Barking in Berlin (674 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.33 on 6 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by digsy (View user info) at 2004-08-08 22:34:36 EDT
Barker spotted his target from across the square. Wearing a dull brown trenchcoat, sporting a red baseball cap and reading a copy of the Morgenpost. The man appeared to be in his late forties, and had a slight growth of grey stubble underneath his chin. As Barker pulled the grimey mugshot of Jessie Walton from his wallet, the unshaven, huddle of a man lifted his left arm and scratched at it his neck visciously.
The mugshot didn't do Jessie justice at all. He was now a wanted man, and being on the run for nearly 3 and a half weeks certainly showed. He had a run down, tired appearance. He looked a beaten man; one who knew his time was up. Jessie believed he was meeting a journalist, to discuss a story which Barker's client was adamant would not be published.
"Jessie Walton?" Said Barker, as he approached the nervous figure. He especially noticed how his right eye seemed to twitch when he said his name. This man was on the edge.
"Yeghh, urm," Jessie coughed hoarsely to clear his throat. "Urm, yehh."
"Max Numan" Said Barker, now looking into Jessie's glazed eyes. "Could you please follow me to a place we can talk more.. Privately?"
Barker placed his hands into his trouser pockets and took a step past Walton onto the sidewalk. He raised a hand to adjust his sunglasses, and began to walk into the eery dusk of the Berlin evening. Walton followed him nervously, moving his head round every few paces. For a man who wanted to blend in, Jessie Walton was suprisingly erratic. Barker checked behind every 20 steps or so and found Jessie swimming in a sea of paranoia. Every corner Barker turned, Jessie peaked his head round before proceeding himself.
Barker kind of felt sorry for Jessie in a way. It was obvious he was not the kind of man that should be involved in a world such as this. But then again, the $120,000 waiting for Barker upon confirmation of Walton's 'eradication' had to go to someone. Jessie Walton was going to die, and the way Barker saw it, why shouldn't he be the one to collect on that unfortunate fact?
Barker rounded a left onto a quiet side street, and slowed down purposely, so that Jessie saw him take the next left into a dark alley in between a derelict apartment building, and a quaint little coffeeshop. He removed his sunglasses and stepped into a shadowed alcove set into the wall.
Jessie rounded the corner nervously. Had he lost his man? His only chance of getting out of this mess and he had lost him! There was no way he could set up another meeting without running into those rather nasty men which had eyeballed him earlier whilst leaving his hotel room. Jessie coughed nervously. Clearing his throat, he slowy stepped into the alley.
"Mr Numan?" He said softly. No response. Jessie started stepping faster, the sounds of his footsteps resonating off the claustrophobic walls of the alley. "Numan?" He said again, this time with intent in his voice. Nothing. Jessie turned, ready to head back onto the street. The silhoutted figure his eyes met with was walking silently towards him.
"There you are.." Jessie began. His words were cut short however when he saw the silhoutted figure raise his arm, pointing a short metallic object at him.
Jessie stumbled back, tripping on an unfortunately placed broken pavestone. He scrambled backwards, trying to stand. His feet were slipping on the smooth pavestones however, and through Jessie's desperation to stand, he found himself like a running dog, but fixated to the spot. His baseball cap fell slightly, and blocked his view. He grabbed the peak of the cap and tossed it aside, still trying to scramble to his feet.
By now, the silhoutted figure was at Jessie's feet. Jessie's mouth opened, hoping to force out a scream which someone could hear. His scream was muffled prematurely however by a gloved hand.
Barker reached into his inside pocket and produced a silenced handgun. He flicked the safety catch with his ring finger and rested the barrel against the forehead of his petrified target. With his hand over Jessie's mouth, and the gun to his head, Barker began to speak.
"There's only 2 types of men in this world," Stated Barker. "the type that would have a stab at some whimsical justification of what I'm about to do. Maybe deliver a cleverly worded passage; poetic, with meaning. Bible passages are common. Then there's the type that skips the formalities, and pulls the trigger."
Jessie gulped. The barrel of the silenced Beretta 9mm was hovering inches from his temple, its reflection glistening in a bead of sweat which was rolling down his goosebumped skin.
"I, my friend, am a pupil of the school of the former."
Pfffffft.
Barker stood up from his kneeling position, took out his emerald green handkerchief and wiped Jessie's blood from the bridge of his nose. His 'clean up tissue', as he called it. Barker was just that, the clean up tissue, cleaning mess like Jessie from the face of a fast moving, uncaring society. People like Jessie got involved with the wrong people, and ended up being eliminated. Barker often found himself contemplating his luck. His luck being that he was the eliminator, not the eliminatee.
He reached inside his coat pocket, pulled out his sunglasses, and placed them swiftly above his ear lobes, pushing the lenses onto his face in a smooth and precise motion. Raising his right hand to open his jacket, his left thoughtlessly slipped the pistol into the inside breast pocket, clicking the safety catch as the silver handle slipped into the imitation velvet lining. He ruffled his collar, adjusted his tie and walked out of the alley. He turned left, hailed a cab and instructed the driver to the train station.
The ringing of sirens, distant in the Berlin night, caused a small, yet satisfying smile to appear on Barker's face.
User Reviews
Submitted by Timmah (user info) at 2004-08-14 22:28:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very well written. I liked this don't know why others seemed to think different.
Submitted by disAbled (user info) at 2004-08-09 14:24:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Free review to put you back on the recently reviewed list.
Submitted by AlwaysAnEagle (user info) at 2004-08-09 09:17:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was actually pretty good, although I sort of agree on the whole "whimsical" word choice.
Plus two because I expected this to be shit when I clicked on it thanks to the rating and it wasn't.
Submitted by I_Have_a_Kristen_Fetish (user info) at 2004-08-09 07:28:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Solid 0
Submitted by SPECIALk (user info) at 2004-08-09 03:43:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I can't picture a person with a gun to someone's head saying the word whimsical. And, this could be because I'm dumb, but I had no idea what was going on in the story...
Submitted by KoolMang (user info) at 2004-08-09 00:48:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
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