Assassin Affairs (6 page)

“Let
me guess,” said Renée, “there was nothing left of
your finances when she left, right?”

“That's
true. She said my folks hadn't left much, although we'd never seemed
to be poor. She was my mom's sister, and they were often at odds with
one another.”

“Please
excuse us a moment, honey. Danny and I need to go outside a moment to
discuss something. We'll be right back.”

As soon as
they were out of the building, Renée said, “Danny, call
me paranoid if you want to, but this seems like a set-up. I feel like
Bernice has been set on getting me out of the picture for a long
time. She knows my tastes and preferences. This girl could be a plant
to get us to incriminate ourselves. For all we know, her place could
be wired and have hidden cameras. Her look, her demeanor and her
story are all just too perfect.”

“Like
you said last night, she is quite adorable, isn't she?”

“And
how about all that? Are you going to get all jealous and possessive
on me if she and I get together, Danny?”

“No,
like I said before, I'm fine with that side of you. What about you
getting like that if it's she and I who get together, Renée?”

“You
belong to me, baby. You can only be with another woman when you're
sharing her with me. Let's get that straight right now. We'll see how
things play out, and keep in mind it may all be a set-up. Be careful
what you say and do while we're inside that apartment. Okay, Danny?”

“Okay,
but whatever happens, remember you're the only woman I ever said 'I
love you' to, and the only one I will ever truly love.” They
exchanged a kiss of reassurance and went back inside.

Laura was
sitting on the sofa holding Renée's PPK. The silencer was
attached.

“What
are you doing with that, Laura?” Renée asked anxiously.

“Is
this thing loaded?”

“Put
it down right now, honey! Someone could get hurt.”

“Oh,
of course it's loaded. I should know; I just loaded it. Silly me!”
said Laura. She stretched out her arm as she sprang up off the couch.
“Get down on your knees!”

Caught
completely off-guard, the startled couple obeyed. “What do you
want, Laura?”

“I so
own you two now! You're totally mine to do with as I please, so you'd
better keep me happy.” She paused a moment for them to digest
the news, then said, “Strip!”

“Okay,
okay, just be careful. If you wanted us naked, all you had to do was
ask. That gun has a hair-trigger, honey.” They both began to
undress. Once they were nude, Laura threw four police plastic
handcuff restraints onto the floor.

“Each
of you wrap one of these around your ankles, then the second one
around your wrists and pull it taught with your teeth.”

“Why
are you doing this now? You had all night to make your move,”
Renée asked.

“Manuela
just texted me while you were outside to do it now. She's on her way
to New York and will be here in two hours. I met her in L.A., where
I'm really from. She and Bernice have been working together to bring
down you and your Cicero friend. They said I was just your type and
would be the perfect bait to draw you in. They even told me what to
say. I guess they were right. This was too easy!”

“Just
calm down; we can work something out, Laura.”

“I
like you guys, but this is business. Manuela is paying me a lot of
money. I get a bonus if I deliver you alive. She's really into the
torture scene. She's practically having an orgasm over the plans she
has for you, Renée. Bernice said she wants in on the fun,
too.”

“Listen,
I have a million dollars that I've saved for a rainy day. You can
have it all, honey, half now and half when we're away somewhere
safe.”

“I
don't believe you.” Laura used her smartphone to snap a photo
of the couple on their knees, naked and bound. “This picture
should whet her appetite.”

“I
have proof in my laptop over there. I'll show you my account at the
bank,” offered Renée.

As the two
women worked their way over to the device to access the internet,
Laura said “I can't believe you keep it in a domestic bank.”

“Why
not? It's all legal. I'm a well-paid consultant for a legitimate
corporation and I pay taxes on it.” Renée finished
logging on and the account information popped up.

“Very
nice. I see you're telling the truth.”

“Laura,
if you let us go, we'll eventually be the ones to take over from
Cicero, not those two old broads,” said Danny, still bound on
his knees across the room. “Who would you rather work with in
the future, them or us? We could use a talent like yours.”

“Renée,
were they right? Am I really your type?” asked Laura. “I'm
a happily married woman, but when you led me over to the bed last
night, I was surprised that I got a little excited. I thought you'd
at least kiss me good night.”

