Killian: The Hitman’s Virgin

by Alice May Ball

  T WAS NEARLY two hours later when Killian bounded over to me. I was lurking outside the bar. By then I was starving hungry and feeling weak. The last two hours, I’d been facing the fact that I had effectively made myself destitute. With nowhere to stay, I was alone on the street in a totally strange town, with no more than a couple of dollars I could use.

  “Are you okay? What’s wrong, do you really hate the bar? I should have picked somewhere nicer. What happened?”

  I explained to him how stupid I had been about the money. “Killian,” I leaned against his chest, “I don’t have the street smarts for all this. You can’t take me along, I’ll drag you down. I’m too slow.”

  He held me tight. “No, darling. You’re not. You’re maybe a little hungry, though. And you’re out of your element. Let’s get you inside and get you fed.” I felt safer when he squeezed me. “Don’t worry.” He looked into my eyes, “I’m here to take care of you.”

  ~~

  He guided me into the murmuring hush inside the smart bar. His touch on my shoulder was reassuring. He seated me then slid into the shelter of the booth deep inside the bar. Demanding food, he was charming to the waitress but the way he spoke made her understand. He wanted food for me and with no delay. He was attentive and his unblinking stare never left my face.

  Like a concerned father he watched me eat. He watched every little taste that I took. How I liked everything. “Is that how you like it? Let me get you some more.” Talked about nothing in ways that were funny and distracting. He studied my face all the time, looking to see that I was okay.

  After a while I calmed down and I brightened up. He pressed a wad of bills on me. However many ways I protested, he said, “You can’t go within a hundred miles of any account of your own. Not your phone, not your rent, not a car payment, and definitely not your bank.

  “Being with me has wiped all of that out for you. For now, at least. For a few weeks, probably.” Over the brim of his coffee cup he watched my reactions and he said, “It’s a cost. A cost of being with someone like me.”

  Resigned, I took up the bills.

  His face relaxed. “Good. That’s one thing I can stop worrying about. You need anything, anything at all, you tell me. Understood?” He waited for my nod. “I want you somewhere safe. I’ve got us a nice little place to stay. It’s cozy, it’s cute, and the master bedroom suite is an adorable seclusion.”

  “It’s a what?” I couldn’t help laughing. He sounded so not right, using that marketing jargon.

  He drew a breath. “That’s what it said on the web site.” It would be hard for me not to love him then if I didn’t already. Still, I wasn’t ready to let it go. “You were at work when we first met. No harm came to me then.”

  “You got messed up with me, Clara Pearmaine. I don’t call that ‘no harm’ coming to you.”

  “I want to be with you.”

  “And you will. Before and, even better, afterward.” He leaned across the table, “Do you have any idea what I’m going to do to you after?”

  “If it’s anything like what you did to me up on that forest clearing, it could well kill me.”

  His voice was low. “It will be like that, but a lot more. And it will be far, far worse.” I fidgeted. “I’ll invade you and turn you inside out to reach your deepest, secret places. I’ll blast your honey with my cream in places you haven’t even found yourself.

  “I’ll turn you inside out and shake you insensible.”

  An evil grin lit his brooding eyes. His cruel mouth hardly moved. “How does that sound for a starter?”

  I couldn’t speak. I swallowed. My cheeks prickled and colored. The beat of my heart seemed to have lost its way and gone into fast freeform. The swell of my chest could not let go of the breath.

  He told me, “You’ll like the little house I got us. I promise you will. It’s going to be our little nest. We’ve to get in some food and drink, whatever else we need and we’re set.” He called for the check. “I can take you to get some groceries, then I’ll take you to the apartment. It’s a nice little house, actually. I’ll leave you there while I go and earn my crust, do the dirty deed, and we’re set for the night.”

  “I want to come with you. There must be something I can do to help.”

  “Don’t be upset at me telling you this and all power to you. You’ve kept your cool in some testing fucking circumstances. No doubt about that. You handled yourself like a pro with the hooded G-man or whatever he is.”

  I interrupted him. “I know. You don’t want to have to worry about me.”

  “It could make the situation complicated for me. If I’m distracted, thinking about someone else.” I put my hand on his.

  “I understand. It’s okay.” It would have to be.

  UTSIDE IN THE graying early afternoon, I took her to the rugged Land Cruiser. It was a dirty mustard or sand color with heavy black bull bars on the front. Holding the door open for her, I asked if she liked it. Clara laughed and said she could hardly remember anything about her own car beyond the make and the color.

