Everywhere was close to the sea in Rio.
In less than ten minutes, the two of them reached the seaside.
A lot of places were lit up and many people were chatting on the beach.
Luke went into a shop and bought a range of things before he carried Rebecca to a deserted spot on the beach.
Spreading out the blanket he had just bought and putting her on it, Luke asked with a smile, “Would you like some juice?”
Rebecca shifted and sat on the blanket. “Juice? Give me a bottle of wine.”
Luke nodded with a smile. “Okay. Guaraná or jaboticaba? If you don’t like those, there are guava and Barbados cherry flavors too.”
Glaring at the smiling young man, Rebecca finally nodded in resignation. “Whatever. Also… thank you.”
Luke gave her a can of jaboticaba and sat down too. “That’s alright. It’s no big deal.”
Both of them were silent for a long time. Holding a flashlight in his mouth, Luke began to examine the medical supplies he just bought.
Next to him Rebecca gave a few faint sobs. He didn’t disturb her, but simply draped a big towel he had bought over her shoulders to block out the chilly sea wind and for her to wipe her tears and nose on.
After everything that happened to Rebecca, the most he could feel for her was sympathy.
As a detective from the L.A. Major Crimes Division, he had seen too many tragedies.
While what happened to Rebecca wasn’t common, it certainly wasn’t in the top ten most tragic stories he had heard.
Besides, Rebecca didn’t need consoling.
She had killed her enemy with her own hands. Everything was gone with the wind.
From now on, she herself would decide how she wanted to live her life. No one else could help her make that decision.
Luke pulled her right leg to him and quickly cleaned her wound before wrapping it in a bandage. “Okay. You’re lucky that the bullet only brushed past you. The wound isn’t bad. You’ll be fine in a few days.” After a brief silence, Rebecca suddenly said, “Your makeup skills are atrocious, Detective Luke Coulson.”
Unsurprised, Luke said with a smile, “You still remember me. What an honor.”
Rebecca scoffed. “A youngster who can take X down easily? You’re the only one I can think of who fits the bill.”
In one sense, Rebecca and Luke worked in similar ways.
When they acquired a target, they would go all out with their superior capabilities; they didn’t need to use a lot of extra tricks like a disguise or facial recognition.
It had been months since she last saw Luke, and Luke had partly disguised his face, so Rebecca hadn’t recognized Luke at the bar.
Besides, she had barely thought about matters in America after she avenged her sister, much less expected to run into a L.A. officer in Brazil.
When Luke suddenly grabbed her and helped her dodge Mr. X’s two attacks, she had only had a faint suspicion.
Then, when she spoke with Mr. X about her final mission, she suddenly remembered Luke.
In the end, when she opened her eyes and waited to be killed, she saw Luke standing silently behind Mr. X.
That was when she got it.
While she didn’t know why Luke helped her, she knew that he couldn’t be there to help Mr.
“Why did you save me?” It was an offhand question
Pondering for a moment, Luke replied, “Because you’re beautiful and I want to buy you a drink?”
Rebecca laughed and said, “Detective Luke, you’re as much a sweet talker as ever, but I don’t believe it.”
Luke shrugged. “The truth is that I know you spared my partner back at the apartment building, and it was unfair of me to shoot you after that. So, I was returning the favor this time.”
Rebecca sighed. “No, I killed a lot of people. Many of them might have been innocent.”
“But you thought they were bad people, right?” Luke said with a light smile. He didn’t think that she had killed too many innocent people, or she would’ve been suspicious of the Fraternity much earlier on.
After all, she had been unwilling to act even when Luke shot her; she would’ve definitely grown suspicious if she had been asked to kill other innocent people. The gunfight in the apartment building demonstrated that Rebecca was a killer with boundaries.
She had even been unwilling to hurt Donald and Selina in order to escape, not until the situation turned urgent.
Of course, it was a good thing for her that it had been Donald and not Selina who had gotten hurt back then.
Otherwise, Luke would’ve still rescued her tonight, but he would’ve let her suffer first and only rescued her at the last moment.
Luke had always been protective of the people he was close to.
Rebecca didn’t know what he was thinking, or she probably would’ve taken her gun out and shot him.
She simply smiled bitterly. “But I killed them. That’s a fact.”
Luke thought for a moment before he said, “Then don’t bother with it until someone comes looking for you for revenge. Don’t get hung up on the past; living is the most important.”
Rebecca was at a loss. “But what can I do even if I’m alive?”
Her birth parents died because of her, and so did her sister.
Her foster parents, who might’ve been arranged by the Fraternity, didn’t love her and were quite nasty to her.
That cold family environment had made it impossible for her to refuse Mr. X as a kid when he came to recruit her.
Remembering Mr. X and what he said in the end, she was overwhelmed by deep sorrow.
She would be lying if she said that she had no feelings for Mr. X.
Mr. X was aloof and handsome, and tidied up very well.
He took her from her foster family where there was no warmth, and gave her strength and money.
But in the end, she discovered that he had been lying with ill intent since the beginning. Rage surged in her heart when she remembered that.
She wasn’t comforted even though she had roasted Mr. X’s balls when he was still alive.
She suddenly turned around and jumped on Luke. “Didn’t you offer to buy me a drink?”
Luke found that odd. “Didn’t I just get you a drink? You don’t like the taste of jaboticaba? Then switch to guava. I heard it’s sweeter.”
Despite her gloomy mood, Rebecca chortled at his words. “I’m talking about what you said to me when you hit on me at the bar.”
Luke scratched his head. “But you told me to save my allowance and buy soda for little school girls.” Rebecca was dumbfounded. “What the heck?”
What sort of thinking was that? Could this type of person get a girlfriend?
Rendered speechless for a moment, she then said unhappily, “Can you get rid of your lousy makeup? It’s disturbing.”
Luke was amused.
Checking the time, he guessed that he wouldn’t be able to play around at Wild Jungle tonight, so he cleaned his face.
Less than two minutes later, his face was back to normal, except that his skin was still dark.
Rebecca said, “Shine the light on your face, I want to see it.”
Luke said with a smile, “Don’t tell me you want to remember it to get revenge later?” But he didn’t hesitate to aim the flashlight… below his chin.
Thanks to that, a twisted, devilish expression suddenly appeared in front of her.