“I'm
so sorry, Laura. I wanted to kiss you, but Danny has been teaching me
the value of patience and I was afraid a kiss when we were in bed
together like that might scare you away. I'm more into emotional
involvement than just the physical part.”

Laura
crossed the room and returned to sitting on the sofa. “Come
over here and give me my kiss now, Renée.” She made a
video with her phone as the naked and bound fellow-assassin hopped
over and kissed her. “I like that thing you just did with your
tongue, honey. My husband and I have a good sex life, but he can't
kiss like that!”

“A
good sex life is a good thing,” Renée answered.

“I've
never been interested in other women, but the way you use your tongue
reminds me there's something sexual that I really like and my husband
doesn't like to do it for me. He'd be most upset if I did anything
with another man. Sorry, Danny.” She motioned with the pistol
for Renée to return to her knees. “Consider this a
sweetener in our negotiation, a down payment.”

“If
there's something you'd like me to do for you, I certainly will,”
offered Renée.

As Laura
took off her skirt, she said, “I have to warn you I have an
insatiable appetite once things get started. I insist on complete and
total satisfaction.”

“Laura,
I'm fighting for our lives here. I can guarantee you an orgasm if you
allow me the opportunity, multiple orgasms. I truly do want to please
you, I do. I'm just not sure we have enough time.”

“What
do you mean?” she asked, slipping off her underwear.

“You
said Manuela will be here in two hours. If we do this, two hours will
fly by in no time and she'll be here.”

“Precious,
now you're teasing me. If we make it to two hours, I won't even
remember that woman's name. Besides, she doesn't know this address.
I'm supposed to deliver you both to her special location for special
processing.”

“I do
have one small request first, Laura.”

“What's
that?”

“If
you really feel the need to keep holding that gun on us, please click
on the safety. I'd hate for you to get so excited you lose control
and accidentally shoot me in the head, or worse yet, shoot Danny over
there.”

Renée
had been right about the time passing quickly. It was a long while
later when an exhausted Laura allowed her to come up for air and sit
at her side on the sofa. She put her arm around her naked friend and
the two cuddled together as she continued to point the gun in Danny's
general direction.

“Now
what happens?” asked a still bound, worn out Renée.

“Now
we transfer that money to my offshore account, I set you two free,
and I go back to L.A. I'm known as the top hit-woman in the state.”

“Or...,”
said Renée.

“Or
what?”

“Or
we transfer that money to you and you stay here and help us.”

“Help
you with what exactly?” Laura asked.

“Meet
with Cicero. Tell him what you told us. If we can take out Manuela
and Bernice, Danny and I will move up in the organization, and we'll
take you along, too.”

“I
should get back to my husband.”

“Is
that what you really want or what he might want? Do you want to go
back to that mundane sex life when you could stay here with us and
make what just happened a regular occurrence? How much do you two
still have in common? Danny and I have already agreed we could be a
threesome, and you'd have a lot more money and power, too.”

“I
don't know.”

“Laura,
forget the physical part for a moment. Do you feel more of an
emotional connection with us or with that man waiting for you back in
California? Stay here and have the emotional and physical
fulfillment, the money and the increasing power, and an endless
supply of doing the kind of work you love.”

She looked
over at Danny. “He is a good looking man.”

“It
doesn't have to be a lifetime commitment, Laura. Just try us out for
a few months and if it doesn't work, you keep the entire million and
we part friends.”

“How
do I know you won't just shoot me when I release you?” Laura
asked.

“You
get the five hundred thousand dollars first. I'm not going to give
you that kind of money if I'm going to kill you. Besides, it should
be obvious that we really need you. I just proved I'm willing to go
the extra mile to please you. Did I?”

“Well,
yeah. You did put a smile on my face, a big smile.”

“If I
kill you, you'd never be able to reciprocate, not that you'd ever
have to. Frankly though, both Danny and I will have certain
expectations if you do stay. It's totally up to you, but we really
wish you would. I'd give you another kiss, but my mouth is too wet at
the moment,” she added with a chuckle.

