Scintillating

Anissa tapped her fingers on the desk as she waited for her next appointment with a customer. She read over the files of the customer over and over again. She skimmed through the woman’s background check results for the tenth time as she started to get impatient. Anissa grabbed the phone and quickly dialed Leila. “Where the hell is she?” asked Anissa fiercely. “We barely finished her finger prints,” said Leila quietly. “And?” Anissa persisted. “She’s clear. October and Alexia just confirmed it,” she answered. “Good,” Anissa said before she hung up. A few minutes later, a soft knock came from her office door. “Come in,” said Anissa as she put the files aside. A short, plump woman walked in and took a seat in front of Anissa as a bulky man with a black suit stood in back of her. Anissa looked at the man and then to the woman. “Good afternoon Mrs. Cliff,” said Anissa sternly. “Good afternoon,” said Mrs. Cliff with a scowl, “what was all that shit you made me go through just now?” Anissa bit her tongue before she spoke. “For safety reasons,” Anissa answered plainly. Mrs. Cliff rolled her eyes and said, “So let’s hurry and do this. I have a dinner party today.” Anissa nodded keeping her anger together. She pulled out the file she was looking over a thousand times and opened it. “So, this is for a Mr. Lei. Who is he to you and what’s your motive?” Anissa asked. Mrs. Cliff’s fists clenched as she spoke through her teeth, “That little bastard is my son-in-law. He abuses of my daughter and every time it seems to get worse. I want your company to beat the crap out of him until he’s gasping for life.” Anissa wrote everything she said. She set the pen down when she was finished and looked up at Mrs. Cliff. “Mrs. Cliff, you are a very well known and wealthy woman. You know other people that can do that task as easily as we could. Why did you choose us?” Anissa asked. Mrs. Cliff smiled for the first time. “From word of mouth, I heard you do your cases cleanly and extremely well. I also heard I can tell you how to do it as well,” she said. Anissa breathed in and asked simply, “so, what do you have in mind?” Mrs. Cliff pulled out a beige envelope decorated neatly. “Today is the dinner party that he will be attending. It’s perfect because my sweet daughter is away on vacation with her friends. The little bastard flirts a lot and I’m pretty sure sleeps with other women,” she said. Anissa took the invitation out of the envelope and skimmed through it. “We don’t sleep with any of our targets,” she told her. “I understand. Just seduce him and beat him like I said before. He will have a bodyguard with him so you might have to deal with him,” Mrs. Cliff finished with a smirk. Anissa stuffed the invitation inside the file. “We told you about our price. You pay half now and the rest after it is done,” said Anissa. Mrs. Cliff snapped her fingers and her bodyguard quickly pulled out a yellow envelope. Mrs. Cliff handed the envelope to Anissa and she quickly counted the money. “Well, tonight the task will be complete,” she said. “Perfect. I expect it to be wonderful. I will see you tonight then?” asked Mrs. Cliff. Anissa nodded. As Mrs. Cliff was about to walk out, Anissa spoke loud and clearly, “Tell your daughter that a man thinks with his fist but a woman thinks with her head and that is what usually wins the fight. The world is filled with weapons; you just have to pick it up and use it.” Mrs. Cliff smiled sincerely and walked away with the bodyguard staying close behind her.
