The Hitman’s Retirement – Chapter I

I. The Reconnect

Tony looked at his watch. It was only 4 minutes since the last time he snuck a glance. In between time checks he would glare at his brother-in-law. Thanks to Jackson, he spent the afternoon attempting to salvage his work phone. He managed to turn it on and retrieve most of the files he needed. But he had to buy another phone to transfer all the data to which created a data trail. Any type of trail is sloppy work.

Plus, he had the added pressure to do all this while keeping Cheyenne in the dark about how important the phone was for his assignment. She didn’t know anything about the job he was contracted to do. There was no way he could tell her now. How would that go? “Oh, by the way, honey, you know how you think I work on wall street? I don’t. I have killed a stock broker before but you don’t need to know about that. The important thing to remember is I love you and I am changing my whole life because of you. Isn’t that great news?”

No. None of that would fly with Cheyenne. He would have to proceed with the plan to finish this job and find another line of work. But he really needed to finish this job first. Not only to get paid but also to ensure the safety of both him and his wife. This was the evening of the fourth day. After dinner he planned on taking Cheyenne back to the hotel and then he would decide the room was too stuffy and to “go for a jog.” A short jog to the truck to drive to the home of Cody Kvasnak where he would kill the target, phone the job was complete, get rid of both phones, go back to the hotel, check out early in the morning, and be almost to the park before anyone found the body. Not the perfect plan he had first drafted but still a very doable plan. Lucky for him, one of his notes he recovered from the old phone said Kvasnak’s family was out of town for the weekend. He was home alone. At least that worked in Tony’s favor.

But before he could do all that, he had to finish dinner with his in-laws. In-laws who just discovered Tony’s existence about 24 hours earlier. So far, he could not say he was fond of having family in his life.

Jackson may very well never get on Tony’s good side after the previous day’s fiasco. Tony blamed him for nearly everything that went wrong with the original plan. The whole wasted night before? Jackson’s fault. Tony dangerously losing control of the situation? Jackson. Lost phone? Jackson. Broken phone? Jackson. The whole afternoon spent trying to salvage the phone? Jackson. Even the car breaking down on the interstate? Somehow it was Jackson’ fault. Tony couldn’t prove that last one but he felt it to be true.

One thing that made Tony so good at his job is he is an observer. Especially people. His new mother-in-law, Carol, was very polite and seemed refined. She kind of seemed like she would have been out of her league to raise a fiery and spunky daughter like Cheyenne. He could imagine the two probably butted heads a lot growing up. Whenever Cheyenne did mention her mom, it would always be about stories from when she was a young girl.

Cheyenne hardly mentioned her mother from her teenage years. Other than to say she left home when she was 18 to join the Army. Judging on looks alone, Tony thought the departure might have crushed her mom but it was probably never discussed.

Cheyenne’s dad, Bill, however, was a different story. Tony could quickly see Cheyenne was a “daddy’s girl.” And from what he could tell, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Cheyenne and her dad had similar senses of humor that her mom didn’t quite get. But her mom wasn’t exactly left out, she doted on Jackson and his family pretty well. If Tony had to sum up the family, he would say there was a bit of division. Cheyenne and Bill on one side. Jackson and Carol on the other. In other words, a typical family of four. Or, at least, how Tony would imagine a family of four would end up.

“So, Tony,” Bill said. He had been studying Tony all through dinner and Tony was waiting for some kind of address. “How did you meet Cheyenne?”

Tony smiled. This was actually a good story. “Well, sir,” he started.

“Please, call me Bill,” her father said warmly.

Tony looked at Cheyenne and she nodded her head encouragingly.

“Well, Bill,” he started again, “I was at the cemetery.”

“At the cemetery?” Jackson asked. “For what?”

The cemetery is actually a quiet place Tony likes to go and think. The quiet nature of the surroundings help him think and it is where he plans a lot of his jobs. He kind of uses it as his office. Perhaps, being surrounded by death helps him not feel guilty about what he does for a living. Everyone dies eventually. “I just like the cemetery,” he answered. “It’s quiet and peaceful there.”

