"Hand me the glass cutter," I said in a hushed voice, so as not to disturb the still night air. With the tool in hand, I extracted a small circle of glass from one of the massive panes of reflective glass that were the skin of the monster. I inserted my hand and wrist slowly into the hole, feeling along the edge of the window for the latch. When I found it, I made a motion with my free hand to the rest of my team. We were all set to begin the mission. We were sixty floors up the Imperial Building, dangling from small cables, and anxious to get inside before our presence was noticed.

The window lurched jerkily off its hinges, spasming itself until it had risen enough for us to be able to squeeze ourselves in the space it had risen off of its ledge. I went first, making sure that there was enough room to get into the dark room that lay on the other side of the edifice we clung to. I writhed myself through the tiny opening, and felt for the floor with my feet. When I was stabilized, I stuck my hand back out through the window and motioned for the others to enter. Jon was the first that I saw emerge from the dark opening. Ryan was next, followed by Greg, and lastly Mandy. This wasn't the team that I had envisioned taking for this mission, but it was the only team that could be assembled. I was worried that they would mess this up, since Jon was a notoriously sloppy worker, and Greg was heavily medicated. He was slightly insane, as was I, but he had the misfortune of being diagnosed as such. He hadn't been the same since the doctors gave him the anti-psychotics. He followed orders as well as ever, but he wasn't the same guy that we had previously dubbed "the evil genius". Ryan was the muscle of the group, a very dependable sort who possessed intellect that almost rivaled that of my own. I stress the fact that it almost rivaled my own intellect, because he was never able to fully grasp the true nature of our mission. Mandy was the most intriguing of the lot. She was new to the force, and not much was known about her. She was a drifter, and she quickly used her charms to ingratiate her way into our good graces. I didn't know if she was the sort who could be trusted to head up the splinter group we would have to form, so I decided it would be best to keep her close enough that I could keep my eye on her.

The room was as dark as the exterior, and we could not afford to initiate any lights, for fear that we could be seen by the residents of one of the other high rises dotting the city skyline. We all took out our night vision goggles, and we could see the layout of the room. There was a large desk to my immediate left, it was orderly, no papers seemed to be askew. The large, overstuffed leather chair sitting behind the desk, meant for intimidation, was placed precisely in line with the edges of the leg opening. There were two other chairs, both significantly smaller than the one at the desk, arranged slightly circularly and facing the desk. From these chairs, the figure sitting behind the desk must have made for quite the imposing visage. The door was located on the wall to the right, with two paintings hung on either side.

"The safe must be behind one of those paintings", blurted Jon.

"Are you an idiot? Do you really think that someone as careful as Abbott would leave the evidence in a safe in his own office?"

"I guess not."

"Damn right he wouldn't. Now, if he's as smart as I think he is, he tried to hide it in plain sight. So, rather than tear this entire building apart, I say we should just walk around casually and see if we can stumble across it."

"That's a good plan. It fits with his personality," Mandy interjected.

"Right. We know that whoever occupies this floor is obsessed with order. All we have to do is look for something out of place. Abbott couldn't have had much time to hide the folder, so I doubt that he could have covered up where he hid it very well. Ryan: you take Jon and Greg down the hall. Start at the end, and work your way back towards this office. Mandy and I will start here, and meet you halfway. If you find anything, just wait where you are. Don't move. We'll need to see the area around where you found it. Everybody understand?"

They all answered affirmatively, so we were ready to begin our search. Ryan, Jon, and Greg quietly exited he room, being careful not to trip any of the security alarms. Mandy and I began our systematic search of the office with the knowledge that we wouldn't find anything in there.

"Abbott's a smart guy. We are too. Where would you try to hide a folder if you only had about a minute to hide it?" I asked.

"I don't know. There's too many places you could."

"I know. But there has to be some clue about him that will tell us where he would have looked to hide it. What do we know about him?"

"Well, he's a smart guy. He was a psychologist. That puts him one ahead of us. He knows what we're going to do in here before we do."

"Wait a minute. That's it. He knows what we're going to do......oh shit!"

With that said there was a loud explosion that rocked the entire building. Mandy and I were knocked to the floor by the power of the blast. The smoke started to enter the office, and we looked at each other in shock. As we slowly got to our feet, we didn't have much hope. I got to the door first and peered my head outside. There was nothing to be seen but smoke, and the faint outline of flames. I told Mandy to stay put in case there were any other traps set up. I didn't want her to get hurt.

The hallway was strewn with debris. Desks, chairs, and papers that were carefully arranged were now thrown haphazardly in every direction. The flames had died out, and the smoke was beginning to dissipate. I could see something on the ground near the door to one of the far rooms. I hurried over to it, and only wen I was directly over it could I make it out. It was the charred and broken body of Jon. If anyone was going to set off a trap, it was going to be him. I looked inside the room, and was able to make out another figure laying, bent over, across the desk. I turned it over, and it was Greg. I couldn't help but feel responsible for all of this. But I was more concerned about the whereabouts of Ryan. He would have to be here, surely. He wouldn't have left the group. I searched the room, but was unable to find any sign of him. I turned to the door, only to find that Ryan was standing in the doorway, clutching his arm against his body. He was obviously hurt.

"God damn bomb," he said. "Why did it go off then? It wasn't supposed to go off until the dumb bastard picked it up."

I was shocked. He had set the bomb that killed two of is own best friends.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What do you think I was doing? I was trying to make sure I would find the folder, and that I wouldn't have you people to get in my way. I didn't want to share."

"You selfish bitch. You know what? You really are an idiot. We're not here to get the evidence to collect the reward on Abbott's head. That's not worth it. We're here to get the evidence to blackmail his ass. But, since you don't seem to be on board with this, you're not going to live to see the money."

"Wha..."

He never finished his exclamation. I cut him off with my .44. He fell in a heap to the floor, a pathetic excuse for a man. I had no use for people like him. Those who can only think and act in their own self interest are the lowest form of life there is. It was sad to see that one of my friends, and someone that I trusted was like that, but it was a good thing I found out now, and not later, when it could have cost me everything.

I stepped over his body, and slowly walked back down the hall to where Mandy was waiting for me. She blanched when she saw the look on my face. She could tell it was bad.

"What happened? Who's hurt? What is it?"

"They're all dead. The blast killed them all."

I couldn't bear to tell her the truth. It was bad enough that I had to know we had a traitor in our midst. She didn't need to know. If I could save people from the truth, and the pain that it was going to cause, then I think I was just doing my job. I could see her crying, trying to hold the tears back, trying to stay strong. I'm not sure for who though; for her own sake, or to show me that she was strong? I comforted her as best I could, but it was an impossible task while we were still in the vicinity of where they died. It was too much for the both of us. We made our way back out through the window we had entered, and we used our harnesses to repel back to the ground. It was a somber walk back to the van, and an even more somber drive back to the compound. We both sat in silence, the whirring of the passing cars the only sound ringing in our ears. Talking seemed to be foreign. I tried to speak on several occasions, but nothing came out of my mouth. There really was nothing for me to say, as long as I was going to keep the truth from her.



The road veered, and I turned off onto a dusty path. It appeared to the outsider that it hadn't been used in decades. The lump in my throat bobbed up and down into my brain and into my stomach as the road tossed the van to and fro. The headlights burned a streak of yellow light through the night, and they fixed themselves upon the small cabin situated between the ever present, mammoth trees. I left the motor running for several minutes, not sure whether or not to even get out of the car. I didn't have to make the choice. Mandy opened the door of the van, slowly, so that it creaked on its hinges as it moved. I cut the engine and followed, stumbling, my legs weak underneath me. It was fortunate that the door to the cabin had been left open, because I don't think I could have managed to get the key in the lock to undo it.

When the door opened, I threw the keys in the general direction of the table, but heard them clang loudly off the floor. "I'll get them in the morning," I thought. All I wanted to do was sleep. Sleep away this nightmare, sleep away the pain, the betrayal. Sleep until this whole thing made sense. That didn't happen though, as I awoke with the first rays of sun to enter through the windows. It was still too early in the morning to do anything constructive, so I laid in bed; thinking. I needed to figure out why Ryan would have betrayed us. He was always with us, by our sides, and the most trustworthy of the crew. He was first in line to take over my position when I retired from it, which he knew was going to be imminent. I had long voiced my resolve to retire from this business. I was tired of the lying, the stealing, the killing. I wanted to strike out and live a normal life. Then he would have taken full control of the operations and had all the money and power he could ever want. It just didn't make sense. There was no reason for him to turn on us. The only possible explanation was that he thought I was going to cut him out of the loop. But even then, he would have tried to kill me, and not the others. I was going to have to do some investigating into his private affairs in order to find out what was going through his mind.

By now Mandy had awoken, and we were both still reeling from the night before. But we both knew that no matter how much of a setback it was, we had to continue on with our work. We had to find the folder that Abbott had hidden. We were wrong about it being in the Imperial Building, but we knew that Abbott didn't have it in his possession, which meant that we still had a chance of getting to it.

"We'd better come up with a list of possible places that he could have hidden that folder. We need to find it. If we don't in the next two days, he's going to be able to walk a free man, and a rich man."

"Well, last night you said it's most likely that he hid it in plain sight. If we go with that, let's think of where he spends most of his time."

"OK. He's a known gambler, so that gives us the casino.

"And the horse track."

"OK. That's two places. He could have also hidden it at the museum. He's a psychologist, and there's an exhibit on Freud on display there."

"That's too easy."

"No, too easy would be in his house. I think it may be at the museum, just not in the Freud display. Freud was Jewish, and many believe that he created most of his theories to convince aristocratic Germans that they were insane to get there money and make up for their historically poor treatment of the Jewish people."

"So?"

"So, there's also a large Holocaust memorial display at the museum. I would bet that's where the folder is hidden."

"That seems too far out there."

"Maybe, but it makes for a fairly good story. It sounds good."

"Are you making jokes at a time like this?"

"It helps."

"You're crazy."

"Maybe, but the museum is still a good place to check. Let's go."



We were on our way to the museum, but my mind wasn't on Abbott and his folder of evidence. It was still on the events of the previous night. I fancy myself to be a smart, perceptive person, but I was completely lost in this mess. I couldn't make any sense out of it at all. I wasn't sure if she could tell that something was wrong or not, but thankfully she didn't ask, because I would have probably told her.

It was Sunday, so the museum was closed for the weekend. That made our job easier. We parked the van in a nearby alley, to keep it from being identified. There's never enough alleys around when you need one. It's a part of life in the city, with all the new urban cleanup projects. There's never an abandoned alley, or warehouse for hiding.

We casually walked around the museum, waited for pedestrian traffic to slow, and then snuck into the back entrance. I was an expert lock picker, and was able to gain entry in a matter of seconds. We closed the door quickly, and surveyed what was ahead of us. The museum was expansive, it had three floors, each containing three large gallery rooms, and five smaller ones located around the perimeter. That was too much ground for us to cover, but thankfully we had an idea as to where we needed to look. I walked to the front entrance, and picked up one of the tourist information brochures. The map on the back page showed that the Freud exhibit was located on the third floor, in one of the small gallery rooms. I didn't think there could possibly be enough items about Freud to fill up one of the large galleries. That would be overkill for a man who doesn't deserve such recognition.

The elevator would have been too risky, as the perverted security guards put cameras in there to watch people who like to "get busy", as they say, between floors. They were the only cameras in the place, as the Mayor had started a new community trust program, where people were trusted more in order to breed good nature. The Mayor was a member of the Bush clan, so it was expected that he would be slightly on the other side of sanity.

The stairs were rarely used, and it showed. Their once majestic Italian marble was cracked, and dingy. It would have made for quite the sight, and I'm sure it was when the museum first opened. But now, in an age when sloth is celebrated, they sat as a remnant of a bygone time. The third floor was a blessing; the surrounding buildings were all unusually short for the area, all at only two stories. We were free to rummage around without fear of being seen. The Freud exhibit was located at the back wall, situated between a display of famous sexual toys and one of George Orwell. I thought that was rather funny.

