This morning during a work trip, a few minutes after walking into my apartment, I put my luggage down near the closet in the hall. Heading into my dining room, I glanced over at the telephone and saw my answer machine light blinking. I checked it, and it turns out I received a few important messages from my younger cousin. She needed my help badly, she did not go into details over the telephone.

Lucy begged me to get to her house soon. Replay the voice messages to make sure I got the address correct. It has been years since I last saw or talked to her. Last I heard from her, she had started a job at some big law firm in Houston.

I pick up my overnight bag where I place it by the hall closet and grab my house keys on the  nail above the bag. Then, I rushed toward Houston. 

I knew right away something was off soon as I slid out of the taxi. Her front door was open more than a few inches.

Walking up to the door, using the toe of my shoe to push the door open a bit more. I walk inside her house stopping about three feet into the home. Tears raced down my face,  as I looked across the room seeing my cousin’s body in a puddle of her blood in the middle of her living room. 

Lucy was clearly murdered with a gunshot wound in the back of the head. Hands zipped tied behind her back. Looking her over, got me thinking it was most likely done by a hired killer. Quickly scan her home for anyone that was foolish enough to be hiding inside. Found her laptop, it did not take me long to hack into it, and recover deleted files.

 I walked right back out the door, standing on her front porch. Called the police and reported her death. Standing on the curb of the road watching the coroner load her body into the van.  I scanned the crowd of onlookers to see if anyone was the reason for this. No one in the crowd stood out. Right then I decided to find the person or persons responsible for her death.  

 During the next few days after her death. I studied her files, took notes on her latest cases. Went to the dark web and found out there was an open contract out on her. She had two big open cases, a few of the criminals had the funds to hire an assassin to get the job done.

Going through her files the second time, finding the ones with the most to lose.  After looking into the two wealthiest men with cases against them, put a star near their names. I started using all my resources to find out who put a hit on an upcoming lawyer. Also to find out who accepted the job.

I visited a known assassin bar and grill on the other side of town.  I ordered a shot of Hot Dam to calm my nerves a bit, seconds later I went to work.

Being a professional  myself, I know how to extract information from people. I had a good talk with one of my coworkers. Payed the owner of the bar for some damage done to the men's restroom.

 My patient was wearing thin by the time I found who I was looking for. The newcomer to this ugly business of taking lives, was no match for me. It took less than a minute to subdue him.

"I have a few questions for you. How you answer them, depends on whether you live tonight," I said as I placed my Glock in front of me.

He answered all my questions in vivid detail. Proving he was the one that did the killing. I took a deep breath, I slid my Glock within his reach hoping he would try something.

Therefore, I could let go of all this rage inside of me. After beating him bloody, the young hitman was left in the middle of a vacant house with two holes to the chest and one between his eyes.

Went back to the motel room to look up a man that owns coffee houses.  Found the file of one  Mark Zebedee of Sweets and More coffee houses. 

According to the dead hitman, he was the one who ordered the hit on Lucy. My cousin brought him up on money laundering and a few other charges. She had a solid case against him. 

I researched everything I could about the man. My fingers pressed the delete button on his files. Jail was too nice for him. I had a better punishment plan for him.

 I walked into the main coffee house, ordered two bear claws and chocolate chip mocha café coffee. Here comes a sugar high I don't need, but heck I'm a chocolate addict. I sat in the far corner, my back to the wall and watched as the place cleared out. 

I thought to myself, if I knew I was probably going to be spending a long time in prison.  Would it make sense to be with my family? Sure as hell would not be at work most of the day. Unless I knew that the one person that could send me to prison was dead. That thought alone gave me another reason to believe he was guilty of Lucy's death. 

Slowly and quietly walk to the door and turn the closed sign on as I lock it. Stepping behind the counter while the young clerk was facing the door. Pushing the needle into his neck, he will be unconscious for at least an hour.  I do not kill unless I need to.

Walking all over the bakery making sure no one else was there. I stopped by the DVD player and destroyed the security disks dropping them into the deep fryer.

The back office was my destination, I quickly headed that way.

Mark was found eating a steak in his office. He looked up long enough to see who was responsible for his death.

" This is for Lucy, may you burn in hell," as I pulled the trigger hitting my mark.

 Mark was left just as Lucy was left in a puddle of his own blood. I added zipped ties to his hands. I hacked into his computer to transfer funds from his account to one of my many overseas accounts. Then, I quickly copied all his files and then emailed them to the FBI.

On my way out, I helped myself to a dozen chocolate covered bear claws.

By Nioma Strength

From: United States