I thought about it a bit and put Frank in his bed all covered up. While Frank was in his bed not going anywhere, I took the external drive from his suitcase up to my car. Since it was the main reason I came, I wanted to secure it before I do anything else.

  It took me a lot less time to get to my car in the morning light than I took to get to the cabin.

  It was a good thing too. While I was hiding the drive, I watched a blue car fly down the road. It passes where I was parked in a little pull-off. As fast as they were going, I didn't expect them to have any working shocks for long.

  I took off on foot back to the cabin. If I was lucky, I would have about five minutes before they found Frank. That would give me two minutes to prepare for whatever I needed to do.

  When I got there, there was the girl from the park standing on the porch. She was with a Mediterranean guy that looked fit. He could have been a challenge to have a hand-to-hand fight with. That is why I didn't go that route. Instead, I got on the edge of the woods and aimed my gun. I was lined up on the center of his chest. After I squeezed the trigger, I shot him in the throat.

  It would have been impressive if that was where I was aiming. For trying to shoot him in the chest it was bad, so I realized I needed to spend more time on the range. That would be something I would worry about another time.

  Stacey turned around and saw her partner laying on the ground bleeding all over. I would have to guess that this was her real romantic interest. Stacey ran to him and held him as he was dying. As Stacey said her last goodbye to the guy, I walked up with my gun pointed at her back.

  Her sobbing must have made me undetectable to her. This girl didn't think about the important questions that she should of. Instead, she put herself in harm’s way.

  I wonder if she was a new spy. I say spy because I don't know what those two are. Maybe she had been recruited in the same way Stacey recruited Frank. I never had time to look her up. That would explain what appeared to be a lack of training.

  Mr. Stone had told me that problems are working with someone you are romantically entangled with.

  Now I could see firsthand without it being me.

  When I was close enough that I knew my aim was good, I spoke. "Only the dead can comfort the dead. Now get up with your hands on the back of your head and stand up."

  She listened to me putting her hands on the back of her head.

  As soon as she was on her feet, I lead her into the cabin. I don't know why, but I wanted to completely break Frank using the girl he had fallen in love with. I wanted to see his rage towards her. I also wanted to see if he would show rage.

  Since I started working with Mr. Stone, I found myself interested in understanding people more. I had a gift before to know what people were most likely going to do before they did it. I just never understood why.

  I placed her in the center of the room on her knees. After checking her for a gun and finding nothing, I went over to Frank. Lifting him up and turning him to see her, he must have forgotten everything he realized that night because seeing the tears run down her face, he began to yell at me.

  "What did you do to her? I will make you pay for this!" Then he went off trying to calm Stacey. What made me laugh a little is when she snapped at him and told him the truth.

  Her name was not Stacey, but Jane and her boyfriend laid on the ground outside dead.

  The look on Frank's face told it all. He was broken and filled with rage. He had thrown his whole life away for a girl. A girl that he really didn't know and she had done nothing but lied to him the entire time. His entire world had crumbled on top of him.

  As he was seeing things, the choices he made would leave him dead much sooner than later. Sadly, Frank was OK with this. He said "I would have done anything for you. I still love Stacey, but as for Jane, I don't care what happens to you."

  That is when I started by asking who she worked for. At first, I was nice about it. By the fourth time asking, I began to smack her. It only took two more times of asking when she told me everything.

  The guy on the ground was named Tolya and he was her handler. He had spent a year training her after recruiting her. She was living on the street when Tolya found her. They grew close to each other as they worked together.

  Jane finally got to what I wanted to know. Tolya worked for a division in charge of recovering or obtaining information. She was meant to be a tool for that object while he was in the United States.

  As for whom employed her, she didn't have a clue. He never said and she never pushed for answers. She was too grateful that he had taken her in, and she didn't want to mess things up.

  Then she started to fall in love with him.

  When Jane finished, I knew everything I needed to give my client a full report. Frank was still alive, and he would be taken in and I would be returning the data. I was only left to wrap everything up in a tidy little bow.

  Whatever happened, I wanted to make sure that Frank knew he could not return to his life. I looked around and found that there were so many flammable things in the cabin. Plus, the cabin was made of wood.

  The only question left to answer was what to do with Jane. I didn't have anything against her or any contract on her. That is why I tied her up and put her next to her dead boyfriend.

  Frank wanted something more, but it didn't take much to see I didn't care what Frank wanted.

  I moved Frank by the door before I went to work. I wanted Frank to know he could not come back, and this was step one. I Noticed the fire in the fireplace was nothing more than a stack of hot black and red logs.

  I put the sheets of the bed on the floor and took one of the logs glowing the brightest against the pile of sheets. All it took was a couple of times blowing on the log to get the fire to go. When it did, the thin sheets started to burn, and was quickly going up in flames. Once the bed mattress started to have a nice flame coming from it, I knew I accomplished what I wanted.

