Elie's gun hard against the short man's head, through the tight braids to press against the skull. His finger in the trigger guard. Four and a half pounds on a five pound pull. Ready. But not ready, not yet. Why does he alway talk? But he always talks. "I thought you'd be harder to kill."
"I thought you'd be better at finding me." The short man, Melton, is smiling, Elie can hear it.
The little ceramic skulls at the ends of the braids tinkle and click against each other as Melton laughs. It's unnerving.
"Shut up." Elie grinds the business end of the Beretta against Melton's skull.
The man snorts. "Shut me up."
This is new. Elie's had people cry, beg, yell at him. He's had them get mad. Promise him money, drugs. information. But this? This is new.
"No one's going to find your body," he tells Melton.
"Okay."
Around them, the night. The sounds of the river, and the city on the other side. Elie sees neon across the water. Not neon, now. Probably LEDs or whatever. Elie's getting old.
"That's not what I'm paid for. You're a problem, Melton. And my job is to make problems disappear."
"Cool."
"Don't you want to know why? Who?"
"My knees hurt. Woulda worn jeans if I knew I was gonna be kneeling in the gravel. So if you just want to finish the job?"
Would Elie himself be this relaxed when his time came? Not a chance. He'd spent his teen years fighting for every inch of turf, every breath. His twenties fighting for every dollar. Not a chance in hell he'd go out having a conversation. If he had a gun he'd shoot the guy. If he had a knife he'd stab him. If he didn't have anything he'd scratch and claw and chew his way through the guy's throat. Not just kneel there.
"How are you not afraid?" The pressure of the gun against Melton's skull slackens, just a little. This is when the guy would make his move. When Elie could pull the trigger. He'd have to.
"Why bother?" Melton laughs again. "I got my shit squared away, brother. My kid's college is paid for, his momma knows not to come looking. Just do it."
Just do it.
The adrenaline ran out of Elie. Fatigue set in. He'd been chasing Melton for weeks. Hardly any sleep, just the pills to get up and the booze to come back down. Constant reporting back to the guy who'd hired him. The fear that if he failed, he'd be next on the list.
Elie's hand starts shaking. The pistol shivers against Melton's braids, setting the skulls rattling again.
"Let's get this done," Melton says. "Someone's gonna come along. You don't want to get caught. And my knees."
Elie pulls the gun back. The skulls tinkle again. "I could let you go."
"You could."
"I could." The shot cracks out. Melton falls wordless into the gravel. He doesn't make much of a sound. Whatever he'd done and whoever he'd done it to, at the end of the day he wasn't a very big guy. "I could."
Challenge piece from https://www.reddit.com/r/SimplePrompts/
