One can start, but both can end.

1

Troy gets outta his Lincoln Navigator SUV in front of an outdoor shopping center. He parks across two spots and doesn't give a crap. Mall security doesn't have the stones to bother a car worth more than twice what they make a year. His plan is to go to the Game Stop and buy some new toys. It's just past noon so the sun is high in the sky, Troy's customers didn't normally wake up until early evening. Not the most punctual group, but definitely habitual. That gives him a few hours to shop, and get something to eat. He crosses the promenade with his shoulders pulled back and his chest held high. Today is going to be a good day.

Troy is a drug dealer, he makes more in a day than these people make all week. It's this statistic alone that he puts all his pride in. He doesn't care who he hurts, they want these drugs. He doesn't have a marketing team like tobacco. He doesn't employee hot blonds to promote products like alcohol. He just provides what people are looking for, what they can't get from the normal doctor. 'Street pharmacist' is a nice word for what he does.

But today, right now, he is just an average consumer, with a larger than average wallet. As he crosses the promenade he notices the little girl scanning the crowd. He notices the newly wed couple shopping for household type stuff. He also notices the creepy old man that's watching kids. There are families shopping, and elderly people using the outdoor shopping mall as a walking track. Birds chirping, and nice cool breeze. It seems a pretty normal day at the mall.

Troy walks into GameStop and picks up a few new games. He also grabs a new PS3 and a couple of games to go with it. He finds everything he is looking for and a few things he didn't know he was looking for. Troy's pride is swelling and he is feeling on top of the world. With all these new toys he decides to skip the mall food and pick something up on his way home. As he crosses the promenade he noticed something is out of place. Thats when he sees the pedophile talking to the little girl who can't be more than fifteen. He walks a little closer than necessary to hear what they are talking about. She is a small child with light brown hair. She has to know this is a bad person. As Troy walks past, the little girl jumps up and points a knife at his chest.

"I am going to need you to put your bags down, and please put your wallet in the bag." she says with a confidence.

Now the pedophile doesn't seem so strange, he's her muscle. He is not standing with the little girl. But he is not walking way either. Troy is having difficulty understanding how he is being robbed in the middle of a mall, in the middle of the day.

"Maybe you have the wrong person?" he offers. Giving this child an opportunity reconsider what she is doing.

"I don't think so, sir. Bag on the ground, wallet in the bag please." she smiles and waves her knife. "Or I could cut you up, if you would like?"

Troy wants to beat this little child senseless. She has no idea who she is talking too. His anger swells up inside. He swings his bag at the child's head. She goes under the bag and comes up with her knife in his belly. He registers the feeling of metal inside his stomach, and tries to grab the child's hand. She pulls her knife out and steps past Troy. With her back facing his she puts her knife in his back at lung level. She stabs him repeatedly in the back then cuts his back pocket. She removes the wallet and places it in the bag of toys he has dropped by his side. She picks up the large bag, its heavier than it looks. She slides her shoulder into the handle of the bag, and calmly walks away.

Everything happened so fast, it doesn't register right away. Shock slowly fades and the pain of his wounds are surfacing. He can smell blood, and knows its his own blood. He hears birds and smells pollen, his surroundings are standing out more clearly than usual. His body grows weaker and his knees give out. He topples to the ground and focuses on his breathing. His breathing is getting shallow and the lights are dimming. Troy thought today would be a good day. He had no idea it was his last.

2

Kayla's day started like any other, empty stomach and empty pockets. Her life was far from easy. She didn't have parents or a guardian to take care of her. She has been living on her own since she was nine. While other girls her age may be playing with dolls or learning how to apply make up, she was learning to take care of herself. She learned how to steal at age nine. How to rob by age ten, and recently how to con people. It's a skill she learned in the last city she lived.

Kayla found out that people always asked the wrong questions when given enough time. People want to be concerned for a twelve year old girl, they just don't want to go outta their way for them. It's just easier to keep moving. A new city every couple of weeks. It's worked for three years so far.

This new city is big and wondrous. So far all she has seen is the city park. She did see a mall when her bus came into town. And a mall seems like a great place to start. She wasn't there long before she potted a creep that likes kids. She knows how dangerous these guys can be, how sweet they can appear. Kayla is confident in her strength and skill, plus she has a knife. She doesn't mind stabbing people. But before she can zero in on her mark she sees a drug dealer. Big confident guy, most likely has a lot of money on him. Much better target than this perverted creep who wants to talk to her.

But maybe this creep can put a little fear into this drug dealer. She invites the creep over by lowering her gaze to the floor and dropping her head down. The creep takes the bait and sits down next to her. He places his hand on her shoulder and asks if she is ok. She talks him up a bit, makes him feel confident in himself. She tells him how handsome she thinks he is, this pervert is an idiot. As soon as she sees the drug dealer leave the store she prepares to make her move.

