I managed a couple of breaths.
Lukas then tried to dog-walk away. Julie sized him up and took about three steps to the side, and kicked Lukas’s head like a soccer ball.
His head snapped up like a PEZ dispenser. His body fell to the floor.
Henry sat up. Then I did too.
“You’re not going to kill my husband!” Julie said. She grabbed the handgun. She turned to me and handed it over. She leaned in and said, “Kill him.”
The metal of the barrel felt cool in my hand. I nodded, patting her on the shoulder. “Okay, take Henry outside.”
Julie put her arm around Henry.
He moaned a little.
“Go ahead.” He turned to his wife, and they walked out of the house. He seemed happy that Julie was safe now.
Lukas rolled over and smiled. “You and I both know you can’t shoot me. Too many witnesses,” he said, holding on to his nuts. He sat up.
A part of me didn’t want to kill him. That same part of me, saw him as the closest thing I ever had to a father. Weird but true.
He stood up slowly. I held my aim on his face. At this range, I wouldn’t miss.
Lukas held out his hands. “I give up, call the cops, arrest me.”
I squeezed the trigger. BANG!
The bullet hit him in the chest. Lukas stumbled backwards, spinning around, falling face first, hitting the floor with a thud.
I walked over to him,and noted that half the back of his head was missing. Lukas was dead. Holstering my weapon, I walked outside to be with my family.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Rules That Govern
I was working on tomorrow’s hangover.
Held up my glass. “I need another one.” Scanning the bar, no talent anywhere, which was probably a good thing, because I didn’t need to wake up to a nameless face tomorrow.
Henry informed me Teresa had died, which she deserved, but now, I didn’t know how I would find Uncle.
Thought about going on that Mexican vacation I was planning. Some fun in the sun was needed. There were always contracts to keep me occupied once I got back.
Mitch put a hand on my shoulder, which made think of other kinds of touching, which created moisture in my nether region. “What’s going on?”
Turning to bask in his handsome face. Should I fuck him? He wouldn’t be just another nameless face. Quickly, I dismissed the idea. He would just be another jaded lover and it could potentially cause tension between he and Henry. “I needed another drink.”
He smiled. “You remember Mildred Ann Longhurst?”
“Who’s ‘Mildred Ann Longhurst’?”
Mitch grinned. “The owner of the house Bradley Miller lived in.”
“Why the fuck should I care about that?”
“She’s Bradley Miller’s aunt. He lived there and he stuck her in an old-folks home, got tired of taking care of her.”
Shrugging off the information, I didn’t fucking care. “Where the hell is my drink?”
“I’ll go tell him,” he said. “What you drinking?”
“Jack and Coke, hold the Coke.”
He told the bartender, but the bartender was way ahead of him, and had my drink ready. Mitch walked over and handed me a drink.
“Thanks!” I took a sip.
“You’re welcome,” he said, sitting down next to me. He placed his drink in front of him on the bar. We didn’t chat for a couple of minutes. He stared into his drink as if it had the answers. I noted his body language. Mitch’s body was still, flaccid.
“Tough day, right?”
He shook his head as if I woke him. “Oh, yeah, tough day.”
“What’s on your mind Mitch?”
He turned coyly, shook his head.
I didn’t know Mitch well, but I could tell something was eating at him. “Tell me.”
He brought up his drink to his lips and finished it. “I need another!” he informed the bartender. The bartender came back with Mitch’s drink. Mitch took a sip, and turned to face me. “Chloe, I’m not like you.”
I grinned, because I knew exactly what he meant. “Mitch, few people are like me.”
“You killed those men without any remorse,” he said not as a judgement.
“It helps to know they weren’t men, they were fucking animals.” I killed the rest of the contents in my tumbler. “Animals who wanted to kill you, Henry, and me, I might add.”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
We clinked our drinks.
Mitch adjusted himself on the barstool, moving in closer. “Can I tell you something?”
