-The table inhabiting my breakfast nook is small. Two people could simultaneously partake of meals or read the newspaper together comfortably while sitting here. I would be willing to bet the last time two people sat at this table was while it still hunkered on display at Mel's Furniture on fourth street. I take another sip of the morning's finest. I like it with a bit of sugar and some of that liquid flavored creamer.. this week's choice is some variation of chocolate. It's good. Scanning the paper yields little in the way of good news about the world and it's goings on.. but I am really only looking for one story. Prominent Accountant Slain in Mugging. Read all about it indeed. Apparently Mr. Franklin was prominent.. who'da thunk it? I quickly read over the story, confirming that the police had no idea as to what really took place. No witnesses had come forward, police are asking anyone that has information to contact the local department.-


-A slow smile spreads over my face just before another sip of chocolate-tinged coffee slips across my tongue and down my throat. I savor for a moment, and take the final drink while pushing the chair back away from the table. I leave the paper there, maybe something will catch my attention in it later this evening. Into the kitchen where the cup is filled with hot water and lightly scrubbed with the rough side of a sponge. The cold water rinses the meager suds away and it takes it's place upside down in the dish drainer. There is a route to run.. My morning jog will tell me if there's work this week or not. A different path is chosen every day but every stop is made. Check the hiding spots for notes, symbols, signs.. each employer has their own way of making contact.-


-In the bedroom I change quickly into sweatpants and a long-sleeved t-shirt. Fall is upon the city and even though there is enjoyment in the coming of winter, it wouldn't do me well to fall ill. Wallet, watch, house key, and a handful of loose change and bills fill out the contents of my running bag. As I walk, I'm slinging it across my chest. The apartment is locked behind me and my morning jog commences first with a decent stretch on the stairs of the building. I'm off. The park first. It's Sunday morning so there should be little of no one there to even witness my jogging, let alone the apparent stretching I do near the fountain at it's center. There, within a small crack at the base of the eastern edge of the fountain is a crack. Too small for anything bigger than the single penny I will find hidden there if that particular employer needs assistance. Nothing. Not surprised. He's a rare client. Could be the money, could be he doesn't have the taste for killing whether he's the one doing it or not. Not the most respected mafioso in this city, or any other by far. I jog out from the gate at the opposite side of the park and head to the right. There is a post office box with my name on it.-




-The morning run goes that way. Nothing to pick up until the last stop before I would have headed back to the apartment. Catching my breath outside the city library for a moment I take in the scenery. The orange, read, and yellow leaves of fall skitter in the blustery winds. You can smell the decaying foliage of autumn in the air. Not that it is a harsh smell, I rather enjoy it actually.. it's attached to memories and sensations of the past. An even number of those sensations and memories bring either smiles or frowns to my face. Today, I smile. I move up the steps and pull the key ring out and fit it into the door easily gaining entrance and locking quickly behind me.-


-The key? Obtained easily enough. This key was provided to me by the same employer I am checking on this minute. Let's just say he's a government official.. dirty, yes. Corrupt, you betcha. Another rare employer, but I enjoy checking for his requests the most out of all of them. Inhaling deeply the scent of old books and periodicals I head for the reference section. He's always stayed to that section.. the books aren't allowed to leave the library. Research only. Fingers dragging along the spines as I move through the aisles upon aisles of bound information. Truths, falsehoods, fantasies, and boring textbooks. The reference section opens up before me and I find the proper set of encyclopedias. Flip, flip, flip, flip, flip, flip, flip my finger on the spines. It stops at R. Feeling above the book on the bottom of the overhanging shelf, theres a rustle. A mere folded piece of paper. I smile again. Work.-




-The apartment welcomes me home and I walk across the room to set the folded note on my desk. Not reading it right off the bat is a practice I keep. Shower first.. I can't stand to smell. There is nothing I hate more than reeking of sweat and exertion. I'm addicted to smells in a way. Good scents, mind you. And it works in reverse for awful odors. Especially those put off by the human body. So I shower. Vigorously. Body wash, shampoo, conditioner.. wash-rinse-repeat. Jogging clothes go in the hamper and I'm dressed again in my everyday duds and making my way into the kitchen for a tall glass of diet coke to enjoy while I look over my oncoming assignment.-


