Chapter Thirteen

Calico Alex lifted the phone to his ear and waited as it rang. He was calling me. He had another job he needed done. "Yes?" An irritated voice. "Calico? Alex, here. I need you to do something for me." "For how much?" "Ten grand.well, twenty if you do it tonight." "Sounds good so far. What's the job?" There was a momentary silence, as if Alex was either reconsidering or thinking. I grew impatient; I didn't like to be kept waiting. "What's the job, Velmen, or I hang up now without another word spoken!" "Our friend David has a female.acquaintance that knows about our deal. I want her taken care of." "Who is it?" Alex's voice lowered. "You remember the grand opening of the Filipino exhibit at the museum that Nicole and I went to.and David?" "Yes." "I'm pretty sure the one you're after was Mr. Marrow's date that night. Now, I want you to find her, kill her, and dispose of her. Do you understand me Calico?" Anya. It was Anya. How could I kill her? Sure, we'd argued.but we'd also been friends for a long time. "Yes." Oh well.Too bad for Anya, I finally decided. Emotion wasn't something a good assassin let get in the way of their job, or money. And I was a good assassin. "I'll do it, and I expect my money by early morning. See you then." I hung up and closed my eyes. listening to the sounds of the night.

* * *

David I unlocked my door and Nicole followed me in. She seemed nervous about something. "What piece is Alex making an offer on? He wouldn't tell me when I spoke to him a while ago." She inquired, after a moment. 'What? Oh, yeah.Sorry, I got confused.' "Oh, umm, it's one you haven't seen.in fact, it's one I haven't even made yet. Alex ordered it specially." This was pretty close to the truth. I walked over to my bar and began pouring a drink, my back to Nicole. "How long did you talk about it tonight?" "Huh? We didn't. Talk tonight, I mean." "Really? Your housekeeper seemed certain that you'd gone to meet Alex." I turned suddenly. "Housekeeper?" What was goin' on? "I spoke to her when I came up to see you. She said you'd gone into the city to my house to talk to Alex about a deal." "Uh.what did she look like?" "Well, she was tall, had medium-length dark hair, eyes that were almost dark enough to be black, and.David, what's wrong?" I was too deep in thought to answer. She'd just described Anya. God. "How long ago did you talk to Alex?" "Just a few minutes ago, before I came downstairs." 'Shit,' I thought. "Did you talk about me, at all?" 'Please say no.' "What's going on?" "Did you talk about me at all?!" I was going crazy. I had to know. Nicole came over to me and hugged me, trying to calm my nerves. Her head lay on my shoulder and one hand reached up behind my back to gently comb through my hair. "Calm down, just clam down David.It's okay, I only asked if you were still there. That's all." 'That's all! That's all?' No fuckin' way was that all! She'd called Alex minutes ago and asked if I was there. He was smart enough to figure out that she didn't just guess that we were meeting. Someone had to have told her. I knew he'd make it a goal to find and kill that person, and I made it mine to not let that happen to Anya. I had to find Anya and warn her right away! But Nicole was here. She had her arms around me so it felt as though she'd never let go; but she had to! Then, in my panicky state, I realized that I'd brought my drink with me when I turned. I pretended to shift so I could hold her closer, but accidentally spilled my drink instead. Nicole jumped as the bourbon spindled down her back. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" I apologized. "That's all right. I'll just go clean up." "All right." I invented an excuse to leave as quickly as I could. "I'll be right back! I'm gonna go get some cigarettes!" "I didn't know you smoked." Nicole called from the other room. 'I do now.'