“It’s not as easy to quit my job as it probably is for you to quit yours, though. I work for a pretty powerful guy that I’m sure doesn’t want to see me leave. And I work with some other assholes that apparently want to see me dead. And I probably would be dead right now if it wasn’t for your quick thinking and your keen aim with a bedpan.”
She smiled and the dimple on her right cheek stood out loud and clear. I could have stared at that dimple all morning long.
“Let me ask you something, Jackie. Back there in the hospital room, did you look at the man who pointed the gun at me? More importantly, did you notice if he looked at you?”
“I don’t know, Micky. It all happened so fast. I don’t think so. I had my back to the wall when he came in, and then I just picked the pan up out of reflex and whacked him. It’s not like we stood there staring at each other. Why?”
“Guys in my line of work get a little weird when people get a look at them, that’s all. The less you looked at him, and the less he noticed you, the better. Take a right on Castor.”
We were getting closer. The houses and the yards were getting smaller and the neighborhood was getting a little seedier. We were almost there. We were almost to the place that I had regretfully called home for the last several years.
“Am I in danger?”
“I don’t think so. Once you drop me off at my house I have a call to make that should clear this up. And to be honest, I don’t think The Scar got a close enough look at you anyway. Once you drop me off I’ll make my call and you’ll be OK. Take a left on Broadview.”
She turned left without putting on the turn signal this time. I was going to make a criminal out of her yet.
“Three more blocks. See the house with the big stockade fence on the right hand side? That’s my neighbor. Just do me a favor and drive past that house to the corner and go around the block first. I just want to see if anyone is on the other side of the block, OK?”
She did as I asked. She was a pro and she didn’t even know it. She circled the block and came to the cross section at my street and I had her pull over.
“The police are going to tell you things, Jackie. They’re going to say I’m a monster for the things I’ve done. But you need to understand something. Not everything is like it is in the movies. Sometimes good people get into bad situations. I’m one of those guys and I’m trying to buy my way back to normal. The only reason I’m telling you this is because I think you’re a good person and I’d be dead if it wasn’t for you. I just want you to know that behind all the killer bullshit that you’re going to hear, I’m actually a good person too.”
She was looking at me with those puppy dog eyes. I looked away to scan the area but I was really looking away because I couldn’t look into her face too much longer. She was reminding me of why I wanted out in the first place, and it was killing me that I would never see her again.
“Here’s the deal, Jackie. You’re going to let me out here and I’m going to go to my house. I need to get a few things and make a phone call and that should set you straight. Give me a couple of minutes and then turn around the way you came and go back to the hospital. Tell the police I forced you to drive me out of the city. You can tell them you brought me here even. By then, I will be long gone. Don’t lie to them. Don’t do anything else that you’re not comfortable with. Once I make my call, you’ll be safe, OK?”
She nodded and kept looking at me. Big, wide puppy dog eyes that weren’t looking away. I wasn’t used to anyone that wouldn’t look away from me. She wasn’t looking away and I found myself turning first.
No cars to the left—check. No cars to the right—check.
I reached down and took her hand in mine one last time and kissed it. Not sure why; I wasn’t sure I had ever kissed a woman’s hand before. I think she was starting to blush but I was out of the car with my briefcase before I could get a chance to see for sure. I double timed it down to my house because a half dressed guy in a bloody hospital gown might have been suspicious, even in my neighborhood.
I reached the house and took a hard right at the stockade fence of the neighbor’s house. Twenty seconds later, I was in my backyard looking at the backdoor. Always the backdoor. I wasn’t even sure the front door to my house worked. I hit the front step and stopped. The top step had always been loose, but not the way it was now. And whoever had worked on it had been sloppy. I could even see the hint of a wire trying to creep out.
I launched myself off the steps towards the neighbor’s. I hurled the briefcase into the air, clearing the top of the stockade fence. An injured body in a hospital gown wasn’t so easy. I hoisted myself up and felt the wound in my shoulder tear and dull pain started to set in almost immediately. It was an afterthought, though. I hit the top of the fence and spilled over, opening a fresh wound on the other side of my chest. That would have to wait too.
The gown caught on the fence and I listened to the sound of hospital cotton tearing as my feet hit the ground and I rolled. And then the only sound for miles was the eye crushing sound of my house exploding.
Chapter 5
Jackie
I turned the corner to take one look at him before returning to the hospital. Blue jeans, leather briefcase, and a bloody hospital gown, trotting down the alley by his house. In my world it didn’t get much more exciting than that, and the only thing that was dampening the excitement was anticipating the story I would need to tell the police.
I slowed just enough to make sure he got down the alley, and he turned the corner of his house. Not sure why, except for the fact that it gave me one more glimpse of his abdomen. Satisfied that I had delivered a confessed killer to his home, I put my foot on the gas and made it to the stop sign at the end of his block.
I checked all four ways before making my turn, because that was the way I drove since learning in a Beetle at the age of sixteen. But the car I saw coming towards me was familiar, so I stayed stopped at the corner for a few seconds longer that I would have. Long, black Lincoln driving in the opposite direction and ready to pass in front of his house. And in order to get there it needed to go past me.