  Frank was screaming about all of his stuff. He had been broken by finding out the girl he loved was not the girl he knew. On top of that, she was using him. Because of her, he gave up a good job and a life he was mostly happy with. Now he watched his last connection to his life burning up.

  Frank was about to face the consequences for what he did. I didn't ask what the client would do with Frank nor did I care. The only thing I cared about was how much of a pain it would be to drag Frank up to my car if he didn't go willingly.

  As the flames in the cabin started to climb the walls, I cut the bindings around Frank's feet.

  Expecting him to try and run, he surprised me and let me guide him out the door and stood where I placed him.

  Jane, on the other hand was trying to get herself freed. She had started to cry again as she looked into the dead eyes of the man I shot. It must have been horrifying for her laying next to Tolya. On top of her being in love with the guy, his throat had a large hole covered in blood.

  I even think his blood had soaked up into the ground she was laying on.

  She seemed to calm down again when she noticed that I walked over to her. Before leaving with Frank, I gave her some advice. "OK, here is our deal. I don't get anything out of killing you. If you don't want me to come back to find you, you will tell the police that Frank invited you and your boyfriend out here to make nice.

  When you got here, Frank lost it and shot him. He was crazy and just walked off. If you mention me or give any hint of what had really happened, I will come to find you.

  If I do that, you will not die by my hands. I know a place where a group of sick guys will make you wish for death."

  With nothing more to say to her, I lead Frank back to my car. He didn't say anything to me but mumbled to himself a few times. I put him in the front seat next to me. Then I explained the rules. If he does anything that I don't like, I will have to shoot him.

  He told me he understood and as we drove back to Raleigh, Frank told me everything on his mind.

  By the time we got into Raleigh, I knew everything Frank went through to get the data out. He explained how Stacey talked him into it and how they planned to go down to South America to live as royals would. It was a fantastic story, and I could see the romantic drive to it. I know a girl I would have done the same thing for.

  Even though I could see myself doing what Frank did, I was not being paid to sympathize with him.

  I was getting paid to bring the data stolen and possibly Frank back to the client. So, when I pulled into an empty parking lot, I looked around.

  Wondering if I went to the wrong place, I looked over to Frank and noticed him pointing to a man. The man Frank pointed towards wore an expensive suit and a pink shirt, but no tie. He stood in front of a closed-down store. If I had to guess, it looked like it used to be a Kmart.

  Not willing to risk anything, I left Frank tied up in the front seat and an external drive hidden in the back. That left me to go and see if this was the guy I came to meet with.

  Walking up, I felt my gun on my backshift, but I didn't want to adjust it. The best outcome I had was that this guy walking toward me would think that at my age, I would not be trained properly. My biggest hope was he would not find me to be a threat.

  Getting up close to him, I could see that he looked tired and a little distracted. This was not an ideal situation. From everything Mr. Stone taught me, people distracted at these meets tend to do or are planning to do something stupid. I was also taught to always be aware of what is going on around me.

  That is why, when there was movement inside the empty store, I knew this would not go as smoothly as I hoped. I looked the man in the eyes and asked him who was inside and what he was trying to pull.

  He replied quickly. "WHAT?, I mean, there is no one inside. It is just me here. Why would you think someone is inside the store?"

  "You know you hired me, and I am here to provide my services and complete my end of the deal.

  If you think having those guys inside plan to eliminate me, and then your guys take what I gathered for you, you will find a problem there. I will kill you and your friend, then I will take Frank with the data to someone willing to pay me. I bet they will also pay more than I am getting for this job." He looked at his shoes after I finished my little speech.

  A few seconds later, he waved his hand in the air. Then a man dressed in a pair of cheap black pants and a button-up shirt came out.

  This guy was hired to help and most likely was someone on a security team who had a questionable personality. I had to assume he had a gun hidden in the back of his pants too. The difference between him and me was that I had nothing covering my gun. Anyone walking behind me could easily see my gun. This guy had his button-up shirt untucked and there were no signs that the shirt was pulled up in the back.

  So, I knew I would get to my gun much faster than he would. This made it easier to work with these guys. I didn't waste any more time. "Now that we are all being open here, let’s take care of what we came here to do.

  It will be simple; you give me my money and I give you what you want. Then we go to our own homes." I waited for them to answer and kept a smile on my face while doing so.

  "You can call me Mr. Heckle. This man next to me is an employee who is here to make sure you don't try anything funny.

  You can't be too safe, don't you agree?" Mr. Heckle smiled back at me and then asked us to go inside to do our business.

  I will tell you that would not happen. I would not be going to where I cannot control the situation. My guess was that they had another person inside still watching. Going inside would only lead me to possibly getting myself killed.

  There were a few minutes of nothing being said till I broke the silence. "Listen, Mr. Heckle, I don't know what game you're playing. Let's cut the crap and get this deal done. I am not going in there. We can make our exchange now or I can leave. What do you want to do?"

  Mr. Heckle didn't say anything to me, but he whispered in the ear of his employee. His henchman went into the building and came back out with a small bag. They must not do much thinking because the guy just held out the bag. He waited for me to walk over and take it.