The "exhibit", as they call it, was rather pathetic. There were only a few assorted papers, a bust, and copies of Freud's writings situated on a desk. Taxpayers pour billions of dollars into the city, and they spend it all on a new baseball stadium. The various displays of "K's" for strikeouts are what constitute art in this town. If I were a taxpayer, I would be enraged. As it is, I'm just disappointed. I looked at the papers sitting on the desk, and they were clearly not what we were looking for. The books were empty, and the desk didn't have any drawers. We seemed to be at a dead end.

As I was lost in thought, I wandered over into the display of sexual toys. They were a fascinating lot to observe, as some appeared as if they would make the Marquis de Sade blush. I saw one in particular that stuck out from the rest. It didn't seem to have any possible sexual function. It was shaped like a toaster, with no holes on the exterior, and was the size of a large book. It had two screws located in the bottom plate, and curious, I removed them. The top of the item slid off, revealing to me an envelope. Frantically, I put the toaster like device on the table with Freud and extracted the contents of the envelope. Eureka.

For a man of intellect such as Abbott, I found it odd that he would have hidden the evidence so clumsily. The toaster bore no resemblance to any sexual aid that I had ever seen, and surely a use of that nature couldn't even be conceived. Something seemed to be a bit off. It was almost too easy.

I heard a click behind me. It was unmistakable. It was the cocking of a gun, a Luger .44 to be more precise, the type of guns that Mandy and I were carrying. I turned around slowly. Sure enough, a .44 was staring me eye to eye.

"Give me those papers, and I might not kill you." Mandy said coldly. I was disappointed in her. I had tried to be nice to her the previous night, and this was how I got repaid? Instant Karma was a bit too instant for me.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Simple. I wanted a piece of the action in this town, and I couldn't have done it myself. So, I hooked up with the best, and let you lead me right to it. Now that you've found it, you're of no use to me."

"But that's where you're wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't have the evidence yet. I do. And you're not getting it either."

"Wanna bet?"

"I never was a gambler."

With that statement, I shook my arm, and the .9MM I had strapped to my forearm dropped into my hand. I fired only once, hitting Mandy in the right shoulder, her gun dropping and cracking the marble floor. I turned and ran for the exit, ducking around the first corner to avoid any return fire. I was down the stairs and out the door quickly, and I made for the van. A block short, I turned and headed back out into the town square. The parking garage was located across the road from where I was, three blocks from the museum. I caught the light, and was into the garage. I took the elevator up to the fifth floor, catching my breath as I ascended. I composed myself when the doors opened. I stepped out, confident that I had eluded my newfound advisory. I always kept a car parked in the garage in case of emergency. In my business, you have to always be prepared.

The motor sputtered to life as I turned the key in the ignition. I reached over, opened the glove compartment, and removed a small paper bag. Inside were hidden a pair of dark tinted glasses, a hat, and some plastic appendages designed to alter one's appearance. I removed the hat and the glasses, put them on, and slipped the car into gear. Smoothly, and with no sign of the danger I had been in moments earlier, I exited the garage. As the car hit the city streets, my nerves returned. Until I was sure to be out of range, there was always the chance that I could be found. I didn't know what sort of reinforcements Mandy was capable of producing. Luck was on my side, the traffic lights stayed green, and I was speeding down the highway towards safety in a matter of minutes.



I was rather proud of myself. I was able to avoid disaster without causing any sort of mass hysteria in town, unlike the last time this sort of thing happened. It was ten years previous, when I was just starting out in the business. I was under the apprenticeship of the great Smrtic, the most legendary and respected of all time. We were ripping off a supply of aid destined for the war torn Middle East. The French government had hired Smrtic to keep the aid from ever reaching its destination, making the US look weak and hypocritical, and giving France ammunition in the escalating global standoff. He wasn't a political man, so he didn't hesitate in taking the job when the money was right. I was on his team. He had taken a liking to me, and had just promoted me to his number two in command. It was an honor just to be on his team, but to be his number two at my age was astounding. With him in charge, we were easily able to hijack the cargo en route. That's when the trouble started.

We were sitting in one of the picturesque French outdoor cafes, sipping glasses of red wine, and reveling in our success. If Smirtic had one weakness, it was his love of a good party. And nothing gave him reason to party like success. He didn't know that I had drugged the glass of wine he was sipping from. I watched as his face blanched, he gripped his throat, and fell over. He laid motionless, his eyes fixated upon Geof. Geof was never the most clever, and had made his intentions of being leader well known. So naturally, when Smrtic died, and we all knew he was poisoned, all the blame fell directly on his head. He was an easy scapegoat. It didn't bother me much to see the rest of the crew tear into him, and chase as he fled. Blood was strewn all over the Paris streets. We gave a new meaning to painting the town red that day. The only problem with it was that there were hundreds of witnesses to our murder of the poor sap. There was no way to silence them, so we were on the run; Jon, Ryan, Greg, and myself. We had planned to leave the country that night in any event, so there was a plane waiting at the airport for our arrival. We were able to board and take off before the French police could catch us.

The plane ride was hell. The four of us were sitting in a circle of chairs, wondering what we had seen and done. We had lost both our leader, and one of our brethren. It was a judgement day of sorts. We had to reevaluate ourselves, and what we did. None of us were ready to quit, we didn't have the means to do so yet. This score didn't net us enough for the four of us to retire to a Caribbean island and sip Margaritas for the years to come. We decided that it would be best to stick together; to continue the business in the name of our fallen leader. Since I was already number two, the guys decided that I should lead us into this new phase. I was Smrtic's choice, so I would be their choice.

I was amazed that they never found out that it was I who murdered Smrtic, and not Geof. I would have bet my life that one of them would have been able to read it in my demeanor, my actions, my words. To live with that secret for this long, when we were so close, was baffling and troubling at the same time. I'm not saying that I had a conscience, but it was hard to see these people that I was trusting, and that I depended on, so easily fooled by my simple procedure. I took control of the business that day, and I hadn't looked back since.

I hadn't looked back, until today that is. Seeing the events between myself and Mandy transpire, I couldn't help but look back, and see myself in her. I was proud of her. She did exactly what I would have done. Her only mistake was going up against me. Smirtic might be considered the best ever, but I had surpassed him long ago. The only reason he was considered better was that he had a flare, a panache, and wasn't bashful in boasting about his triumphs. I, on the other hand, kept everything quiet, to the point where most never knew that I was even still in business. Mandy, being as quick as she was, should have known that I was the best. And you can't beat the best in that fashion. It takes more careful planning. The reason I was able to take out Smrtic was because he wasn't the best at the time. I was. He had gotten sloppy, and careless about his work. I was doing most of it by that time, and he took all the credit. A pompous man is easy to defeat. I wasn't like him in any manner. I was still as careful as ever, and it was going to take more than a gun to get rid of me.



The roads out of town were quiet, and I was clipping along, the road being devoured by the hungry front end of the car. I thought that it was almost the perfect feeling. Alone, on the highway, watching life pass by on both sides. It was still fifty miles to my camp on the lake, and there was so much to see.

I reached the entrance to the drive before dusk. It was off of a side street in a rural community, so there was no fear as I got out of the car and uncovered the drive from the overhanging branches and ivy that secluded it so well. I doubt that many of the residents of the town knew that it was even there. All that I knew was that Mandy had no idea that the place existed. I always make sure to leave out information that I think may come in handy for me later on. This was one of those things. Like I always said, the professional in this business is always prepared. The car was one example of this, the camp is another. There’s never such a thing as having too many hiding places.

The camp was a perfect place for me to plan my next move from. The lake was a deep, royal blue, and it shimmered like the diamonds that I once lifted from the Queen of England’s jewelry box. That was one of my favorite heists. No one, not even my crew, could figure out how I did it. I wasn’t about to tell them either. I had to have a so called, “competitive advantage”. Now, sitting on a wicker rocking chair, staring out over the water, I needed to find the proper way to proceed. I couldn’t stay here forever. She would be able to trace it back to me in time. The way I looked at it, I had two choices. I could either fortify the camp and set traps for any intruders, or I could take off and use the spoils of my labor to keep one step ahead. Not being the trusting sort, or the open sort, I didn’t have anyone to turn to for help. I was on my own. My business was my life, and my crew the only people that I had any contact with. Now all of them were either dead, or chasing me. I was in a desperate situation, despite having the one thing that could get me out of it: the evidence.

The evidence was the key to everything. If I gave it to Mandy, she would be happy, and there was only a fifty percent chance of getting killed. If I held on to it, I would have to make myself out in the open to collect in the next few days. That was almost too dangerous to think about. But she wouldn’t expect it. Being reckless is the only thing that would be unexpected, and it might be able to save my life. A spark had gone off in my mind, and the proverbial light bulb was glowing white hot.



The phone rang three times before it was answered.

“Hello. Abbott here. What do you want?” He seemed to be full of himself after he must have heard about the expense that he cost me with his trap.

“Hey there buddy. Long time no see.” I could imagine is face going white, his jaw slacking when he heard my voice. I’m sure he expected me to be dead after the blast. The bodies were charred enough that I could have been mistaken for another.

“Ho….how the….”

“How what? How am I alive? How did I get the evidence against you? How am I going to collect? Which do you want to know?”

“Oh shit.”

“That’s right. I’ve got the evidence, and you’re going to have to pay me well to get it back. Very well, cause I don’t give a shit if you fry or not.”

“Ok….Ok….I’ll pay you. I’ll wire you a million right now.”

“I don’t think so. A million isn’t enough. I know you’ve got friends, and they don’t want to see you go to prison, or death row. And I also know that these friends have a lot of money. So, you’re going to get on the phone with them, tell them the deal, and collect a nice little bounty of one hundred million.”

“I can’t do that. They’ll kill me.”

“You’ll die either way. You have a better chance with them.”

“I’ll try. Just give me some time.”

“You’ve got ‘til noon tomorrow. I’ll call again then, and we’ll make arrangements. Good luck.”

I hung the phone up on that note, the click ringing in his ear as he scrambled to find a source to get the money. Normally, I would have taken the million, or gotten him up to five and taken the money. But I wasn’t going to have another score, so I pushed it. If I was going to retire, and elude Mandy, I was going to need money, and she would have gotten to all of my accounts by now. If I didn’t get as much as possible from Abbott, I was going to have no shot at surviving. But I wasn’t worried. Even if I only got twenty or thirty million out of him, it would be enough for me to buy my way out of the country. If my plan was to go off well, that is.

This time Abbott picked up the phone on the first ring. He was quite the obedient student.

“I couldn’t get it all. I tried, but I couldn’t.”

“How much did you get?”

“They would only give me fifty. And that’s putting me in a bind to them for a long time. You just have to take it.”

“I don’t have to do anything. I asked for a hundred.”

“God damn. I can’t get it for you.”

“I’ll tell you what. You give me the fifty, and let me keep the evidence, and we’ve got a deal.”

“But I don’t even know you’ve got it. I need some proof before you get a cent.”

I took out the papers, and began reading from the one on top.

“OK. That’s it. You do have it. Will you take the fifty?”

“Do I get to keep it?”

“No. But, I’ll give you the names of the people who gave me the money, and you can deal with them on your own.”

“That’s not a bad proposition there. How long did it take you to think of that one?”

“I’ve always been willing to sell my friends out to save my own ass.”

“As you should.”

“So do we have a deal?”

“We have a deal.”

“I’ll wire the money now.”

“Hold it.”

“What?”

“Don’t wire it. I want to get it from you personally. In cash.”

“Where are you? I’ll come there.”

“I don’t think so. Meet me in the gazebo in the park at 3:00. Bring the money, and I’ll bring your evidence. A nice even trade. Deal?”

“Sure. 3:00. I’ll be there.”

“Good.”

I hung up on him again. Fifty million was a nice little bonus. I didn’t expect that much, but I would surely take it. That would be plenty for me to retire, since my accounts are all empty now. All I had to do now was to arrange my little trap.



