#22

Tennessee once again explained how to fire, step by step. Like a cold instructor. He felt the child’s arm to confirm the muscles were contracted and then tapped the child’s cheek. It was a signal to apply strength.

“Deep breath.”

Though the adults had only exchanged a few words, something was moving so busily that the child couldn’t keep up. Since the child didn’t listen and only stared, Tennessee repeated:

“Deep breath.”

The child slowly caught their breath. While trying to carve every single thing he taught into their mind, the child anxiously bit their lip.

You’re going to leave me behind, aren’t you? That’s why you’re giving me this?

Despite holding a dangerous weapon, a deep sense of helplessness hung over the child.

“Open your eyes. Look properly.”

Tennessee gripped the child’s shoulders softly but firmly.

“You’ll be fine, but there’s no harm in being nervous.”

A clear flare of resentment sparked in the child’s eyes, sensing a blatant lie. Tennessee packaged the urgency of reviving a dying ember as composure.

“…Tennessee?”

Should he take the child? In a short moment, Tennessee had agonized over this dozens of times. But he didn’t know what would unfold. It was an unknown enemy. He hadn’t even known they were coming. If they were capable of digging such a trap, they must have watched him for a long time.

What if a shootout broke out? Even if they went to a safe house immediately, would the child survive there? He envisioned the child lying lifeless on a cement floor.

Empty eyes, a stifled breath. It was a horrific sight that overlapped with the mother he had killed with his own hands. Tennessee could not endure that. Especially after hearing the child call him in such a desperate, breaking voice.

Tennessee realized that the words ‘Why did you leave me?’ were less painful to hear than ‘Why did you hurt me?’

“Follow Megan. It won’t be for long.”

“…I don’t want to.”

“You think I’m happy about this?!”

Finally, Tennessee’s voice rose. Tennessee tried to put himself in the child’s shoes.

Even if he had been the child, he wouldn’t have listened easily. The child had no hint as to the current situation, and the words he was saying now were not much different from a father’s ‘I’ll be back.’

Reminding himself of how much he had neglected and mistreated the child, Tennessee wanted to soothe them this time. Instead of saying ‘Why can’t you understand?’, he wanted to show it. If he thrust these complex emotions before the child, would they understand, even for a moment?

“Don’t throw a tantrum,” Tennessee snapped coldly.

“Don’t cling. You take care of your own body; don’t take it for granted that someone else will do it for you.”

The sound of heavy breathing filled the small space. Tennessee placed the gun back into the child’s limp hand.

“…I’m sorry,” the child whispered.

“Stay with Megan.”

“Just for a little while, right?”

“Yeah.”

Tennessee released his palm from the child’s hand. The hand holding the gun dropped weakly. The wrist, not yet fully matured, was incredibly thin.

10 – Chapter

“I’ll give you a choice.”

Tennessee let out a sigh. He remembered the child who had burned through their own flesh with sheer fighting spirit. He had no intention of keeping a fool who couldn’t do anything on their own, and the child needed to realize that.

“It’s your choice. If you want to run away now, go.”

Tennessee pulled some cash out of his wallet.

“You were alone anyway. You’ll continue to be.”

There was only despair. The child nodded to that despair. You are right.

How many times had he told them not to trust him?

Yet, even if he were to abandon the child on a deserted roadside, Tennessee wanted to leave them physically unharmed.

“Take this gun and stay with Megan for a while.”

Blood seeped from the lip the child had been biting hard with their upper teeth.

“I’ll go with Megan.”

“Good girl.”

The child wiped away the tears and looked up. Looking into those eyes sometimes sent a chilling shiver down his spine.

Seeing the similar shape of the eyes and the familiar color of the hair, perhaps Tennessee saw his younger self. Back then, he had been dead. He was alive, but he had no will, no hope, and no plan.

I have to live again. I have to live well.

It had taken a long time before he came to that resolution, and when he finally made up his mind and looked in the mirror, there was a person with blue eyes he had never seen before. The child’s eyes were similar to those. Despite being dragged around and colliding with a reality they didn’t understand, they weren’t intimidated.

“Don’t praise me.”

It’s my choice.

“When you come back, I’ll answer one question you ask.”

“……Just one? Are you joking?”

The child, who had been crushed by reality until a moment ago, suddenly flared up in anger.

“It was a generous offer.”

“Ten.”

“No way.”

“Then five.”

