Of Silent Concern (Part One): The Black Pyramid
A gorgeous young assassin spawns a vengeful secret agenda.
The casino floor was clamorous and brimming with radiant neon lights in all directions. Anna gambled, but wouldn’t be playing any games on this mild desert night. She had spent weeks preparing, and so far, everything was perfectly in place.
Her long blonde hair and sensual curves commanded the undivided attention of anyone who gazed in her direction. Flaunting a skin-tight, black mini-skirt, the double looks and aggressive catcalls had come relentlessly since the moment her blood-red stilettoes had touched the Strip.
Tonight, however, like most nights, would be all business.
She had first noticed the man’s cheap, unfitted suit and oversized department store wingtip shoes from a distance. He towered over a nearby roulette table as he stood, quietly staring downward in contemplation and taking a few deep breaths. Grabbing a ‘cigarette lighter height’ stack of black chips, the man placed his bet and stepped back confidently.
“This is for all my nasty, blood sniffing Wall Street sharks!” he arrogantly announced to half the casino floor, raising the eyebrows of a few elderly slot players in the vicinity. “Black twenty-four for the win baby!” the man added just as the black and red wheel began to spin into an invisible blur.
A small white ball orbited the rotating wheel numerous times prior to dropping down, taking several hard bounces, and finally coming to an abrupt halt.
“Red Nine,” bellowed the portly little silver-haired croupier running the table.
“God damn it!” the man threw both of his long, slender arms high above his head in disgust of the outcome. “I’m really burning through some fat-ass stacks of loot here tonight,” he declared as he quickly finished the clear stinging liquid that remained in a small, sweaty old-fashioned rocks glass.
Ice cubes rang like tiny servant’s bells as the empty tumbler shook in the man’s loose grip. “Can I get another vodka tonic?” he stridently requested, failing to make eye contact with anyone in particular.
“Mind if I join in?” a tantalizing voice gently tickled the man’s inner ear from behind.
As if his senses had been instantly hijacked by both overwhelming desire and sheer instinct, he quickly turned to locate the source of the seductive sound.
His eyes settled firmly on the robust cleavage of an absolutely foxy, golden-haired vixen in a figure-embracing, black dress.
“Not at all Gorgeous, not at all,” he feasted on Anna’s long alluring legs from skirt to floor, and back up again.
Her body was inviting.
“What’s your name?”
“My name is Sky, what’s yours Honey?” Anna replied, stepping in close and touching the man’s waist.
“You can call me Vic,” he chuckled, “Can I get you something to drink?”
“That would be great, Honey.”
One drink soon turned into three drinks, and three soon into six. Anna had ordered light on the alcohol, slowly sipping peach schnapps while the man foolishly downed vodka like an ignorant behemoth.
The hours melted into minutes.
She remained viciously flirtatious and had just kept giggling at his stupid jokes and lame suggestive remarks, even as she sprinkled a strong white powder into both his fifth and sixth drinks. The pill capsule in her matching black purse had given her some unexpected difficulty, but she had managed to break it open without arousing any undue suspicion.
The man rambled on while she pretended to listen.
‘Just a sprinkle from three fingers is all that is needed’, echoed her training.
Anna had repeated the process a second time just to be sure, doubling the dose.
“Damn, I’m really starting to feel these drinks Baby Girl,” The man’s eyes sagged heavily, and his gaze grew distant.
“Me too Honey, how about we head up to your room?”
“How much do you cost?” His rude and conspicuous question garnered the unwanted attention of a few neighboring gamblers.
“Why don’t we just get up to your room and we can go from there.”
“I can afford anyone and anything Girl, I’m a straight baller!”
The two steadily made their way across the brilliantly-lit casino floor. The man stumbled on two separate occasions along the way as the added ingredient in his endmost two drinks began to reach his nervous system. Like an oblivious fly ultimately landing in an invisible web after far too many ill-advised flybys, he too inevitably reached the hotel elevators.
Anna had been more than obliged to lead the way.