The phone rang twice, and I was greeted coldly.

“What?” she said snarling.

“Is that any way to greet your friend, Mandy? I am still your friend, right?”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“No why would you want to do that? I don’t want to kill you. I just thought I would tell you that the evidence is going to good use. Abbott’s already wired the money to me. Looks like you missed out. Sorry.”

“I’ll just have to find you and kill you.”

“That’s not very nice. You shouldn’t say things like that. Besides, you’ll never find me.”

“You know that’s a lie. I’m better than you.”

“I guess you’re right. I mean, you did manage to get that evidence from me so easily….oh wait…you didn’t. That’s right, you’re a loser.”

“I swear to god I will hunt you down and kill you. You’re teeth are going to make a nice necklace for my dog.”

“That’s funny. You always told me you were an atheist.”

“Do you think you’re funny?”

“Sometimes I am. I feel like I am right now. Aren’t you laughing?”

She hung up on me. I love pushing people’s buttons. It’s never very hard, especially when you have what they want. People never think rationally when they get angry. It makes for a great tool for me.



I drove back into the city leisurely. There was plenty of time before I was scheduled to meet Abbot at three. I wanted to get to the park early, and observe his arrival. Surely, if she was as good as I thought she was, Mandy would be tailing Abbot. I needed to see just where she was hiding, and what she had in store for me. I never was fond of surprises. Now was not the time to start.

It was ten minutes to the hour when I spotted Abbot’s BMW pull onto Maple Street. He made an illegal u-turn before parking in front of a hydrant. He didn’t seem to care very much for keeping his profile low. It wasn’t a good idea to bring attention to yourself in a park when you’re carrying fifty million in cash. It made you look like a politician. Worse, it would make me look like one by taking the money. He would only look like a lobbyist.

Abbot walked along the waterfront, stopping at the marble statue of Atlas. He checked his watch. If it was correct, it would have been four minutes to the hour. He shifted his weight from foot to foot several times before looking around blankly. He wasn’t very good at this sort of thing.

I turned my attention to scoping out the surroundings. Through the tree limbs, I was unable to get any glimpse of a figure hiding. It seemed that I was safe in proceeding with the deal. I wasn’t in the mood to take any chances, so I went to my back up plan.

“Abbot here. What do you want?” I hated the fact that he picked up the phone on the first ring. Suspicion is fueled by those sort of actions.

“Do you have the money?” I asked.

“I have the fifty million. I’m right where you asked me to be. Where are you?”

“I’m nearby. Listen up. We have a new plan. When I tell you to, you’re going to walk slowly forwards. When you get to the sundial, turn right, and sit on the left side of the bench.”

“What for?”

“Just do it.” I was short tempered with him. He needed some discipline. “And whatever you do, don’t look around. You’re drawing attention to yourself.”

“All right. I’ll meet you there.”

I watched from my perch, as he followed my instructions to the letter. He was finally learning how to comply, and how not to make himself seem like the crook he was. This was a pleasant surprise. When he was seated, I left the safety of my location, and headed towards him. From under my dark glasses I scoped out the park in all directions. Again, there was nothing. This was odd that she wouldn’t do the simplest of tactics. She either wanted to take her chances directly with me, or she had already gotten to Abbot and cut a deal with him. Either way, she wasn’t about to outsmart me.

I sat on the bench next to Abbot. He was shaking like one of those hairless Chihuahuas on a cold New York day. I could see large drops of sweat rolling down his over extended forehead and forming a puddle on his tie. He at least had the decency to wear a dark colored shirt and tie so that the sweat didn’t show. I appreciate proper fashion sense.

“The money’s in the case.”

“Just put it on the ground.”

“Do you have the evidence?”

“I have it. Don’t worry. Just act natural. Wait. Scratch that. Act like me.”

“I want to get this over with.”

“It’ll all be over soon.”

“That’s what I need to hear.”

“I think we’ve been here long enough. Act like you’re checking your watch, then get up and leave. Don’t forget to look back and wave.”

“OK.”

He did as he was told. He rose, picked up the folder, and took three steps away from me. At that point he turned around and gave me one of those goofy waves mentally deficient types give to any stranger they see on the street. It wasn’t the right picture that I wanted to remember of him. Couldn’t he have spent his last minutes with some sort of dignity?

I checked the briefcase, and the money, at least most of it, appeared to be there. Whatever the exact amount was, it would suffice. I closed the case quickly, and made a b-line for my car. I didn’t want to be anywhere nearby when the C-4 I planted in the case went off. There would be parts of him raining down on a three block radius of downtown. If anyone in the park had seen me with him, I wanted to make sure I had my disguise off, and the car disposed of before the cops showed up.

I stowed the outfit I was wearing in the trunk of the car, which was thankfully not in the vicinity of a single pedestrian. As I closed the trunk, I hit the timer on the C-4 hidden under the spare tire. I darted into a nearby alley, and through the open door of one of the tenements. The car went up first. The explosion rocked the area, confusing visitors from San Francisco into thinking there was an earthquake. I ran out of the tenement with the other residents to see the cause of the commotion, and showed as much dismay as anyone else when confronted with the image of the hollowed out body of the car. There was nothing left of it to be discernable. It was ripped and mangled in the fashion of a zebra in the jaws of a lion. The car, stolen of course, would never be able to be tracked back to me. There wasn’t a single print in there to begin with, and I was careful not to drive the car without wearing full protection, so there wasn’t a strand of DNA to be found either.

As everyone was huddled around the car, and as the police arrived on the scene, I heard the sweet sound of C-4 yet again. It came from the north, on the other side of the park. We looked in the direction of the disturbance to see blood raining down on the park. People doubled over, and vomit flowed like water, and I slowly made my way into the shadows of the alley, inconspicuous as any faceless mass. I was proud of my handiwork. It was a shame I had no one to boast to. It was a nice piece of work to blow Abbot into molecular sized pieces, and lift Mandy’s prints off of my car to place on the envelope. When the investigators found the debris, and I coated it in flame retardants, they would find Mandy’s prints and assume that it was she who carelessly killed Abbot. I was feeling especially giddy over my accomplishment. I was feeling overly confident, reckless, and in need of some more fun to keep the good times rolling.

“What?” she snapped coldly as she answered the phone.

“I just thought I’d let you know it was nice the way you killed Abbot?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t kill him.”

“The cops will say different in a few hours.”

“What did you do, you little bastard?”

“I just used the wonders of science to my advantage.”

“Shit. You killed him? Now I’m not going to get the money. Shit.”

“No money, no evidence. Wow, things are going badly for you. Where I’m sitting, it’s coming up roses. I hold all the cards.”

“Shut the fuck up. I’m going to kill you.”

“Sure you are.”

“I will you son of a bitch. Just you wait.”

“Let me warn you of something. I’m retiring. I’m through with this stuff. But if you disturb me, I have it in me to kill one more person. Just give me a reason to do it.”

“All I’m saying is you’d better watch your back. I’m coming for you.”

“In the words of our president, ‘bring it on’.”

I was worried about what could be in store for me, but I didn’t let on to anyone about it, even myself. If there was one thing someone in my line of work was good at, it was denial. I could surely make myself believe that I was safe until something was to happen. It would take some time for her to get a plan, and reinforcements for an assault on me. I should be able to have a few thousand miles between us by that point. If I kept on running, I would be able to stay far enough in front. I wasn’t going to let her catch me. “No matter what,” I thought, “I was going to stay the best. No two bit floozy was going to show me up.”



The city streets were full of faceless people, all running and stammering to catch a glimpse of the wreckage left by the two bombs. They never noticed me walk right by them, lost in my train of thought. I had the fifty million, and that should be enough to buy myself into any country I chose. I saw a green Lincoln Navigator double parked in a fire zone across the intersection from where I was. That was a symptom of living in the city. There was always someone who thought the streets were their own private parking lot. For all the bad that I do, I try to give back to the city as much as I can. I took my opportunity, and tried the doors of the SUV. The foolish owner, like most extravagant buyers, had left the doors unlocked. While he wasn’t so mindless as to leave the keys in the ignition, it was a simple enough task to hot wire the truck.

The engine roared to life as the sparks of the wires flew out from under the dash. This vehicle was the epitome of overstatement, and I was doing the world a favor by jacking it. It slipped into gear with a groan, and I was gliding towards the airport before anyone could have realized I was gone. The truck felt more like a Sherman tank than a car. I had always hated these oversized SUV’s. Everything in America was becoming oversized; the cars, the bank accounts of CEO’s, the food, and the people themselves. We were living in a state of gluttony, and there was no end in sight.

I suspected that by now, as I passed the city limits, that an APB had been put out on the Navigator. I was only a mile away from the airport, which was close enough to ditch this ride, and take a cab the rest of the way. I directed the massive land missile into a side street, and from there into the driveway of an unoccupied house. I gave the car a look over to see if there was anything concealed within that would be useful to me in my future endeavors. There were a few fast food containers, some dry cleaning (nothing but trendy designers who steal designs from the tattered rags of the homeless), and a six pack of Bud Light. I locked the doors as I exited, and I made my way back down to the main road. I used my cell phone to call a cab, and I waited patiently for its arrival. There was nothing unusual about the cab, the driver, or the trip.

The airport sat amidst open fields, looking alien to the landscape. It was one of those new, angular designs. It appeared to look more like a child’s first attempts with Legos than an airport. It was a cold and uninviting building, one which didn’t instill confidence that you would survive a flight, or the screening process. The doors glided open with the smallest application of force on the putrid carpeting that invited the visitor. Air sickness was enough of a problem for many people, they didn’t need to be welcomed by the sight of vomit on the ground. The people running this establishment need to learn a little something about marketing, and public relations. This was not the proper way to impress customers.

I scanned the boards to see where there were direct flights departing to within the next hour. I saw flights to Paris, Jamaica, Beijing, and Rio. None of them looked promising to me. I wanted to find someplace both secluded, and unusual. When she realized that I was out of the country, Mandy would look for me in the nicest places to retire. The Caribbean would be tops on that list. I needed to find someplace no one would think to look. That’s when I caught a break. There was a direct flight to Israel departing in twenty minutes. There were several seats still available. I was in luck. A war torn country was a perfect place to hide out. I noted the flight number, and the carrier, and I made my way to the ticket counter.

“El Al airways. How may I help you?”

“I’d like one ticket for flight 34 to Israel.”

“Would you like first class or coach?”

“First class would be fine.”

“All right. Would you like a window or aisle seat?”

“Window please.”

I paid for the ticket and made my way to the security gates. This wouldn’t be too easy to make it through, with me carrying fifty million in cash in a briefcase, and no other luggage. As I figured, I was stopped in line and questioned.

“Would you mind opening your case?”

“Sure thing.” I opened the case, and both of the security personnel had their eyes bug out of their head. They had never seen that much money at one time.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you some questions about this money.”

“I think I can explain it for you. I’m Special Agent Daniels of the FBI. I’m transporting this money to Israel covertly. The administration doesn’t want the media to know about this. So if you could keep it quiet, there will be something in it for you.”

“I’m sorry Agent. I didn’t realize. Go right ahead.”

“Thank you.”

It was a good thing that I had remembered to forge an FBI ID in case something like this were to happen. It was a lot easier to defraud people, especially those in power, than I would have thought. It wasn’t as though the ID was terrible, but it was a rush job, and not of the best quality. The gullibility of people was amazing, and easy to take advantage of.

The flight left fifteen minutes late, and was routine in every fashion. No one questioned my lack of luggage, and there were no disturbances of any kind during the flight. It was as normal as anyone from Wisconsin could have imagined it.

The flight landed around 5:30 in the morning local time, and I was jarred from slumber. “First class chairs really are comfortable,” I thought to myself. It was still dark, but as we filed off of the plane, the first rays of sunlight peaked over the horizon. It was a beautiful shade of orange, and a fitting opening to a new phase of my life. This was retirement. This was not having a care in the world, and having nothing to do but enjoy life. I was already tired of it. But I might as well give it a chance.



