The Hitman and His Consort

XXVI - Formulated

First Person P.O.V: VALENTIN HACKSAW

The route to the same old warehouse remained empty as it would be for the far future, I’ve been here so many times I should just shut the headlights and drive in absolute darkness, then again it’s not like we’re hiding from anyone at this point, no one’s going to walk around in these areas, anyway.

We reached the warehouse, and I just went ahead and parked the car inside. We won’t be short of space in this place. I checked the target on the backseat and he’s still out cold, he’ll come around sooner or later. It’s been a while now. I got off, opened the lights, and prepared the usual: chairs, tapes, and any other miscellaneous ‘tools’ we might use, in the event that we’re compelled to, I’ll just prepare at that moment.

Walking around at this time made me realize that this warehouse is deteriorating, a shame but an anticipated one for sure. It’s not like we can just suddenly renovate the place to make it last a little longer. This place was like a second home to me with the number of times I spent, things I learned, and experiences I had in here. It’ll only be troublesome if some nosey bastard finds this place and I wouldn’t be able to use the place for as long as it could stay around.

It even smells old now. I didn’t notice.

In the corner of my eyes, I saw Madeline and the other target get off the car. Madeline still has him at gunpoint, which was a shame because that man was almost as tall as I am and if he ever thought of giving a solid shove to Mads with all his might, then he has a decent chance of running away.

He’ll get shot before he gains some distance, but at least he didn’t go without a fight.

“Walk, you big ogre,” I heard Mads yell as he pushed the guy forward to where I was setting up their seats, like a f*cking waiter. I gestured for the target to take a seat and at this point, he’s just given up. There was no refusal whatsoever. Boring but preferable.

I then carried the other target over my shoulder and placed him on the chair, tied him up and we’re onto business, I tried to tap him on the cheek to wake him up but it didn’t work.

“Let me wake him up,” Madeline said, and he began shaking the guy, patting his face and even telling him to wake up. Still no response.

‘He didn’t die right?’

I gestured for Madeline to move on the side a little and gave the unconscious target the hardest backhanded slap I could and the sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed in the empty warehouse but in a way that it sounded like a loud clap, the man then groaned as he blinked and finally got his consciousness back. Finally.

He blinked twice and groggily looked around, his eyes opening wide as he surveyed the place and understood what had happened. Moreover, looking at Madeline made him recall everything, or it seemed like it, because he started yelling again.

So slapped him again, “Shut up, no one’s f*cking helping you here,” I assured him and he grunted before biting his lips shut while the other man, the more compliant, gulped as he ever so slightly trembled on his seat,

“What are their names again?” Madeline whispered to me,

“I forgot,”

“How could you forget a target’s name?”

I faked a gasp, “Forgive me your f*cking excellency, what are their names then?”

“I don’t know, that's why I’m asking—oh… right, my bad,” he whispered after realizing his bullshit,

I sighed and pulled out my knife. I should go ahead and ask some questions, “You two, names,” I asked and they exchanged glances before looking at me. The more compliant one answered first,

“Diego Velasquez”

I then turned to the other one, and he gulped before answering with a slight stutter,

“C-Carter Williams,”

Right, it was getting hard to just call them targets. It’s nice to put a name on a tentative corpse, “Do you know why you’re here?” Madeline asked, and I frowned at him along with both of our targets, looking at him with a puzzled look.

‘Is he a f*cking cop?’

The targets exchanged glances again before Diego spoke, “I have no… idea, we didn’t do anything,” he answered and Madeline nodded to me with a knowing look, like he f*****g did something and his expression told me that I can take things from here. What type of drug was he sniffing before we got here? Because this is not the actions of a sane person.

Ignoring that, because I’ve had enough of his s**t all day, I faced both targets again, “What do you know about August?” I began, straight to the point. Both targets’ eyes widened and once again they exchanged glances.

“It’s true,” Carter began before he started shaking his head.

“What is?” I asked, reminding them that they’re not particularly alone in this epiphanic discussion of theirs.

