Jake whistled while he worked, a ditty inspired by Motown. He cleaned his guns on the kitchen table of the tiny two-room apartment that he rented for the month. Next month, he might rent something better. This month, the furnished apartment was fine for his needs.
His phone rang. He glanced at the number – no caller ID. He never picked those up, so let it ring through. He wondered if it was a bill collector. If so, it was time to get rid of the phone and get a new disposable one. Maybe it was time to change his identity, too. He’d have to see Paulo about that.
The phone chirped. Voicemail. He put it on speaker. “Call me.”
Jake smiled. Ah, Reynard. Expecting a report on his progress with the boy mage. Reynard had hired him as a hitman and a thief, in that order. What Reynard didn’t like was that even Jake had some scruples.
Under this ID, called 2nd Amendment, he portrayed a right-wing gun nut to most people on the outside. However, although he was a gun nut, he wasn’t as extremely right-wing as his persona portrayed. Sure, he felt that there shouldn’t be any infringement on the right to own or carry guns – after all, what better excuse to shoot someone than self-defense? But 2nd Amendment, as a card-carrying registered hero of PRIMUS, had sworn to himself that he would not go after any heroes, unless they went rogue and were considered villains. This was 2nd Amendment’s rule and Jake’s personal rule as well.
So when Reynard said he wanted the boy mage “taken out of the picture”, Jake refused. “How bad do you want your stuff?” Jake had asked.
The CEO of Textron himmed and hawed, and squirmed in his chair. “You really drive a hard bargain. I want my shit and I want it as soon as possible.”
“Then, in that case you got yourself a thief.”
Jake picked up the phone and called Reynard. He picked up on the third ring. “What took you so long?”
“I was in the middle of something. What can I do for you?”
“Have you met Scott yet?”
“I met him a couple of days ago. It was a rather interesting meeting.”
“Did you…?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
The was a moment of silence. “You work for me. I expect s daily report.”
“If you hire me then I do things my way. And you get a report when something interesting happens. At the moment nothing interesting has happened.”
Reynard was silent again. “Keep me posted. I want you to go after the Trey Kings and find out what they’re doing with my stuff.”
“Right-o boss.” Jake hung up the phone.
Jake didn’t know what other people did for him, but he did know one thing. He wasn’t going to be somebody’s lackey.