Over the next few days, I came to like Israel. In between the bombings, the shootouts, and the demonstrations of hate, it was a beautiful place. The region was so full of interesting history. I visited the holy lands, and reinforced my belief that there is nothing discernibly holy about them. They seemed to be just like every other plot of land I ever say. The Wailing Wall did nothing for me. It was just a wall. Likewise, my trip to Mecca netted nothing of spiritual enlightenment. I couldn’t see why these people were risking their lives, and the lives of their families, fighting for this land. There was nothing about it that made me want to so much as lift a finger.

It was after one week in this new land, when I had started to tire of it, that my phone rang in the hotel.

“Hello.”

“Hiya bitch. You’re going to die.”

“What do you want?

“I want that money.”

“There’s no money.”

“Bull shit. I know there is. And you’re either going to give it to me, or I’m going to have to take it from you. Which is it going to be?”

“You’ll have to take it. I don’t give up anything without a fight.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. I’d love to take you down.”

“That ain’t gonna happen.”

“Just you wait and see. You’re going to go down.”

“What me and my prostitute do is none of your business.”

“Shut up!”

“So how is it you’re going to take me down again?”

“When you least expect it.”

“Now see, I wonder why no one ever says ‘when you most expect it’. That would be more impressive. To take someone down when they no it’s coming. That would be cool.”

“Do you ever shut up?”

“Nope.”

“Just know that you’ll be dead within 36 hours. That’s good enough for now. Oh…..don’t try to leave the country again. I’ve got people staked out on the boarders, and at the airports. You’ll never make it out.”

“But I wanted to see Italy. This place has gotten so boring. I’ve got an idea. How about the two of us go to Rome, and you can try to kill me in the Coliseum?”

“No.”

“You’re no fun. Did you know that?”

She hung up before I could say anything else to infuriate her. I loved playing games with people, and she was as easy as any that I’d met. It almost pained me to infuriate her so much. She shouldn’t be so frustrated right before the frustration of not killing me. It was almost unfair, but not quite. C’est la guerre.

The next morning I got up early and began procedures to counteract whatever it was that she had planed for me. I had no idea what she had in store for me, other than to know that she thought it was enough to get the job done. After she had failed in the museum, she would not be so sloppy again. The only chance I had to get out of a trap was to set one of my own. Only be taking her out would I be able to save myself. “Kill, or be killed” was the motto of the day. I wasn’t liking retirement that much, and getting rid of this one last dissident would be good for me. You can never quit cold turkey. You need to wean yourself off of something like killing slowly. Just gradually cut down on the number of people killed. I figure that one a week isn’t too bad. Abbot was last week, so I was due to kill someone. If she wanted it to be her, I was fine with that. I have no qualms about killing a woman. Not if she’s anything like Mandy. It actually makes it easier, because there’s a bit of evil in every one that uses their fruits to tempt. She was no different. I wouldn’t have any second thoughts about killing her, just as I hadn’t had any about killing Ryan, or Smrtic. If I was able to kill my mentor, what would I be willing to do to a low-life like her? She was about to find out that messing with me in any form is not a good idea. I hate to lose, and I’m a lousy winner.

I gathered up all of the belongings that I had acquired since moving to the Middle East. I had the money, as well as two .44 specials that reminded me of the ones I was issued years ago in the service. In addition, since there is so much hostility and killing in the area, it was easy for me to have gotten my hands on an AK-47. I didn’t know what I had thought I was going to use it for, but part of me just wanted to own one. It’s like a status symbol or something in my line of work. Anyone who is anyone has one, so I had to comply with the peer pressure.

I sat at my laptop, churning through web pages detailing the area. There weren’t any good locations to set a trap. There were no places secluded enough to have a fire fight without being killed by residents for being a terrorist instead of the murderer that you are. Overpopulation had run amuck. It was sad when there was nowhere to commit a serene murder in the land where it was born. Maybe I should have just stayed in America. At least there I could have killed people and been celebrated for it. Why did I have to come to this God-forsaken place? What was I thinking? I couldn’t have been sober at the time, for this didn’t seem like anything that I would actually do. It was so stupid, and yet, it was so right. There was still hope in my desperate situation.



It was a rather calm day in the streets. The violence was subdued to the point where I could hear myself think over the gunfire. If this was all going to go down today, I would have liked a spot of noise to cover up our actions. The way it was, it would still work, but it would draw too much attention to us. We wanted to kill each other, not anyone else. If we were to draw fire from others, it would ruin everything, and potentially cost innocent people their lives. That wasn’t acceptable. It’s one thing for her and me to die, but we should be the only ones to do so.

I was accustomed to hearing the government’s diesel engined trucks driving by, belching their exhaust, and dispensing of tear gas on those who were fighting. But now I heard a different sound. It wasn’t that familiar diesel drone, it was a much more treble, higher pitched drone. It was nothing I had heard since moving here. I rushed to the window to find out what the object making the racket was. Moving the curtains just enough to see out, I made out the outline of a truck. I couldn’t see the details of it, as it was sitting in the shadows the hotel cast upon the streets.

I lifted the window about an inch, and I could hear voices. They weren’t speaking in Arabic. They were English voices. I knew what was happening, so I reached back and grabbed the AK-47 I had impulsively purchased. It would come in handy now. I looked around the room for anything that I could use to secure the window from fire. There was nothing except the plywood furnishings. They would surely be cut through without offering the least bit of resistance. I had an idea though. I went to the nightstand, opened the drawer, and found what I hoped was there. Like American hotel rooms that have copies of the Bible in every room, so did this hotel have copies of the Torah. It wasn’t much, but when I inserted the small cigarette case inside its pages, it became a substantial protective device. In the business, we’re all trained to shoot for the heart, or the spine. A head shot would not do us any good, as we would always need to be able to identify the victim, whether for verification or for blackmail. If I used the book as a shield over my heart, I was fairly sure that I could get out of this predicament with less than three bullets in me.

I strapped both of the .44s to my forearms in case of emergency. I took a deep breath, hoisted the AK-47, and walked out the door just as bullets tore into the walls. I shimmied down the staircase, keeping away from the windows. I needed to find a way around the group of them, to sneak up from behind and take them out. There was no back door to the hotel, only a side door that lead directly into the gunfire that was aimed at me. My options were limited, and I stopped for a minute to think of what I could do, when I heard a voice on a megaphone.

“Hey! Are you alive in there you bastard? I told you I’d kill you. How’s this for ya?”

No longer afraid of giving away my position, I stepped out in front of the hotel. I could see her eyes light up when I came into view.

“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere either. Go ahead and shoot me.”

“Not quite yet. I want to ask you something.”

These people were always doing this. Why do they not kill you when they have the chance? Have they never seen a James Bond film? Stopping to talk to a victim always gives them enough of a chance to escape. And these people wonder why I call them sloppy in their work. You don’t get too many chances to kill someone, least of all someone like me. You have to seize the opportunity. Besides, I wasn’t in the mood to hear her drone on. Her voice was damn annoying. And the little act she put on where she acts sophisticated and pretentious is terrible. She couldn’t have gotten a role in ‘Freddy got Fingered’.

“Just hurry up and shoot me.”

“Hey. I’m going to enjoy killing you. I want to savor it for a while. It’s only going to happen once.”

“Or not at all.”

“Shut up. I want to know something. How does it feel not to be the best anymore?”

“I don’t know. I won’t know that until I’m dead.”

“But I’ve got you trapped. Doesn’t that make me better?”

“Col. Decker captured the A-Team in almost every episode. Big deal. If you finish the job I’ll be impressed.”

“Ask, and ye shall receive.”

She raised her gun, took aim, and just as she was about to fire she realized that I was holding the AK-47 behind my leg.

“Throw that gun down.”

“What gun? I don’t have a gun”

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this. Just throw that gun down.”

I humored her, so I threw the gun on the ground in front of me. It kicked up a generous amount of dust, and under its cover I released the two .44’s I had strapped on. I got off three shots before they could return fire. The group confronting me consisted of her, and four what I presumed were special agents. I dropped and rolled, getting off another three rounds. I ducked back behind the wall of the hotel, checked my ammo, and called out.

“Still think you’re taking me alive?”

I could hear only a faint response. “You’ll never get out of here.” I imagine I must have hit her with one of the rounds. If so, that would make it easier to escape. She was already limited in her movements from the bullet I put in her right shoulder at the museum, so if I did hit her in the left one, it would leave her defenseless. If I could just get to her, I could use her as a shield, and get myself out of here.

I dropped to the ground again, and made my way to the door. I entered the hotel again, and made my way up to the second floor. From the front of the building, I should be able to get a clear view of the situation, and maybe I could get a few shots off to thin them out. If they gave chase, I would be able to hear them, and catch them on their ascent.

The window was covered in dust, and was barely translucent. I strained my eyes to see through the grime. I could see Mandy lying on the ground, blood seeping through the material of her shirt. She was not going to be able to fight any further, so I was down to four. I could see the truck, and underneath it appeared to be another figure. I wasn’t sure if they were dead, injured, or hiding. I didn’t want to take any chances, so I screwed the silencer on one of the .44’s, aimed, and plugged him twice. There was no movement as the bullets hit, so he was already dead. I was down to three. There were footsteps coming up both of the staircases on either side of me. In a panic, I pulled two rungs off of the banister, and used them to barricade each of the doors. I was hoping that they would think alike and try to bust down the doors and shoot at the same time. I scattered up to the next floor, and as I peered over the railing, the doors flew from their hinges, and guns fired. I saw two heaps hit the floor. That left me with only more to get past. He stepped over the bodies lying on the landing, looked left, looked right, then looked up. He spotted me, and then his blood spotted the walls as it sprayed off of the hole between his eyes. By my count, that was the lot of them.

Feeling safe, I descended the stairs and checked the bodies. All three of them were dead, and growing cold. I dipped my hand in the blood puddling on the floor, and I drew a cross on each of their foreheads. I was making sure that they wouldn’t be mistaken for Palestinian rebels inciting riots. It wasn’t that I was displaying a conscience, I was just making sure there was not more violence caused in this region than needed to be.

As I walked out the front door of the hotel for the last time, the dust had settled back down onto the ground. It was almost like one of those pictures of the damage after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The only thing in the streets were the dead man under the truck, and the injured form of Mandy, writhing in pain on the ground.

She saw me walking towards her, and she snarled. “If I could move either arm, I’d kill myself right now.”

“Come now. You wouldn’t want to do such a thing. I’m not going to kill you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not going to kill you yet. I think you could be useful.”

“For what?”

“Information. You know a lot, or at least you think you do. I want to know what you know. If you tell me enough, I might just let you go. It doesn’t seem like I have to really worry about you coming back to kill me again. You gave it your best shot twice, and failed both times. You have too much pride to fail again.”

“Why are you doing this? Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with?”

“I guess I see some potential in you. You’re a lot like I was at your age.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you tried to kill your leader, I actually did.”

“No you didn’t. Smrtic was killed by Geof. The guys all told me about it.”

“They didn’t know shit. I killed him. I was tired of him taking credit for my work. I do have some ego.”

“Shit. I thought you were just a glory hog who took advantage of everyone.”

“Well, I am. But not in the manner you thought.”

“But Ryan told me you were going to double cross us on the Abbot deal.”

“He did?”

“Yeah. That’s why I’ve been after you. I thought you killed Greg, Jon, and Ryan to screw them out of their piece.”

“I didn’t kill Greg and Jon. Ryan set the bomb that killed them. I merely took care of Ryan when I found out.”

“Shit. What the fuck have I been doing this for?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“God damn it! He fucked me over.”

“He sure did. Now the question is; why did he do it?”

“That I don’t know.”

“Neither do I, but I think I know how to find out.”



She was lucky that the bullet had gone clear through her shoulder. It was easy enough to bandage with the rudimentary tools that were available, and it would heal within a few days. We couldn’t risk going to the hospital, so I had to stitch the wound myself. I wasn’t much of a seamstress, so it would not be the best job in the world. It would suffice until we could get to some better supplies. I would probably need her at some point in the future. An accomplice with no arms wouldn’t do me any good.