Diego turned to face me again before shaking his head, “Are you going to kill August too?” he asked, and I heard Madeline grunt in the background. I raised a hand to stop whatever crap he’ll yell this time,

“What are you talking about?” I asked again. There’s something else brewing under our sole mission, and I suppose this could count as ‘important’ details. This could be somewhat crucial to an extent.

Carter gulped and opted to speak, “Are you one of the lab’s people, the… the ones that kill the staff who helped the assassin escape?” he asked, more like clarified like he was having a shred of hope that it wasn’t the case.

Madeline threw a harrowing look at me. It was as if he’s seen a ghost, which part of…

‘Oh… It seems like August is also a target if that's their basis for a kill,’

“We’re not, more than that, behold... your assassin,” I assured as I gestured to Madeline who’s still dumbstruck at the info he just heard, but I wasn’t done, that kind of info did not help in the slightest. They were surprised after I announced that, but the air around them changed immediately.

“So… so he’s why Mike and the others died..because of him?” Carter asked, a tone filled with disbelief, underlying anger, and fear. For now, we discovered two minor things. It wasn’t Michael who just died, and second, it was the labs who killed them, like a f*cking culling.

Madeline didn’t take too lightly by Carter’s words and stormed toward him to grab him by the collar, “I’ll f*****g kill you right now if you don’t tell me what you know about August, how is she? Where is she? What did they do to her?” He listed, spitting every word laced with such an amount of anger I personally couldn’t relate to.

“I can’t—they’ll know I helped you, they’ll kill me—”

Carter’s words were cut off by a loud bang when Madeline shot the outer edge of his left ear, leaving a bloody area of nicked skin without hesitation, the silence after it was thick and heavy, not even a second after pulling the trigger Madeline grabbed Carter by the collar again.

Carter was groaning in pain, his face convulsed in a way it look stupid, but Madeline didn’t budge, nor chuckle, “Next one’s on your head, right here,” he warned as he pressed the nuzzle against Carter’s wrinkled forehead.

Carter’s breathing hitched as he shut his eyes tight and clenched his jaw, his face reddened and the blood was still dripping down the side of his head,

“SPEAK!”

“A-AUGUST IS FINE!” it was Diego who answered in his colleague’s stead, maybe he felt bad for him,

‘Like a f*cking nick on your ears would kill you,’

Madeline, in his rampage mode, stared at Diego for a couple of seconds before dropping the gun at his side, “How do you know?” he asked,

“They gave her guards, also Pierre almost never leaves her alone, her lab became ‘restricted access’ for the rest of us,” he explained, which confirmed another thing, guards.

“Do you know the guards?” I asked,

“There’s three, they came in this morning to look around the labs but they… they don’t look like normal guards, we don’t know them personally but word says they were handpicked by Pierre himself,” he added,

Three guards, that’s pretty fast how were they able to employ them that quick? “So, who’s the guard tonight?”

“Nobody knows, they just came in, after all, they don’t have name tags like us,” he replied and at this time Carter butted in with a groan,

“N-No! Stop, why are you telling him this?! They’ll kill you next!” he yelled,

‘Why wait, let’s end things here…’ I thought as I placed my knife in a more comfortable 'stabbing' grip,

Madeline interrupted me and walked over to Carter again punched him so hard his lips bled—oh no, it was his cheek, he also lost a tooth, yeah makes sense no lip injury would bleed that like that. Carter’s head faced down for a while and I can see Madeline shaking. His fists were still clenched. Seems like he was so mad and he’s just holding himself back.

He shouldn’t. We’re not going to return these people back to their old lives either way.

And from what I understand, the lab would eventually kill them once they get involved with us, and here they are.

But this man, Carter, went on and did a good job of pushing Madeline more to the edge, “How many more people are you going to kill for that woman? We lost Mike, we also lost Gerald, and a lot of other people who were on the mere suspicion of working with you…” he blamed,

Like Madeline, Carter was also shaking but for completely different reasons, “I just want to do my job, I don’t want to get caught up in this s**t, they didn’t tell us our lives would be in danger when they hired us, it was you that started all of this,” and I suppose that was Madeline’s last straw.

