A Killer's Memoir 2: New Contracts

by Mark J. Allen

  I was finally going to get to fight him face to face again and I was ready for it mentally even if my body did feel weak.

  The Showdown

  “If I beat you, will you tell me where she is before I kill you?” I asked him.

  “You won’t win,” was all he said as he charged me, leaned over like a linebacker making a tackle, he drove himself into me, tackling me down to the ground. It wasn’t the first time he had done this to me but I was hoping it was going to be the last. He immediately started to throw a punch and then he grabbed my head and slammed it into the ground.

  He got up off of me as I tried to shake off the pounding and dizziness in my head. I slowly got back up. He grabbed several boxes from the side of the room and started throwing them. As the lids fell off I realized they were full of different weapons ranging from knives, guns, and more.

  “Don’t you get it?” he said, “you can’t kill me. You can’t beat me. You can try to beat me but you’ll never be able to. I refuse to die just as much as you refuse to die.”

  “Guess I’m just going to have to keep trying,” I said.

  “Why do we keep fighting?” he asked me. “You and I, we’re not that different.”

  “I am nothing like you,” I said, infuriated he’d compare me to him.

  “I disagree,” he said. I came at him quickly and landed a couple of punches. I hit him in the stomach and as he bent over I brought my knee up to hit him in the face.

  Justin recovered quickly and threw a hard upper cut that caught me right under the shin. The power of the punch moved me backwards a few steps and then he brought his foot up and kicked me. As I stumbled I grabbed a knife off the ground.

  “Let’s see if this can kill you,” I said. I threw it quickly, without any warning or drawback. The knife moved through the air fast enough he didn’t have any time to react though my aim was off. The blade went right into his left shoulder.

  Justin looked at the knife and pulled it out, quickly throwing it back at me. I couldn’t move out of the way quick enough but I was able to guard my face, which it was coming right at, by bringing my left arm up.

  The knife entered into the skin of my forearm and through into the muscle. It hurt like hell but I pulled the knife out and moved back towards him, ready to continue our fight.

  He came at me quickly but I kicked his leg, hyper-extending it to the point that it brought him down to one knee. I through a right hook as hard as I could at him and caught him right below the eye. I wasn’t positive but I was pretty sure I could hear and feel his cheek bone break.

  Justin grabbed a knife that was next to him and brought it up sticking it into my side. The knife went in about two or three inches and I yelled out in pain as I stumbled back from him and pulled it out. I was hunched over a little bit because the wound hurt.

  Justin picked one of the guns up and put it in my face. I stood there, not moving, until finally he spoke.

  “Pick up a gun,” he told me.

  “Why?”

  “Just pick up the fucking gun!” he yelled. I did what he said and picked up the closest gun to me.

  “One shot,” he said. “One, two, three, go.” That was the only warning he gave before firing. The bullet tore through my right shoulder and came out the back, which I would rather have than a bullet that only goes in but doesn’t come out.

  I was a bit delayed because I didn’t know exactly what he was talking about but I dropped my gun and shot him in the leg. He dropped down and I kicked him in the gun and then in the face.

  “You’re such a stupid son of a bitch,” I yelled. “I don’t know why you think it’s a good idea to toy with me but I guarantee you it is not.

  “You haven’t seen toying yet,” he said. “You should have seen what I did with Emma.”

  “I better see that girl again,” I said. “Alive.”

  “At this point it is beyond my control but I don’t think he’s going to kill her,” Justin said.

  “Who?” I asked. I was really just trying to by time. I was in a lot of pain and the time was helping not only by allowing me to regain some energy but by letting me look around the room and see some more things I could potentially use.

  “All in due time,” he said.

  “I’ll never know if you kill me,” I said. “So just tell me now.”

  “I’m not going to kill you,” Justin said.

  “What? I thought you were talking about killing me just a few minutes ago.”

  “No, I said you couldn’t kill me. That’s entirely different from saying I’m going to kill you. I’m actually just going to put you in a lot more pain and then knock you out. You’ll love where you wake up next,” he said.

  “Fuck you,” I said again. I was getting pissed off and I was already in pain. My shirt was starting to get completely soaked in the places I was bleeding.

  I moved to the left side of the room and grabbed a piece of wood that was on top of one of the boxes Justin had thrown. It was similar to a bat but thinner and I thought I had seen them in martial arts contests before.

  I moved towards him as he picked up the same type of weapon. We both brought the pieces of wood up like they were a sword and swung them so that they cracked together. I countered quickly by bringing the sword back and downward, hitting first his hip, and then drawing it back again to hit his leg.

  Justin moved quickly from that and hit me in the chest with his. The air forced it’s way out of my lungs and I moved back and brought the piece of wood up.

  “I’m telling you,” he said. “This is just silly. You’re just putting yourself through more pain.”

  “But I’m putting you through pain as well,” I said.

  “I’m fine,” he said. “Don’t you worry about me.”

  “It makes it worth it though,” I told him.

  “But it’ll be the same ending either way,” he said. Which is with you blacked out and waking up somewhere else.

