Falling for the Ace Assassin

Deafening Silence

A man wearing a black silk mask that covered half his face reclined on the sofa, a glass of whiskey in hand. He swirled it lazily, the soft moving lights from the seedy bar danced in his cold eyes. The tables and chairs had all been moved aside and a group of men crowded around the center of the empty room stomping mercilessly.

“Enough,” though his voice was soft, everyone stopped moving as soon as they heard it.

The burly men stepped aside to reveal a heap of a man on the floor, his black suit covered in footprints.

The man on the floor pulled himself together and pushed up slightly to glare at the masked man. “I don’t know who you are but you just messed with… Ooph!!!”

A swift kick from one of the burly men sent him sprawling again.

“Answer the question, pig.”

The man on the floor chuckled, “If you think you’re safe touching the FBI, you got another thing coming.”

The masked man snorted in derision, “You think those agents will still care once I release the information that you’ve betrayed your own?”

The agent glared at him. “You got nothing on me, you mobster!”

“Oh, but I do. Just as you have eyes in the streets, we have eyes in the Bureau. You only managed to climb the ranks all these years because of your ties with us mobsters. You’ve used us to get rid of your political enemies and we helped pave the way to your success.”

“f**k you! Take off your mask! I dare you!”

“I only let dying men see my face. You still want to see?”

The agent gulped and licked his lips nervously. “I will tell you everything… just let me live.”

The masked man smiled and took a sip of his drink.

“So I ask again: how much do you know and who did you tell?”

“Not much. Just that Ace lives in the city. He gets around by motorcycle and he is always targeting gangsters who dabble in kidnapping rich kids. We had some of our psych specialists look into it and it seems that Ace is doing this for revenge. Possibly someone close to him was kidnapped and tortured in the past. That’s all I know! I swear. I haven’t told anyone.”

“Hmm,” the masked man hummed, “Give me all the names of the agents who worked on this case.”

Beep beep beep

The masked man looked down at his phone and smiled.

“Get the list of names from him before you bag him up and dump him back on the street.”

“Yes, boss!”

He got up and glanced apathetically at the man, “As for you… if we can get you once, we can get you again. Keep your mouth shut and you just might live long enough to retire.”

The agent grunted with his head down, hiding the fury behind his eyes.

The masked man walked out of the room and got into an unmarked car. He missed the call but there was a voicemail.

“Hi. This is Tania Everly. First off, I am a huge fan of yours. My colleague gave me your business card and told me to call you back. So this is my number xxx-xxx-xxxx. You can text or call me back. Okay, bye.”

Theo took off his mask and tossed it aside. He closed his eyes and replayed the message again… then again. He sighed, that soothing voice, how nice it would be if he could hear it every day but he still had some work to do before he could call her back.

He picked up the phone and dialed his friend. “Hey, buddy. I looked into the agent you told me about. He picked up on some clues but it’s not enough to drive the nail into the coffin. I’ll have my guys clean up whatever evidence they see.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah okay, I love you too. I got work to do so let’s catch up later. Keep your head down for a while until I sort out what they actually know.”

“Don’t die.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Theo hung up. Their mothers were close at one point so Theo met Jason at a few social functions. They grew up fighting and bantering and soon became fast friends— that was until Jason got kidnapped. For a good year, no one could get in contact with Jason, and when they did, he was a mere shadow of himself. It was by complete chance that Jason killed his first mobster on Theo’s territory. Jason, being a newbie, left evidence everywhere. If it wasn’t for Theo, Jason would have been caught immediately. Since then, Theo has been involved in clearing the scene and cleaning up the aftermath for Jason. It wasn’t too much work on the side… that is until he realized the men Jason had killed were all Dorian’s henchmen.

Dorian Brown.

Theo sighed and rubbed his tired face. While he preferred to work in the shadows hiding his identity, everyone in the underworld knew of Dorian Brown. The insane bastard was going around absorbing mob families one after the other. Anyone who refused to bow was chopped down from the knees up. Everyone remaining now rallied behind Theo’s Venom. Sooner or later the two underworld bosses would clash in a bloody territory fight. The whole alliance would step aside to watch– if Dorian came out victorious, he would be offered the leader position for Venom in the West.

Theo couldn’t risk that happening. If he lost, it would mean everything he safeguarded would be in jeopardy; his position, his family business, his family members, and all his underworld brothers.

He sighed heavily.

***

“Everything okay?” Connie asked when Jason walked back into the dining room.

He had walked out to take an important call leaving her in the room for a short minute. Jason’s face looked grim upon return.

“Yes. Let’s continue eating.”

Connie nodded and ate slowly savoring each bite. After breakfast, she had insisted on going home but the butler and chef badgered her to stick around to try more of his dishes. Though she was heavily tempted, she pointed out the fact that she was still wearing dirty clothing from yesterday. To her surprise, the capable butler had already prepared a new set of clothing for her, freshly washed and ironed. She didn’t have the heart to refuse seeing the two old men’s pleading eyes and if everything tasted as good as the old chef’s peach cobbler, then she was in for a treat.

She had only meant to stay for lunch but Jason pulled her into his study to work and somehow the day dissolved into night and it was time for dinner.

Connie cleared her throat, “I’m sorry to have imposed on you all day.”

Jason didn’t meet her eyes as he murmured, “It’s nice having you here.”

Connie’s eyes narrowed, she wasn’t sure if she heard him right or if she was hallucinating, Jason’s voice was too soft. Truth be told, there was nothing to dislike about him, other than his lack of social skills. If he was really serious about her, maybe she would try it out… just this once.

Connie licked her lips nervously and put herself out there. “Jason?”

Jason looked up, surprised that she started calling his name again.

“Do you like me?”

Jason blinked rapidly and his eyes lost focus. Had he been too obvious? What if she hates him and tries to avoid him again? He was always good at reading people but this time his head was just a useless ornament affixed to his shoulders. He didn’t know what to do and just stared at her.

The staring match lasted for seconds which seemed like an eternity. Jason’s silence was deafening.

Connie blushed furiously and coughed politely. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put you on the spot there. I must have read the room wrong. It’s really time for me to go. I’ll call for a cab. Thanks for everything.”

Connie felt like a fool. She had thought too highly of herself…