by Amy Brent
Lena: Just be careful. If you’re scared or anything. Just come home. Please :)
She’s worried about me, and I text her back and let her know that I have my sneakers and shirt on. There’s no need to be scared.
Me: I’ve got my sneakers on. If he tries anything, then all those jogging sessions will come in handy.
She replies back straight away.
Lena: Only if you’re sure.
I lie and tell her
Me: I’m sure.
I’m not, but I can’t tell her the truth otherwise she would worry and I wouldn’t want her to do that. She felt guilty having to go on a photo shoot and not come with me. I told her that I was a big girl, and besides she has the world at her feet with her modeling career reaching new heights. A nice apartment and all the things that I could have had if only I hadn’t fallen in love. I look at her and feel like a child. We both went to the same High School. She knew what career she wanted and let nothing stand in her way.
“Love, we’re here. I drove as fast as I could!” the taxi man yells out to me. I look up, and sure enough, the address fits with what I gave him. But everything about this doesn’t look right.
“Are you alright love? You did say number fifty five?” I nod my head, and he looks completely confused, but he’s not the only one.
As I watch the meter and see that it’s twenty. I add another ten and ask him to keep the change. Not that I’m this generous usually, and only minutes ago I was thinking of getting out of the hotel earlier, so I didn’t have to pay for it. I can see the sweat pouring from his head and know that he seriously tried to get me here in a hurry.
I clear my throat and say, “Wish me luck!”
He looks puzzled as he replies, “Have a nice night.” Then he’s about to drive away and shouts out, “Are you sure that this is the right address. This neighborhood isn’t exactly the best.”
Really?
I figured that already when I saw the girls standing on the corner and men that look as if they’re on a high. The bars on the bars, shops and everything else made it clear that this isn’t a safe neighborhood. I don’t even know how I’m going to go back to the hotel. I know no taxi would come back here for me.
I whisper, “My friend says to meet him here.”
The irony of saying that Spencer is my friend makes me feel sick, but right now I have no other way to describe him. He shakes his head and starts to write down a number, “Look I don’t normally do this. But if your friend doesn’t show or you need a lift. Just call me.”
I put a smile on my face, to show my gratitude, “Thank you so much.” There’s just one problem if I do have to call him. One thing for sure. I won’t be standing on the curb or any place near here. I’ll be using my sneakers to run the fuck out of here. Something’s not right. I’m not sure what it is. Spencer said to meet him here, and that’s what I intend to do. I’m just wondering if maybe Lena was right and my Grandma’s ring is worth my life. “If I have any problems I’ll call you.”
I wave the paper in my hand with his number on it and stuff it in my purse. I should put his number on my phone, but right now all I can think about is going inside and dealing with Spencer. I never thought that I would think this, but there was something scarier than being face-to-face with Spencer, and that was spending more time outside.
Chapter 7: Maddie
Just as Spencer said, there’s a door to go downstairs. I turn the handle slowly, and it opens. There’s another staircase with dim lighting. I can just make out the stairs; they’re so steep. I stop for a minute, tie my hair up all ready to run. My hands are shaking, and I safely put my purse with long straps across my back.
This feels like a horror movie, the one’s that I watch once in a blue moon when Lena tells me to stop being such a chicken. I would be shouting at the character being played by me, telling her to get the fuck out of there.
Why here?
Because that’s the kind of sick games that Spencer would play. He used to do it when we were together, and I can see that nothing's changed. He’s trying to intimidate me. Silly me, for thinking that he wouldn’t do something like this. That he would act like a decent human being and do the right thing. I was a fool.
I fight back the tears that are dying to leave my eyes. I take a couple of steps and then with a few deep breaths that I learned from joining Lena at yoga, I start to head down. Nothing’s going to stop me. If Spencer doesn’t give me the ring then I’ll walk away. I’ll get on with my life.
September, I’ll be enrolling in college. Like I should have done four years ago and not look back. I hate him, but most of all I hate myself for being in this situation.
I don’t hear anything.
No voices…
Silence.
Only the creaks of my feet on the steps as I finally reach down the stairs. It’s a basement, that’s empty, and there’s a table in the middle of it.
Spencer and his games. I would be cooking dinner, and then he’ll tell me to go upstairs and get him his phone. Of course, the phone wouldn’t be upstairs. If I didn’t go then, he would hit me. If I did go, he would hit me for not bringing his phone. Then to make matters worse, whatever I was cooking would be thrown in my direction. I had been to the hospital more times than I have fingers and toes. Every single time, he would take me as the doting boyfriend. The one that had to keep bringing his clumsy girlfriend. It was as if he got a kick out of breaking me and then fixing me up again.
The sweat was pouring from my forehead. The light on the table made no sense, and then I heard his voice in the back of the room. I couldn’t see him. It was dark, but I knew his voice so damn well.
“You came!”
“I want my ring Spencer.”
I move to his direction, and then he laughs, “Is that any way to greet me?”