We set off for America again. Retirement wasn’t working out quite the way I had envisioned it. This was a more hectic week than I had spent in the last ten years. If it kept up this way, I was going to have to go back to work to mellow out. My nerves were getting a bit frazzled from the repeated attempts on my life. Now having the task of investigating why my crew had turned on me wasn’t going to help any. If there was one thing I didn’t want to do by this point in my life, it was revisit my lowest moment. It had shocked me enough when it first occurred; it was enough to break my focus. Delving deeper into the deception had the potential to push me over the line, and into a breakdown. That would surely be the end of me. If there was anyone with a reason to get rid of me, a breakdown would erode me enough to ease the operation. I had to find some inner strength to make it through this in one piece. I still didn’t know if I could even trust Mandy. She could still be working against me, trying to kill me, or bring me back for a ransom. I didn’t want to kill her, but I didn’t want to let her go either. Neither option would do me any good. She could be invaluable in my quest. Ryan, like the others, had been smitten with her, and I’m sure he had revealed some of his secrets to her. If she knew them, I had to find them out.

It felt good to be back in America. The city was a welcome sight from the dust, the killing, and the hate of the Middle East. Even the inner city, with its crack problems and gang violence would be a kinder environment. Not being in any mood to wait, I ignored the laws and jacked a Mercedes from the waiting lot. Its owner was out of town, so they wouldn’t even miss it. Cruising back towards the monoliths that make up the jagged horizon, my mind began to wander, thinking back over the course of my career. I had done a lot of things that most people would cringe at. I had killed more people than most would know in their entire lives. I had stolen money, jewels, lives; and not given a thought to what would happen to the people I was dealing with. I was so possessed with moving up the ladder, and with succeeding where others had failed, that I had lost my way as a person. Maybe I did have a conscience after all. Maybe I had just kidnapped it and held it hostage, forcing it to watch my actions with no way of relaying its concern. That seemed like the best explanation for me. I could live with that. I made my way without mercy, so that I could regret it all later on. There was still time for it to eat away at me, and maybe it would do some good. I could still use the money I had to do some good. I wasn’t a lost cause yet. There was still hope, whatever that’s worth.

I continued on through downtown, the two of us still enraptured with the silence. There was nothing to be said between the two of us, and any attempt to speak would just bring on more hostility or confusion. The streets were empty, as the big German car rolled onward. It was as if the car were a marathoner, running without thinking, without stopping, without the ability to stop until it had finished the race. I was only there to keep it from going off course. It was a lonely trip. She made me feel more alone than I ever had. She was the only person left that I had known, and she was the one that I couldn’t bear to talk to. It was pathetic.



The entrance to the camp was still guarded heavily by the ivy that grew over it. The car lurched to a halt a few feet in front. I sat there, silent, for a moment. Then, without hesitation, I floored the gas pedal, throwing the car without abandon through the vines, and through the gate, crashing and twisting the metal. The dust was kicking up a wake on the drive, and I was smiling. It wasn’t a real smile, but it was one where the corners of your mouth turn up ever so slightly, revealing a sinister streak. I was, in my own way, tearing down the walls between myself and the world. It was time to let someone in. Whether or not they would accept the invitation was irrelevant. It was time for me to do things my way; starting right here, right now. I was through keeping myself shut off. It may even be able to help my work if I could use whatever emotions I may have to fuel me. Every engine needs fuel, and greed was running low in my tank.

I pushed hard on the brakes, feeling the anti lock system trying to keep control of the car. I liked pushing things to the edge, seeing just how far things could be taken before crashing and burning. It was a colossal game of chicken, and I wasn’t about to turn away. It wasn’t my style. When the car stopped its bobbing motion, and sat quietly in front of the small cabin, I cut the engine and got out. I sucked in a deep breath of semi clear, smog reduced city air. It was refreshing to feel the pollution back in my lungs. It’s amazing how much you grow to miss the small things like that when you’re away. Now, as the burning feeling came back into my lungs, I felt like I was home.

Home was untouched. There wasn’t anything out of place from where I had left it more than a week ago.

“You didn’t come here looking for me?”

“It’s yours? You’re not just taking it?”

“Yeah, it’s mine. I would have sworn you’d have found something about it amongst my things. I was hiding out here.”

“That would have been nice to know.”

“You don’t do your homework.”

“I never did like school.”

“We should be comfortable here for now. In the morning we’ll go out and start reconnaissance.”

“That was some retirement you had.”

“Tell me about it. I thought it was going to kill me.”

“It almost did.”

“Almost doesn’t count for anything.”



I was up before the sun the next morning. I was sitting on the deck, looking over the water, watching the first orange rays rise up from the darkness. It was the first time I had really gotten a chance to look at the sunset and enjoy it for what it is. Before, it had always been a beacon, a reminder that there was more work to do. Without any sort of responsibility or schedule, it was nice to take pleasure in something so simple. I watched as the light pushed across the water, making it shine like it was a concoction of liquid diamond. The light moved over the shoreline, up the grass, and onto the deck. It slowly made it way farther, covering me in the warmth of the new sun. It was as if I was someone different this morning. I didn’t feel like the same person I was yesterday. Maybe I had been able to talk myself into being someone different than the man I was used to. If so, I had a career in front of me as a motivational speaker.

The sun had fully revealed itself to the day when I heard the door clang on it’s hinges.

“I see you’re up.”

“Yeah. I was watching the sunrise. It’s really quite beautiful when you can take it all in.”

“Yeah.”

There was a long, awkward pause before anyone said anything else. It’s the silences that say much more than our words ever can. The body is the more eloquent of speakers. There are so many intricacies in movement that no voice could ever match its inflections. I watched her in this period of silence. She shifted her weight, and her chest moved irrhythmically in short motions.

“Try to calm down. There’s nothing to be anxious about……..unless there’s something that I don’t know about.”

“There is.”

“What don’t I know? I need to know everything.”

“I don’t know exactly what it is, but I have a rough idea.”

“Well, go ahead and tell me.”

“You’re going to find out some things you didn’t want to know if you go searching for answers. I’m trying to save you some pain.”

“I can take it. Just tell me.”

“Alright. Ryan told me a lot of things. He told me about the missions you guys had been through. He told me about how you lead them through the tough times when Smrtic had died. He told me about how he wanted to more than you ever did. He told me his dreams, his ambitions.”

“What did he dream of?”

“He dreamed of pulling off a bigger score than you could have dreamed of. He wanted to put everything you had done to shame. He wanted to make it into the mainstream. He didn’t want to sit in the shadows like everyone before us has.”

“Where’s this leading?”

“Well, remember when he was shot last year, and he took a month off to recuperate?”

“Of course. I gave him the time off. Why?”

“He wasn’t sitting around getting better. The bullet had barely hit him. He was fine.”

“Then what was he doing?”

“He was working with another group on putting together his deal. It was supposed to go down right after the Abbot thing.”

“Who was he working with?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. He didn’t trust me. He thought I’d tell you.”

“Mother fucker.”

“He was apparently indebted to whoever these people are pretty heavily. I don’t know anything more about it. I swear.”

“It looks like this is going to be harder than I thought.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to know.”

“I know.”



The apartment lay before me, a tangled mess of a broken life. All of his worldly belongings were strewn haphazardly, here and there, creating a free form mosaic of the most vile. The people Ryan was working for had to have been looking for something. I needed to find out what they were looking for, and just who these people were. There wasn’t much of a hope to find out either; we didn’t leave much behind that could be traceable.

“Do you think there could be a file hidden somewhere that would tell us what he was into?”

“No. He kept everything in that little notebook he kept. I should have taken it after I killed him, but I didn’t think it would be important.”

“So where is it now?”

“It’s either somewhere in the morgue, or it’s buried with him.”

“Are you saying……?”

“Yup. We’re going exhuming.”



It was a beautiful night for an exhumation, the sky was clear, and the air was crisp. Better than that, the Yankees were in town tonight for the first game of a three game series. That would draw a significant crowd, and create enough confusion that most people wouldn’t notice an exhumation in a poorly lit cemetery.

The grave was marked with a simple, squared edge stone. His name was the only marking on the otherwise pristine surface. This was the first time I had seen the grave since his death. I didn’t bother going to the funeral, there was nothing for me to do there. I had no grief to be relieved of. I had no inspirational stories to tell. I had no reason to celebrate his life. Now, though, I was going to be face to face with him once again.

The dirt hadn’t settled yet, so it was easy enough to dig. It went quickly enough; the work was enough to keep me occupied, and my mind free. It only took about an hour before I stuck an object.

“Hey. I got it.”

As the last pieces of dirt were cleared from the surface, the wood was exposed. It was a cheap looking grain of oak, a terrible wood for a casket. That was the reason that I was going to be cremated. It was a much simpler process. Of course, no one wants to ever look at a cemetery, much less have to visit one. It’s better for everyone to be cremated, and have your ashes spread over something. Then there would be no hassle to be had. It was decidedly better than being thrown into an ugly wooden box, and thrown into the ground to rot. That wasn’t a proper way to spend eternity. Everyone’s going to end up recycled into the world eventually, why not just speed the process up?

The locks were cheap, and I didn’t need a crowbar to pry them open. I hesitated for a minute before opening the lid. Never before did I have to relive one of my murders so long after the fact. I could always just throw them into the back of my mind as soon as the body hit the floor. This was going to be a new experience for me, one that I wasn’t really looking forward to.

I didn’t want to drag this out any longer than I had to, so I flung the lid open in one fell swoop.

“What the hell?”

“What?”

“Where is he?”

“What do you mean?”

“He isn’t in here. It’s empty.”

“Empty?”

“Fuck!”

“What do we do now?”

“We go see a friend of mine.”



I was fuming as we were barreling towards the waterfront. There was nothing that I hated more than being duped, and it didn’t happen very often. But when it did, there was always hell to pay afterwards. The last time someone got one over on me was the bloodiest day of my life.

I was working at the time on a plan to assassinate President Mwambe of Niger. We were hired by the UN of all people to dispatch of him. Every member of the UN wanted to see him killed, but none of them could afford to admit their desire in public for political reasons. I was a bit surprised when I got the call from the UN Secretary General. I had no qualms with taking the job, and we were paid well for the job. But after he was dead, and we needed to bring verification back to the Security Council, a member of my team decided to steal Mwambe’s head to get the reward for himself. Needless to say, when I found out what he had done, and where he was hiding to keep away with me, it was not a pretty sight for whoever had to clean up my mess.

I had a way with people, and with punishments, that was always a lot of fun for me. I took great pride in making sure that I always got one up on the people who tried to screw me over. In this case, since he wanted to steal a head, I gave him one. I shot his partner right in front of him, and then I cut off his head. He didn’t know that I was just getting started. Without any anesthesia, I filleted his mid-section open, and I gave him a stone that would be tough to pass. Being the good surgeon that I am, I was able to keep him from dying for quite some time as he writhed in agony. I didn’t even want to watch his pathetic life expire, so I left him there to die. I felt sorry for whoever was the first to walk into the room. They were going to get such a shock. That blood was never going to come off of the walls. They’d have to repaint that room several times before anyone could even think that such an act didn’t take place inside.

The thing about me that made me so feared was the fact that I could teach a lesson better than anyone. If you didn’t learn after I was through with you, you’d be dead. Now, as we were driving along the river, there was someone who was going to find out just how much it hurts to learn.



The Mainstay is one of the dankest hell holes in the entire city, and a frequent hangout of the seediest of criminals. I needed the help of one of these types, an intelligence specialist who went by the name Bullwinkle. Bullwinkle was one of these little piss ants who thought they were immune to the rules of the business because they knew things. They did know things, but they didn’t know the most important thing: there would always be someone to take that position if something unfortunate were to happen to the existing one. Informants had a desire to feel important, and there were plenty of people with that same insecurity. I could kill off three a day, and there would still be a line around the corner of people willing to take over.

