Page 12 of Tank
CHAPTER SIX
Nadya
I was getting really sick of this job and I was about ready to pack my shit and walk away. How these people lived here and did this day to day, well, I had no fucking clue. It wasn’t that anyone had been mean to me or shunned me. In fact, everyone seemed pretty nice and welcoming. I think that was what grated on my nerves the most. I had to put in some effort and I had to go out of my way to talk to people and make conversation. All things that I hated. That was why I lived the life I did and didn’t have anyone close to me. I didn’t mind the quiet and when I got bored of it, I simply picked up a book and lived through whatever the characters were doing in it.
So, there I was, working in the bar again on another slow and painfully boring night. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if the place had more business.
Currently, I was stuck with the same two guys that seemed to be there every night I worked. And no surprise, they were taking up the same two seats at the end of the bar furthest from the door. Like every other fucking night. And that was all I had for customers. If this place was packed, I wouldn’t have to try and figure out ways to avoid talking to them.
Things like counting the bottles on the back bar, again. I was doing it for the third time that night and, no fucking surprise, there was no change from the last time I’d done it.
Even I could admit that I was being more bitchy than normal. I blamed it on the fact that everything in my life was stagnant. I was stuck in a cage when all I wanted to do was fly.
To make matters worse, there hadn’t even been a target to watch. Nope. Nothing. Even though I had an alarm set up on my phone to let me know if there was any movement in the cabin, I had been checking the feed like every hour in hopes that something was wrong. I needed nothing more than to get this job over with. I’d decided that after this I was going to take a damn vacation. I was going to drive and not stop.
And then, like a fucking miracle, my phone rang with the oddest tone. I may have actually smiled as I snatched up my phone from the bar top.
With frantic fingers, I pulled up the app so I could see what was going on, and sure enough, right there standing in the middle of the living room, was a dark figure. I squinted my eyes like it would help me get a better look at what was on the tiny screen.
He looked like he was straight out of some horror scene. His frame was massive and he had to be well over six foot. His back was hunched over and his long, stringy hair hung in his face. A face that I was desperate to see.
I was so into watching him that when my phone rang I jumped and nearly dropped the damn thing.
It was Lucy, as I should have expected. She must have had it set up so she got an alert, too. Without wasting another second, I swiped the answer button. The only problem was, I could no longer see the mystery target unless I put her on speaker. I had to make the call quick. I had no doubt that she was calling just to see if I knew.
“He’s there,” she said in a whisper like said person might be able to hear us.
“Yeah, I see that… well, I did until I had to answer to talk to you,” I joked with a sarcastic tone.
“Oh, right,” she laughed out. “Sorry. But do you see him? He’s huge!” Her whisper came out slightly louder.
“I mean, he looks to be about an inch or two on my phone, so I can’t really tell.”
Oh, but I could. He was thick and like a damn beast. I might have even said I was a bit intimidated and it was a good thing I wouldn’t have to go anywhere near him to get the job done.
“Hmm,” she said and I could tell she was captivated by the image she was watching. An image I should have been looking at but I was too busy waiting for her to finish whatever the hell she was doing. “Do you know him?”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t.” There was no way I could have. I was one hundred percent sure I’d never seen a guy like that before and if I had, I was sure I would have remembered it.
“Um, well, okay. I’ll let you go so you can get back to it. Hey, look at it this way, now you have something to do.” She let out a laugh but I could tell it was a bit strained.
Shrugging off whatever weird vibe I was getting from her, I said my goodbyes and hung up. If I had been alone, I would have kept watching with her on the phone, but there was that pesky little thing where no one could know what I was doing.
I looked at the time before I pulled up the feed again. I still had three more hours until I would be watch him in solitude.
It seemed that all he’d done was walked in the door, drop his stuff in the middle of the floor, and flop down on the couch. So, I hadn’t missed anything. From his posture, I guessed he was tired. The way he slouched on the couch and covered his eyes with his arm led me to believe it wasn’t going to be an entertaining night at all. Maybe he would move around tomorrow once he got a good nights sleep. I could only hope.
I had still yet to see his face. It was an odd feeling to not know what he looked like and I wondered if I’d ever cared about that before. Normally, that was the first thing I saw in my target. In a roundabout way, I was always able to look them in the eyes before I ended them even if they were unaware of it. But I had to admit, I was a little unsettled not knowing the look he held in his eyes.
As I suspected, he didn’t move for the rest of the night. I somehow became obsessed and kept checking every ten minutes even though he was clearly down for the count.
After I closed up the bar, I headed upstairs and spent the next few hours staring at my damn phone like a crazy person. I willed him to wake just so I would have something to watch. But he didn’t even shift in his slumber. The man was dead to the world. Which, in a way, was funny to me. Hey, my job was killing, it would only be right for me to make light of it every now and then.
I gave in when my eyes started to get blurry and I climbed into bed, setting my phone right next to me on the pillow, knowing it would be the first thing I’d reach for when I woke up.
The light filtered in through the dirty window. I hadn’t been out long, and by the stiffness in my neck, I knew I hadn’t slept all that well, either.
Rolling over, I snatched up my phone to check on my target. I shouldn’t have been surprised to find him still asleep. Damn, this guy was really out of it. I had no idea what that meant and I almost wondered what the hell he’d been up to before he arrived. But that was weird and stupid because I didn’t need to know all about this guy and his life to do my job. If he wanted to sleep the whole day away, then it shouldn’t have mattered to me.
