ANGELS AND GHOSTS

What a Wonderful World

She was coming too, and that pleased Rachael.

The woman shook her head, shivering, and then after she saw her, she stared at her, although bizarrely, in a burst of energy, the woman rocked in the chair, arms and legs trying to thrash around, then curiously, she began munching on the gag, chomping down on it, trying to bite through it, furiously shaking her head around like a dog with a bone. Surprisingly, her efforts were rewarded, as the gag loosened, and the woman drew in a large breath and yelled out, “What the ucks going on?”

Rachael was tempted to ask, What does uck mean? But no, time to get this ball rolling. She moved behind her and removed the gag, then presented herself front and centre as she said, “You’re probably wondering why you’re naked-”

“Who the fuck are you?” the woman screamed.

“Hey, hey settle down,” Rachael advised, “Now like I was saying, you’re probably wondering why you’re naked-”

“Let me up, untie me!” the woman yelled.

“Jesus,” Rachael moaned, “Settle down and shut up, or else this gag is going back on!”

With her eyes blazing and her nostrils flaring, the woman spat out, “You little bitch, I’m going straight to the cops!”

Rachael cocked her head and said mockingly, “Hmmm, I’m looking at you and I don’t think you’re going anywhere sister.”

“Let me up!” the woman screamed.

“Listen, shut up will ya, because I have a question to ask you and-”

“I know people bitch!” the woman interrupted, “And they’re going to be coming after you!”

Everything had gone smoothly so far, so Rachael was a bit pissed by the woman’s attitude, and she threatened, “You’re starting to annoy me, so just shut the fuck up and-”

“Untie me, or else you’re going to be sorry!” she screamed.

Rachael liked her routine, liked being in control, liked to dictate the order of events, although this bitch wasn’t playing her role. “One more word out of you, and I’m gunna smash you one!” Rachael roared.

“Help me!” the woman yelled, “Help me!” then she did scream, loud and high-pitched, and Rachael slapped her.

“Fuck!” the woman cried out, and Rachael slapped her again.

“You stupid bitch!” Rachael snorted, “Can you see a pattern emerging here? You scream, and then I slap you, okay?”

The woman was in tears, more from the shock than the pain, and she blubbered, “What’s going on, why are you doing this?”

“No, no, no,” Rachael cautioned, “Let me make this very clear; you do not talk unless I ask you a question, okay?”

“What is this, who are-” the woman began, then she stopped instantly as Rachael raised her hand threateningly and snapped, “For fucks sake, just shut up!”

Rachael moved away from her, trying to calm herself, then a minute later, she strode back in front of her. “Now I’m going to ask you a question, and then I want you to answer it.”

Rachael could see the terror in her eyes, and thankfully, finally, she was silent “Okay, so you’re probably wondering why you’re naked and tied to a chair.”

The woman stared at her.

Rachael put her hands on her hips and snorted, “Answer the question!”

The woman shook her head and said timidly, “That wasn’t really a question, it was more like a statement.”

“Ohhh for fucks sake.” Rachael moaned as she tossed her head back. Regathering quickly, she said, “Okay, okay, let me rephrase it for you; are you wondering why you’re naked and tied to a chair?”

“You kidnapped me!” the woman yelled.

Rachael had to laugh. “Well yeah I did, but what I’m wanting from you is for you to say something like, Yes actually, I was wondering why I’m naked and tied to a chair.”

“What do you want?” the woman asked ungraciously.

Rachael rolled her eyes and moaned, “Jesus, you are an unco-operative bitch!”

“Money, you want money?”

“You’ve fucked up my routine lady, so we may as well get down to business.” Rachael spat out as she leant down to look in her eyes. Composing herself, she asked bluntly, “Have you done anything naughty recently?”

The woman froze.

“Huh?” Rachael asked, “Have you been involved in any plots to get rid of anybody recently?”

The woman lowered her gaze and mumbled, “Ummm, my, my husband is missing; is that what this is about?”

“Yes, it is.”

“He, he went missing about a year ago, and I went and saw the police to report him missing.”

“All fine and dandy, but the reason I’m here is to get you to confess to your crime and-”

“I haven’t committed any crime!” the woman interrupted.

“Jeez, do you want me to punch your fucking head in?” Rachael snorted.

“Wait, no, I haven’t-”

“If you speak out of turn again, I am going to punch you!” Rachael threatened. She stood straight and blew out a breath, then looked at her. “I will punch you if you interrupt me again, but like I was saying, I am here to get you to confess to your crime, and I also want to know where the body is.”

Nervous and agitated, the woman said quietly, “No, I haven’t committed any crime.”

“Really? In any civilised country, organising a hitman to kill someone is seen as a major felony, so in my-”

No, no!” she interrupted, and Rachael tensed, then she leant back and punched her in the face.

“Arrrhhh!” she screamed. Rachael thought that the volume of the scream was disproportionate to the force of the blow. It was just a jab really, just a physical request to make the woman understand that she wanted to finish her statement.

“Now look Big Mouth, here’s the deal; you confess to your crime and tell me where the body is, then I’ll turn you over to the courts and they can decide your fate, or else you can lie to me and then I will kill you.”

The woman froze, then panted, “What, kill me?”

“Just shut up and listen! I want you to confess to your crime and tell me where the body is, and then I will turn you over to the cops; or else if you lie to me, yes, I will kill you.”

The woman was shivering as she said, “You, you, you’re not a cop.”

“True.”

“Who are you?”

