All The Right Friends

I didn't work my way to my current position to let anyone tell me that someone I cared about wasn't safe. Even if he was the Creator. Deanna's epiphany seemed to have faded from her face, slowly being replaced by doubt.
"What do you mean?" I asked, anger in my voice. "What do you have planned for her now? What more does she have to go through?!!"

The Creator turned back to me, and stepped closer. "I have nothing planned for her, specifically. Her fate, her future, is in one place. Your hands."
I smiled in relief. "Than she has nothing to worry about. I run the Simprano crime syndicate. No one will harm her, ever. I will make sure of that."

The Creator wasn't impressed. "Can you?" He asked, quite simply.

I was puzzled... "What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be able to?"

With a hand gesture, suddenly a manila folder appeared in the Creator's hand. I could barely make out a FBI logo on it. "Deanna knows none of the specifics of her past life. It is time to fill in the details, for both your sakes."

He reached into the file and pulled out a single page. In the top left corner was a picture of a woman with long red hair. He held it out to me. "Brian, you've learned much in your rise through the Simprano family ranks. Do you know anything about this woman?"

I looked at the page presented. Seen close up, the young woman in the picture had long red hair... and bright blue eyes.... Bright blue... no... I glanced over to Deanna, then back to the picture... and back to her. Aside from the hair... it was her. She saw the look on my face, and looked startled, but she said nothing.
I read more of the information on the page... it was a summary sheet from a Witness Protection File... and I looked at her name. The name... was familiar. I racked my brain... and my brain offered up the details of one of my indoctrination meetings.... oh, no. This... can't be. I glanced at the Creator, who took the page away, and turned half towards Deanna.

"Here is what you need to know. Seven years ago, this woman, now known as Deanna Patience, was a teenager, on her way to study at Sim State University. She never made it to campus, though.

"Her taxi to University broke down on the way there, stopping in a small town. While waiting for a replacement taxi, she took a walk... and managed to stumble across a crime in progress."
It was two men tossing an unconscious man into a swimming pool, then walking off, carrying the pool's ladder with them."
"Needless to say, the man drowned before Deanna could get help. It was only dumb luck the killers didn't see her as they left."
"She gave her statement to the police, but was soon placed in protective custody once the identities of the murderers were known. She was basically locked up, under heavy guard, until the trial. She was brave, though. She stood up in court, and identified the murderers. Both were found guilty of Tampering With A Pool Ladder in the first degree, which drew the maximum penalty of life in prison without possibility of Build or Buy mode."

"Needless to say, after the trial, Deanna was placed in witness protection for her safety... but safe she was not, even with the FBI watching her. The crime syndicate the murderers belonged to, put out a contract on her. She had several close calls over the years, and after each attempt on her life she was given a new identity, and a new face. The security around her was tightened each time. But, these criminals were determined. No matter where she moved, they always seemed to find her. It turns out they had an informant in the Witness Protection program.

"The FBI eventually found the source of the leak, but all the years of running and hiding had taken their toll on her sanity. This last time they tried to kill her, she was trapped in a cage with a cow plant that hadn't been fed in weeks. There was no cake involved; it went right for her, sniffed her just before she was going to be eaten, when the FBI burst in and rescued her. The shock of this latest near death, pushed the young woman over the edge. Her mind... snapped, and when she recovered in the hospital six months later, she remembered nothing of her past life. She didn't even know her own name... and it was decided, for her own safety, to give her a new identity, and the name of Deanna, without telling her of her past.

The Creator stopped, and turned to look at her, a look of sadness on His face. Deanna's eyes were as big as dinner plates. I still couldn't move, but tried to send as comforting a look as I could to her. She seemed to be holding up though... but where she was getting the strength; I wish I knew.

"Even this was not enough. Deanna's troubles were not over. She remembered nothing, but years of living under constant paranoia had left marks on her mind that not even amnesia could erase. The details of the incident in the SimCity mall are not important here. For all we know, she may have overheard a simple phrase, seen something unrelated... but it may never be known. When she was removed from there, she was catatonic once again, and the best medicines given could only restore basic functionality. She had no memory markers the doctors could find. It was decided, that the best place for her, is, or was, here."

He turned to me, and glanced at Rocco and Snakes. "The reason she is not safe, is that the murderers her testimony put away, belonged to the Simprano crime family."

I gasped as loudly as I could given the circumstances. Before I could say anything, the Creator strode over to me and looked deep into my eyes. "So, answer Me, 'Leader', can you save her?"

I thought for a second, a half-second more than I needed, then summoned all the confidence that I felt, all the confidence that I knew, and looked my Creator back in the eye.
"Yes, I can."