His sleek, tan figure gracefully parted the water of the hotel pool and emerged seconds later to the adulation of the gathered crowd. Their cheers were met by a wide, blazing smile of perfect teeth. When a buxom blonde broke from the group and wrapped the Adonis with a towel, he duly rewarded her with a peck on the cheek and a pat to a barely concealed fanny.
The heir to a 1.5 billion dollar telecommunications empire seemed to have it all until the slug from my high powered rifle tunneled into his forehead. Blood splattered the blonde as he hurtled backward into the pool. I popped off several birthday balloons to create confusion. His mother screamed, mayhem erupted… people collided, stumbled and fell.
A crimson halo drifted in the water around his head. Only his brother dove in to help him.
***
Another $500,000 arrived in my Swiss account two weeks later. I sat in my barren apartment with the shades drawn, stirring a whiskey and ice, waiting for my next assignment. I reflected on the golden god whose life I had taken for a cool million. The brother’s courage made all the papers and as I stared at his narrow bug-eyed face on the front page, I lamented that I didn’t charge the bastard more.
BIO: David Cranmer is from upstate New York. When he’s not working as a contractor for the government, he’s either writing short stories or posting his random thoughts on The Education of a Pulp Writer blog. He has a story in the current Revenge issue of Out of the Gutter.
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4 comments:
Lean and mean, Cranmer. Ya didn't waste a word. Good going.
Anonymous-9
Nice one. David!
Thanks everyone. I'm glad you enjoyed my blood splattered flash.
Great twist there at the end. You suckered me right in.
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