Chapter 49 – The Killer and the Thief Part 2

Hannah raised a shaky hand and pointed at the blood soaked newcomer. Not to warn anyone, more out of befuddled surprise as her oxygen starved brain tried to make sense of the anomaly at the door.

Who went on a mission in a bright Hawaiian shirt?

Equally confused, Alexi glanced over his shoulder at what could be more pressing than his hand at her throat. Seeing the man at the door he dropped Hannah to the ground and she let out several choked wheezes as everyone turned to look at the new arrival.

The blood-soaked man was panting heavily and had a wild look in his eyes. More out of place than his casual clothing was his smile. He wore this manic, bloodthirsty grin on his face that sent a shiver down Hannah’s spine.

“And who the fuck are-“ Alexi started to say, prompting the man to raise his gun and fire, emptying the clip into the first two guards.

By the time anyone else had realized what was happening, the bloodied man was already on top of them.

He was fast.

The young man sent his empty gun flying into the face of one guard, stunning him briefly.

He struck out like lightning with his fist and another guard, sending a devastating punch into the man’s throat, causing him to gasp for air through a destroyed larynx. He grabbed the wheezing guard and pulled him close as the fifth guard had gained his composure, leveled his weapon at him, and sprayed gunfire. The newcomer used the guard's body as a shield, shoving him into the line of fire and at the guard that was firing at him, knocking him off balance.

The second guard had recovered from having the gun thrown in his face, his nose bloody and broken. He leveled his gun at the young man, who batted it away with the back of his hand and sent another devastating punch straight into his nose, then a left hook that sent the guard flying to the ground. He stomped on his throat for good measure as he made his way to the third guard, who was still untangling himself from his coworker’s corpse.

He grabbed the guards head and twisted it with the brutal efficiency that comes from years of practice.

Hannah grimaced as a sickening crack rang through her ears.

Hannah looked up at Alexi, who was still standing there stunned, gun in hand. Admittedly, Hannah was stunned too. In seconds, someone had entered the office and taken out five highly trained armed guards without a hint of difficulty or a scratch on his otherwise bloodied body. Had she not been here to witness it, she wouldn’t have believed it herself. It defied logic.

Alexi recovered faster than her, tightening the grip on his gun and leveling it at the man.

Hannah stared at the killer in the Hawaiian shirt. He had that same wild look in his eyes; she shivered again as she realized he was still smiling. He stared down Alexi and the gun that was pointed at him.

Was he…. excited?

Hannah shook her head, snapping back to her senses and training. She quickly pulled out her gun and emptied the clip into Alexi’s back, tracking the body with her gun as it fell.

The young man stared at Alexi’s dying form on the ground for a long second, his manic smile slowly fading into a disappointed frown.

“Hey… That was my kill.” He said with an accusatory glare at Hannah. His tone made it sound like Hannah had just stolen his goal in a soccer game instead of his chance to kill an international arms dealer.

“You're welcome asshole. I should have just let him just kill you. You ruined my job.” She spat back at the guy.

Hannah stared at him in defiance but she quickly discovered he wasn’t paying attention to anything she was saying. She followed his gaze; to the large T.V mounted on the nearby wall.

When did the TV even turn on? Hannah wondered. It definitely hadn’t been on when she entered the room through her hole in the wall.

The TV was showing some baseball highlights on ESPN. The man stared at it for a long moment and then back to Hannah. He seemed almost surprised that she was still there, or even there at all, like he was suddenly remembering where he was.

“Your job… You don’t work for Alexi, do you? I’m supposed to kill everyone who works for him. You have to tell me if you do.” He said matter of fact.

His question was accentuated by another explosion in the warehouse and more screaming from the workers. The man in front of Hannah didn’t flinch as he stared intently at her.

“No. I don’t work for this asshole. Or did you miss the part where he was trying to strangle me?”

The man nodded along, his attention drifting back to the T.V.

Then back to Hannah.

Then back to the T.V.

“You’re not watching this, are you?” He said, eyes still glued to the T.V.

This guy is a fucking weirdo. I’ve got to get out of here.

“No..?” she offered.

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“Do you mind if I change the channel?” He said, fixing her with a sincere, almost pleading gaze.

“Be my guest…” Hannah slowly said. The man gave her a small nod and a tight smile. He walked over to the couch and sprawled across it, picking up the remote and flipping through the channels. He stopped on the Bachelorette. Multiple gunshots rang out in the warehouse, by the sound they were getting closer, but that didn’t seem to phase him as he focused on the TV in front of him.

“I missed today’s episode, was worried I wouldn’t finish in time to catch the re-run.” He said, looking back at Hannah like that explained everything.

Hannah just nodded. This guy is a psychopath.

Hannah pushed herself up off the ground, hands rubbing at her now bruised throat. She stepped over the bodies to get one last look at the safe.

“Hey. Do you by any chance know how to open this?” She asked over her shoulder.

“He doesn’t. But I do.” Came a gravelly voice.

Hannah froze again for the second time in as many minutes. She slowly turned around and grimaced. Another weirdo had joined the group. He was wearing a faded black and beaten-up cowboy hat. He had a dusty, cracked black leather jacket that he wore over a t-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants that he tucked into cowboy boots.

