She decided to follow him back to his house. She’d known he might make the offer and had placed a knife in her handbag. She also carried pepper spray. If the weirdo tried anything, she’d be ready for him. They entered the home. It was furnished in a traditional style and had a lot of dark wood paneling. The house was well-maintained, but she’d never call it lived-in or homey. Elliot Lipson’s house had been comfortable and welcoming. Dana would prefer being around him to Curry any day. She’d actually found herself liking Elliot the longer she’d been with him, despite his odd interest in Tanner.
Curry beckoned her with a wave over his shoulder. “Follow me to my study. I’ve something to show you that you’ll appreciate.”
Dana smiled and followed him. As she walked along behind him, she slipped her hand inside the handbag and palmed the pepper spray, to place it in the back pocket of her jeans.
After passing through the threshold of Curry’s expansive study, Dana looked around at numerous display cases. Some were on tables, but many of them were affixed to the walls. Each held an item. Curry walked over to a wall behind a desk and pointed at the object inside a display case. It was a butcher knife.
“That once belonged to Ted Bundy. He used it to kill one of his victims.”
“Ooh,” Dana said, as she feigned interest. Again, she felt a chill run down her spine. Curry continued the tour around the room, while pointing out the other items in their cases, and the history behind them. It all had to do with serial killers.
When they were done, Curry asked Dana if she’d like something to drink. She begged off, while saying she had to leave. She had plans to go to a movie with her brother and his two kids.
“What about his wife? ‘The bitch’ as you called her.”
“She’s staying home by herself. She rather do that than to be around me.”
“The last time I checked, there were three serial killers active in this state. Maybe ‘the bitch’ will run into one of them while she’s alone tonight.”
“One can only hope,” Dana said, and the words came out flat. She was tired of pretending to be as sick as Curry. “Have you thought more about hiring Soulless to kill Tanner?”
“I have. I believe I’ll do it.”
Dana’s smile was genuine as she said. “Great. And do you agree to the plan to lure Tanner to the spot I told you about?”
“It sounds like a good plan,” Curry said, and then he leaned in for a kiss. Dana let it happen. She’d been expecting it. As a paid escort, she was used to being physical with men she felt no attraction toward. With Curry, her feelings were mixed. Physically, he was desirable, but the man inside that attractive package repulsed her. They stayed locked in an embrace and kissed for long moments. At one point, she felt Curry’s hand brush against her handbag and wondered if he were going to grab it by its strap and yank it away, depriving her of her knife. That didn’t happen, as his hand was once again at her back, as he embraced her. When their lips parted, Curry wore a self-satisfied grin.
“Why don’t we go up to my bedroom and take this to the next level?”
Dana placed a hand on his chest. “That’s a little fast for me, Tom. Maybe we’ll save that to celebrate Soulless’s win over Tanner.”
“That could be weeks from now.”
“Good things come to those who wait,” Dana said, and headed for the door. She half-expected Curry to try to stop her. He didn’t, and before she left, they exchanged phone numbers and email addresses.
“I’ll let you know when I make contact with Soulless again,” Curry said.
“And I’ll email you when Tanner accepts the contract.”
“If you pull this off, it will be epic.”
“We’ll make it happen,” Dana said. She and Curry kissed once more, and then she drove off in her rental.
Curry watched as Dana drove away. When he returned inside the house, there was a man in the foyer waiting for him. He was eight years younger than Curry, more muscular, and had an olive complexion. The man was Curry’s assistant, Sean Sordillo. They had known each other since they’d met inside a police station when Curry had been investigated for the abduction of a woman years earlier. Curry paid Sordillo to do things around the house, along with the occasional odd errand. Dana was now one of those errands. Curry had called him and told him to stay out of sight, and to see what he could find out about Dana.
“What do you think of her?”
“She’s beautiful, I thought you might wind up nailing her.”
“Were you able to get inside her car?”
“I was, and she’s a liar. Her name isn’t Megan. According to the rental agreement in her car, her name is Dana Leonard.”
“Given the subject she brought up, I’m not surprised she gave me a phony name. I did find our meeting too coincidental.”
“I placed a GPS tracker on her car, so we’ll know where she goes.”
“Great minds think alike. I placed one on the bottom of her handbag.”
“How far do you want to take this?”
Curry thought for a moment, then said. “Follow her and find out where she goes and who she talks to. Can you do that?”
“It might get expensive if she gets on a plane.”
“I don’t care. She mentioned that she knows the man who calls himself Tanner Fan #1. I wouldn’t mind knowing who he is.”
“What if she turns out to be a cop?”
Curry shrugged. “It won’t matter. She can’t prove that anything I told her is true. Cop or not, I like her idea about hiring Soulless to kill Tanner.”
“If I’m going to follow her, I’d better get going.”
Curry walked over to a framed picture on a wall. There was a safe behind it. The safe was as old as the house. After removing a packet of bills, Curry tossed the money to Sordillo.
