Part One: Past

Prologue
Present

I sat down on the sofa in the middle of the place I call my home. In my hand I held a can of cola. I took a sip of it and I looked at all the things I bought with all the money I earned, the money I earned... from killing people.

My name is Eric, Eric Tanko. I am an assassin. Being an assassin and all, I have the money to buy most of the things I want, but there is only one thing I want, and now she is gone.

My hand reached for the picture I had of her. I looked at her, remembering how, because I was an assassin, she was assassinated.

The can of liquid drops out of my hand as I cried. It had been only two weeks since I met her again, yet love made these two weeks longer.

I now have no purpose in my live, I wander around, with no heart, no purpose, no love.

I am the Assassin With No Heart.


Chapter 1
2 weeks and 2 days ago

I picked up the phone and said, "Hello?"

"Hello, is this Eric Tanko?"

"Yes, this is." I looked at the clock beside my bed; it told me that it was 4:00a.m.

"I am calling you because I need a job done, I heard that you are the best assassin."

"What you hear might not be true, but yes, I'm interested."

"Meet me in Small-town Coffee at three."

The phone was disconnected before I had a chance to object.

I got up and decided to make myself a cup of coffee, while wondering why someone would call me at 4:00AM in the morning.

Must be some security thing, I thought.

At 3:00PM I went to Small-town Coffee, a small café just across the street from my apartment. I entered the café and to my surprise there was only one customer in the whole café.

I sat down in the seat in front of him and said, "Are you waiting for someone?"

He looked at me and said, "Yes, I was waiting for you, Eric Tanko."

"I see that you did a lot of research about me."

"Actually no, I got your picture and your other information from the people that have hired you before."

Interesting, this man must have connections

"You see I want you to assassinate the Secretary of Defense."

"You mean the one in this country?"

"Of course I mean the one in this country."

I was shocked. Needless to say, the Secretary of Defense is not someone whose death would be ignored! Was this man crazy? If anyone was find out that he hired someone to assassinate the Secretary of Defense for whatever reason, he would be dead before he knew that they found out!

"I know that you think that I'm crazy, but I have a plan," his voice snapped me back into reality. I looked at him, waiting.

"The Secretary of Defense is going to have a party for his 50th birthday. Every staff member of his and their close friends and family are invited."

"Oh that's a great plan, go and kill him in front of about two thousand people," I said, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

The man laughed and said, "Yes, you will kill him at the party, but not as some invisible person that has to sneak in."

"I'm guessing that you want me to get close to a staff member."

"Correct, look at this picture," he took out a picture of a beautiful lady, "this is Judy Lasso, she is the secretary of the Minister of Defense. All you have to do is get to know her and become her boyfriend."

"When is the party?" I asked.

"Two weeks from now."

"How much are you paying?"

"Thirty million, US currency of course."

"You must really hate that guy."

"Do you accept?"

"Tell me who you are first."

"I am Nelson Deankle."

"... I see"

Nelson Deankle, one of the Big Five in the underworld of gangs in New York; the man rumoured to be the one running the entire underworld in this city.

"Yes, now, do you accept?"

"...Yes."


Chapter 2
2 weeks ago

Two days after getting my newest assignment, I decided that it was time to see this Judy I'm suppose to get close to.

At 7:00 p.m. I waited outside the White House for Judy Lasso to appear. After two hours of standing later I begin to hit my head on a post when Judy appeared.

She was standing right beside me when I noticed her; she stared at me for a moment and said to me, "You look kind of familiar before, have we met?"

I looked at her; she actually did look kind of familiar now that I'm looking at her, not her photo. However, I said, "No, I don't think so."

We stared at each other for a moment, and then she said, "So it's been 7 years since we've last met, but I haven't changed that much, have I, Eric Tanko?"

Suddenly I remembered who she was, she was Judy Lasso, the girl that I dated in high school. Fortunately, now I don't have to make up some excuse to meet her.

"Judy Lasso, long time no see!"

"So you do remember me," she said, laughing.

We laughed and we made plans to meet each other, three days later, in Small-town Café.


