Howell Park at night had been known for having its fair share of foot traffic—albeit the dirty kind. At this hour, the dopers, prostitutes, and other deviants would be out in full force. It had provided plenty of cover for any type of deal in the middle of the night.
Makes sense he would pick this place, Kari thought to herself. She found herself in the back of a cab already making the trip over. Upon arrival, she had been pleased to finally exit the musty smelling vehicle but had soon been greeted with the small of burning gas as the taxi began to pull away.
“At least the Bronto didn’t stink,” she muttered to herself while clenching the bag tight. After pressing the receiver in her coat pocket, she started to speak again. “I’m at the park, do you hear me?”
“Loud and clear,” Andrew’s voice buzzed back. “You’ve got about five minutes to get to that phone.”
“Right,” she said after pressing back down on the receiver. “I’ll let you know as soon as I get there. You get a different car yet?”
Andrew had gone silent during the walk over to the first phone booth. Her shoulders had both started to ache after having to swap the bag to each side over the evening. The only phones she could see had been located a few feet away from the public restrooms. She could barely imagine what might have been going on inside at this hour.
After glancing at the scratched up concrete walls on the outside, she had started to think back to one of her previous jobs. Once upon a time, she had found herself in this same spot waiting for one of her targets. Just like most jobs, she had found herself leaving a pile of bodies in her wake. It was only a wonder why she had been chosen so many times before. The many people she had killed before had families, and she only wondered if she would ever have to cross paths with them.
“You still there?” She asked again.
“Yeah, new car too. Sorry, thought I said something.” Andrew replied.
“Do you go the time?”
“Two minutes to midnight,” he said before snickering and then adding, “my favorite song.”
“Could you sing it for me?”
“Very funny,” he muttered back. “Maybe after this we can do karaoke. I know a place up town.”
“Sounds fun, maybe we can do Don’t Stop Believing for the finale?”
He had gone silent again. The comment may have gotten a laugh or a groan, but she did not bother to follow up. Over to her left, there were three phone booths lined up. All three had remained in service through the years, although they had been covered with scratches and other types of graffiti. She finally removed her pack and placed it down by the first booth to try and give herself some type of rest.
After a few minutes, the phone immediately to her right had started to let out a very dull ringing sound—expected from its many years in service. She reached over to pull the cold receiver from it’s stand and placed it up to her ear before muttering her name.
“That was quick,” Brian said to her on the other end. “I have been enjoying the show so far.”
“I don’t like the run around, so let’s get down to business.” Kari replied. She could not make out anything in the background from his end. At this point, she was hoping to maybe get an idea of where he was and have Andrew lead an ambush.
“The next spot is about a mile up the road, on the corner of Bluffton Heights and Velvet Springs. I’m in a hurry, so you have ten minutes. Don’t be late.”
Brian’s voice had clicked off and been replaced with the droning from a blank dial tone. Kari slammed the phone down and grabbed the handbag from off the booth. She had been somewhat familiar with the area and had to take off in a full sprint if she hoped to make it in time. The years on the farm had been a blessing in disguise. Such skills like shooting a gun came down to fundamentals—something she could never forget.
Being able to stay in shape took consistency. Those many mornings spent waking up early and having to run all over the farm throughout the day paid off. With the situation, she had started to long for the days of toiling the fields again.
Everything is backwards now, she thought to herself while trying to keep her breath. Before getting to far ahead, she reached back down to the receiver in her coat pocket to try and contact Andrew once again.
“Bluffton Heights, pay phone.” She said in between breaths.
“I’m on the way.” Andrew quickly returned.
The pistol under her coat had rocked back and forth into her ribcage. After a few minutes, she could feel the flesh around her chest starting to become tender from where the pistol grip constantly slammed against it. In her left pants pocket, she had kept a small pocketknife that had been kept in place by a few balled up tissues. Down by her right ankle was a snub nosed .38 revolver that had barely held on by some duct tape.
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It was the most strapped she had been in years. She would need every bit of an advantage she could get when the moment came. A few minutes had passed by before she had found herself near a large apartment complex adjacent to the edge of the park.
Bluffton Heights had been another place she was familiar with. It had not been a place where she had been forced to assassinate somebody, but instead another common hideout. This area was home to multiple street gangs and one she had tried desperately to avoid if possible. After making a dash past the complex, she had come to another corner where a lone phone booth stood.
