Chapter 1- Start Swimming

Leah Hudson hated open water. It was dirty, unpredictable, and generally disgusting. As she floated down the mucky river, she grumbled to herself the entire time, mostly cuss words. How stupid was she to get to this point?

She was a criminal. A hired hand for the Irish Mafia in New York.

Of course, she wasn't in New York.

No. No, she was in Ohio.

Fuck Ohio.

Her well planned assassination of a traveling businessman that had done whatever it was he did, did not go as well as she planned. She made mistakes, miscalculations, and the guy was squirrely. And so now she was in a gross river in Ohio.

She probably could have climbed out of the river already, but she had to admit, it was sort of peaceful. This was the first time in the past week that Leah had had the time to think. Tracking this businessman had been on the more difficult side. Maybe she was getting too old for this job. She didn't get much time to think in this job and she wasn't paid to think. She just did the dirty work, no questions asked.

Well, this time, she had a lot of fucking questions.

"Uh, miss? Are you alright?" somebody called out from the river bank.

Sighing heavily, Leah moved so her body was under the water and her head was above the water line. She looked over at the bank and saw a concerned looking man and woman. She treaded water slowly.

"Yeah, I'm cool. Just…you know…swimming. Or something."

"That water's pretty gross, you know?"

"I figured. I am in northern Ohio, after all."

"Are you…is it like a protest?" the woman asked.

Leah sighed again. "A protest against my stupidity at my choice of a job."

The pair grew more confused. They clearly didn't want to be involved in her rescue, but at least they asked.

"Don't worry, I'm coming out." She swam the few feet and began walking up the river bed. Her cotton shirt and jeans were soaking, making her feel about thirty pounds heavier. She had lost her shoes at some point. That was her fault for wearing flats. Sitting on the cold ground, Leah looked up at the sunset.

"Do you need us to call someone for you?" the woman asked, still confused, but also concerned.

"No," she answered. "Thank you, but no. I'm good."

They left her, probably happy to get away from the odd woman. Leah sat on the river bank for a few minutes, silently contemplating her next move. She had completed her job, even if it was a tad messy. It was all about making sure the crime couldn't be tied back to her. After all, who wants to hire an assassin that everyone knows about?

With a loud, drawn out "fuck", Leah climbed to her feet and began heading back towards town. It was time to go back to New York.

"So, you chose to return to New York after not finishing the job?" Andy Greene asked, staring Leah down. The 47-year-old Irish mobster was one of the higher ups in New York and people listened to him. He was once a pretty violent man, but now he handed out those duties to others, like Leah. Although he could still get down and dirty when needed, but he didn't like to. Andy was one of the few who knew just how old Leah was, which is why she kept close to him.

She didn't trust him much, but enough.

"Look, man, the job is finished as per the parameters you gave me. You wanted someone dead, they're dead. What else could I do?"

"Don't tie it to me!" he yelled. "You know the rules!"

Leah rolled her eyes. "Andy, Andy, Andy. Listen, nobody can tie it to you. Just relax. It's fine. He's dead, as you asked. I made it clean. Sure, shit went enough wrong that I ended up in a river, but still, it can't be tied back to you. So it's fine."

"I hate you, Hudson."

She mocked being offended. "Ouch, Andy. Ouch. Now, what do you need me to do?"

Andy looked up at her. His hair had gone completely white a few years back, likely from the large amount of stress he was under. It wasn't easy running the mob. Her favorite thing about Andy was his ice green eyes. She had met a lot of people in her years, looked in a lot of eyes, and she hadn't seen eyes like his often. Maybe once before.

"I need you to go to L.A. Got big business out there, needs to be taken care of."

"Nah. Nuh uh. No way." Leah held her hands up and slowly started backing away. "I don't do that. I don't. No." She began to turn around.

"Hudson, stop."

She paused, but kept her back to him. Leah knew shouldn't listen to him. This was madness.

"You know I wouldn't ask you to do this if it wasn't important."

"Andy, please. Your big business crap isn't the stuff I do. I know what it means." Big business only meant one thing. Law enforcement. Politician. Somebody that Leah shouldn't be killing. Killing mobsters, murderers, and rapists was one thing. Killing innocent people? Killing law enforcement?

Without legitimate reasons, which she knew Andy wouldn't give, she couldn't do it.

"Hudson, you're under my employ." His voice was low and threatening. She knew what his tone meant.

Leah looked over her shoulder at him. "Rule #1," she reminded him. No law enforcement.

"I don't care about your rules."

"You should. Do I need to remind you of Rule #7?" Break the rules and she'd come after you.

Andy stared intently at her, almost willing her. "I need this done and you're the only one I trust."

She turned completely around. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

Her employer smiled. "No, but blackmail will."

Leah growled.

"I know all of your secrets. I have you by the balls."

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. He thought he had her, but he really didn't. "It'd be so easy to kill you right now."

"And then you'd be running for the rest of your miserable, short life. Just do this and we move on." He kept staring at her, his eyes begging her to take the "smart" choice.

She was screwed, either way. She did this and was fucked or she killed him and was fucked.

The life of an assassin.

"Fine, jackass. Who am I going to kill?" She gave up. She'd figure something out, she always did. Or she'd end up in a river.

"Special Agent Cabe Gallo."

"The hell kind of name is Cabe?"