The Killer’s New Obsession by B.B. Hamel
Cam
Irene sat low in the passenger side of my sedan as we cruised through North Philly toward Kensington. The houses in this part of the city were rundown, some of them abandoned and overgrown with weeds. Various gangs owned these streets, though the Healy family was behind a lot of their power. The Valentinos had little pockets of control, but not enough to make a strong claim on any corners.
I glanced over at Irene as she stared out the window. I bet she stayed in this part of the city a lot these past couple years. It was the neighborhood that time forgot, the poorest part of the city where cops rarely bothered to roam and the blocks looked after themselves as much as they could. Half the street lights were broken out and somehow the moon and stars seemed brighter around here. The night enveloped North Philly in a way it didn’t in the rest of the city, and it felt like we were in another world.
“It’s a shame, what happened here,” Irene said softly, looking up at a row home with a big gothic peak in the front. Some of the buildings were truly gorgeous, though in disrepair. Folks around here couldn’t afford the upkeep that hundred-year-old decorations demanded, and the city didn’t give a damn about them anyway.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Just the way all the jobs left and now look at it.” She gestured around and shrugged. “Lots of good people live in this place, you know. Not their fault there isn’t any money.”
“I know,” I said softly, then leaned over the steering wheel. “I think that’s the place.”
Ahead at the end of the block was a row home standing along with a street on its right and a trash-strewn lot on its left. The door was painted blue, which was exactly what Sasha told us to look out for.
Sasha was one of the names Kira gave us before leaving town. Sasha seemed interested in my plan and said she’d be willing to help—if we helped her first.
I passed the house, went around the block, and parked midway down the street. I spotted two other cars I recognized. “Linc and Franco are in position,” I said.
“Are you sure about this?” Irene asked. “The last time we went to a meeting with one of Kira’s girls, it ended in an ambush.”
I grunted and shook my head. I wasn’t sure at all, but I couldn’t tell her that. Fact was, I had a plan, but I needed at least one girl to turn and help us, and I hoped that would be Sasha. She seemed interested, eager almost, and I liked that she wasn’t shy about asking for something right away, as if she’d been waiting for someone to approach her like this.
“We’re going in anyway,” I said, killing the engine. “You know your part?”
“Stay here and keep quiet,” she said, sliding down further. “I can handle that.”
“Good. Keep the doors locked.” I stepped out of the car, fingering the gun shoved into my waistband. “It’s a bad neighborhood, after all.” I gave her a wolfish grin, shut the door, and walked down the block.
Figures stepped out of the other cars. Linc in his black jeans and black shirt, and Franco and Alvaro, both of them loading their guns. I met up with the group and we hurried into the abandoned lot beside the house, crouching down next to a pile of burned and half-melted tires.
“We need the girl alive,” I said softly. “Just Sasha. Nobody else.”
“What if more want to come?” Linc asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “We can’t trust any of them.”
“We can trust this girl?” Franco asked.
I exchanged looks with Linc. He helped set this up, and he knew as well as I did that nobody could be trusted.
“You two take the back,” I told Franco and Alvaro, ignoring his question, which was answer enough. “We’ll go in the front.”
Franco grunted in response and moved with Alvaro shadowing him. The guys moved fast toward the house’s back yard and I waited for them to get into position.
“You got Irene in the car?” Linc asked.
I nodded. “I need someone who can talk to the girl.”
“Smart,” he said. “Dangerous though.”
“She’s safe,” I said. “She knows that if she hears gunshots and we’re not back soon, she’ll drive the hell out of here and head to the Don’s house.”
Linc peered out over the tires. “They’re ready. Let’s move.”
I darted out from behind the tires and headed to the front of the house. The windows were blocked with blinds and curtains but light bled out from between them. I heard shouts, then a loud bang, and I guessed Franco and Alvaro were shoving their way in through the back.
I went to slam my shoulder against the front door—but stopped and tried the knob first. It opened without a problem and I glanced back at Linc, grinning at him as I kicked the door open.
I stepped into a smoky living room with my gun raised. Half-dressed girls lounged with men smoking cigars on the couch. They had drinks in their hands, and porn played on TV, a big guy with massive muscles ramming into some little girl in a skirt and pigtails. “Any of you move and you’re fucking dead,” I said, walking toward the group. “Hands up right now, get them up in the air.”
The girls complied right away. The guys hesitated. One was big, round shoulders, huge gut. The other had his hair cut almost straight to the scalp and had zig-zag patterns cut along his temples.
Alvaro came from the back with two girls in front of him, both of them topless. Franco followed with his gun to a guy’s temple.
