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  shortened. Yet they had always been kind to her. Never abused her. Looked out for her when they could. Fed her, kept her warm and safe, again when they could. They never brought problems back to the house. The abuses they had committed were done away from here. She appreciated that. And every time she had gone into foster care they had worked hard to get her back.

  She put the photo back on the wall and pulled out the note from her mom that had been sent to her school. She read it again. The instructions were clear. She was excited. This might be the start of something great. Just the three of them in a new life away from here. The only thing that bothered her was the contingency plan her mom had put in the note, if for some reason they didn’t hook up with their daughter. There had also been cash along with the note. The money was for the contingency plan. Well, there was no reason that her parents wouldn’t be able to meet up with her. She assumed that they would be leaving in the morning.

  She started to the door to return to her room and pack up her belongings that she hadn’t taken to the foster care home.

  And then she stopped.

  There were noises, which didn’t completely surprise her, since her parents sometimes kept odd hours. They must just be getting home.

  The next sound she heard erased all other thoughts she had.

  It was a man’s voice. Not her father’s.

  It was raised. Angry. It was asking her father what he knew. How much he had been told.

  She heard her father whimpering, as though he were hurt.

  Then Julie heard her mother’s frantic voice. Asking the person to leave them alone.

  Julie crept down the stairs, her body shaking.

  She had no cell phone or else she would have called the police. There was no landline phone in the house. Her parents couldn’t afford it.

  When she heard the gunshot she froze and then started running down the stairs. When she reached the lower level she saw her father slumped back against the wall in the darkness. A man held a gun pointed at him. There was a dark patch on her father’s chest growing bigger. His face was ashen. He fell to the floor, his arms whipsawing around and knocking over a lamp.

  The man with the gun turned and saw her. He pointed the pistol at her.

  “No!” her mother shrieked. “She doesn’t know anything.”

  Though barely a hundred pounds, she hit the man in the back of the legs and he collapsed to the floor in pain, his gun spinning out of reach.

  “Run, honey, run!” screamed her mother.

  “Mom!” She called back. “Mom, what is—”

  Her mother screamed again, “Run! Now!”

  She turned and ran back up the stairs even as the man spun around and landed a crushing blow to the top of her mother’s head.

  She reached her room, grabbed her backpack, sprinted to the window, and grabbed hold of a trellis of metal over which someone long ago had planted ivy. She climbed down so quickly that she lost her grip and fell the last six feet. She got up, slung her backpack across her shoulders, and ran off.

  A few seconds later a second shot came from the house.

  When the gunman ran outside, the teenager was already out of sight.

  But he stopped, listened. The sounds of footfalls reached him. He set out west, moving deliberately.

  CHAPTER

  10

  THE WOMAN WALKED to her car. She was probably thinking a million different things as she slipped her briefcase in the backseat of her Toyota sedan, right next to the kiddie seats. Busy professional, mother, housekeeper—the list went on and on, as it did for many women.

  Her black suit was a discount off-the-rack model, like most of her clothes. It was a bit grimy after a long day and her heels were nicked in several places. She was not wealthy, but the work she did was important for her country. That made up for a paycheck that was smaller than she could have earned in the private sector.

  She was in her middle thirties, five feet nine, more than thirty pounds overweight from her last pregnancy and no time to do anything about it. She had a pair of kids, ages three and less than a year. She was in the process of getting a divorce. She and her soon to be ex-husband currently had joint custody of the kids. One week on and one week off. She wanted full custody, but that was difficult to manage with the work she did.

  There had been a change of schedule tonight. She had one stop to make before heading home. She drove off, her mind swirling with thoughts of work issues mixed with the demands of two active children. There was no room in there for her. But that just came with motherhood, she supposed.

  Robie stared up at the five-story apartment building. It looked like his place. Old, decrepit. But he lived in a nice part of the nation’s capital. This was a part of D.C. that suffered from a lot of violent crime. However, this particular neighborhood was becoming safer. You could raise a family here without worrying too much about your kid dying while walking home from school because he was caught in the crossfire of drug crews battling for street supremacy.

  There was no doorman here. The outer entrance was locked and one needed a pass card to get in. He had that. There were no surveillance cameras. They cost money. The folks who lived here couldn’t afford that. Or a doorman.

