The off-white shell cracked open releasing warm yokey light to pour into the otherwise dark hallway. The illuminated vector exposed flowered wallpaper resting between the closed mouths of surrounding apartments.
Mary-Anna’s slender form slipped into the concourse and closed the door with care. She looked both ways down the dead corridor. Her eyes shifted through the surroundings as the lock clicked. Her hand lingered on the knob for a moment longer. With a deep breath she tiptoed over the space standing between herself and the concrete staircase.
This is the last time.
She promised herself. Only to cross the thought out and insert an I hope, or a maybe between the lines for good measure. A shiver ran down her spin all the way to the feet she’d stuffed into kitten heels she wouldn’t have otherwise worn. If she’d done her homework properly, she was certain she’d come to the final rung in the ladder. After tonight, she could wash her hands of this… gutter, forever.
The text had been urgent. Most of them were. But this one felt different, maybe it was her own nerves speaking.
She picked up the pace, nearly tripping over the final stair as her rushed steps echoed through the passageway extending five stories above her.
I can’t keep this up. I don’t know if I can do this.
Panic mixed in with the anxious feeling gnawing at her gut. The cocktail lurched her forward as if she might lose the dinner she’d eaten just hours before. Mary-Anna almost turned and ran back the way she came before balling her fists. She stared at the exit. Taking a few deep breaths until she was steady on her feet once more.
You know why you are doing this. Her intuition shot back. She would have done the same for you… if you’d been brazen and desperate enough to do what she’d done.
Mary-Anna Clenched her teeth, “damn it,” she hissed, as she pushed open the steal door. A rush of cool air spilt in around her, the nausea passed as the brisk torrent swept her deeper into the midnight hour.
Her phone vibrated. Mary-Anna almost jumped out of her skin as the vibration pulled her from her thoughts into the reality of what she was about to do. She fumbled her clutch in an effort to reach the device, nearly spilling the rest of the contents to the ground. She gasped and grabbed desperately around the metallic handhold until she was sure it wouldn’t fall. I only have one shot at this… She pictured the stakes and suddenly the world surrounding went quiet.
Mary-Anna paused on the river of pavement and held the purse close to her chest while she pulled herself together; she gulped in air and glanced over the empty street to be sure no one had seen. “Whoooo.” She breathed out steadily and lifted her phone from the other contents. With a final look at the metallic centerpiece she closed her clutch around it; as if what was left behind might reach out and bite her had she not encased it.
ANONYMOUS:
Your transport will pick you up at 5th and North-West St. Be there within fifteen minutes.
Again, Mary-Anna looked both ways, gathering her bearings. She brushed a few rogue wrinkles from the lower portion of her flowing mid-thigh black dress. This is it. Get it together, girl. She let the commanded sink in.
The intersection was three blocks from her current location. She glanced both ways a final time to be sure the midnight street was fast asleep. Satisfied she hadn’t been observed she set off at a brisk walk. Her heels making more noise than she was comfortable with.
Like most, she was so set on quickly reaching her destination, Mary-Anna didn’t think to look up. Had she, she might have notice the lighted apartment three floors above and the shadow resting in the highlighted window frame; watching, as she made her way around the first turn in the sidewalk.
“Dola! You are five minutes early.” A heavyset man called through the open window as he flung wide the door of the black stretched sedan. Mary-Anna pictured a mouth ready to swallow her whole. “Early is my favorite way to begin the night.” He laughed too loudly, it sounded forced. Mary-Anna was back on edge, the hairs at the back of her neck lifted like tiny red flags. Something was off.
The man was dressed extravagantly. His mustache was shaped so perfectly it seemed to amplify its uneven spread, the difference in length from end to end would have been comical had it been on purpose. He smelt as though he’d dumped an entire bottle of cologne over himself, not even the good kind.
Mary-Anna resisted the urge to hold her breathe and smiled as sweetly as possible without grimacing. He waved her along and patted the seat beside himself. She tried not to pay attention to his greedy eyes taking in every inch of her uniform for the night. She brushed a wisp of red hair from her face as she bent and slid into the black leather upholstery, closing the door reluctantly behind herself.
“You look ravishing. And that is a good thing since tonight will require you to be a little… extra.”
“What do you mean?” She asked. She could feel her heart in her throat, though her voice betrayed little of the internal battle taking place. How had Biyanca done it? How had she made it all seem so, normal. How had she not fallen apart?
“I mean tonight is when you prove what you are made of.” Vague and completely unhelpful. As usual.
Mary-Anna took in a deep breathe. She pretended to look out the tinted window and closed her eyes, as she collected her shattering persona.
Don’t think so much. The silk voice laced in with her internal dialogue. It was as if her friend had been sitting right next to her. Which she knew couldn’t be the case. Since Biyanca was in twelve pieces and spread throughout the national forest just outside the city.
Mary-Anna looked back at the fat man sitting next to her. His expression made her want to vomit. He was a pig. He fit perfectly in the mud he had found. She offered Romain a steely uninterested look to mask the internal battle raging out of his reach. “What happened to Maximus?” She was relieved at the disinterest relayed in her tone.