I moved closer to the couch.
“Hands up now,” I said.
“You’re in the wrong place,” the big guy said, showing teeth. “You dumb asshole.”
“I’m here for someone,” I said. “Doesn’t need to be ugly.”
“Gonna be,” Zig-zag said. “Gonna be if you keep waving that gun around.”
“Hands up. I won’t ask again.” I stared at them for a long beat.
Zig-zag lunged for the coffee table. A handgun lay next to a giant bottle of beer. I shot him in the shoulder, then again in the head, and Linc put two in the big guy’s chest. His blood spurted out and covered the girls to either side of him, and both scrambled away screaming.
Franco put his guy down with a shot to his skull. The man crumpled and hit with a dull thud.
I grabbed one of the girls trying to get away by her hair. She screamed and kicked at me, but I held her away as Linc went and checked the stairs.
“Sasha,” I said. “Looking for a girl named Sasha.”
The girl swatted at my hand. “Let me go, motherfucker,” she said. “Sasha’s upstairs, you asshole. You killed them, oh, fuck, I’m going to get beaten for this.”
I let her go and headed to the stairs. I gave Alvaro a look. “Cover them,” I said.
Linc was already climbing up. It was quiet in the hallway and hot as hell. The house didn’t have air conditioning, and the humidity sat above the wood floor like fog. I checked the first room and found two girls crouched behind a bed, terrified. “Sasha?” I asked.
One pointed next door. I saluted her with the gun and went to the next room.
I kicked the door open and entered, gun raised, only to find a girl sitting at the end of her bed wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt with a bag on her shoulder. She had dark brown hair swept over one shoulder and big, round cheeks. Her full lips were painted red, and her big blue eyes stared with me with a vicious smile. She was pretty, though in a rough way, and not even remotely my type.
“Took you long enough,” she said, standing up. She was taller than I would’ve guessed, close to six feet. “Did you kill anyone?”
“Three guys downstairs,” I said, frowning at her. The room was nice with a big, comfortable bed, a little desk with a laptop, and a neat nightstand. The walls were covered with old boy band posters that were faded and ripped at the edges. “Are you Sasha?” I asked.
“Of course,” she said and stepped toward me. “You’re getting me out of here.” She extended a hand and I reluctantly shook.
“Cam,” I said, bewildered.
She grinned. “Let’s go, Cam. You know all these girls are gonna get beaten for this, right?”
“Not my problem,” I said, and led Sasha into the hallway. Linc came behind us, frowning at me, and I only shrugged.
We descended the steps. The girls were huddled in the kitchen, away from the corpses. Alvaro stood near them while Franco watched the front door.
“Let’s go,” I said. “Leave the girls.”
Alvaro followed with Franco bringing up the rear. Linc cleared the street, then I hurried Sasha back to my car while the others disappeared into the night. I hustled her into the back seat, then got behind the wheel and peeled out. The last I saw of that cat house was a single girl standing in the doorway screaming curses out into the night.
Irene blinked at me rapidly then looked back at Sasha. “Uh, hey,” Irene said. “My name’s Irene.”
“Sasha,” she said, extending her hand.
Irene gave me a look and shook it. “Did everything go okay in there?” Irene asked.
“Went fine,” I said. “Killed three guys.”
“The girls are going to get beaten for that,” Sasha said again.
“Still not my problem,” I said through clenched teeth.
Irene gave me a sharp look. “We didn’t mean for that to happen,” she said. “Is there anything we can do?”
“Nope,” Sasha said, sounding chipper. “Just figured you should know. If he’d just yelled for me, I would’ve come down and nobody had to get hurt.”
“The guy with the design in his hair went for a gun,” I said. “Didn’t give me much choice.”
“Oh, Marcus,” she said. “He’s an idiot. Probably better than he’s dead.” She rolled her eyes.
Irene stared at me then laughed. “I have to say, you’re not what we expected,” she said.
“What did you expect?” Sasha asked.
“Someone scared,” I said.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Sasha said, “but I haven’t been scared since they took me from home and ruined my life. No, I’m not scared, I’m only very, very pissed off, and when you called, I figured this was my chance to get some revenge.” Sasha leaned forward, grinning evilly. “So was I right, Cam and Irene? Is this my chance?”
I exchanged a look with Irene then laughed. She grinned back at me, and I nodded slowly as I drove into the night.
“Yeah, Sasha,” Irene said. “This is your chance all right.”
“Good,” Sasha said, sitting back against the seat. “Now, I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat.”
“Okay then,” I said, and headed out toward the suburbs.
