Steve's daughter

Word count 960

Steve rubbed the cologne on his hands and slapped his face with both hands. He squeezes the gel into his hands and slicks his long greying hair back out of his eyes. He washed his hands but the sticky substance doesn't come off his hands until he wiped it off on a hand towel.

He sat on the bed in his hotel room and slipped on two shoes, one red sneaker and one black dress shoe.He breathes deeply and shakes his head. He still couldn't believe that he was about to go through with this. He stuck the other two shoes in his briefcase along with the money.

He felt unbalanced in the mismatched shoes and lifted walked out the door with the briefcase. He heard a click and the door locked behind him. He remembered that he had left his key inside. No matter, he wouldn't be back. He nervously brushed his hand over his hardened hair and walked out the front door.

Walking past Lincoln Street he arrived at central park and sat down on the second bench back from the pond. A woman in black baggy clothes carrying a broken umbrella walked up and sat down next to him. "Where does the sun shine?" She asked plainly.

He grimaced and answered with his half of the code "Only in my heart." He said through his teeth.

"Well you could make it seem that you want to be with me." She said coyly.

"You still carrying around that ratty old thing Sarah?" Steve asked without care.

"How could I let it go?" She asked with a laugh examining the umbrella. "It was a gift..." She began

"From your father, yes. I should know." He said looking over at her. "Don't say you needed to have me wear these to let you know who I am."

"Sorry dad," She said with a shrug. "Only you would do this sort of thing for me. And, no, I didn't need you to wear those. I have a little business to take care of." She said looking off into the pond where an old man was feeding some pigeons. "What is he doing?" She asked.

"Being senile." He said, "Lets go to a coffee shop." He insisted.




"I've run into a little trouble." Sarah told him as she blew on the top of her tea. "A man that I've been working for, his name's Malachi, John Malachi. I owe him a hundred thousand, we're meeting tonight. Did you bring it?" She asked expectantly.

Steve sipped from his coffee and then pulled the briefcase up onto the table, nervously setting it down. "It's all in here."

"Oh Daddy, I love you so much!" She said with joy.

"Isn't there any other way?" He asked sadly.

Sarah shook her head. "No, I tried everything I could think of short of assassinating him."

"Why not try that?"

"If I fail then he'll kill me."

Steve smiled, the first time he'd done that for the entire day. "Killing's my job." He said with more than a little smugness in his voice. "Leave it to me."

"I can't risk this. You've gotten me out of so much before. I'll pay you back next weak I swear. Please" She begged. Steve nodded and laughed a little to himself.

"I understand." He insisted, "I was there once myself. Had to pay my father back more than once." he shook his head, "But this much money. I don't know. Killing him would be much simpler."

"Daddy, please." Steve couldn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. Finally he knew what he had to do.

"I want to be at the trade." He told her.

She thought about this for a moment. She looked in her father’s cold blue eyes. "Alright. Ten tonight." She grabbed for the briefcase but Steve had it first.

"I'll bring this." he told her coldly.

"Whatever you say." Sarah told him sweetly, she had what she wanted.





That night Steve and Sarah met with Malachi. The dark alleyway glowed with streetlights illuminating both ends. A red car slowly rolled into the far end across from Steve and Sarah, they nervously stood with the briefcase held firmly in Steve’s right hand. Sarah stood with her broken umbrella. The front door of the car opened and a man stepped out.

The man held a gun and pointed it straight at Steve. "Who's this?" He demanded.

"This is my father, Steve." She said taking the briefcase from her father and walking it over to Malachi. The man smiled as she approached. He took both the briefcase and umbrella from her. He lifted the umbrella up and pointed it at Steve. Pushing a hidden trigger on the broken item a bullet shot out and hit Steve in the chest. Malachi kissed Sarah and handed her back the umbrella.

"You wouldn't believe how long I wanted to kill an assassin." He told the dying man as Sarah walked around to the other door. "If me and your beautiful daughter can accomplish this and get one hundred thousand out of you. Bonus!" He said. Steve could tell from his voice that Malachi wasn't an intelligent man; he knew Sarah had set him up.

The two got in the vehicle and backed up. Steve could feel his life slipping away and was angry that Sarah had double-crossed him. He pulled a black box out of his coat pocket and flipped open the top revealing a button. He pushed that and the explosive that he had hidden inside the briefcase went off. The car was completely destroyed, he rolled up on his side and watched with pleasure as his daughter and her new boyfriend's corpses burned. Steve closed his eyes and died.