This one was vintage. Its iconic structure had harkened back to an earlier era, one before Paradiso had even been the grand city it evolved. It had been nestled on a street—right next to a sign that had read “Velvet Springs”. The heart of the machine contained an old-style rotary dial. The numbers on the inside had since faded away from decades of use. She had been amazed that it had been able to work this long given the location.
“I’m here, no call yet,” Kari said again. “Can I get the time?”
“Balls fourteen.” Andrew replied quickly.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It’s military lingo,” he started to ramble. “My brother used to say it all the time. I guess they thought the saying zero-zero was too much and some guy thought it looked like balls or something. It’s twelve fourteen.”
Kari rolled her eyes. She had not heard of his brother before nor had she known many people who had served. In her line of work, the people who chose this job were those who did not have a future. Nobody ever woke up and chose to be in this life. She had to stop and wonder why she went this route. Before falling into another streak of self-reflection, the phone started to ring.
She pulled open the front door and reached over towards the receiver and quickly said, “I’m here.”
“Looks like you kept in shape all this time,” Brian chuckled on the other end. “I don’t see blondie, so I’m happy you have managed to follow the rules.”
“Can you see this?” she snapped back before lifting her hand into the air and extending her middle finger.
“Don’t test me, or I’ll cut off a finger.”
“I thought you liked games?”
Brian’s voice had become muffled for a moment. She could make out a few other voices in the background but could not discern whether they were speaking English. With what little information she could grab, she could count on meeting him with multiple gunmen behind him. Everything pointed to it by now and she had to hope that she would be functional enough to fight her way out when that moment came.
Brian finally spoke, “Next stop is going to be a bit further away. I hope you saved your breath, because you have ten minutes to get to the payphone on the north side of Lexington Front Mall. My trigger finger is itching, so get moving.”
The very instant he had clicked off, Kari had felt something press again the back of her head. She could barely hear breathing behind her and on instinct had seized up.
“Don’t move,” The man behind her quickly muttered after pressing a pistol against the back of her head. “What have you got in the bag?”
“Don’t hurt me.” Kari replied. She kept her hands to her side and tried to keep from panicking as the assailant behind her started to reach for the bag.
“I’m taking this.”
The man had pulled the pistol away from her head as he grabbed onto the strap around her shoulder. The very moment she realized his focus had gone towards the money, she chose to act. All at once, she jerked her shoulders to the side and ended up colliding with the thief’s pistol, pushing it away. The man had the barely been able to react as she drew her Glock from beneath her coat. Instead of firing a shot, she swiped the butt of the pistol into his face, causing him to drop the weapon and bag from his hands. He reached towards his face before freezing once he had noticed her weapon pointing at him.
“Please, stop!” he shouted after taking a step back and raising his hands.
“You and your boss are dead.” Kari hissed after sliding her finger through the trigger guard.
“Wait, I don’t have a boss,” the scraggly looking man cried out again as he tried to guard his face. A welt had formed over his left eye, causing blood to stream down his face. “I don’t know anything, I swear!”
“Don’t start crying on me,” she kneeled down to retrieve the bag while keeping the weapon pointed at his face. “I take it you like picking on women?”
“Please don’t!”
She wanted to pull the trigger. Everything in her head was telling her to just end it, but she continued to think of Isamu and the next stop. She finally placed the bag over her shoulder and sighed after seeing tears starting to roll down his face.
“If I catch you around here again, I’m not going to be nice. Trust me, I will be back and I’m going to come looking,” she declared before giving him a wave with the pistol to run. “Your gun is mine now.”
The man turned away and started to run as fast as possible while Kari made her way towards the pistol he had left behind. After a quick glance, she had notice the make of the weapon had resembled a .45 caliber, but the barrel was much thinner.
“Next time, don’t use a bb gun,” she shouted to him before kicking the weapon away. After muttering a few quick profanities under her breath, she started to make a dash towards the next stop. “Lexington Front Mall.”
“You need to get moving, that mall is a little over a mile from your position.” Andrew replied.
“I got held up, please try to meet me there. He’s got a few others with him.”
“No doubt.”