by Laurin Kelly
The senator was talking to an older couple, clearly impressing them with his charm and confidence. His wife Jessica was at his side, smiling sweetly as she laid her hand on her husband's arm. He leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to her hair, the two of them the perfect picture of a loving and devoted couple. It was no wonder McLennan had been picked to run; he and his wife were a relatively young, attractive couple with a seven month old baby. The image presented was exactly what the struggling party needed; a way to connect with the younger voters in a way their previous selections had failed. Even pundits who disagreed with his politics couldn't help but admit that McLennan brought a fresh, contemporary feel to a party often painted as being stodgy or old-fashioned. He spoke passionately in his speeches about his desire to lead the country in a direction that would make it an ideal place for his daughter to grow up, and her future children as well. So far the strategy was working well.
It had taken three weeks since leaving the safe house for Kelan and Rob to move forward with their plan. Most of it had been in the D.C. area where they switched motels every two days. They worked long hours, sleeping little, and stealing only a few brief opportunities to make love. It was difficult because their desire for each other hadn't lessened, but the temporary sacrifice would be worth it. Once they were free they could make up for all kinds of lost time together.
As Rob grabbed a canapé off a silver serving platter and popped it into his mouth, he finally saw what he'd been waiting for. McLennan lifted the drink he was holding to his lips and finished it off. He gestured to a server, a petite woman with striking red hair, who came over and took the empty glass from him. Rob swallowed quickly and followed her to the bar where she handed the empty glass to the bartender and waited for him to make a fresh drink. He walked up to her and stood close, as if waiting to catch the busy bartender's attention for a drink of his own. "Poor guy's got his work cut out from him tonight with this crowd," said Rob, smiling amiably.
The woman looked at him in surprise. "It's a busy night, for sure," she responded. Her eyes seemed cautious as she took in his expensive tuxedo and Movado watch.
"I have to tell you, I never come to these things. My uncle's architecture firm has donated a boatload of money to Brock McLennan's campaign. I just started working there a couple of months ago, and when Uncle Lee had to go out of town unexpectedly he told me I needed to represent the family business." He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "It's not my thing at all. My idea of a great Saturday night is sitting home with a few beers and a Mad Men marathon."
As expected, the woman's guarded expression dropped from her face immediately. "Sure sounds a lot better than my Saturday night, too," she said, laughing a little. "I love Mad Men. I was so disappointed when it ended."
"Great finale though. They really did the characters justice." Rob stuck out his hand. "My name is Kevin, by the way."
"Bethany," the woman said, taking the offered hand and shaking it, her cheeks dimpling in a smile. She let go as the bartender set McLennan's new drink down on the bar.
"Look, speaking of things I never do, would you like to maybe get some coffee or something sometime? I just moved here for the job and I hardly know anyone. It would be nice to see a familiar face across the table from me in Starbucks for a change. My treat, of course." Rob shot her the most charming and benign smile he had in his arsenal.
Bethany looked him up and down again, then glanced over to the senator's drink. She looked back at Rob with a genuine, pleased smile. "Sure, that sounds nice. But I really need to deliver this drink before I get in trouble."
"No problem," said Rob, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. "Why don't you put your number in my contacts real quick and I'll give you a call tomorrow?"
"Okay," Bethany agreed, taking the phone.
As soon as Rob saw Bethany drop her gaze and begin fiddling with the phone, he acted. He slipped a small vial out of his pocket, thumbing the stopper off as he did. Moving to lean onto the bar with his elbow, he dumped a miniscule amount of white powder into McLennan's drink, where it instantly dissolved into the dark liquid.
Bethany picked up the drink, handing Rob's phone back with her other hand. "I should be around most of the day tomorrow. Call any time after nine a.m.—I like to sleep in after nights like this."
"I don't blame you," said Rob. "Will do. It was nice meeting you, Bethany."
"Nice meeting you too, Kevin," Bethany said. "I'm looking forward to your call."
Rob watched closely as she walked away, plastering a lascivious smirk on his face so anyone watching would think he was just checking out her ass as she departed. She arrived at McLennan's side and handed him the drink. McLennan nodded in thanks as he took a large swig. Rob quickly hit the text button on his phone, typing the word done and hitting the send button in less than five seconds. He headed for the door, moving at a casual pace so as not to attract attention. As soon as he got to the ballroom door, he heard Jessica McLennan scream.
