Lincoln thought for a moment. He knew what Lisa would say in this situation. He was even beginning to doubt his own sanity while he stared at the number Leni had written on the scrap of paper. The answer to their problems was in pieces before him, yet, he couldn't help but think of this as a test. A litmus for his own moral compass. Sure, setting Leni loose to ventilate some stranger would be easy. But he had once read in his Ace Savvy comics that the easiest choice is not always the right one.
"Leni... I, I can't..." he paused for a moment to consider his words. Would it be presumptuous to think she was just waiting on his permission to act? On the other hand, he had made her promise not to kill anymore. This was as much his fault as her own. "Look, I can't help you on this one... this is your decision," Lincoln continued after what felt like the longest tactical pause of his life. "But no matter what, you're a good person Leni, you're my sister and I love you, and I know you aren't a murderer."
Lincoln left the room, closing the door behind him. Leni was left alone with her trusted weapon, her partner in crime. The one item that let her see one of her favorite things in the world (other than a purse and matching sundress on sale for half off): her sisters and baby brother happy. While purchasing all the gifts on her trips to exotic locales, the only thing on her mind was the looks on their faces when she would give them to the family. She had even been extra careful to make sure no one ever knew what she was really doing!
But like seemingly most things in her life, she just wasn't quite sharp enough to pull it off. Leni put her elbows on the desk and covered her eyes with her hands. Overwhelmed by the decision she would have to make, she began to cry.
'It's like, just not fair!' Leni thought. 'All I wanted to do was help Mom and Dad! People all over the world help their families, and this like, totally doesn't happen to them!" As she sobbed, her phone vibrated on the desk. Thankfully not the one Ken had given her. She wiped the tears from her eyes and held up her phone.
'1 NEW MESSAGE'
It was from Lincoln, and it had an attachment. She opened it to find a picture of all of her siblings taken at their trip to the lake last summer. They were all smiling, all hugging the Loud beside them with one arm. There was text below the picture.
"I love you, Leni, and always will, no matter what."
Leni held her phone to her chest, as though she would be able to hug her siblings in the picture if she tried hard enough. Then another phone vibrated, but this time she knew there would be no comforting momentos contained in its message.
Lincoln stopped in the hallway outside. It was strangely empty, although less commotion was unfortunately becoming the norm in his household.
"Ugh! This cheap lipstick is terrible!"
His ears perked up as he made his way towards Lola and Lana's room. Even the normally cluttered hallway was a clean and tidy-ish shadow of its former self. Most of the Loud children made an effort to give up something to help the family finances, and they took special care to make sure at least some of their siblings saw them do it. In secret, however, each Loud still squirreled away a few possessions that they couldn't stand to part with, regardless of how worthless they might seem. Lincoln, for example, still had his Ace Savvy number one, along with a few other items of varying monetary and sentimental value. He was sure his sisters had done the same, if for no other reason than to avoid peer pressure to get rid of the item should the other children find out.
Lincoln found himself at the door frame of his twin sister's room. Lola was vigorously scrubbing the lipstick from her lips as she sat in front of her vanity mirror. Multiple open tubes sat scattered in front of her.
"How hard is it to make a decent shade of fire engine red in China? They ARE reds for God's sake!" Lola shouted at the mirror before pounding her gloved fist on the child sized vanity, knocking a few tubes to the already stained carpet.
"Hey, Lana," He began.
She turned from her reflection and glared at him, before dropping her icy gaze into a frown. Crappy lipstick wasn't her brother's fault. "Hey Lincoln..." she groaned.
"Something the matter?" he asked.
"Other than the fact that I can't get decent makeup at the dollar store, nothing."
Lincoln thought for a moment. He had already talked with Lynn about Leni's situation. Well, in not so many words, but he had already gotten one point of view. Perhaps a new one wouldn't hurt?
"So, Lola, what if... hypothetically, I had a way to solve our family's money problems—"
Lola turned to him. "Then I would tell you to 'hypothetically' do it already! How much longer do you want to watch me suffer?"
"Wait, you didn't let me finish!" Lincoln replied quickly. He scratched his right arm with his left nervously. "What if this way involved something bad?"
Lola raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. "Bad? Bad like how?"
"Like... illegal bad."
"How illegal are we talking?" Lola asked nonchalantly.
"Like, go to jail forever illegal."
