The Mercy of the Mako Shark

by Nicole Castle

  “You did not sound fine.”

  Toby sighed heavily. “I'm on my way back. I'll see you in a little bit.”

  Miko let him be the one to disconnect, then started cleaning up all the candy wrappers that were littered over the bed and he moved out to the sofa. Maybe it really was nothing. And now they'd have to say goodbye all over again.

  Toby came bursting through the door half an hour later, hugging him with a force even Miko thought was a bit excessive. “I can't believe you came all the way back here for...nothing.”

  Miko couldn't believe it either. It wasn't nothing. He held Toby in his arms, feeling utterly helpless. Toby wasn't just happy to see him. He was relieved. “I will take the car in tomorrow, make sure it is okay.”

  “Thank you,” Toby said, looking away. “I'm just tired. It's been pretty much nonstop since you left and...” He shook his head.

  “You would tell me if something was wrong?”

  “It's nothing.” Toby kissed him and hugged him again. “Are you hungry, I—”

  Miko put his hand on Toby's mouth, the only mouth he would touch with that hand. “Stop. You do not have to take care of me. Of everything. You make things nonstop when they do not have to be. Sit.” Toby reluctantly sat on the sofa and Miko plopped down beside him. “Are you hungry? Have you eaten at all today?”

  “Now you're gonna take care of me?” Lying down, Toby rested his head on Miko's lap.

  “Is that no?”

  Toby rolled his eyes. “Yes, I ate today. I'm just busy.”

  “I come to work with you.”

  “No,” he said firmly. “You're supposed to be at work yourself.”

  “I take break. I will go back in few days.”

  “A break is when you go outside and smoke a cigarette. Not flying four thousand miles to spend a few days with me.”

  “I would fly four thousand miles to spend minutes with you.”

  Giving a lachrymose smile, Toby wrapped his arms around Miko and snuggled in closer. “Do you think that any of your idols ever date people like me? What do you even call that, people who aren't in your business?”

  “Civilians.”

  “Yeah, civilians.”

  “They do and then they get killed because they fuck up jobs.” Miko knew it was the wrong thing to say even before it came out of his mouth, but it was something he'd heard stories about so many times he couldn't help it. Toby sat up, the perfect mix of horror and guilt on his face. “I fuck them up on my own,” Miko quickly added. “If anything they are better since I am with you.” He pulled Toby into his arms. “I will tell you what happens with this. They get distracted or they bring their lovers with them, which is bad.”

  “You cut that guy's chin off because I called at the wrong time.”

  “Now I learned my lesson and I turn off the phone. And I know I do not have to call from payphones, so there is no longer urgency. If anyone gets me killed, it will be me. If you work while you are tired, you cut off you fingers. Or worse.”

  Toby laughed, the tension beginning to leave him as he leaned back into Miko's embrace. “Do you remember the night we met?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “I almost left. I'd been there awhile already, and...I didn't even know where to start with picking up guys. Then one of Emmett's friends came in. He came right over to me, he was smiling, and I thought it would be nice to just talk to someone I knew, even with the circumstances. Then he started saying how Emmett was really broken up over me, and I could see this look in his eyes, like he thought I was the worst person in the world for being there. He called me heartless.”

  “Who is this friend?”

  Toby smacked him and continued, “I was completely shocked by it, and I wanted to get out of there. But I was just so tired I couldn't even get up.” He took a deep breath to steady himself. “I'm not sure how much time passed after he left, but then I saw you and you were...I don't even know.” Toby laughed. “At first I thought you must be as nervous as I was, the way you were eating those candies.”

  “I was not nervous.” Miko doubted anyone could be as nervous as Toby.

  “I know. You honed in on me and came over just like that, and I thought 'this guy is trouble.'”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah. But you were so fucking adorable, and that accent. I didn't care if you were an asshole, if you just wanted to fuck me and leave. I told myself I was gonna pick you up.”

  Miko laughed. “You did not pick me up, Toby.”

  “Yes I did.” Toby scoffed.