He comes closer towards me, and I can see that he was in another room, at the back with boxes. I hate to think what’s in the boxes, but I didn’t come here for that. There was a time that I would care and question him. Today, I don’t give a damn!
“I came here for my ring. Why did you bring me here? You could have just met me in a hotel or something?”
“I could have,” he spat out, “But I didn’t.”
Then, I can see that there’s a back stairs, and he signals to a guy, “That’s the last one. Give me a minute, and I’ll come up.”
The guy doesn’t see me, but I gather that whatever they’re doing is illegal. As Spencer takes my arm and we move to the table with the light. I can see that he’s aged so much in such a short space of time. It’s as if he’s gone from being thirty to forty in a short period. His blue eyes are dull, and his hair is jet black from its usual blonde highlights. His clothes are different too. Spencer used to always wear a suit. Black ones, blue ones, he used to think that he had more suits that the president. I had never seen him in sweats, let alone a hoody.
I can’t breathe because he smells as if he hasn’t bathed in days. The silly part of me wants to ask him if he’s Okay. If there’s anything, I can do to help. The part that loved him. The part that tolerated four years of being beaten by him.
But, I don’t.
I just want the ring, and I know more than ever that it’s not worth it. Grandma’s dead, but her memory is very much alive.
“You and this fucking ring, I thought that you came back for me.”
I’m just about to tell him about what he did to me. That he hurt me so badly, that after the miscarriage, there’s a fifty percent chance that I may never have kids. That if it weren't for Lena paying for my dental care, most people would know that I have hardly any teeth left. She paid for the implants. She took care of me and treated me as my mom and Grandma would have done if they were alive. She gave me everything that he took away from me. And I should have listened to her. I shouldn’t have come for the ring. I just need him to let go of me, and then I’m getting the fuck out of here.
“Take your fucking ring!” he says as he looks
me dead in the eye. He can see that I’m no longer scared, no longer flinching in front of him worried about what he may do to me next. He can’t hurt me, the way he used to, because for once in my life I’m going out of his life. And one thing for sure, I’m never coming back.
Like a bee to a hive, I chase after my ring as he throws it in the direction of the staircase. The one that I crept down only a few minutes ago. I use my phone as light as he laughs at me. That’s what he used to do when he threw me on the ground. I turn and see that he’s doing the same thing. He’s stretching out his hands and laughing at me.
I drop my phone in the process and then I turn back to get my phone and use the light to find my fucking ring. I hesitate for a minute as to whether to forget the whole thing and just get the fuck out of here.
That’s when I hear the sound. It was so loud. Spencer crashes onto the table and in front of him is someone. A shadow as far as I’m concerned. His back is to them, but he rolls onto the floor and then stretches out. Some part of me wonders if he’s stretching out to me. To help him. The same way that I used to do with him.
I don’t wait around to find out.
Fuck my phone.
The ring that I was so desperate to get becomes a thing of the past as I start to run up the stairs and get the fuck out of here. The place that I shouldn’t have come to in the first place.
Lena was right; I was risking my life. I discover how much I’m risking it. There’s no turning back. I run up the stairs, knowing that on a good day I can run five miles. Today I’ll run a lot further, and I’ll not stop until my heart stops beating and I can’t breathe anymore.
Even then the only thing I would do is power walk. Until my legs became completely tired.
Chapter 8: Hunter
It’s been four weeks since I killed Pedro and I’m already thinking about what to do next. I’ve been in Cancun for four weeks, and it feels like four years, I’m bored.
I hate the beach.
Despise the sun.
And even worse I hate the tourists.
All the things that I hate are in one place and I’m here. This time as Mr. Right. It was kind of funny when I saw the ID with the name on it. It felt right, having such a name. A sort of a joke, right where I wanted to be. Yet, it didn’t feel the same as Mr. Price, not without her saying it on her lips, the same lips that felt as if they were born to suck my dick.
I had turned my phone off, but if I had one more sangria or a lady giving me the eye thinking that I was some rich tourist that was going to give her my dollars. Then I was going to have to turn it on. I didn’t pay for sex. And I never went looking for women who wanted it, not after that night with the dark haired beauty.
I didn’t think of having a virgin before that night. Even then that would be a bit excessive. They would want someone to talk to, someone who they would want to think of them giving their virginity to as a gift. I just knew that one person wasn’t me. I hated talking.
But that night.
The one where she came in and walked out of my life. Fuck, I would have spoken to her and found out something about her. Right now, I would be doing more than just sitting here and thinking about her. I would be fucking her.
“Senior Right, I have something for you…”
I look up and she flashes me her tits. That’s my signal to get up, and get out of here quick. There must be a message or something for me on my phone, so that I can go on another job.
She starts running after me. I turn around and say, “If you show me your pussy next, then you don’t even want to know what I’ll do to it.”
She seemed scared, which wasn’t my intention. But she must be the new girl on the block or something, because ever since she’s started working here. She’s showing me the same thing, if I said no once, then what makes her think that I’ll change my mind.
As I get to my room and put on my phone, as I suspected there’s a message.
