A Necessary Kill (12 page)

Hang on a minute…

We’re heading straight for…

“Shit.”

Ruby looks over. “What is it?”

I’m the first to admit geography has never really been my strong point. Further proof of how reliant I was on Josh—he would always tell me where to be and how to get there, so I never paid much attention. But I’ve just realized something…

“We’re gonna drive straight through Virginia…”

Ruby shrugs. “That a problem?”

I nod. “The CIA wants me dead. Langley’s its home. Plus, we’ll be within spitting distance of the White House before that…”

“So we’ll just keep a low profile… it’ll be fine. You worry too much—you’ll get an ulcer or something.” She settles back in her seat, closing her eyes.

I sigh. “I think you’re missing the point. The CIA, and presumably the president, knows I have evidence to bury them—that’s
why
they want me dead. They also know I’m a pretty good assassin. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that at some point I might try killing someone. It’s kind of my go-to solution to most problems. So the closer we are to them—”

“…The more security there’ll be,” she nods as she finishes my sentence, finally seeing where I was going with it. “So what do you want to do?”

“Not much we can do, I guess. Whether you like it or not, we need someone of The European’s caliber on our side, and we don’t really have the time to detour a couple hundred miles west just to avoid the more direct route on the slight chance we might—” Lights flash in my rearview, and the sound of sirens follows a moment later, distracting me. It’s a squad car with two officers in it. “—be seen… Fuck!”

Ruby sits up straight in her seat and looks over her shoulder. “Are they signaling to
us
?”

“Yup.”

“What are you going to do?”

I shrug. “Try my best not to shoot them and hope they don’t look in the back.”

The big bag of goodies we got from Oscar is in the back under some tarpaulin, in case you’re wondering.

I pull over to the side of the road and roll my window down. I see the cops in the mirror fall in behind us. They both step out of their car, look around, and adjust their belts to look casual but threatening. They exchange a glance and then approach the truck.

I look at Ruby. “Let me do the talking, okay?”

Let me do the talking
… Jesus, we’re screwed!

They draw level with us, and the guy on my side leans down. He looks older than me—gray hair and a weathered face… maybe mid-fifties. “License and registration please.”

“Is there a problem, officer?” I try to sound as normal and innocent as possible while pretending to search for things I obviously don’t have with me.

“I hope not, son.”

I look over at Ruby. She’s doing her best to flirt silently with the younger officer at her side, but so far he seems to be resisting her charms.

“I don’t have them with me, sorry—must be in my other jacket… What’s this about?”

The cop stands up straight and takes a step away from the truck, reaching forward and opening my door as he does. “Can you step out of the vehicle please, sir?”

I sigh. “You’re not gonna tell me what this is about? This could be viewed as harassment, you know that, right?”

He doesn’t bite, remaining calm and stubborn. “Sir, would you please step out of the vehicle?”

I do, albeit reluctantly.

“Is this your truck?”

Oh.

I shrug. “I’m driving it.”

“Answer the goddamn question, and don’t get cute with me.”

“Yes, it’s my truck.”

“This vehicle was reported stolen from a parking lot in Baltimore yesterday afternoon.”

I glance back at the old, brown rust bucket that has served me well these past thirty hours or so. I catch the eye of the other officer standing by Ruby’s door. His face is expressionless. I can’t tell if that’s disinterest or genuine ignorance. Either way, whether this is me springing a trap or just running out of luck, I can’t afford to get delayed by the police. And I definitely can’t let these assholes put me in the system—all hell would break loose.

I need to do something, and in these types of situations, I only really have one approach…

I turn back to the cop in front of me. “Doesn’t look stolen to me… It’s right there.”

He looks away for a second with frustration, letting out a heavy sigh. “Alright, smartass, move to the front of the vehicle, turn around, and put your hands on the hood.”

I shrug again. “Make me.”

He moves his hand to his holster, unclipping the piece of material securing his firearm in place. “Don’t test me. Move around the vehicle… and put your hands on the
goddamn
hood!”

I pace slowly to the front of the truck, lean forward on the hood, and spread my legs. I look up and glance through the windshield at Ruby, who’s staring at me, silently asking what I intend to do.