  Robie had gone from cartel bosses to Saudi princes to this. The dossier on tonight’s target was particularly light. Black woman, age thirty-five. He had her picture and her address. He had not been told the specific reason why she must die tonight other than she had ties to a terrorist organization. If Robie had to label her, he would probably put her in the “problem” box his employer sometimes used to justify death. He couldn’t visualize anyone living here as being a global menace. They tended to matriculate to fancier addresses or else hid out from the law in some country that did not extradite to the United States. But terrorist cell members were trained to blend in. She apparently was one of them. In any event, the reason why she had to die was above his pay grade.

  He looked at his watch. The building was all condo but less than half occupied. After the financial meltdown fifty percent of the folks here had suffered foreclosure. Another ten percent had lost their jobs and been evicted. The woman lived on the fourth floor. She was a renter and could never afford the mortgage on this place, foreclosed or not. There were only two other people living on that floor, an old woman who couldn’t see or hear, and a security guard who worked the night shift and was currently fifteen miles away. The apartments above and below the woman were also empty.

  He toggled his neck, felt the pop. He pulled up his hoodie.

  The plan was set. There was no stand-down button to push. The rocket was fueled and the launch was commencing.

  He looked at his watch. His spotter had seen her go into the building alone hours ago, grocery bag in one hand, briefcase in the other. She had looked tired, the spotter had reported to Robie. That would be a good look, compared to what was coming.

  It was moments like this that made Robie wonder what he would do with the rest of his life. He had no problem killing cartel trash or rich, megalomaniac desert sheikhs. But tonight Robie had a problem. He reached a gloved hand inside his pocket and felt the gun there. Usually it was reassuring for him to touch his weapon.

  Tonight it was not.

  She would be in bed. Her apartment was dark. At this hour she would be sleeping.

  At least she would feel nothing. He would make certain his strike caused instant death. Life would go on without her. Rich or poor, important or not, life just did. He would leave by the fire escape. It emptied out to an alley, as many of these buildings did. He would be back at his house by three a.m. Just in time to go to sleep.

  To forget tonight ever happened.

  As if I can do that.

  CHAPTER

  11

  ROBIE SWIPED THE CARD through the reader and the door clicked open. He pulled his hoodie tighter around his head. The hallways were poorly lighted. Fluorescent tubes popped and flickered. The carpet was soiled and pulled up in certain spots. The
paint on the walls was peeling.

  He opened the door to the stairwell and headed up. The air was filled with the smells of cooked food. Mingled together in the air, they did not make a pleasant aroma. He counted the floors. On the fourth one he exited the stairwell and closed the door behind him.

  This hall looked just like the one on the first floor.

  Number 404 was the one he wanted.

  The blind and deaf lady lived at the end of the hall on the left. The security guard in absentia resided at 411. The lock on 404 was a deadbolt, probably engaged by his target tonight. Robie had noted that most of the other exterior condo doors had simple locks. The deadbolt meant she was security-minded. Yet it took him all of thirty seconds to defeat the lock using two slender pieces of metal in concert.

  He closed the door behind him and put on his night-vision goggles. His gaze swept the small living room. There was a night-light inserted into an outlet, providing a bit of illumination. It didn’t matter. Robie had been given the plans of the apartment and had memorized all relevant details.

  His fingers closed around the gun in his pocket; the suppressor can was already spun on the muzzle. No wasted time.

  In one corner of the room was a round particleboard table. On it were a laptop and stacks of paper. The lady had brought her work home, it seemed. There were books on a small shelf. There was no carpet, only worn area rugs.

  In one corner was a collapsible playpen. On two walls were pieces of construction paper taped up. There were stick-figure kids and a stick-figure woman with messy hair. In childish script were the word “I” and the word “mom” separated by a crude drawing of a heart. There were also toys piled in one corner.

  All this gave Robie pause.

  I’m here to kill a young mother. The flash drive said nothing about kids.

  Then in his headset came the voice.

  “You should already be in the bedroom.”

  This was also what was different about tonight. He wore a pinhole camera that conveyed live video feedback, and an earwig through which his handler could prompt him to do his job more efficiently.

  Robie moved through the room, stopping at the closed door to the bedroom.

  He listened at the cheap wood for a few moments and heard what he expected: low breathing, soft snores.

  He gripped the knob with his gloved hand, pushed the door open, and stepped through.

