Chapter 9

Anton

I pulled up to the hotel in time to rescue the bimbo from her first step of freedom. As soon as she saw the Porsche, she was ready to ride off into the sunset wherever I wanted to flee. I thought it would take a bit more convincing on my part to get her into the car, but I guess her momma never told her to refuse rides from strangers. As fun as it was to make her so nervous, it really didn’t help me out much at all. There were a couple times I even thought I would lose her. I’m a sporting man, if she had told me she didn’t want a part of this–like I thought she actually would when I put out some feelers for the job–I would have let her go, no questions asked. I knew this one was right though. I’m the only one that could ever give her what she truly wants. I have no doubt I can get her to do anything I ask her.

Now she’s pressing herself against me, making it difficult to sleep. Finally, the little bitch rolls away. I don’t turn over. When she gets up and walks across the room, I take out what I stashed under the pillow and roll over.

“Becki,” I whisper. She has a hand on the bathroom door, and looks at me over her shoulder, eyes pinched shut, struggling to understand what I’m holding. When she sees the gun I have pointed at her, a dark spot forms in her pants. I’m so excited by her fear and humiliation that I almost can’t restrain myself. “It’s time I tell you what I want from you.”

She starts to wobble, and I think she’s going to faint. She grabs the door molding and lowers herself into the desk chair. She’s muttering something that I think is “Please don’t kill me,” and it’s irritating enough that I almost do.

Finally, I sit up in bed and grumble, “Oh shut up, this isn’t for you.” I lay the gun down in my lap. “At least not in the way you’re thinking.”

“What do you want from me?” she whimpers, clutching her face with both hands.

I’m really starting to get pissed when I say, “You’ve probably never used one of these before, have you?” I motion for her to come with my free hand. “Come here,” I order, spinning the gun in my hand and holding it out to her. It gives me some kind of grim satisfaction when her hand dips from the unexpected weight. For a moment, I can tell she’s even contemplating using it on me. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

She holds it up to the dim moonlight and looks it over, her mouth hanging open stupidly.

“You’re going to need to learn how to use that,” I say.

“What do you want me to do?” she asks, running my finger over the polished black steel. I doubt she can truly appreciate the simple genius of its construction, the unrelenting power, like the hand of God. No stopping it when it’s finally put in motion.

I snicker. “I need you to use this on a person.”

Her eyes widen with terror. “You want me to kill someone?”

It’s no time for euphemisms. “Yes,” I say. “Someone needs to die, and I can’t do it myself.”

“No way, no chance.”

“You haven’t heard me out yet.”

“I can’t... I can’t kill a person. This is... too much... Please just let me go.”

“I haven’t told you everything yet,” I say flatly. “This guy has stolen more than his fair share of bread. This person’s crimes outweigh anything you could ever imagine doing. Some people think he’s the devil in the flesh, but I disagree. Your crimes will be justified and ignored. Do this for me and everything is forgotten.

She shakes her head emphatically. “I don’t care how justified it is!” she cries. “I can’t kill a person!” There are tears running down both of her cheeks, and I’m so turned on right now. “There isn’t anything you can buy me in return that I can’t get on my own.”

I sigh, having anticipated her misunderstanding my offer. “Let’s just go to sleep,” I say. I lay back down and roll over.

For a long time, Becki doesn’t move. Then I hear her playing with the gun. The hammer clicks three times on the empty chamber. I don’t know which of us was her target. She is still for a while longer and finally gets into the other bed.

That’s when I drift off, because even I need sleep.

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