Valkyrie's Last Warrior

Chapter 2

A woman, dressed in all black, stepped away from the blacked-out window of an empty room. She said in a hushed tone into the empty space, "The butcher's bill is due. I'm sending the receipt as we speak," as she disassembled a long gun and stowed the parts away into a backpack that only looked ordinary from the outside but was anything but, on the inside.

A man's voice, low and gravelly, replied in her ear, "Well done, Valkyrie. I'm seeing the receipt coming through. Ooph! Looks like an open casket funeral is going to be off the menu for our Mr. Ash Greco."

The woman chuckled softly and swept the empty space with her eyes once more as the man continued. "The final transfer has been initiated and...." He dragged out the last word before he added, "now, you can consider the ledger in the black. So, what will you do with your time off?"

The woman, whom the man referred to, only as Valkyrie, walked out of the dark room and into a very dimly lit hallway as she replied, "Mercutio, I have things I need to do that I've been putting off, so that's how I'm going to spend my time off."

"Whatever you do, don't go too far, gorgeous. I see another reaping in your very near future."

"Of course you do."

"Then, until next time."

Without replying to the man, she disconnected the communication and slipped into the darkness of the stairwell at the end of the hallway.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Anna!" announced the barista from behind the counter as he placed the large cup of hot coffee on the pick-up counter.

Valkyrie got up from a bistro table where she was working on something on her laptop and approached the counter. Before she could grab the cup, the young barista behind the counter scooped up her order and asked, "Hi, are you Anna?"

"I am."

The young man said, "This coffee has your name on it."

Anna grinned faintly and said, "Yes, literally."

As the man handed over the cup to her, he said, "I'm Blake."

"Hi Blake."

"Listen, Anna. I don't usually do this, but I was wondering if you'd be open to letting me buy you a cup of whatever you want, sometime."

Valkyrie smiled graciously and replied, "I would love to, but I'm here on business and will be returning home this evening. So, I really appreciate the invitation, but don't think I can."

"Oh, well... maybe, if you ever come back this way, you could hit me up?"

"Sure, Blake. Why don't you give me your number and the next time I'm in town, we can get together."

With a hopeful look in his eyes, Blake replied, "Yea, okay."

He wrote down his name and phone number on a piece of paper and handed it over to the woman. Tucking the piece of paper into her back pocket, she smiled at Blake once more and returned to her table. Immediately, she gathered her belongings and walked out of the coffee shop.

It was a lovely September day. The day was sunny and even though it was almost the end of September, the temperature was still quite warm and pleasant. Valkyrie took a long pull from her coffee cup and sighed as the warm liquid soothed her. She had her earbuds in her ears, but nothing was playing as she walked the downtown streets.

She walked five blocks south and when she came to a local dry-cleaner, she opened the door and entered the store. A bell that hung over the door, chimed, and a middle-aged Korean man came out of the back and approached the counter. Seeing the woman, the man's face broke out into a smile as he said, "Hi Janie. Long time no see. How have you been?"