The Hitman's Last Job(48)

“One way please,”


~

Carl was so enraged and panicked that he ran up and down the length of the street desperately trying to find her. Little did he know she had already boarded a bus… with all his possessions. When he exhausted himself he returned to the bar.

“Have you seen her?” he felt like throttling the barman.
“For like the tenth time, no I haven’t seen her,”


Carl felt like crying as he climbed back on his stool. He pushed his fingers into his jeans pockets and counted what cash he had left. It amounted to $115.

“Hey, can I get bourbon? Actually can you just give me the bottle?” and he slid over twenty dollars.
“Look I don’t want you to get blind drunk and pass out here,” the barman explained glibly. “How about your find yourself a motel and crash there? If your girlfriend comes back I’ll send her your way,”


Carl nodded glumly.

“There’s a place two minutes from here. Just cross the road and take a right down that alley. They’ve got cheap rooms and cable TV, if you don’t mind the cockroaches,”
“Carl slid off his stool clumsily. “Thanks buddy,” he clutched at the bottle of bourbon and made his way out the door.


~

Detective Callahan was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. He had a migraine coming on and still had six hours left before he could go home. Not that he wanted to do that either. He thought back to his wife’s hollering from last night and felt his stomach churn.

Suddenly another detective swaggered up to his desk with a crisp, new file.

“Hey Callahan, that mob hit on the south side from earlier this week. That’s your case ain’t it?”
“Yup,” he sighed and prayed he wasn’t getting more work to do.
“Well we got a suspect. A Carl Reiner,” and he dropped the file on his desk.


Callahan pricked up his ears at the name and hurried through the file. “Son of a bitch!” he declared. “Thanks buddy,”

And the other detective walked away.

Callahan fumbled in a hurry for his cell phone. Dialling Jerry’s number he jogged to the bathroom. Checking no one was in there he opened the file and began babbling.

“Hey buddy,” Jerry sounded pleased to hear from him.
“I got news! Your Mr. Reiner just turned up. Call just came in from an anonymous young woman who reported him for murdering her father, Thomas Martin,”
“Holy shit!”
“Yuh… but you better book the next flight south. He’s hiding in Corpus Christi,”
“Sometimes you’re alright, Callahan. Regards to your wife,” and Jerry hung up.


The detective shimmied back to his desk feeling like a disgraceful human being.

~

Jorge was still lying on the bed as the sunlight spilled onto his lithe body through the blinds. He blew smoke up into the air and watched it dance on the ceiling. He was listening in on Jerry’s phone call and it sounded like good news.

Jerry hung up the phone and grinned. “Get your shit. We’re goin’ to Texas,”

“Ah f*ck,” Jorge couldn’t be bothered getting up from his bed let alone fly to the other end of the country. “Do I have to? I already put in overtime with old man Reiner,”
“Stop being a jerk Jorge and move,”
“Urgh…” and he stood up like a petulant teenager and pulled on his boots.


~

Anna was still in tears as the bus approached the Mexican border. Gripping hold of her fake passport she mentally pleaded that no one be suspicious of it. She wasn’t an expert on these things but as she looked at it she was certain it looked real. Plus she had her looks on her side and knew that counted for something.

She couldn’t take her mind off Carl though. What was he doing? She’d replayed the moment a thousand times in her head. He was definitely kissing someone she was sure of it. But who was she and how did he know her? Was it just someone who looked just like him? Or was he falling prey to a moment of weakness? She cast her mind back to seeing his tall stature with the blonde buzz cut. And the way he stood with confidence. She even remembered seeing the way he slanted his posture to one side because of his back injury. It was him alright. The jerk.

As she handed her passport over to the border guard she held her breath for what seemed like an eternity. But he seemed barely interested in it compared to looking at her body. He smiled adoringly at her as he handed it back.

“Have a lovely day Miss Martin,” and he winked


She smiled back falsely and hoped her tears hadn’t puffed up her face too much. Then she watched as the bus pulled away as they crossed the border. Her stomach lurched as they entered Mexico and she felt a peculiar anxiety within her that signalled both excitement and fear.

Where she was going she didn’t know. All she knew was that the idyllic sun streaming through the window warmed and comforted her. Still clutching the briefcase she opened it while making sure none of the passengers could see inside. There was still thousands in there and she figured it would carry her a long way in Mexico. As long as no one robbed it from her...

Then it hit her. She was a single teenager with a case full of cash in a foreign country. She didn’t speak any Spanish and she’d never left her home town until this week let alone know how to move abroad.

“Fuck,” she cursed herself.