Word Count: 361<\/p>\n

If you look carefully, you can see the tip of his cigarette glow when he inhales. Probably got a live-in girlfriend. Same thing as a wife these days. It lights his face just enough to show that I got the right man.<\/p>\n

The cigarettes will kill him eventually. Maybe I can just let him die slowly from that. Say that I watched while he smoked outside his own door. No, I just have to do it myself. Then I\u2019ll be cool with the gang.<\/p>\n

Just this one guy, I think. Just this one. It\u2019s always the new member that gets this job. It\u2019s proof you\u2019re going to be loyal. And this gang has plenty of members. Unless it\u2019s a revenge thing that calls for immediate action. Then Skull takes care of it. Skull\u2019s got quite a few bodies under his belt.<\/p>\n

The cigarette falls to the ground. I\u2019ve got to go for it now.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey dude,\u201d I say.<\/p>\n

He looks startled, as if his girlfriend just caught him smoking. I wonder if she knows or just won\u2019t let him smoke up the walls and the drapes.<\/p>\n

\u201cGot a light?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure,\u201d he mumbles and pulls a Bic from his hip pocket. He hands it to me and I light up and pretend to inhale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks. Nice night,\u201d I say.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d he says. Not a talker, this guy. Which is good because I\u2019m not here to be friends. He turns to go up the steps to the building and I stab the knife through the thin shirt, up through the ribs to his heart. It goes in surprisingly easy and slides out the same way.<\/p>\n

I wonder, as he gasps, his breathing heaves and then stops, if I\u2019m supposed to take something for proof. But I think word will get around soon enough. He lies still in the edge of the light from the front porch. I back up, turn, and walk quickly away.<\/p>\n

I get in my car and am surprised that my breathing is calm and quiet but I want to stop somewhere for coffee before going home. I thought it\u2019d be different. I thought it\u2019d be hard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Word Count: 361 If you look carefully, you can see the tip of his cigarette glow when he inhales. Probably got a live-in girlfriend. Same thing as a wife these days. It lights his face just enough to show that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mainstream","tag-mainstream"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":910,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions\/910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}