To Kill a Ghost

Sam paced back and forth across his floor. He couldn’t think straight. The woman who rushed his companion out the door lingered in his thoughts. Her messy hair and her hypnotic eyes left him wanting more, but she wouldn’t give more than a quirky flirt and random threats. It drove him mad thinking about her, but he realized one thing. She took his war photograph.

“Why would a woman like that be looking for a man like Eli?” Sam questioned. Eli wasn’t a soft man, nor was he very open to new people. She did claim to be an agent of a secret government facility. Did Eli piss someone off again with one of those ‘top secret’ missions that were so secret the officials hadn’t heard of them yet?

Bloody hell, this woman and her games are the most frustrating things! Sam though as he paced. She wanted him to look at the security camera outside his door in the corridor. Why would she want that? Was she sending messages to someone on the other side of the camera? “Could I send my lady a secret message through the security footage?”

Sam jotted a quick note on a flyer he picked out of the garbage can with thick sharpie ink. He went to his door and opened it. The camera was still focused right on his door. He held the ugly pink flyer out in front of him toward the camera in an attempt.

“Come on…” he said to himself. “Please, see this and come back to me.”



Her cell phone rang for the fourth time that afternoon. After Linox dropped the description of the client on her, Dedra hadn’t been able to breathe. Her mother had no family, no one to look like her. She never saw her father, but was positive no one in his family resembled the almost unearthly quality her mother possessed. Whatever happened, she was going to think this through. Kirkland’s game had to end.

“What am I missing?” The phone rang again. She growled at it before finally picking it up.

“Stop calling me, Nerd.” She barked into the phone.

“We have a major pitfall. If Kirk sees this we’re dead on the spot.” Linox rushed through his sentence. “You won’t believe this.”

“Won’t believe what?” Dedra rolled her eyes and took a sip of the beer in front of her.

“Your man, Sam, is flashing the camera.” His voice sounded shaky.

“I know he’s kind of small, but is it really a big deal?” Dedra asked. Her voice flooded with annoyance as she listened to his insane ranting. “Turn the camera off, Dumbass.”

“NO. He’s holding a note to the camera, Dipshit. It says; Spy Girl, I know where you can find him.” Linox whispered the letter’s wording.

“Kirkland has been checking in with me every fifteen minutes to see if I found you on the city’s surveillance system.” He hissed into the phone. “Tell me how I’m supposed to cover up a shirtless man in the hotel you supposedly went to.”

“Call the hotel, tell Sam to stop trying to get me killed.” Dedra explained. How could it be hard to tell the guy to go to hell? Better yet, just tell him she died. That way she would never have to speak to him again. “You know he is really needed.” She mused.

“D…”

“Please, stop calling me. I’m trying to figure out my life before it…” She trailed off as she looked into the mirror above the bartender’s back. She used it to see clients when she wasn’t facing the bar, but Dedra saw something more disturbing than a drinker. A tall man with chestnut colored, wavy hair watched her with too much intensity. His nose looked similar to hers. Even though he wore all black she was sure she’d find the one thing she imagined he had behind his back.

“Have you ever seen that man before,” she whispered to the bartender. The redheaded woman shook her head.

“I have to go, okay? Tell Kirkland I stopped for a drink at a bar, and tell him I think our past caught up with me.” She closed the phone, knowing Linox was full of questions. Dedra placed a bill under her glass and moved slowly off the barstool.

Dear God, I know I’m the worst, but please get me out of this.

She would never forget that man’s face. He stood over her mother with shiny Italian loafers exactly like the ones he wore tonight. His black clothing made him look even more menacing. She couldn’t help but think death had come for her just as it came for Tanya the night Kirkland lost his mind.

“Excuse me,” she whispered to a few people blocking her way out. Footsteps echoed behind her, following her, chasing her. She sped up. One foot after the other until she bounded down the street. The lights stopped pedestrians, but not Dedra She ran as fast as she could through traffic and people. Adrenaline pushed her to go faster. She imagined bullets flying past her head even though she heard none.

Dedra glanced over her shoulder. No one was following her. She fell over, leaning against her knees as she heaved air. There was no man in black with chestnut colored hair. Her heart pounded against her chest as her stomach fell to her feet. She took long deep breaths, trying to force air into her lungs.

I am dying, she thought before she stood to her full height again. Her breathing was still heavy, but she no longer panted for air. When her eyes focused, her lungs stopped working again. The man in black stood in front of her. His face was like pale stone, and his eyes were cold and dark. Thin lips never moved as he stood there staring at her.

Without thinking, Dedra shoved him backwards into people walking along the sidewalk as she ran again. Who in the holy hell was that guy? What did he want? Most importantly, why was he following her?

She remembered him so clearly, but she never remembered seeing him other than those two times when he was killing someone she knew. Granted, Dedra was glad to see Tanya die after the bitch tried to kill her. She idly rubbed her wrists. How could she forget the bullet wound he gave her when he shot at her after killing Tanya though? The larger question lingering on her mind though wasn’t hard, but it was the most complicated thing she ever let herself think.

“Tell me,” little Dedra pleaded.

“I don’t want to talk about him tonight, Darling. Let’s just have a nice dinner, and I’ll fix your hair the way you like. Okay?” Her mother said. She smiled, but it never met her eyes. Her hands shook as she moved over the pan of food.

“I want to know, Momma. No one knows anything about him, and all you ever told me was that I have his hair. What was he like?”

“He wasn’t a good man, Love.” She turned and leaned over her daughter. “I promise you will never have to know anything bad because he is gone.”

“What if I want to know him?” She said. Her mother’s dark expression caused guilt to flood Dedra’s mind. She wanted to run to her room and hide.

“Trust me; you do not want that, Little Girl. Now stop asking.”

Why did he kill her mother? She never tried to hurt Dedra. The woman was kind and loving. She told the best bedtime stories. Often, Dedra wanted to be coddled in her mother’s arms again, but she could never have that again, because he stole her family. She had no family left now, though, so who had he come for?

What have you gotten me into Kirkland?