Chapter 3
1 week 4 days ago

I entered the café, looked around, and found Judy there, sipping her coffee. I walked over and said, "I just saw the most beautiful girl, and when I came in, I realized that it was you."

To that she giggled and replied, "You never get tired of that line do you?"

I smiled and said, "Nope."

I sat down and she asked me. "So, what have you been doing all these years?"

It hit me then that I couldn't tell her anything about me, not if I want to remain a living, breathing assassin.

"Well, umm, I've been doing odd jobs here and there." Not completely untrue, after all being an assassin is an 'odd job' and I have been 'here and there' in a sense. "You?"

She smiled at me and said, "Well, after I graduated from high school, I went to college, studied politics, but didn't do very well at it, after I did some work as a nurse, and then I became the secretary of the Secretary of Defense, pretty ironic eh?"

I drank my coffee and smiled, leaning closer to her, as was my objective, "So, going out with anyone right now?"

Deep down inside, I knew that I wanted her to say no for more then reasons of 'the job'.

She smiled and said, "Well, I did go out with a few guys from my department, but now I'm...."

Here comes the 'moment of truth'.

"...single."

I was happy.

She sipped more of her coffee, "How about you?"

"Oh me, well, my jobs don't really allow for long term relationships." Because, I added in my head, half the girls I've gotten close to were 'for the job', and I don't think anyone would really want to spend their time with someone who's job is to kill.

"You never really told me what you do," Judy looks at me.

"Oh, I'm, a, umm," ok, now this is going to be hard, "a, um," push the fork down, *clink, clink*, "Oh, opps." I bent down to get the fork.

I got up, and decided to move quickly, "so, want to go with me to the amusement park Thursday?"

"Are you asking me out?"

"No, I'm asking you to go to an amusement park with me."

She laughed with her cute little laugh and agreed to meet me on Thursday.


Chapter 4
1 week 3 days ago

Alright, this job is going well; time to do another job first.

I was on the ceiling of a house.

I took a coil of rope, attached one end to the roof and slid down the rope, stopped next to a window. I took out a screwdriver and undid the window hinges. I dropped quietly onto the floor. I can hear the snores of my target in the bedroom. I took out my dagger, and proceeded to the door.

I put my hand on the doorknob and twisted it. I walked over to the figure in the bed, and dived my dagger into its chest.

Nothing happened, blood didn't even spill out.

"Dummy!" I cursed under my breath; the target was smart enough to put a dummy into the bed.

Immediately, I dived down, just as a bit of the wall that was behind me burst apart from a gunshot.

"What? Did you think that a mob boss would that easy to kill?" said the voice of my target.

He continued endlessly firing streams of bullets in my direction, thanks to the bed, I was safe - for now.

Click - the friendly click of an empty guy.

I jumped to dive my dagger into the bastard's heart.

Only to be blocked by his gun.

"You see, kid, even an empty gun is useful," he then pushed my dagger away and whacked my face with the gun.

Damn bastard shouldn't have done that, not if he wanted to see the next morning.

The target takes out his sword.

"Ever seen a real sword kid? Made in Japan," he said smugly.

He aims for my neck and swings horizontally.

I duck under his sword, stabs my dagger into his guts, brought the dagger upwards slashed his heart into two, and continued upwards out of his left shoulder.

He fell down, shocked.

I wiped my blade and sheathed it.

The rest was easy, cleaned up the blood (got to love tile floors), took his body and threw it into the fireplace, started the fire, and left. Collected my money and went back home.

Job well done.


Chapter 5
1 week 2 days ago

It was Thursday.

Never realized it before, but she was the girl I was looking for.

I went to the amusement park, with flowers, I stayed away from the red ones though, reminds me of blood.

I saw her at the entrance and gave her the flowers.

She smiled and said, "They're lovely, Eric."

"Compare to you, they're nothing."

"You're so sweet."

And we proceed to the rides, which were fun and scary, imagine that, an assassin getting scared on a roller coaster.

We then went to some of the other stuff, like the Hall of Mirrors, Haunted House, etc.

At the end of the day, we were walking back home, when we were interrupted.

"Alright, give me your wallet and no one gets hurt."

He pointed his gun at us, held out his hand, expecting cooperation.