  “No.” Miko kissed his neck, remembering how even then he knew it would be different with him. “You smiled at me and bought me a drink 'like my candy' and then you drank your shot for courage and it did not work so you shrank down like a little mouse.”

  Toby laughed and blushed. “I didn't flirt with you?”

  “You did, but only after I made it clear my intentions. And had more drink in you,” Miko said, and Toby looked somehow relieved again. “You were very cautious. You did not even tell me your name. I had to ask you everything. Start conversation. I asked to come home with you.”

  “I thought I initiated it.”

  “You were not wearing red, you would never be so bold.”

  He smiled flirtatiously and asked, “What if I had been wearing red?”

  “Then I would have fucked you on the bar.”

  Now Toby was wearing red everywhere. “Thank you for coming back, Miko. I really needed that.”

  “Come on.” Miko slung him over his shoulder and carried him to bed. “You are tired.”

  “Are you jet lagged? Will you be able to sleep?”

  “I will lay here if I cannot sleep. You are better Kevlar than Nasir.”

  “Such flattery.” Toby cuddled up against his chest. “Tell me about your job.”

  “It is not very interesting. Just a rich man who has to die.”

  “There are a lot of those.”

  “Yes.” He kissed his head, Toby's eyes already closed. “Rich men tend to piss people off.” He absentmindedly caressed Toby's throat, thinking about his rich man back in Italy. Wondering what Toby was thinking about. What Toby was dreaming about.

  Miko took the car in for a full inspection, then just swapped it with the car Nasir had left in storage despite the clean bill of health. Toby had a day full of meetings, clients and interviews for new employees, and when Miko picked him up from work he looked just as tired as he'd been the previous night.

  “Never in my life have I had such an urge to strangle someone,” Toby proclaimed as he got in the car.

  “Who?” Miko asked with a grin. He frequently had, and acted on, such urges, but it was a nice change to see Toby in such a state over someone other than Simon.

  “Job applicant. The only remotely capable job applicant, mind you. I asked if she had any schedule limitations...yeah. She won't do gay weddings.”

  Miko cocked his head. Toby was far from flaming, but he did advertise his company pretty heavily on that end and was extremely well dressed today for his meetings, wearing a sweater that was on the effeminate side of lavender. A sweater Miko wanted to take off of him. And put on. “I feel an urge.”

  Toby smiled despite himself. “Can we go home and have angry sex?”

  “I am not angry, and you are not coming near me for that when you are angry.”

  That got Toby laughing. “You can pretend to be angry.”

  “Then yes we can.”

  “How's the car?”

  “It was fine but we switch just in case.”

  “Shit. I forgot all about the one Nasir left.” Toby gripped Miko's hand on the gearshift. “I'm sorry.”

  “If you apologize for me being here again we will have angry sex,” Miko said, giving him a threatening glance.

  “Sorry,” he mouthed with a barely straight face. Then his phone rang and he stopped smiling altogether. “I need to get this. Do you mind?” Miko shook his head and Toby answered with a terse, “Hey
.” Miko kept his eyes on the road, but Toby's body language, his tone, reminded Miko of that phone call with his father. “No, I've been busy.” A long pause, Toby's jaw clenched. “I'll see you Wednesday.”

  “Client?” Miko asked when Toby hung up.

  “Demanding client,” Toby muttered.

  Miko felt another urge. “Who?”

  “Don't,” he said coldly and put his phone away.

  Miko twitched. He'd made comments before about hurting people who upset Toby. He'd made a mostly empty threat towards the applicant just a few minutes ago. This was different. Toby took it seriously. There must've been a reason Miko would want to issue a serious threat.

  He parked the car, not saying anything as they walked to the door. Toby was tense but it was a civilian tension, not guarded like Miko would've been. Miko moved a little closer, letting Toby unlock the door and then grabbing Toby's cellphone and hopping back before Toby could reach for him. “Who?” he demanded, holding it up even further out of Toby's reach.