  “I guess we’ll see about that,” I said as I moved forward to swing the piece of wood I had but Justin had taken a shorter swing, allowing him to connect first. The wood met with my nose, breaking it.

  It felt like I had just been hit with an iron in the face and I stumbled backwards and dropped to my knees.

  “Excellent,” was all Justin said as he grabbed a piece of wire that had two pieces of wood on each side of it. He came up behind me and put the wire around my neck and pulled backwards.

  I was able to get a finger in between the wire and my neck, saving me from the wire cutting my entire neck. I pushed out with the one finger even as the wire slowly worked its way into my skin. Even though I had a finger in the way the area to get air in and out continued to close tighter and tighter.

  I felt my eyes start to feel heavier and heavier as it was harder and harder to take a breath and I became more and more dizzy.

  “What’s a matter?” Justin said, “Having trouble breathing?” It infuriated me more and I finally found a knife on the floor with my hands.

  I took the knife and rammed it into his foot. He yelled in pain and pushed me away, allowing me to breathe. I took in extremely big gaps of air trying to regain the normal breathing feeling. We both went for one of the original knives that was on the table.

  The knife Justin grabbed was a katana with a solid handle; it looked sharp and would get the job done. The knife I grabbed had a skull for a handle, my fingers fit through the eyes, and it had a jagged blade. He swung at me and cut me and I jabbed the knife I was holding into his arm. We were both trying to get back into fighting shape when a door behind me opened.

  I went to stab Justin again and he deflected my hand and hit it against the wall, breaking three of my fingers. I pushed back, ignoring the pain and he swung at me and I caught his arm and broke his wrist. We were going to tear each other apart physically little by little until somebody bled out; I just knew in my head that’s the way this was going to end.

  “That’s enough,” was all I heard from a door tha
t had just opened as something hard that was moving with a fast pace connected with the back of my head. I fell to the floor slowly as my eyes closed and I couldn’t stay conscience. The last thing I remembered was thinking to myself that the voice that entered the room sounded very familiar though I couldn’t quite place it at the time.

  Where It All Started

  While I was out my mind raced and raced. I started thinking of everything I had gone through and what I had done to get to this point. I thought about my sister and the first day she had called me; it was the first day I had killed anybody. I thought about my training and a sort of rise through the ranks, earning my respect from the top two guys, Charles and Phil.

  I envisioned a lot of different kills and the way I completed them. I envisioned a lot of different women and the way I had hooked up with them. I was this empty shell moving through the world, living with no real purpose except to protect my family from everything that I knew could come to them.

  Did it work though? I didn’t know if they were safe or not. My parents house was destroyed, luckily they weren’t there, but still there had to be a lack of comfort now. They would have to rebuild or move and it was my fault. It was because of everything I had gotten in to. Was it worth it?

  I thought to myself, maybe over analyzing everything, but maybe I should have just turned in my sister’s boyfriend. Maybe I should have gone down there, possibly taken a punch or two to him, and then just walk him to the station. I couldn’t at the time though. Prison was too good for somebody like that and in my heart I knew it, I just hated what came after.

  I had no problem with killing and with the lifestyle but the fact that my parents had now been affected got under my skin. There are silver linings to the story though. I thought back and thought about Emma and the first time I had seen her.

  “You’ll know her,” Phil had told me. “She’ll stand out.” He was right though; she did stand out. She was the only person I had hesitated for and my hesitation had fucked me. I could have potentially killed her too and avoided all this, but to be honest I think I’d still be where I was now, if not dead. Maybe that would have been the way to do it though; let Phil kill me back then and this could have been over and nobody else I loved would have been harmed.

  As nice as all that sounded there was no changing what had happened. I had made my choices, I had saved her life, and it had been one of the best parts of my life. My love for her was undying and it was something I never thought I’d feel; not with the life I lived anyways.

  I thought to the first day I saw her and the decision I made. I saw the flowers in the background on sale at the store, and then I saw Phil in the background. In an organization of people like I was in you expect to meet some awful shady people, but Phil was the one guy I thought wasn’t like that. I thought he would have my back through the days; I was wrong.

  I thought about taking her with me to protect her and the surprise in Charles’ voice. The surprise in mine when I found out he wasn’t behind it but Phil was. I remembered Phil getting shot in the head and my fight with Justin that I thought left him for dead. I don’t know what it was about him that just kept surviving through our fights, but I suppose it is a little bit of what I have. Maybe he was right; maybe we are more alike than I wanted to admit.

  I thought about going to the police station, waking up in the hospital and recovering with her by my side through it all. I was hoping I got to see her again. I didn’t want our last moments to be spent with her scared and me pissed that I got her in the position she’s in.

  I woke up from my fight with Justin trying to figure out who hit me. I was in the back of a truck with my feet shackled down. I pulled at them several times and tried to find a weak spot but after realizing I wasn’t going to find one I just sat down and wrote. I had planned on leaving my writings wherever they took me next, hoping that if I died Emma would at least get them to help her work through everything and to see that I had tried the best I could to save her.