“One. If you don’t like it, forget it.”

“No! Fine. One it is.”

By the time Tennessee was seriously haggling with someone who acted like an upper-elementary student, the office door opened and Megan walked in.

Taking the car keys, Tennessee approached the child. The child stiffened. There was still baby fuzz on the child’s cheeks. They were that young. Tennessee spoke in a low voice.

“If things go south, shoot Megan too.”

The child just stared, mouth agape.

“I’m serious. If she treats you badly or doesn’t seem to be helping you, shoot her.”

“Hey! What?”

Megan asked back with a shrill voice from the side.

“I told you not to trust people. It’s fine, just shoot.”

“……But,”

“If I seem like a piece of shit, shoot me too.”

With those words, Tennessee left the scene. Megan also started moving. Running after her, the child stared at Tennessee’s retreating back. It will be okay. Because he said so.

As soon as they got into the sedan with the dark tinted windows, the child craned their neck to look for Tennessee. However, he had already vanished from sight.

“I’ll see him soon, right?”

Megan didn’t answer.

How many days had passed since their unexpected separation? The child hadn’t received a single message. Even when asking Megan, the only answer was “I don’t know.”

“Kid, eat something.”

Ignorance and fear contributed greatly to the child’s anxiety. This was because even Megan couldn’t figure out what was happening to Tennessee.

“Do those people want to kill Tennessee?”

“If they’ve set the stage to this extent, they would have had a chance to kill him long ago. Isn’t the goal more likely capture or information?”

The problem was that Megan was somewhat like Tennessee, so she passed the information to the child without any filter.

“Like… torture?”

Only then did Megan seem to realize her mistake. Her mind raced quickly, and her expression shifted subtly.

“No, now that I think about it, I don’t think that’s it either. The trap was too elaborate.”

Then, Megan muttered to herself and walked out.

“That bitch Kaelen, she said she was from Virginia—surely she’s not from Quantico (FBI Academy). ……Though that’s better than Langley (CIA HQ).”

These were words the child couldn’t understand. Left alone after Megan left, the child felt their throat go dry with worry and nervousness. They weren’t hungry even if they didn’t eat, and no matter how much water they drank, their lips remained dry and their chest felt like it was burning. The child did not let go of the gun.

“Hey. I brought you here because Tennessee asked me to, not because I wanted to hurt you. Put that down.”

Megan, who had returned after a phone call, spoke. Though she said it that way, the child knew she was saying it because she was worried about their own state of tension. But it didn’t go as planned.

The child buried their face in their knees. Clutching the cold piece of iron tightly in one hand.

* * *

“Hello, Kaelen.”

Tennessee greeted her as he removed the blindfold from Kaelen’s face. Kaelen blinked, her brown eyes blurry as they struggled to adjust to the light.

In front of her, Tennessee re-checked the equipment he had set up. He didn’t enjoy torture, but he had to go as far as necessary.

In truth, he didn’t enjoy killing, nor any part of life. The accumulated money was no different from statistics to him. To him, life was not a right.

“If you just answer honestly, it’ll be over without much pain.”

“Tennessee.”

Kaelen Oshner. Her hometown was here in Virginia, but she had grown up in Texas since childhood. The eldest of two sons and one daughter. She went to UT Austin, majoring in architecture. It was a decent university, but one of the main reasons she chose UT Austin was that her family lived close to the campus. She worked as a DJ in San Antonio. It seemed to be a hobby-cum-side-job she’d had since her college days.

Looking at her resume, one could say she had lived a fairly comfortable life. She went to a good college and had parents who paid her tuition. Given the variety of clubs she frequented, perhaps she felt a slight boredom with life.

But Tennessee didn’t trust those few lines of information in the slightest.

He already knew her.

Tennessee took out the gag to put in her mouth. He didn’t want to hear groans of pain. He would remove it only when necessary. He had many things he was curious about and intended to ask them all. Most people didn’t last long.

Early in his training, Tennessee had been taught that statements obtained through torture lacked credibility. After experiencing and performing torture himself, he realized that was true to some extent. Though some parts were not.

“Let’s start with a practice question. FBI? CIA?”

Tennessee already knew where she belonged. Since she was trained, and since she was someone who expected to be kidnapped one day, there was a high probability she wouldn’t open her mouth easily— “FBI.”

“…….”

It was an unexpected turn of events, enough for even the great Tennessee to show a look of surprise.