Ten: The Killer

"How does it feel like ... to kill someone?"

She was still laying on the bed and he was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall.

He looked up at her, "Have you ever asked that to your husband?"

She paused. She didn't expect him to ask that. "He kills people who did him wrong ... but you kill people for money."

"He kills people to show his power over someone else, I kill to survive."

"How can someone end the life of another human being so easily?"

He scoffed, "Who said it was easy?"

"He made it look easy ... is it not easy for you? How many people have you killed?"

"Killing is an animal instinct ... a self-defense, to protect someone you love, or you were trained to do it because it's necessary ... like a dog ... you can train a dog to kill and make it think it's doing it to protect you."

"Were you trained to be a mercenary?"

He didn't answer.

She turned to look at him in the eyes, "I have a proposition to make."

He was listening intently.

"If you let me go ... I will pay you double of what they're paying."

He scoffed, "My client will hunt me down and kill me if I don't get this job done ... I will have to spend the rest of my life running ... no thanks."

"I will pay you double to kill your client," she said.

He stared at her in silence, then he laughed, "You're trying to find out who hired me? Nice try."

"You don't have to tell me who it is, just kill them for me then I can be free."

He shook his head, "That's not how it works ... I don't do counter jobs or I would be dead by now, you can't turn on your client because the target pays you double ... that's amateur work ... amateur dies ... badly."

She sat up on the edge of the bed, "What then? What can I offer you so you would help me?"

She was more beautiful in person than in pictures. Her skirt was lifted and her legs were bare in front of him. To be that close to her had affected him even though he didn't want to admit it.

He looked away, "Nothing ... just behave yourself until tomorrow and we'll be on our separate ways."

He turned on the TV to distract her.

It was still the biggest news on TV. Every news channel was covering the story. The hair on her body stood up when she saw his face on the screen.

Armand was doing a press conference. Her beautiful, brown-eyed husband's face was staring back at her.

"I'm deeply saddened to announce that my father ..." he cleared his throat, "Cosimo Lombardo had succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead this morning ... he will be buried along with my mother and my in-laws in a respectful ceremony that will be held in due course ... I would also like to address the public and to all business partners of The Lombardo and Montenero Enterprises that business will run as usual and that this tragedy will not affect the way we run our companies."

He took a deep breath and looked at the papers in his hand, "We are cooperating with the police department in trying to resolve this case ... this attack towards my family that had taken the lives of the people that I love most, I have provided them with everything they needed and they are working on the case tirelessly and rest assured that this was an isolated attack on my family and was not a random act of violence ... This was premeditated and specifically targeted my family and the kidnapping of my wife."

Armand paused for a moment, his expression was stern. "I'm offering 10 million dollars for anyone who can provide us the information that will lead to solving the case, and 20 million dollars for the safe return of Ariana Montenero Lombardo ... and if you are watching this ... please do not harm her, we are willing to negotiate for her safe return."

His last statement sent shivers down her spine.

"Well ... there you go ... your ransom ... you can just return me to my husband now and get the money ... I won't tell him you had kidnapped me, we'll just say you rescued me from my kidnappers," she said.

He turned off the TV, took a deep breath, "That's exactly what he wants me to do."

Her husband was a conniving bastard, he's offering that money to create chaos in the police department, they will be swarmed with phone calls and false leads that will keep them busy while he organizes his men to hunt the real kidnapper down. His life was now at stake.

He knew for sure that the raid was not ordered by the same client who hired him to kidnap Ariana. It looks like the ambush and the kidnapping is connected, but it's not. If he was going to get caught, they would blame the wedding massacre on him.

There's something bigger going on behind the shootout and the kidnapping, he couldn't figure it out yet. The sooner he can do the drop, the sooner he can steer clear from the mafia entanglement. It was the one business he didn't want to be involved with, but his foot was half in the water.