Red Lady
T w o
Eden
The sun had steadily vanished into the horizon as I slowly made my way towards the rundown apartment that I had called home for the past month. It wasn’t a very nice neighborhood, and some of the bad ass gangsters I had known back home wouldn’t dare to set foot in this place.
I passed the front entrance of the building and went around to the side, climbing up the rusty ladder that was there to the third story apartment. I never used the front door because the lobbyist that sat waiting in there was creepy and I didn’t like him looking at me.
Looking inside the dirty windowpane covered with grime and who knows what else, I saw my cousin, Avian, sitting at the counter, tapping rapidly on the keyboard of his nice laptop. I knocked on the window, causing him to look up before coming over and opening up the window.
“We do have a door,” he said as I slid in. He shivered as the cold wind hit his face and shut the window, turning around to me.
“Yeah, but I don’t like using it. What are you looking at?”
Avian met me over at his computer and scrolled through the website. “I’m thinking about buying you some new guns and such. That Barrette of yours is getting old.”
I inhaled quickly and smacked the man on the back of the head, causing him to wince. “Don’t talk about Maria like that! She ages like wine.”
“Yeah, well, your ‘Maria’ is obsolete. You really need a-“
“No, keep those dirty words in your mouth. I’ll get a new gun when Maria passes on.”
With that statement, Avian looked at me for a second before shaking his head and pushing up his glasses. “Sometimes I wonder about your sanity.”
“What sanity?” I replied with a smile, opening the rusted refrigerator, yes, everything in this place was rusted, and grabbing a carbonated drink. Before I shut the door, I saw a roach scuttle across one of the racks and shivered. This place sucked.
“I heard about your kill today.”
“Wow, news travels fast, doesn’t it?”
“You did kill him in front of dozens of witnesses,” Avian said in a ‘no duh’ tone, “Probably traumatizing them all.”
I shrugged my shoulders, sitting on the futon that I had bought for this place. It was actually quite comfortable and hopefully not insect infested like everything else seemed to be. “Hey, they watch that kind of stuff on TV all the time, the real thing shouldn’t freak them out as much.”
“Not everyone is immune to death like you are.”
“I’m not immune,” I said with a pout, taking a swig from my soda, “I’ve just learned to deal with it.”
“Which is the simplistic version-“
“Shut up Avian!”
------------------------
Dominic
My legs were propped up on my desk as I leaned back into my chair, reading the file on the deceased Benjamin Blue. My eyes quickly scanned the words and I frowned. There was really nothing on this file that would warrant a reason for someone to want to kill him, besides the obvious misuse of his power.
My boss sat across from me at him desk, but what he was doing, I myself wasn’t sure. When I was just about to turn the page on the report, Myers phone rang. I watched as he answered it, curious on whom it could be. Myers hung up the phone and motioned for me to follow him as he started to walk away. I almost tripped trying to get my feet off the desk, putting the file on down, and running after him. We both met at the elevator.
“Where are we going?” I questioned, getting into the thing with him and watching him push one of the buttons.
“Brown has something for us, said that the bullet you found is something we’ll find of interest.”
It took only minutes for us to arrive to the morgue, and when we walked in, Brown was talking to his assistant, Christine.
“You called Brown?” Myers asked, waiting for the information he knew was coming.
“Ah, yes. I found something on the bullet. Come take a look at this.”
He held up the bullet under the camera so that we could see it on the screen and there was an engraving on it.
“Is- is that the letters R and L?” I questioned, squinting to see it better. There was still some blood and other “things” on the piece of metal.
“That is it Ramirez. But it means something.”
“Like what?”
“The Red Lady,” Myers answered for me. Brown nodded his head while I was utterly confused.
“Who’s the ‘Red Lady’?”
This time, Christine answered my question. “The Red Lady is a code name for one of the assassins on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. She got her name from her flaming red hair. We pulled up a picture of her from our database.”
Looking again at the screen, my eyes widened at the image in front of me.