  Inside as I pulled us out into the jerky traffic, I laid my hand on hers. Looking in her eyes I told her, “This is all going to be so perfect. You’ll see.” Then, “If you don’t mind, I would love for you to pick nice things for us to eat and drink. There’s a guy I have to see. I made the meeting in a mall where there’s a Whole Foods, so we’ll only be apart for ten or fifteen minutes.” And her eyes sparkled back into mine.

  As we rode she kept checking in the mirrors. In the rear view I checked to see what she was seeing. Every blue sedan of an even slightly similar hue to those of the white hooded boys. They didn’t show. Doesn’t mean they weren’t there. If they knew their craft they could be practically on my fucking bumper and I wouldn’t know it.

  Probably I should have kept quiet, but it had been bothering me. “There’s something wrong with this picture. Those two beauties are government contractors. It’s my guess the both of them are ex out of some seriously fucking dark and dangerous elite fucking black ops.”

  “Sure. So?”

  “So I’ve been one on one, mano a mano with the both of them.”

  “Okay?”

  “As far as I can tell, I’m not dead yet. I’m not even the slightest little bit dead.”

  Clara smiled. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for just a flash of that smile. Her eyes light up and her face shines. That woman can surprise you with an eyelid. The way she’ll hold a glass, a look she gets in her eye when she’s thinking about something, every time she showed a new side of herself. Another Clara.

  She showed her throat when she said, “You’re too good for them.”

  “Maybe.” I loved her for saying it, whatever the truth of it. I said, “But not by this fucking much I’m not.”

  She laid her head against my shoulder. “You are.”

  Her hair smelled of cleanness. It was soft as I stroked it. Quietly, I said, “No, Clara. I’m really not. I know how good I am and I’m pretty fucking good. But those two, I don’t think they’re bringing their prime-time game. They aren’t trying hard enough.”

  It nagged inside of me. Turning down onto the ramp for the mall’s parking, I shook my head, “No, there’s still a big fucking piece of this puzzle missing.”

  ILLIAN DROVE US to a mall. In a huge, shining atrium, a pair of sweeping steel escalators zigzagged up though the wide, curving ten-story indoor space. The mall was all echoes and reflections. Rattle and shine. The Whole Foods store was on the lower ground floor.

  Killian took me to the Whole Foods and we talked about things to eat and drink. His meet was due to be on the top floor. As he turned to leave me at the wide doorway to the pricey prickly pears and pineapples I said, “Tell me what you like?” and I wiggled the trolley.

  He said, “Sure. I like everything that’s inside your clothes.”

  I screwed my mouth up and punched his arm. “To eat and drink.”

  “See above.” I punched his bicep again. Hard
er this time. All I did was hurt my hand.

  He told me, “Just look around. Whatever you want, get that. Whatever you get, I’m going to love it. All of it.” I narrowed my eyes at him. As a parting shot he said, “Especially the juicy parts.”

  Could two people ever have considered moving in together and known so little about one another? All I really knew about him was how badly I wanted him to fuck me. And it didn’t seem the least bit strange that I had been ready to drop my whole life like an empty milk carton for that alone. Thinking about it as I shoved the trolley among the nuts and trail mixes, it seemed like a pretty good deal, all things considered.

  Wandering around the upmarket racks, shopping for indoor picnics to share with my assassin seemed the most natural and perfect thing in the world. I didn’t see the tall man in the long coat. Not until it was too late.

  IDING UP THE escalator, I looked back at the entrance to Whole Foods to see if I could see her. I couldn’t. But I did see a tall male dash in. A long, dark coat flapped behind him. I couldn’t see his face because of the hat.

  I turned and bounded down the grooved steel steps. From where I was, about a third of the way up, I figured it would be faster to run back down the up escalator than to run to the top and then back down on the other side.

  I hadn’t considered the reaction times of the people in the mall. Almost every one took twice as long as they needed to understand what was happening. Then they guessed which way I was coming at them, moved accordingly and changed their minds when I was right in front of them.

  When I finally got to Whole Foods, I couldn’t see Clara or her pursuer. I chased around the inside of the store. I peered down every aisle.

  Clara was on the far side of a great pile of heritage tomatoes and oversized Portobello mushrooms. She was tasting a small paper cup by the soups counter. I waved, but she didn’t look up.

  Then I saw him. Closing on her like a big bird of prey. She didn’t see him coming. He caught her from behind. His arms were wrapped tight around her. He rushed for the exit, dragging her in front of him. Her feet dangled and kicked.

