The Mermaid & The Crocodile (The Kill List Series Book One)

by Edee M. Fallon

  Driving up to the hotel entrance, I got out of the taxi and headed inside towards the reservation desk. Finding that my items had arrived, the concierge promised to have them sent up to my room as soon as possible.

  The hotel was on Las Olas Boulevard and within walking distance to some great restaurants and clubs. Maybe I would get a chance to explore a little more when I returned. Tonight was definitely not that night. I stood staring out the window overlooking the growing crowds down below. Couples and groups of friends walked happily all about, only reminding me again of how alone I really was in this.

  They say it’s hard to miss something you never had, but I think that is a load of bullshit. I never had a mother, but I damn sure missed not having her around. I never had any close friends, but I was envious of everyone around me that did. That jealousy became the fertilizer that fed my deeply rooted feelings of isolation. Once again, I prayed that Jenks had finished the job for me tonight.

  After grudgingly stowing my weapons and some of the files in the safe, I made my way down to the lobby to head back to my hotel in Miami. I felt naked without a weapon, vulnerability creeping into my consciousness with every step that led me away from my possessions. I rationalized that if I drove back here after my flight tomorrow night, I could be in the safety of my room in a little over twenty-four hours. I could survive one day without a weapon. A full day of flying and a four hour drive would make for a hellacious day, but knowing that I could really start moving ahead with my plan was reason enough to get my ass back to the mainland.

  The taxi dropped me off in the underground garage of the hotel again. I was making my way to the elevator when a harsh voice from behind me startled the ever-loving shit out of me. Instinctively I reached for the gun that was no longer there.

  “Where were you?”

  “Jesus fucking Christ, Jenks! You are so lucky I don’t have a weapon on me. You know better than to sneak up on me like that. What the hell is wrong with you? You got a death wish or something?”

  “No, Berty. But I know you. If you really are leaving tomorrow, you wouldn’t have any weapons in your possession anymore. Just like you don’t own a car anymore, right? That was Hugo’s man we saw earlier, wasn’t it? Where’d you go?”

  “I had some things I had to settle. What the hell are you doing here anyway? I thought you were tied up or some shit.”

  “The situation has been resolved.”

  “What? What do you mean?” I asked as I took a tentative step towards him.

  “What I mean, Berty, is that there really is nothing left for you to do here.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about, Jenks? You know I don’t do cryptic very well. Did you do it? Did you find out who pulled the trigger?”

  Jenks exhaled loudly as he shook his head slowly. He looked so defeated. In my excitement to hear his news, I hadn’t really paid attention to his demeanor. Although he had obviously showered, his appearance was still disheveled and he looked utterly spent. The black eye was also not doing him any favors.

  “As much as I would like to tell you that we indeed arrested the son of a bitch, I can’t. I felt bad for canceling on you tonight without a better explanation so I thought I’d stop by to see if you wanted to grab a late dinner. I haven’t eaten since breakfast and I could definitely use a drink after the last forty-eight hours of hell that I’ve been through.

  “I had just parked and was headed to the elevator when I saw you getting out of the taxi. You really are a sneaky little fox. No one saw you leave. I’m not even going to ask how, or why for that matter. I’m just glad you’re safe. Let’s try to enjoy this last night together, okay? I don’t know when or if I’ll ever see you again.”

  He actually looked sad when he said it, which made me feel sad. It was a foreign feeling that was making me uncomfortable. I had to break the uneasiness that was building within me. For some reason, his words made me feel more vulnerable than being weaponless and I did not like it one bit. Nope, not one bit.

  “Stop being such a wuss, Jenks. You know I’m a thorn in your side that you can’t wait to get rid of. Just think, for the first time in twenty years, you won’t have to worry about us Englands anymore.”

  He snorted at that and shook his head in exasperation. “One day, Berty … One day you will actually appreciate the fact someone cares about you, blood or not.”

  “Whatever you say, Jenks. Today is not that day.”

  We spent dinner skirting the secrets we were both hiding, me lying about my plans and him lying about what had kept him from meeting me earlier. He wasn’t pressing me hard, so I afforded him the same courtesy. After a dinner full of un and half-truths, we parted ways. Thankfully it wasn’t overly emotional. I headed back to my room to finally read the letter Hugo had sent for me, deciding that it would be best to not chase it with a bottle of whiskey this time.

  I retrieved the letter from the safe and took it outside to the balcony to watch the moonrise. My hand hesitated at the seam of the paper, but only for a moment. I would rather know what it contained then spend another wasted minute on guessing. A key tumbled out and landed on my lap as I unfolded the single page letter. I picked it up to inspect it, but it gave no clue as to its purpose. Taking a deep breath, I readied myself for another trip into wonderland.

  Roberta,

  If you have received this letter then the plan is already in motion. I’m sorry about the house, but I couldn’t take the chance of leaving any evidence behind. I’m sure you were smart enough to take what you needed before the fire. I pray that no one was hurt because of it, but that is the reason why I hired professionals for the job.