I nodded and gave him my attention.
“I’m not going to give specifics, but I caught a case, a few years ago. A young girl was strangled and left naked in a filthy alley.”
“Okay.”
“She was fourteen years old and reminded me of Pami or Pamela, my daughter.” He turned, and grabbed his new drink, but didn’t drink it. “We caught the perp and after a mistake by me, that animal got off. We had to release him.”
“That sucks, where is he? You need me to take care of him? I’ll do it for free.” I grabbed my tumbler in both hands and chortled.
Mitch drained his drink, and searched the bar, but didn’t see the barkeep. He stuck out his hand and shouted, “Need another one Larry!”
Larry walked over to us. He grabbed Mitch’s empty glass, and turned to me. “Hey, beautiful, is this guy bothering you? If he is I’ll throw him out on his ass!”
I winked at the bartender. “I’m okay, thanks. But, I’ll alert you if he gets handsy!”
“Larry, stop flirting with her and give me another damn drink!”
Larry grinned, nodded, and walked off.
“So, you were saying, Mitch.”
“I couldn’t let him get away with it. Pami needed someone to avenge her.”
I said nothing.
“Let’s say, someone found him. And let’s say, the fucker didn’t get away with it after all.”
“Ah, if I understand you, this guy might be six feet under?”
“Maybe not so deep, let’s say, three or four feet deep.”
“And what? This person still feels bad about it?”
“Yes and no.”
“Okay, explain.”
“I understand completely he was an animal and he deserved it. I knew what he had done, but a part of me still thinks what I did was wrong,” he responded.
I didn’t say anything, just turned up my tumbler.
“Chloe, I’m not judging you for what you do.”
“But you still don’t understand how I did what I did to Lukas… uh so easily, correct?”
He nodded.
Larry came and gave Mitch his drink, then I told Larry I wanted a refill. “Mitch, it isn’t that hard to understand. Like gangbangers and politicians, I have less rules that govern my actions than you do.”
“‘Govern’?” His eyes narrowed. “Yeah, I guess I’m governed by different rules. But knowing you, and there are other ways to find certain justice makes me more hopeful, I guess.” He gazed into his drink and chortled.
We clinked glasses, and continued to get drunk.
Chapter Sixty-Five
A Wave Of Cold
Norman called Carter over a dozen times, but he never picked up.
Javier dropped him off at his apartment. He thought about it and decided to visit the last place he sent Carter.
He drove out to Teresa’s apartment and found the police there. There was crime scene tape hung everywhere. Norman waited and watched. He asked two ladies, but they didn’t understand what was going on.
He saw a Channel 26 Fox News reporter walking up to an officer. Norman moved in closer and heard the officer tell the reporter. “Two dead, one dead female, Hispanic, one male dead, Caucasian.”
Norman wanted to be sure. Carter had been with Norman for several years and he was a good assistant.
After waiting several minutes, the paramedics brought out a body on a gurney. He found a spot close to
the ambulance. He saw the body, covered, seemed too small to be Carter. Norman saw long black hair coming out from under the sheet.
Several minutes later they brought out another body.
The body was bigger than the first one.
Just before they put the body inside the ambulance a wind blew slightly, the sheet billowed, and Norman saw a bloodied Carter.
Norman left his longtime assistant. He got into his car and felt his self-control slipping away, as if water was slipping through his fingers. He gripped the steering wheel, hands shaking like cold kittens. He leaned back in his cold seat and covered his eyes with his right hand.
Reared back and hit the steering wheel. “AHH! Fuck!” Spittle flew from his mouth, landing on the windshield.
His face felt warm.
How did Carter die?
That junkie couldn’t fight her way out of a wet paper bag with a gun.
Who killed Teresa?
Norman hated guessing.
It didn’t make sense if Lukas or his guys did it. There was no motive to do so. Norman was his new business partner. Nothing made any sense.