“Eden Hayes, Ireland’s best assassin.”
“This is the woman that killed Blue?”
“Yes.”
I turned to my boss, my face looking completely guilt stricken.
“What’s wrong Ramirez?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.
“I saw this woman today, walking away from the crime scene. I bumped right into her and let her walk off…”
----------------------------------
Eden
“Eden, it’s time I headed out. Are you sure you don’t want to crash at my place? Its way better than this dump,” Avian asked me, hope in his eyes that I would take the invitation.
“No, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that. Even though it may not seem like it, this place is much safer than your home. Plus, I can’t let anyone see me walking with you or they’ll use you to get to me,” I said, looking out the window instead of at my cousin.
“You know Eden, I am a grown man, leader of our Irish Mafia by the way, and I can take care of myself.”
I turned my head slightly and gave him the blank look. “You being the leader of our Mafia is what I’m talking about. If you die, I’m going to have everyone coming after me. I can’t be killed until my business is done.”
“I hate it when you talk like that Eden. There’s no reason that you have to die after you’re done with your job.”
“Just… go home Avian. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I turned my head back to the window and I heard him sigh, open the sliding door, and leave. It only took a minute until I saw him in the street walking away. He turned to look at me, and I gave him a smile and wave. He nodded his head and continued walking away.
“Pfft, take care of yourself, huh? I’ve been taking care of you since I got out of that god forsaken school. I was the one who beat up all those bullies, the one who tucked you in at night. You still need my help, brat.”
Avian had always asked me why I cared for him so much. His argument to try and get rid of me was that he was a grown man who controlled an army of people who wouldn’t be afraid to kill if they had to.
He was the only person who didn’t think I was a monster, the only person who truly loved me for what I was. He was like my brother and I always wanted to make sure he was safe. I loved Avian and I could never live with myself if anything happened to that kid.
I heard a ping from the kitchen and looked over. Avian’s computer sat open, like it always did when he went home, and it pinged once more before going quiet, like it was innocently calling me over.
“I don’t move on the whim of a ‘ping’… but I’m curious.”
Jumping up from the window sill, I calmly walked over to the tabletop where the laptop rested and looked at the screen. The pinging noise was an instant message that popped up from a user named Gun_Slinger_43.
“I got your order, where do you want me to send it to?” I read, instantly confused.
I pondered about what this guy could possibly have for Avian, coming up with nothing. I was about to tell him Avian wasn’t here at the moment, but then I got a better idea.
Slowly, I typed in my reply to Gun_Slinger_43, which was the address to this building.
He typed back quickly an ‘okay’ and signed off. I smirked and went back to my window sill. Hopefully Avian wouldn’t be too mad at me.
-------------------
Dominic
Unlike I had thought, my boss didn’t yell or scream into my face about how stupid I was, like he usually did. Instead, he had just sighed and told me to go home and that it wasn’t my fault. I knew not to fight him on this, so I just packed my things and went home for the day. When I walked through the door, I smelt dinner already cooking.
“I’m home,” I said, throwing my things on the chair and throwing myself down on the couch.
“Dominic? What are you doing here so early?” my sister, Susanna, said as she walked out of the kitchen.
“I was sent home,” I replied, putting my arm over my eyes for absolute darkness.
Susanna pushed my arm away and I opened my eyes to see her glaring down at me. “Be more specific.”
“I’m such an idiot Su, I made a huge mistake that I can’t take back, and it might cost people their lives!”
Being the kind and gentle person she was, Su took my hand and started to massages it, a gesture to help me calm down. We had a close sibling bond, never really using words to describe our feelings to one another. After a minute or so of our silence I sighed and looked over at my sister.
“Thanks Su.”
“No problem, that’s what I’m here for.” She sent me a kind smile and went back into the kitchen to continue cooking dinner.
“What are you making?”
“Salmon and steamed vegetables.”
“I hate cooked vegetables,” I whined, covering my eyes once again.
