The Green Girl ✓

Business

Caden POV

When I arrived at the meeting spot, Keegan and Asher were already there waiting for me.

"Is everything ready for tomorrow?" I asked as they got in the car.

"Yeah, everything is cool," Keegan answered from the seat next to mine.

"Are you sure? Because if something goes wrong then this guy Marc will be less than pleased and guess who he is going to take it out on!"

"Yes, Cade, everything is fine," he answered completely calm as I started the car.

Well, I guess he had no reason to worry; Marc had hired only me and he didn’t know I was working with these two and then splitting the money between us. The guy had employed me to relocate a certain item. And by “relocate” I meant taking it from the address he gave me and bringing it to him.

The address was of a house in a middleclass neighborhood. He had given me details about the place and the security system and told me when two of the three people living there will be out. The thing was I never trusted other people’s information so I decided to check the place out myself. And it was a good thing I did because I found out several things that would’ve gotten in my way if I hadn’t.

First: the couple that lived there – the Chen family, had a teenaged daughter. Marc had told me mommy and daddy will be going to a banquet tomorrow night but he hadn’t mentioned their kid wasn’t going with them.

Second: they had a dog; a Doberman to be precise.

Third: they had a very, very curious neighbor. She was one of those old ladies who were always peaking through the windows and never learned to stay out of other people’s business.

So now I had to get rid of the daughter and neighbor and find a way to keep the dog quiet. The girl and the Doberman were easy but the old woman…

"Ash, got any ideas on the neighbor?"

"Nothing," the boy answered, shaking his head.

"Can’t we just drug her like the dog?" Keegan asked.

"Keegan, we can’t put sleeping powder in the woman’s food!" Ash protested.

"Well, you said yourself that we don’t know how to get rid of her and we can’t have her poking her nose into our business."

"So you’re seriously considering it?"

"That is a lot of money, Ash, even when split in three."

"Keegan, I can’t believe you’re…"

"What if," I interrupted their bickering, "we use her curiosity against her?"

"That could work." Ash nodded, sounding considerably calmer than when he was speaking with our friend. "But what do you have in mind?"

I smirked and muttered:

"You’ll see…"

*****

It was now Monday evening and so far everything was going according to plan.

Mr. and Mrs. Chen had gotten in their car and gone to the banquet.

I’d figured out a way to get rid of their nosy neighbor; all it took was to place on her doorstep a letter addressed to little Ms Chen. It was supposedly signed by the girl’s lover who offered her to meet him in a certain place and discuss the two of them running away together. I’d deliberately chosen a location far from the house. And it worked. Thinking the note was left on her porch by mistake and wanting to see who the lover was, the old lady had left her house and headed for the meeting point.

As for the daughter herself… Well, Keegan took care of Ms. Chen. Yesterday he “accidentally” bumped into her and then asked her out. She agreed so now the two of them were on a date. She was cute so I was pretty sure he wouldn’t mind keeping her busy. Going out with her had one more advantage: she had confirmed that her parents were out tonight.

The only one left to take care of now was Bao. Keegan had found out from the girl that was the Doberman’s name.

I looked down the street and noticed the car Ash had taken for tonight. He had parked it several houses away from my destination and was on the lookout.

I approached the fence to the back yard where the doghouse was.

"Bao, oh, Bao! Come here boy!" I called quietly and took a steak out of the bag I was carrying. I heard a low growl and saw the dog approach me. "Good boy, Bao! Here! Look what I got for you! A nice juicy treat all for you, boy."

I threw the meat over the fence and the dog viciously attacked it. I tried not to think that if I’d followed Marc’s instructions and hadn’t checked things on my own, those sharp teeth would be tearing my flesh right now and not the steak. In a moment the meat was gone and the dog slowly crept in my direction once more.

"Come on, come on!" I thought, waiting for the sleeping powder that was in the steak to take effect. "Work already!"

The dog stopped walking. I could see its eyes shutting. Then it just sort of stumbled to the ground. It tried to get up again but it couldn’t. A few tries later, it gave up. I waited a bit more just to make sure it was asleep and then jumped over the fence.

I disarmed the alarm, tampered with the front door lock and got inside.

Wow, nice place! It looked comfy and homely. How did Mr. Chen got involved with Marc? Well, it was none of my business. Besides, appearances lie. Just because I could see him smiling on the family pictures in the hallway, it doesn’t mean that he was a good person.

I headed for where Marc had told me the study was located. It was locked so I had to mess with that lock as well.

I went inside, looking for Mr. Chen’s portrait. No, I wasn’t stealing the painting. I was taking what was behind it. The portrait was hanging on the wall to my left. I took it down with my gloved hands and looked at the safe that was now in front of me. How had my employer gotten the combination to it I did not know. I opened the safe and there my target was: a little wooden box with Chinese symbols that I was supposed to bring to Marc.

I took the thing and looked at it with curiosity. It was so light that I wondered whether it actually had anything in it. Or maybe it was the symbols on the outside that Marc was interested in. I had no idea what they meant; I didn’t speak Chinese. Whichever the case was, it was none of my business. I was paid to deliver, not to ask questions.

I put the box inside my bag and went outside.

All seemed quiet. I went to the back yard and passed the still sleeping Bao. I jumped over the fence once more and headed home but I couldn’t help wondering again what was so special about the little wooden box that I was carrying.