Okay, it always got to this point; the target wanting to know who she was. Rachael stood three feet in front of her, her hands on her hips, an expression of superiority spreading across her face, and she sucked in a breath then said, “My name is Rachael Terina, and I was hired to get you to confess, and also to get you to tell me where the body is.”

The woman shook her head nervously then mumbled, “My husband’s missing, I already told you, I reported it to the police personally.”

Rachael considered leaving her hands on her hips to create an image of control and power, but no, move in, get right in her face before you issue a threat. She leant forward and said sternly, “The people I work for have done all the research lady, and we know all about it, so keep lying and I am going to kill you.”

Strangely, the woman didn’t seem intimidated by the in-your-face stance, as she responded, “That’s not a lie, I did report it to the police.”

“Okay, granted, yes you did, but you knew that he was missing because you arranged for him to go missing.”

Rachael noted the signs of admission; a flinch, lips drawn in, pupils dilating, then the woman offered meekly, “No, no, there’s been a mistake somewhere.”

“Well, that’s true, but in my book, the mistake was that you weren’t satisfied with your five million dollar pay-out, because you were greedy and you wanted it all.”

The start of her routine had been fucked up, although now it was starting to go as per the script. The woman would have been un-nerved by the accusation, and her uneasiness had just been multiplied by the introduction of the figures.

The woman shook her hair back, then looked straight at her as she said, “Okay, there’s been a major mix-up here, because you’ve been given the wrong information.”

“I haven’t got time to debate this with you, so I’ll lay it on the line.” Rachael said as she held her gaze, wanting to see her reaction as the name popped up. “My people have already spoken to Tony Bliviano.”

The woman’s reaction was immediate, her lips sealing, her eyes opening wider.

“That small-time hood told us that you paid him directly, and, I might add, I think he ripped you off, because three hundred thousand is pretty steep for a hit.”

Rachael could see the confusion in her eyes, and she knew that the woman would be running it through her mind; Husband missing … five million pay-out … Tony Bliviano … how come she knows all this?

“Under some not very subtle pressure, Bliviano gave my people the name of the hitman, Michael Pordisi, aka, Mikey Ford, aka, Charles Marcella, although I’m sure he wouldn’t have passed his real name onto you; but two days after your husband goes missing, our hitman has fled the country, his whereabouts unknown. My people also have the name of the person who put you onto Bliviano, one Mark Colling, and ohhh, your new boyfriend admitted that he was the person who contacted Mark Colling.”

Rachael watched the expression in her eyes change, and she recognised it; defeat, although the woman’s nervous reply surprised her.

“I, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Keep lying lady, and you’re going to die here today, or fess up and tell me where the body is, and then we’ll let the courts deal with you.”

The woman bowed her head, and Rachael knew that she would be furiously trying to sum things up, possibly knowing that the gig was up, but not being certain that she wanted to implicate herself.

The woman shook her hair back, then looked straight at her, “What if I don’t know where the body is?”

Bingo, an admission. Granted, the admission was unspoken, but Rachael, after nineteen previous assignments, was an expert in body language and verbal evasion. “Convince me that you don’t know.” she replied calmly.

“No, that’s impossible!” the woman declared. “How can I convince you?”

“Sweet Cheeks, you’re the one whose life is dangling by a thread, so start talking.”

Rachael took a moment to observe her. In her late thirties, she looked good, her black hair cut to her shoulders, a prominent fringe swept to the right. Her eyes were blue-grey and very expressive, and her attractive face was smooth and wrinkle-free. She was in shape too, but after following her for more than three weeks and recording down the regular gym sessions, Rachael thought that she’d want to be. Her breasts were large, and as they seemed too big in proportion to the rest of her body, and seeing as how the woman’s regular shifting and wriggling weren’t promoting any great movement from the breasts, Rachael assumed that they were fake. The woman wasn’t at her best right at this moment, although Rachael imagined that with the styling and grooming that rich bitches were slaves to, this woman would be a head-turner.

“Well okay, I admit that I did pay that man, and yeah, he said it would be dealt with, and that’s all I know.”

“So you admit that you organised for Redmond Charles Harvey to be killed?”

The head bowed, then nodded.

“Answer verbally.”

“Yes, I admit it.”

“So the next question is, why?”

She looked up and asked, “Is that relevant? I mean I just admitted to it.”

“I’d like to know, so answer.”

The woman blew out wearily then said, “He never liked me, I mean he was always on at Charles to divorce me, saying that I was just a gold-digger and that I’d only married him for his money, and he made me-”

“On the face of it,” Rachael interrupted, “I would presume that you did marry him for the money. You’re an attractive woman and you go out and marry someone more than twice your age, so I’m thinking that maybe Redmond had a valid point.”

“Well yes, I did marry him because of his wealth, but what, is that a crime? I mean has that never happened before?”

Rachael nodded, “Fair point.”

“If you asked anybody, they would tell you that Charles loved me and doted over me, but his bastard son never accepted me, and he made my life a living hell.”

“If I had a wealthy father, and some gold-digger shacked up with him purely for the money, I probably wouldn’t be too happy about it either.”

“Okay, but I spent fifteen years of my life with him, fifteen years of being married to someone that I didn’t want to be married to.”

“It was obviously your choice to get married though.”

“Yes, granted, but I suffered in that time. I had an old man pawing me and molesting me, while other attractive women of my age were dating their Romeo’s or Prince Charming’s.”

“Just taking a stab in the dark, I’m assuming that you probably played around during the marriage.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s anybody’s business.”