Right, you're holding up an assassin, buddy.

I took out my wallet and held it up.

He reached for it, at the same time I knocked the gun out of his hand, tripped him, took my jacket and tied his hands together.

After a while the police came took him away.

Judy was speechless.


Chapter 6
6 days ago

I went on a few more dates with Judy in the last few days, but enough about that.

Time to take care of another job first.

This one is going to be fun, five bastards at the same time.

After running up to the roof, I had to drop from balcony to balcony.

Sixth floor of one of the most expensive condominiums in the world, my clients sure know how to choose them.

They were sitting in a dark room, playing cards; one of them probably owned the place.

I quietly unlocked the balcony door, and slipped into the shadows.

"Come on kid, either make a bet or fold already," said one of the targets.

"I'll..."

"Die," I finished the sentence for the kid, stepped out of the shadows and pointed my gun at them.

They all stood up and faced me, except for one of them, who just sat there with his back facing me.

"Who are you?" yelled one of the targets that stood up.

"Your reason of death," and I shot him and the other three that stood up. All in the chest.

The one with his back facing me stood up, still with his back to me.

"How amateurish, you're doing it all wrong." This guy had a gun to his back and he was challenging me.

"What do you know about assassination?"

He laughed, "Fool, I'll make you remember my name!"

I cocked the gun and fired.

The target just stood there.

I fired again, right in the chest.

Nothing happened.

The target turned around, smirking, "Bullet proof vest, kid."

Crap, just what I needed, I wasted my six bullets and I have a wisecracking target.

He took out his gun.

I quickly dived out of the way, Bang!, the wall that was behind me was ripped by bullets.

I took out my dagger. Waited for the bastard to stop firing his machine gun, heard the reloading sounds, got up, threw the dagger.

"AHHHH!" the dagger sliced through his wrist and his right hand fell off.

I took out my other dagger, run up to him, and sliced off his head.

I looked down at the dead bastard, "If you had told me your name, I would have remembered it, but I guess you were too stupid to notice that."

I took the bodies to the garbage chute that led to an incinerator.

Collect my pay and went home.

Job well done.


Chapter 7
4 days ago

Two days until the Secretary of Defense's birthday party, and Judy still hasn't invited me yet.

This time I met her in a fancy restaurant.

"Judy, it's only been a few hours, and yet, you already look younger," I need better pickup lines.

She giggled, "You said to every other girl you've dated in high school."

"Yeah, but this time I mean it."

She giggled some more, that's a good sign.

We had dinner, she had pasta, I had steak, and I was actually happy.

We drank, we ate, we talked.

After dinner, we saw a movie, and even though it sucked, it was great because Judy was next to me.

Outside the cinema we kissed each other.

"I live just over there," she said.

"I know."

"So I'll see you tomorrow?"

Damn, still no invitation.

"Yeah."

We then went our separate ways, she walked off into the direction of her condo, I walked over to my car.

I turned around to look at her again, and then I notice two men following her.


Chapter 8
Still 4 days ago

I followed Judy, well technically I was following the men that were following Judy, which meant that I really was following Judy, but then I'm actually following the two men to ... you know what I mean.

The two men caught up to Judy. I stayed back, who knows, it might be a friend.

Of course, when two men point guns at you, it's probably not a friend.

They led Judy into an alleyway, which means that they're going to rob her, and if they feel like it, they will do more damage.

I quickly ran after them.

When I got there, one of them was saying, "Ok, I don't want to hurt you, but if I have to I will." Right, like you weren't planning to in the first place.

Judy was on the ground, probably pushed there.

"Ok, now that's established, give me your money and start taking o-"

I kicked him in the back.

The other bastard waved his gun around, and I kicked it out of his hands.

I grabbed the gun on the floor and I whacked his head with it.

"Put down the gun, or else!" Damn, that damn bastard has gotten back up and had taken Judy hostage.

"Ok, don't shoot!" I then threw the gun onto the ground.

"That's good, now turn around."

I stood there.

"Turn around now!"

I turned around.

The gun cocked.

I dived out of the way. Bang! Damn bastard was trying to kill an assassin.