His belly expanded beneath the sport coat whose buttons where threatening to give up the ghost as he laughed and pop away from their proper place should they encounter even a smidgen more pressure.
A small smile crossed Mary-Anna’s expression at the thought. It would be a pleasure to follow through if he turned out to be the one she’d been looking for, for all of these months. The divided thoughts grew quiet as she narrowed in on her quest. This is it.
He placed a hand full of sausage fingers on her leg and patted the bare skin. His yellowed teeth glimmered in the low light. “He handles the pearls. I tend to the diamonds.” She grimaced.
“What a pleasure for you.” She offered, again leaking disinterest.
“I try not to complain.” He patted her leg again and left his hand to rest uncomfortably in place.
The car ride was quiet for a time. Two red lights later he picked up conversation again, back to business.
“This client, his usual has been out of commission for some time and he has yet to find product he is satisfied with. It would be a pity if you disappoint.” She picked up on the thinly veiled threat with ease.
Mary-Anna looked out the window, hoping to mask the snarl forming over her lips.
“Out of commission, what does that mean?” She fished. “Pregnant?”
He laughed. “Let’s just say she will no longer be of use, to him, or anyone else.”
Mary-Anna’s finger traced the outline of the contents in her purse. “Why is that?” She prodded, throwing caution to the wind. He chuckled darkly, grabbing her chin between his fingers and forcing her to look back at him.
“You are too smart to ask so many questions. That’s why I chose you. This client like them intelligent. He has…” The man paused, offering a vicious smile. “Particular tastes. In a lot of things I’m told. Just, don’t ask the wrong questions, do as you are told, and this will go over quite well for you, I’m sure.” Again his eyes drifted outside of Mary-Anna’s comfort zones. She froze, not willing to say or do anything until he jerked his hand away. She immediately drew her gaze back to the window. Choosing silence.
“We are almost to location. You will go into the lobby bar, order a dry martini with three olives and take them off the toothpick right away. let them rest free at the bottom of the glass. He will find you. Understood.”
She nodded. Again, more roughly than before he jerked her head back to look at him. “I said to you understand.” His voice was tense.
“Yes.” She replied shortly.
“Good.” He let go and again placed his hand on her leg. Mary-Anna almost didn’t care if he was the mark or not at this point. It took all of the restraint she contained to keep from pulling the tool from her clutch and unloading on the bastard.
The Sudan pulled into a parking garage at the base of a tall building coated in glass. Mary-Anna ducked her head to gaze up the side of the skyscraper. Until it disappeared beyond the concrete walls they descended into.
“Okay. We are here. You know the drill.” He held out his hand. She slapped her phone into his palm reluctantly. “Once you are finished you’ll receive your personal effects.” He held up her phone. The vehicle came to a stop. The quiet purr of the engine was the only sound surrounding them as he motioned for her to exit and stuck her phone into the pouch at the back of the seat in front of him.
Mary-Anna didn’t move.
“Well?” He sounded impatient. She looked him over, he fit the description to a T. Biyanca hadn’t spared any details. Down to the ‘poorly formed cheap porn-stash’ as she’d called it and the heavy cologne. It had to be him. The last man she’d spoken too before she was brutally murdered and disposed of. The murmurs from the others had confirmed the details she hadn’t been able to put together for herself. That was enough.
A flash of the school yard so many years ago crossed over her mind, Biyanca standing over the bully who’d picked on Mary-Anna mercilessly for two years before her knight in shining armor had shown up. A helmet of braids and a heart full of spunk and sass. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Cold feet?” The fat man snarled. His sausage fingers bit deep into her leg, she barely winced.
“Actually, I have a question.” Her laser focus boar into his skull. His curiocity distracted him from her feet, which had slipped from the kitten heels. She unlatched the door, while unclasping her clutch as if reaching for lipstick. She rubbed her lips together as if prepping them for a reapply.
“Okay.” He rolled his hand in a continuous circle as if prompting her to get on with it.
“You mentioned this clients previous, taste…” He lifted a brow and cocked his head, waiting for her to finish. She made eye contact as her hand slid around the cold grip, her finger laced into position without notice from her current companion.
“Did her name happen to be Biyanca, or Deseray…”
His expression cycled through a rapid array of emotions ranging from shock, to surprise, and then anger. That was all she needed. Before the pig of a man could launch himself toward her, she’d pulled the secret weapon from it’s place. The driver yelled warning, too late. Bang! The shot echoed through the parking garage, and Mary-Anna didn’t wait to see what happened next.
She shot through the door and ran faster than she’d ever run in her life. Her bare feet slapped against the pavement. Tires screeched behind her but she didn’t look back. She rushed from the mouth of the concrete tomb and bound in zigzags to the nearest ally still clutching the weapon tightly. She ran until she couldn’t feel her feet anymore and finally after she was certain she hadn’t been followed any further she collapsed behind a rust covered dumpster to catch her breath.
Next stop… the police station. Assuming they weren’t in on the underground operation she would turn herself in and tell them everything. It was done. She was finished. Tonight, had been the last night. She erased the maybe and hopefully from her mind as tears of relief poured down her face.