Reasonable point, Rachael thought, then she said, “By the way, your wimpy lover caved in like a house of cards and told my people everything.”

The woman simply stared at her.

“How does that make you feel; the love of your life throwing you to the wolves?”

The woman bowed her face and said quietly, “He wasn’t the love of my life.”

“No?”

“Well he looked good, but there wasn’t a lot of substance to him.”

“I’ll just toss a little thought in here; with him being twelve years younger than you, maybe he was wanting to use you in the same manner that you used Charles.”

The woman gazed at her as she said, “I may have a few faults, but I’m no fool.”

“Meaning?”

“Well, he wasn’t in my long-term plans.”

“Anyway, getting back to the crux of the matter, you were still going to get a payment of five million bucks, and a yearly allowance of a quarter of a million, and what, that’s not enough for you?”

“Well you have to understand that I had grown to despise Redmond, and when Charles passed away, I had a quiet chat to my solicitor and asked him, you know, what chance do I have of squeezing a little bit more out of his estate to compensate me for wasting my golden years locked in a loveless marriage.”

“Arrhh, you said that Charles loved you and doted over you.”

“Well he did, yes, but put yourself in my situation, and just imagine what it would be like to sleep with your grand-father every night.”

“Sweetie, darling, self-inflicted wounds, nobody forced you to marry him.”

“Yes, true, but I hated Redmond with a passion, and I didn’t want him to be richer than me.”

Rachael stared at her, making her uncomfortable, uncomfortable enough to have the woman ask, “What?”

“Not real.” Rachael stated.

“Sorry?”

“Your tits, they’re not real.”

The woman was bemused.

“Can I feel them?” Rachael asked sheepishly.

“What?” the woman coughed out, screwing up her nose.

“Can I feel your tits?”

The woman was taken aback, then she snorted, “No!”

“Awww, come on,” Rachael pleaded, “I wanta be the last person to fondle your boobs.”

The woman stared at her, then asked nervously, “What are you talking about?”

“I have principles, and I would never fondle anybody without their permission, so I’m asking your permission to have a little feel.”

“No, sorry, I’m more interested in why you said that you wanted to be the last person to fondle them?” the woman asked, her emphasis clearly on the word last.

Rachael nodded and said blandly, “Okay, yeah, cards on the table.”

She squatted down next to her and put her right hand on the woman’s thigh, then said, “It’s funny that I’ve only just met you, and even though we didn’t get off to a good start, you seem like a good chick. Obviously you’re a cunning, devious bitch, but I’m kinda thinking that you’d be fun to knock around with and have a drink with, so Sweetie, I won’t bullshit to you …”

She left the statement hanging, and it did hang, the woman drawn to it as she asked, “What are you saying?”

Rachael gazed at her and smiled, then thought, No, smiling is not appropriate in this situation.

She un-smiled, then said casually, “You my dear, are just about to die, you are just about to pay for your sins.”

Rachael was surprised that she didn’t scream in terror, or at the very least gasp in shock; the woman sitting stony-faced, staring at her.

“You, you,” she eventually mumbled, “You said that you were going to turn me over to the police.”

“Yes I did, and I admit that was a lie; I mean your last moments on the planet are going to be played out right here.”

Again, no screams or gasps, the woman asking quietly, “You’re going to kill me?”

“Yes I am.” Rachael nodded.

The woman seemed deep in concentration until she asked quietly, “How much do you want?”

“Sorry?”

“How much money do you want to let me go?”

Rachael pondered, then replied, “Five million would be nice, but ohhh, actually, who gets the five million when you die?”

The woman shook her head and muttered, “Ummm, I haven’t received the money yet, so I haven’t done a will.”

Rachael was super impressed with the woman’s composure; tied naked to a chair, with the person squatting before her stating that she was going to kill her; and no hysterics or blubbering, just a nervous tremor shivering its way up her body. “You’re pretty cool, you know that?”

The woman held her gaze as she said, “I can get one million, two million, however much you want, and I’ll try and get it to you by tomorrow.”

“Darling, you haven’t got any tomorrow’s left.” Rachael said casually.

The woman bowed her face, then asked, “Who hired you to do this?”

“Melissa,” Rachael begun, then a thought hit her. Being the Avenging Angel, the executioner, she had never called any of her targets by their names, because none of them deserved to be personalized; although this composed and feisty woman possibly did deserve the right to be personalised. “Melissa, I mean it’s not obvious?”

“Redmond’s children?”

“Tick.”

The woman cocked her head and almost produced a smile as she said, “No, you’re not going to kill me.”

Rachael ran a hand over the woman’s smooth thigh, then said, “Well, I’m actually an assassin, I mean that’s my job, and yeah, the bad news sister is that I’ve been hired to kill you.”

The woman held Rachael’s gaze and said, “I don’t believe you.”

Rachael smirked, then said, “Don’t really matter what you think.”

Rachael noted the woman’s eyes darting around, then the woman said timidly, “You, you seem nice, you know, you seem like a nice person, so maybe I can see my accountant and yeah, however much you want.”

“Fuck!” Rachael blew out.

“What?” the woman asked nervously.

“Stop trying to make me like you,” Rachael began, “I like to isolate my feelings so that I can kill without any emotions being stirred, so just act like a bitch, and that will allow me to do my job effectively.”

The woman offered a half-smile, then said, “I’m not a bitch.”

“Hmmm, maybe not, but you are a murderer.”

“No, no, I’ve never murdered anyone!”

“Melissa, you just admitted that you organised it.”