Lola stood from her vanity and stepped closer to her big brother. "Lincoln, I will not continue to live with substandard makeup. I don't care what we have to do," she whispered threateningly.
Unnerved, Lincoln quickly reminded her that it was just a hypothetical solution. An answer she did not appreciate at all. He left her room, fearing bodily harm and continued down the hallway. He flopped onto his bed and pulled out his phone. This was a sticky situation that didn't have an easy solution. As tough a time as he was having with it, he couldn't imagine how hard this must have been for Leni. After confronting her and making her swear not to kill again, not it seemed like the only way to save the family.
Lincoln opened his photo album app and scrolled until he found a picture of the whole family at the lake last summer. Family was all he had, and when outside forces threatened to harm it, how far would he be willing to go? Would he tell Leni to take one last job? Should he? He attached the pic to a text and added a short message, sending it off to space and back to a phone across the hallway. He set his phone on his chest and exhaled heavily. After a moment, it vibrated.
'Hey nerd, sorry to hear about what happened to your Pops.' the message read. It was from Ronnie Anne.
Perhaps she might have a different perspective on his slew of hypothetical questions?
'Only one way to find out' he thought before setting his thumbs to work.
Leni picked up Ken's phone and decoded the message.
SUNSET, KETCHUM PARK, BENCH THREE.
Leni glanced at the clock. It was already almost seven!
Her heart was in her throat as she put away her weapon and composed herself. She reapplied her makeup and headed out the door. The unusually empty hallways meant no one saw her leave, and even if they had, she'd wager few would care to ask where she was off to so late. They all had their own problems. Ones she hoped she had the courage to resolve.
The cab ride to the park was short. She was beyond nervous about telling Ken she wanted out. How would he react? Would he even let her leave? What if he told on her, or worse, sent someone after her or her family? He legs operated on autopilot as she walked down the sidewalk in the orange light of sunset.
Sure enough, on bench number three sat an average looking man she recognized as Ken reading the newspaper. She sat down next to him quietly.
"I hear the geese are migrating early this year," he stated plainly.
Leni wracked her brain. Even when she wasn't in fear for her or her family's life, she was never good at remembering passphrases.
"Uh... really? I heard they were, uh... doing it later?"
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed him roll his eyes. "Good enough, I know it's you, Barbie."
Leni could scarcely hear him over the sound of her own beating heart. "Listen, Ken, I like... n-need to tell you—"
Ken folded his newspaper and set it across his lap. "Before we begin, you need to be made aware that the agency regrets to inform you that your employment will be terminated," he began.
For Leni, time seemed to slow to a standstill. This was it. He was going to kill her right here to tie up any loose ends! She watched in horror as he reached into his coat pocket. Leni flinched putting both arms up in a futile attempt to block the suppressed, subsonic 9mm round she knew was about to explode out of the barrel of the gun he was no doubt reaching for.
"After this contract is completed," he finished.
Leni opened one eye and realized he had removed a dossier, not a pistol from his jacket.
"Obviously this is a high priority target, with a purse to match."
"I... I get a matching purse too?"
Ken sighed. He would certainly not miss her misunderstandings.
"No, just the money we agreed upon. Now, as I said, in order to be released from your obligations, you must complete the contract. If this contract is not completed, you will be branded unreliable, and may be subject to termination in a more... literal sense."
For all its loud beating earlier, her heart seemed to stop.
"L-literal sense?" she repeated, grasping the envelope with a shaky, well manicured hand.
"Correct. Your flight is Friday. Don't miss it." With that, Ken stood from the bench and walked the opposite direction from which Leni had arrived. Leni sat alone on the bench in the deserted park as she watched the sunset, nothing but her purse and an envelope containing the identity of a life she was contracted to take to keep her company.
Her chin began to quiver as her vision blurred. This was no longer a matter of making a choice between right and wrong. This was now a choice between life and death. Like it or not, by that Sunday, someone was going to die.
Once Ken was far out of earshot of Barbie, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He was already expecting the call and quickly answered it.
"Go," He said.
"What is the status of agent 67?"
"She's taken the contract."
"And you're sure she'll carry it out? You remember what the listening device picked up after she returned from the last contract, don't you?"
"Yes. A boy, possibly a sibling attempted to convince her that her actions were wrong, and it seems to have worked."
"And how have you rectified this?"
"I put the fear of mortality in her."
"And if she still refuses?"
"I have a contingency plan."