"Brock? Honey, what is it? Brock!"
Rob moved into the lobby, hearing someone shout "Call nine-one-one!" from behind him. He made a left and then another left, then went through the door of a custodial closet and shut it firmly behind him. Rob got on a stool and moved a ceiling tile, removing the bag he'd stashed there earlier. He pulled out the contents, stripped off everything but his underwear, and changed into the clothes and latex gloves he'd brought along. He then put on the final two items, a silk scarf and long wool dress coat, which he buttoned up quickly. Rob stuffed his discarded clothes into the bag and exited the closet, tossing the bag into a garbage chute before making his way to the elevators. He checked the time on his phone, pleased to see that only four minutes had passed since McLennan had consumed the cyanide laced drink. Rob hadn't put enough in to kill the man, but the miniscule amount he'd added was enough to give him some very alarming and unpleasant symptoms; racing heart, difficulty breathing, dizziness, and nausea.
Reaching the ground floor, Rob walked out the front doors of the complex, where he could hear the sound of a siren approaching in the distance. He stood next to the one of the pillars that lined the entrance and unbuttoned his coat swiftly. The ambulance pulled up right in front of him, lights flashing and siren wailing. Patrons were milling about, but as they were all looking at the emergency vehicle no one noticed when Rob whipped off his jacket to reveal the paramedics uniform he was wearing beneath it. The ambulance driver got out, circled around the vehicle and opened the back doors. Rob walked the three short steps to the back of the ambulance, reaching in along with the driver to pull out the stretcher. Turning his head to the side, he met the driver's eyes. Kelan gave Rob a short nod as the equipment was hauled out. Rob pulled out two orange trauma bags and a defibrillator, throwing them on top of the stretcher. They rolled it rapidly into the lobby, where they were met by a man in a suit with a gold Gaylord National Ballrooms pin attached to his lapel.
"Come with me," he said urgently. "I'll take you to the service elevators; it's the fastest way to the Cherry Blossom Room. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm told Senator McLennan has collapsed."
Shortly Rob and Kelan found themselves in the ballroom, where a crowd had gathered around McLennan. "Out of the way, please!" shouted Kelan. As the people parted they quickly assessed the current situation. The senator was lying on the floor, sweating and panting. Someone had undone his tie and opened the first few buttons on his shirt, and there was a small pool of vomit next to him. Jessica sat on her knees, crying and grasping his hand desperately, moaning his name over and over like a mantra. Two suited men, obviously part of McLennan's security detail, stood on either side of his prone form.
"You need to move out of the way, ma'am," said Kelan.
"No," Jessica sobbed. "Brock, he needs me!"
One of the security men came over and gently pulled the woman to her feet. "Come on, Mrs. McLennan, let these men do their job."
"What happened?" Rob kept his head down and let his partn
er do the talking. He didn't see Bethany anywhere, but if she was around he didn't want her to recognize his face or voice.
"I don't know!" Jessica's voice was shrill with hysteria. "He was just standing there talking. Then he said he felt strange and the next thing I knew he was on the ground. What's wrong with him? What's wrong with my husband?"
"I don't know, ma'am. It could be a lot of different things. We need to get him stabilized and to the hospital as quickly as possible so the doctors can take a look at him." He looked at Rob. "We need to bag him, Jim."
Rob reached into one of the trauma bags, pulling out a long tube of plastic and a bulb shaped device with a plastic bag on the end of it.
"Mr. McLennan?" Kelan spoke clearly, and calmly, though his voice was raised. "We're going to do something that should make breathing a little easier for you. Please just try to relax and stay still." Kelan took the endotracheal tube from Rob and inserted it carefully into McLennan's windpipe. He could hear Jessica gasp and begin to cry more loudly. Kelan then attached the bag valve mask and started squeezing the bulb in slow, even presses. "Is that better?"
