Chapter 13
After a long and annoying day at work, which mostly involved me going through the motions as I dreaded going home and seeing my siblings, I walked out the door to see that Anne was nowhere to be found. I figured she must have gone home without me. I started my walk through the city back home. After walking a few blocks I got a sense of déjà vu. I brushed it off, thinking it must be the fact that I take this route every day. I then realized that feeling was masking another, one I had felt in recent weeks. I was being followed. I was smart enough to know not to just turn my head and look but I had to be sure. I did not see any way to look through a reflection to see, so I decided to just hide like with Anne. I assumed he would have been able to detect something out of place, like me turning down an alley, so I decided on another idea. I walked through the crowds down my familiar path until I came to a beautifully tall building. I turned into it and proceeded to the elevators. I hit the button for the top floor and felt the elevator go up. After reaching the top floor and stepping out, the doors closed behind me and the elevator immediately went down, presumably to the lobby. I ran like hell through the top floor until I reached a set of stairs leading to the roof. I sprinted up them, skipping steps and burst through the door onto the large roof.
"What are you doing up here 128? Do you want to commit suicide again?" A deep voice, which I recognized as Valmundra, asked into my head.
"A man is following me and I would like to know every thing about him: strengths, weaknesses, history, all of it." I said, realizing I would not have even one second to assess my opponent.
"No. That would take the fun out of it." He spoke in an amused tone.
"Then how am I going to know whether or not to attack him?" I asked.
"He is not one of the chanced. You will learn everything else later." He said to me.
"Thanks for that at least." I replied. I ran over to the side of the small concrete cube in the middle of the roof that marked the entrance from the roof to the buildings top floor. I crouched down and pulled out my D.E. All was silent for a moment before a man dressed in a tan trench coat and a baseball hat burst through the door. He was holding an MP-5 pointing it out as if ready to fire. I sprinted out and tackled him to the ground, knocking his gun away from him. He managed to hit my hand with his free one and knocked my D.E. to the ground. I landed on top of him and punched him a few times before he rolled us over to where he was on top of me. His hands closed around my neck and he started squeezing. My hands flew up to his wrists, trying as hard as possible to pull them away from my throat. A few drops of blood fell onto my face, like strawberry jam. I rolled us over again and pried myself from his vice grip. I jumped up and lunged for my D.E., which was still laying on the floor. My assailant caught me by my left ankle, tripping me just out of reach. He flipped me over and punched me several times, breaking my nose,which I noticed made us even, because his nose was also bloody. I moved my head out of the way of his next blow and rolled us over 360. Once, twice, three times until I was on top and his head was dangling over the side of the building. I leapt up again and ran over to my gun, which I picked up.
"Tell me who you are or I will sh-" I said turning around. I was cut off because in the middle of turning he hit me right in the side of my face. My shoulders however kept turning and I felt the trigger pull back followed by a loud bang. I fell back on my ass and looked up at him. He had a surprised look on his face and he was clutching his right ribs as a thick red liquid poured out from underneath his palm. He fell onto his back with a grunt of pain. I walked over to him, picking up my glasses, which fell off as I tackled him. Before I could even ask my attacker anything I saw him bite down on something. I instantly knew what it was when he started foaming at the mouth. Cyanide. Realizing I had no choice, I searched his body for clues until I found his wallet, a folded up piece of paper, and a picture of myself. After looking in his wallet I was able to discern a bit of information. His name was George Dawson and he was a private hit man. In his wallet was a piece of paper with phone numbers and assets written on it (like other hit men, people who would help if he was wounded, etc.). I looked at the folded up piece of paper, which was a contract to kill me. On it were the initials N.W and orders to be discreet. I could only assume my picture went along with this message. I took the things I had gathered and put them in my pocket. To avoid any dusting for prints I decided to throw the body off the building just as I had done with my own body earlier. I watched as his body fell, fell, fell, splat. I left the building as quickly as I could and got in a taxi a few blocks away. The driver drove me to the hospital, where I was patched up. My nose turned out not to be broken, so I left with no treatment. Once I got home I found a note from my siblings saying they were called away on important business with the company. Anne's jacket was laying on the couch so I assumed she was already in bed. I walked up the stairs and towards her closed door.
"Anne, we need to talk."
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