“Okay,” Jackson said slowly. “What were you doing there?” he turned to Cheyenne.

“This is Tony’s story,” she said. “Shh.”

“I was at the cemetery – thinking,” Tony started again. “When I saw this angel run by. I didn’t get a good glimpse but from what I could see she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. I figured it had to be an angel because no person could look that good.” He cleared his throat when he realized he was, in fact, talking to her family.

“Who was it?” Jackson asked.

Cheyenne hit him with a cloth napkin.

“I didn’t know,” Tony said clearly retelling a story he had told many times before. “I thought I had just seen some sort of heavenly vision but that couldn’t be right. Why would a guy like me get to see something so beautiful?”

“Well?” Bill asked. “Did you get her number?”

“No, she was gone. She obviously didn’t notice me.”
“That’s not true,” Cheyenne said defensively.

Tony cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Okay, but I had my ear buds in. I was focused.”

“You weren’t smitten,” Jackson offered.

“Not yet, but the next time, definitely.”

“Next time?” Bill grew a little worried this was going to be a stalker situation.

Tony held up his hand and continued. “I had nothing to go on. No way to track her down. So, I went home and tried to forget what I saw. But,” he looked at Cheyenne, “it is impossible to forget her.”

“What did you do?” Carol asked a little taken by her son-in-law for the first time that evening.

“I went back to the cemetery at the same time every day for a week.”

“I had only cut through the cemetery that day because of a road block on my normal route,” Cheyenne said. “I don’t normally run in the cemetery.”

“That’s good,” Jackson said. “The dead might think you are taunting them. ‘Hey, look what I can still do’,” he laughed at his own joke. Everyone glared at him.

“I thought for whatever reason I only was going to get that one chance to see her so I gave up. I went out of town for a couple of weeks,” he left out the part it was for a job to kill someone, “and that was that.”

Everyone was silent. “Kind of reminds me of a James Blunt song,” Jackson said and everyone ignored him. “Actually, the only James Blunt song.”

“When I got back into town, I tried one more time at the cemetery,” Tony continued.

His listeners held their breath.

“And she came jogging through again?” Jackson’s wife asked.

“No, never did see her again at the cemetery. But I did go to the library and there she was.”

Everyone looked at her. “I volunteer at the library twice a week doing story-time,” Cheyenne explained.

Her mother placed her hand over her heart to know all of her daughter’s genteel upbringing did not go to waste.

“Huh,” Jackson said. “The cemetery and the library? You two really know how to live on the edge.”

Bill looked at Tony. “What were you doing at the library?”

Tony was at the library casing his next job. It was some computer hacker a major software company wanted eliminated. The hacker spent a lot of time at the library and Tony was watching him to get intel on how to proceed.

“You go in there to think also or do you just prefer the silence of dead people?” Jackson asked.

“No, I don’t normally go to the library…”

“Oh, just the dead people thing then?” Jackson mumbled.

“It was raining and I forgot an umbrella.” Thankfully, since it was the day he met Cheyenne he remembered the small details of the day.

“He was soaking wet when I saw him,” Cheyenne said. “I felt bad for him and helped him find some paper towel to dry off. We started talking. He said he was in the Navy so a little water wouldn’t hurt. When I found out he was also former military we just sort of clicked and ended up talking all night.”

Of which, the hacker was probably unaware he owed that extra night of living to Cheyenne.

The family sat there. After a few minutes, the noise started to grow again as the table was cleared and the kitchen cleaned up for the evening.

By the time the two left the house for the evening both were smiling. If this was some kind of acceptance test it appeared Tony passed the test. He was even thinking a family wouldn’t be so bad to be a part of. Even Jackson was beginning to grow on him. They drove to the hotel and Cheyenne snuggled into his arm. This was the life. Maybe the two could settle here?

No, the two couldn’t settle here. Tony still had a job to do. His smile faded. He needed to get back on track and get things settled tonight. Back to his plan so that he and Cheyenne could start their future together. The only thing standing in his way was a small town mayor by the name of Cody Kvasnak.