“That should be enough, even if you need to buy a ticket somewhere.”
Sordillo stuffed the bills in a side pocket of his jeans. “I’ll call you when I know something.”
“Good. I think there’s someone behind her pulling the strings. If she had the money she claims to have, and is up to something, she could have hired someone to approach me. She didn’t, so that makes her the one who was hired.”
“I’ll go get my car out of the garage,” Sordillo said, and he left the house to follow the tracking device on Dana’s car to her destination.
Curry returned to his study and sat in the chair behind the desk. “What are you up to Dana Leonard?”
15
To Whom It May Concern
During their voyage to Florida, Gwen taught Soulless the basics of seamanship. He was a fast learner, and she was a good teacher. They docked in Tampa Bay, where they abandoned the boat after wiping it down to remove any of their fingerprints. As an added precaution, Soulless had created a hole down below before leaving. The boat would sink in its slip within hours, eliminating any DNA they might have left behind.
Florida was only a layover for Soulless and Gwen. The couple were planning to head to New York. Gwen had been serious in her offer to help Soulless to kill Tanner, and their best chance at finding Tanner was to travel to New York City.
In the meantime, they rented a bungalow at a beach resort. They planned to stay for three days, then head north by car. Since the close call Gwen had in Mexico, she was reluctant to fly. It was possible that the cop with the bomb-sniffing dog had worked with a sketch artist to render a likeness of her.
Soulless thought she was being paranoid but changed his mind when he checked the news reports. His actions in Mexico, the massacre of the Pirrello family, had developed into a sensation, thanks to the attention the international media was giving it.
There was talk that the FBI was going to add Soulless onto their Most Wanted List. It was unlikely, as his most heinous acts had generally occurred in countries other than the United States, but he was definitely a hot topic on the talk radio shows. The latest on the story was the claim that he might have a female accomplice. That tidbit
was the result of their encounter with the Mexican cop and his dog.
Gwen had been a white woman in Mexico and a dog had alerted to a scent on her just days after the bombs went off that killed the Pirrello family. The authorities couldn’t help but wonder if she were tied to the bombs in the cemetery. There was also a drawing of Soulless. It was laughable in its generality. It portrayed a bearded man in a baseball cap wearing sunglasses. There were tens of thousands of men that could fit that description.
At the resort, Soulless and Gwen kept to themselves. They didn’t venture onto the beach either. They had their fill of it from their time in Cancún. What they did was make plans. Soulless suffered no illusions that he was a better shot than Tanner or better at tracking a subject than he was. However, Soulless did consider himself to be a better killer. With Gwen’s help, he could kill Tanner from a distance with a bomb. The trick was to know where Tanner would be. If he could be sure of Tanner’s future location, Soulless could set traps for the man.
The two of them ran into a dead-end as they tried to think of a way to lure Tanner into a trap. After a meal, and a bout of lovemaking, Gwen decided to go to sleep early. Soulless told her he wasn’t tired and that he would stay up for a while.
He brought out a new laptop he’d bought since arriving in Florida and decided to surf the web until he was sleepy. When he visited the website that ranked assassins, he was shocked and enraged by the words that were at the top of the page where the rankings were listed. It was a message that had been written by the website’s administrators.
* * *
Hello,
* * *
We’ve spent quite some time debating making a change to the website, and after giving it much thought, we’ve decided to do it. Going forward, the man who calls himself Soulless will no longer be considered an assassin by the management of this website. That means his name is permanently removed from the rankings.
The horrific and tragic events in Mexico that were brought about by Soulless went beyond the pale. The man isn’t an assassin. He is a butcher, a monster, and a threat to the innocent. Assassins don’t set off bombs that kill babies. Madmen and terrorists engage in such actions.
We know there are some in our community who will disagree with this decision, nevertheless, it is final. Soulless has been stripped of his rank, and it is our fervent wish that the authorities find the man and bring him to justice.
* * *
Thank you for your time,
Admin.
* * *
Soulless gawked at the screen. Stripped of his rank? That was the last thing he had expected to see. He had come to the website to check if he had finally been given his rightful place as the Number One Assassin in the world because of his success in Mexico. Instead, his triumph was being called the act of a butcher.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Soulless said aloud, and he had slipped into his native Russian tongue when he said it. He’d been referring to the anonymous “Admin” who ran the website.
He looked at the rankings, saw Tanner’s name in the Number One position, and where his name had been, there was the name of the Japanese assassin, Taran.
Rage enveloped Soulless. His hands each gripped one section of the laptop and he was about to tear the machine apart when he stopped himself. He shot up from the chair he sat in and grabbed a bottle from the small bar the bungalow came with. He didn’t bother with a glass and drank whiskey straight from the bottle. After he calmed a bit, he returned to the website, and visited the forum section.
There was a long discussion posted about the site’s decision to remove him from the rankings. Most were in agreement with the decision, more than ninety percent. Soulless gritted his teeth and read on, while continuing to drink.