“That’s too bad, you big baby.”
The sun had steadily vanished into the horizon as I slowly made my way towards the rundown apartment that I had called home for the past month. It wasn’t a very nice neighborhood, and some of the bad ass gangsters I had known back home wouldn’t dare to set foot in this place.
I passed the front entrance of the building and went around to the side, climbing up the rusty ladder that was there to the third story apartment. I never used the front door because the lobbyist that sat waiting in there was creepy and I didn’t like him looking at me.
Looking inside the dirty windowpane covered with grime and who knows what else, I saw my cousin, Avian, sitting at the counter, tapping rapidly on the keyboard of his nice laptop. I knocked on the window, causing him to look up before coming over and opening up the window.
“We do have a door,” he said as I slid in. He shivered as the cold wind hit his face and shut the window, turning around to me.
“Yeah, but I don’t like using it. What are you looking at?”
Avian met me over at his computer and scrolled through the website. “I’m thinking about buying you some new guns and such. That Barrette of yours is getting old.”
I inhaled quickly and smacked the man on the back of the head, causing him to wince. “Don’t talk about Maria like that! She ages like wine.”
“Yeah, well, your ‘Maria’ is obsolete. You really need a-“
“No, keep those dirty words in your mouth. I’ll get a new gun when Maria passes on.”
With that statement, Avian looked at me for a second before shaking his head and pushing up his glasses. “Sometimes I wonder about your sanity.”
“What sanity?” I replied with a smile, opening the rusted refrigerator, yes, everything in this place was rusted, and grabbing a carbonated drink. Before I shut the door, I saw a roach scuttle across one of the racks and shivered. This place sucked.
“I heard about your kill today.”
“Wow, news travels fast, doesn’t it?”
“You did kill him in front of dozens of witnesses,” Avian said in a ‘no duh’ tone, “Probably traumatizing them all.”
I shrugged my shoulders, sitting on the futon that I had bought for this place. It was actually quite comfortable and hopefully not insect infested like everything else seemed to be. “Hey, they watch that kind of stuff on TV all the time, the real thing shouldn’t freak them out as much.”
“Not everyone is immune to death like you are.”
“I’m not immune,” I said with a pout, taking a swig from my soda, “I’ve just learned to deal with it.”
“Which is the simplistic version-“
“Shut up Avian!”
------------------------
Dominic
My legs were propped up on my desk as I leaned back into my chair, reading the file on the deceased Benjamin Blue. My eyes quickly scanned the words and I frowned. There was really nothing on this file that would warrant a reason for someone to want to kill him, besides the obvious misuse of his power.
My boss sat across from me at him desk, but what he was doing, I myself wasn’t sure. When I was just about to turn the page on the report, Myers phone rang. I watched as he answered it, curious on whom it could be. Myers hung up the phone and motioned for me to follow him as he started to walk away. I almost tripped trying to get my feet off the desk, putting the file on down, and running after him. We both met at the elevator.
“Where are we going?” I questioned, getting into the thing with him and watching him push one of the buttons.
“Brown has something for us, said that the bullet you found is something we’ll find of interest.”
It took only minutes for us to arrive to the morgue, and when we walked in, Brown was talking to his assistant, Christine.
“You called Brown?” Myers asked, waiting for the information he knew was coming.
“Ah, yes. I found something on the bullet. Come take a look at this.”
He held up the bullet under the camera so that we could see it on the screen and there was an engraving on it.
“Is- is that the letters R and L?” I questioned, squinting to see it better. There was still some blood and other “things” on the piece of metal.
“That is it Ramirez. But it means something.”
“Like what?”
“The Red Lady,” Myers answered for me. Brown nodded his head while I was utterly confused.
“Who’s the ‘Red Lady’?”
This time, Christine answered my question. “The Red Lady is a code name for one of the assassins on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. She got her name from her flaming red hair. We pulled up a picture of her from our database.”
Looking again at the screen, my eyes widened at the image in front of me.
