley.

“Mr. Reese…” Finch started.

“I’m on my way down there now.”

Reese quickly rose and raced down the stairs to the side exit of the building. He dropped the gun into a dumpster and ran up to the sidewalk directly across the street from the alley where he had watched the woman push Ron. He hurried across the street to the alley’s entrance.

The alley appeared empty but Reese heard muffled voices further back. He moved slowly forward, his eyes scanning everywhere for objects that could be used as weapons, possible escape routes, everything that he had been trained to look for in unknown situations and in unfamiliar territory such as this. A flash of movement caught his eye over the top of a dumpster further down the alley. He pulled his Glock from the small of his back and advanced toward the dumpster.

Reese reached the dumpster and crouched on the opposite side of where Ron had the woman pinned.

“Who the hell do you think you are lady?” Ron hissed.

“I’m the person who’s going to make sure your ex-wife never has to look over her shoulder in fear for her life again.” The woman confidently returned.

Reese’s brows rose; intrigued at the woman’s brass.

“Bitch, you got no idea who you’re dealing with.”

“Actually, I do Ron…” She drew out his name.

Reese heard Ron’s quick intake of breath.

“The fuck? Wha…what the hell did I do to you lady and how do you know my name? I got no beef with you but I am in a hurry. We’re gonna go our separate ways now, you got that?”

The woman chucked darkly.

“You’re right Ron. You have no beef with me but I do have a beef with you because you see… you’re an asshole, an asshole and a wife beater to boot. But that’s not enough for you. You’ve got to be a murderer too.”

Reese heard shuffling and he slowly moved towards the back of the dumpster. He was able to see clearly through the space between the alley wall and the back of the dumpster. The woman had her gun pushed into Ron’s crotch. Ron’s hands were raised but the woman had her left arm around Ron’s waist holding him so that he couldn’t back away. She pulled at Ron’s back and flipped them around so that she now had his back against the wall.

“Murderer? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really, Ron? So, you had no intention of killing Janet with the knife in your left jacket pocket?”

She roughly pulled back Ron’s jacket and pulled the knife from exactly where she had said it was. She held it up to Ron’s face. His eyes glued to the knife. Reese watched Ron’s jaw muscle twitch in anger. The corner of the woman’s mouth pulled up in a condescending smirk. She tossed the knife into the dumpster so that there was no chance that Ron could take it back from her before she was finished with him. Then she reached into her own jacket pocket and pulled out a syringe with clear liquid already in the chamber. Ron’s eyes watched the woman’s actions and his eyes widened when she pulled out the syringe.

“You know what this is Ron?” She held the syringe up in front of his face.

He swallowed audibly. “No, should I?”

“Not really…big name, too many letters for your Neanderthal brain.” Ron’s lip curled up in a sneer that bared his tar-yellowed teeth.

“Oh, I’m sorry did I hurt your feelings?” She said in a mocking voice. “I don’t typically make it a practice to toy with my prey, but with you I just can’t seem to help myself.”

“Fucking cow, I’m going to enjoy myself while I’m choking the life out of that pretty little neck of yours.” He growled.

“Aww, you think my neck’s pretty? How sweet, but that won’t save you today you disgusting prick.”

Before Ron could blink she rammed the syringe between his legs and depressed the plunger. The drug worked quickly and Ron was slumped against the alley wall within seconds. She knew that an M.E. wouldn’t examine Ron’s genitals during a routine autopsy for a heart attack victim and that’s exactly what this was going to look like.

“Good riddance asshole.” She mumbled as she replaced her gun, pocketed the syringe and walked towards the entrance of the alley.

“That was…interesting.” Finch whispered.

Reese quietly stood as he watched her reach the end of the alley and turn left back onto the sidewalk.

“Yes, quite.” Reese answered.

He quickly followed after her.

“Have you found anything on her yet Finch?”

“No not yet. I’ll let you know as soon as I do Mr. Reese.”

“Just keep her in sight Finch.”

“Hmm, that shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Meaning?”

“Oh nothing…it’s just that I’ve had less pleasing things to track.”

Reese’s brow cocked as he laughed quietly under his breath.

The woman glanced behind her quickly and Reese could almost swear she met his eyes before she turned back around. Her pace didn’t change but he saw her hand slip back and brush the back of her jacket for just a moment.

“Hey Finch, I’m going to back off a bit. I think she may have noticed me.”

“Well now Mr. Reese that would be a first.”

Reese smirked at Finch’s comment. He watched the woman’s long red curls bounce as she moved through the crowd. And then she was gone. He stopped and scanned the crowd where she had been seconds ago.

“Finch, where did she go? I lost her.”

He started walking to where he had last seen her. He walked about a block and glanced down an alley as he was passing it and thought he saw a flash of red. He quickly pivoted and was for the second time today walking down a narrow alley.

“Finch? Are you there?”

“Ye…Yes. Yes, I’m here.”

“What’s wrong Finch?”

“The woman you’re following…” Finch broke off again.

“Harold?”

Reese saw the flash of red again a second before it had him pushed against the wall. The only reason he was there and she wasn’t writhing on the ground with a bullet wound in some choice part of her body was because he had seen it coming. The Glock 17 that had been pressed into Ron Cochran not twenty minutes ago was now pressed into him.

That moment was when Finch started speaking in his earpiece again. “Mr. Reese, her name is Ella Morgan and you’re not going to believe this…but her number just came up.”

Reese glanced down at the gun then back to the blue eyes staring up at him and smiled.

“Hello Ella.”