The Devious Charlatan

The flight attendant passed me a third time without stopping. I pressed the assistance button vigorously, but it seemed to be broken.

“What’s wrong?” Mrs. Wei asked me.

“The button’s not working,” I replied. Mrs. Wei gave no further notice to my frustration and put back on the headphones she was listening to and went back to sleep. She was wearing an awfully long-sleeved cashmere shirt, covering her tan skin. It was a mystery to me how she could afford clothing like this, but I shook it off and told myself it was synthetic.

I was on my way to Guangzhou to aid Mrs. Wei and her husband in finding their kidnapped daughter. The director called me in because I was their accolade for cases like these. It seems the child’s rapacious captors left a note at the crime scene that demanded the parents meet in person. They demanded fifteen million dollars in exchange for their daughter back. The ransom note also supposedly said that the captors would kill their daughter if they did not comply. The police rejected their case, so they came to the Agency for help. The Agency gave me the case, but the complication was that the exchange site was in the middle of a big fucking polluted city across the sea. It wasn’t cheap to fly around this time, and I was lucky to even buy an economy class ticket because the Agency couldn’t purchase it for me. Fucking Agency.

“Sir, did you call?” a very late China Airlines flight attendant said.

“Yeah, how much bullshit do I have to go through for some decent service?” I asked.

“Well sir, I’m sorry. We’re working around the clock and we’re understaffed today. One of our flight attendants got sick mid-way through the flight,” she lied. I had a knack for detecting liars, and she clearly just didn’t like me.

“I wanted a cup of water. You bastards didn’t let me bring aboard my own liquids,” I ranted.

“That’s because it’s against protocol, sir,” the flight attendant said coldly.

“Yeah, bull. Whatever, hey, how much longer is this flight?” I asked.

“Just another hour sir,” she replied. Her somehow impeccable smile didn’t fool me.

“Great. I just want to get off now,” I mumbled. As the flight attendant left, I sensed she was scolding at my behavior. I wasn’t much of an amiable person.

It wasn’t the best case to take at the time. My brother just died somewhere in Oregon saving his family. Kind of heroic story actually to be told for another day. In short, he died in the mountains trying to save his wife and kids while they were all stranded in the middle of cold storm in Oregon. It made the papers and it had a huge internet fan memorial. I had just come back from ‘sick leave’ when the Wei case came across my desk. Work was work, especially these sorts of cases in my field, so I took the case, though I was still recovering from my trauma.

We finally got to Guangzhou, and Mr. and Mrs. Wei and I waited for a taxi. The pollution was onerous as I gasped for air. I couldn’t see the city at all with the cloud of smog. There were gray and rustic neighborhoods mixed in with new, metropolitan buildings in the centre area. Everybody was always moving from one place to another, never looking up and only looking down, focusing their eyes at their blackberries and mp3 players or other portable electronics.

A taxi came for us. The driver got out of his car and helped us with our luggage. I scrambled my baggage into the small trunk and squished my way into the cramped, beltless backseat.

“Hui nai ah?” The taxi driver asked ‘where to.’ The driver had a scrawny, disfigured face full of pesky moles.

“Shang-ri zau dim,” I replied. I wasn’t a vernacular speaker in the region, but the taxi driver got part of what I was saying. Shanghai Hotel. I learned the Cantonese tongue through my grandmother, who married a Korean man.

The taxi drove us to the hotel in no time at a low price. It scared Mr. and Mrs. Wei a few times when he swerved in and out of lanes to cut through traffic.

“Ba men m ho ji,” the driver growled harshly. He must’ve figured we were from the states, or some other foreign land, because he didn’t want to talk to us all that much. I knew many natives of Guangzhou had much aberration for foreigners; a bit xenophobic you may say. I handed him eight fifty and took the luggage. The Wei family finished checking into the hotel.

“Detective Kim, how long do you suppose it will take?” Mrs. Wei asked. Mr. Wei continued being reticent since he found out what the Agency did. I stared at him with much suspicion.

“You’re begging the question, Mrs. Wei. Don’t ask me stupid questions like that, or I might never find your daughter,” I told her.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologized. It wasn’t that I was being atrocious; it was that Mrs. Wei couldn’t afford our services at full price, so my boss gave her a discount because he was easily swayed by married women. Fucking prick, I swear. He cut my commission by a substantial amount because of this price break.