“Yes, but I didn’t do the deed.”

“You’re responsible for it, so you’re the one who is going to pay the price.”

Melissa studied her, then asked, “How much are they paying you?”

“Not relevant.”

“Tell me!” she demanded.

“Ohhh, yeah, that’s it Baby,” Rachael grinned, “Make me hate you, because that makes my job so much easier.”

“No, no,” Melissa jumped in quickly, “Tell me how much they’re paying you, and I’ll pay you double, triple, whatever!”

“Sweetie, Darling, it doesn’t work like that. I’m a professional and I have a reputation to uphold, so unfortunately, I’m the last person you’re ever going to see.”

Melissa seemed to be studying her again, then she stated, “Okay, but look at it this way; if you kill me, that means that you’re just as bad as the hitman, because you’d be murdering someone.”

“In my profession, we refer to it as fulfilling the contract.”

“No, it’s murder!”

“Okay, well I guess you and me have something in common then.”

Melissa straightened in the chair then said pleadingly, “Okay, well help me here, tell me what I have to do so that you’ll let me go.”

Rachael bowed her face, disappointed with herself. She saw herself as the ultimate professional; do all the planning, follow all the procedures and then get the job done with a minimum of fuss, but she’d let her guard down on this one, humanizing someone who had organised a murder. “Sorry Honey, it ends here today, I mean YOU end here today.”

“Ummm, ummm …”

“What?”

Melissa’s knees were trembling as she spoke, “Can I just ask you, I mean what I did, what I organised, do you really think that I deserve to die for that?”

Rachael thought about the question then said, “My thoughts are that people shouldn’t kill other people, because death is final, death is the end of the road. Your victim will never see another tomorrow, will never get to see his children grow up, will never get to engage with his grandchildren, so yeah, to me, I’m kinda like an eye-for-an-eye gal, and organising to have someone killed means that the person who arranged it should be deprived of the same things they deprived the victim of.”

The woman hung her head and said quietly, “Okay, well I guess the motive is honourable.”

“An eye for an eye Melissa.”

“Ummm, can I tell you something?”

“What?”

Melissa’s focus was on her knees as she mumbled, “I, I regret doing it, I mean I regret organising it. I used to stomp around and say how much I hated him, and one time Bryan said that he knows a guy, and yeah, things just got out of control.”

“Yeah, okay, but you still went ahead with it.”

Melissa sighed, unsettled by having to relive it, then she said quietly, “Once Bryan took the first step, things happened really quickly, and I was confused, and I said to him, No, I can’t go through with this, but he said that the plan was too far down the track now, and you don’t stuff people like this around.”

Rachael pondered, then replied, “You could have offered them money to forget about it and walk away.”

“Well Bryan, Bryan said that these shady people would always know that we’d had a plan to get rid of someone, and if we backed out, they could blackmail us down the track.”

“I understand that, but at the end of the day, you went ahead with it, and two children lost their father because of it.”

Melissa looked up and mumbled, “Yes, yes, but I regret it, I honestly do, and it haunts me every day.”

Rachael mulled over her statement, then said, “I’ve been watching you for more than three weeks, and if I was going to offer a comment, your daily activities don’t have you coming across as someone who is wracked with despair.”

“You were watching me?”

“Melissa, I’m a professional.”

Her head sagged as she said quietly, “Well I wanted to try and stick to my usual routine, but it affected me, I mean I realised that I didn’t only end his life, I seriously screwed up my own life, because I’ll never recover from it, I know that.”

Rachael could tell that the admissions were sincere, although she had a job to do, so she said, “Yes, you did screw up your own life, or I guess, inadvertently, you shortened it.”

Melissa stared at her, then blew out, “You should be going after the hitman, he’s the one who killed him!”

“The children paid us to eliminate you, so unfortunately, that’s what is going to happen.”

The word eliminate had Melissa tensing, so Rachael tapped her on the leg and asked solemnly, “Alright, so we get it done now?”

“You’re really going to do this?”

“Yes, I am.”

Melissa sat as straight as she was able to and looked at her as she said in a flurry, “Okay, I get it; this is some kind of a sick joke!”

Rachael shook her head as she patted her knee again, “Melissa, this ain’t no joke, I mean follow the bouncing ball here.”

“What?”

“Honey, you arranged to have your step-son murdered, then you got kidnapped and brought to this deserted area, and now you’re naked and tied to a chair, and I already told you, I am a female assassin and I am going to kill you.”

Melissa shook her hair out of her eyes and then said boldly, “No you won’t!”

“Yes I will!” Rachael declared. “Didn’t I just explain the eye-for-an-eye bit?”

“Yes, you did,” Melissa began, “But you know, you’re a girl!”

“Well I’m glad you noticed,” Rachael smiled. “But as I’ve already told you, I’m a girl who kills people for money.”

“Well listen to me,” Melissa began, “I can give you money, however much you want!”

“Jesus Melissa, we just went over that. I’m a professional and I have a reputation to uphold.”

Melissa fidgeted, beginning to understand that this was real. “Okay, so I’ll give you two million and then you’ll never have to work again!”

Rachael bowed her head as she skimmed her right hand up Melissa’s thigh, then she said, “Can I tell you something?”

“What?”

“The bad news for you is that I like killing people.”

Melissa froze.

“I feel I should add that I don’t just kill anybody, I only kill people who are bad-asses, I only kill people who are responsible for killing someone else. You arranged to have someone killed because you didn’t like him, and because you didn’t want him to be richer than you, but can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Did you ever spare a thought for Redmond’s children? I mean they were like what, your step-grandchildren or something, so you must have known them reasonably well.”