McLennan nodded, weakly. Rob went over and collapsed the stretcher to floor level so he and Kelan could lift the senator onto it. Rob covered him in a blanket and strapped him in, then raised the stretcher back to normal height. They began rolling him out of the room with Jessica and the two security guards following closely. After a quick trip back down the service elevator they brought the stretcher through the lobby and to the back doors of the ambulance. After the stretcher was lifted into the vehicle and locked into place, Kelan exited and went around to the front to get in the cab.
One of the guards and Jessica tried to climb into the ambulance, but Rob stopped them. "Sorry, only one person can ride along in the back."
"This man is running for President," said the guard. "You'll have to make an exception."
"No, I can't. If he crashes I won't have the room I need to work if we're over capacity. Either you or the lady, take your pick, but there's no exceptions." The ambulance started up, the lights beginning to flash.
"Come on, Jim!" shouted Kelan from the front seat. "What's the holdup? I radioed our ETA at eight minutes out. We need to move this bus!"
"Decide now or we're leaving without either of you. We're trying to save his life and every second counts."
"Mrs. McLennan, you'll have to ride with Carl," said the guard, motioning to the man behind him. "One of us has to be with each of you in a situation like this. You can meet us at the hospital."
"No!" cried Jessica. "Grant, please. You have to make them let me go with Brock!"
Grant climbed into the back of the ambulance, while Carl took Jessica by the arms and started pulling her away. He nodded at Rob and settled into place beside the senator. Rob pulled the doors shut, and as soon as the door closed with a bang Kelan fired up the sirens and began driving away at a breakneck speed.
"How's he doing?" asked Kelan from the front seat, after a while. "We're about three minutes out."
"Stable so far," answered Rob. "I'm gonna do a quick BP check, though."
The blood pressure cuff hung on the side of the ambulance directly above Grant's head. Rob came around the foot of the stretcher and leaned forward. But instead of taking the cuff, he grabbed Grant in a headlock, gripped the side of his face and snapped his neck. Rob looked up to see that McLennan was struggling against his restraints, eyes as wide as saucers.
Kelan cut the sirens and lights immediately. "Almost there, Rob," he said. "About a minute to go." The ambulance slowed to a normal cruising speed. After a couple of turns it came to a complete stop.
Rob opened up the back door of the ambulance, dragged Grant's body out and tossed it into the underbrush. Kelan came around the side of the vehicle, and Rob took a moment to grab him into a fast kiss before they climbed into the back with their target.
Kelan went to the side of the stretcher, taking hold of the top of McLennan's endotracheal tube. He slid the tube out, causing the man to sputter and choke. "Easy there," said Kelan, thumping McLennan on the chest, his eyes alight with malicious mischief. "Don't even think about yelling, by the way. We're in Fort Foote National Park, and I can assure you there's not a soul around to hear for miles."
"Who are you people?" McLennan asked shakily. "What is this? Are you trying to scare me into dropping out of the race?"
Rob laughed. "Really, McLennan? Don't be an idiot. This has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with the fact that you're a hypocritical scumbag with a bad habit of ordering hits on people who should never be fucked with."
When no recognition crossed McLennan's face, Kelan picked up where Rob left off. "I'm not surprised you still don't know who we are. After all, we're not the first people you've arranged to have taken care of. First there was that woman from three years ago, the one that worked in your campaign headquarters? Went missing, poor thing. The cops focused on her husband, since he was known to have a temper and a drinking problem. A dangerous combination, for sure. But we're thinking it's more likely that she was threatening to spill the beans about how close the two of you sometimes worked after hours."
McLennan's eyes widened and his expression became even fearful. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Then there was that reporter," added Rob. "Managed to dig up that your wife apparently still requires a regular Percocet prescription, even though her c-section was seven months ago. On top of the anti-depressants and diet pills, she's a living, breathing Walgreens. Be pretty bad for the wholesome image if that little nugget got out, but luckily for you there was that fire. Electrical, right Kelan?"
"That's what the Fire Marshal said. Her apartment building was brand new construction, so very surprising. But I guess you never know."
McLennan snapped, the panic and loss of control finally too much for him. "Just tell me who the fuck you are!" he screamed, bucking against the straps that held him in place.