“Look, I will retrieve your daughter if I can, but be warned that if I come empty handed, you must be prepared to play a deadly part in the deal. There are no guarantees on this operation.” I asked.

“Yes,” Mrs. Wei responded.

“Good. Why don’t you and your husband rest for now. You’ll need it,” I said. I waited until the Wei couple disappeared behind the elevator doors before calling for another taxi.

The taxi drove me to the pit hole of main triad activity in Guangzhou, the Heavenly Sky alley. It was full of out-of-work farmers, day laborers, and grieving homeless Chinese people outside of the underground bars and night clubs. I pushed my way through a huge crowd to go into a strip club, Sun Gai Po Tao. It was the zenith of all strip clubs in the area, and I knew it was a joint for many professional class criminals there. I searched around the hazy smoke atmosphere of the club, and walking around many strip poles. My informant, a very thin man who wore large spectacles, was waving money to a stripper.

“Mr. Huan!” I yelled. The informant looked at me with a bit of shock. His tacky shirt and tie really didn’t suit him too well in a place like this. The informant walked over to me.

“Mr. Kim. I didn’t expect you to be here so early,” he squeaked.

“Well, who am I looking for?” I asked.

“There’s a man in the back of the bar with a snake tattoo. His boss knows where they’re keeping the kid,” he said.

“Good work,” I told him. I patted him on the back and began walking away.

“You know, you have to be more careful with yourself. Your job is very stressful, killing those people all of the time…” He trailed off.

“When I need your advice, I’ll ask for it. Now scram. This may get ugly,” I bellowed. The informant left the club quickly.

Near the back of the bar, many men were receiving lap dances that gave them tiny erections. On the walls, there were many signs; one said twenty dollars for one hour, one hundred for the whole night – a deal horny men at the bar were taking full advantage of. I saw a fairly built man in the back on the sofa in the back of the room. He had an arm full of snake tattoos and a nose piercing, crossing his arms like his nonchalant behavior might actually pick up some chick, if he was in a bar.

“Wai, ni ge gai lo ne?” I got his attention by asking where his boss was.

He stared at me, but then turned his head towards the dancing divas.

“Hey, I’m asking you where your boss is. I know you understand me,” I said angrily.

Again, he stared, but this time he got up. He turned his head and said quietly, “You don’t know who you’re messing with, little punk.”

“I just want to talk to your boss,” I said.

“You want me to beat the shit out of you?” he asked very ferociously.

His scurrilous attitude really set me off. I ran towards him and pounded a blow to his neck by my elbow. He fell down fairly hard.

“You know, it’s thugs like you I can’t stand,” I told him. “Now let me ask you again, where’s your boss?” He got up and tried to punch a blow at my head. I blocked him and roundhouse kicked him in the kidney. He dropped to the floor gasping for air and holding on to this wounded spot. I pointed a gun at his head.

“He’s at the Dragon Fair Enterprise on the twelfth floor. He’s complementing his company at a party right now though,” he gasped, rubbing his wound. I looked into his eyes and did not sense that he was lying.

“Thanks,” I said. It was easy, kicking his ass. I was a black belt at the dojo I went to, and my sensei told me that the way to deal with obdurate people is to use violence.

I walked out of the bar and called a taxi again. My theory was that the regional triad leader must have some connection to it, so I decided to start there. Hopefully, my informant got the right guy.

I reached the enterprise building before midnight. Guangzhou was bigger than I had anticipated, yet the sky still had an orange haze to it. I rode the elevator up and reached the twelfth floor. Just as the triad minion said, the leader was there, proud and standing with gossamer clothing from head to toe. I pushed my way through the party and strode towards the leader.

“Hi, I’m Mr. Kim,” I introduced myself, gesturing my hand for a shake.

“Mr. Tan, Ricky Tan. I’m the CEO of this company,” the leader introduced, shaking my hand.

“I have a few questions for you, Ricky. I’m a part of the Agency,” I said. I flashed my badge at him and Ricky pointed at the door, signaling that I meet him outside. I complied.

Ricky got through the crowd and closed the door behind him. “What is this about, detective?” he asked. There was a snake tattoo on his right forearm bulging out of his rolled up sleeves.

“I heard you’ve got some prestige in this area, leading the triad gang around. Your triad marked you as the notorious one for being the corporate genius that connects himself with the government and to the ICC, correct?” I asked.