I jumped up and charged at the guy. In his shock he had forgotten to point the gun back at Judy. I reached him and grabbed the gun and pointed it upwards, just as his finger pulled the trigger.

Click, click. No more ammo. I took the gun out of his hand and slammed it into his face.

He fell down.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"I think I'm fine."

"Good."

This time I had to use both my jacket and belt.


Chapter 9
Still 4 days ago, and like the last two chapters, it's still night

I was in her room.

"Thank you, Eric."

"No problem."

She looked at me, and I looked at her.

I kissed her, and she kissed back.

We fell onto the bed.

And then we started....


Chapter 10
2 days ago

Judy and me walked into the party room.

She finally invited me after our... night.

"So this is how politicians party, they stand there and talk some more about politics?"

"Sadly, yes." Judy replied.

And so we took to the dancing floor.

Of course, I couldn't forget about my job.

I watched the Secretary of Defense out of the corners of my eyes.

We ate, we danced, I waited.

"Why do you look so preoccupied today, Eric?"

"I'm just thinking about something important at work." Not entirely untrue.

"Forget about work Eric, it's suppose to be a party."

"You're right, sorry."

Then, the Secretary of Defense walked in the direction of the bathroom.

"Sorry, Judy, I have to use the lavatory."

I went the opposite direction of the Secretary of Defense, and stuck an "Out of Order" sign on the door and went into the other men's washroom.


Chapter 11
Still 2 days ago

I looked around, there wasn't anyone around.

I locked the door.

I walked into a stall.

I jumped up, and stretched my legs, one against each side of the stall, so that I stayed suspended above the toilet.

I unscrewed the ventilation gate, and went in.

I went through the vents, and reached the vent in the other men's washroom.

I put on my mask, and kicked the ventilation gate, dropped down behind the Secretary.

He turned around, I stab my dagger into his heart.

"Why...?"

"How should I know? I was hired."

I went back through the vents, into the other men's washroom.

Walked out and said, "Hi Judy."

Judy smiled, "That took long."

I shrugged.

Then someone screamed, "Help! Someone stabbed the Secretary of Defense!"

The police and medics came, they took statements from everyone.

"And which washroom did you go to?"

"That one," I pointed to the washroom on the opposite side of the room.

"Okay."

Before we left, I saw the Secretary of Defense's wife looking at me.


Chapter 12
Still 2 days ago, much later at night

I stared at my daggers. Before this job, I could just clean them and put them away for another job. However, this time, this job was too public, I cannot risk the murder weapon ever being connected to me.

And so, I cleaned them, and then I buried them, deep in the woods.


Chapter 13
1 day ago

I sat down on the sofa, on the news, all over the nation, people were talking about the Secretary of Defense's death.

Other news topics came up, and then, something caught my attention.

"Another tragic event has happened in this short time, Judy Lasso, the secretary of the Secretary of Defense has disappeared, police are now investigating whether this has anything to do with the death of the Secretary of Defense."

I sat, shocked.

Ring, ring. The phone rang, I picked it up.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hello, Eric Tanko?"

"Yes, who are you?"

"You killed my husband and I killed your girlfriend, I think that's fair."

"You bitch!"

"I have all the proof I need to put you in jail."

"What do you want?"

"I have several small requests, the list will arrived shortly."

"Forget it, I won't do it."

"Think about what you're saying, I can get you in jail anytime I want, however you have nothing on me, think about it. I'll call again to hear your decision."

She hung up, and I sat there.


Epilogue
Present

I cleaned up the spilled soda.

I then sat down and waited, the list had not arrived yet.

*Ding dong*. The doorbell rung.

I opened the door, and there was an envelope on the ground, I took it in and opened it.

In the envelope there was a piece of paper, the phone rang nearby, I picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I mumbled into the phone.

"By now, you should be looking at the list."

She must have delivered it herself.

"Yes."

"Your decision?"

I have nothing now, why not, it should be... fine

"Fine, sure, as long as you do one thing for me afterwards."

"What?"

"I want all the proof you have on me."

"Fine."

"Good."

"You have 2 weeks."

She hung up, and I looked at the list.