Authors: Max Freedom

The Hitman's Last Job (19 page)

John nodded in
acknowledgement and drove away. The journey had been arduous but he
knew it was worth it. However his side was aching more with every
hour he spent on the road. After a few miles into the Mexican
desert he had no choice but to pull over and inspect his
injuries.
Lifting up his
shirt he saw the swollen mess that was his ribcage. To his
untrained eye it seemed one of the cuts was becoming infected and
the bruising was spreading rapidly. He’d seen enough television to
guess he was bleeding internally. Still though, he felt he must
plod on to reach Carl. He couldn’t stop until he saw his face and
apologized.
Glancing back
at his side he saw the bruising and infection was so rampant in his
body that his ribcage began to look distorted. He felt as though he
were looking at the body of someone else. There was no way this
monstrosity could be attached to him.
Breathing
through the pain he pulled his shirt back down and pulled back out
onto the highway. It was only a couple hours to the house. He knew
he kept painkillers there and other supplies, he just had to grit
his teeth and bear it for a little while longer.
But the more
Carl’s father drove the more his teeth began to grind together as
pain took hold of him. He began to sweat profusely as he felt a
fever fast approaching. It wouldn’t be long until he couldn’t sit
up any longer.
~
Anna looked at
her passport as it hung from a miniature washing line. She never
imagined it would take so long to dry but she was happy to sip at
her coffee for a little while longer.

“
So….” Chuck grinned at the couple. “Mexico… How romantic.
Gonna check out one of those donkey shows?” he joked.

“
No… we are not,” Carl placed his mug down with a clunk and
wiped at some rogue milk foam on his chin.

“
What’s a donkey show?” asked Anna innocently and then she
remembered a TV show she’d seen once. “Oooooohhhh,”

Both boys
laughed and she blushed.
Chuck prodded
at her passport gently and concluded it was ready.

“
And boom! Here you go madam,” he pulled it carefully from the
line and placed it inside a Ziploc bag for safe keeping. “Now this
will grant you only three wishes so you must choose wisely,” he
handed it over.

“
Shut up Chuck,” Carl pretended to slap him across the face and
they both laughed. “But seriously we’re so grateful. You’ve done us
the biggest favour anyone could have ever done,”

“
Really man it’s no worries. If I’m not mistaken you actually
saved my life back in the Congo,”

“
The Congo?” Anna was flabbergasted.

“
Another story for another time,” Carl patted her on the back
and kissed her cheek.

The more she
found out about Carl the less she knew. He was a human enigma.

“
Well we better be on our way. Hope I’ll see you again
someday,” the two men hugged.

“
Don’t be a stranger,” Chuck looked slightly tearful at his
friend’s departure.

~
When the
couple arrived at the bus station it was as if they had a second
wind and were more excited than ever. If everything worked out
they’d be over the border in only a few hours. But as they took
their seats at the back of the bus something niggled inside Anna.
Carl could see something brewing in her eyes.

“
Penny for your thoughts?”

“
What if the Mob find us over there? Surely it’s
possible,”

“
Well anything is possible,” Carl nodded in agreement. “But
believe me this place is on the outskirts of a beautiful city and
surrounded by so much land. You can see for miles and the locals
are known to be pretty hostile to strangers,”

“
So how are they gonna respond to us?” Anna asked
irritated.

“
I spent a lot of time there as a kid. Have some distant
cousins in the area,”

“
I thought you had no family!”

“
They’re not really family. More like cousins of
cousins,”

“
I’m confused again. This is starting to get old,”

“
What is?” he looked upset at her sudden bad mood.

“
This whole God damn rigmarole of you and your secrets, just
tell us where we’re going Carl. I don’t wanna have to ask again,”
she sighed heavily and pleaded with her eyes.

“
Fine… We’re going to my Dad’s holiday home in Monterrey. It’s
where his parents grew up and well… That’s it,”

“
Why didn’t you just say that? Why would that possibly be so
difficult for you to explain?”

“
Because….. Because…. My Dad comes from a long line of cops. I
thought you’d be suspicious of that. Bein’ a Mob kid and
all,”

“
Well I’m suspicious of a lot of things about you but not
that!” she was so delirious with the whole situation she didn’t
know whether to laugh or cry.

“
Yeah but…. You know when you hold something small back for a
moment and it just snowballs. And suddenly you feel like you have
to cover up everything and not let anyone in?” he was squeezing her
hand so tight his knuckles were turning white.

It was then
she realized he had more problems than she initially thought and
that he was wounded in places she was only just starting to
discover.

“
I understand that more than you can know,” she smiled faintly
and kissed his cheek.

He nodded to
show he understood. Then their conversation was broken by the sound
of the engine clanking into gear. The sun streamed through the
window as San Antonio said goodbye.

“
Can we come back here again someday?” Anna asked.

“
Of course we can. One day we’ll travel the world,” he leaned
over to look out the window beside her.

“
But do you think we’ll always have people chasing
us?”

“
I can’t answer that,” Carl sounded sad.

As the bus
pulled out onto the highway they relaxed back in their seats and
looked forward. This time the bus was nearly empty and Anna only
spotted two other people to keep them company. There was a young,
skater kid about fourteen years old and a scruffy older man who
looked as though he’d just been released from prison. It was
amazing what characters you saw on public transport and Anna
wondered whether it was a good thing she grew up so sheltered. At
least a lot of the world had been hidden from her. But at what
cost?
The desert
passed by the window in a haze of brown. And after a while Anna
stopped noticing the landscape. Instead of looking out she began to
turn her thoughts inward. A week ago she couldn’t imagine the
journey she had been on. And the journey of both mind and body had
taken her to a place she didn’t know existed, a place of
strength.
She looked to
Carl and thought anybody could do anything if they had the right
person by their side. Of course there would be problems and every
person came with baggage but wasn’t that what made us all human? So
engrossed was Anna in her thoughts that she barely noticed the
sound of the engine stutter.
Carl however
was instantly panicked and he looked out the window to see where
they were. They appeared to be in the suburbs of a town he didn’t
know and he prayed the bus would make it to the station. But of
course his prayers weren’t answered and instead the bus eventually
staggered as it died a slow death. It broke down just off the
highway on the edge of a rundown neighborhood.

