"Hi Jones," said a soft voice echoing through the alleyway. The twenty-eight year old froze as the warehouse door shut behind him with a clang, leaving him in the alley. A street light reflected the silky sheen of his blue shirt matching black jeans. Fear shone in his hazel eyes as he ran a hand nervously through his spiky auburn hair.
"What do you want?" he asked. A twenty-five year old arose from the depths of the alley, watching Jones with fixed ice blue eyes. Long, black hair hung down the black tube-top the girl wore on her skinny five foot four frame. A black leather belt around dark blue jeans shone glinting steel.
"Gonzalez wants his money." said the girl.
"Uhh, Immortelle . . . You caught me at a bad time. See I just put the money in the bank 'cause you know how bad I am about keeping money and," started Jones until Immortelle held up her hand, silencing him.
"No more excuses. You give me one every time I see you. Do you have the money or not?" asked Immortelle as she fixed a strand of black hair behind her ear.
"Well I do but," started Jones again.
"You don't have it do you?" asked Immortelle flatly.
"Not right now but,"
"Your deadline is today." said Immortelle as her hand slipped down to her belt. Eyeing her hand, Jones said,
"Give me one hour Immortelle and I'll have Gonzalez's money. Please Immortelle."
"I have orders Jones. Gonzalez is not a patient person. You've had four other deadlines." said Immortelle as she reached into a holster on her belt and pulled out a silver .44 magnum. A rose was etched on either side of the barrel. Jones turned pale when his eyes fell upon Immortelle's signature weapon.
"Please . .pl . . please Immortelle. I swear I'll have it in an hour. Just give me an hour." pleaded Jones as he backed up against the brick wall. Silently, Immortelle took out a single bullet.
"See this bullet Jones? If you don't have the money in an hour at Gonzalez's place, this bullet will be lodged in your skull." said Immortelle. Jones cowered at the sound of her calm voice. When he recovered a moment later, he said,
"Y . .yes Immortelle."
"Good. I'd hate to ruin a handsome face like yours." said Immortelle kissing Jones's cheek before disappearing in the darkness. Jones collapsed against the wall as he wiped sweat from his brow. Immortelle walked half a block where a jet black viper sat, paint glistening like ink. She unlocked the door and took off. Going down main street, Immortelle glanced in the rear-view mirror to see a silver Escalade keeping pace with her. Instincts told her to gun it, but Immortelle just sped up to sixty-five. The escalade sped up as well taking a right where Immortelle did. Keeping an eye on the road, Immortelle reached into an air duct and pulled out a cell phone. Dialing, she said, "Gabe you better pick up!" A sleepy voice answered. "Hey Gabe."
"Immortelle? What's up? You never call by this number." said Gabe.
"Silver escalade following me down main. The front tag is a picture of a gun shooting a star." said Immortelle as she turned. Gabe yawned before answering.
"Mancotti's. His signature."
"What'll they want?"
"Just to bug ya about Gonzalez. Three of Mancotti's dudes are wasted 'cause of Gonzalez. Probably want to find out who did it."
"Oh. It wasn't me this time." said Immortelle as Gabe laughed.
"Amazingly. It was that new dude."
"Wasn't he let go?"
"Yeah. Couldn't handle the pressure." said Gabe as he yawned.
"Sorry I got ya up," said Immortelle apologetically.
"No problem. Cat nap. Gotta get back to working on Gonzalez's gun. Keeps getting stuck. Did you get the package from Tucker?"
"Yeah. That big guy gave them to me when I was dealing with Wess."
"He scares me."
"Me too."
"The famous Immortelle scared?" asked Gabe jokingly.
"Smart-ass." said Immortelle as Gabe laughed.
"Better leave ya to deal with 'em. Later."
"See ya." said Immortelle as she hung up the phone. Checking to see if the escalade was still following her, she pulled into an abandoned gas station. The escalade pulled in as well, parking a few places across from the viper. Immortelle loaded the magnum got out of the viper. Two powerfully built men stepped out as Immortelle stopped halfway from the Escalade. They both wore black business suits and dark tinted sunglasses. One with short blond hair was a few inches taller then the bald one. They walked towards Immortelle with steps almost in unison.
"Hello young lady. Pleasant night huh? Name's Barbados." said the bald man as he held out his hand. Dark skin melted in with the black suit. Immortelle attentively shook his hand as she said,
"Immortelle."
"Immortelle. Very unique name."
"I suppose." said Immortelle as she looked at the blond. Looking straight ahead, he said,
"Alex."
"What's the deal with you following me?"
"Just wondering if you heard of Antonio Gonzalez by any chance."