The man fixed her with a calm smile. He was old, deep wrinkles in a sunburnt face, black wiry hair that was fading to gray poked out from under his hat.

He glanced around the room and his eyes stopped on the man who was sprawled out on the couch in such a relaxed position you wouldn’t think he just killed five men. His eyes hardened almost imperceptibly before looking down to the bodies on the floor.

The older man dropped down to his knees next to Alexi’s body. Hannah heard the sounds of squishing and cringed as the man popped back up with an eyeball. She threw a panicked glance at one of the SMGs on the ground.

If I could just get my hands on that… She thought to herself as the creepy homeless cowboy walked over to her, and then past her. He held the eye up to the retinal scanner on the safe door.

A second keypad shot out from the base of the safe.

“First keypad is a decoy. Rigged to blow up if you enter the wrong password too many times.” The grizzled man said, unprompted as he punched in a code to the second keypad. Hannah watched as the door to the safe clicked open.

“When I found out he was replacing his safe, I may have encouraged the manufacturer to tamper with it a bit.” The man said with a large, toothy smile.

“All those jobs you pulled off robbing Alexi made him paranoid. He ended up having a new safe installed and consolidated all of his wealth here. If that was your plan, then my hat’s off to you.” He said with a deep chuckle, pulling out a large black felt bag out of the safe that was practically bulging at the seams.

He spilled out the contents of the bag on a nearby desk. Hannah’s eyes went wide at the number and size of diamonds that spilled out. It was way more than she had been expecting.

“This…” Hannah started to say as she stared at the small mountain of wealth. “Wait.” Hannah paused, blood going cold. “How did you know I was the one who has been robbing Alexi?”

“Because I’ve been watching you.” He said, fixing Hannah with a pair of cold gray eyes. His jovial smile turned menacing as he stared her down.

Hannah dropped to the ground, grabbing one of the guns off the floor and leveled it at the man.

“What the fuck do you want?”

“You.” He laughed, nonplussed by the gun she held in his face.

“I appreciate you cracking the safe, but it’s going to cost you a lot more than that, you fucking freak.”

“Told you she was gonna be freaked out.” Came a voice from the couch. Hannah glanced over at the younger man who still had his eyes glued to the T.V. Without any provocation or warning, he stood up from the couch and picked up an SMG from one of the dead guards.

Hannah instantly trained her gun on the now armed man, but he didn’t pay her any attention. Eyes still on the TV. He casually walked to the wall with the office door, leveled his gun waist high at the wall, then proceeded to fire semi-automatic bursts as he casually strolled backwards. Several shouts and cries came from the hallway as several more guards died on the spot.

The young man bent down to the guard and plucked a grenade off the belt of the guard. He waited for 3 seconds while still watching the tv then plucked the pin. He moved quickly to the doorway, then in time with the TV shouted “Will you accept this rose?” before throwing the grenade down the hallway.

An answer was given by way of another explosion and more screams.

As the young man jumped the back of the couch to finish the show, Hannah turned to the man with the cowboy hat. He had an amused look on his face.

“That’s Jack.” He said, pointing to the man on the couch. “I’m Rodeo. I’ve been trying to build a… team…” he said, testing out the word “A team capable of supporting Jack over there. You would be the perfect candidate. I’ve been keeping a close eye on you. You're pathetic at killing, but your stealth and recon skills are truly remarkable. I could use someone like you.”

“What is it exactly you do, aside from being creepy weirdos?”

“We’re hitmen.”

“Assassins.” Jack groaned from the couch. “We’re assassins.” He said a second time more strongly, sitting up and leveling his gaze at Hannah.

“We’re killers.” Rodeo corrected, staring at Hannah.

Hannah stared at Rodeo for a long minute, and then down at the pile of diamonds.

“I opened the safe. Those are mine.” He said, a lazy smile still on his face.

Hannah grimaced and tightened her grip on the gun.

“I could just kill you both and take the diamonds.”

“You could certainly try.” Rodeo said with a glance in Jack’s direction.

Hannah looked over at Jack. He was no longer staring at the T.V. Instead; he was hanging off the couch, that same bloodthirsty smile on his face as he stared at Hannah.

It was a hard feeling to describe. She had a gun; she had distance, and she was an excellent shot. But memories flashed of Jack charging down five men with machine guns. She stared at him as his grin grew wider and wider, an unnatural pressure radiating off him.

Hannah let out a long sigh and dropped the gun. Jack’s smile slid off his face into another disappointed frown and he turned back to watch the T.V.

“Take the fucking diamonds.” Hannah said, throwing the gun back on the ground.

Rodeo looked down at the pile and plucked one singular diamond from it, sliding it into his pocket and walking towards the door.

“Jackie-boy. Let’s go.”

“Wait. What about the diamonds?” Hannah asked, eyes going wide.

“Consider it your signing bonus. I’ll be in touch.” Rodeo said over his shoulder, walking out the door.

Jack slid off the couch and moseyed his way out the door, flashing Hannah a bright, almost innocent smile.

“Let me know how it ends?” He asked with boyish charm as he left.

Hannah stared at their retreating forms for a long second, then at the pile of diamonds, then back at the doorway.

“What the fuck did I just get myself involved with?”