It looked as if Carter got his ass kicked. Norman shook his head. Carter was one of a kind, good at his job, and extremely loyal. It would be hard to replace him.
He checked his watch and knew Lukas should have called. By now, his men should have made it to Bradley’s and taken care of business.
He pulled out his cell phone, checking for any missed text messages or calls. There were none. Norman wondered why Bradley hadn’t called him yet.
Maybe Lukas’s men arrived too late? Perhaps those cops arrested Bradley, and took him to the police station. Norman hated guessing. He liked dealing in the facts.
He called Lukas’s number and got an electronic voice telling him to leave a message. He left a message. Then he called Bradley’s number, but no one answered. “Damn it!”
He had some numbers for a couple of Lukas’s guy’s, Archie and Stan. They were written down on a piece of paper in his wallet. He dialed them, and again, no one answered. “Fuck! Where are these guys?”
Then a chill ran down his spine.
He didn’t believe in coincidence. Not one person answered his call. What if Lukas and his men went to Bradley’s and were all arrested? That would explain a lot.
What if they were arrested and giving Norman up at this very moment? This was all wrong. He had lived too long not be too paranoid.
Carter was dead. Lukas and his men were missing in action. Bradley wasn’t picking up.
A little voice in the back of his mind was telling him not just to leave, but run!
There were plenty of places to go.
Looking around his apartment, he grabbed his old photo album from the bookshelf. He moved over to the bed and sat down, and placed it in his lap. He had the album for almost three decades. Norman hadn’t looked at it in over a few months.
He opened it and smiled when he saw an old Polaroid of himself and a boy. “Norman and Ricky” was written in his handwriting at the bottom. He looked longingly at the boy’s face. Ricky must have been under nine or ten at the time.
Turned the page, he looked at the different man-boy couples with a sense of nostalgia. A lot of love was evident in the pictures.
After looking at a few pages of Polaroids, Norman re-shelved the album.
Norman decided to be cautious, got online and bought a plane ticket.
Packed a couple of suitcases, then shaved his head bald. Then cut his eye brows to let the grey to show through. He put on salt and pepper toupee, mostly salt. His new look matched a passport he had.
He hoped it would have worked here, but if no one called him by the time his flight left, Norman would assume everyone had been compromised. He would get on the plane and leave Houston.
Grabbing his carry-on bag and he put some essentials in it. The computer bag held his laptop. The photo album fit on the side compartment. On the way out, he stopped at the door, and inspected the apartment one last time. He smiled, knowing he would return one day. This was his home, he wanted to come back and die here.
Norman called a cab. It arrived ten minutes later, and he got in and told the driver he had to make a couple of pit stops. He gave the driver a hundred-dollar bill, and told him he’d give him two more if he could take him to his destinations in a timely manner.
The cab driver smiled and agreed.
His flight was not until tomorrow, but he didn’t want to stay in his apartment, because it was no longer safe. Only Carter knew about the apartment, but Lukas’s men could have beaten it out of him. He would just stay at the airport overnight. He was so jazzed he probably wouldn’t need to sleep.
His phone vibrated. Grabbed it and checked caller ID. A wave of cold came over him as he read the caller ID: Carter.
He answered, “Uh hello?”
Chapter Sixty-Six
There Was A Silence
My body tingled at the sound of his voice.
I was afraid I wouldn’t recognized it, but strangely I knew it was him instantly. “Hi, Uncle.”
It took him several seconds to answer. “You have his phone, but this isn’t Carter, because he’s dead. You must be the person who killed him.”
“Yes, I am. I went back to Teresa’s to kick her ass for selling her daughter to your sick friend, Bradley. I ended up killing your errand boy in the process.”
“Carter was there to tie up a loose end. Hope he gave as good as he got.”
“I’m coming for you, Monster.”
He scoffed. “‘Monster’? That’s a bit dramatic don’t you think my dear?”
