“Two rules, kid. One, respect your weapon. Two, respect the intelligence of your opponent.”
“That’s why we should lock the door.”
“No. That’s why we should leave it unlocked.”
“Man, I just hope—”
The big man suddenly stared into the inner hallway of the apartment and held up his hand. “Shhh!”
“What?”
“You hear anything?”
The boy jumped up awkwardly. “No... I don’t know.”
“Maybe I should have checked the other rooms.”
“You didn’t check the apartment?”
“The front door was locked when I got here.”
The big man shrugged. “I just thought—”
“You dog’s ass!”
The boy pulled out his weapon and rushed from the room. The big man watched him enter the narrow inner hallway and disappear. The man quickly placed all five bullets in his cylinder, snapped it shut and placed his revolver in a belt holster. He rose and stood to the side of the hallway where the boy wouldn’t be able to spot him in time.
He could hear the panic in the boy’s voice.
“Motherfucker! Motherfucker!”
The boy rushed into the living room, gun in hand. The man drew his own gun.
“There’s a body in the bathtub! There’s blood all over the fuckin’ place! You hear me? There’s a body in the—”
In one fast, smooth movement, the man lifted the boy’s gun from his hand as he smashed his own gun down on the back of the boy’s head. The boy fell to his knees, stunned by the blow.
“Don’t move.”
The man placed the boy’s gun in his own belt and checked his body for other weapons. The boy held the back of his head with both hands.
“Jesus Christ! My head! Are you crazy?”
The man finished patting him down. He found no other weapons.
“Okay, I get it. He came early. You wasted him before I got here. You want to keep all the money, right? Okay. You earned it, so keep it! It’s yours. I’ll tell Wichai I got here too late. You hadda do the job yourself. Just let me go!”
The man walked behind him and placed the muzzle of his revolver flush against the back of the boy’s head. “You still don’t get it, do you, kid? The man in the bathtub was the man you were supposed to meet.”
“... The who?”
“I’m the legend.”
The boy started to turn his head, but the man pushed the gun harder. “Don’t turn around, kid.”
“How did you...”
“I warned you: always respect the intelligence of your opponent. You don’t get to be a legend by falling into traps. I’m not the hittee.” He cocked the hammer of his revolver. You are.”
“Don’t! Please!”
“Okay, kid, here’s how it works. You tried a hit; it backfired. But nothing personal, right? No need for you to suffer. So, I’m going to send a round into your brain. It’s the fastest way to get your body to shut down. But, even then, your heart will most likely keep pumping for a few minutes. Problem is, it’ll be pumping the blood out of your system. Like the plug’s been pulled, and the heart’s now working against itself. A brainless muscle if ever there was one, huh? Then your body temperature falls and your system begins shutting down. Clinical death. Biological death. End of story...”
“Please, no! Don’t kill me! I can pay you. Just take my wallet! I’ll—”
“Stop crying, kid. It doesn’t help. But I’ll tell you something. You know what I noticed in this business, kid? Some guys die with their eyes open, and some die with their eyes shut. I wondered about that for years. Then I decided that either was acceptable. There isn’t any god that cares one way or the other. But the guy with his eyes open? I’d say he’s more dead than the guy with his eyes shut. Which are you gonna be, kid? Open or shut?”
“Don’t kill me! Please! I’ll pay you whatever you want!”
“Kid, don’t take it so hard. Like I said, it’s nothing personal. But if I don’t waste you now, you might come after me. Who knows? You might get lucky.”
“No! I wouldn’t. I swear it. I wouldn’t dare!”
“No? A man with all your hits might dare anything. After all, you did the Kaeochart hit.”
“I never hit anybody! I never killed anybody! This is my first time. I just wanted to be like my uncle. He was in the business for years. I just wanted to be like him! Please, don’t! I’ll never come after you!”
“I believe you, kid. ’Cause, you see, I did the Kaeochart hit.”
“Oh, I — look, mister, please!”
“You had it right, except you weren’t there to see my semi jam up on me. I had to use the backup revolver. That’s why I won’t touch a semi-automatic again.”
“Look, I swear I—”
“But it’s like this. You being an amateur makes it even worse. Somebody teams you up with a guy like me, a pro, and you could accidentally get the pro killed by doing something stupid. I can’t allow that to happen.”
The boy’s sobbing grew louder. His voice broke. “No! I swear. I don’t want to kill anybody. I’ll never do this again. Nobody will die because of me. Please don’t kill me! Please! Take my wallet! Just let me go!”
“... If, if I let you go, how do I know you’ll keep your word?”
“Mister, I swear to you! If I ever try this again, you come after me and kill me, Okay? I just want out. Please!”
The big man slowly let the hammer down. “Okay, kid. That’ll be the deal. You try another hit, I’ll hear about it. And I’ll put a bullet through you.”
“Yes! Yes! But you won’t have to. I swear it. Please!”
“I told you to stop crying... You piss your pants?”
“...Yes.”
“All right. I’m probably doing something I’ll regret.” He stared at the boy, who continued to sob uncontrollably. “You got ten seconds to get up and get the hell out of here. And nine of them are gone.”
The boy jumped up, ran to the door, opened it and ran out, slamming it behind him.
The man stared at the closed door for several seconds then replaced his revolver in his belt holster. He walked to the table and began replacing rods and patches and cloth back into the gun kit box.
Suddenly, from the inner hallway leading from the bathroom, a middle-aged man appeared. He was slim and dark and unhappy. And dripping wet. His clothes appeared to be covered with blood. He carried a pair of dry shoes over to the sofa and placed them on the floor.
“If I had to stay in that bathtub one more fucking minute I would be dead for real. As it is, I may have got pneumonia. I still say I coulda just been on the bed.”
As he spoke, he grabbed the clean clothes and towel from the television set and stepped back into the hallway. He raised his voice while he changed. “What the hell did I have to be in the tub for, anyway?”
“I told you: it looks better.”
“Yeah, right. It looks better.”
“He might have checked you out on the bed. Nobody touches a body in a tub full of bloody water.”
“That right? Well, you’re the expert. But I got ketchup in my hair, my nose, my ears... my eyes, for fuck’s sake!”
The big man said nothing. The man with ketchup in his hair quickly finished changing and walked back into the room. “First time I ever made money playing a corpse. How about you? You ever played a corpse?”
“Never did.”
“You shoulda taken the punk’s wallet. I’ll bet he was loaded. He offered it to you, didn’t he?”
“I’m not a thief.”
“Well, pardon me all over the fuckin’ place, but where I come from money is money.” The slim man suddenly sneezed three times in a row. “See? I’m getting pneumonia from that tub. And it’s not like I got health insurance or somethin’.”