by Lee Miller
The old voice left Tommy in the receiving room and went back to his storefront. He loved operating a bakery. It was a front for his real business but it had still offered him a nice clean income over the years. The only reason he kept doing what he did was because of the very warning he had given to Tommy just a few minutes ago. The “Boss” doesn’t like loose ends. He watched Tommy walk back to the cab with a sense of dread. He knew he’d never see the young man again. Tonight was indeed his last night on the job, one way or another. “Did you think I wouldn’t catch on dear brother?” came a voice the baker knew all too well. It was the “Boss”. “You can’t blame me for trying to help the lad; ‘brother’.” He said in his normal voice. The voice in the other room was generated through a busted speaker. Nobody who heard that voice and this one could ever place him as the same person. The ‘service” entrance was actually the only door into the receiving room except for the hidden one behind the bookcase in the main office. “You’ve gotten to close to him, that’s a major hazard in your business.” Came the voice from the dark corner. “Perhaps. But my conscience is clean-ish. Do what you will.” He was ready to retire himself. The years have been too long. For over 5 years now Tommy was his only client, thought it was often portrayed in the organization that this was a main hub for equipment. Looking back on it now, the Baker had to chuckle to himself. With Tommy retiring after tonight, who would have been his next customer? It was all very simple to see now even if he couldn’t see it before. “Tomorrow’s headlines should be quiet a read I should think.” The baker said into the darkness. “Yes, quiet a read.” He reiterated. A silenced pistol pierced the darkness and the baker fell to the floor as his knees buckled under the weight of a dying body. No one outside would have seen or heard anything. The Baker was grateful for that at least. No innocent lives lost. Just his. “I shall enjoy retirement” he uttered with his last breath. The boss stepped over to the dead baker on the floor and opened the cash register. He took the $150 out of the till. “Yes dear brother. Quiet a read.” He said as he gazed at the dead man on the floor. Nostalgia hit him harder than he thought it would. He would miss this old man that he had known since childhood. They ran and laughed and played together in their native Kansas farm. He would miss his older brother dearly, the man who taught him so much, then wasted his life as a baker on 5th and 180th. He was mixed with regret and anger. He could have done so much more. Been so much more. “You brought this on yourself asshole.” He muttered as he leveled his pistol and shot the old man in the head a second time. He sat on the floor for what seemed like an eternity. He had worked so hard to get to where he was but at what price? What more would he do to get ahead? He had done everything the organization ever asked of him. But was the price tag starting to get to high? Part of him wanted Tommy to succeed tonight, part of him wanted to get caught now. He murdered his brother in cold blood. He was far less human than he was when he woke up this morning. He was becoming an animal. “I could ‘retire’” he thought to himself. “No, that’s no solution. The events of tonight are in place. Nothing can change the course we are all on now. By dawn, things will be settled and hopefully this whole messy affair will end. Tomorrow will definitely bring new headlines.” He thought to himself. The Boss picked himself up off the dark floor and looked at his watch. It was late. The deed should be close to being done. “11:30” he said to himself. “30 more minutes till a new year. A new beginning, no loose ends. If I hurry, I can get there in time to watch the after math from afar. Make sure everything goes according to plan. Yes, that’s what I’ll do.” He rushed out the side entrance making sure that the door was unlocked. This place would have to look like the scene of a burglary/homicide to the police in the morning.
He ran to his car and raced across town. Luckily the streets where empty at this hour due to the New Year’s celebrations going on. He made great time. He pulled up to the curb a block away from the building and got out of the car. “Way to quiet. Surly there should be a lot more traffic here. Something isn’t right. Where is everyone?” he thought. He drew his gaze up the side of the building facing him and caught a glimpse of movement on what he thought was the 40th floor. He jumped back in his car to retrieve his bird watching binoculars and held them to his eyes as he scanned the building a second time. Sure enough, there was a figure hanging from the rail of the fire escape. Before he could do anything, the figure apparently lost its grip and began the fall to the pavement. The Boss gasped as he followed the flailing figured down as best he could. Even from this distance he could hear the body crashing into the pavement making a loud sickening crunching noise as every bone shattered at once. No doubt that the person was dead on impact. Forgetting why he was here, he ran as fast as he could. He had to know who it was that fell to their death. There was no point in considering rendering aid. The person was dead. Just as dead as the baker at the fake storefront he just left. He came around the last corner. The body was smashed on the pavement, it was almost impossible to tell who it used to be. He heard the cops as they ran up to the scene. He took one last look at what was left of the face and saw the tell-tale signs he was looking for. He smiled as he turned and hurried away.
