The Merinan Candidate I
On His Excellency's Secret Service
Abebe Zenawi; Little Katamba, Belmont, KaedwenThe night was dark, but still warm, as the man and the woman walked hand-in-hand along the Belmont shoreline. Strains of distant music punctuated the gentle heave of the waves, and smells of beer and food drifted across the beach from the little groups crowded around their fires on the sand. The beach was popular with couples, and few gave these two a second glance, though perhaps they ought have. Taking care to guard their conversation from prying ears, the pair talked quietly as they walked, to all the world no different to any other of the young couples taking in the last of the warm evenings.
"Have you decided where to do the job?" Asked she, gazing at him with dark eyes shining with the reflection of distant firelight.
"Aye, we have" He replied, with a nod and a little smirk.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Well, where is it?" She asked, smiling with her lips, though not with her eyes "Don't play coy, I only have to pretend to love you, you know?"
"Oh, so I do" He laughed softly, casting a furtive glance out towards the sea, where the moon was reflected in brilliant white, before locking eyes again with his partner "So I do indeed. We'll not get into that damned tower, not without a rare scrap, so we'll get him on his way to dinner"
"On his way to dinner?" She raised a quizzical eyebrow. Not by much, but by enough "Don't tell me, you've asked him out on a date, is that it?"
"You're not far off, you know that?" He grinned, quite handsomely before the grin ran into a nasty sneer "We've been getting information from one of his women, jealous bitch. Turns out he's arranged to go to some posh do or another with someone younger, one of those expensive restaurants on the Quayside. We'll get him then, in and out through the traffic before johnny law's any the wiser"
"My, how bold of you" She swooned pithily, smirking "Why is it you've never taken me out somewhere that nice?"
They both laughed at this. It was all very natural. Another ten minutes found the pair at the metro station, waiting on the platform for the train which would carry her home, and out of his life, perhaps forever. Though their relationship was entirely professional, Abebe felt he would miss his little accomplice. There was a certain fire in her soul that he found - though he'd never admit to such - intoxicating. As the lights of the train appeared in the distance, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled herself close to him, gazing up at him as if transfixed.
"Good luck, my brave warrior" She smiled prettily "I shall have to find some way to reward you... the next time we meet"
"I'm sure you'll be able to think of something" He leered back, considering for a moment, before adding: "Though paying on time wouldn't hurt either"
"A single track mind, this man" She shook her head, smirking "You'll get your money as soon as the body's cold. And a little extra, too, now those bastard Aschlonians have been cut out"
"Hmph, maybe I will take you out to dinner after all" He jibed "They were no good anyway, told you that from the start"
"Neither here nor there" She shrugged, as a gust of wind across the platform announced the arrival of her train. The doors came open with a hiss, and suddenly the platform was awash with people. Scarcely pausing for breath, she lent in close to whisper tenderly in his ear: "Just stay safe. And don't fuck this up"
And then, with a waft of lilac-scented perfume, she was gone.
"Goodbye, Vera..." He looked after her, but she was long lost to the swirling crowd "Stay safe..."
The next train carried him to a small flat on the other side of Little Katamba, which he shared with his three housemates, a creeping dry rot problem, and a burgeoning collection of illegal arms and explosives. The others were long since asleep by the time he got in, and Abebe thought for a while, perching on the counter in their little kitchen. He thought of the job at hand, he though of the man who must die, and he thought of all that would be his once this was done. Fame, maybe, but for sure fortune and, if he was lucky, maybe Vera as well...