Assassin

To anyone watching, I was just wandering along the beach, occasionally picking up shells, then putting them in the mesh bag I was holding. I was wearing a bikini, a sarong tied around my hips, and a big straw hat to keep the sun off my face. There were lots of tidal pools on the beach, since it was a mixture of sand and rock. I ventured into a few, keeping an eye out to avoid stepping on anything hazardous.

I was actually looking for such a hazard, and didn't want it to turn on me. In the third pool, I found what I wanted—a cone snail, one of the deadliest animals in the ocean. Its venom could kill someone in minutes. There was no antidote. I picked it up carefully, making sure it was healthy, then put it into the bag along with the other shells.

My walk along the beach continued. At each tidal pool I let my bag dangle in the water, keeping the snail alive and refreshed. Now I was looking out for a different hazard: Vinnie Razzotti, Razzy to his friends. He headed up a big crime family in New Jersey. He was in the tropics on vacation, if you believed what his people said. He was actually visiting his mistress. They were supposed to get together on the beach today, just outside his villa.

His mistress was otherwise occupied, feeding sharks on the other side of the island, in about eighty feet of water. I knew that because I had worked her over to get what I needed and then had chained her to the anchor that was holding her to the bottom.

You see, I'm an assassin, a highly skilled killer. I am very good at making problems disappear. Today's problem was Vinnie; he became a problem when he tried to eliminate another of New Jersey's controlling families.

He thought his deal was happening in secret. I knew otherwise, since there had been an informant at one of the meetings. When the informant reported about the planned takeover, Vinnie's intended target decided to take action, and hired me.

I started heading toward his villa, making sure that I was very visible. The dark wig I was wearing made me look like his mistress from a distance, and I could see Vinnie wave to me. I waved back, then watched as his bodyguard went into the villa. A car drove away, leaving us alone. He didn't want anyone watching him have sex with his mistress.

I headed in his direction, and he started over to meet me halfway. As we drew close, he began to see through my disguise, but still didn't judge me to be a threat. The way I was dressed allowed no concealment, so I couldn't be carrying a weapon. Even the bag was made of netting. Everything in it was visible, and it only held a few shells.

"Hi," I called as we came closer. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

"Hello yourself. I apologize for waving you over. I thought you were someone else."

"No problem. I don't mind talking to strange men on a beach." As I stepped closer, I suddenly winced, and leaned to one side. "Oww, that hurt."

"Are you alright?"

"I think I stepped on something. Hold this while I look." I held out my bag, and he grabbed it while I reached for my foot. A moment later he swore and dropped the bag.

"Something stung me." He looked at his palm, where a tiny drop of blood could be seen. "Damn, that hurts."

I moved closer, looking at his hand. "Was there a sharp edge on a shell? I'm sorry about this."

His breathing had already started to get rough. Sweat was breaking out on his face. His hand started shaking, the muscles of his arm tightening, showing the spreading paralysis caused by the venom. I knew from my research that Vinnie had a heart condition. The spreading poison would likely trigger a heart attack in addition to the other symptoms it caused.

In a moment he dropped to his knees, and I looked down at him. "Frankie Manotto says hello Vinnie, and you should have never tried to muscle him out of his own territory. Enjoy the last few minutes of your life."

I turned and started back down the beach. I looked back once. Vinnie was lying face-down in the sand. I started thinking about how to spend my million dollar fee.