The Hitman's Last Job

by Selena Black

  “Well… when I came back from Afghanistan… I had my problems for sure and not just my back. Just like you Anna, I have nightmares that haunt me every night. I can’t close my eyes without seeing them. But my Dad didn’t understand. Thought that all that crap was in my head and it was! But he thought I was just being overdramatic, that I was weak, that illnesses in the mind didn’t really exist,”

  Anna looked out the passenger window with unflinching sadness. “I’m so sorry to hear that. That changes everything then,”

  “No, it doesn’t,” he wound down the window and tossed his cigarette end into the road. “Anyway the last time I saw him, he said I was a lazy good for nothing for not being able to hold down a regular job after I was discharged. Said I enjoyed pretending to be ill, that I was doing it for attention. I’ve never spoken to him since.,”

  The moment felt profound to Anna as she looked to the man beside her. She’d finally found someone that had stuck by her happiness and sorrow. In that second as the little car sped down the empty highway there was a palpable sense of trust between the new couple. They held hands and looked straight ahead.

  “It won’t be long until we’re there. Just gotta keep going,” Carl nodded as he spoke.

  CHAPTER 11

  Don Angelo was in his favorite bathtub watching his favorite movie, ‘It’s A Wonderful Life.’ The tears always came to his eyes at the same point like clockwork and he was getting himself ready. He always loved ending his day with a luxurious soak but wished at times that he had someone to share it with. A nice lady perhaps, but he was rather romantically illiterate and often had to resort to paying for a woman’s company. It turns out that money can’t always buy you love.

  He lay back and lifted his eyes to the gold ceiling as if he could see into heaven. He wondered if his parents ever looked down on him and felt proud of his wealth. They had the best marriage and were together until the very end. What he wouldn’t do for a love like that…

  There was a knock at the door and it interrupted his thoughts.

  “Who the fuck is it?”

  “It’s Jerry!”

  “Yeah yeah, come on in,”

  The small, tubby man walked in with a plateful of fries.

  “You read my mind pal, I’m starvin’” and Angelo tucked in. “Any news on Carl?”

  “Nothin’ nada,” Jerry waved his arm passionately. “With any luck he’s wacked himself and that girl too,”

  “Chance would be a fine thing,” the Don mumbled with chubby, food filled cheeks.

  The two men watched the TV for a few minutes until Jerry interrupted.

  “This shit’s miserable pal. You watch this all the time and cry like a baby,”

  “I can’t help it. It’s beautiful. Anyway… listen. I think I have an idea,”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “That cop you know… the Irish one,” Angelo thought hard.

  “Callahan?”

  “Yup, him. I think you oughta pay him a visit. Maybe time we enlist some more help,”

  “Sure thing, I’ll call you if – I mean when - he agrees” and Jerry closed the door quietly to not disturb the movie anymore.

  ~

  The sun was beating off Anna’s face as she woke.

  “Fuck,” she rubbed her neck. “How long was I asleep?”

  “Ages. Like 6 hours,”

  “Urgh… must have needed it,” she looked about at the unfamiliar landscape and then to Carl who had dark circles under his eyes. “Where are we?”

  “Somewhere on the edge of Oklahoma city,”

  “Looks kinda bleak?” she looked out to the country.

  “Bleaker than Chicago?” he laughed. “I think I prefer it here,” and he quickly pulled off the highway into a diner. “You hungry kid?”

  “Always!”

  He laughed and kissed her on the cheek. She hugged him tight and kissed him back.

  “Hang on, I just need my backpack,” and Carl moved round to the trunk.

  Pulling out the briefcase, then his backpack, something tumbled out but he didn’t notice. He never realized as he closed the door, that his phone had toppled out and fallen into a little nook in the trunk. The couple ventured inside and sat down ready to order.

  “What can I get ya?” asked the overly polite waitress with the ginger Buffon.

  “Coffee, black and pancakes,” Anna yawned.

  “And I’ll have the same,” Carl nodded and smiled.

  The waitress scribbled down their order while batting her false eyelashes before sashaying away into the kitchen in her kitten heels.

  “She must get up real early to look like that first thing in the morning,” Anna thought out loud.

  “Well I guess you’re lucky to get the chance to lie in then,”

  They attempted to make small talk through their exhaustion but it was excruciating. There was no excusing the situation they were in. They were surviving hour by hour on the run in a stolen car and they hadn’t even known each other 3 days. Carl especially was feeling the pressure and as he looked to the young, gorgeous girl across the table, he couldn’t help but think of what would have happened if he killed her. He’d have his freedom, his house, his savings, his car and his life. But the more he pondered on it the more he thought he’d done the right thing in sacrificing all of those things for the safety of Anna. For the rest of his life he could sleep easy knowing he’d done the honourable thing.

  However, in the moment Carl’s thoughts were scattered and bordered on paranoid. He felt that everyone was looking at them, and he saw danger in the eyes of all the diner’s customers. He began tearing at a sugar packet and pouring its contents onto the table. When he finished he opened another one.

