Things moved fast once the two men the Confederation had sent were dead. I pulled both bodies inside, closing Sophie's door as best I could while she sat on the sofa, staring at me like I was something out of a video game or a horror movie. I turned my attention to the two men, and started searching the bodies while I talked. "After my father moved us up from South Carolina, I got in a lot of trouble," I said as I knelt. "Nothing too bad, a few fights, dealing with bullies in school. Things went bad though when my father got into debt with a group that is called the Confederation around here. They are one of two groups that control most of the crime in not just this city, but a lot of the East Coast. A night of drunken gambling in Atlantic City left him owing them about fifty thousand dollars. I was fifteen at the time."
"For the first few years, most of what I did was errand boy stuff, running packets from one side of town to another, and gathering intelligence. I've always been pretty good at blending into the background when I want to, and the Confederation saw to it that I learned from some of their best. Since I worked for all of the various members of the Confederation, I wasn't constrained by any cultural boundaries. I learned how to pick locks and avoid security sensors from a Japanese ninjutsu master, while at the same time did jumping exercises with a Chinese kung-fu teacher who was in debt to the local Triads. The Confederation used my skills against their enemies, and against each other. I did a lot of spy work to pay off my father's debt."
"To let me out of my debt however, they upped the ante. My first hit was against one of the Confederation's own, a sick bastard named Clovis Methis who was not only running a nightclub for the Confederation, but exploiting teenage girls. When he happened to get the daughter of a rather rich businessman drugged and more, the Confederation sent me to kill him. He was my first hit. For it, I got fifty thousand dollars. And the ability to work as a freelancer."
Sophie looked at the two men, then at me. "How many?"
"Seventy-six, seventy four of which I was paid. In that time I've seen my fees raised to around a hundred thousand per hit. But, I've always had a rule that, until tonight, the Confederation respected. No innocent blood. Every death I've caused has been a piece of human scum that, if the police had caught him, would have earned him a life sentence at the very least, if not the death penalty."
"What do you mean, until tonight?"
I finished my sweep of the two bodies, taking the men's weapons, wallets, keys and other materials. While I'm sure the cops would investigate, it would at least throw them off the trail for a bit. I wasn't worried about my prints being on the bodies, I've never been fingerprinted in my life. "One of the Confederation members, in fact the most powerful member, is a man named Salvatore Giordano. He's what you might call the Godfather of this town. Sal had an extra rule, one that he had a reason for, but I broke. Sal's rule is that any hitman, even a freelancer like me, could not be in a relationship with anyone. My peers and I called it the two date rule. And until I met you, I had no problems following that rule. You changed that for me."
Sophie sat back, blinking. "I fell in love with a contract killer. Jesus."
"It gets worse," I said, hurriedly throwing the weapons into my backpack. "Sal found out about us. That man, Lefort, he's known as The Frog, and he's Giordano's top lieutenant. I didn't even know that they knew where I lived, that condo is owned under another name. Nothing I own is in my real name. Anyway, after you left, Giordano called me, set up a meeting. He said that I picked the worst woman in the world to have as a girlfriend. You know who Owen Lynch is?"
"Yes. He's the deputy mayor of the City. I've seen him at the Shamrock a few times, he's friends with the Devitts." Sophie looked like she didn't know if she was going to run, puke, or faint. I guessed it was better than screaming, so I just kept her talking, letting everything come out before she could stop me. "He's also the most corrupt criminal of them all. You ever watch that TV show, Person of Interest? You know, the one starring the guy who played Jesus in the movie?"
"Yeah, Tabby likes to watch. She thinks Jim Caviezel's cute."
"Well, the corrupt cops in the show, that group they called HR? Let's just say Owen Lynch and his group is about five times worse. There's a reason no cop has had charges brought on them for assault, attempted murder, or any form of homicide since Lynch has been in city government. And, he's the actual owner of the Shamrock. I don't know the two who hit us tonight, so I don't know if they are Confederation men who were sent by Sal because Sal knew I wouldn't do what he wanted, or if they're some of Lynch's boys who came to kidnap you to put pressure on me. But apparently everyone knows we're together, and neither side is happy about it."