The Playboy's Assassin

Expendable Connection: Vanessa.

I coughed out water and some of it got into my nose. I got up and tried to breath. My throat burned, my chest ached. Every breath I took felt like poison. I wheezed. I looked up at Enrique, his face was expressionless.

“Where are we?” I asked. We were in a boat.

“Hello there,” greeted an old man. He had croaked teeth and was dressed in worn clothes. “I was sailing around these parts when I found you in the water. You looked like you could use a ride.” His voice was croaky. He was rail thin and looked malnourished. I didn’t trust him.

I touched myself and looked around me. “Where’s my stuff?”

“Relax. It’s right here.” He handed me the bag and I got up. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for saving me.”

He smiled slightly. “Its no problem.” For a moment there, I thought he was going to bend over and kiss me and when he just stood there I was filled with disappointment.

“Where are you folks going?”

I knew these waters. The nearest port was in Columbia. From there, we could board a train to Charlotte. “Columbia,” I replied.

“You want some? It would warm you right up.” He thrust a flask at me and I shook my head. Enrique handed me a shawl just like the one around him and I covered myself with it. I was starting to freeze. Taking off my wet clothes would make me warm but I didn’t trust this old man not to try anything funny with us. I’d rather be ready for anything.

“My name’s Pete by the way. What’s yours?”

“Phoebe. He’s Vince,” I nodded to Enrique.

“Nice to meet you, Phoebe and Vince.” He said nothing else again till we arrived at the dock and I was all too grateful for his silence. I wasn’t in the mood for conversation.

“Thanks for the ride, Pete,” Enrique said as we got off the boat.

“You’re welcome folks.” He waved at us. We got out of the dock and I stopped to hail a cab.

“Where are we going, Vanessa?”

“We’re going to Belmont. I know a guy there that can get us passports.”

“Fake passports?” He grimaced.

“Yes. We can’t use our real names unless we want them to find us again.” A cab stopped in front of us and we got in. Throughout the ride, he didn’t say anything to me. I knew he was upset about me trying to shoot him but it was his fault in the first place. He shouldn’t have posted those videos but when he did, I hadn’t said anything. I hadn’t even thought about the consequences of it.

We got down at our destination and I paid the driver. He looked at the soggy cash I gave him and made a face. “There’s extra for the wet seats,” I said.

He looked back at the seats and groaned. “Oh man!” He glared at us and then drove away. I faced the house and let out a breath. A few distance away, a dog barked. The sound echoing through the night air. “Come on.” I walked up the steps and knocked on the door. It had been a while since I’d been here. I didn’t trust Bill not to rat me out to Sniper but if we wanted to get out of the country, he was my only hope. I banged on the door this time and it finally elicited a response. I heard shuffling in the room before the door swung open and Bill’s menacing face appeared. He glared at us but his face softened when he saw me.

“Scar?”

“Hey, Bill.”

“Long time no see.” He looked at Enrique. “Who the f**k is this?”

“A friend of mine. Can I come in?”

He smiled and stepped aside. “Mi casa, su casa.” I went inside and got hit with the smell of booze and s*x. Three women were lying naked on the floor with junk around them. Empty bottles, wrappers of Cheetos and even condom wrappers. They looked high as f**k. I faced Bill. That was when I noticed he was stark naked.

“Come on, Bill. You couldn’t even put on some pants? I’m seeing all your junk here.” His balls dangled as he moved to the ash tray on the couch and picked up a blunt.

“You’re the one who stopped by my house when I was in the middle of something.” He took a drag from his blunt. “What do you want?”

“I need two passports pronto. I’ll pay you extra if I can get them tonight.”

He sat on the couch and crossed his legs in a carefree manner. I was cold, hungry and tired. He was wasting my time on purpose and it was starting to piss me off. “Word on the street is that Dimitri is looking for you. Why would I want to get on his bad side by helping you?”

“Dimitri is not here, I am. And I’m worse than Dimitri.”

He smirked. “If you kill me you won’t be able to get your passports.”

“Who said anything about killing you?” I picked up an object on his coffee table. It was made of steel and looked like a dagger but was blunt. “I don’t know what this is but I can find inventive ways to use it on you.” I took a step closer to him and his eyes widened.

“Chill out, Scar. We’re friends. You don’t want to hurt me.” He got off the couch. “I’ll only be a minute.” He left the room.

I took out a pistol from my bag and handed it to Enrique. “Wait here. If anyone comes through that door, shoot.”

“I don’t know how to use that thing.”

“Well chuck it at them then and yell at the top of your voice so I can hear you.” I dropped it in his hand and followed Bill.

ENRIQUE.

 I sat down on the couch and looked around the room. Obviously Bill wasn’t taught personal hygiene as child. The girls lying on the floor were zoned out. Their eyes were wide open and they were staring into nothing. If not for the rise and fall of their chests, I’d think they were dead. This is why substance use is bad for your health. I looked down at the gun Vanessa gave me and raised it at the door. It looked a lot like the gun she’d pointed at me back at the hotel. That moment couldn’t stop playing in my head. I had thought I was dead for sure. She looked infuriated. She went from the nice girl I’d been spending time with to someone unrecognisable. She hadn’t even looked that way when she had broken into my apartment and pointed a gun at me the first time.

That was the real Vanessa. The one Diego had warned me about. I couldn’t believe I had created a fictional version of her in my head and had even started liking her. She was a killer. She had killed so many people and caused a lot of family grief. And here I was pointing a gun at the door and ready to shoot anyone that came in as she had commanded. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t a killer. I dropped my hand. What had I been thinking?

“Enrique.” She called and I got up and went through the corridor they had gone in.

“Enrique.” She called again.

“I’m coming.” I went down the stairs to the basement and there she was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Despite her bedraggled look, she still looked beautiful. Her oval face so childlike and innocent. I guess that was her most lethal weapon, her beautiful face. She was able to ensnare anyone with those captivating green eyes.

“He’s going to take your picture,” she said. Bill instructed me to stand against a wall and took my picture. I watched him as he made alterations to my image. When he was done, I was dressed in a blue jean shirt and not the wet clothes I was in. A whirring sound came from the machine beside him and passport bearing my picture came out. He handed us two American passport when he was done. I collected mine and stared at it in awe. It looked legit.

“Thanks.” Vanessa took the gun out of my hand and shot Bill two times in the chest. He fell lifeless to the floor. I watched in horror as blood seeped out of him, staining the floor in seconds.

“What did you do that for?” I screamed. She had killed him without blinking. He was her friend. He had just helped her.

“He was going to rat us out to Dimitri the minute we stepped out that door.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. Because that is how things work around here. There are no friends in my world, just connections. And once you’ve outlived your use, you’re expendable. I was a liability to him and he had outlived his use to me.” She turned and went up the stairs. I stared at his lifeless eyes still not believing he was dead. If he had known his fate, he wouldn’t have opened his door tonight.