Page 29 of Memphis

I needed to calm down before one of those dizzy spells hit me and I passed out or something. Jerryn would never put me in danger. Plus, I wasn’t getting locked up either way. I’d kill whoever I had to before I let that happen.

Thankfully, I heard the doors shut, and a minute or so later, the truck was moving again.

Senator Murray had been representingthe people of Texas for eight years. Murray was adored by fellow party members despite polarizing views and a staunch belief that immigrants should be imprisoned right alongside anyone who believed there should be exceptions to strict abortion laws. All this despite having that home in Mexico and ties to human trafficking. The anti-choice rhetoric that was the foundation of the senator’s election and re-election campaigns? A fucking joke. If anyone was undercover pro-choice, it was definitely Senator BJ Murray.

Fucking hypocrite.

The senator’s property in rural Mexico was located on a huge plot of land and accessed by a dirt road. It was beautiful and sprawling with trees and mountains as its backdrop. The rental car Jerryn secured for me under a fake name was several miles away, as I had switched from it to a bus, a damn motorbike, and finally, my two feet, to get from the tiny apartment I was staying in to the senator’s property, arriving at around two in the morning. Jerryn was also in Mexico, and although I couldn’t see him, I knew his eyes were on me. He literally had my back.

Now, I was on my haunches in a mango grove a few feet away from the house, eyeing my surroundings, my A.R. in hand. The client advised that the senator awoke early every morning to pick fresh mangos for breakfast.

How quaint.

I waited, the sounds of the night my only company, the air clear, and my concentration acute. The waiting never bothered me. On the contrary, it excited me. While anticipating an elimination, I felt more alive than ever. Alive, alert…predatory. I only hoped some wild animal didn’t pop up and I’d have to kill it. I didn’t like killing innocent animals.

Around the ungodly hour of 4:00 AM, a light popped on in the house, joining that which was provided by the waxing gibbous moon. I smiled, lifting the rifle as I remained in the shadows of the trees. When I heard a door open and shut, I started feeling something akin to giddiness. Then, a silhouette began to move from the house toward the grove, footsteps sounding against the loose dirt of a path. I didn’t move. I didn’t flinch. I didn’t breathe until the subject was just approaching the perimeter of the grove, and then…pop! I hit her right in the middle of her forehead. Just like that, Senator Bonnie Jean Murray was gone.

I stayed in position, my eyes glued to her lifeless body because I heard…something. I wasn’t sure what it was. An animal? Lifting my eyes from the senator, I saw another silhouette in front of the house, a small one.

A child.

Shit.

Fuck!

I knew they couldn’t see me dressed in all black to blend in with what remained of the darkness, but what if they came to the grove? They couldn’t have heard the silenced shot, but maybe they heard her body drop. What if they discovered the senator’s corpse prior to my escape?

Before I could decide what to do, a hand covered my mouth, another yanked me to my feet, and I was being dragged away.

17

Then…

Iwasn’t sure how I felt about this meeting. Was I excited? Annoyed? Angry that I’d been left on read for so long? Did I still have a crush on 11C22? Was it crazy to have a crush on a man I only knew as a set of numbers and a letter?

Probably.

At any rate, I arrived at the restaurant early to find he’d done the same.

“Yes,” the hostess chirped after I inquired about the reservation, “right this way.”

With my eyes surveying the sparse crowd occupying the space, I followed her to a private room in the back, but the man sitting at the table wasn’t 11C22.

I stopped short of him, eyeing him suspiciously. He gave off this vibe, this sinister aura, and I wasn’t sure if it intrigued me or alarmed me.

Both?

One thing was for sure; he made me feelsomething, something completely different from the flighty feeling I experienced when I was with the man who recruited me. My cheeks didn’t feel warm and there were no butterflies in my belly. From the moment I rested my gaze on this stranger, his smoldering eyes and energy made my heart race as all the blood in my body rushed to my pussy.

I didn’t like this feeling.

At all.

His attention was on me, surveying me in silence as I did the same to him.

Oblivious to our exchange, the hostess placed a menu on the table before the empty seat and sang, “Enjoy!” before leaving us alone.

“Who are you?” I demanded once she was gone.

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