Kelan reached around to the back of his pants, his gloved hand drawing out his gun. "We're the biggest mistake you've ever made. When you pit hit men against hit men, you'd better be sure the best ones are on your side. But sadly for you, the best men for the job were the only ones who wouldn't be able to take it. We were the targets, so you were fucked before you even picked up the phone, Senator."
"Look... " said McLennan, staring at the gun nervously. It looked like he'd finally realized who had him at their mercy.
"The funny part is," said Rob, "you were never in any danger. Neither Kelan nor I had any interest in those pictures at the Fox Hole. No decent mercenary lets himself get distracted from the job at hand."
"Well," said Kelan, leering at Rob openly. "There are exceptions to that rule."
Rob chuckled. "This is true. My partner over there, for example... very distracting." He licked his lips, letting his gaze go hot as his eyes appreciated Kelan's form in the close-fitting uniform.
Kelan raised an eyebrow. "I do my best." He turned to look at McLennan, who was looking at them with an expression of disbelief and disgust. "Oh dear. I think we're making the senator uncomfortable."
"Good thing he won't have to put up with it much longer."
The unpleasant look disappeared from McLennan's face instantly. "I'll call off the hit. Give me your phone, I can take care of it right now."
"You'll excuse us for not trusting you on that," said Kelan, turning serious.
"No loose ends," said Rob. "And unfortunately for you, you're the loosest end of all, McLennan. It would have been easy to double the cyanide in your drink, you know. You'd have probably been dead before the real paramedics got there."
"But probably isn't good enough. We needed to get you somewhere alone, where we could make absolutely sure you'd never be a problem for us again." Kelan leveled the gun at McLennan's head. "And here we are."
"I'll pay you!" yelled the senator, white-faced and trying unsuccessfully to scrabble backwards from the barrel. "Anything you want!
Anything!"
"The only thing we want is each other," said Rob.
"And only your death can make that happen," said Kelan. "Goodbye, Senator McLennan."
Kelan pulled the trigger, sending a .22 caliber slug directly into the man's forehead. The red rose of a wound opened up, spilling blood into his open, sightless eyes. Beneath his dark hair, the white sheet on the stretcher became saturated with crimson liquid.
For a moment, neither Kelan nor Rob moved. It was so quiet they could hear the soft patter as McLennan's blood began to drip off the edge of the pillowcase onto the metal floor of the ambulance. Finally Kelan stirred, engaging the safety on his gun and laying it on the dead man's chest. He turned to Rob, and there was a hot, triumphant joy in his eyes that he imagined must be perfectly mirrored in his own. Kelan slowly edged around the side and end of the stretcher until he was a couple of steps from Rob, then pounced.
Rob's head banged on the side of the vehicle behind him, Kelan's weight and momentum pinning him between it and his side of the stretcher. Kelan crashed their lips together, thrusting his tongue inside and clutching Rob's hair in an iron grip. Rob returned his passion, moaning and grabbing hold of Kelan's ass in his big hands. What they had worked so hard for, what they both wanted and needed so badly was finally theirs. The knowledge snapped both of their controls in an instant.
Rob nipped at Kelan's lips, cheeks, and chin. Mine mine mine, his mind babbled. Finally, mine.
"Fuck. Need more space. Need you." Logically, Rob knew they should get the hell out of there. About a quarter-mile up the road was a car they had driven up earlier in the day, with a change of clothes for each of them in the trunk. But logic had been running the show for the last three weeks; now that they were victorious, their lust refused to be denied.
"Yeah. Gotta be fast... quick. But now, need you too, Rob." Kelan released Rob's hair, bringing his hands to Rob's shirt and tugging strongly. "Outside."
They climbed out of the ambulance. When they had their feet on the ground, Rob took Kelan by the shoulders and pressed him up against the bumper. Knowing time was short, they kept clothing removal to a minimum, tearing open each other's pants and dragging them down just enough so their hard cocks and tight balls were free. Dropping his dick on top of Kelan's, Rob brought his hands to Kelan's mouth, cupping his hands slightly. Kelan worked up a mouthful of saliva and spit it into Rob's hands, watching as Rob rubbed his palms together to spread the makeshift lubricant. He brought his wet hands to their erections and circled them, creating a warm, damp tunnel for them both to thrust into.