X Marks The Spot… The Final Chapter
Charlotte handed me an envelope.
“We found this on the other assassin.” Charlotte said.
The envelope was unassuming, brown, and sealed.
I broke the seal and read the contents. It was an instruction sheet.
It was almost as good as a confession.
It had everything in there. Location, time, instructions on what not to do.
Exactly when to kill Veronica. It was safe to assume this goon decided not to read his instruction manual.
Stupid move, considering X was so thorough.
If he would have lived through this, he may not have made it much longer.
Except he didn’t live. I did. And I read the instruction sheet.
The plan shot into my head quickly.
Just like old times.
I brought Veronica and Charlotte closer to me, showed them the note.
Veronica gasped, Charlotte laughed.
“What’s so funny, honey?” I asked.
“Fucking amateurs.” Charlotte said.
I smiled back at her. I guess I found it a little funny as well.
Apparently this assassin was no rocket scientist.
Veronica’s dead body was to be dropped at a river, not far away from the Web. She was to be laid next to my lifeless body.
How poetic.
But what about Charlotte?
It didn’t make sense to me. Did X think that Charlotte would stand by and watch her sister die.
This cowboy was hoping for a Mexican standoff.
Which means there is someone else waiting outside to clean up.
Interesting.
That person was now walking down the back stairs that led to the Web’s basement.
The footsteps were quick at first, then slowed down as the person approached the back door.
“Come to mop up?” I said out loud to both Charlotte and Veronica.
I thought about putting up a charade. Let the person think that the show went on as planned. But I was not in the mood for games.
I waited by the door with my gun drawn. But it wasn’t me who pulled the trigger.
As soon as the door opened from the outside, Charlotte shot at the poor, unsuspecting chap and dug her knife deep into the gentleman’s throat. She grunted as she pulled the knife back out.
The man, dressed in black but covered now in red, dropped to his knees and gurgled what I hoped were his last prayers.
I knew what we had to do.
Charlotte sensed my intentions and grabbed car keys off of the cleaner.
“Time to get moving” Charlotte said.
I didn’t need another word to come out of her beautifully dangerous mouth.
I picked up one of the dead men, while Charlotte and Veronica dragged the other.
We walked out the back door of the Web and Charlotte locked the door behind us, dropping the dead assassin’s head on the concrete step to turn the lock.
I checked my watch. The dead bodies were expected in 15 minutes.
Mr. X would be there.
I threw the first body in the trunk and helped the girls with the other.
“I’ll drive.” I said, and took the keys from Charlotte without waiting for an answer.
Veronica jumped in next to me. Charlotte laid down in the back seat, removed her heels and rubbed her delicate feet.
“So, what’s the plan?” Charlotte said.
“Well, he’s expecting bodies.” I said. “And bodies we’ll give him.”
I turned the ignition. The engine roared to life. I drove off into the night, listening to the dead men thump in the trunk of the car.
We drove on the empty highway until we reached the spot designated in the letter. There was a dock and an empty boathouse. Flashes of the Peterson farm penetrate my thoughts.
I pulled out my Colt Python and check the chamber, six rounds and a healthy dose of Deja-vu.
Only this time the click of the chamber locking didn’t make me feel any safer. The area was dark, I didn’t see anyone in the area. Veronica had been playing possum in the front seat for the last few miles, we didn’t want to take any chances, there was no telling where X could be.
“You ready for this Darlin?”
She squeezed my hand to tell me that she was, but that a part of her was scared as well.
I cut the engine and walked to the other side of the car. I opened the door and took Veronica in my arms. I carried her to the boathouse and laid her on the wooden table in the room as per
X’s instructions.
It was dark, no streetlights and hardly any moonlight, pretty good cover, I appeared only as a silhouette.
I waited in the dark room, a room as dark as my thoughts and the building rage.
I thought I might be scared facing him again, I’m a little ashamed to say I’ve been scared a lot during the last ten years, I never showed it, but it was there, weakening me, enslaving me. That’s why I had hardly touched a case harder than infidelity all these years.
Standing in that dark boathouse, I didn’t feel scared, I felt justice. Justice for Emily, all of those families, and for myself.
My thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the boathouse door. X walked into the room, his attention immediately on the girl on the table.
“Good, you’ve brought the girl, and she doesn’t seem violated in any way. Your employers will reward you for this generously. What of the other girl?”
“She’s gonna be a little late. Been a long time Leon, how’s the hand?” I said as I lit up a cigarette.
X was caught by surprise. “Midnight!”
X reached for a gun in his belt. I fired one round and knocked it out of his hand.
“C’mon now Leon, is that any way to say hello to someone you haven’t seen in 10 years?”
”Your supposed to be dead, I guess you seduced that filthy cheap whore.”
“Believe me, Leon, she tried to kill me and would have succeeded, but your cheaper goon blew his load too early.”
“This interferes with my work Detective, I have an important mission to achieve.”
“So do I Leon, and last I checked, revenge was a much stronger mission. But your wrong about something Leon, I’m no longer a detective, thanks to you, this is personal.”
I flick my cigarette and took off my coat and hat and let them drop to the floor.
“See Leon, no badge.”
Leon rolled up the sleeves on finely pressed shirt.
“Let us dance.” He said.
Leon was not a gun-using man for the most part. He took joy and pride in his knife work. I did not expect him to pull a firearm in first place, but he did. I knew he was not going to try it again. He was sloppy with a gun. Clumsy. But with a knife, he was Da Vinci.
As I thought, each of Leon’s hands produced a very sharp blade from holsters at his hips.
Predictable.
But for some reason, I froze.
I was ready. Ready to take control again. Ready to take my vengeance. To smite down this evil man, with my own righteous hand.
But I froze.
Leon charged.
Fury took over, and any other thought escaped Leon’s head. He was going to finish this once and for all. And there I was waiting for him like a sitting duck. Soon to be a dead duck.
Then something happened.
Leon must have assumed Veronica dead.
But Veronica was not dead.
And in all of her liveliness, she jumped up, out of her possum position, and grabbed Leon by the throat from behind.
Leon, though physically stronger than Veronica, was taken by surprise.
This gave me enough time to act. To thaw out.
I couldn’t shoot Leon because Veronica was hanging off his back. I really didn’t want her dead along with him.
In his confusion, Leon thrust one of his knives at me, but missed.
I grabbed his wrist and broke it, bending it back well beyond the bending point.
The knife fell helplessly to the ground. So did Leon.
Veronica’s grip was so tight she was actually making Leon black out, choking him.
With a thud, Leon went down to his knees. Though this also sent Veronica tumbling to the ground.
Leon gasped, trying to catch his breath.
In one swoop, I dropped down and grabbed the knife and swung my arm in an arc, blade facing out.
I caught Leon in his favorite spot, the throat.
Leon looked across at me. We were face-to-face now.
In his anger, he reached out again. But it was in vain. I had the knife, not him. His other knife dropped as he was choking.
I stood up.
Leon crawled toward me, trying to speak. No words came out.
With Veronica free from his back, it was fire away.
I pulled my Colt Python and placed the barrel on his forehead.
Leon, accepting his fate, waited for me to pull the trigger.
I hesitated.
I don’t know why, but in this moment I thought about bringing him in.
Taking him to the authorities. Making him rot in jail.
Police Officer Jack Midnight would have brought him in. Jack Midnight with a badge.
I was just Jack Midnight with a gun.
I pulled the trigger.
Veronica screamed.
Charlotte rushed the boathouse.
Leon fell forward as his life spilled away on the floor.
