Hey people I'm back, he he. I don't think I'll continue seeing the light cuz it's one of my best ideas and I want to be more certain which direction I want that story to go in so, yeah…. You may have read this book before but I'm just changing some details to make it gumdam seedish enjoy!
I woke up with a start at the hum of cracking ice. The thin plaintive noise forced my eyes open wide, but wisely my body stayed trained in position. I knew the winter chill had not yet finished its freeze on the lake, but by all my calculations (and my calculations were never wrong) my weight was not a threat. The hiding place I'd chosen was right on the edge of the inlet, under an overhang, tucked neatly from sight. It was one of the most solid freeze zones anywhere.
The sound was only the ice shifting, that's all. I steadied my breathing and cocked my head, so that my chin rested on the perilous mass separating me from the freezing Michigan waters.
I'd nodded off and I knew what to blame for the unforgivable lapse. Prescription medication for my migraine headaches and an empty stomach. Usually I don't take the pills unless I'm going to be somewhere I can lie down, but surveillance doesn't always work around my delicate schedule. It certainly hadn't on this assignment.
My cheap, waterproof Swatch watch said it was 4:37 a.m. on December 24th.
Christmas Eve and I was alone, in the cold with a headache freezing my butt off, watching a traitor to the EA.
Damn, it was cold.
Who in their right mind spent the night before Christmas perched precariously on a thin layer of ice hoping to get that life a little left of the law behind them free and clear?
Me.
Because this was it. This was that one last score that would push me over my mark and let me retire. For good this time. I'd sworn. No more late night calls that had me taking off at the drop of a hat. No more gutter bar meets and certainly no more fat, lecherous old men thinking they could do whatever they wanted since they held all the cards. Nope, I'd sworn this was it. This was my ticket out of the game.
Slower than a bear awakening from winter sleep, I adjusted the sights of my scope. I trained my eye down the tinted lens of my Burris so that I could watch Mue la Flauga (I have no idea how to spell his name), CEO of Herzenogc Corporation, emerge from the dilapidated old warehouse I'd been lying on the ice watching all night. His pudgy frame barely squeezed through the double door opening. Now, why was he in there all night? And just what would make the paranoid old recluse travel without his massive entourage? He had only one pair of his bodyguards with him.
The second question bothered me much more than the first. Old Mue was the man, or so it was said. He'd built Herzenogc from the ground up. Built it with the EA's money, that is.
"Thinking of running, Fatman?" Suppressing a grin at the image of him trying to run anywhere, I studied the layout. The impression wasn't favorable.
The only other soul I could make out was the driver. But he was a man bought and paid for by the EA, so he was of no consequence to me. I had no doubt the EA had already warned him that he might soon be working for another. Last night, I hadn't even had to sneak up to place the tracking device on the vehicle. As soon as La Flauga was out of the vehicle, the driver had locked himself in the car, turned up the radio, and just now reemerged.
I should've brought my gun, but I hadn't. I didn't want to risk an open shot. Not tonight. Not on Christmas Eve. Too many people would hear. The chance for gaining attention was too great. So, I'd left it in the back of my SUV. However, if I'd had the rifle and l eliminated La Flauga, the driver would take off and never look back. Those would be his orders, cut and run. I'd bet my life on it. No, it wasn't the driver who made me reluctant to return to my vehicle and get my rifle, but rather the two bodyguards I couldn't locate. They were there. I'd seen them enter the building behind La Flauga; just not come back out with him. Apprehension-laced ambition crept with dirty fingers along my spin. If La Flauga wanted to be alone with his bodyguards, he wouldn't have come all the way to the Wet Sector. Nor would he have gone into a building that wasn't his and hadn't been swept for devices. It didn't add up. What would have dragged a man so accustomed to posh out in the middle of the night to a meeting in the rundown, rat-infested, Wet Sector?
