Chapter Twenty-seven
The Pink Bunny Rabbit
Nineteen days ago...
Russia...
October 3...
Wednesday...
8:34 P.M...
A red balloon popped, a woman screamed, and people ran for cover. The Mark's bodyguards ushered her and her child into a limo, and the vehicle peeled down the road. In shock, Kim looked up from the scope, and for the first time in her career, she had let her emotions interfere, and she had missed.
Kimberly's view...
Hades! I can't believe it! I hide my face in my hand. What was I thinking? Idiot!
I stand and back away from the ledge. I'll have to move fast; the second attempt will be harder and up close. Hades! I hate face to face Closings.
End Kimberly's view...
She quickly broke down the M24, put the parts in its container, and placed the case back in hiding. A Guild Prep/Cleanup Crew would be by later and remove the sniper rifle. Kim grabbed her knapsack, hurried down the stairs till she reached a level with an elevator, and entered it. She searched the cab for a security camera, and there was no camera like the Closing File stated, so she pulled off her knit mask, wiped sweat from her face with a cloth from her knapsack, and put both items back into the bag. On the way down, she removed the H.H.C. and read over the Closing File Contingency Plan. She never opened the backup before; she was always so careful, but she was sloppy tonight. Kim let her emotions get in the way because there was a little girl.
The Contingency Plan instructed her to go to the hotel's parking garage on level four and there a motorcycle would be waiting for her. Kim exited the elevator, found the black Kawasaki ZX R20, opened the seat, and removed the keys from the compartment. She put the helmet on, started up the motorcycle, and sped to the secondary kill spot. Kim would take out the Mark before the woman entered her hotel. Kim arrived and waited in an alley down from the entrance to the lobby. Two limos were parked at the curb in front of the entrance as a third limo pulled up. She left her helmet on. Kim looked down at her PPK; she didn't need a silencer. The hit would be up close and dirty. It was the price Kim had to pay for missing the initial shot.
Five women out on the town left a club and started to walk past the hotel, and they laughed as they strolled down the sidewalk. The four bodyguards piled out of the third limo. Kim recognized them as the ones guarding the Mark, so she started toward them. One of the bodyguards spotted her and raised his gun when he saw she was armed, and Kim prepared to shoot him, but before he or she reacted, someone else fired from behind him. The bodyguard ducked and turned as Kim moved to the side of the building, searching for cover. The five women screamed and in the confusion of bodies franticly rushing about the sidewalk, Kim barely saw the Mark collapse. Kim scanned the area, but couldn't tell where the shot originated, so she ran back to the alley and went to the motorcycle. She got on it, but she couldn't leave yet; she had to make sure the Mark was dead. Kim drove the motorcycle down a block and parked. She removed her helmet and long gray coat and undid her hair from the ponytail. Kim ran her hands through her blonde strands to straighten them as she made her way to the hotel and by then, a few people had gathered into a small crowd. Kim heard a woman crying.
She couldn't see past the people, so she walked up to a man she heard speaking in English and asked him, "What happened?"
He glanced at her and rose on his toes, trying to see over the crowd. "I heard she's dead. I heard a Closer took her down, but they aren't sure."
After a few minutes...
A car approached in the distance with flashing blue lights, and the vehicle parked at the curb, and two men exited the car. One of the men spoke to the crowd in Russian.
After he was done, the second spoke in English with a Russian accent, "Everyone back up. I'm Detective Boris, and I'm with Russia Civil Police Force. I will have to ask you to move back."
The crowd did as ordered.
A boy ran up to the detective and handed him a business card, and Boris looked to the card with the picture of a composer's baton. "Maestro, so this is a Closing." He turned to his partner. "Victor, retrieve the Guild's Scanner, so I may run this barcode."
His partner nodded, went to the vehicle, and returned with a H.H.C. linked to the Assassins Guild. The Guild's Emblem, a black dagger piercing a white mask, marked the top of the device. Boris took the Scanner, swiped the business card's barcode over the H.H.C.'s reader, and waited till a file pulled up. "Maestro confirmed, it is a Closing." He read on. "This is not good."
Earlier, Kim had moved from her spot to get a better view, so she made her way to the street, started around the three limos, hurried around the last vehicle, and to the sidewalk. Only a few people gathered on that side, and a glint of metal caught her eye, but Kim didn't look down.
The detective walked to a woman, sitting on the sidewalk and said to her, "Excuse me... Are you Mrs. Serqet?"
The woman looked up, and her eyes were red from crying. "Yes," she sobbed.
Kimberly's view...
I realize this woman is the Mark, and that Maestro must have also missed or merely wounded her. I'll have to attempt a third time. Hades! Will this nightmare ever end?
The Mark wails as she sits on the sidewalk, and her cries sent shivers up my spine. Something's wrong. I missed something. The Mark isn't crying in pain, no, her wails are full of heartache.
The police car's lights reflect off the metal object on the sidewalk again, and I bend and pick up the item; it's a key chain of a pink bunny rabbit. The child! Where's the child?
I quickly move forward, pass a few people, and stop about six feet from the Mark, and I see her cradling a small limp body.
"No..." I gasp. "No..."
End Kimberly's view...
The detective put a hand to Mrs. Serqet's shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss." Boris looked to the dead little girl in her arms. "And I know this is of little consequence, but by the Assassins Guild Code 257-Section 9, I declare the Closing placed on you null and void." He typed in the declaration on the H.H.C. "There will be no more attempts on your life."
Kimberly's view...
The Detective's correct; if in the course of a Closing the Mark's child is killed, the Closing's considered complete. My eyes water as I lose the impartiality my training placed in my heart. I don't understand how this happened. I stare at the dead child. It shouldn't have happened. I put a shaky hand to my mouth as I try to hold back my tears. What am I saying? I know what happened; I messed up the Closing. Hades! I messed up the Closing and look what happened! A tear streaks down my cheek. It wouldn't have happened if I had taken the shot, so the child's blood is on my hands.
I continue to watch Mrs. Serqet cradle the child in her arms as crimson saturates the little girl's blouse. Feeling sick, I divert my eyes to the key chain in my hand as I leave the scene and make my way back to the motorcycle. I can never hesitate again; I have to be more professional. I squeeze the rabbit, cutting my palm on the metal. The key chain will be a reminder to me of what happens with hesitation, and I promise myself that I'll never again falter on a Closing.
#2 Shades of Gray: From Moscow, With Love Page 31
