Another piece of fiction

Harry let the kid lead him to the back of the restaurant, where a shadow in a corner of an almost dark room contained, he hoped, the man he was looking for.

“Are you the cleaner?” he asked
“I relay information to him. What do you need?”
“I need a man dead”

Back in his office, Harry talked to his business associate.
“We’ll have our biggest critic out of the way in a few weeks. No more bitching about compliance”
“Harry, Dammit, we’re complying fine, we just can’t satisfy that asshole”
“Well, Bill, in a month that asshole will be a memory”

Carl was always excited before a job. He had a lot of preparation to do, but he enjoyed the preparation.
First, though, he needed to get back to the gym. he sped out of the parking lot and went to his club, where he spent the next two hours pushing his body beyond failure.

He stood in the mirror in front of the shower and admired his sweaty body, almost no body fat, almost no sign that his age was pushing forty. He could have been a fit twenty year old. He showered and changed, and went to his car. Some studying tonight, some range time, and maybe a week of brushing up on his martial arts training. he smiled. This was going to be fun.

“Harry, when is your man gonna do his job? The hearings are next week. We’ve sent all the compliance documents for the chemical disposal to the committe, and they haven’t opened the envelopes. They have no intention of allowing us to continue to operate, this is a witch hunt”
“Bill, keep your hat on. The whole thing will be settled before the hearing. This guy is the best, he never fails, and he’s always on time.”
“He’d better be, because our company, the future of all our employees, depends on it.”
“he is, Bill. Cool your heels”

Carl always liked to be in his best shape before a job. he felt good, virile, a crusader taking down evil for the sake of good. He liked his work almost too well. He reflected on his good fortune as the somewhat portly waiter brought his soup and bottled water. It was warm, and the waiter was sweating as he hustled his tables.
“Open the water, please.” Asked Carl.
“Certainly”
It may have been sweat, it may have been the humidity, it may have been any number of things, but a single drop of liquid dripped from the waiter’s hand into the bottle of water. But not a single soul noticed.

“Environmental activists were stunned today at the death of their leader, Carl Denney” said the newscaster, over the noise at the bar. “Dead of an apparent heart attack is the leader and crusader for envronmental causes, just before he was about to publicly blow the whistle on DanCroft corporation, who claims that they have documents to prove they were hiding no wrongdoing and that they were complying with all EPA restrictions”.

“Well, it looks like your man did come through after all.” said Bill, sighing with relief as he downed another scotch.
“Yeah. He’s the best. Which reminds me, I still owe him the final payment”
“Well, it was worth every dime. Get oer there and make it worth his while”

Another kid, another seedy restaurant. Another darkened room. Harry sat down and placed a thick envelope on the table.
A gloved hand reached from the darkness and pulled at the envelope, and Harry put his hand back on it. “How do I know this was your doing? He supposedly died of natural causes”

“As I told you before, I am merely a messenger. The cleaner did his job, now you pay. Besides, how many perfectly fit forty year olds die from sudden heart attacks?”

“I guess you’re right. And it’s cheap at twice the price.” Harry released the envelope and leaned back in his chair. “So how did you- did he- do this? I mean, Carl is the picture of deadly efficiency. He just looks like he would be impossible to kill- or even surprise, for that matter”

“Muscles and speed are for combat. Killing is about having the will to kill. Nothing else matters”

Harry walked back outside, lifted his collar against the rain, and hailed a cab home.