Bullwinkle was sitting in a booth in the back of the poorly lit, smoke filled tavern. I sat down on the side opposite him. He looked up from his drink and blanched.

“Heya there. I didn’t expect to see you here. He he. Um…..what’s up?”

“Cut the niceties. I need information.”

“Sure…..I can do that…..I think….what do you need to know?”

“Let’s take a walk. It’s a nice night for it.”

“Gee…..I dunno. My knee’s been acting up on me.”

“I’m not asking. Get up.”

“Ok. Just don’t hurt me.”

“I won’t promise that.”

“Shit.”

We exited the dive, and started walking down the pier. The water was calm, and black in the moonlight.

“Tell me everything you know about Ryan Quinn.”

“Ain’t he one of your guys? The one who died in the blast?”

“Yeah. Tell me what you know about him.”

“You know more than me. He was you’re guy.”

I pulled out a knife, and o\put it to his throat. “Don’t fuck with me. I’m not in the mood for it. Just tell me what you know and I might not play Dracula with your jugular.”

“I don’t know anything. I swear it.”

I could sense something in his voice that convinced me that he was lying. A skunk like him always knows something. I just had to use a little strategy to get him to talk.

“I believe you. It’s a shame that you don’t know anything. I would have paid well for something I could use.”

“How well?”

“I have half a million in liquid cash.”

The lights were flickering in his head. I could see him pondering whether he wanted to tell me what he knew or not. He wasn’t very good at masking himself. He was easier to read than a Harlequin romance. It took him a good three minutes before he answered me.

“Maybe I got something for you.”

“What you got?”

“I hear that this new outfit, it’s run by someone out of the west coast, this new outfit is trying to take a piece of business out here. They were trying to recruit him since he knew the business out here.”

“Who’s running this thing?”

“I don’t know. I never heard that. Maybe a bit of a raise would refresh my memory.”

“Do you think I’m some sort of pushover?”

“No. Of course not.”

“You’re not getting a cent from me unless you tell me everything. And I mean everything that you know.”

“All right. All I know is that this outfit is run by some broad. Last I heard they were running out of a building on Wayverly. They’re fronting as some kind of loan business. If you look there you might find something. I don’t know anything else.”

“You sure you don’t know anything else?”

“Nothing.”

“Thanks.”

“What about the money?”

“The money? What money?”

“The money you’re going to pay me for the tip.”

“I’m not going to pay you jack shit.”

“Fuck you man. You know that. Fuck you. You do this all the time. You always fuck me over when it comes to this. I’m done. Don’t come around here looking for tips no more. You ain’t getting shit out of me.”

“If you don’t like the deal we’ve got, we can renegotiate.”

“Damn right we’re gonna renegotiate.”

I took the knife that was against his throat, pulled it away, and drove it into his gut. He doubled over, and I released the knife. He hit the ground with a thud, and curled himself into the fetal position. I think he was crying.

“Don’t do this…..please. I’m sorry.”

“Nope. Too late. You had your chance. This is the cost of negotiation.”

I regripped the knife, and proceeded to cut down the sternum. The knife was sharp enough to cut to the bone, and his chest cavity opened wide. I’d like to see one of those Ginsu knives that were sold on TV do this. It would never make it. I held his chest open wide, staring in at the organs that were struggling to keep him alive. He was a real pain in my ass, so I drove the knife into his heart, stopping it on impact. With him now dead, I severed the aorta, took the heart out of him, and stuffed it in his mouth.

Back in the car, Mandy noticed the blood on my hands.

“What happened to you? Where did the blood come from?”

“Let’s just say that I served an artery choke heart.”

“Huh?”

“It’s nothing. It was just a joke. Forget it.”

“Did you find anything out?”

“Yeah. We’re moving on up to the East Side.”



Wayverly was the leading financial district in town. It was akin to Wall Street, except for the fact that the dealings here were of the illegal variety. Loan sharks, hustlers, con artists, and any other seedy dealer would be found here. The fact that there was a loan office located here was enough to raise suspicion. The fact that it was new was more than enough to peak my interest. No one new ever got involved down there. It was too hard of a business, and the regulars would kill any outsider that tried to take a piece of the business. Whoever this new outfit was, they were either connected in some way to our friends, or they were more powerful than I could imagine. Since I was as connected to the business as I was, and had never heard about this group, it had to be the latter.

In one of the nicer buildings on the street, one of the few without boarded up windows, there was a small loan shop set up. It was apparent, even without stepping foot inside, that it was a cover for something bigger. What that something was is anyone’s guess.

In a situation like this, it would have been a nice luxury to have some back up, in case something was to occur to incapacitate me. Working alone has its drawbacks. If I were to be taken, there would be no way of avoiding being killed. Everyone in the world who knew what was happening was in the car with me. Mandy would be of no help to me, and I don’t know if I could get out of any more situations. I had been tested before, but there was always some advantage that I had. Now, it was just me and my two .44’s against an enemy that I didn’t know. This was the first time that I was really in over my head.

“Something’s going on in there that has to do with all of this. I have no idea what it is, or who it is, and I don’t know if I’m even going to be able to find out.”

“You mean we.”

“No. You’re not going in there. You’re still a liability until those shoulder wounds heal. Besides, I need someone on the outside in case something goes wrong. I can’t go in there with no back up plan.”

“That’s too bad. I’m going in with or without you. You’re welcome to come along with me, but I’m not staying here.”

“When you put it that way, let’s do this.”

I drove around the corner, parking the car in an alley. We flanked the building on both sides, working closer to the door. Taking out a set, I picked the lock on the front door. It was a simple lock, and the door sprang open easily. I caught it, keeping it from making some unwanted creaking. We slipped through the small opening that I left, replacing the door in its holder.

I whispered, “Let’s move to the back. I think I see a door back there. That’s got to be what we’re looking for.”

The interior door was of a much higher security than the exterior one that we had already passed. When attempting to pick the lock, I was shocked that the door was unlocked.

“This is weird. Why’d they leave the door unlocked?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like the look of this.”

“Neither do I.”

I cracked the door open just enough to poke my head through. Though it was dark, and the room only had one window, I could make out a shape in the darkness. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it was coming closer. “Shit!” I muttered under my breath right before shots rang out.

The shots came from behind me, and not from the shape that was now on the floor of the dark room. I turned my head sharply back.

“What the hell was that?”

“What? I saw someone, so I shot them.”

“Why? How are we supposed to get anything from them now?”

“I wasn’t worried about that. I didn’t want to get shot again.”

“That was stupid. Now, if there’s anyone else here, they’re going to be coming right for us.” Let’s get out of here.”

“Fine.”



The ice that was freezing my heart was making it impossible for me to vent my frustrations. Whoever that person Mandy shot was, they may have known something of value. Shooting him was completely irresponsible, and more than anything else, it pissed me off that I wasn’t the one who got to do it.

“You’re crazy. Do you know that?”

“I’m crazy? Why? For trying to save our asses?”

“Do you have any idea what that could have cost us?”

“It didn’t do us any harm. We got out of there.”

“But if these people are major players, they would have expected to have something like this happen at some point, and they would have night vision cameras installed. That means that they could know what we were doing in there. By killing one of their people, they’re going to come after us now. Is that what you wanted?”

“I didn’t think of that.”

“No shit you didn’t. You miss a lot of things by not thinking. You need to step back and listen to me more often. I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you think they’ll really come after us?”

“I would give it good odds.”

“Shit. What do we do now?”

“We can either run like I did before, or we can stay and put up a fight. Running didn’t do me any good, and it’s not going to help us find the answers, so I say we beat these people at their own game.”

“How can we do that?”

“We have to bait them.”

“Do I want to know how?”

“Nope.”

“I was afraid of that.”



We spent the following day out on the market picking up some artillery. We needed to have some firepower if we were going to get away with what I had planned. The few guns that I still had wouldn’t be enough. We needed to have something to cause a little more damage.

I was polishing the firing unit on the newly purchased rocket launcher when Mandy demanded to know what it was going to be used for.

“I need to know. What are we going to do with that thing?”

“Tonight, we’re going to pay another visit to our friends the loan officers. This time, we’re not going to be as polite as to open the door. We’re going to blow the fucking thing right in.”

“You are crazy.”

“I’m fine. Blowing their establishment into the night is good strategy. We’ll do that, and we’ll leave our card for the higher ups to find. They won’t be there expecting us again.”

“But they’ll kill us.”

“That’s the idea.”

“What?”

“If they try to kill us, we’ll just set up a trap for them, capture them, and then we can get the answers we want.”

“That’ll never work.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re not thinking straight.”

“That’s how to win.”

“You’re insane right now. Its one thing to be rebellious, but you’re being stupid. Having those people, and we don’t know how many of them there are, having them come after us trying to kill isn’t a good idea. We can’t be sitting around asking for our own death.”

“It worked well when I did it to you.”

“I know it did, but I’m not as good as I think I am. These people are surely a lot better. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“I know what I’m doing. This is the only way. I’m not going to run away anymore. I can’t do that again. If someone’s going to kill me, I’m taking the first shot.”

“I don’t know if I can do this with you.”

“If you don’t, they’ll just kill you faster.”

“You’d better get us out of this.”

“I’m hoping to.”



There were no lights on when we pulled onto Wayverly. The place looked to be as empty as it had the night before, when we were taken aback.

“If we’re going to do this, let’s not sit here and give them a chance to spot us.”

“It’s on.”

“Floor it.”

She was driving, as she couldn’t physically handle the rocket launcher with her injuries still looming. I was sitting on the window ledge of the passenger seat, the weapon resting on the roof of the car. I watched the buildings blur together, and when the target came into sight, I happily pulled the trigger. The rocket cut through the air, leaving a small trail of gray smoke, entering through the door we forced the previous night. We were half a block away when the rocked detonated. The explosion shook the block, and the building went up in a ball of fire. The department wouldn’t come by to put it out, not in this neighborhood. It would be left to burn. That gave us the time to spin the car around, drive back, and leave a calling card on the hydrant sitting on the sidewalk, unused.

I slipped my body back into the car, a wave of adrenaline pulsing through me.

“Whoo! That was great.”

“We’d better get out of here.”

“There’s another car waiting for us in the garage, the third story.”

The car was sitting where I had left it, angled in the spots, ready to leap out onto the street in a moments notice. Mandy pulled up along side the new vehicle, and put the car in park.

“Don’t cut the engine.”

“Why?”

“We’re going to dump the car onto the street.”

“From up here?”

“Yeah. We need to get rid of the evidence.”

“If you say so.”

As she got the other car ready to go, I took a brick out of the trunk, secured the steering wheel with a rope, and depressed the accelerator. The car peeled out, pushed through the concrete barrier, and plummeted the three stories to the road below. It landed with a thud before bursting into flames a few seconds later. I loved the look of a fireball against the black of night.

“Hurry up. We’ve got to get out of here before someone gets on our tail.”

I jumped in, hit the gas, and we were on our way to safety.

“That worked well.”

“What’s next?”

“Next comes the hard part.”

“Ugh.”

“Now they’re going to come after us. We have to be ready for it, and ready to take them out.”

“Why can’t there be an easier way?”

“There is. It’s called quitting, but I’m not going to do that.”

“I didn’t think you would. Say, how long do you think we have before they’ll come for our heads?”

“Not long. I’d be amazed if they don’t hit us before sunset tomorrow.”

“Can we get everything together by then?”

“I think so.”

“That doesn’t sound very confident. Tell me you know what you’re doing.”

“I have an idea.”

“Oh shit. We’re dead.”

“Not yet we’re not. We still have time.”

“Not enough.”

“There’s never enough.”

“I’m beginning to see that.”



We didn’t sleep that night. It would have been impossible to sleep with the thought of your own death hanging over our heads. It would be better to just come to grips with the fact that this may be the end. There was a good chance that this could be the last time I would get to see the sun rise. I wasn’t ready for that to happen. I was going to give these people a lesson on how not to conduct business.