  “Hey,” Anna held his hand to soothe him. “What’s goin’ on?”

  “Just stressed out. Just feel like I’m goin’ crazy,”

  “I get it. I feel the same,”

  “Of course you do. But I can’t help shake the feeling that we stand out. That people are noticing us,”

  “Well I think that crazy crackhead over there is watchin’ us for sure,” she signalled with her eyes and Carl turned round.

  His gaze was immediately met by the wide eyed insanity of a matchstick thin man in leathers.

  “Shit. He looks…. Interesting,” Carl grimaced.

  Anna looked to the man and saw him scratch wildly at his hands before muttering to himself and drinking a mug of coffee in one go.

  “He’s freakin’ wired,”

  “Poor guy,”

  “Yeah. Some folk get all the luck,” Anna thought about how things could always be worse. “Well at least we’ve always got our health,” she held Carl’s hand.

  The waitress strode over with the pancakes and winked at Carl before she left. Anna was instantly infuriated but did nothing. Instead she chewed on the cuff of her coat and began chopping up her pancakes into little pieces with her fork.

  “You eat like a child,” Carl laughed.

  “I wish I still was a child, kinda,” she mumbled into her plate.

  Carl opened his mouth to speak but was quickly interrupted by a figure passing by the table. He looked up to see the poor, crack addicted man walk slowly past the table while making intense eye contact. He then twitched maniacally and started to scratch at the inside of his arm like a wild animal. Then as mysteriously as he disappeared he left. The couple watched him exit the diner furtively.

  “That was…. Weird,” mumbled Anna with a mouthful of pancakes.

  Carl had an uneasy feeling he couldn’t articulate. There was something about the guy he didn’t like. Something he just couldn’t trust.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost baby, what’s up?” Anna asked him worriedly.

  “I just really don’t like the look of that guy,”

  They both looked out the window to see him standing in the parking lot with his eyes darting all over the place.

  “You think he’s connected to the mob in some way?”

&n
bsp; “I doubt it. I mean they notoriously hate junkies and degenerates. But there’s something about him. It’s like he’s onto us,”

  “I thought that too,” Anna agreed.

  Then the waitress came back over.

  “Refills?”

  “Yes please,” Anna held out her mug.

  “Say I heard you talking about old Squeaky out there,” she pointed to the crazy guy in leathers. “He givin’ you trouble?”

  “He just scared us that’s all,” Anna’s voice was horse.

  “Ah don’t worry about him. He’s a weird kid but everyone round here knows him. He’s just special, he don’t mean no harm,”

  “Oh, I see,” Anna smiled timidly.

  “He probably just likes you cos you’re pretty and he’s not seen you around here before. Are you on vacation?”

  “Yeah kinda, just passin’ through,” Anna tried her best to make normal conversation.

  “That’s nice. You two make a cute couple,” the waitress smiled but as she turned to leave there was an almighty screech of tires and the revving of an engine.

  The crackling of the gravel was so loud and as the vehicle spun its tires at speed, small stones were thrown in the air and hit the diner windows like miniature gunshots. Carl stood up outraged and angry.

  “That fucker’s stolen my car!” he yelled.

  And the small, battered Hyundai was soon disappearing into a speck on the horizon.

  CHAPTER 12

  The phone was answered on the third ring and Jerry spoke jovially.

  “Hey pal? Callahan?”

  “That’s me!” the parochial accent came thick.

  “It’s Jerry,”

  “I know that voice anywhere,” Callahan laughed. “What’s the matter?”

  “Well… we’ve got a little situation over here,”

  “Oh no…”

  “Yuh like… we need ya to do us a favour,”

  “Well I guess I ain’t got a choice have I?” Callahan joked.

  “Ha you’re funny. But no. You do not have a choice,”

  Callahan exhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Tell me straight Jerry. What I gotta do this time?”

  “We’re looking for someone. An ex- Navy Seal on the run, a Carl Reiner. You gotta help us find him,”

  “What am I supposed to do? Put out an APB?” Callahan was laughing but he felt like crying.

  “Just do what you gotta do,” and Jerry hung up.

  “Shit,” Callahan threw the phone on the desk. “Fuck!”

  ~

  Carl and Anna raced to the parking lot but all was left of the car was the smoke that had drifted from the tires. The waitress was in hot pursuit in her heels and she seemed angrier than the both of them

  “That son of a bitch! I’ll have to tell his mother about this,” she fumed. “I’m so sorry folks,” she turned to the couple. “Let’s call the police,”

  “NO!” they both shouted in unison.

  “I mean no thanks, we’ll do it ourselves,” Anna touched the waitress’ arm as a sign of good faith.

  “Well if you’re sure,” she didn’t seem convinced.

  “Yeah we’re sure,” Carl interrupted. “But thanks,”

  And the waitress shrugged and walked back indoors thinking they were odd.

  “Shit! What are we to do now?” Anna was panicked.

  “I don’t know… but I guess that car has the worst luck in the world,”

  “Where are we anyway?”