The center floor was filled with a lot of commotion and movement. October typed furiously on the computer while a young Japanese woman fumbled with technology equipment on the table. “Scarlett, did you turn the cam on already?” asked October. “Yeah, you should be getting it now,” replied Scarlett, the young Japanese woman. October smiled and put a thumb up, her eyes still fixed on the computer. “How about speaker?” asked Scarlett. October raised the volume as Scarlett’s voice was mimicked. “Great! We’re all set,” said October. “Not quite,” came a southern accent from the other computer. “I’m looking at the layout of the ball room and there’s only four exits with bodyguard and cameras watching all over,” said the blonde girl with the accent. “Isn’t there another exit where there isn’t that, Alexia?” asked Scarlett. Alexia shook her head as she kept looking at the computer. October and Scarlett hurried over to Alexia’s computer. “Oh, perfect! There are rooms in the building like a hotel but more fancier,” said Alexia zooming in to the view of the rooms. “That old mean lady had this prepared good!” said October with a wide smile. “Wait, aren’t there cameras in the rooms too?” asked Scarlett. “October can knock one out and I’ll show you how to conceal the identification of the knock out,” said Alexia. October nodded in agreement. “Does that mean we have to reserve a room?” asked Scarlett. “No, the old hag already has one for her. I’m telling you, she had this all planned out perfectly,” said October. There were loud clicking of heels and each of them returned immediately to their places. Anissa came in wearing her black hair up with a slick red dress and long formal gloves. The masquerade mask concealed her identity perfectly. Her usual hazel eyes were hidden with green contacts. October whistled jokingly. Alexia giggled quietly and Scarlett didn’t dare laugh. “What do we have?” asked Anissa. Scarlett placed the cam on the pin of her dress and the speaker strapped on her chest. Then she gave her a small ear piece. As Anissa put the ear piece in her left ear, October was ready for testing. “Testing uno, dos, tres,” said October on her microphone. Anissa nodded. “Talk normally,” said October as she put up the volume of the computer. “Alexia, are we all set on where I’m going to do it?” she asked. October put her thumbs up as Alexia nodded. “Apparently Mrs. Cliff reserved a room for us. You can’t do it anywhere else because of bodyguards and cameras. We can only knock out once so we’ll knock out the one from the room,” explained Alexia. “What about the halls? They’ll capture me there,” said Anissa. “Get out from the window. It’s only the second story and Mary will meet you down there,” said Alexia. “Mary will do what?” asked a woman with a tank top and sweats with her hair tied up in a ponytail. “You’ll pick me up,” answered Anissa. Mary nodded. “Okay, here’s a steel knife that will easily be concealed on your thigh. Its small but it is extremely powerful. It can cut through bone,” explained Scarlett as she handed her it. Anissa place the knife on the strap attached to her thigh. She turned to Mary waiting for her. “I heard it was a beat and run,” said Mary. October laughed loudly. “Use the pressure point that knocks them out for awhile and incase the bodyguard pulls out a gun, use the technique I taught you the other day. It is very crucial if you want to survive,” Mary explained. Anissa walked quietly out anticipating for the rush of letting out her anger. “Good luck!” they all said.
The sweet violins were heard from outside of the ball room. A tall, brawny man stood in the front asking for invitations. “Your invitation misses?” asked the man. Anissa handed it to him and walked in. Inside, it was like she transformed into another person completely. She smiled as every person passed by. “So far so good, Anissa. Now, the man you’re looking for is Dave and he’s actually pretty cute!” said October. Anissa heard the giggles from the background. “Just tell me who he is!” Anissa hissed still keeping her smile. “Okay, okay. Turn your body so I can see,” said October. Anissa walked to a table and sat watching the people mingle as she felt the cam move. “Found him. You wouldn’t guess what he’s doing,” said October. “What?” Anissa whispered barely moving her lips. “He’s heading towards you. You are good bait!” Anissa came across a man in his late twenties coming in her direction. He looked like if he was a model for both a shampoo and body building commercial. “If we didn’t know anything about him, I would’ve immediately thought he was gay.” Anissa starred in another direction while taking a sip of champagne. “Is this seat taking?” the man asked pointing to the chair next to her. Anissa smiled and shook her head. “So, how do you know Mrs. Cliff?” he asked. “She’s a friend of my mothers,” she said simply, “you?” Dave answered quickly as if he had the answer to this question always, “I’m a friend of her daughter.” October laughed hysterically. “Did you come alone?” he asked. Anissa nodded. “That’s strange,” he said. “Why?” Anissa held in her breath. “A pretty lady like you usually is accompanied by someone,” he said slickly. Anissa smiled seductively. “Is that one of your pick-up lines?” Dave smiled and said, “Is it working?” Anissa kept her smile and said, “Yeah.” Anissa folded her leg letting her left thigh, that didn’t have the knife strap, show.
