Chapter 1

“Mister, I don’t know what you are talking about!”

“Really. Okay. We can do this the hard way.”

With that, I put the gag back in the guy’s mouth. I fired up the engines on the boat and carefully guided it out of the dock, into the bay, then into the open water. After about an hour I cut the engines to idle. It was just me and the assassin.

He watched as I started pouring large buckets of bloody chum overboard. It didn’t take long. Within a few minutes, I spotted the first fin. Then a few others appeared. I looked back at him. His eyes were a little more open now.

He was naked, bound, and held straight up by the winch. It was used to pulling up thousands of pounds of fish, so his two hundred pounds was not a problem. Using the remote, I maneuvered him over the side and above the water. He was ... struggling. Then I took a smaller bucket and threw its contents at him ... bloody chum. It covered him and splashed into the water.

Standing up on the edge, I reached over and pulled the gag down so he could speak.

“Oh my fucking God, wait, don’t do this, I’ll tell you everything!”

“I know you will.”

Pressing another button, the winch released and he dropped straight into the bloody, shark-infested water.

I left him there for about twenty seconds. Then I reeled him in.

As he broke the surface he began screaming. He didn’t appear to be bitten, just scared.

“Hush.”

“S-Sh-She’s living in Arizona, j-ju-just outside of Phoenix!”

“I’m not sure I believe you.” I pressed the remote again, and he started to descend again toward the water.

“Nooooooooooooooooo ... stop! I’m telling you the truth, motherfucker!”

“Really.” I stopped his downward progress. The splash of a shark’s tail against the surface close by punctuated my statement.

“Yes! Yes! YES! I have the address in my phone!”

I retrieved his phone from my pocket and looked into the address book. There were hundreds of names in there.

“Which name?”

He hesitated, thinking.

“I see.”

I pressed the remote and sent him under the water again. This time, I waited a full thirty seconds. As the winch started to engage again, there was a noticeable strain in the cable.

“Fish on the line,” I said to no one in particular.

The winch struggled just a bit, and then he broke the surface. His screams were, well, unnatural. When he was raised high enough, I could see the problem. The lower half of his left leg was missing. Had to be a tiger shark, I thought to myself. Only shark in these waters capable of such a bite.

“Which name?”

He was frothing at the mouth, screaming hysterically.

“Fuck you!! I’ll never tell you anything! I’ll kill you, you fucker!”

I watched him struggle a bit more, listened to him curse me, and then served up the coup de grace.

“You called her. It’s in your records. She hasn’t moved. I’m done with you. It’s time to pay her a visit.”

His eyes got big as he heard a click and felt the winch release him, sending him down into the water for the last time.

I fired up the engines and began the trek back to shore, looking back over my shoulder to see a bloody melee taking place behind me.

I pulled up his phone, found the appropriate place, and sent her a text message:

Job finished. Send payment.

It was time for me to plan another visit with Julie & Keri.