He grabbed the knife I have in my hands and freed Carter’s hand, picking him up by the collar and making him stand, “Fight back...” he said before throwing a punch at carter’s face,

“f*****g FIGHT BACK!” He yelled and albeit confused, Carter did as he was told and punched Madeline who welcomed a hit on the face, not even blocking it, just taking it right to his face and it must’ve been weak because it only moved his head a little.

I …don’t have any f*****g clue what’s going it, I suppose this is one of those moments where emotional awareness, empathy, and a good understanding of what underlying meaning behind actions are required because if it’s not, then I don’t have any f*cking excuse as to why I’m f*cking oblivious.

‘Why am I even watching this?’

Madeline threw a swing at Carter again, pushing the guy down, making him fall on his ass.

‘Lame,’

“Punch back…” Madeline said again, but Carter didn’t this time, he just stared at Madeline’s looming figure over him, touching the cheek that Madeline made contact with, for some reason, this pissed Madeline off and he crouched over him grabbing Carter’s fist and placing it against his cheek.

“You f*****g think… you’re the only person they fooled when they hired you?” He began, I don’t think it’s a genuine question though, it sounds rhetoric. I took a seat on Carter’s chair next to Diego, who was dumbfounded because something tells me this will be a long discussion between these two.

Madeline threw another punch at Carter’s face, “August, was hired thinking she was there to develop cheap and effective medicine for sick people who can’t afford treatment for their illnesses, that’s what they f*****g told her but what did she get?” he asked, chuckling near the end which was a nice touch, made the atmosphere lighter. Carter, however, didn’t answer,

‘Which is a shame because my guess is just as good as his,’

“She gets f*****g imprisoned, and unlike you… she’s there all f*****g day, working for something that goes against her beliefs, she can’t even kill herself because if she does they told her they’ll kill her family too,” Madeline explained, answering the question himself,

‘… well that went to a darker road that I thought I’d be’

“And while you go home resting, she’s up all night because if she doesn’t make progress in their research they’ll torment her again, she wears an electric shock collar and, the thing is, you could file a resignation in this first thing tomorrow, but August would probably work there until the day she dies,” he said, punching Crater again.

The grunts indicate that Carter was indeed still conscious, whether it was Madeline pulling punches or Carter’s face is made of hardwood, is a mystery to me but it was entertaining.

Madeline raised his fist again, “and she just wanted to do her job too, they didn’t tell her that this would happen to her too, but unlike you, she doesn’t even get to spit on her tormentor’s faces, let alone punch them,” he said, his tone sounded more like a growl, like he was warning before landing another punch.

Finally, he stood up, knuckles red, “Hate me all you want… I’m ready to kill and bury the rest of the people working in that lab for her, by myself if I have to,” he finished leaving Carter lying on the ground with his face beaten black and blue, and blood dripping from his mouth and nose.

‘Ugly’

Also, I know it wasn’t his intention to leave the rest of us out of this convoluted imaginary plan of his to kill every staff in the Mariella labs for the sake of August but he’s not serious about thinking he can just go rampaging in that place like this little temper tantrum of his is he?

Diego looked away, and we coincidentally made eye contact with me and I just knew he had something to say, “What?” I asked him, and he gulped.

“T-The president said that August was someone they had to keep under their surveillance all the time because she’s… messed up, and that M.L was the only place who’d hire someone like her while giving her everything she could ever want,” he said.

‘Even I know that talking about her like that isn’t the next best step, I might be more empathetic than I thought’

Madeline didn’t hold back and aimed the knife upwards against Diego’s throat. “And you believe that despite knowing that the same president of yours has people killing ‘suspected’ snitches? In the company you work at?” He rebutted,

A powerful argument he started there.

Carter, the durable little trooper he is, announced, “You’re doing all of this… for a woman like her? It’s not like she has the risk of dying, it sounds like the company would do anything to keep her alive,” like he was finally given the chance of achieving his dreams to be a punching bag.

Otherwise, why would he even say that? Madeline didn’t disappoint and gave him a kick to the gut, multiple times, in different places.

