by Mike Ryan
He’d done a lot of questionable things in his life, including killing, but the one thing he’d never done was kill a child. And being asked to do it now, amidst all the self-doubts that he’d been having lately, would only stir those strange emotions he’d been feeling even more. Getting rid of Swanson didn’t bother him much, but the other two, especially the girl, those would keep him up at night. He continued studying the information for a while, printing everything out and sticking it in a folder. He sat on the edge of his bed, looking at the pictures of Mrs. Swanson and her daughter. Now, among all the other different feelings he had lately, he could add one more. For the first time, he was considering turning down an assignment. He never rejected a job before. He realized that even if he rejected something, somebody else would do it anyway.
As he sat there on the bed considering his options. He knew a case could be made for Swanson’s wife. Lamb figured it was unlikely that she was unaware of her husband’s dealings, even if she wasn’t directly involved in them. And as such, she should’ve been aware that something like this might come along. If you marry a criminal, you have to be willing to pay the price when something happens, he thought. But the daughter, that was a whole different story. Even if she knew what her father did, she didn’t have much choice in the matter. She was stuck with her parents no matter what.
Lamb put all the papers in the file folder and tossed it down on the bed next to him. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he thought about the situation. He brought his left hand up to his face, just under his eyes and pulled down on his skin as he ran his fingers down to his chin, before resting his hand on his mouth. His eyes darted around the room for a minute, wishing he had someone there to tell him what the right thing to do was. Deep inside, he knew what it was, but he wasn’t accustomed to doing what most would consider the right thing. A decision like this wouldn’t come without repercussions, and if he did what he was thinking, he had to make sure he was willing to live with them.
After letting it ruminate in his mind for a couple of hours, Lamb eventually settled down for bed. He lay down, but all he could think about was how that child’s life was in danger because of her father. And somebody like him was going to come along and snuff her life out for no good reason. It was a long night for him, tossing and turning, not able to get the images of the girl out of his head. He just lay in his bed for hours, thinking about what he should do, not able to finally fall asleep until well after 3 a.m.
Lamb woke up after nine, thinking about the same thing that had kept him up all night. Now, though, he had clarity. Maybe it was a full night’s sleep, maybe it was just the amount of time he’d spent chewing on it, that it had become clear. Whatever the reason, he knew what had to be done. After eating a bowl of cereal, he called Garner to let him know of his decision.
“Hey. Get the file?” Garner asked.
“Yeah. I was reading it all night.”
“Good. They want it done in the next couple days so you should probably get out there as soon as possible.”
Lamb sighed, then hesitated, almost not believing what was about to come out of his mouth. “I can’t do it.”
“What?” Garner said, definitely not believing what he just heard. It was a first for them in their relationship, since Lamb had never said those words to him before.
“I can’t do it,” Lamb repeated.
“Uhh, OK. Why not? What’s going on?”
“I’ll kill Swanson. But I won’t kill the wife or his daughter.”
“Eric, think about what you’re saying.”
“I have thought about it. That’s all I’ve been doing. All night long.”
“They’re not going to sanction a contract without doing the entire family,” Garner said. “That’s what they want.”
“I can’t do it, Ross. I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life. But I can’t kill a kid. And I won’t start now.”
“You’re sure about this?”
“Yeah.”
“Your reputation’s gonna take a hit for this. You know that, right?”
“So be it.”
“Eric, you know if they give this to somebody else, that kid’s gonna be just as dead anyway. There’s nothing you can do to change that.”
There’d been a few other things going on in Lamb’s mind. Contrary to Garner’s stance, he knew there was a way to change it. He could take the contract anyway, with the clear intention of not killing the wife and child, and somehow get them to safety. He wasn’t sure how he could or would pull it off, but he knew he could accomplish it somehow. The downside to that was if he took the job, and the money, and then didn’t follow through with it, he’d likely be put in the firing line. Though he could live with that, he also knew that it would probably endanger Garner’s life as well. After all, they were friends, he was the one setting the deals up, and if Lamb took a powder, Garner would likely get some of the fallout from it. Whether they’d take his life or not, Lamb wasn’t sure, but he didn’t want to take that chance. But there was another way he could go about it. And that was to just decline the job completely. That would get Garner off the hook.
“I can change it,” Lamb solemnly said.
“Don’t be talking stupid, Eric.”
“I can go down there, get that kid to safety.”
“You do that, and there’ll be a hit out on you within hours,” Garner warned.
“I know. But sometimes you just gotta stand up and do what’s right.”
“Since when did you become Mother Teresa? I mean, what’s with this whole new attitude of yours?”
“Listen to yourself talk, Ross. Can you really condone the killing of a child? What if she was one of your kids?”
“But she’s not. And we both know that that child is going to pay for the sins of her father. Regardless of our own personal feelings, there’s nothing we can do to change that.”
“I can’t just sit by and let a kid be killed knowing that I could’ve prevented it,” Lamb said.