She slid the intoxicated man’s keycard into the stubborn electronic lock of the hotel room door and, upon the second try, a tiny light flashed green and the cold metal handle slid downward, opening the door.
The room inside was shadowy and quiet. Anna ushered the man in, swiftly closing the door behind them. She locked the door, wasting no time.
“So, you want this ass Baby?”
The man’s eyes widened in an aroused response, but immediately his face returned to a sluggish, drug-induced demeanor once again as he stumbled back into the wall.
“Hell yeah, but I’m pretty faded right now Bitch,” his breath was deeply labored and his head swayed from side to side like a dancing snake, “I don’t really feel so good. I’m dizzy as hell.”
“Why don’t you take a bath with me Honey?” Anna emphatically suggested, “That will make you feel much better.”
She intrepidly escorted the wasted man into the bathroom and began filling the tub. As the hot water violently rushed from the spout, Anna kicked off her stilettos and started to vigorously remove the man’s clothes.
First, his shirt and tie. Ripped off.
Next, she bent down provocatively in front of him, untying each of his shoes, and sliding them off one at a time.
Lastly, she unbuckled his leather belt, sliding off his dark blue slacks and boxers.
He stood swaying, stripped completely naked.
“You want it, Bitch?”
“Of course I do Baby, but why don’t we take a bath together first, remember?” Anna responded, coercing the doped man into the soothing hot bathwater.
He mindlessly complied, and she helped him carefully into the steamy tub. The man sank into the tranquillizing embrace of the temperate liquid, completely submerging his body, and relaxing with his head coming to rest just above the surface. His muscles softened and he let out a deep sigh.
In an instant, Anna powerfully wrapped both her hands around the man’s neck, thrusting his head underwater. He immediately grabbed onto her dainty wrists, and began flailing and kicking his legs furiously. Waves of water spilled out and crashed onto the floor as the man’s body thrashed fiercely.
She was surprisingly strong.
The man struggled to breathe. He released Anna’s wrists and blindly threw several wild punches.
Nothing connected. The man began to panic.
She tenaciously held him near the bottom.
Relentless. Cold-Blooded. Silent. Methodic.
He coughed, inhaling a small amount of water.
His lungs burned.
Again, he fought desperately for one last breath.
Again, he struggled.
She was breathing, heavily.
Anna stood frozen over the hotel bathtub for an eternity with both arms flexed and fully locked in place, using nearly all of her strength to hold the weakened man’s head beneath the water. Eventually, the struggle subsided, his grip loosened, and the man once again let go, this time, for good.
Both of her wrists had been torn-up and were now almost as red as her shoes.
They would most likely swell with welts and bruises, turning purple over the next few days. She always bruised easily, and although the man hadn’t put up as much of a fight as her last target, Anna had still taken some visible damage.
All in all, the hit had been performed in a fairly quiet manner.
Catching her breath, she began to dry off her now soaked black dress, before picking up her stilettoes and exiting the bathroom.
She was extremely focused on the next task at hand. The youthful bombshell diligently retraced every surface around the entire hotel room, along with the keycard and her target’s clothing, with a pack of extra-strength cleaning wipes conveniently kept in her purse.
She paid particular attention to doorknobs and light switches, cleaning every last surface she possibly touched during the encounter, concluding with the main door handle as it latched tightly behind her, perfectly concealing the crime.
A well-dressed older gentleman was already in the elevator when Anna entered.
“What floor Miss?”
“Lobby please, thanks Sweetie,” she firmly requested.
The older gentleman gave a nod, his face igniting as he blushed at the attractive fire-cracker.
Anna exited the black pyramid and stepped confidently out onto the Strip, walking with purpose through the brisk night air. Completing the first phase of an operation flawlessly always brought her a certain sense of relief, even if it was usually quite temporary.
Her level of discipline was very rarely matched, even by the men she had trained with. She was a ruthless machine with ice in her veins, her every move cold and calculated.
A machine that simply did not make errors.
For the moment, however, she was just another beautiful young underestimated blonde woman, disappearing like a silent ghost into the crowds and chaos of the ‘City of Sin’.
