After February

Read “A February Story”… Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 (curtain falls).

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The day he had been approached about the proposition, two things crossed his mind.

How was his identity discovered?

He had gone through great lengths to ensure that he remained continuously anonymous, especially after the last case two years ago. So he was genuinely shocked when he was approached, cajoled and slightly threatened into accepting the job.

The pay was good. Great actually! But he didn’t need it; not really anyway. He lived within his means and he was well off for the rest of his life. The haul from the last job was more than sufficient… he was never much of a lavish spender, at least not yet.

The threat however, did rattle him a little… just a little.

However, the anticipated thrill was the main reason he accepted the job. That and the fact that it was going to be remarkably easy.

And then the second thought…

They were morons. All of them!

He had spent hours pondering on the case. He knew that there had to be a loophole somewhere!

After two and a half weeks of research and snooping around, he finally found his loophole. Maybe they weren’t ALL morons after all… just maybe.

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After making contact with the faceless man, it was going to be a relatively straight forward task. With time, everything was set in motion, the clock was ticking, and things were progressing as planned.

It was left for the man to do his bit.

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After receiving the initial payment, he got to work. This was child’s play as far as he was concerned, nevertheless, he was a professional and he ensured that no stone was left unturned.

As he delved deeper into the task at hand, he got to understand a lot of things. For one, it wasn’t just a simple job. The threads connecting the dots were so intricately intertwined… he knew that his hirer had absolutely NO clue of what exactly the chain reaction would be.

All of this made REX more excited. This would be fun.

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The house was silent and still dark.

It had been several minutes and the effect of the drug had started to wear off.

Hands twitched, eyes opened and stared into the blackness that covered the room. They had said it would be like this. Just keep breathing.

Five minutes later, LINDA sat up and looked around in the darkness.

This had been so risky! She had been tempted to abort the plan several times in the preceding months, but day by day, she strengthened her resolve.

She looked towards where her dead husband was. She was free!

Free and freaking rich!

If only Leye knew that he had let up more than just the five million dollars before he died. If only!

In the bedroom was the tramp she had hired to work in their company and seduce Leye. Yes, seduce him to keep him away from what happened at the office while he was busy ‘working’. Tina never even knew who she really was; that was the plan anyway. In any case, she had done her job beautifully… in fact; she had been a bit jealous at how well.

She stood carefully and walked to the bathroom where she cleaned up, changed and stuffed the blood stained clothes into a duffel bag.

At the bedroom, she picked up the phone, which had been well hidden, scrolled through till she found the message she was looking for. All had been settled then, it was time to go.

She quietly left the apartment and took the elevator to the parking lot. She wondered if anyone had bothered to find out who had parked the mysterious ash colored Mercedes.

She got in, shut and locked the doors, and then quietly drove out into the night.

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When Rex had walked for several minutes, he found the car, just as he had been told.

He paused to take a closer look. As he slowly circled the car, he spotted the back pack, just as he had requested.

He smiled and walked past… into the darkness.

The following day, the body of the man that had been trailing him since he left the apartment, would be found in the trunk of the car: with a bullet in his head. Killer… unknown.

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Linda had driven for about nine minutes and was approximately six minutes away from her destination.

Her mind was filled with the things she had to do. She had cut all lose ends. Leye, Tina, Rex…

She would have kept counting but for the explosion that rocked the car, leaving her burnt and dead… thoughts intact.

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The months rolled by and the mysterious deaths still baffled everyone. May had come, and the company had to move on.

John busied himself in the office, while keeping an eye on the giant wall clock. The new owner of the company was due to arrive shortly and everyone was buzzing. The new investor had no plans to be involved in the day to day running of the company; he had left it in capable hands. He probably had enough on his hands, just thinking of what to do with the profits alone!

When Jonathan walked into the office complex at 8:45am, John was there to welcome him. He gave him a tour of the place and introduced him to several employees. He was pleasant enough and asked the right questions too. He seemed to know a lot about the business, which was good.

After lunch, while they relaxed in the office, john got a glimpse of Jonathan’s cufflink. Pure gold, custom made for him. MONEY! MONEY!! MONEY!!! Inscribed on them were the initials R.J.

He wondered what it meant, so he asked.

Jonathan looked at him, almost as if questioning his audacity.

“It’s just a nickname.”

“Ok sir. ‘J’ for Jonathan, ‘R” for?”

Jonathan smiled. “REX”.

 

THE REAL END.