I saw the two men in the car and at first I thought they saw me. As they pulled slowly by me, any suspicion they saw me went right out the window as the driver looked at me and mouthed something from the other side of the glass. I looked directly into his eyes, which was no small feat, considering the blazing scar that he had on the side of his face. And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had looked into mine.
The thought of accelerating to get out of there flashed through my mind first, but the guy with the scar beat me to the punch. His foot must have stepped on his gas pedal hard because the wheels of the Lincoln screamed and I watched as the car’s tires left a spiral of rubber smoke in the air.
What the fuck? Were they running from me?
I knew I had hurt his hand when I had whacked him with the bedpan, but the thought that they were taking off out of there because of me just didn’t make sense. It was enough to keep me idling at the stop sign, and it was enough to make me worried about the guy I had just dropped off at the house. And I almost started to double back to tell him—honk a horn, maybe even go up to the door if I could summon the nerve.
And then before I could make a decision either way, the entire city block seemed to explode.
Chapter 6
Micky
“Fuck.”
Pieces of my house were raining down on me and now the hospital gown that I disliked before had a fresh tear in it. For a weird moment, I thought about the crown molding I just put up in my living room as I saw a sliver land in front of me on my neighbor’s lawn.
This is why we can’t have nice things…
I stumbled to my feet and took three steps towards the street before realizing my hands were empty.
The money—can’t get far without the money…
I turned and grabbed the briefcase and narrowly missed getting hit by another piece of debris. Not crown moldin
g this time. That might have been part of the upstairs bathroom cabinet that I replaced last year. No time to worry about it now…
I started doing the math on my way along the fence to the street. A gunshot in this neighborhood would result in a call to the cops—maybe. A full-on house explosion was going to be bringing everyone. Cops, firetrucks, the fucking Dalmatian and the Department of Public Works were going to be descending on this place in the next four minutes. The good news was the bad guys knew that too and were likely long gone by now.
I reached the gate of the fence and peered out. No sirens, no busy neighbors, nothing—yet. The only thing within sight was a single yellow Volkswagen Beetle sitting idle at the stop sign. I had decided back at the hospital that I hadn’t died and gone to heaven and she wasn’t an angel. Now I wasn’t so sure.
I ran as fast as I could through my neighbor’s yard, onto the sidewalk and down the street to Jackie’s Beetle. I didn’t know if she was in shock or if she was waiting for me and I didn’t really have time to think about it. I got to the passenger door and knocked politely, like I was a little kid waiting to be picked up from school. She looked at me blankly and I opened the door and slid back into my seat.
“He saw me.”
“Who? Who saw you, Jackie?”
“The man from the hospital. The guy with the scar.”
Fuck. Not good.
“Are you OK to drive, Jackie? Because we kind of need to get out of here in a hurry. So take a deep breath and put the car in drive and then we can talk about the guy with the scar, OK?”
She did what I said. Kind of. She took a deep breath and she looked at me first before putting the car in drive. Under the circumstances, I would have been upset that she hadn’t put the car in drive right away. But, fuck, she had nice eyes, even in her panicked state. So I smiled back at her and she looked forward and put her foot on the gas.
“Just go up two blocks and make a right on Wilson. Nice and easy. That will bring you out to Wilshire and then we can just drive for a while.”
She was breathing normally now. I wasn’t yet but I was on my way. I watched her take the turn as I heard the sirens starting but I knew the fire station was in the opposite direction so I eased back in my seat.
“Are you sure it was him?”
“Yes. He was driving a big, black car with another man in it.”
“How do you know he saw you?”
“He went right past me and slowed down. I think he called me a fucking bitch.”
Yep, that sounded like Sammy. He was a real lady’s man…
She was starting to relax and I watched as she looked over her shoulder and merged onto Wilshire. Breathing easy, eyes on the road, light traffic at this time of morning. On the other side of the median a car went by with a flasher on the dashboard—probably an off-duty fireman.
I gave her a couple more minutes and then I needed to be Captain Obvious.
“If he saw you for sure this time then that kind of changes things a little, Jackie. I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to be in this situation. You should have taken off when you had the chance. Why did you stick around?”
“I’m not sure exactly. I wanted to make sure you were safe.”
Wow. Officially the first time I think I had ever heard those words…
“Well, the good news is I’m going to keep you safe. But you need to stick with me just a little bit longer now. I need to call someone. Where do you live?”
Another couple cars flew by on the opposite side of the median—two more cars with dashboard flashers and a squad car. Cops were going to be busy this morning.
“I’m about twenty minutes from here if I hop onto Elsmore. There might be a little bit of rush hour traffic now.”
“Rush hour traffic is the least of our worries. We probably have a couple of hours before Sammy figures out who you are and where you live, so we should get there now. Do you live with anyone? You have an old man or kids?”
She laughed at that question and I wasn’t sure I had even made a joke.