The sun came up over the horizon a pale gold color. It didn’t have the usual luster, the magic, the hope that I was accustomed to seeing. That was it. This couldn’t be my last day. I wasn’t going to let that be the last image of the sunrise I would see. I had seen thousands of sunrises, and that was by far the weakest of them all. I could have found some symbolism in it about how I was going to die, but I was past that. I was not going to let my life end on such a low note. Now I knew that we would get through at least this day.

Content that the sun was fully ready for the day, I went back inside the camp. The basement was full of supplies for all sorts of occasions, and I was hoping that there was a certain object there. Amidst the ammunition, disguises, and forging machinery, there were millions of dollars worth of equipment for various purposes. There was nothing, however, in the way of protection. Dangerous as it was, going back into the city was the only option.

As I grabbed the keys to the car, I was met with an inquisitive Mandy.

“Where are you going?”

“Into the city.”

“Oh no you’re not.”

“Yes I am. I need something, and I don’t have it here. I need to go in and get it, or else this little plan isn’t going to work.”

“All right, but you’re not leaving me here.”

“Fine. Let’s go. We have to hurry.”

The black market was rather inactive this morning. There was word going around that a hit was out on me. Disguised, I had nothing to worry about.

“So what’s with the hit?”

“Apparently he’s gone insane.” One of the dealers was speaking as I was picking out some Kevlar fabric. “They say he killed a man of the new loan people’s, and then he came back the next night and blew the place up.”

“Why’d he do that?”

“No one can figure. Haven’t heard a word from him in months. Didn’t even know he was still in business.”

“That’s a shame. It’s so hard to start a new business, you don’t need someone going and blowing it up.”

“That’s for sure. But he’s going to get it. Word is that they know where he is, and they’re going to send in everyone they have to kill him tonight. I’d hate to be that guy. He’ll be strung up their flagpole by morning.”

“I’m sure someone will be.”

I purchased the Kevlar, and raced back to the camp. I had only a few hours until the assault would commence. The Kevlar needed to be made into full body suits. Bullet proof vests were made of Kevlar, and a body suit made of the material should be able to soften the impact of a bullet so as not to kill us. If this worked, there was no way for us to be stopped.

I wasn’t much of a seamstress, so the process of making the suits was not an easy one. It took most of the afternoon before the first draft of them was done. We’d still need to make some alterations, but they would suffice if we didn’t get to it. I made sure to sew in a layer of blood packs for when we got hit. If this were to work, we’d need to be convincing.

The alarm sounded. We had intruders at the gate. They were early. The people at the market had said they wouldn’t show up until tonight. It was only six, and they were up our asses.

“Put this on, quick.”

“What are we doing?”

“These’ll keep us safe when we get shot.” I handed her a pill. “Keep this in your mouth, and bite down on it when you’re hit. It’ll make you appear to be dead. It should be enough to fool them.”

“The fuck are you saying?”

“We’re going to let them shoot us, and take us back with them. If they think we’re dead, there won’t be any security on us, and we can take them out one at a time.”

“Fucking hell. You’re going to kill us after all.”

“I’ll see you when we wake up.”

“Fuck.”



The bullets started raining through the windows upstairs. We stood our ground, and waited for them to advance inside. The door was flung open with a thunderous crack. I could imagine it flying off its hinges. They’d pay for that. It wouldn’t be a cheap repair to put in a new door jam. This place was going to be a mess before they were done shooting it up. It would take forever to put back in order.

The door to the basement rattled. I could hear the muffled yelling of the people on the other side. There was a dull thud, then another, and another. The door was giving more resistance than they thought it would. I was waiting for them to bust their way through. I was growing impatient when I heard an explosion. The door slowly swung open, and the group of militants filed down the stairs and into the small basement. They were brandishing M-16’s, as I had hoped they would. Anything more, and the suits that I had constructed would not have been of any use.

The recon sweep quickly spotted us hiding behind a forging press. It gave adequate cover for us to fire from behind. I took out the AK-47 from Israel, and opened fire on the militants. They returned fire, and the bullets pinged off the great iron machine. Some buried themselves deep within the wall behind me. I gave another round of fire, hitting two of the intruders. I didn’t know how many of them there were yet, but they were about to get their wish and then some.

“Peer over the table, bit the capsule and get ready to be shot. We’re on.”

“OK. But if this doesn’t work, I want you to know that I wish I never got mixed up with you in the first place.”

“Noted. Now do it.”

She did as instructed, putting her head in the line of a shot, taking it, and falling back, assumed to be dead. That left me alone with the rest. Now it was time for the plan to take affect. I pulled a small remote control out from under the big machine. I hit the first button, and the door to the basement closed itself, locking firmly, and not allowing anyone to leave no matter the force applied to the desire. I hit the second button, and a small door to my side opened along the ground. I rolled inside the small opening, hit the third button, and then the second one again. As the door to the small opening closed, I could see the poisonous gas billowing out of the vents located around the floorboards. I couldn’t see what was happening outside of my dark, cramped space, but if I was right, the lot of men were collapsing and dying around me. The gas would kill anyone breathing within a minute of entering the lungs, and I doubt that any of them could hold their breath for more that two minutes. I kept waiting. The gas was hooked up to a vent system that was computer operated. It was instructed to produce the gas for four minutes, and then start the fan system to suck it back out of the room. The entire process should take seven minutes. I wasn’t sure how long I had been in the space, as I couldn’t move my arm enough to see my watch. I was overly cautious, and counted for ten minutes before opening the door.

When I rolled out, I was greeted with the familiar sight of a battlefield. There was nothing but bodies lying on the ground. It was strangely beautiful, and I took a picture of it with one of the cameras that was lying around down there. Yet again, I had managed to find a way out of a jam, even though Mandy might try to kill me when she found out how I did it. Thinking ahead, I decided to tie her hands behind her back before she would wake up. I didn’t want her to attack me before I could explain.

It would be another couple of hours before she awoke from the drugs, so I had some time to kill. The down time would be a nice change of pace. I could use a little time to myself.



The upstairs of the camp was a mess from the ambush. There must have been several hundred bullet holes making an abstract piece of art. It was as if Jackson Pollack had gone insane with a gun. It was going to take some major renovations to get the place looking as it should again. In addition to that, it was going to be awful trying to get the stench of the dead men out of the basement. I don’t know of anything that gets rid of that odor. Sure, I could just leave the place and move on, but I liked it here. It was my place. It was never supposed to see action of this sort. I refused to leave.

For the time being it was quiet. There had been so much stress lately, that I hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a week. The guys were all dead, and Mandy was out for at least another few hours, so I took advantage of the peace. I set the alarm on the digital clock on my bed stand, and drifted off. It was refreshing to get some actual rest for a change, and I awoke refreshed and ready for another round.

I went back down in the basement to check on Mandy, and she was still out cold. I hoisted her onto my shoulders, carried her up, and placed her on my bead. Now I had to think of where I could dispose of ten dead bodies. It wouldn’t be easy to hide that many; I couldn’t burn them without the smoke being seen, so I didn’t have many options. For the time being, I lugged all ten, even the ridiculously large one, up the stairs and into the van they came in. Ruining that wouldn’t make me miss any sleep, and it would make a nice wrapping to deliver them back to their bosses in.



I was sitting under the one lamp that didn’t get blown apart by the bullets, sipping an iced tea and doing the daily crossword puzzle, when Mandy stumbled out of the bedroom.

“What happened?” she asked from a state of dizziness and confusion.

“Nothing much. I just killed the lot of them. Nothing big.”

“Huh?”

“That’s right. You were unconscious at the time. While you were, I killed all of them.”

“How?”

“I’ll tell you later. You’re too dazed right now. Go back and lie down again.”

“Uh…ok.”

I really hated these puzzle writers. Their attempts at humor were annoying at best and maddening at their worst. There are some people who shouldn’t try to be funny, and those who sit around writing crossword puzzles fit into that category. It takes more than bodily excrements or a cheap pun to be funny. None of these people understood that.

Newsprint burns very easily, even when placed atop a halogen light bulb. The puzzle that was infuriating me soon was gone, and a light storm of ash rained down on the floor, covering the bullet casings. “That’ll teach ‘em,” I thought to myself. It wasn’t much, but it was a nominal celebration of victory.



Mandy emerged from the bedroom again, this time with more confidence under her legs. She wasn’t stumbling, and she wasn’t mumbling and rambling when she spoke.

“What did you mean you killed them all?”

“Simple. I killed them.”

“I got that much. Would you care to explain this to me? I’m a little in the dark.”

“Let’s see, I’ll start with you getting shot.”

“Good place to start.”

“OK. So you got shot, and took the capsule. That was step one in the plan.”

“There was a plan?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t know there was one.”

“Of course you didn’t. If you did, you never would have let me do it.”

“So what did you do?”

“As soon as you went out, I pulled a remote I had hidden out from under the machine. It was hooked up to the ventilation system. I turned on the jets, releasing a toxic gas into the room. That’s why you had to be as good as dead. I opened up the small shelter, and rolled inside. I simply waited for the gas to be pumped out, and I came out safe and sound.”

“What shelter?”

“There’s a small panic room type thing down there. It’s just big enough for one person, so I had to find some way for you to be safe from the gas.”

“So you made me be dead?”

“It was either that, or let you try to hold your breath for seven minutes.”

“Why couldn’t you have just given me a gas mask or something?”

“If I did, you would have gotten shot more times, and I don’t know if the suit could have taken it.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Are you telling me that you risked my life instead of yours?”

“Yes.”

“You fucking bitch.”

She tried to lunge at me, but her hands were still tied behind her back. It was rather funny to watch, her struggling to get free so she could kill me. I laughed a bit, and it only made her even more mad.

“I’ll fucking kill you. As soon as I get out of these things, I’m going to kill you.”

“I had to do it. Can you think of another way of getting out of there? If you can, I’ll untie you.”

“You could have let me be safe. Let your ass sit there unconscious.”

“But if I did that, then the bodies would have been in the house even longer, and I could never get the stench out.”

“Who gives a fuck?

“I do. I don’t want to be in a house that smells of dead people.”

“The longer I’m with you, the more insane you become. You need help.”

“Right now, I wouldn’t be saying that. You need more help than I do.”

“I’ll get free from this.”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who killed that defenseless man. They’re aiming at you more than me. You need me to protect you.”

“That’s a great proposition. Do I want to be killed by them, or by your incompetence?”

“It’s your choice.”

“Let me think about it.”

“Whatever. I’m going out. I’ll check on you later.”

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“You’re not leaving me here, are you?”

“I was going to, since you think I’m going to kill you. If you think you can do a better job of protecting yourself, feel free to do it.”

“I was wrong. Just untie me.”

“Are you going to stop being such a bitch?”

“Yes. I’ll trust you. Just get me free.”

“Do you promise?”

“Stop fucking around and just do it.”

I untied her, and she took a swing at me as soon as she could move her arm. She missed, and I pinned her arm to her back.

“Given how long your arm’s been tied back there, it’s got to be sore. I don’t think this is going to help it feel any better.”

I put more pressure on it. She let out a yelp, resisting, and only increasing the pressure on her arm.

“Are you going to stop taking swings at me?”

“Yes.”

“Will you be a good little girl?”

“Yes. Let go.”

“Last time I did, I thought you were going to be nice.”

“I said I wasn’t going to kill you. You still deserve to be smacked for tying me up.”

“Point taken.”