Garner sighed, knowing that his pleas were falling on deaf ears. It seemed that nothing he could say would change his friend’s intentions. “Listen to what you’re saying.”
“I know what I’m saying. And I know what the ramifications will be.”
Garner started beating one of his knuckles onto his forehead as he listened to his partner speak, knowing he was committing suicide.
“If I decline the job, you shouldn’t feel any of the heat,” Lamb told him.
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know that. But if I take the job and then follow through with how I’m feeling, there’s a good chance you won’t live to see your youngest graduate college.”
“Thanks for the heads up on that,” Garner said, sounding resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going to talk his friend out of his plans.
“At least this way, all you’ll have to worry about is finding a way to replace some lost income.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
“Well, just the same, I wanna make sure you’re protected. I don’t want any of this to fall back on you.”
“It’s not even an issue. I’ll be fine. Even if it came to that, you know I can talk my way out of anything. Besides, I’m a middleman to probably half their connections. If they got rid of me, they’d have to incorporate a whole new way of doing business.”
“As long as you’re sure. If it helps, feel free to turn me in before they get wind of it,” Lamb said. “As long as you give me enough time to do what I have to.”
“You’re sure about this?” Garner asked.
A smile came over Lamb’s face as he pondered the question, actually feeling a little relief. “About as sure as I’ve felt about anything.”
Garner sighed again, making sure it was loud enough to be heard. “You used to be the least pain-in-the-ass person I had to deal with. Now you’re the worst.”
Lamb laughed. “I guess I was overdue.”
“Yeah, and you sure di
d it with a bang, didn’t you?”
“I guess everything has to come to an end sometime, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, but not like this.”
“Why not? Might as well go out doing the one good thing I’ve done in my life.”
“Stop talking like that. It doesn’t have to end like that,” Garner said.
“Let’s not kid ourselves, Ross. We both know how this story ends.”
“Maybe. If you do this right, maybe you can find a way out. Probably involves living in some other country and with a different name, but it could be done. I’ll look into it for you.”
“You don’t have to do that. I don’t want to put you in any crosshairs.”
“Don’t worry about me. I told you, I can take care of myself. I can make a few calls, get the ball rolling. It’ll get done real quiet, trust me.”
“Well, that’s up to you. But don’t stick your neck out for me. I’m not asking you to do that,” Lamb said.
“Like I said, I can be quiet about it. What else do you need from me?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t give me that. I can do more for you, just tell me what you need.”
“I don’t need you getting caught up in this. This is on me, no one else.”
“I know that.”
“If you really wanna do something else for me, you can give me a heads up. Let me know what else you hear, who else gets the job, when they’re coming, anything you got.”
“All right, you got it,” Garner said.
“Thanks, man. For everything.”
“Yep. Just make sure you stay alive, all right?”
They hung up, and even though he knew there was a good chance he’d wind up dead when it was all over, Lamb actually felt pretty good about it. Not about the dead part, but about the decision he was making. Death wasn’t something he ever worried about anyway. He knew in his line of work, eventually something would happen that would lead to his early demise. He had no idea what it would be, but his usual assumption was that he would eventually be turned on or double-crossed by someone who hired him. He figured they’d think he was a loose end, or someone who could hurt them later on in some capacity, and that’s how his story would finish. Turning down a job and then saving the life of one of the victims wasn’t on his list of probable finishes. But now that that was the direction he was taking, he believed he made the right choice. Now he just had to make sure he wasn’t doing it for nothing, and make sure that he got to the girl in time, before someone else was hired.
Sometimes Garner would book flights for him, sometimes Lamb would do it himself. But in this case, he wanted to make sure Garner had no fingerprints on anything. Lamb didn’t want his friend going down with him, so he hopped on his computer and looked up flight times. He picked a flight that would leave Phoenix a little after 3 p.m., which would get him in Tampa soon after ten that night. He still had all the information he needed for the case: addresses, names involved, places they went. All he needed was the girl. He was hopeful that he could save her mother as well, but he wasn’t as sure about that one. Adults sometimes acted funny in situations like these. If she knew what the deal was, maybe she’d leave willingly, or maybe she’d kick up a fuss and hunker down to be with her husband. The girl, though, the girl was a different story. If nothing else, Lamb was going to do everything possible to get her out of harm’s way. Even if it killed him.
The rest of the morning and afternoon, Lamb got his things together, and tried to tie everything off in the event that he didn’t make it back. He wasn’t much of a spender, and saved most of the money he’d ever earned outside of buying a house and a car. He wasn’t into having a lot of material possessions and he wasn’t a party guy, so most of his money went straight to the bank. By this time of his life, he’d accumulated several million dollars. Before he left for the airport, he sent an email to Garner, giving him access and passwords to his financial accounts. As a precaution, Lamb had previously listed Garner as a co-holder of the accounts, just in case he ever bit the big one. The last thing he wanted was to have all that money in an account, just sitting there, with nobody able to access it, or it going to the government. Lamb’s instructions to Garner were to put one million into a college savings account for Swanson’s daughter, and give the rest to several charitable organizations in the Phoenix area of Garner’s choosing. He didn’t bother giving Garner a heads up on the email; Lamb knew he’d get it within a day or two. And he knew he could trust Garner to follow through with his wishes and not just pocket the money for himself. He was probably the only one Lamb would trust with it.