  “What the fuck, Miko?” Toby shook his head and went inside, and Miko remembered that also like a civilian, Toby wouldn't be looking for a fight. He would be upset, not defensive. Plus Miko didn't know Toby's password.

  Following Toby inside, Miko set the phone down in the candy dish by the door where Toby had put his keys. Toby hadn't gone far, but he had his back to Miko and his arms crossed. He looked tiny. Miko went to him, bracing himself for how much it would hurt if Toby flinched away from him, but he just stood still as Miko hugged him from behind. “I am sorry.”

  “Not every problem can be solved by you hurting somebody.”

  “I was only maybe half serious.”

  “He's just an asshole,” Toby sighed. “I'm in the service field, it goes with the territory.”

  Holding him tighter, Miko rocked them back and forth. “You want to have angry sex?”

  “No,” Toby said, and Miko stopped rocking. “I want to take a shower and go to bed.”

  Miko let his arms slide down Toby's body as he walked away, hesitantly stepping after him like a reprimanded puppy. “You want company?” he tried.

  Toby stopped, turning back to him with a wounded look. “Promise me that you will never pull that macho intimidation shit with me again.”

  Miko nodded, the fact that Toby would feel attacked not protected only then fully resonating with him. “I am sorry. I was worried.”

  Wrapping his arms back around himself, Toby said, “We haven't fought in a really long time.” They hadn't truly fought since the big fight. The end of the world fight. “God, what if you're distracted by this and something—”

  “No no no.” Miko held Toby's face with both hands and kissed him, then pulled him close. He was shaking. “Nothing is going to happen to me. Or to you. Or to asshole client.” Toby laughed softly and hugged him back. “It is all okay. I am right here.” But he would be gone by Wednesday.

  The first thing Miko did when he landed in Rome was check for missed calls or messages from Toby. There was only one, reminding him that some of the streusel Toby packed for him was to be shared with Nasir. Miko smiled and responded with a heart emoticon, then deleted all that remained of the evidence.

  Nasir was waiting for him at the hotel. “You ate my streusel.” It wasn't a question.

  “I was very hungry.” Miko put his head down. “Did he call you?”

  “He is always so worried.”

  “Yes.”

  Nasir took Miko's bag, fishing through it on a mission until he came to one of Miko's shirts. Miko had only packed Toby's shirts, and he watched with suspicion and then reproof as Nasir unwrapped what Toby had packed. “Ha!” Nasir said proudly, smiling to himself as he ate. Then he handed over the last half and folded Miko's shirt back up. “He knows you very well.”

  “Yes.” Miko savored the last of it more than he had the rest, knowing it would be another week before he was home. He actually had been very hungry, and couldn't bear airplane food. “He knows me so well he gave you such a big piece. How is our man?”

  “Nothing new. We should be all set. No problems.”

  Miko was not accustomed to hits having no problems, but apart from the mark wearing way too much cologne on the day of the job and the fact that there was a throat 6,500 kilometers away that he would rather be holding, the remainder of the job was uneventful.

  “I am going to wash my hands again,” Miko said as they made their way to the train station. His prosthetics smelled like an Italian rich in wealth and poor in taste.

  “I'll go meet our man.”

  Miko handed the bag over, heading to the washroom and waiting patiently for an old man to leave. He quickly took the prosthetics off and coated them in soap, letting them sit while he scrubbed his hands in hope to get the scent off. He heard the turnstile for the WC entrance and quickly dunked his right hand in the soapy water out of sight, glancing up in the mirror as he continued to rinse his hands. It took just a moment to recognize the face, one he couldn't place but he had definitely seen before, dark hair like Frank but a softer, less angular face, and a nose that took up most of it. Miko thought about the promise he'd made Nasir, that he would not hesitate to take another assassin out. But it was something else Nasir had said that got Miko to spring into action, when Miko had asked him to call Toby and say goodbye before the Nevada job: “I am not doing that to him. And neither are you.” Miko was not saying goodbye.

  His mind couldn't seem to conjure a greeting in Italian, so instead he said the one phrase he still knew by heart in far too many languages, “Do not come in my mouth.”