“Well no, I didn’t really, but that was because Redmond spread vicious rumours about me, and he poisoned his children’s opinion of me.”

“Yeah, okay, I can understand that, but let me tell you something …” Rachael said, then she paused, hoping to introduce a moral closer.

“What?”

“If some gold-digging bitch arranged to have my father killed, I would want to kill her.”

Melissa stared at her, not a muscle moving.

“So yeah Sweet-Cheeks, Redmond’s children must be like me, and they want you to pay.”

Melissa wriggled in the chair then said, “Tell them, tell the children that I will pay you to kill the hitman, I will pay you out of my own money, and if they want anybody else involved in this to be killed, I will pay for that to happen as well!”

Rachael shook her head and said, “Melissa, Mel, the children have already made their decision.”

Melissa opened her eyes wide and looked at her as she said, “No, no, I don’t want to die, so I’ll listen to any reasonable demand that you have.”

“Jesus,” Rachael huffed, then patted her on the knee as she said, “The bouncing ball Mel; you arranged to have someone killed, so then I kill you, then I get paid, and that’s the way this is going to go down.”

“No, no,” Melissa puffed out. “Put yourself in my situation, and just imagine that someone wanted to kill you; you’d be doing everything in your power to try and stay alive!”

“Yes, granted,” Rachael acknowledged, “But the plain and simple fact is, you haven’t got much longer to live.”

Melissa sat straight and declared, “No, no, the plain and simple fact is …” then she blubbered, lowering her gaze as she whispered, “I, I don’t want to die.”

Rachael pushed up and walked away, rubbing her brow. “Jesus, I should’ve just killed you straight away!”

“Ohh, ohh,” Melissa broke in eagerly, “See, you don’t want to do it, so don’t do it!”

“Fuck,” Rachael mumbled, “I do apologise.”

Melissa shook her head in confusion, “Apologise?”

“Yeah, I let this go too long, and I apologise for giving you any false hope.”

“Ummm, ummm, I accept your apology, and I, I think we can, you know, become friends!”

Rachael walked over and squatted beside her and patted her knee as she said compassionately, “Maybe we should just get this done.”

With tears spilling from her eyes, Melissa mumbled, “No, please …”

Rachael patted her knee again, then said, “Sorry Melissa, maybe just take a deep breath and yeah …”

“Wait!”

“What?”

“I already told you that I regret organising it, and, and I’m paying a heavy emotional cost for my involvement.”

“Yes, understood, but Redmond’s children are paying the biggest cost, because they’ll never see their father again.”

“Okay, yes, yes,” Melissa blubbered, “I knew that what I did would eventually catch up with me, and when you take me to the police station, I’ll tell them everything.”

“Melissa, don’t be silly, I’ve told you how this is going to go down.”

“No, you should take me to the police, and that way, everyone involved will be sent to prison.”

Rachael nodded, “You make a good point, but Mel, we’re working for Redmond’s children, and the decision has been made, so …”

“What, so what?”

Rachael sighed, then said quietly, “I’m going to kill you.”

Rachael took a moment to look into her frightened eyes, and she saw it clearly; acceptance.

The target, with her lips quivering and her thighs trembling, finally understood, accepted, that her fate was no longer in her own hands.

Melissa shivered, then tried to steel herself as she asked, “How, how will you kill me?”

“Why do you want to know that?”

“Well, I, I don’t really want to suffer, I mean, you know, I don’t handle pain very well.”

“I’m good at what I do, and I can have the person dying slowly and painfully, or I can kill quickly and painlessly.”

Tears dribbled from Melissa’s eyes, and she blinked against them, then asked, “If, if this is real and you’re really going to do it, can I make a request?”

“A request?”

Melisa tried to compose herself and then said shakily, “If you really are going to do this, I would prefer the quick and painless option.”

Yeah, sure, was the thought that jumped into Rachael’s mind, although the clients had specifically paid for the other option. “Hooo Jeez, I’m getting paid to make you suffer, but I don’t know, can we make a deal?”

Melissa snivelled, her head still held high, her gaze on Rachael as she asked, “What kind of deal?”

Rachael felt a little perverse, although in the very near future, she would be the only person who knew about this deal. “If you let me fondle your tits, you won’t even know it happened.” she said quietly.

Melissa was stunned, and she shook her head in disbelief as she said, “If you kill me, I mean after I’m dead, you can fondle whatever part of me that you want!”

“Well no, I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t have your permission.”

Melissa’s eyes brightened as she asked, “So, so, you need my permission before you do anything to me?”

“Well I’m seeking your permission, yes.”

“In that case, I grant you permission to fondle my breasts, but …” she paused, the pause being an invitation for the other party to step in.

Rachael did step in, “But what?”

“You don’t have my permission to kill me, so let me go!”

Rachael nodded, impressed by the woman’s ability to think rationally under extreme pressure, although she frowned as she replied, “Sorry Melissa, that’s not your call.”

Melissa shook her head in annoyance, then said, “I just don’t get it! You want my permission to grope me, which at best is probably just a low-grade sexual assault, but then you don’t need my permission to commit an act of murder?”

“Okay, maybe we’ll just forget about it.” Rachael said as she pushed up and began moving away.

“Wait!” Melissa panted.

“What?”

“Ummm, why do you want to do it?”

“Well I don’t want to do it, I’m being paid to do it.”

“No, not that, why do you want to … arrhh, fondle me?”

