EXECUTION DAY

 

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1

The woman with the dark hair spoke first. She leaned against the back of her chair with her torso angled towards the table where the five individuals sat.

“We could honestly just do this with brute force. A blunt object to the head, a knife across the throat, maybe pushed in front of an oncoming vehicle. A bus would be good,” she paused here, the other groups members could only guess that she was imagining a bus, honking its horn and slamming on the brakes until it was too late. “We probably want to avoid shooting him though. Too loud.” She leaned back even further, satisfied with herself and what she thought was an easy solution.

The man with glasses spoke next. He had been leaning forward anxiously the whole time, body over the table in a way that made one think he might suddenly leap on top of it.

“No, no, no. This needs to be done with finesse,” he said, adjusting his glasses as he started to speak. “Poison, or maybe accidentally falling off the tallest building in the city. If it looks like an accident, at least at first, we'll all be better off.”

“I'm not so sure about that,” the man with white hair said. “I think she has a point,” indicating the dark haired woman. “Making it look like an obvious murder wouldn't raise any eyebrows, considering.”

The other two, a young man and a young woman, began to speak at the same time. But the young man got out his words first.

“Whatever we do,” and he indicated that to him it didn't really matter, “we need to do it fast. Like yesterday.”

“Have some patience. This is a delicate situation,” the white haired man said. “There is no need to rush.”

“We can't let him continue operating like this much longer. The damage has already been done, and the longer this goes on the greater the harm,” said the young woman, picking at her nails when she was finished. She looked a little bored, and a little excited at the same time. She turned to the young man. “What does mom know about all of this?”

“Nothing, and it should stay that way,” he said, directing his eyesight towards the table top, hands shaking a little.

“You two should be ashamed of yourselves. Your own father,” said the man with the glasses, getting up from the table and beginning to pace.

“You're here just like us. If you didn't want him dead, you wouldn't be, so I don't want to hear anything about being ashamed. We're here for the same purpose.”

“This is a very dangerous man we’re talking about here,” said the white haired man to the man with the glasses. “Even his own children understand that.”

The man with the glasses rose from his chair and began pacing around the room, running his fingers through his hair. He was sweating a little bit.

“I know, it’s just…”

“You’re afraid of retribution?” the white haired man said.

The man with the glasses spun around from where he was and threw his hands onto the table, making a noise that startled everyone.

“Yes. We’ve worked together for years. And very closely…he turns up dead, and…”

“And you’re not sure what happens to you?” the white haired man said.

“Exactly.” The man with glasses stood by the window looking out from the fourteenth floor. “You know, maybe accidentally falling out of a window isn’t a bad idea at all.”

“We can’t sit here all day and all night talking about this. It’s really a very simple thing,” the dark haired woman said. “Let’s just pick something and get on with it.”

“Does that mean you’re willing to do it yourself?” the white haired man asked, still seated, never raising his voice a decibel.

The dark haired woman reared back for a moment and scrunched up her face as it became clear that though she had many suggestions and a propensity for getting them to happen, she had no intention of actually taking action herself.

“Oh no,” she said, “I thought that’s what you all were here for.”

“It must be nice to do nothing and have things just happen for you,” the young man said, leaning in to the table and turning towards the dark haired woman. He looked down at his hands. “Too bad my mother wasn’t better at it.”

“Too bad she isn’t. But then again, that’s why your father spends half his nights with me.

They stared at each other, creating a soup of anger, disgust, and attraction between them. It quickly came to a boil and then they both looked away.

“I’ll do it,” the young woman spoke quietly, not looking at anyone, but with a determined look on her face.

The room was silent as their surprise filled in the spots where sound would normally be.

“Great, it’s settled then,” the dark haired woman jumped up and looked ready to exit. “Thanks, doll,” she said to the young woman just before the man with the glasses stopped her.

“You’re not going anywhere. This was your idea to begin with. And we haven’t settled anything.”

He had grabbed her arm as he stopped her leaving, but his voice and body shook, making it seem a little less convincing.

“I’m sure she’ll figure it out. I have an appointment.” Her voice was steady, not loud, but full of intent. She made no motion to free her arm.

“Yeah, I know exactly who you have an appointment with. I’ve seen you all over town with him. You haven’t exactly been discreet.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, “I have many friends and acquaintances, and I go out a lot. Can’t expect me to sit around the house, can you?”

“Both of you, sit back down. We’re not done,” the white haired man said. His voice had gotten just a touch rougher, and his muscles had tensed. The other four suddenly saw him as the formidable competition that he was. “We have a volunteer. Let’s hear what she has to say.”

The young woman raised her eyes from her hands and looked everyone in the group square in the eye.

“At the charity banquet, this weekend, we’ll poison him.”

The dark haired woman began to protest, but the white haired man held out a hand to stop her. The man with the glasses had sat back down again.

“He’ll be dead before he finishes the drink. It will become obvious what happened once they autopsy the body. And he has so many enemies, no one will be surprised. It’s finesse and power in one move, and then we can all go back to our lives.”

“How will we get the poison into his drink?” the man with the glasses asked, adjusting them higher on his nose.

“I thought this was your business,” the young man said with a smug grin. “For a career criminal, you’re a weasly kind of guy. Must be why my father keeps you around. He knows he can get you to do anything. Must be nice not having any integrity.”

“You’re a punk, you know that. And talking about integrity. Yeah, you have it, until daddy starts talking about withholding your inheritance. And then all of the sudden you want to kill him. What is it you do? Musician or something? Maybe you’re more cut out for this business than you realize.”

The young man jumped up and grabbed the man’s collar, pulling him across the table. He wasn’t a big guy, but his anger lent him the strength that his frame lacked. The man with the glasses just laughed through his tightening collar.