As he got ready to leave for the airport, Lamb felt as much peace with himself as he could ever remember. With his bags in hand, he opened the front door. He looked back at the inside of his house, wondering if this was the last time he’d ever see it. He’d lived there for ten years. It was pretty much his only sanctuary, the only place he could unwind and forget about his place in the world.
Once he got to the airport, he sat in the hangar and waited to board the plane. He sat there as calm as could be, not a stitch of nervousness or regret about what he was planning on doing. For the first time in months, he was as sure about this as anything. He watched several of the families that were waiting alongside of him. There were a bunch of kids milling about the area. Babies, toddlers, teenagers, any and everything in between. A smile came over his face as he watched the kids playing with each other, interacting with their families, bonding with their parents and siblings.
As he watched them, he started wondering what it would’ve been like to be a parent. He speculated on whether he would have been a good father. He hoped that if he’d ever had kids, that he wouldn’t have been anything like his parents. That he would have provided a more caring and loving environment for his child than what was provided for him. For a few minutes, he got lost in that world, imagining himself as a normal, regular person, with a house, a wife, and kids. He thought, maybe if he was somehow able to get out of the situation he was about to put himself in, maybe there was room for that type of life somewhere down the line. Something to shoot for and look forward to.
His concentration was eventually broken when a little blue ball bounced over to him, hitting him in the leg. He looked down at it and picked it up. A small boy came running over to him, a smile plastered onto his face as he sought to get his ball back.
“Sorry, mister.”
Lamb smiled at the kid, handing him his ball back. “It’s OK, son.”
Lamb watched the boy head back to his family and play with his older brother as they sat down next to their parents.
A few minutes after that, the call was made to start boarding the plane. His guns were in his checked baggage, as was required by law, and Lamb grabbed his carry-on bag and walked onto the plane, ready for whatever was coming his way.
4
Lamb had just checked into his hotel room in Tampa Bay and was unpacking a few of his necessities when he heard his phone ringing. Under the circumstances of his visit, he assumed that it could only have been one person who was calling. And he was right.
“Hey, I imagine you’re on the ground by now,” Garner said.
“Yeah, I just got to my hotel a few minutes ago.”
“Good.”
“If you’re calling for a last-ditch effort to talk me out of this, you’ll be wasting your time,” Lamb said.
“I know it. That’s not why I’m calling.”
“Why then?”
“I let our employers know that you decided not to take the job.”
“Oh? What’d they say?”
“Well, needless to say, they weren’t too happy about it.”
“Didn’t figure they would be.”
“Well, they also know that you’d seen all the details and wanted to make sure that you weren’t a loose end.”
“What’d you tell them?” Lamb asked.
“I can’t lie to you, Eric, I told them I wasn’t sure.”
�
��It’s fine. I’d rather you did that to protect yourself.”
“Yeah, well, because they know you’re a potential problem, they’re moving up the hit date.”
“To when?”
“Sometime tomorrow. They don’t wanna take chances with you.”
“Do they know I’m here?”
“Gotta be honest,” Garner said. “I don’t know. It’s possible. Hard to say. I can guarantee that they’re gonna do some checking.”
“They’ll use a local crew and start checking incoming flights,” Lamb guessed.
“Could be. If they think you’ve gone off the reservation, you might wanna sleep with one eye open tonight.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“No problem. Incidentally, I got your email about the money thing.”
“And?”
“Consider it done.”
“Thanks, man. I know I can count on you. Just do me a favor, will you?”
“Depends.”
“Just don’t die too today, OK?”
“Well, today’s almost over. I’d say the odds are good I’ll make it through,” Lamb joked. “I can’t make guarantees about tomorrow, though.”
“Did you figure out how you’re gonna do this?” Garner asked.
“Do what?”
“Well, you can’t just show up at Swanson’s house and take his child. He’s gonna ask questions.”
“Then I’ll answer them. I’ll just knock on his door and tell him the truth. Whether he believes it or not is up to him.”
“I have some serious doubts whether that plan is going to be effective. I think it’s more likely he’s going to tell you to pound sand.”
“Then I guess I’d have to show him the contract,” Lamb said.
“That’s a death sentence for you.”
“This whole thing’s a death sentence for me. What’s the difference?”
“Yeah, you’re right about that.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
“All right, well, good luck. Hopefully this isn’t the last time I talk to you.”
“Take care of your family, Ross. Hold them tight.”