  Inside this letter you will find a key to a storage unit that contains all the things I wanted you to have, but never had the chance to give you. I’m sorry I couldn’t pass them down to you in a normal way, but when have we ever been normal people? If you need anything else, ask Hugo. You can trust him. Take care of yourself.

  Remember the rules:

  Always be aware of your surroundings.

  Disarm your opponent as quickly as possible.

  Never underestimate your enemies.

  I love you Little Bird,

  Dad

  Biscayne Bay Public Storage

  #3303

  “You going to be alright out in the world alone, Little Bird?” Jenks asked as we pulled up to the departure gate.

  “I think so. How about you?”

  He shrugged his shoulders as he replied, “I hope so. I guess we both have to adjust to our new lives.”

  I nodded my head in response since I didn’t really know what to say.

  “Will you promise me something, Berty?”

  “Depends on what it is,” I replied reluctantly. I had never been a promise making kind of girl. It lessened the amount of disappointments in life.

  “Fair enough,” he said. “Just … Well, before you make any big decisions, give yourself some time to really think about the consequences. Once you take someone’s life, you can never give it back.”

  “Look, Jenks—”

  “Just let me finish,” he interrupted as he turned in his seat to face me. “Let’s think about what we do know. It wasn’t Tony so maybe you should let that idea go, okay? He might not be innocent in the grand scheme of things, but he didn’t kill your mother or your father.”

  “How do you know that, Jenks? How can you be so sure? What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Berty, come on now. You know I’m not saying anything you don’t know already. This is your time. This is your chance to move on … let it all go. You have the ability to walk away from this. Live your life the way you want to for once. You’ve got so much potential, it’s just been focused on the wrong purpose. Do something good for yourself for a change. Find love. Find happiness. Leave the past in the past, the way your father never could.”

  “You know I can’t do that.”

  “I don’t know that and neither do you until you really try. Just promise me you
will at least think about it. Nothing is going to change here while you do. As much as I’ll miss you, I don’t want to ever see you again, at least not under these circumstances.”

  “You have more faith in me than you should, you know that?” I said as I turned to look out the passenger window.

  “No, Berty, you don’t have enough faith in yourself is all. Try and enjoy your life a little before it passes you by. Don’t end up like your father.”

  “You liked my father.”

  “I loved your father, but that doesn’t mean I agreed with his choices. I can’t really blame him for them, either. “

  “You know you really shouldn’t force me into a promise I might not be able to keep. It’s like you’re asking to be let down.”

  “Fine, no promises except—”

  “Except what?” I asked.

  “Just take care of yourself, Berty. At least promise me that.”

  “Okay. I can do that,” I said as I reached for the handle.

  “Will you call me whenever you settle down somewhere? I’d like to know you’re okay.”

  “I’ll call you when I’m ready. However long that might be. I’ve got a lot to figure out.”

  “Okay, Little Bird,” he said before giving me a sad smile.

  “See you in another life,” I said as I exited the car.

  I checked the boarding times and saw that my flight was on schedule. I had a four hour layover between my flights in and out of New York so I wasn’t really worried about a delay. I just did not like having any free time on my hands. It left me alone with my thoughts and that goodbye caused my steady stride to waver on the path I had been forced to walk alone.

  As I made my way up and down the east coast, I could not help but to wonder if maybe Jenks was right and I should take some time to decide what was best for me. Not much would change over the next few weeks or months and I had lost some of my forward momentum during my crazy day traveling up and down the eastern seaboard. Jenks’s words of wisdom had been trolling through my brain all day. The truth was, even if I did try to move on, as he had suggested, I had nowhere to move on to.

  By the time I arrived in Key West I was bone tired and soul weary. My final flight landed around eleven P.M. so I decided to stay the night and make the drive in the morning. I rented a car and headed to the nearest hotel. I was wiped out and the memory of my last trip to Key West dragged me further into exhaustion.

  I waited in the car as my father secured the house. I used to look forward to our annual father/daughter vacation to the Keys. Sometimes we would go fishing or snorkeling or just spend the weekend at the beach. As I grew older, I grew less excited as my resentment for my father clouded the fond memories we had once created. He’d become absent in my life and this trip was like a band-aid over a bullet wound.

  We hadn’t spoken at all since we’d left the house. Within an hour we were cruising down U.S. 1, past the palm trees and pastel colored buildings that lined the Overseas Highway. I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against the passenger window, unsure how I was going to get through the next few days alone with him. I used to believe that it was our gender difference that caused the initial rift between us. A single man raising a daughter could not have been easy. The older I got, the more I realized it wasn’t our lack of anatomical commonality that dug the chasm separating us, but a difference in priorities. As I stared out the window analyzing the whys of our relationship, my resentment towards him grew with every passing mile.

  “Are you going to ignore me the entire time?” he finally asked, breaking the quiet confines of the car. I only just realized we had sat in silence since we left the house. The radio had not even been turned on as I tuned out. I pressed my lips together to try and contain an annoyed groan.

  “Come on, Little Bird. This is our last trip together before you leave for school. Can we at least try to enjoy this time together?”