A few hours later Dave and Anissa were laughing at a stupid joke that didn’t make sense. Dave’s chair was closer to Anissa’s. There were two bottles of champagne already empty and Dave was starting to slur his words. Anissa looked at him and then said, “It’s getting late.” Dave smiled crookedly. “Oh, well can I drive you home?” he asked. Anissa heard the ear piece drown with laughter. “I’m actually staying in one of these rooms. I live out of town and I didn’t want to drive in the night,” she said. Dave’s eyebrows went up as he spoke, “Well, I heard these rooms are quite nice but I haven’t really seen one.” Anissa smiled seductively again. “Follow me and I’ll show you mine,” she said as she got up. Once he started following her to the room, a tall muscular man also started to follow. “It’s his bodyguard for sure. I just pulled out the file and that’s him,” said October.
The room was big in comparison to any other hotel rooms that Anissa had ever been to. “Just wait out here,” Dave said to his bodyguard. The bulky man nodded and leaned on the wall. Anissa closed the door softly and kept the lights off. The only thing of light was the ripe grey moon that was clearly seen outside of the window. “Be careful,” she heard October say. Her head was pounding as each second came nearer. Her hands were anticipating the hit on his face as it would leave it bruised and maybe bloody. “The lights off? Even better,” he said as he stepped closer. Dave was close to her face as she could tell by the smell of liquor. As he ran his hands up and down her shoulder, Anissa moved away. “I’ve changed my mind,” she said as part of her plan. Dave looked at her irately and pulled her in by her hair. “I really don’t care if you did. I haven’t!” he barked as the rotten smell was stronger. “He shouldn’t of done that,” Anissa heard October whisper. With a great force, Anissa stepped on Dave’s foot. A crack was heard as she did this. He gaped at his foot. “You like to hit women, huh?” Anissa asked rhetorically. She kicked him on the face and he landed on the floor. He quickly got up and charged at her. “Only bitches like you!” he spat. Anissa let him throw her against the wall. She then grabbed him by the neck and pierced her nails into his delicate skin. She threw his head multiple times against the wall making it bleed. “Remember, don’t kill him!” warned October. Anissa then threw him to the floor when he was barely conscious. “If you can hear me Dave, this is just a warning. Don’t ever hit a woman; especially your wife,” Anissa hissed. Dave groaned loudly enough for his bodyguard to hear. Anissa was already ready when the bodyguard went tumbling through the door ready to attack. He looked at Dave on the floor then up to Anissa whose knuckles were left with Dave’s blood. “I know I’m not supposed to hit women, but you’re an exception,” he said as he slammed the door shut and cracked his knuckles. “Men. Always think they will survive in the end,” said Anissa as she wiped the blood on her knuckles on the wall. “Is that a threat?” he asked with an evil smile. “No, this is,” she said pointing at Dave on the floor who was crying in agony. “Remember not to leave any evidence you were there,” Alexia reminded her.
The bodyguard charged at her with full force and slammed her to the wall. “Fuck! The first thing I say you do,” Alexia said. Anissa slipped away before the man could touch her face with his fist. She kicked him to the wall making sure that he was left without air in the impact. She pulled the bodyguard down from his neck using all her force. When he was on the floor, he kicked her leg making her stumble down. He got to have his first punch before Anissa kicked his head making his whole body fall backwards. “Just use the pressure point! I think someone’s coming. Mary is already down there,” demanded Scarlett. Anissa grabbed the man’s shoulder and squeezed tightly on the pressure point that would send him unconscious. Anissa grabbed Dave and pulled him so he was starring at her horrified. “W-who are you?” he stumbled. Anissa smiled wickedly and did the same thing to him as she did to the bodyguard. She quickly took out a bottle and sprayed all around the room. She then took off her heels and opened the window. Down there, as they had planned, was Mary chatting with a bodyguard. “How are we going to deal with that?” asked October frantically. “Don’t worry,” said Anissa as she got ready to jump. Anissa felt a sudden rush as she seem to fly momentarily when she jumped out of the second story building. She fell and lightly kicked the man on his head before flipping and landing next to Mary. “You are one crazy bitch, you know that!” said October regaining her breath. Anissa didn’t smile as she was the same person as usual again. Mary felt for the man’s shoulder and tapped it once and fast with her gloves.