  The man was visibly shocked, offended even, and Miko lunged for him, grabbing his middle and driving him hard against the wall with his shoulder. A knife skittered across the tile but this man was a professional. He didn't need weapons any more than Miko did, and he twisted around, wrapping his leg around Miko's and tripping them both to the ground. The impact knocked the wind out of him and it gave the man enough time to get in a punch that broke Miko's glasses before Miko elbowed him off center, their legs still tangled, and knocked him to the floor too. They grappled together, each trying to get back on top, the squeak of shoes and pulsing of blood all Miko could hear. Until he heard his own voice, saying, “Do widzenia.”

  He grabbed the man's head with both hands and smashed it into the floor, over and over until he stopped moving and then over and over again. Shakily standing up, Miko pulled off his glasses and put them into his pocket, dragging the body into a stall and patting him down. A gun. Passport with a name he didn't know. No cellphone. He propped him up on the toilet and went to get the knife, putting that in his pocket along with the man's personal effects and mopping up as much of the blood as he thought was actually real, the entire bathroom dripping with it.

  Washing his hands once more, Miko put a candy in his mouth and walked out, trying not to twitch as he called Nasir. Not even Miko's luck was this bad. It couldn't be a coincidence. “Was he late? Did he try to delay you?”

  “What?” Nasir asked.

  “Was he strange?”

  “No. It was fine. Why?”

  If he was actually covered in blood people would be staring, but they still needed to get the hell out of there. “We need to meet outside. Go for a drive.”

  “I'm on my way.”

  Miko walked straight out the doors, twitching steadily now, and he caught sight of Nasir in the corner of his eye walking parallel to him towards the parking garage near the station. He gripped the man's passport, his hand beginning to ache from the blows, his body beginning to ache. And he smiled.

  Nasir was already hopping in a car when Miko got there, asking “What happened?” as he hotwired it.

  Handing Nasir the passport, Miko said, “He attacked me. Or I attacked him. I knew him.”

  “Dead?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Are you hurt?”

  “No.”

  They drove out of the city, stopping to change cars and then driving
some more. Nasir was quiet, clearly deep in thought and not liking where those thoughts brought him. Finally he stopped, pulling over to the side of the road. “I'm calling Simon.”

  Miko should've been calling Toby, but there was nothing he could say about the situation that wouldn't scare him. “You would not rather see the look on his face when you tell him I live?”

  “This isn't a setup, Miko.” The look on Nasir's face proved he wasn't certain that was true. He called Simon and put it on speaker, announcing “We have a problem” right as Simon came on asking if the job was done.

  “Oh no. Don't tell me he's done it again. This wasn't like last time with the hemophiliac, was it?”

  “We met someone at the train station.”

  “The associate? He was supposed to meet you at that cafe, not the station.”

  “Not the associate.”

  Simon was silent for a moment, then gasped, “My God. Where is Miko? Am I on speaker?”

  “Yes,” Miko grumbled.

  “Thank bloody Christ. Are you all right?”

  Miko twitched again. There was genuine concern in Simon's voice. “Do you care?”

  “I care if you're dead,” Simon said. “And the other?”

  “Yes.”

  Simon heaved a sigh. “I'm afraid this is all my fault. I called that handler for information. He refused to talk about it over the phone and I said I'd be in Rome next week. He must've realized it was a job. We've worked together before. Used train stations.”

  “Now who's the fucking idiot?” Nasir spat.

  That shut Simon up for the longest period in his life. “Well there is good news,” he said meekly.

  Miko was too busy gaping at Nasir for speaking to Simon that way to ask their handler to continue with his “good news” so Nasir took the lead. “And what's that?”

  “You found your Claudius.”

  Blood in the Water

  Miko: Age 21

  Miko had not been in London since Ophelia left, and the city had a feeling of gloom about it as he and Nasir traveled to Simon's flat. Then again, the gloom could just as well be from Miko, having never felt as distant from Hector as he did at that moment.