Pink Lips (12 page)

“Seven,” Kail said to the sales associate. “I got you, Choice.”

“These are six thousand-dollar shoes.” The sales associate looked at Kail in shock.

“Did I ask you the fucking price?” Kail asked, raising her voice. “I can see, bitch, I know what they cost. I didn't ask your seven-dollar-an-hour-making-ass shit, so just go get the shoe, come back, and don't say shit else.”

“I'm sorry,” she said as she ran off to get the shoes.

“I hate when these motherfuckas act like you don't belong here.” Kail looked at other shoes.

“You see that shit?” Willow said to Choice, referring to the sales associate. “See how they treat us when we come to these stores to spend money? Now, how do you think it feels to walk out of here in a shoe that none of these hoes that work here can afford?”

“It would make me feel good,” Choice said as they all started to laugh.

“Is your name Willow?” a girl who looked no older than sixteen asked as she approached them.

“Who wants to know?” Kail looked at the girl.

The white girl wore heavy black lipstick. Her hair was cut in a short boy cut and her pants were big at the bottoms. Chains hung from the loops on her belt line and fell onto the skulls that were stitched into her pants.

“I have something to give you.” She handed Kail the envelope.

“Yo, who the fuck was that?” Choice asked as they watched the girl walk out of the store.

“I don't know.” Willow grabbed the envelope from Kail's hands.

“Ma'am,” the sales associate said as she returned with the shoes, “I can ring you up over here.”

“Didn't I tell yo' ass not to speak?” Kail said, walking to the counter.

“Open it,” Choice told her as she stood next to her.

Willow ripped at the edges of the small cream envelope as curiosity possessed her. She didn't know who the envelope could have been from, but she was certain to find out. She took out a white piece of paper that was stuffed neatly inside and unfolded it. She held it up, looked at the front and back of it, and read the small paragraph.

“I have a job for you. I know who you are and what you do. Call this number from an unmarked phone and I will give you all of the details
,
V.
” Her eyes skimmed over the number as she memorized it before tearing up the letter.

“Who is V?” Choice asked.

“A potential client.” Willow walked up to Kail as she finished her transaction. “That envelope was a job.”

“From who?” Kail handed the expensive shoes to Choice.

“Someone named V. He or she knows who we are, and what we do. They want us to call the number on the envelope from an unmarked phone,” Willow said as they left the store.

“Do you think it's a job or is someone playing with us?” Kail asked, her adrenaline pumping at the thought of doing a job.

“Let's find out.” Willow cut through the food court to escalators, throwing the torn pieces of paper in her hand in a random trashcan.

“What if it's a setup?” Choice asked with a nervous tone.

“Don't worry,” Kail told her as they stepped outside of the mall, “Willow will know.”

Willow led them outside to the payphone that was inside a small opening surrounded by plastic. She held her hands out for someone to give her quarters as shoppers passed them left and right. The sounds of the cars' tires in the parking lot fighting with the snow could be heard as Choice placed three quarters into the palm of Willow's hand.

Willow stood there with the door to the payphone nearly shut
to drown out the sounds from the busy mall parking lot. She put the quarters inside of the payphone and dialed the number as she mouthed each number with her lips. She let the phone ring as the breeze from the cold joined her inside of the booth.

“What took you so long to call?” V asked after picking up the phone.

“The job,” Willow said, cutting the small talk from the conversation.

“Strictly business,” V said from the other end of the phone. “I like that.”

“The job,” Willow repeated with a good mind to hang up.

“It's an assassination job. I need someone dead by the end of the night.”

“Payment?”

“You will find one hundred thousand dollars under the driver's seat of your car.”

“It will get completed.” Willow took the phone away from her ear to hang up.

“Wait,” V said, causing Willow to put the phone back to her ear. “Don't you want to know how I know about you?”

“If it will change how much money we get for this job, then maybe. But, seeing as I already got payment, how you know me doesn't matter. It won't change the fact that you do know me and what I do.” She hung up the phone.

Willow walked past Choice and Kail to get to her car. It didn't sit well with her to know that someone that she didn't know had been inside of her whip. She had to see if the money was there. She looked around her as she felt herself being watched.

“So is it legit?” Kail asked, catching up to her.

“Let me see something and I will let you know.” She hit the alarm to her car.

Willow put her purse and bags in the seat as she reached down
to feel underneath it. She pulled a medium-sized envelope out as she turned around to show it to Kail and Choice. She opened up the envelope as she revealed its contents. One hundred thousand dollars, and a small piece of paper with a name, a photo, an address, and other information peeked through the opening.

“Assassination, one hundred thousand.” She looked at Kail and Choice.

“By when?” Kail looked inside at the money.

“Tonight,” Willow answered as she closed the envelope and tossed it in the seat.

“Let's get it,” Kail said with a smile.

“Choice, we will get you up to speed on the way to the crib to switch out cars,” Willow said as Choice nodded.

“Switch cars?” Kail put her bags in the backseat. “We can just go work this now and be done with it.”

“Kail, someone was in the car. Whoever this person is we don't know. They could have bugged the car or anything. Let's be smart. We get in this car, keep our conversations mild, and once we get to the house, we will get Choice up to speed on the plan we use for all of our assassinations.” Willow got inside of the car.

“You right,” Kail agreed as she went around the car to get in. “I wonder what this Tony cat did to deserve this.”

Willow sped off after Kail and Choice got into the car. She didn't trust this V character, but she knew that she needed him just as much as he needed her. If she did enough jobs for him, then the name of The Pink Lip Bandits would spread, and word of mouth was the only way to promote their kind of business.

•  •  •

Willow, Kail, and Choice staked out the address that V had given them on the paper. They had been outside of the building observing
for two hours and their target had been in and out of the building multiple times. They waited for their chance to make their move. When they saw him not coming out after another hour had passed, they knew it was time.