Rachael bowed her head and pondered. Effectively, she’d shown more of herself to this woman than she had to any of the previous targets, so by showing a little more, nobody was going to lose in this episode. “Well one time I hooked up with a stripper who’d had a tit job, and her tits looked and felt fake, but yours, I dunno, they look really, arrhh, inviting.”

Melissa assumed that Rachael had been moving off to get the murder weapon, so she shook her hair back, and with the tears now dribbly freely, she stated, “Well yeah, you have my permission.”

Rachael knelt before her and skimmed then caressed, one hand on each, her fingers toying with the nipples, then all fingers involved in the whole breast. She wanted to rip the sheer gloves off so that she could become properly engaged with the full breasts, but no.

“If you don’t mind me saying,” Melissa began, “This is a bit weird.”

“Yes, granted, but nobody’s ever going to know about it.”

Melissa endured the massage, then declared, “Yes they will!”

“What?”

“Everybody will know about it, because I’m going to record this event in my memoirs, so if you’d kindly untie me, I’d like to write it down while it’s fresh in my mind.”

Rachael frowned, “Sorry Honey, there ain’t gunna be no memoir.”

She kept skimming, enjoying the experience, although fully aware that Melissa’s entire body was now trembling. She felt as if she needed to lighten the mood, so she said brightly, “They actually feel quite nice.”

“Well I hope so; cost me a lot of money.”

“How much?”

“Twenty-five thousand.”

“Sounds expensive.”

“I wanted a good job.”

“What was wrong with your real tits?”

“Too small.”

Rachael gazed at her in a motherly fashion as she said, “I saw a survey once, where more than seventy per cent of the guys interviewed said that they prefer real tits.”

“Okay, but I realised that my future lay in attracting the glances of the rich and the powerful, and my breasts weren’t, Hey, look at me breasts, so yeah, book me in.”

“Hmmm, they do look good and they feel very nice.”

Melissa cocked her head and asked, “Are you a lesbian?”

“Bi-sexual.”

“Ohhh, ohhh, how about this …”

“What?”

“Let me go and then we can become lovers, and you can help me spend my money.”

Rachael bowed her face and mumbled, “Melissa, I’m sorry, but I’ve got a job to do.”

The woman sniffled, survival the most prominent thing in her mind as she mentioned, “You’re very pretty.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Melissa held her gaze as she asked, “Do you think I’m attractive?”

“Hmmm, yeah, well you’re … you’re …” Rachael stumbled, wondering whether she should say the word that was ringing in her mind.

“I’m what?”

Rachael skimmed her hand up the thigh and whispered, “You’re really fuckable.”

Amidst the tears and the emotional chaos, Melissa blurted out a laugh, “Fuckable?”

Rachael shrugged her shoulders and said bashfully, “Yeah, well I’m thinking that you’d really go off.”

Melissa blinked against the streaming tears and said, “Well, you know, untie me and try me out.”

Rachael was pissed. Target number 20 was going to be eradicated in the very near future, although her worlds collided. ’Try me out? … Love to, I’m so fucking horny!

As Rachael Terina, citizen of the general community, she’d love to untie her and jump on board, but as Rachael Terina, hired assassin, that could never happen. Rachael knew that she could never advertise her services in the phone books or media outlets, but if she was able to, the advertisement would read;

Rachael Terina, AA, FA

Customer satisfaction guaranteed.

No bullshit, no crap, just results.

“Darling, Melissa …” Rachael began, then she paused. For the first time in her five years as a killer-for-hire, she had stumbled. She wanted to start all over again; she wanted to waltz in, slit her throat, then amble off into the sunset. Or maybe she just didn’t want to be who she was.

Right at that moment, she wanted to be someone else.

No crazy dancing for her right at this moment, Rachael not feeling like an Avenging Angel, she felt like a killer, felt like a cold-blooded killer. Rachael felt tears welling in her eyes, and she knew they were tears, because she hadn’t consciously cried since she was nineteen. She always assumed that she had cried so much when she was nineteen, that her life-time of tears had already been spilt.

But now this, killing someone that she didn’t want to kill.

Enough silent seconds had slipped by for Melissa to ask nervously, “So how does a pretty girl become a female assassin?”

Snapped back to reality, Rachael shook her head and mumbled, “It’s a long story, but seeing how I’ve formed this bond with you, I feel obligated to ask you …”

“Ask me what?”

“Do you want me to you know, blow you off before I …”

Melissa laughed, shaking her head. “God, it’s not funny, I know, it’s more bizarre!”

“What?”

“My killer, the person who is going to kill me, asking me if I want to have an orgasm before she does the deed.”

In Rachael’s confused world, she knew that if some asshole was just about to kill her, she would state; ‘For my last request, blow me off, will ya?’ or if the guy was an ugly bastard, she’d say; ‘Just hang on a minute while I masturbate.’ Rachael had to work to produce a smile, then she said, “Yeah well, I think you’re really brave, so if there is an after-life, you’ll arrive there with your groin still tingling.”

Melissa coughed and blubbered, then shakily replied, “Okay well thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I am trying to be brave, but I have to admit, I’m really scared, and Brad Pitt couldn’t bring me to orgasm.”

Rachael patted her knee again and asked quietly, “Okay, well, we get this done?”

“Ummm wait …”

“What?”

“Untie me and then you, you can have sex with me.” Melissa said quietly.