Danny added
in his two cents worth, “She's right, we both want you here,
Laura! We can make this work. We'd be unbeatable as such a close-knit
group.”

“Well,
I'll admit that it does feel right, although most unusual. As a
native Californian, I've always considered myself open-minded about
such arrangements.”

Laura
determined it was worth a try. The money was transferred, the
bindings were removed, the threesome showered, dressed and departed
to meet with Uncle Chip. He was extremely upset and cursed
incessantly, but didn't challenge the credibility of the information.
Cicero authorized the hits on both Manuela and Bernice.

As they
left their meeting with him, Laura said, “Manuela will be
wondering why I was a no-show.”

“Tell
her we me made you an attractive counter-offer and you want more
money,” said Renée. “She's used to that. Tell her
you want to share in the fun just like Bernice. Then we'll ambush
them, kill them both and keep the money.”

“Maybe
I should tell her Danny got away. Then he can be our outside, back-up
man,” suggested Laura.

“No,
that will make her too suspicious, although she generally expects the
unexpected anyway. She'll have someone hidden backing her play,”
Renée said. “How much was she paying you anyway?”

“A
hundred grand.”

“Is
that all? What a cheapskate. Tell her you want another hundred for
Danny, and then say it's worth it because she can make me suffer even
more by disemboweling him and making me watch. She'll jump at that
prospect.”

“Oh,
what a pleasant mental image that is,” he said.

“There
are two partners I sometimes use in L.A. on tough jobs. I suggest we
bring them in to back our move. They'll need a hundred large each,
though,” said Laura. “We can pay them with Manuela's
money. I bet she's made Bernice kick in some of it.”

“Okay,
Uncle Chip has people we could use locally, but I don't trust any of
them.”

“If
we all survive, I think we should celebrate with a three-way
afterward, including that reciprocation I owe you,” Laura
suggested.

“Damn,
I haven't seen that big a smile on Renée since I’ve
known her, and she's been smiling a lot. Maybe we should do that
first,” Danny eagerly suggested.

“No,
business first,” the two women replied in unison, as Renée
blushed.

It was two
days later when Manuela had agreed to the new terms and the five
assassins gathered near her abandoned warehouse. They all wore
protective vests.

“Let's
assume she has at least one outside sniper covering the entrance,”
said one of Laura's partners. “If it were me, I'd be on top of
that building over there. I'll go reconnoiter.” He pointed out
two other locations that needed to be checked. They all scouted the
area and reconvened awhile later. Two shooters had been found and
taken out.

“These
rifles have thermal imaging scopes, Laura. The shooter can see you
almost as clearly as if he were in the room with you. That suggests
she was planning on taking you out, which suggests no payment
forthcoming,” fretted one partner.

“Don't
worry, you guys will get your money. As long as things are going our
way, let's take it slow so that Renée can savor the moment.
Try not to shoot either one of them. There are better things
planned.”

Laura's two
partners moved to advantageous rooftop positions. She then placed
gags and fake plasticuffs on Renée and Danny, after each one
of them had concealed a weapon on their backside. They entered
through a side door.

“We're
here, Manuela!” Laura announced. “Are you ladies ready to
let the good times roll?”

“You're
late, Laura. We don't like being kept waiting.” Placed on the
tabletop were a chainsaw, an ax, a small blow torch, and a small
cattle prod, along with various sharp medical instruments, two floor
lamps lighting the area and a chair. Two armed men stood off to the
side. A video camera was mounted on a tripod ready to record the
upcoming entertainment, and Manuela wore a small two-way ear piece.
She and Bernice were beaming like two schoolgirls on Christmas
morning.

“Bring
our guests over here into the light,” Manuela requested as she
switched on the camera and pointed it at the threesome. “I want
the video to show them clearly as we prepare to begin. I've cleared
my calendar for the whole week, so we'll have lots of time to spend
together. Renée, your friend Bernice is holding a scalpel.
You'll get to watch while she uses it on your young man. She'll be
taking home a certain appendage to stuff and mount on her trophy
wall. This cattle prod over here will soon be exploring every crevice
of your body, slowly and most intimately. Okay, let's get started.”