-The diet coke is placed on a coaster and I take the note into my hand. Very high quality paper, as always. Folded intricately along exact lines so that the edges meet in perfect harmony. I consider this note for a moment, not so much for what it might contain.. but for the information I can gather about the person who provides me with it. Enough of that. The note is quickly unfolded and I take the information it holds.-


:Kindred. 4/1. Day of the Moon. Tea in China. Tea in China. Tea in China.:


-I am not ashamed to say I blinked at this message. Never had I seen a message like this one. Kindred was a code for a group or family. Four over one meant four targets.. day of the moon was Monday. The employer had improvised on the last part. Tea in China was my highest fee. Three times my highest fee for taking this job. Needless to say this worried me to no end. I read the note a few more times, looking for any signs within the handwriting. Nothing. I took a half an hour on the Internet to read up on the recent doings of my latest possible employer. Nothing out of the ordinary. Something wasn't right about this job but I was finding it harder and harder to turn down one point five million dollars. Another glass of diet coke and I made the call.-




:Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. You have reached the voice mailbox for -Contact noise, background sounds of traffic and people shouting- If you would like to leave a message, press one.:


-I pressed the end key. He didn't answer. Five minutes and I'd try again. He would only get that one last chance to answer. I ran through my situation carefully. If this employer did not answer, I would abandon him. There were too many variables that weren't matching up with this. I was starting to feel uncomfortable and I don't like feeling uncomfortable. The majority of my inner calm really doesn't like it when someone that is on my employer list makes me feel uncomfortable. This was the oddest request I had ever received and it had piqued my interests. Five minutes.


:Ring. Ring. Ring. "Hello?":

:"Raven.":

:-A silence fills the other end of the phone call for almost too long and then, "A Family. The name is Anderson. A packet will makes it's way into the post office box you provided me with. I need this job to be messy. Thank you for accepting my latest partnership."

:"My Pleasure." Click.:


-A family? I'm worried. Never heard the word family in a phone call from an employer. This sounded like something I should have left alone. Scanning the note again I begin to wonder what I've gotten myself into. I had a bad feeling, it followed me into the kitchen where I poured another glass of diet coke and popped some butter popcorn. The feeling followed me into the living room where I plopped down on the sofa and began flipping through channels on my television. This feeling was in the back of my head the entire time I watched and followed my ass to bed that night. It kept me awake much longer than I'm used to. Something was rotten here, and I had to make sure it didn't end up being me.-




-My aforementioned ass was dragging. I woke up thirty minutes later than I usually did. The auto-brewed coffee was waiting on me in the kitchen so I added my sugar and made a move to add the chocolate creamer. Out. "Sonofabitch." I had forgotten to pick some up on the way back home yesterday. These signs were not a good start to my day. I made due with a little extra sugar and drank the cup as I moved about the apartment trying to regain my lost thirty minutes. Dishes done, refuse sorted into corresponding containers, and the living room straightened. Street clothes donned and miscellaneous items gathered for my morning jog..-


-Out the door and I was only about ten minutes behind schedule. Stretching, good. I was off. Uneventful route. This morning's jog would culminate in a visit to the post office I was using for now. I stretched again on the stairs of the building and entered just as my breath caught up to the rest of me. I check the bulletins as some of the regulars did upon entering and made my way to my rented P.O. Box. Key in the keyhole, jiggled a couple times and it swings open. I take out the dark yellow envelope and lock the box anew. That feeling settled in again and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I needed to get my eyes on the contents of this missive post haste. Another thought clouded into my mind.. what happens if I'm forced to decline this job? I had never done so before. How would this affect the entirety of my working life?-


-Double time to the apartment, up the stairs, in the door, envelope on the desk. I stared at it. I considered it thoroughly. I was fighting the urge to open it right now, this instant. Something I had never had the urge to do before this moment. Reaching out with an almost trembling hand I stopped myself. Shower first. Calm down. A clean man is a clearer thinking man. I was right.. the day and night before filled with worry was seeping out of my pours. I smelled of sweat and something else.. nerves and maybe fear? Shower. All business. Maybe ten minutes. I opened the envelope with the dark blue bath towel wrapped tightly about my waist. A piece of paper showing a sizable schedule and a photo. A photo of a family. Father, mother, sister, brother. A family. Children. I blinked at the photograph more than once before my eyes shifted to the schedule.-


:Monday: After School Billy – Touch Football, Ginger – Gymnastics. William Sr. - Home @ 5:15pm. Grace – Book Club – 8:00pm:


-"Holy Shit."-