Good question…

If I let these pricks arrest me, it’s game over. If I knock him out and run, it’s game over. These are my only options, and either way I’m screwed.

But knocking him out is more fun…

I flick my gaze to her door and wink at her.

The cop moves behind me. I look over my shoulder at him. “Put your hands on me, and I’ll break them.”

The younger one by Ruby’s door looks over; his hand disappearing to his side hovering over his firearm.

“Threatening a police officer with violence?” says the one behind me. “That’s it. I’m placing you under arrest. You have the right to remain silent—”

“You first!” I spin around clockwise and bring my elbow up, slamming it into his face. He staggers back, losing his footing and falling to the ground.

Behind me, I hear Ruby’s door open. I look back in time to see her ram it into the other cop’s body. He stumbles backward and she steps out, moves toward him, and kneels down out of sight behind the truck.

I turn back to my cop, who’s reeling on the ground. I take a step and crouch beside him to pick up his weapon. “Look, I’m sorry about this, I really am. This isn’t personal. But there’s some shit going on right now that’s so far above your pay grade that you can’t see it for the sun, you understand? You’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

I hit him again in the face, which knocks him out cold. I stand, tuck the gun in the waistband of my jeans, and turn around. Ruby’s walking toward me holding the other cop’s gun.

“You good?”

She nods. “He’s out. Figured you wouldn’t want him too injured…”

“Thanks. After all, it’s not their fault. Come on.”

She sighs. “Pussy.”

I walk over to the squad car, aware that the road isn’t exactly quiet and people are going to remember seeing this, and us.

“What are you doing?” she calls after me.

I duck inside, reach under the dash, and fumble around until I find the wires for the computer built into the center console. I yank them out and stand up, grabbing the radio as I move away and turn to face Ruby.

“Just making sure they can’t tell anyone they’ve seen us.” I drop the radio to the ground and stamp on it.

She smiles. “Good thinking!” She points her gun at the front tire and fires once.

“Jesus! What are you
doing
?”

She shrugs. “Now they can’t follow us, either.”

“Yeah, but you could’ve just let the air out or something… Firing your gun isn’t exactly—”

She raises an eyebrow and smiles.

“—discreet… Never mind.” I sigh. “Christ, you’re worse than
me
.”

“Is that a compliment?”

I shrug. “Depends on your point of view, I guess.”

I walk past her and get back in the truck. She climbs in beside me. “We need to ditch this car. Chambersburg’s only a few miles away, so we’ll detour there.”

“Can we get something to eat? Maybe change our clothes again?” she asks.

I ease away from the roadside to rejoin the line of traffic. I check my mirror but there’s no immediate movement that worries me. “Yeah, why not.”

09:39

Ruby insisted we stop at a Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast. I’m not happy. Apart from being sick to death of seeing them everywhere I go, it’s just not natural! I mean, I’m sitting here with a glazed donut in front of me, which by itself would be fine, but this one’s been sliced horizontally and had bacon and egg shoved inside it! This isn’t food! It’s just a very confused, cross-dressing dessert
pretending
to be breakfast! When I die from the inevitable heart attack this is likely to bring about, I’m really going to hate myself. If I wasn’t so hungry, there’s no way I would ever eat here…

“Just eat it,” says Ruby, sitting across from me.

I look up at her unable to hide the disgust from my face as she takes a bite of her meal.

She shrugs, swallowing her mouthful of food. “What?”

“What do you mean,
what
? You’re eating a goddamn cheeseburger inside a donut. How am I the only one who finds that criminal?”

She takes another bite, not bothering to finish chewing before replying. “I’ve been incarcerated in an insane asylum for almost a year. This shit is heaven!”

She swallows again and takes a sip of her drink—some weird ice-based slush thing with fruit in it, apparently.

I push my meal away from me. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into coming here.”

“You’re such a snob!”

“No I’m not. I just feel that filling my arteries with this shit is depriving the CIA of their chance to kill me. I mean, they’ve been working so hard…”

She shakes her head. “Whatever. What’s our next move?”

