Red Lady

My childhood started out normal, just like any other human being’s had. I had two parents that loved and cared for me, a complete family to rely on in times of despair and doubt. I grew up as normal as possible in the farmlands of Ireland. And when you think of Ireland, you think of peaceful rolling hills that go as far as the eye can see. You don’t think of dangerous gangster wars. What I had thought was normal was a complete lie. My father was one of the top gangsters in the country, finding solitude away from work in secret estates of Ireland. He never brought work home and never talked about it, for my sake. I guess he didn’t really do a good job at hiding his family.

When I was six years old, sound asleep in my bed, there were shots fired from automatic guns. The bangs as the bullets hit their targets were the only things I heard. Never once did I hear a scream from either mother or father. I had stayed in my room for what seemed like hours, waiting for someone to come and shoot, but they never did. I waited until the sun started rising over the horizon before I dared enter my parents room.

I will never in my life be able to get the image of their dead, decaying bodies out of my mind. To this day, I can still smell the blood and gore, the taste of it still lingers on my tongue. When the sun had stretched to the middle of the sky, my uncle had come over to check on his brother, for he had been late for his job. He discovered me sitting there, my eyes dull and lifeless as I stared at my dead parents. He swore and called in the rest of his buddies, telling them to find the people who had done this. I was taken away to his home where his wife took care of me. We got word later that night that the men who had done this suffered a long time before death. It was supposed to be torture for orphaning me. They never even knew father had a daughter.

My uncle, Lewis he made me call him, tried to act like nothing happened, tried to get his happy niece back, but nothing he did worked. Fed up with my emotionless state, he sent me off to whatever school would take me, never coming back to get me. Where he placed me was no normal school. Ironically, it turned out to be a secret school established by the Irish government to train assassins. Good place for a Gangsters daughter, huh?

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I absolutely despise the rain. It’s wet, cold, and ruins everything. No, I’m not complaining about the liquid destroying my hair which I had taken hours to get how I pleased. You would never hear those words come from my mouth. My fiery red hair was always thrown behind my back in a braid, unloved and uncared for. No, the rain was ruining the perfect shot I had to my target.

It’s not every day you see the man you’ve spent months trying to find just strolling down the semi-busy streets of New York City under a clear umbrella. Why he was walking through the rain was beyond me. I would never understand the way that American’s worked. Although you don’t usually see a young woman standing on the roof of some building with a Barrette M95 aimed at some man’s head.

To clear things up slightly, this wasn’t just some ordinary man. Benjamin Blue was a retired Military General who had gone rouge. When the American Government had caught him using his power wrongfully, they immediately removed him from his post and he was just a regular American man. Only a few months after this incident occurred, Irish Government got wind and brought him to Ireland. He was to be one of the founders of a special school. This school was disguised as Johnson’s Academy, but it was really a place where adults took children away from families and turned them into assassins. They had not only turned me into a trained killer, but a monster.

I sighed and got as good as an aim as I was ever going to get. My finger itched against the trigger, waiting for the command from my brain to press it and send this guy to hell.

I followed Blue as he stopped at a crossing, waiting for the sign across the street to turn green so he could walk safely to the other side. I smirked widely, leaning into my gun as the adrenaline ran through my body. My index finger pressed against the trigger and I seemed to watch in almost slow motion as the bullet from my gun ran right through Benjamin Blue’s skull to who knows where. His body fell to the ground with blood instantly pooling around his body. Even from this height, I could hear the screams of women as they ran away from the man.

I stood up and stretched before disassembling my gun and putting it back in its carrying case. By the time I was done with that task, I could hear the sirens from the police and ambulance as they rushed to the scene. All this time, that smirk never left my face.

That stupid bastard got what he deserved, and this wasn’t the last killing I had to complete. He was only one of the many, twelve to be exact, that had to die by my hands. They were never going to create another monster like me again.

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After I had stashed the gun, I easily walked towards the scene of the crime to see my work up close. My high heeled boots clicked against the asphalt as I strutted over to the crowd that had quickly surrounded the yellow tape. When I shoot the man, they scream and run away, when he’s decomposing on the ground, the swarm like vermin… American’s confuse me greatly.

Like the secret ninja I was trained to be, I was soon at the edge of the caution tape looking at Blue’s body from a safe distance. From here I could see his green eyes staring up into the air and I could see the calm that was in those orbs before he died. He never saw it coming. I smiled and blew the man a kiss before walking away.

“Sweet dreams.”

I slyly maneuvered my way out of the riot sized crowd and started walked down the street. A tall man with tan skin, brown, wavy hair, and dark eyes passed me, bumping into my shoulder. If I wasn’t so balanced, then I would have fallen on my ass.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, looking to make sure that I wasn’t hurt. He looked into my eyes and I saw them spark. I gave him a smile before walking off, shaking my hips along the way. When I knew he was no longer looking I gave a loud laugh.

“You’ve still got it Eden.”

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Dominic

“I’m so sorry,” I spilled out to the person I had walked right into. Good job Dominic, why don’t you pay attention next time? I looked up at the person to make sure that they were okay before I looked into her face. I was able to stop my mouth from dropping, but my eyes were glued to hers.

This woman in front of me wasn’t one of the ordinary ones that you see walking through town every day. She was taller than average, even if she was wearing heels, with pale skin and light freckles that went perfectly with her bright orange hair. The only thing that contrasted with her looks was her dark blue eyes.

I was clueless on what to say to her, so after a second of me not saying anything, she gave me a smile before strolling away. Her swaying hips kept me looking, but I soon shook my head and ran towards the crime scene that I was already supposed to be at.

“Um, excuse me, if I could just get through here.”

“We’re all trying to see what’s going on here pal, wait your turn.”

I glared at the rude man who was in my way before going around to a less populated side and making my way through the people. When a police officer stopped me, I showed him my badge and I was free to find my boss.

“It’s about damn time you got here Ramirez, I called you twenty five minutes ago,” I heard Mr. Myers, my boss, bark at me as I walked calmly towards the body.

“Sorry Sir, this crime scene has caused a lot of traffic. We are on a major road here.”

“That’s all the more reason for us to get this body out of here and get back to the office.”

There were a lot of different people around, taking pictures, collecting evidence, and doing who knows else what. I stood beside Myers and looked down at the man.

“This is Benjamin Blue, a retired Military General.”

“I remember hearing about this guy,” I said, kneeling next to the dead guy and staring at his fatal wound, “Wasn’t he supposed to be sent out of the country?”

“No, that was one of the rumors that spread around. He left the U.S on his own. I think he went to Scotland or some country like that.”

“Ireland actually,” Doctor Brown, the coroner, said as he came towards us.

“Hey Brown, came here to collect the body?”

“That I did Myers. Damn, is this one brutal or what…” Doctor Brown knelt next to me and turned the head to the left and right.

“Rig hasn’t set in quite yet, but it will be there soon. Tsk, tsk. A shot right above the right ear, through and through. Has anyone found the bullet yet?”

Myers looked over at me and I was clueless for a second before snapping to attention. “Oh! Uh, I don’t believe so; I’ll go check around for it.”

As I quickly walked away, I heard my boss let out a tired breath as Brown laughed. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. As I walked the streets, I thought about how I really wasn’t cut out for this job. I wasn’t as focused as a lot of the other agents were, and that was probably going to get me killed one day.

I was about to take another step when I noticed something shine up from the ground and looked down. There, right next to the tip of my shoe, was the bullet we’d been looking for. Ha, less focused than others my left toe!

“Boss, I found it!”