“Eden Hayes, Ireland’s best assassin.”
“This is the woman that killed Blue?”
“Yes.”
I turned to my boss, my face looking completely guilt stricken.
“What’s wrong Ramirez?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.
“I saw this woman today, walking away from the crime scene. I bumped right into her and let her walk off…”
----------------------------------
Eden
“Eden, it’s time I headed out. Are you sure you don’t want to crash at my place? Its way better than this dump,” Avian asked me, hope in his eyes that I would take the invitation.
“No, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that. Even though it may not seem like it, this place is much safer than your home. Plus, I can’t let anyone see me walking with you or they’ll use you to get to me,” I said, looking out the window instead of at my cousin.
“You know Eden, I am a grown man, leader of our Irish Mafia by the way, and I can take care of myself.”
I turned my head slightly and gave him the blank look. “You being the leader of our Mafia is what I’m talking about. If you die, I’m going to have everyone coming after me. I can’t be killed until my business is done.”
“I hate it when you talk like that Eden. There’s no reason that you have to die after you’re done with your job.”
“Just… go home Avian. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I turned my head back to the window and I heard him sigh, open the sliding door, and leave. It only took a minute until I saw him in the street walking away. He turned to look at me, and I gave him a smile and wave. He nodded his head and continued walking away.
“Pfft, take care of yourself, huh? I’ve been taking care of you since I got out of that god forsaken school. I was the one who beat up all those bullies, the one who tucked you in at night. You still need my help, brat.”
Avian had always asked me why I cared for him so much. His argument to try and get rid of me was that he was a grown man who controlled an army of people who wouldn’t be afraid to kill if they had to.
He was the only person who didn’t think I was a monster, the only person who truly loved me for what I was. He was like my brother and I always wanted to make sure he was safe. I loved Avian and I could never live with myself if anything happened to that kid.
I heard a ping from the kitchen and looked over. Avian’s computer sat open, like it always did when he went home, and it pinged once more before going quiet, like it was innocently calling me over.
“I don’t move on the whim of a ‘ping’… but I’m curious.”
Jumping up from the window sill, I calmly walked over to the tabletop where the laptop rested and looked at the screen. The pinging noise was an instant message that popped up from a user named Gun_Slinger_43.
“I got your order, where do you want me to send it to?” I read, instantly confused.
I pondered about what this guy could possibly have for Avian, coming up with nothing. I was about to tell him Avian wasn’t here at the moment, but then I got a better idea.
Slowly, I typed in my reply to Gun_Slinger_43, which was the address to this building.
He typed back quickly an ‘okay’ and signed off. I smirked and went back to my window sill. Hopefully Avian wouldn’t be too mad at me.
-------------------
Dominic
Unlike I had thought, my boss didn’t yell or scream into my face about how stupid I was, like he usually did. Instead, he had just sighed and told me to go home and that it wasn’t my fault. I knew not to fight him on this, so I just packed my things and went home for the day. When I walked through the door, I smelt dinner already cooking.
“I’m home,” I said, throwing my things on the chair and throwing myself down on the couch.
“Dominic? What are you doing here so early?” my sister, Susanna, said as she walked out of the kitchen.
“I was sent home,” I replied, putting my arm over my eyes for absolute darkness.
Susanna pushed my arm away and I opened my eyes to see her glaring down at me. “Be more specific.”
“I’m such an idiot Su, I made a huge mistake that I can’t take back, and it might cost people their lives!”
Being the kind and gentle person she was, Su took my hand and started to massages it, a gesture to help me calm down. We had a close sibling bond, never really using words to describe our feelings to one another. After a minute or so of our silence I sighed and looked over at my sister.
“Thanks Su.”
“No problem, that’s what I’m here for.” She sent me a kind smile and went back into the kitchen to continue cooking dinner.
“What are you making?”
“Salmon and steamed vegetables.”
“I hate cooked vegetables,” I whined, covering my eyes once again.
“That’s too bad, you big baby.”