“Yes, I am. We all wear this snake tattoo as gratitude for being a part of the most notorious gang in all of China. However, there’s nothing nefarious happening with my business right now,” he said. “We’ve agreed to the terms the ICC gave us. We mean no harm right now.”

“No, I’m not here to criticize you in any manner. I’m here to investigate a kidnapping. Three days ago, May Wei and her husband had their child kidnapped. They don’t know who did it, but I have a feeling that there may be a connection with your gang,” I exclaimed. “You see, the captors told them to come to China to hand over fifteen million. Now, that kind of underground work sounds all to close to your organization.”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “There has been a rival gang though that might be involved exclusively to Guangzhou. They call themselves the Gui Lo. You know, the Ghost Men. They lead terrorist plots against the Chinese government, threatening to bomb many government buildings to take over the city. Now, I’m not too sure, but I heard a rumor that they landed their hands on a kid that you might be describing.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“I think so. I have an inside man right now tracking them,” he replied.

“I need to know where they are,” I said.

“I can’t give that information to you unless you do something for me in return,” he responded. He gave me a smirk like the one Robert De Niro had in Heat.

“What do you want?” I asked. I was reluctant to listen to his offer.

“I want you to smuggle in a bomb at their HQ. When you get there, you must plant this bomb; otherwise, I will advise my men to hunt you down,” he said. “Look, I’m glad I can help you and all, for the Agency, but I don’t give my services for free. You must know that we are at war, and if this gang thinks they can rule over us, they’re highly mistaken.”

I stared at him and kindly accepted the offer, shook his hand, and one of his female assistants brought me a bag full of explosives. On the way out, one of the hotel assistants handed me a small sheet of paper that said, “Go to the Legendary Castle, Broadway and Fifth.” I took a taxi outside of the hotel and left to this Castle. I felt very awkward for a second in the taxi, like my perspicacious mind had just been faltered somehow.

I arrived around ten after two. There were men guarding the entrance to the building named Legendary Castle. It was an old run-of-the-mill complex with half broken windows, a musty, cigarette-infested scent, and a sign held up by the cracks on the brick walls: Gui Lo only. I found it quite strange for such a ghost gang to mark a certain piece of territory. Before I could even get to the door, a group of men surrounded me.

“Ne hi bing gow ah?” they asked, pointing rifles in my face. I put my hands up.

“Wo wun ga chiu saw,” I pleaded, telling them I was just some pedestrian looking for the restroom.

“Yow ho dow chi saw heng ge je dim.” One of the men told me I couldn’t use the restrooms there and reached towards my pockets and patted me down. He found my gun and my passport.

“Gui Yi, tai le.” The man passed my passport to the head leader, Gui Yi, or at least who I assumed to be the head leader.

“So, you’re American,” Gui Yi grumbled.

“Korean-American,” I corrected.

“Doesn’t mattah. You are in Gui Lo territory. There are consequences for stepping on our property.” One of his men punched me in the face. I fell down, and before I got up, the man took my bag and looked inside it.

“Wai! Lo Ban!” The henchman who looked into my bag yelled at the boss.

Gui Yi walked over to him.

“What are you doing with these explosives, home boy?” Gui Yi asked.

I didn’t say a word. Gui Yi commanded one of his men to send me to the jail cell. This one henchman, very strong and brute, dragged me into the Legendary Palace to the holding cells on the side. He locked me there as I was wiping my blood off of my face.

Ricky must have set me up here. I started thinking about my brother as I waited in the jail cell. After a while, I suppose a little over an hour, Gui Yi came into my cell with an old wooden chair. He sat in this chair backwards and grabbed my face so that I would look up.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I’m looking for a girl,” I replied.

“There are no little girls here. You came here to kill me, didn’t you?” he said.

“No, just trying to find a girl,” I repeated myself. My voice felt deceiving at that moment, though I was telling the truth. My low voice made Gui Yi suspect me even further, or at least I sensed that he suspected me.

“Look, we found a lot of explosives in your bag. Now tell me, Detective Kim, the Agency sent you to kill me, didn’t they?” he asked. He tossed my wallet at me.

“The Agency isn’t interested in Chinese terrorist organizations right now, they put me on the case of finding a missing girl,” I said.

“Yea? Bullshit. That still doesn’t explain the explosives in your bag,” he argued. “Until you tell me why you have the explosives, we can’t allow you to leave here.”

He looked at me, scrutinizing my pain from the blow the henchman gave me.

