Chapter 6

Steve and Abi changed and went straight back to the hospital to collect the drive. They walked to the machine only to see the drive was gone. Natasha walked up behind them blowing bubble gum. Steve pushed her straight into an empty room and into a wall.

"Where is it?" He asked.

"Safe."

"Do better." Steve warned.

"Where did you get it?" Nat asked.

"Why would I tell you?" Steve replied.

"Fury gave it to you, why?" Nat countered.

"What's on it?" Abi chipped in.

"I don't know." Nat answered.

"Stop lying!" Steve said.

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers." Nat said.

"She's not lying." Abi confirmed.

Steve ignored her. "I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"

"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you." Nat said.

"I'm not going to ask you again." Steve said harshly grabbing her jacket.

"I know who killed Fury." Nat said. Steve put her down and she continued. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

Something clicked in Abi's mind. But just as soon as it appeared it disappeared and she was left once again with a mismatched past.

"So he's a ghost story." Steve said.

"Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him, straight through me." Nat lifted her top so they could see a bullet wound in her stomach. "Soviet-slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis."

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible I them now." Steve said.

"Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried. Like you said he's a ghost story." Nat held up the flash drive and Steve took it.

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants." Abi said.