As usual, the one who called himself Soulless Fan #1 was on his side. He sounded as livid as Soulless was by the decision. He also went on to predict that in the coming days, Soulless would prove he was the greatest assassin of all time. When someone pointed out that the only way Soulless could ever come close to achieving that honor would be to kill Tanner, Soulless Fan #1 responded with a smile emoji. The smile on the cartoon creation was a smug one.
Soulless stared at it. It was as if the man knew his plans concerning Tanner. He kept reading, reading and drinking, and within three hours he was quite drunk.
Through blurry eyes, he fumbled at the laptop’s keyboard, created the screen name—Soulless, Yes, The Real Fucking Soulless—and began to type a message on the forum. English was not his first language, although, he had been taught to read and write it while growing up. But as drunk as he was, he misspelled some words, and some were indecipherable, but anyone reading the rant wouldn’t misinterpret his meaning, or the threats they conveyed.
* * *
This message is for whose ever is running this website. You can take your decision to remove me from the rankings and shove it up your ass. I am an assassin, a paid killer, and I fulfilled my contract in Mexico. My methods shouldn’t concerns you, and the dessition to paerewsaf me is unfair.
I am better than Tanner, betterer than anyone elser and I will prove it soon by killing the man. Once I’m done with him, I will make it my mission to discover who you aren’t and come after you. Then, you will know for certain that I am Soulless, the greatest assassin of all time, a living legend, a, man without pear, the best whoever, a, fuck you!
* * *
Soulless posted the message, then drank until he passed out.
16
Contract Offered; Contract Accepted
Lorraine Monk was certain that she would soon have her revenge against Tanner. She was in Ohio, in an area named Clear Valley. It was an isolated location and one few people visited. At first glance, the valley appeared picturesque, especially from the elevated location on a ridge where Lorraine was viewing it from. However, it didn’t take long for one to wonder why there was a constant flow of steam boiling up from multiple points in the ground below. And if viewed through binoculars, you could make out the cracks in the ground.
Beneath the valley’s floor there was an immense coal fire burning, it was a situation similar to that which devastated the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, which was once a community of over a thousand residents, and now had only a handful left.
The gases released from the coal fire were harmful and could be deadly over prolonged exposure, which made Clear Valley uninhabitable. It was estimated that the fire wouldn’t burn itself out for over a hundred years.
Lorraine thought the area was the perfect spot to stage a slaughter, and Tanner and Soulless would be the victims. Dana had made contact and assured Lorraine that both Tanner and Soulless had received offers of contracts to kill each other. While Lorraine waited to see if they took the bait, she visited Clear Valley to make sure everything was in place.
Lorraine was not alone. There was a man with her named Paul Mills. Mills owned a company that supplied military contractors. He also had a reason to want Tanner dead. Mills had been good friends with the Brit named Archer whom Tanner had killed in Maine. Archer had saved Mills’ life when they were both on missions together years earlier. Mills wanted to make Tanner pay with his life for killing Archer.
The valley sat at the bottom of weedy hills but on one side there was a wall of vertical rock. The top of the wall could be reached by walking up a steep incline. Beneath that, an aperture had formed that was large enough for two people to fit inside, like a small shallow cave. Over the years, people left behind graffiti inside, along with the names of lovers written within drawings of hearts.
The crevice was right at the top and gave the advantage of height. Lorraine had arranged to have a narrow slot cut into the face of the wall, so that once inside the crevice, a talented sniper would have a fine view of the valley below. One of Mills’ men could pick off targets with ease while being protected by the wall of granite he was surrounded by on three sides.
Other than a dirt road, the only way to enter the valley was t
o take a long hike through the woods, or to land a helicopter into it. Clear Valley took up an area of over seven hundred acres.
Mills pointed downward and to his right, where the road was located. “Once it’s verified that Tanner and Soulless are here, me and my men will swoop down in helicopters and get to work. I’ll have a man here in the sniper’s nest, and four others will be guarding the road out. They’ll also drop a tree across it to make sure no one can leave on foot.”
“The valley is quite large. How will you verify that Tanner and Soulless are here?” Lorraine asked.
Mills grinned. “That’s easy. We’ll wait until one of them takes a shot at the other. That will be our signal. With luck, that shot will mean one of them is dead already.”
Lorraine looked around. She squinted as she spotted someone moving below at the edge of the surrounding trees. “There are people living here?”
“We checked it out. It looks like a homeless family. They’re living in a tent. They’ll take off once the shooting starts.”
“What about the other place I wanted you to set up?”
“The lookout? That’s on the other side, at the top of the hill there. See that tree that looks really wide at the bottom. We built on to that tree and covered it with bark. Your lookie-loos can see the action from up there.”
“Good. It was a selling point that they would have an opportunity to view the action.”
Mills laughed. “They may get more action than they expect. This sniper’s post is solid rock, and no rounds will penetrate it. That’s not true for the lookout. It’s just wood. A bullet has a good chance of penetrating it and hitting whoever is inside.”
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