  I snatched a large trolley. Rushing, I chased him from behind. The trolley slammed into the backs of his thighs. There’s no weight in a trolley, but I ran at him with some force. He almost toppled into the big basket. I caught him by the back of his collar to help him in. He let go of Clara and she fell to the floor.

  He fell back into the trolley with his legs hanging out over the front. Holding the sides he tried to pull himself out. His hat had rolled away, but he had the mask on. His eyes were wide and wild. As he pulled himself up, I hammered my elbow down on the bridge of his nose. While he struggled I pulled plastic cable fasteners from my pockets. I zipped one around each of his wrists. They bound him to the sides of the trolley. With him strapped in, I spun the trolley around. With a couple of steps I launched the trolley down the length of the store. Milk chillers were right ahead.

  Helping Clara to her feet, I looked in her face. “What have I got you into?”

  She smiled as her head shook. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”

  We left her trolley where it was. I put her ahead of me and I followed her out. The shoppers and staff followed the trolley, the noise and – then the crash. Nobody was paying much attention to us. We slipped out easily. The meet was due. I was late. My instinct was to take the two of us past and under the escalators to a less-used elevator.

  I overrode the impulse. Being able to see an attacker coming was more important to me than being out of sight. With Clara, I didn’t want the tiniest risk of a surprise or a sneak attack. We took the moving stairway.

  We rode the escalator up. Clara stood close to me. She looked into my eyes and I felt her shiver. She was holding up well but I knew she’d been through a whole lot of shocks in a short, fast run. Not too much like a librarian’s day would usually go. As we ascended, I had to let my eyes slip back behind us a few times to see if there was any sign of our hooded friend emerging from the store below.

  In my mind I was changing the plan. I didn’t want to tell her until I had it all worked out. Maybe keep the last part a surprise for her. Her voice was soft as she murmured into my chest, “I wish we could go somewhere.”

  I knew what she meant. And I wished it, too.

  “Soon,” I told her “Right now I have to see a guy.” I saw how hard she fought to keep her face from reacting to what I told her. “It won’t be long now.”

  I pulled her nearer as we walked from one rising escalator to the next. Still there was no sign of our pursuer below. “This will be thirty minutes at most. Probably less than half of that.” She was about to speak. I had to say, “It’s a meeting. One where I can’t take an unexpected guest. It would be better to not show. But I have to go. I’ll be just a couple of dozen yards away. I promise.”

  I kissed the top of her head. I wanted to tell her, If there were any other way, I would do it, but I figured that would only fuel and stoke her nerves. And I was already a few minutes late.

  As we rode near to the top of the mall, I saw a classy boutique, right near where my meet was due to be. “Wait in there. Have fun. Pick out some clothes.”

  “I’m not a child,” she buried her head deep in my chest and hugged me tight.

  “Only,” I said, “don’t go into a changing room. Stay where you can see the door. Even better if you can see it without being seen from there.”

  I gave her a squeeze as we reached the top of the escalator. I was turning to go but she dragged me back for a kiss. My blood raced and my cock raged so fucking hard, it took an effort of will not to drag her panties down and fuck her right there and who gave a fuck who saw it or what they thought. I needed to get into her soft embrace. The memory of the taste of her ignited on the back of my throat.

  I had to peel us apart. Still, I couldn’t turn away before I’d watched her slip into the up-market clothes store.

  ~~

  The guy was in the shadows by an emergency stairway. He was big and bearded. A watchful bear of a man with intelligent, hooded eyes.

  Quietly I told him, “I’m five minutes late.” Raised it before he did.

  His voice was a low, soft growl. “Just a little over four.”

  “Will an extra five percent on the price cover it?”

  “No, man,” he looked me up and down. “You’re good. I’m not out to chisel you.”

  I studied him, “You’re turning down extra money?”

  “I’m building a business. I want long-term relationships. I believe I saw you had a situation down there.” I nodded. “And you didn’t cause me any trouble.”

  I looked around. Then looked back at him. He said, “Okay, let’s say you owe me a good turn, if the need arises.”

  I told him that seemed fair. He handed me a key-fob. “White Honda. Parked on level two. Registration’s written on the tag. What you need is in the trunk. Leave the car locked with the key inside the front wheel arch. Driver’s side. Take off the tag before you leave the key.” I handed him an envelope. He slipped it in his jacket.

  “Don’t you want to count it?”

  “Do I need to?”

  “No.”

  He said, “You know whether you’ve tried to stiff me. If you have, we’ll both know where we stand soon enough. Looking at you, going by your reputation, I doubt it.”

  “I’m working hard not to have a reputation. Seems like I’m fucking up everywhere I go.”

  ~~