“All I know is that if I catch you, I’m going to keep you alive as long as possible, while I hurt you, Norman White.”
“You have his phone and you have my name, may I have yours young lady?”
“My name is Chloe, I lived with Kenneth and Miranda Parnell, over in Baytown.”
There was a silence.
I reminded him. “It was twenty years ago.”
“Ah, yes, I remember who you are, little Chloe!”
“You do?”
“Of course, I remember you!” he snickered. “I have this lovely beauty mark thanks to you, my dear.”
I remembered cutting him across his face. “You’re welcome, and it was my pleasure.”
“You were the one in Bradley’s house earlier. You grabbed the girl.”
“Yeah, I saved her from your buddy Bradley.”
“Oh my God! I remember now, you had a younger brother, uh, Hank? No, wait,” he said. “It was Henry! Yes, his name is Henry!”
I sniffed. “Henry really needs to work on his aim.”
Uncle asked, “What do you mean?”
“You’re still alive, because he missed you today at Bradley’s house.”
“Oh, I see. Wow! He was the cop that shot at me. That’s how he knew to call me Uncle!”
“Yeah.”
“That’s right, Chloe and Henry Creed.” He emphasized Creed.
“Like I said, he needs to work on his aim.”
“Why were you there? Are you a cop too?”
I didn’t see any reason not to tell him. “I am the hitter that Lukas came to with your contract on Henry and his partner.”
“Oh, I see. Yes, Henry Creed.”
“Yes, but now Lukas and most of his soldiers are dead, like you will soon be.”
He chuckled. “Do you know what happened to my friend, Bradley?”
“He’s in Harris County jail awaiting trial. He’s probably getting raped as we speak.”
“He will survive, my dear.”
“I sure hope he does.”
Norman didn’t respond.
“If you go after my brother again, I’ll kill you, slowly, painfully. You have no idea what I’m capable of doing. I’m very good at my job, that’s why Lukas wanted to give me the job. That was until I sliced Stan’s, his son’s, throat in front of him.”
“Oh no! My dear, I don’t want an
yone to kill Henry, are you insane? I want Henry to live!”
“How is that when you put a hit out on him?”
“Oh, you see I just forgot little Henry’s name. I am pushing sixty years old my dear. But now, my brain is being flooded with beautiful memories of him. Intelligent boy, if I remember correctly. If I would have realized that Henry Creed, HPD Investigator, was indeed the same Henry that I loved so many years ago, I would have never put out the contract my dear. A part of me, still loves Henry.”
“You are sick.”
“Just because I, and others like me, are more evolved than most of the world’s population, we treat children like adults. We treat them the way they want to be treated.”
“So, raping children is treating them like adults.”
“No, my dear, Chloe please understand, we love children more than you know.”
I remembered a few of the faces of the men he rented me to. “I’m going to kill you Uncle. I swear it on my life!”
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Delicious And Inexpensive
Norman decided against heading directly to the airport last night.
Instead he went to a hotel, near the George Bush Intercontinental airport, his flight was in a few hours.
Using a new burner, he called Bradley’s lawyer, a man with similar predilections. Bradley had indeed been arrested. The charges hadn’t been made clear to the lawyer, because he hadn’t seen or spoken with Bradley. He just got the call an hour before. The lawyer was on his way to the police station, and was sure he could get him out of there today.
“That was a wishful thinking!” Norman told him. Highlighting the main parts, Norman explained what had happened. Ten minutes later he hung up, expecting the worst for Bradley.
He was packed and ready, about to go down to the hotel’s lobby. Not sleeping much last night, a big headache threatened to appear. Once on the plane, he would take a sleeping pill.
Allowing his mind to drift, Norman remembered back at Bradley’s, seeing a fully-grown Henry. Henry looked good, tall with a full head of thick healthy brown hair.
And his sister, Chloe, was a contract killer who promised to kill him. She even swore on her life that she would, and he believed her.
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