"Of course. Who hasn't in this business?" asked Immortelle with a laugh.
"Do you associate with him or anything?" asked Barbados taking off his sunglasses to reveal dark pupils.
"Nope. You have to be high up in the business to know him like that," said Immortelle calmly. "Talk much Alex?"
"Try not too Ma'me."
"Why not?"
"Not much of a talker ma'me." said Alex as he smiled.
"Well," said Barbados obviously annoyed at the lack of attention. "I have something in the car you might want to look at Miss Immortelle. Please wait here for a moment."
"Yeah sure." shrugged Immortelle as Barbados made his way to the escalade. "Man that guy is begging for attention," said Immortelle as Alex said,
"I'll say." Immortelle turned to him and said,
"He lives! For a while there I thought you were a robot." Alex laughed and said,
"No ma'me. Definitely not a robot."
"Boss huh?" asked Immortelle as she put a hand on one broad shoulder.
"Yep."
"Makes you do all the dirty work and takes credit right?"
"Right. You have a boss like that?"
"Used to. That's why I quit," said Immortelle as she glanced over to the escalade. Barbados was in the back. "Come on. Let's ditch him."
"Are you kidding? I'd be fired."
"So? I can get you a much better job then this. Come on." said Immortelle as she took his hand and ran to the viper. Quietly, the viper left the station and turned onto the highway.
"Got it!" declared Barbados as he turned around. "What . . .guess he really knew what he was doing after all." snickered Barbados as he hopped into the escalade.
"You're pretty good at disappearing." said Alex as he watched Immortelle speed the viper up to 90.
"You learn after a while." said Immortelle s she watched the road.
"So . . . What do you do exactly?"
"What do you mean?"
"Um. . . .like what kind of jobs?"
"Depends on what Gonzalez wants I guess." said Immortelle as the viper turned left.
"So you do work for Gonzalez." said Alex.
"Yep. Have been for the past six years." said Immortelle as she glanced over at Alex.
"What jobs do you do for him?"
"Anything from picking up dinner to taking someone out," said Immortelle as the viper slowed to a stop at a red light.
"You. . . You killed people?" asked Alex, staring at Immortelle.
"sometimes. Not one of my fave things to do let me tell you," said Immortelle as the viper sped down the road.
"Oh," said Alex as he shifted in his seat. "Wouldn't think a girl like you would do that,"
"Wouldn't think someone like you would work for Mancotti."
"who? Oh. . .yeah." said Alex as he took off his glasses.
"Hmm," said Immortelle as her mind raced. "Ever been to the lookout?"
"The what?" asked Alex as the viper stopped.
"Lookout." said Immortelle as she got out.
"Oh. Wow! How'd you find this place?" asked Alex as he looked around. They were on the edge of a cliff overlooking all of L.A. The drop looked as if it would take hours to hit bottom.
"When I was little, my dad used to take my brother Corey and me up here and tell stories about the constellations. My favorite has always been the seven sisters. Corey's was Orion." said Immortelle as sat down on the soft grass.
"By your voice, I'm guessing something happened to them," said Corey as he sat down next to Immortelle.
"Car accident seven years ago. Hit by a drunk driver. Our mother died when I was three and Corey six so I'm the only one left." said Immortelle quietly as she stared at the city.
"Sorry." said Alex s he gave Immortelle a quick hug.
"No worries. You have pretty eyes." said Immortelle as she peered into Alex's light hazel eyes.
"Thanks. Yours too."
"Thanks."
"Why are you in this line of business?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. For the fun of it I guess." said Immortelle as she got up and stretched. Alex, too got up as he asked,
"Where are you going?" to Immortelle who was walking to the viper.
"Jacket," said Immortelle as she got out a black leather jacket from the back of the viper. Putting it on, she walked back over to Alex.
"Cold?"
"yeah," said Immortelle as she reached up and deeply kissed Alex before BANG! A shot rang through the trees, startling a group of birds nesting in the trees. Alex fell with a thud as Immortelle reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his police badge and detective I.D.
"You . . Can . . Never . . . .trust . . . A . . . .cop," said Immortelle as she dragged the body over the edge. "They're getting stupider and stupider." said Immortelle shaking her head as she scuffed out two blood drops in the grass. She walked over to the viper and sped off onto the highway. Pulling the viper up to a black iron gate, a four foot five man walked over to the driver window. Immortelle let the window down as the man said,
"You're late Immortelle." Shaggy blue hair covered brown eyes as the man opened the gate. Muscles popped out of his arms, showing through the black suit he wore.
"Sorry Jake, but I had business to take care of." said Immortelle as she sped inside and parked the viper.