“No, I live alone.”
I wasn’t sure what confused me more—the joke I didn’t make or the fact I was happy she lived alone. But I didn’t have time to over analyze it either way.
“OK, good. Hop onto Elsmore and let’s get to your house then. I promise I’ll make this all go away for you.”
She was starting to relax but I knew she had a fucking mouthful to chew on right now.
Keep her talking, Micky…
“Why did you laugh when I asked you if you live alone?”
“I’m in the process of getting divorced. I own the house but my asshole ex-husband is trying to get half of it from me. He’s actually holding it over my head because he knows the divorce won’t settle until I cave, so I am technically still married to Mr. Wrong.”
“Why are you guys getting divorced?”
“He had an affair. He told me he was bored so he went out and found some barmaid to screw. He said I was boring.”
The words hit me in a spot that made me laugh. I realized it was the first time I had laughed all day. It might have been the first time I laughed in a month.
“What’s so funny about that?”
“Sweetheart, I’m risking my life just to buy my way back to boring. If you were part of the deal, I’d be willing to pay twice what I’m paying now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t worry about it. So this asshole ex of yours, he cheated on you? Is that it? Or did Mr. Excitement like to hit you too?”
“Why do you ask something like that?”
“Eh. I’ve seen the kind of guy that would dump a girl like you for being boring. Guys like that usually have the gene in them that makes it exciting to smack girls around too.”
“He never actually hit me…”
“Oh yeah? But?”
“Martin is more of a pusher. When he got angry, he would push me. It never went beyond that, but it was always kind of understood that it could. You know what I mean?”
Fucking guys who pushed women around. I had dealt with some of the lowest scumbags on the Earth and even most of them wouldn’t touch their women. It was a Hollywood stereotype that wise guys smacked their women around. Most the wise guys I knew would fucking obliterate a guy that did that in front of them.
“Yeah, unfortunately I know exactly what you mean. And you’re fucking lucky you’re divorcing this loser because sooner or later dickheads like that do more than just push.”
I was looking at the houses of the suburbs flying by outside the car window, trying to tamp down the anger that I felt simmering inside me over a guy I didn’t even know. The houses were slowly getting nicer. White picket fences, people walking dogs, stores that didn’t have metal grates over the doors—we were obviously out of my neighborhood and getting closer to hers.
“I take it you’re not married, Micky.”
It was a funny question. I couldn’t remember the last time someone asked me my relationship status. But coming from her it was downright adorable.
“Believe it or not, I happen to be single. Work keeps me pretty busy, and not in a good way. One of the reasons I’m looking to retire.”
She was satisfied with that and I was satisfied with changing the subject.
“How much further to your house?”
“We’re six blocks away. It will be on your right. The one with the yellow mailbox.”
“I see it. Do me a favor, Jackie. Go past the house to the stop sign and just do one lap around the block and come back and park in your driveway, OK? And tell me where your phone is.”
Chapter 7
Micky
“He knew I was there, Jimmy. Fucking Sammy. Him and Vince both showed up at Ruby’s. She knew, she obviously knew.”
“Fuck, Ruby? I always thought she was OK. I never pictured her stabbing you in the back.”
Even over the phone I could picture the look of surprise on my best friend’s face.
�
�Yeah, that makes two of us. But they knew I was carrying half a mil in cash, so who knows what Ruby got promised.”
“She’s a fucking cocktail waitress, Micky. They could have bought her for five grand.”
“Whatever. The bottom line is Sammy is trying to kill me. He came to Ruby’s with Vince but Vince didn’t walk out of there anymore than Ruby did. Somehow Sammy knows I’ve got a bunch of cash on me and that I’m trying to go see your old man. I don’t know how.”
“You’re sure it was him?”
“I fucking saw him, Jimmy. I almost put a bullet in him at Ruby’s and then he came to the hospital twelve hours later. It isn’t about the money. He wants to put a bullet in me.”
“You two were never the best of friends, Micky.”
“Not like this, Jimmy. He took a pretty big fucking risk, coming to the hospital. And then he goes and wires my house. He wants me dead in a big way.”
“You’re lucky he’s as dumb as a post, Micky, or you’d be dead already. You listen to me, you’ve got to be careful with how you handle this…”
I was trying to listen to Jimmy, because I knew I had to be careful. But the attention span of a man was a fragile thing, especially when a beautiful woman was in sight. Nurse Jackie had just come down the stairs after changing from her scrubs and she was wearing a pair of jeans with a light cotton shirt. Nothing fancy, and she did nothing fancy very well.
“…I’m telling you Micky, Sammy’s just pissed about the job. He probably knows you’re trying to get to my old man, and he doesn’t want to let that happen…”
She was whistling, and it looked like she was starting to make tea. She was as domestic as Mary fucking Poppins but she looked as sinful as Cleopatra in those jeans she was wearing. Fuck, I thought she looked cute in that nurse’s outfit, but cute had a hotter older sister and her name was holy fuck…
Dirty Hitman Page 3