“Try me again… come on, ask me again, ‘why?’ and I’ll f*****g demonstrate just how serious I am when I said I’ll kill everyone working in that place,” he challenged, pressing the nuzzle on Carter’s forehead,

“August… is a witch you’ve been disillusioned with the amount of drugs she’s fed you—”

The loud gunshot echoed in the warehouse again. Carter was finally silent. Turns out he just needs a bullet to keep his mouth shut, between his eyes, buried in his head.

“August… was the only person in there who treated me like I was human, not a test rabbit,” he said as he stood up, looking at Diego, “Anything else useful you could tell us?” He asked and Diego gulped, nodding with vigor,

“Y-Yes! I-I know things, I could help!” he said like he suddenly knew s**t about the lab, I love it when hostages do this, this is where they start to get useful and finally help the mission progress with useful information,

I decided to take it from here because if I hear another word about Madeline’s devotion to August and her struggles I won’t be able to stop my eyes from rolling, “Why don’t you start with telling us how your day starts, what goes on in the labs, what do you actually do there and if you’re in contact with anyone who’d get close enough to August’s,” I listed,

He gulped shifting his gaze between me and Madeline who’s glaring at Diego as if killing him in his head, “I-I get at work at 6:00 in the morning and change at the lockers, normal days are not as hectic, me and Carter work in transport so we carry around samples, tests, files, and lab apparatus,” Diego began,

“we’ll get in check with the inventory if they have some of the external resources that some of the searchers ask for, we’re only working in area C, and that’s about it, as for getting close to Arthur it’s probably impossible now, we used to just leave things for her on the package box to her labs but we need to give the things to her guard from now on, and even from the start we don’t get in contact with her place that frequent anyways,” he added,

As he was explaining it, I’m already thinking of how we’ll play this out, it was like I’m playing chess against myself in a trial-and-error method, and I think…

I think I conjured up a pretty good half-assed plan that could work if they help me with it, from all the things I‘ve heard until now there’s nothing else that would help up other than taking everyone by surprise, everyone’s expecting us, and whatever they thought we’d do they already prepare for.

I know I’m practically going to risk these people’s lives, except Art since she’s not tagging along, but it's not like they’ll follow my schemes just like that, especially Denis.

Denis would make it his life goal to go against me trying to risk his new amor’s life, his obsession with women older than him does get quite intense.

“That’s all?” Madeline asked, and Diego nodded.

Another gunshot erupted in the empty warehouse and Diego followed Carter to whatever place they’ll go to after death, as Madeline pulled the trigger without any sort of hesitation, just a tug of his finger.

Well now, that’s over. I’ll need to find the usual cliff to throw these over to, and by ‘these’ I meant the targets and both cars, I’ll just tell Denis to pick us up after, I carried each body to my car, and grabbed the reserve gasoline from the trunk,

“You’ll need to drive that car, follow me,” I told Madeline as I got in my car, he nodded and got on the other and I led the way as I drove to a cliff we’ve used before, it's way further away from the city and it’s probably a usual dumpsite for things like this because it almost goes on forever, it’s a bumpy ride down there.

‘Ahh…I’m so funny,’

It took a while but once we arrive; I got off and immediately doused my car in gasoline, from the inside of course the upholstery and the bodies included, Madeline also got off his car so I went ahead and doused it in gasoline too,

“How are we going to go back?” He asked,

“Denis will pick us up,” I replied, and that seems to set his mind at ease as he helped me push it onto the edge of the cliff. I lit the seats on fire in both cars and it caught into a big flame soon enough. Seeing the fire made me want to have a smoke.

We each pushed off a car over the edge and its crashes and thuds gradually diminished after a few seconds. I pulled out my phone and texted Denis to pick us up from this place and pulled out my cigarette, offering Madeline one.

He seems like he needed one, he’s turned silent and stiff, not really saying a word after he shot Diego. He shook his head at my offer, so I just lit my own,

“I didn’t want to …I had to,” he whispered,

To calm his mind perhaps, those words mean nothing to me and never will. All I know is I’m ready to steal a person in that intrusive facility and I’ll f*****g do it well.