  “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  “Do you remember our first time coming to the Keys?”

  I was not in the mood for a trip down memory lane. Ever since my father explained to me that once I left for college I could not even come home to visit, I lost the will to try and mend that which was broken between us. He tried to convince me that it was for my own good, but it felt more like rejection than anything else. I had “trained for this day” my entire life and now that I was ready, he was sending me away; as if all that I had sacrificed meant nothing, as if my entire existence was meaningless. I refused to let him know how much he had hurt me. I grew up believing that we were in this together, only to realize that at the critical point, I was being forced out, betrayed by the only person I had ever trusted. Even Jenks tried to explain the whys to me. I hadn’t wanted to hear it from him, either.

  “You were barely five,” he continued through my silence, “and fearless. I’d give anything to have that little girl back again.”

  I had to fight to hold back my tears. Was I now not good enough? I was the monster that he created. “Is that why you’re sending me away? Are you appalled by what I’ve become? You made me what I am. Or have you forgotten?”

  “No, that’s not why,” he replied without correcting my assumption. “It was just easier then,” he said, barely above a whisper.

  After that little heart to heart, we continued on in silence. We pulled into the Ocean Key House just before sunset. The crowds were gathering at Mallory Square for the nightly spectacle of street performers and vendors.

  “You hungry?” my father asked as he turned to me.

  “Not really.”

  He sighed as he exited the car. “Well, I am. I’m going to check in then find somewhere to eat. You can join me or not. I’d like you to come with me, though.”

  I did not respond, but followed him anyway. After checking in and taking our luggage to our room, we headed to the pier to catch the sun as it settled below the horizon. The surrounding crowd clapped and cheered as the last bit of light sank below the edge of the earth, as if it was some miraculous never before seen event. What a fucking joke. We had just arrived and I was ready to go home.

  “I booked us a full day charter in the morning. We have to get up early, but it’s the best time,” he said as he placed some bills on the check and stood up to leave.

  “Okay.”

  And those were the last words we spoke to each other that night. I could not figure out why he thought this trip would be a good idea. The only thing we ever had in common no longer existed. You can never recapture a moment that has been lost and you can never truly recreate it, either. Maybe I could have appreciated his attempt if it had felt genuine and not like he was just going through the motions.

  Dad woke me up early the next morning and we headed out with Captain Alex for our deep sea fishing excursion. At least I had the captain to talk to for a little while. Once we were a few miles out, we cast our lines and waited … and waited … and waited. Even the fish didn’t want to be around us it seemed.

  “Well this is uneventful,” my father said from his seat next to me. “I’m gonna grab a beer. You want anything while I’m up?”

  “I’ll take a beer, please.”

  He actually smiled at my little joke.

  “Okay, fine. I’ll take a water.”

  I was staring into the murky depths ahead of me when I felt the tug on my line.

  “Dad! Dad! I got something!” I said as a massive sailfish jumped out of the water. It was spectacular. My excitement for the fight I knew was coming briefly overshadowed the anger I felt towards my father.

  “It’s a little late in the season for a sailfish,” Captain Alex said as he came up behind me to help set up the gear I would need. “Do you want me to take over this for you?”

  I gave him a look that assured him I was not handing over my rod. I might be a girl, but this fight was mine. I battled that damn fish for over three hours. When I was done, I was exhausted, but I could not stop smiling. Dad took a picture of me and the mon
ster as I leaned over the boat while the captain held the fish on a gaff. We headed back in after we released the fish.

  It wasn’t much, but I had felt a little closer to my father for those few hours. It would not repair all the damage from the last few years, but maybe it could heal it a little.

  Once we returned to the dock, we unloaded and headed back to our room to clean the fish stink off of us. Dad and I joked about the day and how the captain tried to take over my catch. Captain Alex had no idea just how strong and determined I could be. As I replayed the events of the day, I realized that I should thank my father for instilling those qualities in me, but unfortunately, the moment passed almost as soon as it arrived.

  “I have to go out tonight for a few hours. Do you think you can handle this town by yourself for a little while?”

  “Why?”

  “I’ve got to take care of something.”

  “Aren’t you going to tell me what it is?”

  “It’s none of your concern, young lady.”

  Oh. So this is why we were here. Although he did not actually tell me what his plans were, I knew it had something to do with Tony Valdez. Instead of arguing with him, I grabbed my necessities and went to the bathroom to clean up. When I was done, my father went to do the same, but I didn’t wait for him to finish. Without a backward glance, I walked out the door.

  I sat downstairs inside a taxi and waited for him to drive away. “Follow that car,” I told the cabbie once my father had driven away from the hotel.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Just follow the damn car,” I said. “I promise I’ll make it worth your time.”

  We followed my father’s car to a rundown part of town, not too far from the hotel. We passed where my father parked and I got out a few blocks down.

  “Wait here,” I told the driver.

  “Little girl, please tell me you’re joking.”

  I handed him a hundred dollar bill. “Does it look like I’m joking?”

  “Fine, I’ll wait here. You got thirty minutes and then I’m taking off.”