“We have the element of surprise.” Willow got out of the car, Choice and Kail following her lead. “He doesn't know he has a hit on him, and by the time he realizes it, he will be dead.”

“One shot from each gun,” Kail said to Choice as they crossed the street to get to the building.

Willow glanced wearily at the dull gray cement walls, knowing that she would commit a murder inside. The bright flowers outlining the walkway seemed to droop a little more. The ivy fighting to find purchase on the smooth walls had lost their spirit due to the snow. Willow scuffed her heel on the perfectly trimmed green grass that had snow recently shovelled from it as they made it to the entrance of the building.

Willow pulled her jacket tighter around her, as if seeking warmth from the unforgiving leather. She buzzed a random button at the entrance and waited for someone to respond through the wholly white-colored intercom box that had all of the apartment numbers.

“May I help you?” a voice chimed through the intercom.

“We're here to see a friend, but we forgot what apartment he's in.”

“Do you have a name?” the voice asked.

“Tony, but we wanted to surprise him; it's his birthday, so please, don't tell him that we're here,” Willow said while the door slowly swung open.

“You got it, and please enjoy your friend's birthday.”

“We sure will,” Willow said as they entered the building.

Kail led the way in her thick, navy blue trench coat, with bronze-colored buttons that ended just above her waistline. Underneath
the long coat was a large black skirt that billowed around her in the cold, winter air. A red scarf was wrapped tightly around her neck, the tails of the scarf dripping down to her thighs. Her wide brownish-green eyes reflected the gentle harmony of the season as small flakes of snow had fallen onto strands of her long, lovely hair.

Choice was next in line—her new six thousand-dollar heels felt good to her feet as she walked behind Kail. Her stomach was flipping like flapjacks on the grill at a diner, but the money she'd seen earlier motivated her to shake it off. She had never made thirty thousand dollars in one night and the thought of it made her eyes twinkle. She was used to making three thousand dollars a night and now that she could keep her clothes on, there was no way she was going to mess up the opportunity to get paid real money.

Willow was last in line; she was the back man. In her mind, she was the smartest and if something went wrong, with her in the back she could easily think of a plan to get them all out of there safely. All of the assassination jobs they had ever done were two-people jobs, but now with Choice, it gave them that extra security.

Kail slowed down as planned. Choice passed her, leaving her and Willow around a corner from their target, Tony's apartment. They watched as Choice knocked on the door. They grabbed two baseball bats from in front of the door where they were standing. They checked her face for any signs of nervousness, but to their surprise, she seemed to have it together.

“Do you think she can pull it off?” Kail asked, never taking her eyes off Choice.

“She better,” Willow watched Choice bang on the door again, “this is her one and only test.”

Tony wrinkled his nose at the sound of the door. As a precaution,
he pulled out his pistol, and made his way toward the wooden door. He peeped out of the peephole and when he saw a beautiful woman on the other end, he opened it with a hurry, hiding his gun with a part of the door as it opened.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“My friend needs help moving some furniture next door and she told me a strong-looking man stayed next door.” Choice bit her bottom lip. “I was hoping you could give us a hand.”

Choice was no stranger to getting men to do what she wanted. Although she had a man, before him she had dudes from the hood wrapped around her fingers. Seducing a man was in her genes and it was something that she did well.

“I would love to,” Tony said, looking her body up and down. “Let me put something up and I'll be right out.”

Choice waited as Kail and Willow made their move and stood on each side of the door. Things were going exactly how Willow had planned. If things continued to go smoothly, they would be out of the building in less than ten minutes. The door opened, and Willow and Kail swung the baseball bats at Tony at the same time with all of their might, sending him flying backward.

Tony saw it coming, but it had caught him off-guard. He felt the steel substance make contact with his muscle, watching it smash his entrails together like a rogue freight train. He felt blood vessels burst and his diaphragm collapse under the force the fist packed behind it. His breath instantly left his body for dead as he doubled over. His knees buckled from the force of the blow, and as he went down, he could have sworn he heard a cracking noise ricochet between his ribs. Fire ran through every fiber of his abdomen, and he tasted bile, adrenaline and a hint of blood.

As his crumpled body hit the ground, he gasped for air, but
oxygen eluded his grasp. His head was swimming as his organs regained their original volume: going from a pancake-like mass to their original life-saving state. He somehow managed to roll over and vomit.

“Handle that.” Willow looked at Choice.

Choice advanced slowly, the gun in her hand trembling slightly. Tony crawled slowly until he reached a corner, trying to create distance between himself and his soon-to-be killer. He smiled, knowing that there was nothing he could do to change what would happen.

She lunged forward, hitting his face with the butt of the gun, hitting his shoulder. He screamed in pain and darted to the left of her, tripping and falling to the floor as he tried to stand up. She lunged at him again, this time slicing his head open. Blood poured, spattering his face and chest. He moaned in agony, knowing the worst was yet to come.

Choice stood over him, watching as his tears met blood, creating small red designs on his face and neck. His eyes weren't on her. They danced furtively around the room, looking for something that could save his life. There was nothing.

Tony looked at the other two girls that entered the room whom he hadn't really noticed yet. His eyes glued to Willow's and instantly he recognized her. He knew what he had done back then would come to haunt him one day. It was karma and it was time to pay the piper.

“Willow,” he huffed. “You sure have grown up.”

Kail looked at Willow as she looked at the man. She didn't recognize him, even from her childhood in the projects of Philly. She didn't know him, but he said her name with so much conviction that a stranger would have thought they had history.

“How do you know my name?” Willow asked.

“I've known you since you were a baby.” He wiped the blood that was gushing down from the open wound off his face.