“
Shit!” the bus driver could be heard shouting from his
seat.

The four
passengers watched as he jumped down onto the road and inspected
the smoke rising from under the hood. He looked outraged at the
incident and they could hear him complaining as he looked into the
engine.
After a while
he pulled out his cell phone and the passengers watched as he paced
anxiously up and down the side of the bus while shouting at whoever
was on the other end. After a few excruciating and confusing
minutes he eventually came back on the bus and addressed the
passengers.

“
Sorry guys. Looks like this ole mule ain’t goin’ anywhere
anytime soon,” and he huffed and crossed his arms
angrily.

“
But where are we?” Carl leaned forward and looked out the
window again.

“
On the edge of Corpus Christi,” sighed the driver as he took
his hat off and wiped his bald head.

“
But now what?” the skater kid at the front of the bus was
angry.

“
Yeah they gonna send another bus or what?” the older guy was
incensed.

“
Calm down guys,” the driver raised his hands as if he was
surrendering. “Another bus is on the way as soon as they find
someone to drive it. Then they’ll be taking you guys back to San
Antonio where they’ll compensate you,”

“
But we don’t wanna go back to San Antonio! That’s stupid!”
Anna stood up enraged.

“
Yeah we’re not going back! Can’t the new bus just take us
where we’re going?” the skater kid stood up next.

“
Look all I know is what the guy said on the phone and he said
you’re all being picked up and taken back home,”

“
This is fuckin’ stupid,” the skater kid lost his temper and
stormed off the bus.

Then the older
guy took his turn. “Fuck this. I’ll just hitch the rest of the
way,”
Carl looked
over to Anna who was bright red with anger. “And what do you wanna
do?” he asked.

“
I’m sure as hell not going back. Anyway can we just keep
moving somehow?” she suggested.

But the driver
interjected. “There’s a hotel not too far from here. You could
always head there and make a trip of it,” he put the idea out there
to placate the situation.

“
Aaw fuck. We’ve really gotta be over the border like today,”
Carl cupped his face in his hands and leaned forward onto his
lap.

“
That bad eh?” the driver approached the couple cautiously and
sat a couple seats in front of them.

Anna nodded to
show the severity of the situation.

“
Family emergency?” he asked.

“
Yeah…..” Carl fumed. “It’s a family emergency,”

“
Damn, I’m so sorry,” the driver sighed. “If there was a way I
could pay for you to travel I would happily oblige. Just hate
seeing people in trouble,” he looked to the floor genuinely
upset.

“
I guess we could jump out now and start walking. Just hail a
cab to the next station?”

“
Seems like a plan to me,” Carl looked up to her and
nodded.

“
Well I guess it’s a goodbye from me then,” and the driver
waved farewell as they jumped down onto the street.

Yet again the
couple found themselves walking aimlessly in the middle of
nowhere.

“
This is just….. Shit. I have no other words I really don’t,”
Carl fumed. “I’m just tired of all this,”

“
You think God’s testing us?” Anna asked him as she jogged to
catch up with his long, angry strides.

“
You think there’s a God?” he replied dryly.

“
I’m not even sure anymore,” Anna looked to her sneakers as she
pounded her blistered feet on the sidewalk.

They walked in
silence for a few minutes until a little row of shops came into
view. Carl spotted a grotty looking bar and nodded to it.

“
Fancy a drink?” he asked.

“
Shouldn’t we be trying to hail a cab?” Anna
protested.

“
Come on, live a little,” Carl smiled.

“
Ok fine. But don’t get in trouble for giving booze to a
minor,”

“
Ah shut up. When I was your age I could drink any old timer
under the table,” and he pushed open the door.

Anna had never
seen a dive bar in real-life before and the first thing that hit
her was the smell. Stale tobacco and watered down beer mixed with
cheap aftershave.

“
Urgh…. God,” she felt the need to cover her mouth.

“
Just relax,” Carl laughed at her. “It’s cool. What you
havin?”

“
I dunno,” she shrugged. “Same as you I guess,”

“
Good luck,” he grinned cheekily as he approached the gnarly
looking barman.

He looked up
from the glass he was cleaning as if he had been interrupted from
an important job.

“
Two double scotch and sodas,” Carl asked and the barman nodded
without saying a word.

He slid two
glasses down the bar as the couple climbed onto stools that sat
between the local patrons.
Anna leaned
into Carl’s side. “This place is scary,” she gripped his arm.

“
And everything we left behind wasn’t?” he asked
sarcastically.

“
I guess,” she shrunk back and wrapped her fingers around her
glass.

But as she got
settled into her surroundings she noticed that all the guys along
the length of the bar were staring at her. Some gawped at her chest
while others tried to flirt and make eye contact. She shivered as
she was reminded of her father in every one of their faces.

“
Hey, I need the bathroom. Will you be ok for two minutes?”
Carl asked.

“
I guess,” she spoke optimistically.

The last thing
she wanted was to be left alone with these creeps. And as Carl
disappeared into the restroom her fears were confirmed. The guy
closest to her was eager to take Carl’s seat and he leaned into her
close. She could smell the disease from his rotting teeth and the
way it mingled with cheap beer. She imagined his dirty hair to be
crawling underneath his trucker hat and she prayed he would leave
her alone. Of course he only leaned in closer.

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