Messed Up

7 - Assassination

Months had passed since the most exciting job of my year so far. Sure, I was still rolling in money - heck, if I didn't get sent to jail I'd be rolling in money until I roll into my grave - but boredom was a hole that was extremely hard to fill. I bought myself a bit more vinyl with the money I made on my last job, but apart from that, I had no use for it.

I'd almost forgotten about the angry boy with the green eyes and the huge guy with huger eyebrows who could take down grown men with his bare hands. I'd even almost forgotten about the woman with the goggle glasses and the science obsession, and let's not leave out my most interesting find of the year so far: That pretty girl with a screw loose and two different coloured eyes and brightly coloured clothes and all those imperfections that made her seem even more like a doll.

It all seemed so exciting at the time, and I was so intrigued by them, especially her, but time had passed and my excitement had dulled. The world was moving on from the mysterious bank robbery that left all the bank robbers dead, and so was I. It was just back to business.

I was relaxing on one of my sofas with a cigarette in hand. I wasn't sitting on my arm chair that morning because the old thing was definitely on its last legs and I wanted to make the most of it. I was worried if it happened to break one day, my heart might break along with it. I loved that arm chair.

Lilium's 'Sleep Inside' was playing on my record player today. It was beautiful music that spoke volumes to me, like a sweet lullaby for people that needed to sleep for a while and forget about everything.

My phone buzzed and I sighed, exhaling a mixture of smoke and irritation from my cigarette.

"Always when I'm getting comfortable" I groaned as I got up and checked it.

Unsurprisingly, the text was from Antonio:

Just heard about somethin big. Ur gonna have to get ur hands dirty, but I thought you'd be interested. I gave the client ur number, hope u don't mind

-Antonio

I sighed again, slightly annoyed that Antonio thought it was alright to be making decisions for me, but I wasn't all that fussed because I was bored and I probably would have taken the job anyway. Like I mentioned before, Antonio's an idiot but he can smell money from a hundred miles away.

I grabbed my phone and set it down next to me as I relaxed into my sofa once more, awaiting the phone call from this special client Antonio had talked about.

I didn't have to wait long before my phone was buzzing. I left it for a few seconds, not wanting to seem like a no lifer who had nothing to do except play on his phone. After what I had deemed an acceptable gap between the client calling me and my pick up, I answered the phone.

"Is this-"

"Shiv" I said as I pressed the mobile to my ear.

"Good" the client on the other end grunted. It was a male voice, gruff and hoarse, he sounded kinda old. I pictured him as a hairy, leather clad, biker guy - or something like that.

"What do you need?"

"I need you to kill someone for me"

I paused. Murder wasn't new to me, I hadn't picked up my notorious reputation from nowhere, but something felt off.

"Fine." I replied bluntly. "Who?"

"My ex-girlfriend"

I stifled a laugh. "You sure about that man? You don't just wanna call her and sort it out?"

"This isn't a joke" the client retorted, his voice cold. "I want her dead"

"What'd she do?" I asked, not really wanting to kill a girl for nothing.

"Why's that any of your damn business?"

"Tch" I spat. "If I'm the one sending her to her deathbed, I'd say it's my business"

I heard a sigh from the other end of the line. "She robbed me. Took everything I had."

"Shit, dude"

Silence.

I decided to speak up again.

"You really sure you want her dead though?"

"I'm sure"

Something still felt off. "Listen, man I-"

"I'll pay you fifty thousand dollars"

My jaw dropped open slightly.

Fifty thousand dollars?!

"Fifty thousand?" I echoed, wanting to make sure I hadn't imagined what I'd just heard.

"Cash" the client confirmed.

"You've got a deal" I breathed. "When do we meet?"

"We won't. I'll send you an address via text and some of my guys will meet you there. You'll get paid half on site, and the rest when the jobs done"

"We're not gonna meet in person? Seems a bit sketchy to me, you ugly or something?"

"Don't push your luck, Shiv"

And then the line went dead.

I shrugged. Maybe he was just shy.

My phone buzzed and I saw that I had recieved a text from the number that I had just been on the phone with. An address and time lit up my screen:

11:00PM @ THE PINK OYSTER

The Pink Oyster huh? Where have I heard that name before?