The information might well be worth more money to the EA than merely removing La Flauga. He'd been in that building most all of the night. No one besides his bodyguards coming or going. Someone important had to be inside. But who?
My heart plummeted. What if someone had come? Oh, the chance was remote, but the possibility remained that someone could have approached while I'd rested my eyes. I'd had them closed only briefly, but two and a half minutes might have been long enough for a companion to arrive, maybe drop off a package and leave. Or, what if La Flauga's partner was still in there?
Cags, old girl, you're getting sloppy. Damn good thing you're getting out of the business. Mistakes like this could get you killed.
It would do no good to expose myself and take out my target, if a larger, more important irritant waited in the building. This score had to be clean. No questions and no one else to haunt me. I wanted this job done, but not so badly that I'd risk having the EA on my tail.
I tried to list my options, but knew I had exactly zero. Even if, perchance, when I killed the fat bastard another target scuttled out into the open, I couldn't afford another shot before having to run. Leaving meant I'd have to recheck again. There wasn't time. The mystery guest might show, but I doubted it. Most likely La Flauga's death would scare his accomplice back into the nether reaches of the land called Loose Ends.
Loose ends were bad business.
I kissed the image of my retired body soaking up the sun in Orb, pina in hand good bye. Good dreams, but it would have to wait. Loose ends weren't just bad business…they were a deadly mistake. Being a female in a male-dominated profession afforded me zero room for error. Someone was always watching me, commenting on my skills. Where a man could possibly not do all of his research on a target, or know his quarry, if I made a mistake everyone knew. It was like living in a small town. Everyone talks about everyone else's business. Careful that was what I needed to be.
I'd wait. A full night of lying out in the cold would be chalked up to experience and intelligence but would not result in my kill. Nor would it get me my paycheck..
Damn! I'd have to contact the EA and inform them of the delay. They would not be happy. Slowly sliding into a sitting position, I stretched my neck and arms, hoping the prickliness would dissipate quickly. My clothing was warm but many hours ago the bone-numbing chill had crept past the heavy layers of silk long johns and flannel. L wanted nothing more than a long, hot bubble bath, a glass of my favorite pinot noir accompanied by Chopin's Ballad Number One or maybe Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. The bubbles to engulf my body, the booze to thaw my heart, and the relaxing music to make me forget my life.
I carefully placed the Burris scope back in its travel case, and moved out from my hiding place. It was that magic hour of dawn when horizons blend, so I had adequate cover to exit to my car and formulate a plan.
Jingle Bells ripped through the still morning air just as I made it onto the runner's walk. Cursing with the finesse of a construction worker, I jerked the damn phone from my pocket. I thought I'd turned it to vibrate when I'd checked in with Shinn before heading to the warehouse. I must have knocked the button one too many times. The tune could wake the dead. I flipped the phone open. "Yeah."
"Cagalli, were you able to finalize our contract?"
"No, sir." I stared hard at the long black limousine shining in the distance, bitterness rising in my heart. La Flauga stood in the distance, searching the distant horizon. Could he feel me breathing down his neck? He'd sure as hell heard the phone. Could he feel my gaze? "it would appear there is a third party interested in our proceeding."
From this distance I didn't really need the scope, but I pulled the Burris out for one final look at the fatman. He stood there, sniffing the sky. Probably smelled a pastry shop. I gently put the scope back in the case. I'd modified the navy blue hard pack to look like a camera case. Modifications are my life. Tucking the sling strap over my shoulder, I snapped the lid shut and delivered the worst part of the news. "I'm holding off on finalization, pending further research on the new player."
Oh, he was angry. The hatred pulsed over the air waves, oppressive in the early morning stillness. "Very well, I suppose that is what we pay you for."
"Indeed." I refused to bite. "I'll contact you when I know further details." I hung up just as I heard a shot.
Hey people my first chapter plz review this time I know I said I'm too scared to read them last time but I kinda got over that. Besides most of you are nice… right?