Tommy left the receiving office and got back in the cab, still a little rattled at the old voice’s words. He had been doing this job a long time and knew the dangers of it. He had worked for the same employer since the day he got started in this business. He had always just assumed that he and the organization would just cut ties when his last job was done. Maybe receive some severance pay or some kind of bonus for all the years of faithful service. All he gets in the end is some cryptic advice from an old guy he has never actually met before? “What a crock of shit” Tommy thought. “I deserve a better exit than just some old guy trying to play Yoda.” He was fuming now. His temper has always been the worst part about him. It never took much to get him boiling mad at someone or something. He had worked over the years to keep his anger issues in check. These days he only had fleeting thoughts of tearing someone’s head from their shoulders and ramming it up their ass. He had gotten a lot better about not actually doing it. Yet he still couldn’t help but feel a little pissed about getting a snub like this. All the years of faithful service and he gets swept out like old dust under a new rug. It was off-putting. Tommy gazed out the window at the passing city and tried getting his emotions in check. He couldn’t afford to be emotional when conducting business. Emotions create mistakes. Mistakes he couldn’t afford. As the cab lurched and stopped through the insane traffic of the last evening of the old year, he watched as the afternoon sky shifted to premature twilight due to the blanket of gray covering the city. His thoughts turned toward his job. The building should be fairly empty at this hour, making movement easy. He was grateful for that. Charles, the elderly doorman, wouldn’t be a problem. Odds are he’ll be taking his dinner break at this hour. As he thought about the upcoming night and what it had in store for him, he kept catching the cab driver stealing glimpses of him through the rearview mirror. “Something bothering you” he looked at the license on the glass partition for the first time “Dave?” Tommy inquired with an edge of anger to his voice. He still hadn’t mastered the covering up part. Anger was the one emotion he wore on his sleeve easy enough. “Uh…no, no sir, just curious is all.” Dave the cabby stammered. Tommy was irked, “Curious about what, DAVE”? “Well, you seem like an intense fellow mister. I was curious about what could cause someone like you to be as much like you as you are.” Dave offered. Tommy was still irked and now perplexed. “Dave, do you want to start making sense now or after I die of old age?” That brought a soft chuckle out of the far too aware cab driver. “Forgive me sir. My dear old mother always used to tell me I was far too intuitive for my own good sometimes. I meant nothing by it. Honestly.” Tommy could detect a sense of unease in his cab driver. “Something wrong Dave? You seem a bit uneasy or is it just the challenge of feeding this thread through the small eye of a needle such as the city streets?” Tommy loved meta
phors. He used them often in his classes. It made the children think a little harder. “Pardon sir? I’ve been driving this cab for almost twenty years now. I’m pretty capable of threading it through any street I want, no matter how much traffic.” Dave was indignant now. Tommy laughed to himself. “Prove it Dave. Get us to where we are going and I’ll throw in another $100.” Tommy offered, even though he had already decided to give it to the cabby due to the amount of time he took of the man’s day. He may be a lot of things, but Tommy was never without compassion for the working class Joes. “Challenge accepted! Buckle in dude.” Dave offered, resolve drenching every word.
Dave the cabbie pulled the car over to the curb about a block away from Tommy’s last given address at Tommy’s request. Dave watched, as his passenger seemed to be lost in thought. He had a gut feeling he should remember every detail of this man’s face. Something just wasn’t sitting right with him. He had been driving a cab most of his life and met every kind of person you could imagine. This guy was someone worth remembering. Dave didn’t know if it was a good reason to remember him or a bad, but remember him he will. Tommy glanced up and saw his driver for the day staring at him. “Something I can help you with Dave? Would you like to take a picture or something?” Tommy’s remarks obviously caught the seasoned driver off guard. “No sir! What you do isn’t any of my business, I just drive a cab.” Tommy thought the driver’s comment was a little off. “And… What do you suppose it is I’m doing Dave? You seem to have some kind of idea.” Tommy watched to see what kind of reaction he would get. He got the one he figured would come. Dave tensed up and became nervous. “Careful what you do with the life you’re given Dave. Some very bad people out there would likely end it for you if they thought you were on to them or even caught you staring at them too long. This city is cold. It’s dangerous. Go home to your wife and kids and enjoy the festivities of the night. Take the missus to a nice dinner, on me.” With that Tommy tossed another $100 bill through the window and watched it land on the seat next to the shocked driver while exited the vehicle for the last time. As he walked away he looked back and saw the cabby pulling away from the curb and disappearing back into traffic, turning off its “In Service” light. “Happy New Year’s Dave” He muttered. He turned around to the massive apartment building in front of him. “Time to go to work” Tommy shook his head and readied himself. Everything changes tonight. One thing draws to a close, another opens up wide. Tommy began walking slowly down the block to the entrance of the building. As expected, Charles wasn’t anywhere around so Tommy let himself in the building. The entryway floor was pure marble. The left and right walls contained mostly mirrors except for the cutout where office doors set. Tommy assumed Charles sat behind one of these doors. The ceiling was also covered with mirrors. No expense was spared in decorating the entryway. Anywhere wood was used it was all mahogany and the doors had expensive and intricate designs laid into them. Tommy wished he had a bit more time to admire the artwork that was displayed in this front lobby area. In the center was a massive receptionist desk. Tommy assumed it was for visitors to check in and out. All the apartments above had intercom systems linked to the front desk here so that the receptionist could announce visitors to the tenants.
