"During the game of hide-and-seek in your childhood days, it seems you lost a lot," said Mr. Beard standing, with his hands folded over his paunch.
Suddenly he bent, grabbed Ishtar by the arm and pulled her out of the dark spot where she had taken cover.
Tears streaming while standing infront of him, "so heartless of you to put my life in danger! What if it was a predator like a huge bear or a wolf?"
"But it wasn't!" He replied with a careless gesture.
Ishtar continued to wet her cheeks with tears.
"Cease your whining!" Mr. Beard ordered and went through his mind for a second while he sneaked an eye on her.
He came up with an idea in his favor. All over a sudden, he put on a serious attitude and a confounded gesture.
"How could you forget who we're?" He asked abruptly, "all the vital information, the weapon skills that took me sweat to teach you...! How for heavens could this happen?"
Mr. Beard blamed Ishtar right in her face, "damn!" he pretended to be so disappointed, scattered the area with hands akimbo like he had lost a very precious stone.
Ishtar stared at him in a wondering surprise.
"Weapon skills...! Vital information...! What is he trying to mean?!" mentally it was hard to believe.
However, since she was already exhausted by the troubles of a long night and the loss of memory, "You know what, I feel too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to afford thinking upright.
".... this retarded grownup fool in the middle of nowhere within the woods bla bla bla, of course I can see how you're looking at me _ insults written all over your face, right?"
"Oh my goodness! Why should I?" Innocent and desperate for safety, swiftly, Ishtar denied the accusation.
Besides eyeing Ishtar as a stranger he saved, Mr. Beard needed a person to trust with his secret living.
Mr. Beard was not an ordinary grownup man with an ordinary lifestyle; hence the reason he had trust issues.
Still not sure about the young lady's memory loss, Mr. Beard improvised with his wisdom to make sure he gets a clear confirmation before he trusts her with his confidential information.
He went further to make plots, playing on her mind, just to penetrate her conscious so he can extract more truth to content with her defense of amnesia.
"Am your father," he said and looked keenly to see her reaction.
By the confounded looks on Ishtar's face and gesture, it was obvious that he had already succeeded in getting her on a roller coaster, puzzled with question marks plugged on her innocent face, speechlessly.
"At least you can't forget your dad because I raised you from grass root," he added.
Ishtar felt broken for not even recognizing her own dad. She fell down on her knees, "I am truly sorry dad."
"It's alright, you don't have to do that!" By the arms, he stood her up.
This was another unexpected proof right on Mr. Beard's face that indeed the young lady lost her memory.
And now a delicate idea crossed Mr. Beard's mind.
In his mental, "It's three years every since my ride to die assassin was shot dead in Spain. This might be another opportunity for me to replace him with this innocent young lady," he looked at her from head to toe, "attractive with a very stunning body structure, she will make a perfect assassin if I invest all I have in her."
"Forgive me father for putting you through all this." Ishtar was consumed with guilt.
"How loving are the heavens to me!" Out of excitement, he spoke out loud.
"Oh, don't mind my sudden behavior." He put himself in order.
At the back of Ishtar's mind after seeing how excited Mr. Beard reacted, "is this how much my father loves me?" She continued to feel guilty.
"Said don't mind that, okay? Anyway, what I meant was, I've been so lazy doing nothing for quiet some time. Now am excited that my daughter is gonna keep me busy for some good time."
Mr. Beard had to lie, to cover up his reckless statement which he made out of excitement.
He was just happy to prove the truth that the young lady lost her memory.
"Let's get inside," he moved.
"Excuse me dad," Ishtar calls him, "uh, am sorry to ask but, can you please tell me what really happened to me to loose my memory? Besides, could you please remind me my name?" She was so polite in her request.
Mr. Beard stepped back a bit. He didn't know her name for sure and didn't know what to tell her. Eyes rolling from Ishtar's head to toe, as a wise grownup man, "Uh, our motto says, no names, only code names. Out in the field you use the name Black Rose."
"In the field! Am I a farmer?" Ishtar asked with strong desire to know.
"I wish you were..." pretending to be touched, on a downcast face he told her, "but you're an assassin."
"So, what you're trying to mean is; I go out there and end people's lives!?" It disturbed Ishtar's mind for a moment.
"Assassin life chose you and you chose it too." He calmly said to her.
Ishtar laughed indifferently, "impossible!"
"Come-on, Black Rose, I don't know you as a weak vessel which can break this easily!"
"If I am Black Rose out there, then who am I in here?" She placed her hand plam on her chest.
"With time you'll get to remember everything but right now, you're Black Rose to me."
"Wait!" As he turned to walk on, she called him back again. "One more thing _ Uh.... I heard you saying code name, does it mean Mr. Beard is not your real name?"
He noded the head, "yes."
Suddenly Ishtar delved deep in thoughts.
"Is anything the matter?"
"Uh, no!" Ishtar replied with confidence.
"Good, now let's get inside so you can rest. Tomorrow is a very busy day for you."
When they got inside the shelter, Mr. Beard went ahead to open two of the ten black bags which were piled up in one corner, "hope this answers all your questions!"
The bags were full of bundled hundred notes in stucks of tens of thousands, all in dollars.
"Wow!" Ishtar exclaimed in wonder when she saw too much cash.
"Your mission has always been to destroy the mobs in dirty businesses, kill the leaders and return home with photographic evidence."
Mr. Beard further more open a small private room. Inside were different faces in pictures pinned on a wide board on the wall.
The ones marked X are burning in hell right now.
"You mean I killed those gentlemen?"
"What matters is they were bad people to be in the society; kidnappers, human traffickers, drug dealers _ now this moron," he pointed out one of the photos, "used to kiddnap kids, extract their organs and sell them."
"What?" It was really shocking.
This information planted on Ishtar's mind got her convinced.
nd the picture drown to her that she was only dealing with bad insurance dealers, coccine dealers, human traffickers the list goes on, it easy for her to believe due to her amnesia