 “If you don’t tell me in the next few minutes here, you will feel a pain you have never experienced before,” he said, and exited my cell.

I started to worry a bit. I hadn’t been tortured in my life, but my uncle had said who served in Vietnam. He told me that nobody should ever experience what he experienced. It was traumatic and life-changing, as well as crippling. My uncle had to use crutches because of what the Viet-cong did to his legs in the torture chamber. I didn’t want that to happen to me, mostly because I want all of my body parts to stay the same. Just then, a young guard in his early twenties came to my door.

“Detective Kim, I’m the inside guy for Ricky. I’m going to let you go, but be very quiet,” he said.

“How can I trust you?” I asked. I wanted to make sure this guy was legit.

“You see this?” he questioned, rolling up this sleeve to reveal a snake tattoo.

“Fine, let’s get out of here then. First, where are the Gui Lo keeping the child?” I asked.

“The child is not here. Gui Yi has transported her to the exchange site already. She’s heavily guarded,” he answered. “Now, follow me out.”

I followed him outside, realizing I still did not know his name. We exited into the street where this inside man parked his car.

“Get inside. We must report to Ricky of Gui Lo’s plans,” he rasped, starting the car.

“Wait, what’s your name?” I asked. I still didn’t get the full picture.

“It’s Mr. Kwong to you,” he said. “Look, get inside or anytime now, Gui Yi’s gunna find you’re out of the cell. And if he does find out, he will find and kill you.”

“Alright, alright,” I said. I sat down inside his car and he drove off. He was a maniac behind the wheel, even worse than that taxi driver out of the airport. In no time, we reached the docks where he stopped the car. Mr. Kwong looked back at me pointing a gun to my head.

“I cannot let you continue,” he said. I noticed he still kept his gun on safety.

“Why not?” I asked, smirking at him.

“Because I cannot let my uncle fail his mission. You are a nuisance to his operation,” he said.

“You mean Ricky Tan? What operation are we talking about?” I asked.

“The operation in getting back those fifteen million dollars,” he revealed. He pushed the trigger, but the gun didn’t fire. I used my elbow to send a blow right to his face. He dropped the gun and started bleeding from his nose. He didn’t give up though. He tried to strangle me, but since I had more room being in the backseat, I punched him again at the same spot. For a second time, he didn’t give up, so I grabbed the gun that Mr. Kwong dropped and switched off the safety and shot him twice, both at his head.

“Your uncle is next,” I sneered at his corpse.

I cleaned the windows and mirrors in the car, dropped the body out of the car and into the docks, where I would have been laying if the safety on the gun was turned off, and I drove off. I realized that Ricky Tan must have been long gone from the Enterprise building by now, so I drove around for a bit before parking the car next to the main plaza and slept.

I woke up after some beggar outside of the car was tapping my window asking for money. I got out of the car and walked around the plaza after pushing away the beggar. I got to a luggage store and bought an empty briefcase. I knew that The Wei couple had to use it in order to buy me enough time at the exchange site.

I drove to the hotel and I saw Mr. and Mrs. Wei conversing in the hotel longue. Mrs. Wei looked up at me.

“Oh my gosh, what happened to you?” Mrs. Wei asked.

“That doesn’t matter right now. I don’t have your daughter, so we have to resort to a different plan,” I told her.

A frightened look passed over her because she knew that there was no guarantee that the captors were going to comply with the transaction.

“I don’t have enough money to even settle this argument, but I hope this is enough to buy time.” I handed Mrs. Wei the briefcase. “It’s our last hope,” I told her. She silently agreed. The father, still reticent, made no comment. “We’re going to have to take different rides there,” I told her. She nodded again. I called a taxi for them.

“When you get to the Golden Shaolin Temple’s entrance, please give me enough time to get into position. Stall them as much as you can, but don’t act suspicious,” I told her. They both looked mortified, but again they silently nodded. The taxi arrived, and I helped Mrs. Wei inside. I waved bye and then departed to the car. I decided to ditch it at the Temple after arming myself at the underground ammunition shop. I knew it was too risky to just hand the car over to the authorities, especially if the triad’s nephew was murdered in it.

After ditching the car, I arrived at an apartment building’s roof next to the Shaolin Temple. I had a bag full of ammo and rifles ready to go full auto on the captor’s asses. Mr. and Mrs. Wei were standing in front of the temple still waiting with the briefcase. I scoped the area to see whether or not there were any suspicious characters around. We all waited for another thirty minutes until men with black masked arrived in black sedans. The men approached Mr. and Mrs. Wei.