  From past experiences, I have learned a few lessons. One of those lessons is, if you get in arms reach, then your enemy can put hands on you.

  If someone can grab you, the whole situation changes, and you could lose control.

  I was not going to take the chance and told the henchman to put the bag in the center of us. He did what I requested, but the guy just stood there.

  I started to feel that they didn't consider me to have any intelligence.

  "Hey Lurch, how about you back away? I will check the money and if all of it's there, I will give you what you have paid for." Once I made that statement, he backed away.

  Once I felt it was safe to check the money, I walked up and bent down to count it. It took me three minutes to confirm that my bonus for Frank was missing. These people were starting to piss me off. I made an agreement and at every turn this shifty guy kept trying to break that agreement.

  Enough is enough. I spent more time than I wanted to with these people. I went and got the drive they had paid for. It took me a little longer than I planned to get it, but I got it.

  When I turned back towards this client, I saw the goon walking towards me. My first thought was that nothing good would come from this.

  Instead of waiting for the guy to get within arm’s reach of me, I pulled my gun. He went for his, but his shirt got in the way. You would expect most people to put their hands up.

  Most people don't want to risk being shot. The henchman started to run towards me when he realized he could not get his gun.

  The somewhat quiet community got very noisy when I squeezed off three rounds. One missed, but two of them got Mr. Running Bull in the hip and dropped him. Now the clock was running. From what I was told, it is safe to assume police would show up within three minutes of a gunshot.

  With one guy down, another came running out of the building to help. I pulled my gun up towards him and he did stop and put his hands up.

  Since no one was moving now, I quickly walked over to Mr. Heckle and handed him the drive.

  Backing up as quickly as I could, I grabbed my money and left with Frank. I pulled out of the parking lot and passed about three cop cars flying down the road. I was hoping Mr. Heckle would be smart enough not to mention me if he got caught. Giving my information up would not end well for him and his bosses.

  I didn't wait and got out of town. It looked as I had a travel mate for the next few hours. Personally, I thought it would be rude to keep him tied up. I stopped for gas when we got to what I felt was a safe distance from Raleigh that we would not be followed.

  Once I untied Frank, he gave me a now what look. To be honest, I didn't plan for Frank to come with me. If I knew things would have turned out the way they did, I would have left Frank with his fake girlfriend. Instead, he had now become my responsibility.

  I offered Frank what I thought was a good deal. Before we left the gas station, I told him he could get out there and do whatever he wanted.

  The other option I gave him was to ride with me to Washington DC. From there, he could hide in the city or hop on a train somewhere else.

  He didn't take long to think about it, and he decided to ride with me to Washington DC. For the next three and half hours, we watched the road that led us to the future.

  For me, it would be my next job. For Frank, it would be a new life and a new name. I could feel for him since I had recently gone through that myself.

  It was mostly quiet as I drove. The radio played, but we didn't say much. I didn't want to talk too much and give away anything about myself. Frank, I imagine was trying to figure out what he would do. All of his plans had fallen through, and he lost everything for a girl that played him.

  When I pulled up to Union Station in DC. Frank went to get out but stopped. "Why did you not just kill me and instead help me get away? I don't think you feel sorry for me." With that said, Frank looked down and sighed.

  "OK, Frank, let me explain this to you. I got hired to retrieve the stolen data. I would get a bonus to turn you over with the data. Luckily for you, they didn't pay the bonus. I am not one to give away something for nothing. Now they have a world of trouble, and you have the chance to start over. I would make the most of it if I was you."

  He smiled at this and thanked me. Watching him walk towards the train station was the last I saw or heard of Frank.

  With my first solo job done, I went home to call Mr. Stone and see what was next.

  Chapter Seven

  Tales of a drunk assassin

  IT WAS A COLD WINTER evening and I had gone to Baltimore, Maryland for some business. There is nothing exciting about what I do. I design custom high-end restaurants and bars. Outside of my field, no one would know my name. The clients sometimes had problems remembering my name, although I don’t know what is so hard to remember.

  Who can’t remember Kane? I mean, it’s one of the oldest names in the world. The client I was seeing was just as bad with calling me Cam. So, it was not hard to turn down his offer to join him for drinks. I used the same excuses I had with all the other clients.

  I simply told him that I made it company policy that no one is allowed to drink with clients or vendors. Most understood and let it go after that, but then there were people like the guy in Baltimore. He asked, “You are the owner of your firm, so you can break your own rules and who would know?” People like him are the same people that believe they are above all rules.

  He had money and knew people of power in his town. He played to their vices and his own. These are the same people that caused me to make the rule. I had a feeling that he would try to get me to say or do something he could hold over me. This made it easier for me to decline his offer again.

  After wrapping up with some issues I needed to confirm with him, it was time for me to do my homework. I had found out the two most popular restaurants and two bars in the area. I found out that Baltimore was very much in love with their crabs and oysters. The first restaurant I went to, had an impressive design.

 

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