Alex’s POV

She’s asleep now, good, I can sneak out of here. I walked out into the kitchen cos I felt my phone vibrate. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw who it was from.

From: Unknown. You want to know who killed your father? You deserve to know before I die. North 1 mile, East 0.5 miles.

Des? I know it’s probably a trick; that one of Colin’s second in command people has set this up so I go there thinking it’s Des, unarmed and unready and I’ll get hit with a flurry of bullets… But if I can finally find out who killed my father, it’d make my mind a lot clearer, and I can go back to being the killer I used to be. What I am now is nothing in comparison. I’d never get hit by a bullet, it was impossible because I would be in and out of there quicker than even I could fathom. It was always clean, it was always precise… Now every time I shoot someone I imagine it being my dad. Grabbing my bag as quietly as I could I left the house and got back into the stolen car and set the co-ordinates into my Satnav. I sigh heavily. Do I really want to do this? And alone? Yes. God knows what time it is, but it’s dark, and I don’t think I’m gonna sleep until I find this out. Checking behind me, I’ve got my desired weapons.

***

Arriving at the road the co-ordinates take me to, my phone vibrates again.

From: Unknown. Is that you in the red car? Number 3, Floor 3.

He can see me? I look around at every window I can see, but this place is as still as I’ve ever seen. I grab my gun and stick in into the back of my trousers as quickly as I can, hoping he’s not spying on me. I run into the building, straight to the elevator and smack the up button. I tap my foot and cross my arms as I wait. Jesus, how long does this wanna take? The tapping of my foot gets quicker and the pain in my calf grows, so I stop. Fucking hell, I’ll take the stairs. Actually, no, the lift will be quicker in the long run, right? Yeah. I slap the button again. Fucking hell! You’d think this lift did it on purpose. If I’d taken the stairs I’d have been there already I swear! The lift finally pings and I run in it like it’s going to save my life, practically punching the button to floor three. The doors begin closing as slowly as they could but I notice someone walk up to the lift and press the button. The doors that were pretty much one inch from closing slide back open and a man walks into the lift.

“Sorry!” He says chirpily. I just wanted to murder him.

“It’s alright, not like I was going anywhere important…” I mumble sarcastically. He returns an evil glare. I clench my fists but try not to think of how satisfying it’d be to just smack his head into the doors of the lift. It finally pings at floor… 2? This man couldn’t walk two flights of stairs? Jesus Christ give me strength! As the doors open I push him out.

“Walk next time, yeah?” I say, slapping the button again. The doors close as the man turns round and glares at me. I really need to calm down. I may be finding out some information today, something I’ve wanted to know for two years… The lift finally pings at floor 3 and I run out. Ah, he never told me which door… I look left and right, which one has the…

“Alex?” A deep voice suddenly booms, bringing me away from my inner monologue.

“Yeah?” I ask, nervously.

“7, come in.” I walk up to the door, half open, with the number seven barely hanging on. Walking in, the smell of mouldy food hits me straight away and I turn away for a second , breathing in the clean smell of the hallway.

“Hello?” I call out.

“In here.” Someone shouts from a room ahead of me. I watch where I tread as I dodge shoes, clothes, takeaway boxes and all sorts to get to the room. Practically falling in, I notice an older man sitting on a chair facing out to the window.

“Hi…” I mumble, coughing a little. The man looks around.

“Please, sit.” He says, pointing at a chair next to him. I walk over and sit on it, my hands on my legs.

“So, do you know who killed my-” I’m interrupted by a hand being held in my face.

“You like to get straight to business, eh?” he laughs a little.

“Well, yeah. When it involves my family, I do.”

“I’d been told you’d gone past the barrier into the heartless stage. They must have been wrong!” His voice sounded familiar.

“Sorry, who are you?” I question, raising an eyebrow.

“Des.” The light from the window only lit up one side of his face, but the wrinkles and bags under his eyes caused more shadowing on his face.

