My Latest Story

OK, so I got pretty bored at time in Arkansas. And so by request, I started writing a story about Taylor and Chloe. I haven't gotten too far, and it's not my best ever, cause I was tired and I sort of rushed it. But still, let me know what you think. Here it is:

Untitled.

Keith Baker

Taylor was sitting on the roof. Not really doing anything, just sitting. Thinking. Waiting. She did this when she felt like she needed to get away. Away from all the chaos of her life. To an outsider she seemed like any normal girl. Normal friends, normal family, normal house, normal life. But it wasn’t. Not in the least. Very few people knew this. Even her closest friends had no idea. She was very good at hiding it.

Taylor sat there on the roof, watching the sun set. This was her favorite time of day. Twilight. She could watch the sun set and know there was indeed a God. She was deep in thought, biting her lip as she watched the last of the sun dip into the mountains in the distance. As she moved some of her long golden-brown hair out of her eyes, her phone rang. She answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hey Taylor! I’m almost at your house.” It was Chloe, one of Taylor’s closest friends. She was to come over that night. They were planning on going to the mall with some other friends, maybe watch a movie. Be normal.

“Cool, I’ll meet you outside and we can leave.” Chloe didn’t have a car yet, so she had to ride with Taylor.

Taylor hopped off of the roof onto her deck and went inside. After grabbing her shoes and her car keys she headed out the front door just as Chloe was reaching her house.

“Ready?” Taylor asked, opening the car door.

“Yeah, let’s go!” Chloe answered.

So they were off to the mall. And it was the last normal thing either of them would do for a long, long time.”

The two had a pretty good time at the mall. They met up with some friends, had some food, the usual. It was late when they arrived back at Taylor’s house. Almost midnight.

“Alright, you just wanna stay the night?” Taylor asked.

“Sure, might as well. Do you think your parents will mind?”

“Nah, they’re probably already asleep anyways. We just gotta be quite.”

Chloe giggled and nodded and the two headed inside. The stumbled up a flight of stairs in the dark. When they reached the top, Taylor flipped on some lights. Chloe saw the bodies first.

Chloe let out a nice long scream. Taylor reacted to the noise the only way she knew how. “Chloe! I just told you to be qui-“ She was cut off by the sight of her father and mother on the living room floor. Both were dead, a clean bullet hole in each of their foreheads. Taylor didn’t scream. She didn’t really cry. Only a single tear crept down her cheek. She wiped it away with her sleeve then grabbed Chloe, who was crying, by the arm and drug her to her room.

They entered the room, and as Chloe collapsed on Taylor’s bed, Taylor closed and locked her door. “Taylor….I….I….” Chloe was at a loss for words. “It’s OK, Chloe, it’s OK.”

“What do you mean, ‘it’s OK’?? You’re parents are DEAD!!!!”

“Well thanks for the info. But I saw that.” Taylor was in deep thought, forming a plan in her mind.

“Aren’t you shocked? Aren’t you surprised? Aren’t you SAD?! Don’t you CARE??”

“Yes, of course I do. I loved them both very much, and I will miss them dearly. But now is not the time to mourn.”

“What are you talking about? Why not??”

“Did you see how they died? Did you see?”

“Ummm…there was some blood on their heads…..”

“They were both shot, in the head. Execution style.”

“So they were murdered??”

“You could say that.”

As Chloe rolled this thought over in her mind, Taylor pulled a trunk out from under her bed. She opened it and pulled out a belt. She put it on and then out came a holster.

“Hey, is that…”

“Yes, it’s a gun holster,” Taylor answered as she proceeded to pull out a gun.

“Whoa, what the heck?!” Chloe was shocked to see this large Desert Eagle .44 hand gun in the hands of her best friend.

As Taylor loaded the gun, she began to explain what was happening to Chloe.

“Look Chloe, I’m going to tell you what’s going on. But you’re going to have to accept that there are going to be things that you won’t understand, and that may seem unbelievable to you. OK?”
Chloe only nodded, too confused to formulate a response.

“Alright, here it is: I work for the government. For the CIA. My father works with them, and ever since I was little I was trained and taught in their manner. I know all different types of martial arts, I know how to fire guns and do all that good stuff. When I was twelve they started using me for assignments. Remember when I started going to visit my grandparents in Nebraska a lot?”

“Yeah…..”

“Well I wasn’t visiting anyone. I was being sent around the world on various assignments.”

“But…you were just a kid…”

“Exactly. Think about it. A kid can go places an adult can’t. They can snoop around places and if they get caught, usually a ‘I was curious’ gets them off the hook. A kid is the last thing someone would expect a spy to be.”

“Well, that makes sense but….”

“How did you not know? They’re very secretive. And I guess I am, too. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I couldn’t.”

“Yeah, I understand…..I guess…But, why are your parents…”

“Well you have to understand that in my line of work I tend to piss a lot of people off quite often. People are mad enough when they get caught doing illegal things. But when a little girl is the one who catches them? Or when the little girl is the one who beats them up and puts them in hand cuffs? Then they’re PISSED.”

“So……”

“Whoever killed my parents didn’t do it cause they don’t like them. They want me dead.”

“Well that’s not good.”

“Now you’re getting it.”

By this time, Taylor had loaded two identical Desert Eagles, both on holsters on her belt, a mini P9 on her ankle, and she was holding an H&K MP5. She looked like she was ready to go to war.

Upon seeing this, Chloe felt slightly naked in the sense of self defense.

“So…..are you just gonna protect me or what? Cause there’s no way I’m staying here by myself.”

“OK, if you’re sure you want to come. It might get dangerous….”

“Hey, you need me to watch your back. Just give me a gun and let’s go.”