“Yeah, you are perfectly cut out for this business. You might as well just put your guitar down and pick up a gun.”

The young man dropped him hard onto the table, breathing heavily and sitting back down again, looking tired. The man with the glasses composed himself and stood by his chair, keeping one eye on the young man.

“Gentlemen, are we finished?” the white haired man asked “The lady was speaking.”

All eyes turned once again to the young woman.

“I’ll slip it in,” she said. “It shouldn’t be too hard. It’ll be loud and crowded in there, and with as much as he drinks there will be plenty of chances. Plus, you know how he is in public. Always wants to be seen as a family man. I’ll be able to get close to him easily. Maybe take a few pictures with him.”

The group was quiet, considering. Everyone around the table sat with their own thoughts, glad to be able to sit on the sidelines while someone else took care of the dirty work, but also running over the scenario in their minds, trying to think of something they hadn’t thought of. She was such a sweet girl, nobody wanted to see her go down hard.

“I think it’s settled then,” the man with the white hair said. “I can procure the supplies. We have several days, right? Should be plenty of time.”

“What is your business anyway?” the young man asked, looking alert at the man with white hair.

“Uh, a variety of things really. I guess you could say I’m in the same business as your father. The business of staying in business.”

The young man thought that this guy should have been a politician instead. And then remembered that he actually was.

“Wait a minute,” the dark haired woman said a little ways into the lull of conversation, “I want to know one thing. Why are you here?” She directed her comment to the young woman. “I asked your brother to come to this meeting and then he tells me you want to come too. You’re such a sweet girl, so what’s the deal?”

The young woman turned her head so she was looking away from everyone and out the window into the late afternoon sunshine.

“I have my reasons. Like we’ve all said. He’s a dangerous man. Someone like that shouldn’t be allowed to walk the streets, attend charity banquets, have a hand in local businesses, smile for pictures. I’m here for justice.”

The young woman turned her head back towards the group and met the dark haired woman’s eyes. The dark haired woman stared back, leaning slightly forward and smiling.

“Whatever,” she said, “as bold as you are—shockingly—you’re not very honest. Just like your father.”

The young woman dropped her gaze and picked at her nails, a swath of sunlight falling over her arms as they rested on the table.

The discussion continued on for a little while. The five sitting around talking to one another about a man who they all wanted dead, both revealing and keeping secret their true intentions.

It was true that the dark haired woman had called this meeting, and it was also true that the white haired man had run it, being generally used to organizing people and getting things done. But that didn’t mean that either one of them controlled it. Nor could they predict its outcome. That was up to chance. And unbeknownst to them, chance was not on their side.

 

 

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2

“You know, I feel almost flattered. Like it’s my birthday or something. Like I’m watching my friends and family plan a surprise party for me. Makes a guy feel good to know that people care.”

The two men in the adjacent room laughed. Deep, resounding laughs as they watched the monitor that was hooked up to the camera that pointed its eye into the room next door, the room in which five people sat around a table.

“If I remember right, it actually is your birthday next week,” the other man in the room said. He wore a baseball hat and a blazer, looking thoroughly unfit for both the boardroom and the athletic field, but existing somewhere between the two.

“Is it? I’ve stopped counting,” the first man said. He also had white hair, but had a body that dwarfed the other white haired man. He made fists out of both of his hands, which tightened the rings he wore, making them look like a part of his hands.

“So what’s the plan?” the man with the hat asked.

“I think I’ve seen enough,” the man with the rings said. “Kill them,” he pointed at the dark haired woman and the white haired man. “You know, I’ve been waiting such a long time to come up with a good reason to kill him. And now, I’ve got one.” He smiled his salesman’s smile. “I never do anything without a good reason for doing it because I’m a fair guy. It wouldn’t be fair to kill someone without a good reason for doing so. But now that I’ve got one, I can appease my conscience.”

“I agree with you there. It is a good reason.”

“As for her, she simply has to go. She’s not loyal. And I can’t have that.”

The other man nodded his head sympathetically.

“I’ll miss her though. This pains me.”

“What about Jeff?” the hat wearing man pointed at the man on the monitor wearing glasses.

“I’ll deal with Jeff on a longer term basis.”

“Jeff surprised me. He’s such a weasel. I didn’t think he’d have the balls.”

“Jeff has not been very happy with some of the decisions I have been making as of late. He has also been stealing from me.”

“You’ve known?”

“For several months now. I just needed to figure out what to do about it. And now I know.”

The man with the rings laughed again, throwing his head back, and the man with the hat joined in.

“What about your kids?”

The man with the rings looked at his children on the monitor. They were twins, though not alike. A smile crested over his mouth.

“They’ve been primed beautifully for the family business, don’t you think?”

This time the man with the rings let out the loudest belly laugh he could create, delighted at his children’s progress he watched on the monitor.

“That they have,” the man in the hat said. “Although this surprises me too. Especially her.”

“She’ll be better at this than the boy. That much I can tell just from watching. He’s a hothead. She’s a hothead too, only she can think things through better. She can feel her emotions from the background, unlike her brother. I can think of plenty of uses for him though.”

“I guess that’s that,” the man in the hat said as he walked over to the monitor and turned it off. “Nice of Brent to have set this up for you.”

“It’s good to have friends in high places,” the man with the rings said. “It’s also good to have friends in low places. And sometimes you can’t tell the difference.”

The two men laughed again.

“Alright, so when do you want those two taken care of,” the man with the hat asked.

“As soon as possible. Give the guys the green light immediately.”

“Will do. I’ll mark it on the calendar,” the man with the hat said with a wink, already grabbing his phone to make some calls.

“Oh, and Bobby,” the man with the rings turned around and smiled at him, “label it as “execution day.”

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