The Hitman's Last Job by Max Freedom

Carl’s number?”
    “ Of course,” rasped the Don as he pulled his smart phone from
his suit jacket.
    “ I have an idea,” grinned Jorge. “May I?” and he reached out
for Angelo’s phone.
The Don handed
it over with a sceptical look.
Jorge opened
the camera and pointed it at the man on the floor.
    “ Hey, say cheese!” he mocked.
The old man
could do nothing but cower, so said nothing.
    “ Hey! I said say cheese!” and Jorge kicked him the
face.
Blood began to
seep from his nose and cover his shirt. Reiner Senior seemed
distraught at the attack and began to howl in pain. Meanwhile the
other two men were oblivious, and laughed as they looked down at
him. Jorge took a photo and examined it.
    “ Yep… Looks just as good as I expected,” and he handed the
phone back to the Don.
    “ Good idea kid,” Angelo playfully punched his little assassin
in the arm. “Now all we have to do is send this to Carl and he’ll
be hurryin’ into our arms in no time,”
Angelo pressed
the send button and breathed a sigh of satisfaction. Now all they
had to do was wait.
~
Carl and Anna
were still entwined on the couch.
    “ You know with you in my arms it’s easy to forget that we’re in
this God forsaken hellhole,” he looked around at the abandoned
apartment. “It’s a shame. Would have been nice once,”
    “ Hmmm…. Yeah,” Anna agreed sleepily. “I wonder who lived
here,”
    “ Some poor bastard,”
Carl looked up
to the ceiling and started to feel sleepy too. The couple were
enjoying each other’s company so much and Anna wished they could
lie here forever. But they knew they had to run.
    “ Would it be cool if we could just move in here and be you
know… normal. And no one would ever find us,”
    “ That would be kinda nice,” Carl thought about what life could
be if they were a regular couple.
He looked out
the window and saw it was getting dark.
    “ We better make a move soon,” he stroked the top of Anna’s head
and gave her a kiss.
    “ Yeah…” she seemed sad at the idea of having to run
again.
Carl could
tell she was desperate for a normal life and he wasn’t sure he
could ever give her that. But what choice did she have? He at least
vowed to try and make her happy. He got up from the couch and
strode over the window. Lighting a cigarette he poked his head out
on the fire escape and looked down. This truly was a gruesome
neighbourhood, but in this moment they were part of the degenerate
demographic and were fitting in nicely.
The air was
frigid as it drifted across his face. It blew his smoke into the
distance and Carl watched it fly away out of sight. He pulled
himself away from his thoughts and turned to Anna who was sitting
on the edge of the couch dressing herself.
    “ I’ll be two minutes,” she smiled at him.
To look at
her, you could never have imagined the things she had been through;
the pain, the violence and the loss. She was a real diamond in the
rough.
    “ Hey Carl….” She seemed to be hesitating. “What are we
doing?”
    “ We need a car,” he blew smoke out the window and looked down
to the street. “And there’s a couple down there that look like they
might not be missed,”
    “ Really?” Anna came over to join him.
    “ Like that old Hyundai over there,” he pointed down the
way.
    “ Hmmm…. Think you can hotwire it?”
    “ I know I can,”
    “ Well… what are we waiting for?”
As they
climbed out the window and onto the fire escape steps the wind
caught them and Anna stumbled for a moment with her fiery hair
drifting up to the sky like flames. They moved quickly and before
long they were at the old, battered Hyundai.
    “ You really don’t think someone owns this do you?”
    “ Fuck, I hope not,” he laughed. “The state of it!”
And he pulled
out a multi tool from his back pack and got to work. Soon they were
inside the vehicle and were protected from the cold wind.
    “ Nearly there!” Carl’s lips were pursed with concentration as
pulled out wires