I let go of her again, and she tried to shake off the pain. I think I had shown her that I was only doing what was best for both her and me. She didn’t try to hit me again, which was a nice relief. I may have finally been able to get through to her. She was the most stubborn woman I had ever met. She didn’t like to listen to anything that I said. For some reason she thought that she knew more than I did, even when it was obvious that the opposite was the case. Stubborn people in general, and even more so in this business, were a terrible lot. They did nothing but gum up the motors of progress. She was no different. That’s why I never told her anything. If I did, she would keep me from doing whatever it is I needed to do for our own good. She wouldn’t have let me risked her life, and she sure as hell wouldn’t have let me cut out Bullwinkle’s heart and shove it down his throat. She didn’t understand where I was coming from most of the time. I was experienced in the ways of the world, more so than she could imagine. I had been through everything you could imagine and then some. When I said that something needed to be done, I knew what I was talking about. I didn’t need some fresh faced little hussy coming out of nowhere and telling me that her way was better than mine. Ninety nine out of a hundred times I would be right. Even the one time I wouldn’t be wasn’t because she could be more right than me. It would be the one time she actually thought like I did and came to the same conclusion. That would be the only time I wouldn’t care about her being so damn stubborn in her ways. But that was very infrequent, and the one time out of a hundred had yet to come. I wasn’t sure if I should be frightened that it may never come, or thankful that it may be the next time something even more serious comes up. If she kept fighting me the way she had, I might decide to feed her to the wolves and cut my losses. The pain of going insane from the stress of not knowing would surely be better than having to deal with her. It sounded like the set up of one of those movie romances, but this was real life. There wasn’t going to be some farcical hate turning into love. That’s a bunch of corny bullshit. It doesn’t happen that way. With me, hate either turns into respect, or it turns into death, and I doubt that there would be any respect between the two of us. I hadn’t seen anything out of her that was worth it.



The van was already contaminated beyond help with the smell of death. It made the trip back into the city even more uncomfortable, icy feelings still between the two of us. Victory being ours, mine really, we were going to celebrate by dumping the bodies off in front of their boss. I didn’t know yet who she was, or where she was working out of, but I figured that my little stunt with Bullwinkle would scare the answer out of one of the other informants.

The pier was empty, tourists and sightseers avoiding it because of the grisly murder that occurred there. But the informants never left. There were like the roaches, always present, and even a nuclear war wouldn’t be enough to exterminate them. If they had seen me coming and recognized, they would have surely tried to run, but the unfamiliar van was enough to get me in before they could escape.

I cornered one the most nervous of them at the end of the pier. He was shaking, looking around frantically, and sweating enough to make a puddle by his shoes.

“Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.” He took a breath and looked markedly relieved. “As long as you tell me what I want to know.”

“Sure…sure…what can I do you for?”

“That van is full of dead men. I want to give them back to their boss. You need to tell me where to drop them off.”

“How would I know?”

“From what I hear, it’s common knowledge who has a hit out on me. So, either you tell me who it is, or I decide to take some liberties with the arrangement of your anatomy.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“”Nothing much. I was just going to kick you in the mouth so hard that you’ll be able to use all of your teeth as suppositories. But that’s just for starters. I can do a lot more.”

“More?”

“Yeah. I can do more. Like, I don’t know, maybe choking you to death with your own intestine. How’s that sound?”

“It sounds like I’d better talk.”

“Good idea. You’re already smarter than your buddy Bullwinkle was.”

“The hit. The new broad from the loan front you blew is behind it.”

“I know that. I need a name, and an address.”

“I don’t know the name, but the bunch is working out of a small condo on the ocean front about five miles out of town.”

“Ocean front?”

“Yeah. This is a big time group. There’s money coming in from all over. I heard from one guy that there are backers all over the world funding them.”

“Do they have any other plans besides killing me?”

“All I know is that you’re first, and then they’re going to start moving in on your customer base.”

“This doesn’t fit in with the spirit of competition.”

“There’s no rules when it comes to this stuff. It’s kill or be killed.”

“Adam Smith didn’t picture his invisible hand being used to choke people to death.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. You did good.”

“So you’re not going to kill me?”

“Not yet. I might need more from you sometime.”

“More? But they’ll kill me if they knew I told you what I did.”

“So what? Are you more scared of them or me?”

“Do I have to answer with you standing right here?”

“Get out of here. Before I lose my temper and gut you.”

“Yes sir.”



“What did you find out?”

“She’s working this operation out of an ocean front condo. There’s backers all over the world financing her.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s not. We’re going to have to do a lot more work if we’re going to shut this down.”

“Any ideas yet?”

“Not yet. I’ll think of something. In the mean time, we’re going to make this delivery in a more stylish manner.”

“Oh really? What do you have going on in that mind of yours?”

“I heard there’s a forecast of rain for this afternoon.”

“You wouldn’t?”

“Of course I would.”



The van was sitting under one of the large willow trees, trying to keep the bodies from decomposing too badly before I could use them. I had found the old wood chipper that was stored back in the shed. I was hoping that it still worked. The engine looked to be badly rusted, and one of the wheels was only lightly attached. There was no way the blades would cur through bone, but I had to try anyway. I didn’t have the time to fine something more suited to the job. I had to make due with what I had.

The engine spurted to life on the fifteenth attempt at starting it. It clunked and sputtered, but it stayed running, so it was time for the fun. I lined up ten trash containers, and placed the first one under the spout. I hoisted the first body up, and fed an arm slowly into the blades. It was thin enough that it was no problem getting through with ease, and the red soaked concoction filled the bucket as the entire form disappeared into the depths of the machine. It was convenient that one body filled one trash can. It kept me from having to do any math.

The rest of the bodies went through the chipper with regularity, and I soon had ten buckets filled with human mulch. The ground around the machine was soaked a deep crimson, and I’m sure it would look demonic under the moonlight. Mandy couldn’t bear to watch. After the first body flowed out and into the bucket, she covered her mouth and ran inside. She needed to toughen up. This was nothing compared to what I was going to do when I found the bitch trying to kill me. I don’t need to be slipping on vomit when that time comes.

I put the covers on each of the ten cans, and loaded them back into the van. I poked my head into the house.

“You ok?”

“I think so. I just got a little queasy seeing them chopped up like that.”

“Work on that. You’ll see worse.”

“I will?”

“If things go well you will.”

“And if they don’t go well?”

“You’ll still see worse, but your eyes might not be in your head at the time.”

I could see a lump in her throat, and the color half drained from her face before she could steady herself.

“Are you ready to go deliver this?”

“I think so.”

“One question: are you afraid of flying?”

“Nope.”

“Good. Let’s go.”



I had a lot of contacts all around the city, so I called in a favor.

“What do you need the bird for?” asked Gill. Gill was the owner of his own helicopter tour business. The scenery around the city was beautiful, and there were plenty of overly wealthy people willing to fly around to look at it.

“I just want to see the scenery.”

“Ha ha. Sure you do. I should know better than to ask.”

“You really should.”

“Just try to get it back to me in one piece.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Then have fun.”

I wasn’t the greatest of pilots, but I was capable enough to get this bird over the target, drop off the cargo, and get her back to the pad. The chopper had no trouble getting the two of us and our ten passengers up into the sky. By car, the condo was five minutes outside the city. By chopper, it was only a matter of a minute’s flying before I could see the ocean front estate sitting directly under us. It was a nice enough place, but far too cold and modern for my tastes. It was one of those blueprint houses, built exactly the same as the places on either side. It did make life for a burglar easy though.

I steadied the chopper, and had Mandy take the controls. We were two hundred feet above the roof, and the occupants knew we were there, as they peered out of windows, and came out of the doors to see why we were floating above them. As they did this, I uncovered the cans, and poured my passengers down upon them. The raining body parts covered the roof, and poured down upon the heads of the misfortunate who left the house. I dropped a brick, crashing it through the skylight that covered half of the roof. Attached to it was a nice little thank you message. I RSVP’d for the men who were unable to write back at the time. Confident that I had painted their town red, I slapped the back of the seat, and we were flying back towards the safety of the city.

“That was fun,” I said.

“That was.”

“We should do things like this more often.”

“Where are we going to keep finding enough people to kill to do that?”

“There’s always people to kill. I’ll make some calls. We can use prisoners.”

“Or we could just use politicians.”

“No way. When you kill one, two take his place. They’re out of the question.”

To be supremely ironic, as we were flying away, I was blaring Slayer’s ‘Reign in Blood’ out of the chopper’s stereo. It was a good day, but we had to hurry. We had to get to the pad, and get out on the road before they could get there and tail us.



The trip back was uneasy. Even though we had just gotten the upper hand on them, I couldn’t help but feel that we were still in danger of being caught in a trap. I didn’t have any reason for thinking this, but the thought wouldn’t come dislodged from my brain. I didn’t say anything to Mandy, as I was still uneasy about trusting her with anything. If I was right about there being a set up in the works, she would be a part of it, and I didn’t want to tip her off that I knew.

The chopper touched down on the pad with the sparks flying as the rudders made contact with the sun warmed asphalt. I had gotten out and was running towards the car I had waiting before the engine had enough time to shut down. Mandy was right behind me, trying not to fall behind the pace I was setting. We didn’t have much time before they would be right on our asses again, and I didn’t want to lose one second that I didn’t have to. Luckily, the car was sitting right where I had left it, the keys still in the ignition, and the motor running. It was a bit risky to do something like that, but a man in my position who doesn’t take risks is a man who dies before he hits thirty. I wasn’t about to be one of those people. Risks were a part of the game, and I was the best, so naturally I took some of the biggest risks of anyone. The only difference is that mine always paid off. I never made a mistake.

We were on the bridge, stuck behind traffic, when I could make out a sound that was ominous. It was the sound of a chopper, flying low. I knew it was on the lookout for us.

“That chopper’s meant for us. We have to bail on this right now.”

“What are we going to do? We’re in the middle of a traffic jam.”

“I know that. We’re going to have to do something a little dangerous.”

“You don’t mean….”

“Do you know how to swim?”

“Oh shit. You are going to.”

“And so are you. Now let’s get out of here. Now!”

The doors of the car opened as little as was needed for us to shift our bodies out onto the bridge. We crouched down, and rolled under the car. On our stomachs, we rolled and crawled under the lanes of traffic until we reached the edge. We had to be quick so as not to be seen by the chopper.

“It’s making another pass right now. As soon as it gets by, jump up and go over the edge. I’ll be right behind you.”

“You are so fucking crazy that it’s not even funny.”

“Do you want to live?”

“Of course.”

“Then do it.”

The chopper roared by, and as soon as the Doppler effect was evident, we leapt up and over the edge. The wind buckled and ratcheted against our faces as we fell down into the river. The water went from a brilliant blue to a navy blue, to almost black as we approached the surface.

It felt like falling onto concrete. My body was sore, in sharp pain, and under the surface. This was no time to nurse the wounds, I had to get back to the surface. As I moved my arm to swim, I found myself unable to get any momentum. Whatever strength I had in my arm at one point was gone. It had to be separated. This was going to make this even harder. I was running out of time. Gritting my teeth and mustering every ounce of strength that I had, I used my left arm to pop the other one back into the socket. The pain of the joint snapping back into place was beyond anything I had ever felt before. There was some serious damage done beyond a normal separation, but there was no time to think about it. I struggled through the pain, kicking my legs as hard as I could to get to the surface. As my head peaked through the blue blanket into the sunlight, I took a deep breath and looked around. I couldn’t see Mandy anywhere. I kept looking, but I couldn’t find her. I thought to myself of the possibilities. She couldn’t have made it to the shore yet, so she had to be drowning, or worse, she could have drowned already.

Using my one good arm, I began to swim around in the river, diving as far as I would allow. Under the surface of the water was only peace. There was no sign of her. I was getting worried. This shouldn’t be happening. If she drowned, she should have risen back to the surface by now. Something was seriously wrong.

I heard the familiar sound of the helicopter that was chasing us. I was underneath the bridge, so I was out of its view, otherwise it would have come straight for me. I made my way over to one of the support beams, bracing myself behind it. The chopper made a circle, and as it turned to fly away, I could see something dangling from one of the rudders. I could tell immediately, even from this distance what it was. They had swooped down and gotten her before I was able to surface.

“Fucking shit.” I said to myself. “God damn it.”

There was nothing I could do right now. I was hurt, she was gone, and I had no idea where they were taking her. That was three strikes against me, but I wasn’t out quite yet. I wasn’t about to let her be tortured or whatever else they had planned for her. I was responsible for all of this. It was my idea. After years of taking risks, I had finally made a mistake that I couldn’t avoid. And it was going to cost me the only person I had left in the world.

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