Behind the desk, half the wall was a giant mirror to the ceiling; the other half was mahogany wood with the same intricate patterns as the doors. He made sure to stay in the shadows of the lobby as he looked around. He knew these kinds of places had cameras that fed to a central security room. If he had been spotted, a security guard would come out to check on him. He moved quietly through the shadows. He would have to take the stairwell all the way up. The elevator cars would also have cameras in them. It was fortunate for him that he was in peak physical shape and loved to exercise. He opened the door to the stairwell and looked around. No cameras. No hint of any other kind of surveillance. He took a deep breath and readied himself for the long climb up. The 41st floor was the location of the job site. As he climbed the stairs and was assured of not meeting anyone or anything, he let his mind wonder a bit. He thought of his upcoming marriage to the beautiful Beth. He thought of the honeymoon that would follow. He and Beth were both pure. Neither had slept with anyone else. For him it was the lack of trusting someone that much, plus he never found anyone he thought desirable enough to make his wife until Beth came in to his life. For her it was her devout sense to her faith that kept her a virgin. She had offered one night after too many glasses of wine about a year after they started dating. Tommy was stoked; he would have loved to have slept with Beth that night, but knew how much she would have hated herself in the morning. He couldn’t risk possibly losing her for a simple one night drunken fling. Instead he took her heels off and laid her in his bed still dressed. He slept on the coach that night. The next morning he woke up to Beth cooking breakfast for him. He knew then how much he loved her. Not only did it not startle him or activate his mistrustful nature, it was the most natural feeling in the world. She saw him watching her. “You know, you could have had me last night.” She said with a slight smile. “Yes, but if I had taken what you offered, would you have offered breakfast this morning?” He inquired, wondering how serious she really was last night. She continued to flip the eggs as they sizzled in the pan and thought about his question. “You seem hesitant to answer Beth.” He remarked. “Nope, not hesitant, I was just wondering how close you were to taking me up on my offer.” She said looking up at him with a blank face. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted sweetheart. But a one night fling is not worth losing you over. You would have regretted it this morning.” He slipped in behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he spoke. He kissed the back of her neck. “If you had taken me last night, you would have never seen me again” She said. “The mark of any true and enduring love is the ability to trust each other explicitly. I knew in the back of my mind you would say no even though my need for you was intense.” She continued. She turned and gazed up at him. He looked deep into her eyes and saw the longing there for him. He wondered if she saw the same thing. “I found the right guy for me. I trust you Tommy, no matter what.” She leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips. “I love you” she concluded. He knew then it was time to plan his retirement from his second job. He couldn’t live that life and live this one with Beth. He chose Beth. “I love you too lass, no matter what” he replied. He got dressed, took Beth back to her place for a quick shower and change of clothes, then they spent the day walking around the city parks bird watching. Tommy had never felt so at ease in his life. Everything with her just seemed natural.
His phone buzzing in his pocket brought him back from the past. He stopped. His heart raced a bit. He sighed when he looked at the caller ID. It was Beth. “Speak of the devil” he answered with a grin. “And the devil shall appear?” she finished. “Rightfully so” he said. “Hey, after you’re done with work tonight, I was wondering, if it’s not too late, you could kiss me for good luck in the coming year?” her voice sounding sweet and innocent as it usually does when she was up to something. “Um, yes sweetie. I wish I could be there to kiss you at midnight as is the tradition. I should be done around 1 or so. Will you still be up?” he asked. “I’ll be up till I hear from you. Have fun at work.” she giggled. “I love you Beth.” he said with the sincerest voice he could find. “I love you too Tommy. See you soon.” With that she was gone. Tommy took a few minutes to compose himself then he continued his climb to the job site.