I tried to make out what they were saying, but with the masks on, I couldn’t see any of the captors’ lips. It didn’t matter anyways, because within the next few minutes, the masked men pointed to the apartment building I was in, gesturing to relocate the exchange site. I ran down the steps as fast as I could and got to the fifth floor when someone unexpectedly opened the door. It was Ricky, wearing the same suit as before. His gave a puzzled look at my sudden appearance. I punched him in the face and shot him in the leg. He yelled in pain as I pushed him against the wall.

“Who are you really?” I asked him. I stared at his right forearm again, and his tattoo was missing. “And where is your tattoo?”

“You have no fucking idea what is going on, do you?” he said. His eyes rolled back, looking at the fifth floor door.

“You tried to kill me before, and I can’t allow you to try again,” I said. I shot him in the head. I stood up to take a few breaths, and then patted him down for the contents he was carrying. He had a wallet and a gun on him. I looked inside the wallet and saw that he was not Ricky Tan, but actually Zhen Zhoufun, the CEO and head banker of China Bank Inc, or at least that’s what his entrance card said. I put his identification in my pockets, yet I was so confused, but slapped myself and focused at the task at hand. I crept out onto the fifth floor and saw Mr. and Mrs. Wei were surrounded by what appeared to be Gui Lo’s men.

The transaction was going down as I got into position behind a door. I creaked open this door to see that Mrs. Lai was opening the briefcase. I stared at the briefcase and saw that it was different from the one I actually gave her. She opened it up to reveal genuine hundred bills stacked up.

“Now pass it over here,” one of the men demanded. It appeared that all of the men were now unmasked. I could see Gui Yi in plain sight as the leader of the small coup. Mrs. Wei passed it to him. I got up with my rifle in hand, open the door wide open, and began shooting at the unmasked captors. The men took cover and began shooting back. Mr. Wei ran away, leaving Mrs. Wei in the crossfire. She could not dodge the bullets and one of them struck her in the arm.

“Mrs. Wei!” I shouted. The shooting stopped for a moment.

“Detective Kim?” Gui Yi asked. “Stop this right now. You’re obstructing a very important mission.”

“What kind of fucking mission? That’s all you men talk about is this fucking mission. Ricky Tan, a.k.a. Zhen Zhoufun, over there in the stairwell was talking about this same crap,” I yelled back.

“You don’t understand detective, we’re Gulang II,” one of the men said.

“Wait, Gulang II? The Chinese sub-contracted mercenaries? If you’re Gulang II, show me some identification,” I demanded. One of the men took out his badge.

“That still doesn’t add up, though. Then who is the ‘Gui Lo’ Ricky Tan was talking about?” I asked.

“Sir, there is no Gui Lo. We made it all up. It’s a fictional gang that serves us a good reputation when we have covert operations like this,” he revealed.

“Why the fuck then did you just shot Mrs. Wei in the fucking arm?” I asked.

“Mrs. Wei over here is a wanted fugitive. Her name is really Mrs. Tang, a known operative working for the Triad. We received intelligence that she robbed a bank for fifteen million. We’re informed by the triad leader, Ricky Tan, that Mr. and Mrs. Tang stole fifteen million dollars from a bank and decided not to share it with the whole triad group,” he said.

“Ricky is not a part of the triad gang; he’s Zhen Zhoufun, the CEO of some Chinese bank. You’ve got it all mixed up. Zhen wants his money back, so he hired you guys to steal the daughter. My client over there wounded was framed by Zhen Zhoufun. For further proof, he has no snake tattoo on his right arm,” I told them.

“Do you have any solid proof?” they asked.

“Yes, I have his identification right here, fresh from his corpse,” I said. Everyone, including me, lowered their guns as I gave Gui Yi the information. One of the Gulang II agents went over to the staircase and examined Ricky’s right arm.

“I guess your telling the truth,” he said. “Look, that still doesn’t explain the explosives.”

“Ricky made me do that as collateral for trying to find the daughter in your complex,” I answered. “I guess he didn’t trust you as well because you didn’t instantly kill me. Since his plan backfired, he sent his nephew, who infiltrated your base, to try and kill me.”

“Well, I guess that wraps up this case, then,” Gui Yi concluded.

“No, this is not over yet. Mr. and Mrs. Wei, err, I mean Tang, come with me,” I said, “with their child.”