  “I’ll have to look it up on my phone. Two seconds, it’s in my backpack,” and he quickly hurried into the diner to grab it.

  He walked back out while searching through it frantically.

  “Shit I can’t find my phone!” he emptied the contents of the bag onto the ground and ran his fingers through everything. “Oh my God please don’t let it be true,” but it was. “My God damn phone is in the car!”

  Anna felt like kicking at the earth and screaming. She wanted to just give up and lie in the middle of the road. She wandered away from Carl for a moment to take a deep breath. On either side of the diner laid vast expanses of empty road. She turned her head from left to right and back again. Wherever they were going next was on foot and it was going to take forever.

  “How the fuck are we going to get to Mexico from here?” asked Carl as he joined her.

  “I guess we’ll find out soon,”

  “I’m sorry,” Carl wrapped his arms around her. He wanted her to feel safe.

  “What for?” she looked up to him.

  “I’m a real lousy protector. I took you to save you and now look at us,”

  “Hmmmm…. It’s just crazy,” no other words seemed to make sense of the situation. “But if it’s any consolation. If we’re lost, then so are the Mob,”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean if we can’t even find where we are then what hope have they got. I reckon they won’t be having much luck either,”

  “I guess not,” he felt a little better seeing her logic.

  “So what now?” he asked.

  “That way’s south right?” she pointed down the road.

  “Yup,”

  “Well we’ll walk that way,” and she placed her hand in his. “Let’s go,”

  ~

  Jorge was blowing plumes of thick smoke up from the basement floor. He was sat cross legged in front of Reiner Snr with a wicked smile on his face. Exhaling again he tried to make the smoke reach the detector.

  “Yo man. You need new batteries. Been blowin’ into it for like two days,”

  The old man raised his head a few inches but then collapsed.

  “Still no word from your kid… Guess you must have done something real bad for him to hate you like this,”

  He looked down and saw a tear fall from the old man’s face.

  “Hey why you always cryin’ man?” he kicked the old man in the shin but he didn’t flinch this time.

  Reiner Senior began to make a quiet croaking sound as he struggled to speak through his parched throat. Jorge knelt down beside him and held his ear close.

  “I…. love my son,” the old man rasped. “Tell him that,”

  But Jorge didn’t have time for soppy sentimentalism. Instead he spat on the ground as he stood up.

  “Ah shut the hell up. Like I give a shit,” and he threw his cigarette end on the floor. “You gotta tell us where he is old man!” and he pulled his gun out and pointed it to his head.

  “But I don’t know,” Reiner croaked. “I just don’t know. I promise,”

  Jorge knew he was telling the truth. He’d beaten him endlessly and threatened him at gun point, starved him and denied him water and still the old man said he knew nothing. But it wasn’t Mob style to leave people alive. He knelt back down and whispered into his face.

  “Carl knows we got you, old man, and he doesn’t care. He wants you dead…. And so do I,” and Jorge pulled out his favourite knife from the inside of his snakeskin boots.

  CHAPTER 13

  “Who was your high school crush?” Anna asked Carl as though they were on a normal date meandering through the trees.

  “Oh God! Her name was Cassie Yates and I swear to God she was the hottest thing ever when I was twelve. Everyone fancied her but she had braces and makeup that was like this thick,” he held out his thumb and forefinger. “I hear she has six kids now,” he looked into the distance. “What about you?”

  “His name was Brody McKenzie. He was a real dork but that’s what I liked. He wasn’t a jock or a bully or one of the weird goth kids,” Anna laughed. “He was real sweet to me,” and she shoved her hands in her pockets. “This is a real nice place,” she looked all around her. “And it’s not as cold as Chicago. Shame we’re not here for fun,”

  “Don’t worry about that. Once we’re sorted and settled I’ll take you all around the world,” Carl kissed her cheek and she smiled.

  They were silent for a moment and all they could hear was the sound of their ow
n footsteps interspersed with the chirping of wild birds.

  “I think they’re circling us,” Anna joked.

  “I hope not,” Carl looked up into the sky.

  “Hey… So I gotta ask you now, or I won’t ever,” Anna blurted out quickly.

  “Go for it,”

  “That briefcase you carry everywhere. It’s got money in it hasn’t it?”

  “Yes it has,” he nodded.

  “The money you got for killing my father?”

  “Yeah,” he looked to the ground ashamed of himself.

  “Well at least he’s good for something,” she grimaced at the thought of him.

  Carl was taken aback by her attitude. “You constantly surprise me you know that?”

  “Why’s that?”

  “You just take everything in your stride,”

  “And I always will,” Anna shrugged.

  They stopped walking and stood idly in the center of the empty road. Carl brushed his fingers through her hair and held her face. They kissed sweetly under the midday sun. They were enjoying the moment so much that they barely heard the sound of a car horn tooting furiously. As they pulled themselves apart, Anna took the chance and flagged down the car. A tremendously unhappy gentleman in an old tweed suit was behind the wheel.