Documents in hand, Merci slides into the rental car and heads off to the interstate. She had quite a drive ahead of her...Salt Lake City from Vegas was a long, dry stretch of nothing. Tuning the car radio to some big band music, she rolled the window down and fired up the first of many cigarettes.

Several hours later, and after a brief, pleasurable tryst in the backseat of her car with an attractive hitchhiker who only somewhat resembled @Augustus_Caesar , Merci reaches her destination. 

How anyone lived in this bowl of salt, she didn't know. It had little to offer and even less to show for it. Consulting her map, she guided the car to the address of the girlfriend of one Brian Gardner.

As she pulls up in the driveway, she puts on some sunglasses and pulls her now shortened, dyed blonde hair back into a ponytail. Sniping was her bread and butter, but this would be a simple, up close job. 

Exiting the car, she lights a cigarette and stuffs her Magnum in the back of her pants. Once on the stoop, she rings the doorbell. 

She knew it would be him that answered it. It wasn't his house, but she knew his type...the kind that behaved as if he owned every fucking thing and never let loose that proprietary air, even in his girlfriend's house. When the misogynist answered the door, she drew her weapon and fired point blank through the screen door. He dropped like a sandbag, or a salt bag, she mused as the girlfriend came careening into the entryway.

Merci gave her credit...she didn't scream, panic, or even move...just stood there staring at her dead lover and then up at Merci, slowly raising her hands.

And that's when she saw it. The black eye, and the split lip. He'd been beating her.

"Thank you," she whispered, a single grateful tear running down her swollen cheek.

Merci nodded, then tucked the gun back into her pants. 

"What will you say happened?" she asked the woman.

"That when I got here, all I saw was a man in a hat and coat, running across the neighbor's yard. Never saw his face." she replied.

Merci smiled, tipped an imaginary hat at the lady, and retreated to the car. She was still smoking the same cigarette as she pulled up to a phone booth to call @Kathryn. 

"It's done. I'm on my way home," she said with a small, satisfied smile.

Kathryn had been pacing in her office, waiting for Merci to return. She kept trying to reassure herself that Merci would be fine, that she'd been doing this for a long time. But she'd also been shot on the last job she'd been on with Kathryn. And the most recent job? Almost bad enough to hold off assigning this one. So she tried to hide her relief and appear nonchalant when Merci strolled back in through her office door. 

Any question of appearing businesslike was gone when Merci walked in. Kathryn hadn't seen her since the night when she had brought Merci the divorce papers. Short hair, dyed blonde. And she smelled like smoke. Kathryn was a decent poker player, but even people who try to see all the angles can still be surprised. 

"I- love the hair, Merci. It looks beautiful. How'd it go?"

She indicated the seat across from her. They had... a lot to discuss. 

A little paler and thinned down enough to require a belt with her jeans now, Merci smiled and took a seat. She offered a wan smile.

"Thanks. I needed some change," she says, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. "This was a good job. Clean. The last two...I think I'm better off working alone again on these gigs. For a while, at least," she says, fidgeting. She wanted a cigarette, but Kathryn didn't smoke and probably wouldn't appreciate it if she fired up in here.

Kathryn smiled at her friend.

"Can I get you a drink- actually, would you rather chat next door? We might be more comfortable there."

She indicated the door that led to her small but lavish apartment. 

"Yeah, sounds good," she says, standing and following her boss into her personal quarters.

Maybe Kathryn would let her crack a window and lean out to exhale. 

Kathryn called out into the hallway to Jack that she was headed in for the night and then locked her office door. Merci had already made her way inside. Kathryn expected that Merci would be relaxing on the couch, like she had the previous times she'd visited, but her friend was sitting up straight in one of the chairs near the fireplace. Kathryn silently made Merci a martini with extra green olives and poured a glass of red wine for herself. A big one.

Walking back and handing Merci the drink, Kathryn sat on the couch and crossed her legs. 

"Merci, you're just about the only real friend I've got. I'm still getting to know some of the people running jobs for RP Inc. I think we'll be a great team, if we can come together. But you're #1 for me. I'm sure you heard I got knocked out sick recently. That doesn't mean I don't hear things.... and I'm worried about you."

She reached out and rested a hand on Merci's knee.

"Can we talk about what's happening?"

Kathryn tried to strike the balance between serious and reassuring as she looked up with soft blue eyes to see Merci's reaction.