“B-B-But that’s impossible… You died! I heard-”

“You heard a gunshot. It doesn’t mean it hit me…” his eyes widen. “A shame you thought that actually…”

“Please tell me, what’s going on here?”

“I know about as much as you. It seems Colin went rogue. Tried to kill us, Alyssa and managed to kill Pete, Gail and Scott. Who knows why!” he said, giving a prolonged shrug.

“So it’s all over now?” I question.

“Well, it was Colin’s team, if he’s dead, the team may try and carry it on, but who knows? They may just disband!”

“So we could still be under threat?”

“Well, I personally am staying under the radar. I’m moving house every couple weeks or when I feel threatened. I’m using houses of people that have been assassinated, hence this flea-infested flat.”

“Who killed my dad?” I say, feeling we’re getting off topic.

“Look, I can’t guarantee it’ll be the good news you want, and you can’t say you got it from me! Ok? But I’ve seen how much this has broken you…” He didn’t finish the sentence as he gave me a folder, like the ones we receive from him when we’ve set up camp and need to learn about the victim. I open it and there, paperclipped on, is a picture of my dad, two pictures, three, four. The information is as correct as I could remember; always in bed by 11:30pm, up at 6:30am for work…

“Why did you let someone kill him?” I question, not lifting my gaze from the folder.

“It’s the same as any other hit. I get the info, pass it straight on after research and receive money. I can’t give specialist treatment to family members…” I don’t answer, just continue to read through it all. The research page has extra scribbles on it, in a fancy handwriting where everything is joined together and the same size.

“They made some extra notes I see? Time my mum and sister go out, how long the house is empty for, how long my dad is alone in the house before they return…”

“Yeah, they were keen… They wanted to do well.” He nods. I keep reading, how long was this fucking thing? Finally I get to the final page, but there’s no name.

“Wha- Why did you even give me this? There’s no mention of who did it!”

“Of course not. I’m not stupid. I’m giving you that for knowledge, and proof. Only I know who did it!” I look away and back in frustration.

“Well?” I say raising my voice.

“What you gonna do with this information? You have to swear not to tell anyone I told you…”

“Yes, I swear I won’t tell anyone you said it. Now who was it?” I demand, my tone getting harsher every second.

“Are you sure you want to know? I mean-”

“You tell me right now or I blow your fucking brains all over that window!” I say, pointing over to the window in front of him. “I want to look that person in the eye. I want to ask them questions. How did my dad die? I want to kill them the same way!”

“Point blank, in the back of the head. Painless, but quite messy.” Des replied, not making full sentences.

“Well, tell me who it was and I guarantee they’ll be dead before sunrise…” Des shook his head.

“I don’t condone violence that’s not inside your job.” He says as if he actually cares if I go to prison. “I want you on the team, Alex. You’re my best guy, my only trustable team member… If you go to prison or something, you’ll go down, I’ll go down, this whole thing will go down.”

“I won’t get caught. I’ll plan it like any other.”

“Hmm…” Des says, rummaging around beside him. “I thought you’d say that. So I planned ahead… You see, you won’t get put down if it was a job, right?” I nod. “You won’t get put down cos some of our clients work for parliament. So, in this folder is the information on the person who killed your father… I’ve researched it like any other hit. If you want to kill them, go ahead. If not, just shred that folder and burn the remains. I’m leaving it up to you…” He hands me a folder and I shake as I take it.

“If it’s alright, I’m gonna go now… Before I see it…” I say, I don’t know why but I didn’t want him to see my emotions. Des nods and I rush out and down the stairs, out the front door and straight into the car, chucking the folders onto the passenger seat. Do I look now? Or wait… Look or wait? Look or wait? I grab the folder and hold in with both hands, my breathing heavy and fast. I slowly open the folder with my eyes shut and right there, from what I can feel with my hands, what will be staring me in the face when I open my eyes is a picture of the person who killed my dad. The person who shot him in the back of the head. Do I want to know? What is gonna change from knowing this? I take one big breath in and open my eyes. And as I thought, a picture was staring me in the face… A picture of Ally…