  The bed was set against the window. Directly outside was the fire escape. In many respects this was far too easy, like a movie set properly lighted and waiting for the actors to execute a pivotal scene.

  It was dark in here, but he could still see her lying in the twin bed. Her heavy body made a substantial hump under the covers. Much of her weight was carried in her hips and buttocks. Robie knew it would take some effort to lift her corpse onto the gurney after she’d been pronounced dead. The cops would look for clues, but there would be none. Ordinarily Robie would police his brass. But he was chambering dum-dum rounds tonight, so most likely they would stay inside her. And if so, the medical examiner would find them during the post. But what he would never have was a gun to match them to.

  He lifted the Glock out from his pocket and moved forward. When you wanted to make sure that one shot would do the trick, there were any number of places where this could be accomplished.

  To avoid the blowback of blood and tissue on his person that inevitably came with a contact shot, Robie had opted tonight to make the kill shot from a few feet away. He would fire once into the heart, and then for insurance he would place a second shot into the aorta, which was the width of a garden hose and ran vertically up to the heart. There were things in front of the aorta, but if one knew where to shoot and the angle was right, the shot would sever the hose ten times out of ten. The bleedout would be lightning fast. And if the bullets somehow passed through her, the mattress would probably collect them.

  Quick, clean.

  He moved to the front of the bed and raised the pistol. She was lying flat on her back. He lined up her heart in his gunsight. Instead of his target he momentarily saw in his mind the toys, the playpen, the drawing that said, “I heart mom.” He shook his head clear. Refocused. The drawing stormed back into his mind. He shook his head again. And—

  Robie jerked slightly when he saw the small hump next to her. The head with the wiry hair sticking out. It had been hidden under the covers. He did not pull the trigger.

  In his ear the voice said, “Shoot.”

  CHAPTER

  12

  ROBIE DID NOT SHOOT. But he must have made some sound.

  The wiry head moved. Then the little hump sat up. The boy rubbed his eyes, yawned, opened his eyes, and stared directly at Robie standing there, his pistol pointed at the boy’s mother.

  “Shoot,” the voice said. “Shoot her!”

  Robie did not fire.

  “Mommy,” said the boy in a fearful tone, never once taking his gaze off Robie.

  “Shoot,” said the voice. “Now.”

  The man sounded hysterical. Robie couldn’t put a face with the voice because he had never met his handler in person. Standard agency procedure. No one could ID anyone.

  “Mommy?” The little boy started to cry.

  “Shoot the kid too,” said the handler. “Now.”

  Robie could fire and be gone. Taps to the chests. One big, one small. One dum-dum fired into the child would destroy his insides. He would have no chance.

  “Shoot now,” said the voice.

  Robie did not shoot.

  The woman began to stir.

  “Mommy?” Her son poked her with his fingers but kept staring at Robie. Tears slid down his thin cheeks. He started to shake.

  She slowly woke. “Yes, baby?” she said in a sleepy voice. “You’re safe, baby, just a nightmare. You’re safe with Mommy. Nothing to be scared of.”

  “Mommy?”

  He tugged on her gown.

  “Okay, baby, okay. Mommy’s awake.”

  She saw Robie. And froze, but only for an instant. Then she pulled her child behind her.

  She screamed.

  Robie put a finger to his lips.

  She screamed again.

  “Shoot them,” the handler said frantically.

  Robie said to her, “Be quiet or I shoot.”

  She didn’t stop screaming.

  He fired a round into the pillow next to her. The stuffing flew out, and the round deflected off the mattress springs and drilled into the floor underneath the bed.

  She stopped screaming.

  “Kill her,” the handler roared in Robie’s ear.

  “Stay quiet,” said Robie to the woman.

  She sobbed, hugged her son. “Please, mister, please, don’t hurt us.”

  “Just stay quiet,” said Robie. The handler was still screaming in his ear. If the man had been in the room Robie would have shot the asshole just to shut him up.

  “Take what you want,” mumbled the woman. “But please don’t hurt us. Don’t hurt my baby.”

  She turned, hugged her son. Lifted him up so they were face-to-face. He stopped crying, touched his mother’s face.

  Robie realized something and his gut tightened.

  The handler was no longer screaming. His earwig held nothing except silence.

  He should have picked up on that before.

  Robie lunged forward.

  The woman, thinking he was about to attack them, screamed again.