Taylor pulled out a shotgun and handed it to Chloe.
“You know how to use this?”

“Yeah, my dad has one. I got it.”

“Good, cause you’re probably gonna need it. Now just follow me, stay low, and don’t speak unless I say it’s OK.”

Chloe nodded, and Taylor slowly opened the door to the hallway. She cautiously entered the hallway, and started towards the front door, clearing each room as she did. They bypassed the living room, as not to see her parents again, and finally reached the door.

“OK, my guess is they left, maybe to try and find me, or maybe to get some back up. I don’t know. But they’re not in here anymore. So what do you say we make a break for my car and go to your house?”

Chloe nodded, a stern look on her face. The two exited the house and quickly made they’re way to Taylor’s car, a blue and white Mini Cooper. Taylor threw the car into reverse and swung into the road. As soon as they began to leave, a pair of headlights appeared behind them. They gained on the two girls quite quickly, and then they heard the gunshots.

“Get your head down!” Taylor screamed as the back window shattered. “Oh I KNOW you did not just shoot my car! Chloe! Drive for me!”

“Wha-“ Chloe began, but Taylor had already began to climb out her window. Chloe moved into the driver’s seat as best she could with Taylor’s butt in her face, and tried to keep the car on the road. Taylor was hanging out the window, shooting at the black SUV in pursuit of them. One of the passengers leaned out to return fire. Suddenly, Chloe was forced to swerve to the right to prevent Taylor from hitting a stop sign. The driver of the SUV didn’t see it, and the unlucky man shooting at Taylor hit it and was thrown from the vehicle.

Taylor slid back into the car as Chloe slid over and couldn’t help herself from laughing. “Did you see that?! That was awesome!” Chloe just shook her head, still dumbfounded by what was happening. Taylor began to accelerate and got onto the highway.

“I guess your house is out of the question,” Taylor said, semi-joking.

“Yeah, definitely. I don’t want to put my family in danger. But hey, isn’t there some place you can go, or like can’t you call in the government or the cavalry or something?”

“I can’t alert headquarters. But I know who we need to see. He lives about twenty minutes away.”

“Well do you want call him or something? Or will he just be expecting us?”

“We could call, but he wouldn’t answer. Don’t ask. Look, this is my battle. I can’t ask for help from Central because if I do, then they send the whole freaking Army. Then my cover’s blown, and I have to move to flippin Alaska or something. If we can just kill whoever tries to kill us, we’ll be good.”

“Are you serious? But what about your parents and all that stuff?! Come on Taylor, you can’t do this by yourself!”

“But I’m not! You’re helping me!”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Chloe chimed in. “Well if we’re going to do this, we’re gonna need more guns, don’t ya think?”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. But where we’re going, we’ll get plenty of guns. And anything else we could need.”

“Really? Who is this guy?”

“He’s a spy enthusiast. Retired. He collects guns and gear and spy tools. Nothing new and amazing, but good stuff. He was my mentor.”

“But I thought you said your dad taught you all this spy stuff.”

“Exactly. The man we’re going to see is my real father.”

“What do you mean he’s your real father??”

“I mean just that: He’s my dad. The two people that were killed at my house weren’t really my parents. My biological mother died when I was two, so my dad took me in, which is how I got involved in this stuff. Those two were just the people I was living with to keep a low profile. I mean, if I was living with a single father who works for the CIA….”

“Yeah, I see….”

“But don’t get me wrong. I loved those two. They were like parents to me, and I will miss them. But I need to go see my dad about this right now.”

“OK, I understand.”

“Good.”

The SUV was back. It had left for a period of time, probably to recover it’s fallen passenger. But now it was back and it wasn’t going to give up. This time, Chloe took action. “I got this. Just keep it steady.” Taylor nodded, and Chloe opened the sun roof. She stood up, took aim with her shotgun, and fired. With her third shot she blew out the front left tire. The vehicle swerved, trying to stay on the road. Chloe continued to fire, and took out the remaining front tire in the process. The SUV swung around, throwing sparks everywhere, and flipped. Chloe entered the car with a smile. “That was fun.”

They arrived at their destination a few minutes later. It was a house located deep in a heavily wooded area, with a bumpy and rough driveway leading to it. There was one car already parked there: a small silver Solstice. “Well, he’s got a nice car,” Chloe said optimistically.

“You have no idea….”

They got out of Taylor’s car and approached the front door. Taylor turned to Chloe before ringing the bell. “OK, he’s not gonna know who you are, so just let me do all of the talking.” Chloe nodded, and Taylor rang the door bell. The man who answered the door was not exactly what Taylor was expecting. He was maybe six feet tall, with long brown hair, tied back in a pony tail. He was wearing a dirty white tee shirt and some tattered blue jeans.

“Tay! What are you doing here?!” He said loudly with a smile.

“Daddy!!” Taylor hugged him, and they entered the house, Chloe following them quietly.

Taylor sat her father down on a nasty looking couch and proceeded to tell him the events of the last hour. When she finished, he stood up and began pacing around, deep in thought. After about a minute, he spoke.

“Well, I see your problem. You can’t go to Central for help. So I guess it’s up to us to take care of this.”

Chloe couldn’t help herself. “You don’t think that SUV was all of them, do you?”

The man chuckled and turned to Taylor. “Is she trying to be funny.”

Taylor shook her head.

“Ha. She’s cute.” He just shook his head and kept talking. “Alright, I’m gonna have to load you two up with gear, and we’re gonna need to find out who it is that wants you dead. The best thing to do here is go on the offensive and take the out quickly and quietly.”

The girls nodded, and he exited the room. The girls jumped up and followed him downstairs. Chloe got there last, just as he turned on the lights for the basement. “Wow. That’s a lot of guns.”