The Hitman

"Welcome to my humble home."

I looked around. There was a set of pants and tissues on the bed. The sheets were ruffled while a pillow lay on the floor. Cans of beers were spread around the room almost in a pattern, clothes were scattered on the floor with a box of condoms right on top of it, and the old television was playing a vintage porn video in low volume.

This woman really needed to recheck the meaning of humble.

"At least this is way tidier than my room," Tara said.

I looked at her.

"Oh, don't give me that look!" she snapped. "Just because you had a tidy room doesn't mean everyone has one."

True, I was definitely a clean freak at home. What's worse was how I was still a clean freak. I had to stop the urge to grab a broom and clean the woman's room.

"Free beer," the woman rummaged under her bed and pulled out a box of canned beer. "Vincent forgot he had these."

Tara nudged the bed with her feet. The wood creaked. "I assume Vincent is your lovely boyfriend. We had the pleasure of meeting the dickhead on our way out."

"Boyfriend?" the woman gave a chuckle that looked more like a chortle. "More like fuckbuddy who comes everyday to pick up his debt."

I brushed away the tissues on bed. "By fucking?"

"By giving me people to kill and fucking."

I stared at her, but she ignored me and looked at the cheeseburgers in Tara's hand like a hungry dog. "Give me one of those and I'll give you two beer cans."

Tara looked at the bed for a moment, then gave a little smile. "There's cheeseburgers only for two of us."

"There's four of them. There are only two of you."

"True. One is for Alex. Another two for me. Another one for my other self who just had sex…" she looked around the room. "Much more pleasantly than you apparently."

The woman looked at me. "Can you convince her?"

"She's the one eating three," I said, sitting beside Tara. I liked to see where this headed. "You convince her to give one yourself."

The woman heaved a long sigh, then rubbed her temples. "Can't you have some sympathy for me?"

"You are a Unet player aren't you?" Tara said, her smile spreading. "Tell us your story."

The woman frowned. "I'd rather prefer to keep it for myself. There's beer, you can have that."

Tara was already pulling a burgher out. "Mmmm…these look so lovely. Definitely appeasing someone who looks like they hadn't eaten properly in a few days. Open your mouth Alex, I'll feed you a bite-"

"Fine! Fine!" the woman pushed the beer cans away. Her deadpanned face looked better with her brows furrowed. "Fuck it then! My name is Paola. I was a former hitman in the game of Unet. I was doing good for some time. Real good. But then I got into a trap. I killed someone big without knowing it was someone big."

"Define big," Tara said, tearing off a bit from her burgher. "Trust me, I have a good memory of the assassinations that happened in Unet."

"Havel Adams"

"Oh…"

"Who's Havel Adams?" I asked, annoyed to be the oblivious guy in the room.

Tara licked the cheese off her fingers before replying. "Big gang boss in the game. His death was…some really big news."

"I was being searched left and right, the zeros in my bounty could make anyone faint. But then Vincent arrived. He agreed to pay my bounty. At first his requirements were only a sworn oath. Requirements that I didn't read correctly. But then…those requirements got needier."

"Surely you have some deal with him," I said. "Each time you kill someone or fuck him he reduces some cash?"

"That's the plan, and if that was the case I would have been free a few months before. But Vincent is cunning. Once someone is under his grasp he never lets them go. Each time my debt is about to reduce he lets me kill a target which puts a heavy bounty on my head. And then I'll need to pay again. He agrees to pay it, and then I'm in debt again. The cycle goes on."

Tara looked at me. "See, I told you that guy is trouble. When I was out of cash I almost wanted to go to him. But he was bad news. Even I wasn't dumb enough to go to him."

There was a bitter taste in my mouth. If that was the case I was just like Vincent…

"Why didn't you advertise yourself?" Tara asked. "You can surely find more clients. Anyone is willing to hire the woman who killed Havel."

"My agreement bound me to Vincent. That included not finding any other clients."

I stared at her as she talked. A hitman. If she was the one who killed Havel she was someone skilled.

"Show us your level." I said.

Paola searched for her phone, which took some time, and then tapped open the Unet app and showed it to us.

Name

Paola Snipe

Registration Date

15th May XXXX

ID

3456

Level

89

Cash

70TC

XP

98763

"Huh," Tara peered over my shoulder. "Now I know why Vincent chose you. A broke assassin who has the skill but no money."

Paola threw away the phone. "That's my story. Now can you kindly hand over this hungry fucked up woman some food? You can have the beer and be on your way."

My head ran with ideas. I still needed to teach that blond prick a lesson.

"Tara, give her one."

"What?" Her eyes widened. "You are really not planning to-"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm hungry," she grumbled. "What if I need three burghers?"

"Then give my one."

She looked at me annoyed. Then she lowered her eyes. "I don't want you to be hungry. I'll give one of mine."

She pulled out one wrapped burgher and threw it to her. Paola picked it up like a child who found a new toy.

"You can have the beer," she said, already unwrapping it.

"No," I said. "I'll need something else."

"What?" Tara barked. "No beer and cheeseburger?"

I smiled. "I'll come back for a favor. Just remember we helped you when you were hungry."

Paola eyed me warily but gave a short nod.

I signaled Tara and we walked out. I was glad to walk out of the hellhole, and my mind started working.

A skilled assassin next door who is in debt…I can use this…

"So you are really picking a fight with Vincent aren't you?" Tara said, walking behind me. "That's nuts."

"You know there was a guy who bullied me in middle school," I said walking to our room. "He was just like Vincent. I knew I couldn't pick a fight with him directly, so you know what I did?"

Tara looked at me curiously. "Gave him a cheeseburger?"

"When he was out during PE I put a spider inside his backpack. When he came to the classroom and opened it up he screamed like a little girl. He got embarrassed in front of the entire class. From there onwards no one treated him seriously. You know what I'm going to do now? I'm going to put a spider in Vincent's backpack."