  Wolf

  Everything from here on out is either what I’ve been told happened, what I believe happened, and when it comes down to it I am just giving my best guess.

  When the truck stopped moving everybody on it got onto a plane, including Justin. Wolf had passed out again but I was told they had given him a message to eat the food as soon as he woke up. He hadn’t realized it but it had been awhile since he ate. His wounds were swollen, some still seeping and his head was bruised and swollen where he had been hit. Even his hand remained swollen from the broken fingers. When it came down to it, he looked like a mess.

  When James woke up he saw food sitting in front of him with a message that just read eat this, you’ll need your strength. He didn’t know who left it for him but it was sitting next to a cell phone. It wasn’t his because I had his at that point, but the cell phone was there and he assumed he was supposed to use it. He ate his food and then picked the cell phone up to look at it.

  There was an unread text from a number he didn’t recognize. All it said was Seat C4. I imagine he thought it was clever that the seat he was seeking out was C4; he always found humor in things like that.

  James got up from his seat slowly, still in a lot of pain, and walked towards seat C4. It didn’t take him long to recognize the person sitting there. Justin, who looked in just as bad of shape or maybe even worse, looked up. His bandages were better than James’ bandages were and you could tell he had had more attention given to his wounds.

  “Did you eat?” he asked.

  “Do you care?” Wolf asked.

  “Yes,” he said. Wolf scoffed. He didn’t believe that he cared. “Do you have the phone?” Wolf didn’t answer but handed him the phone.

  “When do I get her back?” Wolf asked.

  “You don’t understand do you?” Justin asked. “I already told you this is bigger than you and bigger than me. Call the number that is saved in the contacts,” he said as he handed the phone back to Wolf.

  Wolf hesitated, but then did as Justin had said. The phone rang twice before the man holding it decided to answer. I know this because I was standing next to him when he did.

  “James,” he said as he answered. There was some hesitation before James answered.

  “Who is this and what do you want from me?” James asked.

  “Come on James,” he laughed, “It hasn’t been that long and you’ve forgotten my voice? I think you know who it is, you knew who it was right before I hit you; you just refuse to believe it.”

  “Charles,” James said to my father. I was just as confused as James was but my father came and took me from Justin in what I thought was a rescue attempt until he started talking to Justin and telling him what to do. My dad, Charles, was the one that had been giving the orders.

  “It’s been awhile James,” he said, “and you’ve been busy.”

  “Why?” James asked. “Why come after me like this? Why put Emma at risk?”

  “You’re asking a lot of questions,” Justin chimed in. “You’re going to piss him off.”

  “Are you getting along with my right hand man?” Charles asked. “Justin has been a pretty faithful servant in your absence. Though, as you can imagine, when I took his family hostage he didn’t have much choice.”

  “Like I told you,” Justin said to James, “you and I aren’t all that different.”

  “That still doesn’t explain anything,” James said.

  “James you’re slipping,” Charles said. “You used to be really good at figuring things out. Perhaps my daughter has been too much of a distraction.”

  “Don’t talk about her Charles,” James said. “If you’ve been behind all this you’re worse than I ever thought you were. You’re a piece of shit and I’m going to kill you and Justin.”

  “Haven’t you heard of don’t kill the messenger?” Justin asked.

  “Shut up!” James yelled at him. “Charles, why would you put her life at risk like that?”

  “I knew it was going to be mot
ivating for you, and it worked quite well if I do say so myself.”

  “If you’re going to continue you might as well tell me why,” James asked.

  “I hate you,” I said to my dad, breaking my silence. “Let him go. Let me go. Don’t do this.”

  “Shut up!” Charles said as he hit me with the back of the hand. James must have caught on to what happened because I could hear him explode on the other end of the phone.

  “I swear to everything in my power I will find a way out of hear and down there and I will fucking kill you. I will tear you apart limb by limb and I will make you suffer.” Charles just laughed.

  “That’s funny James,” he said. “Phil had the right idea by trying to kill you; I just didn’t see it at the time.”

  “Phil wanted your position,” James said.

  “And who could blame him?” Charles asked.

  “Is that what this is about?” James asked.

  “Of course it is,” Charles said getting angrier. “You think it is easy to go from making the type of money I made and living the life I did to just living one where I’m on the run? I want my old life back. I want to rule the empire again.”

  “That’s why you’ve been assembling? That’s why I’ve had to take out guys that were competition?”

  “Bingo,” Charles said. “It’s about damn time you get with the program and figure everything out. The plan was to have Justin as my right hand man, but more recently he started telling me how to treat my daughter and I wasn’t too fond of it. Therefore he’s there with you.”

  “Why not ask me?” James asked him. I thought it was weird because I didn’t think James wanted back in the business; but it was very possible he didn’t mean he wanted to be in it.

  “Why not ask you? I didn’t ask you because you betrayed me last time. You didn’t follow and order and you became too emotional. Even though it wasn’t an order I gave, you disobeyed it, believing that you were disobeying me.”