"I'm fine," she blurts out. "At least, I will be," she says, picking her fingernails as she stares into the fireplace. "I let a careless, faithless man break me. He's moved on, so I can, too. Right? Right," she finishes. Sooner or later. She was having an incredibly hard time digesting the fact that she been so royally duped. To her credit, though...she'd never been in a relationship before and simply didn't know better.

She tried to keep eye contact with Merci, but the older woman was fighting off whatever kind of magnetism was there as she looked everywhere else. Kathryn's voice was kind, but there was an iron in it that Merci had only heard rarely- only when it was needed.

"You're right. You're going to be fine- and it starts today."

Merci glanced up.

"No more smoking. No more crazy shit. I need the old Merci back, now. That's your friend who cares about you, hoping- and  that's your boss, ordering. I need you to be my Right Hand."

She reaches out and takes Merci's hand.

"I know that everything that happened with Augustus was hard. But you're going to move past it, and I'm going to help you. Let me be your friend- be the person you build on. We'll hang out tonight, eat a shitload of green olives, drink, and talk about whatever you want. You're going to crash here with me for a couple days. And if that doesn't sound appealing to you, then pack your bags, because we'll bounce to anywhere in the country for the weekend, or until you've got the old Merci back."

Merci starts to talk but Kathryn keeps going, determined to have her say.

"One of my favorite current authors wrote something I love.

 He said 'The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.'

"Now Merci, I know our line of work. I don't expect to live forever, and I know you don't either. But what I do expect, is that you and I will help each other get strong at the broken places. And we'll go down eventually... but there will be no special hurry. Now what do you say... partner?"

With an off-kilter smile, she speaks.

"Partner. What was that part about green olives? And we should call Grace," she adds, thinking about her spunky roommate.

Kathryn offered a wry smile.

"Hold on a minute, before we start the party. Was that a laconic acceptance? Or a deflection? You can talk to me, Merci. You don't need to quote literature at me, but you can always say what's on your mind."

"When I met you not that long ago, I was an antisocial recluse. That was, like, a whole novel for me. You can't milk a stone, my friend," she says with a laugh. "But yes, it was acceptance. And message received, Boss," she finishes with a wink.

Kathryn smiled. She also couldn't help but exhale a small sigh of relief.

"I'm glad to hear it. And sure, we can call Grace. I'll do it right now."

Standing, Kathryn released Merci's hand- she'd almost forgotten she was holding it the whole time. Handing over a jar of green olives with a smile, she then returned the kitchen and dialed Grace, hoping to catch her either at home or in the office.

Grace picked up the phone and pressed it to her ear, "Hello?" she said as she set her book down on the coffee table. She had been curled up on the couch reading since she had the night off and she was seriously hoping this wasn't someone in need of urgent medical care at this hour. 

"Grace, it's Kathryn. We have a medical emergency..."

She paused, just long enough for Grace to have a minor adrenaline rush, but not long enough for Kathryn to feel guilty.

"... there's lots of wine at my place, and Merci and I need a medical professional to help us drink it. Get over here when you can; Jack will let you in. Yes, I've been taking my medication. No. No one is hurt."

Kathryn swung her head around to make sure that Merci was still contentedly munching olives.

"Yea, we're fine. See you soon."

After hanging up the phone, Kathryn returned to the couch.

"She didn't even give me a chance to say no." she said to the empty room as she put the phone back down. She stood up and stretched, wondering just what one wore to something like this. With a sigh she left the room to get dressed. 

About thirty minutes later she was stood outside, knocking on the door to be let in. "come on, even if this is Las Vegas its still cold out here." she muttered as she rubbed her arms trying to warm up a bit. She raised her hand and knocked again, this time a bit louder. "Damn it Jack." she said when the door finally opened. 

She stepped inside and looked around, "Where are..." she trailed off as she heard Kathryn's laugh, "Never mind, I can find them." She told the man before giving him a smile and heading into the room with her friends. 

Kathryn snuck a glance at Merci as the three women shared a drink. Hopefully this craziness was behind her. Kathryn owed her a lot and she had no intention of letting her first friend in Vegas fall apart. She'd do whatever it took to hold her together. Hopefully it would be enough.

Grace leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms over her chest as she took in the scene before her. Merci looked like shit. Not her usual self. She sighed, "Ok ladies, no drinking at home tonight." she told them before yelling down the hall to Jack, "Bring the car around, old man!" she moved inside and tried to usher the ladies to their feet, "Come on, we're going to hit the town. " she said.