Rachael bowed her face, wanting to punch her brain in the head. An assignment was just about to be completed, a target was just about to go to Heaven, or Hell, or wherever; although Rachael was conflicted. Yes, she did want to have sex with this woman, because the word fuckable had sprung into her mind so decisively, although Rachael knew that it wouldn’t be consensual sex, it would be, What-do-I-need-to-do-to-stay-alive sex.

“Melissa, maybe we should just get this done.” Rachael advised solemnly.

Melissa shook her head, “No, no, I have something I need to ask you.”

“What?”

Silence.

Rachael understood; Melissa’s mind was in chaos, and she was desperately trying to think of something to delay the inevitable.

“Ummm, how many people have you killed?” Melissa asked, her voice wracked with tension.

“Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll be number twenty.”

“Ohhh okay, the big Two-0.”

“All the others have been guys, and I gotta tell you, the murdering, raping assholes turn into blubbering, pathetic slobs in this situation, so yeah, hail to you, my bravest assignment.”

Melissa began to sob, “Okay, that doesn’t really make me feel any better.”

Rachael drew in a breath, then said, “Sure, so let’s get this show on the road.”

“Ummm …”

“What?”

“What was your name again?”

“Rachael.”

Melissa blew out nervously as she watched Rachael walk away and grab something from the back-pack, her thighs trembling now.

Rachael understood that it was really hitting home now, and Melissa was unravelling. “Hey listen, you snort, you like cocaine?” Rachael asked brightly.

“I, I have used, yes.”

“You want one now?”

“Rachael …” Melissa tried to control herself, but she began blubbering, “No, no thanks, I, I don’t think I’d enjoy it.”

“Okay, well I don’t want to see you fall to pieces, so I think we should move it along.”

Sobbing, blubbering, trembling, Melissa nodded, “Okay, good, good idea, because I think I am falling to pieces.”

Rachael moved behind her, and Melissa cocked her head to look at her as she asked shakily, “We agreed on the quick and painless option, didn’t we?”

“Yes, we did make a deal.”

“So,” Melissa struggling on all levels, “You’re really going to do this?”

“Yeah, sorry Baby.”

“Okay, okay, Rachael …”

“What?”

Rachael looked at her and saw her bottom lip quivering, her wide eyes full with tears.

“I, I’m really scared now.” Melissa blubbered.

Rachael wiped a few tears away, skimmed her right fingers over Melissa’s cheek, then asked quietly, “What’s your favourite song?”

“Song, song? God, that’s a hard question.” she blubbered.

“Well what’s something you like and you know all the words to?”

“Ummm, ummm, What A Wonderful World.”

“Okay, close your eyes and we’ll sing that together.” Rachael said soothingly.

Melissa blubbered, “Yeah, you know the words?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Melissa’s body was trembling, tears streaming from her eyes now, as she said, “No, no, I won’t close my eyes. I guess I deserve this, you know, I deserve what’s coming to me, so I’ll try to be brave right through till the end.”

Rachael felt the wetness on her own lashes, and she said shakily, “Melissa, you are brave, you’re a very brave person, and there’s nobody to impress here, so Darling, close your eyes.”

The eyes closed and Rachael prompted her, “Let’s begin; I see trees of green, red roses too …”

Melissa joined in meekly. “I see them bloom for me and for you … and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”

Rachael leant over and skimmed her left hand over Melissa’s cheek, her right hand, the hand holding the knife trembling as she whispered, “This is a nice song, and Mel, you’ve got a nice voice.”

“Thank-you,” Melissa snivelled, then she added, “Rachael …”

“What?”

“Please, please don’t do this.”

Rachael pinched her nose and blinked, then sighed, “I have to Melissa.”

“That’s, that’s a shame.” Melissa said emotionally, “Because I think you’d be fun to knock around with and have a drink with too.”

Rachael exhaled audibly then said, “Close your eyes Baby.”

Melissa turned to look at her, her legs trembling, her lips quivering, and her eyes were like little lagoons as she said, “Rachael …”

“What?”

Melissa looked straight at her, then said, “This is a silly thing to say, I know, but if someone was going to kill me, I guess I feel a little bit better knowing that the person who kills me, likes me.”

Rachael closed her eyes.

“Rachael …”

“What?”

“You do like me, don’t you?”

Rachael held her gaze and said quietly, “Yeah I do, I really do.”

Melissa closed her eyes, suffered a whole-body tremble, then she asked, “You know the next bit?”

Rachael gulped, “Yeah.”

“Okay,” Melissa sighed. “I see skies of blue, and, and clouds of white … The bright blessed day, and the sacred night …” Melissa blubbering again, although still carrying on, her voice wracked with anxiety. “And, and I think to myself _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

*

Rachael walked into the motel room and dropped the KFC box next to him.

“How’d ya go Gorgeous?”

“Yeah, done.”

“You’re the girl Teriny! Another asshole goes down!”

“We’ll leave tomorrow morning,” Rachael said quietly as she moved into the bathroom, “And by the way, she wasn’t an asshole.”

Nuggets, strips, chips and popcorn chicken sated Marco’s hunger, and his mind and body were eager to be sated as well, although he knew when to give her space. His best friend was bold, daring and uninhibited, and Rachael Terina was also a straight-line-walker. If she didn’t swear at him, or threaten him or throw things at him, something may be amiss. She’d only nibbled on her dinner, had showered, then jumped straight into bed.

“Teriny, Rach, you okay?”

Moments ticked by, Marco uneasy in the silence, so he curled into bed. Bold, daring and uninhibited yeah, although Marco had witnessed at least half a dozen occasions where his best friend had been reduced to a blubbering mess.

