Only Mine

Chapter 14

"Mr. Renauld, to what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?"

The voice on the phone had the remnants of a Scottish accent. He was one of my most valuable contacts that I had acquired over the tumultuous course of my business. I remember meeting him on one of the most fateful days of my life, by a pure chance of destiny, if you believed in the powers of the universe. 

"I might require your expertise," I said. 

I heard a small puff of laughter on the other end. No doubt he had been expecting this call sooner rather than later. 

"What have you gotten yourself into now?" he asked. 

"Nothing particularly troubling as of now. But I might need you to . . . eliminate a problem for me at the opportune moment," I said.

"You're capable of getting your hands dirty just fine. Why do you need me?" he asked me. 

"I'll be needing a longer contract frame," I said cryptically. 

"Reconnaissance? Before killing your target?," he said. 

You could hear the interest my particular request had garnered. In our business, we usually kept the reconnaissance in house and gave a contract for target execution. Reconnaissance was a tiring and lengthy ordeal that costed valuable time and money. I usually let my junior employees handle it for me, but this particular target required delicate care. 

The man on the other end of the phone had come a long way from home. Once, nothing but a poor Scottish boy with ginger hair and lofty ambitions of breaking into finance, he had managed to flip his life around. Gone was the abashed adolescent, and what's left in its wake was a man who was revered within the Underworld community. Not many people knew how to reach him. I was one of the few who had been granted this honor. 

I stopped walking at the sign of the red light and waited among the pedestrians while the traffic slowly moved past me. Cars moved sluggishly, completely in pace with the motivation that spurred its driver. I contemplated once again if the move I was going to make was smart.

"I'd like to be as far away from this one," I said. 

There was a pause at the other end while the man digested this information.

"This will be a first. Is it anyone I may know of?," he said.