The Untold Adventures of Ava and Donovan

A girl is sitting on a train next to a man in black, "What do you do mister?"

The man snapped his little black book shut, and with a faint smile he says, "I make bad people go away."

The little girl looked down at her shoes, taking in what he's just told her. He doesn't know why he told her that, he's never told anyone what he really does. After what seems like hours she finally raised her eyes back to his, "What makes them bad?"

Her questions floors him, he'd been in the business for years and had always just done the job. You were just given a little notebook every couple of months with a list of names. He had never thought to question why they were on the list.

"Mister?"

He blinked, "Donovan. The name's Donovan."

"Ava."

"What?"

"My name. It's Ava. Are you going to answer my question?"

"Well..."

"You can't answer it, can you?"

He looked done at his hands, suddenly embarrassed, "No Ava. I can't"

"Then why do you do it? Do you think they deserve it? Do they look bad? Are they doing something bad when you come to make them go away?"

Each question struck a chord in his heart and he couldn't believe that they were coming from this little girl. He got angry, angry with himself, angry with the job that he had been a part of for so long. And for what? How come in all the years he'd been in the job he'd never asked, never wondered and this innocent little girl was smarter than she was. He snapped, "Who cares? The job is the job! You do what you are told no matter how brutal it is. Besides you are too young, you couldn't possibly understand!"

"But I do understand..."

"How could you? You can't be any older than ten?"

She looked him dead in the eye, "I'm twelve. I understand it was someone like you that came and took my parents away from me."

"Christ..." She was twelve, older than she looked but it was still too young an age to be without her parents. "How do you know it was someone like me?"

"That's what they told me, they told me they were there to make the bad people go away so that I would be safe now."

He was furious, so someone had done the job and then what just left her? "They took your parent's and then they just left you there?"

"Yes." Her voice wobbled, " If you make bad people go away do you get paid?"

He sighed, "No, at most it just allows us to stay alive depending on how we were picked up."

"Would you help me get the people that took my parents if I was able to pay you?"

He saw how serious she was, but couldn't help but chuckle a little, "I don't know if you're piggy bank is enough for me to go after someone I am not supposed too. Besides I wouldn't want to put you in the middle of a fight."

She stood up, and faced him furiously, "My parents were taken from me by bad people. You make bad people go away!" She stopped to take an envelope out of her coat pocket and shoved it into his hands, "I need your help. I know how to run and hide, and I am not afraid!"

He stared at her determined face, and shook his head before taking a look at the envelope she had handed him. Inside was easily 20,000 dollars if not more. His head shot up, "Where did you get this?"

She crossed her arms and huffed, "My parents were Cheryl and Jonathon Boswell. They were part of an old family that originally came from Boston. They had a lot of money, one day they told me where they kept the emergency money stashed. I'm pretty sure this counts."

He felt his heart drop into his stomach. The Boswells? His ears started ringing and he felt his chest constrict. This was bad. This was something else entirely. They were the rival family that his own family had been trying to bring down for fifty years.

"Donavan? Donovan!"

He blinked and the train and her face came back into focus.

"Are you ok? Your face went white."

"Ava, I think I know who took out your parents."

"You do? Who was it!"

He looked down at his hands again afraid to meet her eyes, "I think it may have been someone from the family that I work for... Your parents weren't just from an old rich family, they were a part of one of the biggest crime families to come out of Boston."

Now her face was white and there was a glimmer of tears in her eyes, "What? They were bad people after all?" She swayed a little and pulled her gently back onto the seat next to him. "So... You come from a family of bad people too?"

"Yes."

"Who is your family?"

"The Hewitts' we have been the rivals with them for years."

"And they killed my parents?"

"I believe so."

"Can you find who did this? Will you help me?"

His own fear for his life threatened to swallow him but he saw the determination in her eyes. His anger swelled and pushed his fear to the back of his mind. "I will help you, but what would you say if I said with your help we could possibly take down both families?"

She wiped her arm across her face and stuck her hand out, "I would say lets do it!"

He shook her hand, "It's settled then."

She nodded and then settled back with her hands clasped in her lap. Donavan slid the envelope into his coat and looked out the window, watching trees and farms flash by. Tomorrow would start the beginning of the end of his career and maybe just maybe... He could redeem himself for all the bad he had done.