Job: Price 5 million deadlines: 07/03/2016
Shit, that’s today. I fucking knew I shouldn’t have looked at my phone, but I couldn’t help myself. The temptation was too strong to miss out on an opportunity like this. I could do better than being stuck in Mexico because it was cheap. I just had to get a line. Make that call and then I would get the details. I wasn’t going to miss out on this opportunity, even if my life depended on it.
I quickly go to an Internet cafe, somewhere where I can’t be traced. If it’s too tough a job, then I just see it as a challenge. I don’t deter away from doing something that I long to do. It’s not so much the killing. It’s the thrill of the ride.
Not getting caught, apart from when I was young and foolish, ever since then I’ve made sure that I never make that mistake ever again. Doing time in prison wasn’t fun. Then again it’s not meant to be. I fought my way off the guys and had a name for myself. But, I hated it. Working as a team, wasn’t my style back in the army. Being in prison was even worse. I grab my tourist gear and get out of here. I need to blend in and find out what’s going to set me up for a while. It may be little chicken feed to a lot of hitmen, but it will keep me going for a long time. Which is exactly what I need right now. Something different, otherwise, I’ll go crazy if I stay here any longer.
“Hola, Quiero un ordenador.”
The old man smiles at me as I enter the Internet cafe and points me in the direction of the computer nearest the window.
“No, quiero otro, por ejemplo este,” I need to be as far from sight as possible. I’ve already got on the typical tourist hat and shorts to appear to be another tourist. The thing about these places is not to look different, but to look exactly as one of the typical people that come into this joint. If anyone comes looking for me. If they check out the IP address and want to find out who was sitting in this chair. A familiar look wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow. Ten guesses the old man wouldn’t remember, neither would a couple of the Americans sitting next to me watching porn.
I never understood that shit, why sit in a public place watching something to help you jerk off. When you can’t jerk off, because you’re in public.
I shake my head at the idea of it. I set-up my gear next to the computer. It’ll scramble the information on there for a little while. Just long enough for me to check the details. I start by logging on to the system. The database, which holds the information up for a little while and then it gets passed on to the other guy. He can access it. All I need is to login and see the details. The face. The name and most importantly their last location.
I can’t believe it as I manage to log on. I see the face of the person that’s going to help me get out of hell and go to paradise. I’m shocked. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all.
The one-night stand that was nameless, but I could picture her body, walk and even smell her on occasion was Maddie Clark. She was the target. The one that I’ve got to kill. The one that sent me to heaven four weeks ago, would either keep me in hell if I didn’t do the job and someone else did it or make me burn in hell. For the first time, this was different. I knew the target. Not just by face, but by every inch of her body.
I had my black book in my hand, and usually, I would be taking notes and making sure that I had the details. The time was ticking and soon the details would be gone, which meant that the offer would go to another hitman.
They would kill her for sure. I had my scrambler next to me, telling me that my time was up. My IP would not randomly keep changing to all over the world. If someone managed to crack the IP then they would end up here. That would be the final part of the puzzle. That wasn’t the part that’s bothering me.
No, Maddie Clark has a price tag on her head. I click the Accept button and then all is lost. I’m going to find her. What will happen next will be a complete mystery. I just know that she’s my ticket out of here, but for the first time I feel like completely tearing up my ticket and just going to see her so that I can enjoy the ride.
Chapter 9: Maddie
The last few weeks
have been completely crazy; I thought that I would die or just give up. Poor Lena, if she has nothing to do with me, it’s for the better. I know that most likely whoever killed Spencer would be watching her. See if I come into contact with her. I wouldn’t risk her life back then and certainly not now.
“Another muffin and coffee for table two,” Rosie says as she passes me the muffin. I managed to hitch-hike as much as I could until l got to the small town of MarronsHill. I had a few hundred on me, but I didn’t have to spend it. Luckily the owner, Rosie was desperate for a waitress, and she was happy when I come in completely lost and stranded looking for a new job and a home. She called me, ‘her angel,' someone that was sent from above to help her with her trucker’s diner.
The diner has travelers mostly passing through, which I thought was the perfect cover up for me until I decide what to do next.
“Right you are Rosie, going there now. Then, I’ll go on my break if that’s Okay?”
She smiles and nods. I live in the apartment above the diner. When I first came in here and asked for a coffee; I sat here for two minutes. At the same table that I’m serving right now and asked if Rosie knew of any places that were for rent and if she knew of any jobs going on too.
I had hitched with a trucker, and he wasn’t like the other drivers. Some of them looked rough on the outside, but they were big pussy cats. This one was far from a pussy cat; he was more like a snake as his hands seemed to think that just because he had given me a ride. He had the ticket to put his hands all over me.
I’m not that type of girl.
That night, Rosie must have seen that I was scared and that I needed somewhere to stay. She offered, and I took it like a duck to water. She was right, I had visions of going with another trucker and something far worse happening to me. I didn’t want to ride anymore and the little money that I had on me, had to do for the unforeseeable future.
