The Last Job (Part – I)

It was a dark, stormy night. Violent wind was blowing hard, sending shatters on the window glasses and wheezing through the branches of the juniper trees, creating a strange, hollow sound. Tall, huge trees were swaying violently, indicating the fierceness of the wind. Lightnings pierced through the dark sky in short intervals followed by blasting thunders. Heavy rainfall drenched the streets forming puddles at the sides and reducing the visibility to near zero. The light coming from the street lights got dimmed by the heavy downpour. Not a soul was to be seen or heard on the streets or any lanes or by-lanes. The whole area seemed to be dark, gloomy and somewhat creepy.

Grieg was waiting under the shade of a lonely, abandoned garage, situated at the far end of the road, around the curve. The garage once used to be owned by a retired army officer who resided in a house just beside it and served as the storage space for his collection of the “war relics” of WWII. His death was an unusual one and rumors spread that the house was cursed. His sons and daughters just abandoned the house almost thirty years back. The wrath of time shattered the house, reducing it to mere skeleton, along with the garage. The dark, shabby ruins looked pretty spooky at night and on a night like this, the creepy feeling along with the chilling wind sent shivers down Grieg’s spine.

“What the hell I am doing here? Why did I come here? I am such a jerk…. Damn.. “, Grieg was feeling very uncomfortable and scared. But he knew there couldn’t be any turning back. He was trapped in a maze, where there was no way out. He was waiting for him and he knew this time the meeting won’t be a pleasant one. This unknown person, with whom he was collaborating for a month, had put him on a contract for his jobs. But these jobs were pretty unusual and some of them were illegal too. Grieg was not a clean person in police records as well, though he was never tried for any serious offences. But this time, his unknown employer’s work was getting riskier. Grieg knew he was going into troubled waters but the payment was insanely high and that resisted him from cutting ties with him. But today, he knew it would be a big job, as this unknown person was going to pay double of previous job – i.e., setting up killer traps around the house of a person named Joey. Grieg had no idea what it could be, but he sensed a storm coming from the suppressed excitement in his employer’s voice on the previous day.

Suddenly, a long, dark shadow emerged from the other end of the road. A person was coming out of the darkness. Grieg became alert and his heart started beating too fast. It was him, no doubt. He was wearing a waterproof cloak, covering his tall figure fully. His face could not be seen as it was under the hood. The clicking of his boots echoed through the empty street. Grieg knew this. This was the attire of his unknown employer every time they met and it was his instruction to Grieg to stay in the garage for today’s meeting.

The figure drew closer to Grieg and stopped right in front of him. A deep, hollow voice came from inside the hood – “Hello Grieg. I guess I am not late.” Grieg was standing like a wooden doll. In a feeble voice he replied, “You are on time, as always sir.” The figure started talking, ” I have a special job for you Grieg. And this will be your final job. After this, we will never meet again.” Grieg stood speechless. The voice continued, ” As I say it’s a special one, your reward will be special too. But this time you will get it before the job is done. Because as I said, we won’t meet again. I guess I can trust you with this.” “Of course sir. But you haven’t told me yet, what my job will be.”, Grieg was sensing the storm in his heart. “Tomorrow, at sharp midnight, you will kill a person. I shall give you his address and the plan of his house. But I need the job done sharp at midnight. It should be clean, one shot in head. That’s all.”

To be continued……….

Collaboration Final Maze