“I can’t allow that, detective. They‘re both criminals. I can’t allow you to do that,” one of the Gulang II told me.

“Look, leave me a few moments alone with then. They hired me in the States. They were forced here, by you guys,” I said.

“I still can’t do that. It’s against protocol,” one of them informed.

“Do you want me to report you that you’ve listened to Ricky, not a liable source, to base your false accusations upon?” I objected.

“Fine, you can talk to them. Their daughter is held captive on the upper floor. I’ll have one of my men take her down right away,” he said. “Look, Detective Kim…”

“Yeah, what?” I responded.

“You’ve done a fine job, but don’t take us as pussies to think that Mr. and Mrs. Tang over there won’t go to prison,” he snarled. “Criminals can’t stop their recidivism.”

“Fine, whatever” I said. I rushed over to Mrs. Wei to examine her gun wound. The bullet pierced through the upper arm, but it missed the artery by a few millimeters. She just needed a doctor to pull out the bullet and patch her up with a cast. I told her she was going to be fine. I noticed that she had a snake tattoo on her wounded arm. Mrs. Wei began to speak.

“I couldn’t tell you. I swore to my husband I wouldn’t tell you. We were a part of the triad gang a long time ago, but we never actually killed anybody. They forced us to rob that bank, or else they would kill us. After that mission, my husband and I, we left the gang and went to America,” she confessed. “We hid most of the money here in Guangzhou and never touched any of it. The only time we did was when we needed to buy a plane ticket to the State, even though it was risky since we had fake passports under the Wei name.” Her tone had a sense of verisimilitude, and I trusted her.

“It must have been then that Ricky found this all out, setting this all up to get that fifteen million for his own personal gain. After all, he was the bank owner and he couldn’t take money out of the vault legally, so he was disguising himself as a giant representative for the triads. I guess he turned out to be the real snake, the charlatan,” I said. “I never needed to ask if you we’re in the triad gang, I suspected that you two were in some deep shit, that’s all. And I remember what family is supposed to mean to family; the love, the compassion. It’s all there, and when it is broken, you come to anybody for help, somebody like me. And I know family, I… sort of have one.”

“Can you make sure the Gulang II won’t turn us in?” she asked. Just then, one of the Gulang II brought her daughter downstairs and she ran to Mrs. Wei. The father was right there, staring at them, nodding in silence again. He came up to me and said thanks. I patted him on the back and told him that he not to worry.

A week later, my niece and nephew were over at my house along with their mother – my sister-in-law – and we all were having are barbeque in my backyard. A postman knocked on my door, so I went inside the house to answer it. The postman gave me a small brown letter, and I opened it to find a letter Mrs. Tang wrote me. It read:

Dear Detective Kim,

            Thank you so much for your services. We all appreciate what you have done for us. I can’t believe you were able to convince the Gulang II to withhold any charges against us. I wanted to tell you that I have decided not to change back our name as it marks my family’s presence in America. I never really understood how you were able to convince them, but I really can’t thank you enough, especially for looking after me at the hospital. Take care and best of wishes to you.

With all of our love and more,

The Wei Family

After I finished reading the letter, my sister-in-law came up to me.

“Who’s the letter from?” she asked.

“It’s from one of my clients,” I replied. There was a long silence between us. “You know, if James was here right now, he’d tell me to try to fill in his role,” I said.

“Yea, I guess. But you can’t be that person, though. You still haven’t settled down yet,” she said. “Besides, you’re the best at the job you’ve got. Why waste your time with us when the Agency needs you?” she asked.

“Because I realize now that I care more about my family; the family my brother died protecting,” I told her. I began to break down and weep a little, but not too much. My sister-in-law rubbed me on the back. “Even though I may be a bitch to many people, I still have a heart for you all, the family.”

“Well, I think that’s what James probably meant to tell you too if he was here, I suppose,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said. I looked up out the window to see my niece and nephew. “I need a minute alone,” I told her. She left me inside the house. I strolled to my indoor office and found the Agency’s handbook on my desk. I opened the book and scrolled down the list of names. I took out my cell phone and called the secretary at the Agency.

“The Agency, who am I speaking to?” the secretary on the other line queried.

“Yeah, look, Marci. It’s me, Kim. Look, I want you to tell the boss that I’m going to resign,” I said, not looking back and staring forward, towards a new beginning, towards a new life, towards a future beyond working for an assassin-for-hire company.