The Amateur

The encoding team was already hard at work when I arrived in the morning. Jim had the protocols ready, and had joined the work on the encoder in the conference room. I had Julia order some Danish and orange juice sent to that room.

There was a lot of email to wade through, a project planning meeting with senior staff, lunch, then an interminably long meeting with some vendors about contract details.

I checked in on the team at 8:00 when the pizza arrived, and worked in my office on some budget projections until nine. The boys in the conference room were still working when I left. Still no complaints.

I saw him at the phone booth as I drove by. He seemed to be alone, but I circled the block, checking all the dark places anyway. I parked, and walked over to the phone booth.

"Are you Mark Danner?" I asked, startling him as I came up from behind.

"You the guy what rips up hunned dollar bills?" he said.

"Mind if we take a walk?" I gestured down the street. He shrugged and we started walking.

"What does Douglas Murphy have against you?" I asked.

"Duggie-boy? He say summin ta you about me?" he looked at me in the dimming light. "You from IA, or are you from the Feds?" he asked.

"Would that make a difference in how you answered questions?" I countered.

"You're IA, I can tell. Feds would just haul me in. This sneakin around in the dark, you're IA." he looked at me with a crooked grin.

"Suppose Duggie and I been doin binness, and I give him up, do I gotta testify, or do I get protection?" he asked, eyes studying mine, trying to see my expression in the dark.

I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out the other half of the bill. I handed it to him. "Meet me in the same place tomorrow at ten, and I'll have an answer for you. Now turn around and don't look back."

He turned around, and started walking back to the liquor store.

I pulled out the .22, and shot him in the back of the neck, the report sounding like a firecracker as it echoed off the nearby buildings.

I fired three more times, carefully, and walked back to my car.