“No, I’m not.” came the quiet, delayed reply.

“You wanta talk about it?” he asked quietly.

“No … goodnight.”

Sleep did come for her, no Officer Jamieson in her dreams, no shattering Boom, a naked woman in the dream instead. Say, how about you let me go, and we can become lovers? The Rachael in her dream slid her top off, then began fiddling with her bra-strap; Sure, why not! Although reality tip-toed into the dream as a six-inch blade travelled the journey, Rachael’s gloved hands then bathed in blood, and Melissa Anne Harvey expired quietly, her spirit floating off to the realms of the unknown.

*

A week later, Rachael flopped down next to her and muttered, “Hi.”

“How are you?”

No answer, so the woman glanced up from the newspaper, the other occupier of the bench seemingly brooding. “On a scale of one-to-ten, how are you?”

Rachael leant forward, her elbows on her knees as she said quietly, “I fucked up.”

The woman snapped her gaze around, “What?”

Rachael skimmed her right hand through her hair then sighed, “No, I mean it’s done, but I, me, personally, I fucked up.”

The woman folded the paper and rested it on her lap, then asked, “What happened?”

“It was a bit of a cluster-fuck, I mean, I just let it go on too long.”

“So the problem is?”

Rachael bowed her face and said, “She was really brave, and I dunno, I guess I ended up liking her.”

The woman gazed into the park, not sure about how to take this forward, although after a moment of contemplation she asked, “So we don’t have a problem?”

Rachael clasped her hands between her knees, then sighed, “No, no problem, but I let it go too long, and I, I humanized her or something, I mean I realised that she was a living human being.”

“Little One, she organised a murder.”

“Yeah, I know, and she admitted that she organised it, but she regretted it, and I could tell that she was sincere.”

“The important phrase there is, she organised it.”

“Sure, although once things were in motion, she wanted to pull out, but the boyfriend told her that it was too late to pull out; so I dunno, she just watched it spiral out of her control.”

The woman wanted to shine her light, so she said, “The envelope is bursting at the seams.”

Rachael distractedly withdrew it from the handbag, then shoved it into her jacket pocket.

The woman pondered, then said compassionately, “I don’t like seeing you troubled.”

Rachael noted the concerned tone, and leant forward again, her elbows on her knees, as she said reflectively, “I’ll recoup, I’ll regather, but yeah, dunno, just rattled me a bit.”

“Little One, we’re just doing our duty to rid the world of murderer’s; we’re not the bad guys.”

Rachael gazed out at the park as she said quietly, “Yeah, I know, and it’s my fault, I know that; but we talked a bit, and I was thinking, Yeah, you’d be good to knock around with, and I guess I’m just a bit shaken up by it.”

Silence.

Rachael needed to make an admission as well, so she said quietly, “Ohh, plus it didn’t happen.”

“What didn’t happen?”

“She wanted quick and painless, so yeah.”

The woman rubbed Rachael’s shoulder soothingly and said, “Okay, but if the deed is done, nobody needs to know about anything else.”

Rachael cocked her head to look at the woman, then said, “Yeah, but they paid for her to suffer, and I didn’t fulfil that part of the contract.”

The woman said consolingly, “There’s one less murderer in the country, and tomorrow, the sun will still come up.”

With elbows still on her knees, Rachael twiddled her thumbs. Rattled she was, and confused. She was a stand-alone-gal, and she had always been able to sort out her own day-time problems, although sometimes, it just felt good to talk to someone. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Certainty.”

“Are your tits saggy?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Your tits, are they saggy?”

“Goodness, well they aren’t in the same shape that they were when I was twenty.”

“Would you ever, I dunno, get then remodelled?”

“Would I, no. If someone wants to be with me, they accept for me for who I am. If somebody said, Yeah, I’ll go out with you, but only if you get your breasts done, I’d be saying, Goodbye!”

“Yeah, pretty much the way I feel.”

“You must be unsettled if you’re thinking about my breasts.”

“Hmmm, looking for diversions, looking for things to occupy my mind.”

“Maybe counting the money will put your mind in a happy place.”

“Good paying job yeah, but tell me something.”

“What?”

“Tell me something about you.”

“Little One, you and me, I think the less we know about one another, the better; wouldn’t you agree?”

“Well I mean after five and a half years, I know Jack Shit about you.”

“We’re business associates, and I’d suggest that’s all you need to know.”

“Sure, but I guess I’m just looking to, I dunno, humanize you.”

“Okay, what do you want to know?”

Rachael gazed at her, “Are you married or whatever?”

The woman thought about it, then said, “I’ve been married twice, and my second marriage ended seven years ago.”

“What happened?”

“What happened, I’m not sure, maybe I just realised that I wasn’t the relationship kind of person.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve been in some kind of a relationship since I was twenty, so yeah, when I hit fifty, I was thinking that I didn’t want to get involved with somebody else and have them say, Let’s do this or let’s do that, or, Hey, come over tonight, or, I’d like you to meet my family. I like company, I like being with someone, but I guess I was just looking for a little bit of me time.”

“Well yeah, I can understand that, because my whole life revolves around Me time.”

“Okay, I must shuffle away, but if you really want to know something about me, there is one thing I can tell you …”

“What’s that?”

“I’d like someone to play with my saggy breasts,” the woman said as she stood up and began walking away, then she cocked her head and said, “Because I need a fuck.”

Rachael laughed, then she called out, “Hey!”

“What?”

“Thanks, I feel better.”