I take a sip of coffee, which is tolerable at best, and think about it. “Well, we’re still a good few hours away from Greensboro. We’ll change clothes quickly, switch cars, then get the hell outta Dodge. The longer we stay in one place, the greater the chance of us getting caught.”

A waitress walks over to our table. “Is everything alright with your meals today, folks?” she asks, looking at me.

I can’t do it… I can’t lie to her. No, my meal’s not okay. It’s a travesty—an insult to all food. It’s unnatural, and despite years of perfecting the art of self-loathing, even
I
don’t hate myself enough to put my body through the torturous experience of eating whatever the fuck it is I just paid eleven bucks for.

I sigh and grit my teeth. “It’s… ah… it’s fine. Thanks.”

She frowns at me. I’m guessing I wasn’t able to keep the disdain out of my voice. The waitress turns to Ruby, who smiles at her. “Ignore him.” She gestures to me casually. “He’s just grumpy because he hasn’t been laid in a while.”

I fix her with a stare I usually reserve exclusively for people I’m about to shoot. The waitress goes bright red and walks away, avoiding my gaze as she turns.

“Thanks for
that
.”

She shrugs. “Well, it serves you right.”

“For what?”

“Being miserable.”

“Being—? It’s a donut with fucking
bacon
in it!”

She looks at me like I’m an alien.

“Oh, whatever.” I stand and stretch my back a little. “I need to make a call. Wait here.”

I head over to the back near the restrooms, where it’s quiet. I take out my burner phone and dial a number from memory. As it rings out, I turn to quickly survey the restaurant.

I can’t believe how busy this place is. We were lucky to get a table when we arrived. Our booth’s over by the window, which is useful—means we can see who’s approaching. I’m actually surprised there haven’t been more cops showing up, given this place is a donut-themed breakfast bar. Unbelievab—

“Hello?”

I smile at the dulcet British tone. “Josh, it’s me.”

“Adrian? Where are you?”

“I’m standing by the restrooms in a Dunkin’ Donuts in the middle of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.”

“What the hell are you doing in one of
those
?”

“I have no earthly idea. I was dragged here by Ruby.”

“Ruby?”

“DeSouza. She’s a…” I lower my voice and casually look around. “…She’s one of us. She’s agreed to help me on my next job.”

“Ah, right. So you settled on the recruitment plan then?”

“Yeah. Didn’t have much choice. How are things with you?”

“Busy. My new team’s on a mission at the moment, and I’m running intel for them.”

“Can’t you just hire someone to do that for you nowadays?”

“I could, but it’s hard finding people I can trust, y’know?”

“Yeah, I know that feeling.”

“So what can I do for you, boss?”

I smile again. “Nothing, really. Just… y’know, checking in.”

“Adrian, do you… do you
miss me
?”

I scoff. “No, ’course not.”

I do a little, but I’m not telling
him
that.

“Ah, you miss me! Boss, I’m touched, really I am.”

“Oh, shut your face.”

He laughs. “Listen, have you seen the news today?”

“No, why? Am I on it?”

“Not this time, no. Not
yet
, anyway—I suppose it’s still early…”

“Piss off.”

He laughs, but it soon fades. “There’s a lot of tension overseas at the moment. Lots of rebel activity in certain regions, and refugees from all over are killing themselves trying to find a new life in other countries.”

“Shit… I suppose you had to expect something like this after everything that’s happened. Still doesn’t make it any easier, though, I guess. How are your employees finding it?”

“We’re coping, for now. Our peacekeeping forces have come under fire in certain parts of Eastern Europe and Africa—local rebels, mostly. It’s nothing we can’t handle. It’s just becoming a more regular problem.”

“Has anyone made any more significant advances anywhere?”

“At this moment in time, no, thankfully. But there’ve been rumblings. All you have to do is look at a map to see where the danger could lie. Russia and China are out of the game. Pakistan fared slightly better, but it’ll still be years before it’s back on its feet. But it’s the people who haven’t been affected that are more dangerous, if you ask me. Guys in places like Japan, India, North Korea… even South Korea were all relatively unscathed. They’ll feel threatened, I’m sure. I think it’s just bubbling away beneath the surface, waiting to erupt.”