At first she was thinking she could ask him for help, play to his emotional side. Young helpless girl, elderly strong rapist, screw that, this is a drug dealer. She decides to take a more 'smash and grab' approach, and just rob the guy. Things go sour sometimes, drug dealers die.

Two people that no one will ever miss is drug dealers and junkies. Well, they kinda miss each other, but police reports get closed rather quickly when either are the victims. She didn't mind having to kill a drug dealer, she would have preferred to just scare and rob him. But he was determined to do things the hard way. She took his wallet and bag, and lifted his truck keys.

She crossed the promenade with a bag on her shoulder and a bloody folded up knife in her hand. She walked right up to the dark colored SUV and opened the passenger door. She placed the bag on the floor board. She closed the door and walked to the driver side. This asshole parked in two spots. As she got to the driver side door, she heard a soft footfall behind her.

She spun around, knife opened and in front of her. An average size man had approached her from the parking lot, hands where she could see them, by his side, empty. She looks deep into his golden brown eyes, there is a fire in those eyes. A passion she is not used to seeing. She holds her blood covered knife close to her body, he won't get the drop on her. "I don't want any trouble Mr. Turn around and walk back to your car, and nobody has to get hurt. Ok?"

His eyes soften, "What you just did, hurt me deeply. Please get in the truck and scoot over. We are going to talk, but this is not the best place to talk."

Kayla wiggles her knife, "I just want leave here, peacefully. Go away and no one gets hurt."

His voice firms up, "Get in the truck and scoot over, now."

There is a threat in his voice. Kayla is far from stupid, his request is more of a command. She jumps into the truck, and hops over to the passenger side. She hold her knife in her right hand so that this man won't be able to take it from her, at least not without a few cuts.

The man gets into the truck behind her, she tossed him the keys and he drives off. He leaves the mall and drives north. He pulls into the city park. Kayla was a little shocked. How did this guy know she was living in the park. He pulls into a back area of the park, and now she was getting a little nervous. She likes the back wooded area due to the lack of people. But sitting in this truck with a man, that knows she just murdered a someone for his wallet. She was not enjoying the lack of people. Her nerves start to get the best of her, fear starts to spread within her. Fear is like a fire, it spreads and burns confidence.

He stops the truck, puts it in park. He knows she is nervous. In the softest voice possible he ask, "Who are you working for?"

Kayla has no clue what he is asking, "What do you mean? Who the hell are you?" She tries to shake off the confusion. "I appreciate your help, But I never asked for it."

His patients seems to go on forever, "You seem very nice, who hired you?"

Kayla patients weren't so long "Mr, I don't work for shit, now I would like to leave. Please get outta my truck."

He is lost by her reaction, "This isn't your truck. It belongs to the late Mr Troy. I know this, cause I was hired to kill him." he looks deep into her eyes trying to measure the fear. He expected to get some response from her, but her expression was stone "I was going to make it look gang related, but your approach will work as well. Now it's a robbery gone wrong. And unfortunately you are a loose end." the fear in her eyes starts to grow, "You are very resourceful and you would be the only person that could answer a question I have. I would ultimately hate to learn that the person who hired me hired another contractor. It would mean a serious lack of trust."

Kayla can't see how this could be ok, "No one hired me, he was just a good mark. Nobody looks to closely into a drug dealers death." fear is raging inside, she knows she has to contain it. "I'm not a lose end, no one can identify a 12 year old girl without her mother." she stares into his eyes trying to read anything. Her knife suddenly seems pretty useless. She has never felt the need to answer to anyone. But his man seems more of a threat than anything she has ever known.

As Kayla sits looking at this stranger, he appears to be deep in thought. She wants to run, as pointless as it would be. Her surroundings stand out more clearly to her, the sounds of nature outside the truck, the smell of blood off her knife. A clarity that she was unfamiliar settled on her. She wonders if this is what the drug deal felt before he died.

"What would you do if the tables were reversed? If killing me meant that you would live to see a new day?" he ask with nothing but apathy.

Kayla doesn't need to think about this question, she proved it today. "You would die." she realizes that she just signed her own death warrant. She looks out of the window, it will be quick and painless. This man has a strong presence to him, he won't make her suffer. Death's cold embrace will take her before she knows it. She sees a rabbit in the woods, she knows how to skin and cook it, another skill she was forced to learn. But with her new found fortune she was planning on having fast food tonight.

"You are just stronger than me" he says quietly. "I have never killed a child, and don't plan on starting today. How is it you can kill without mercy?" his answer clearly startled her.

"I... He did... He was a drug dealer, pushing product to kids and destroying lives. What I did was mercy to the people of this community." she was startled by knowing she wasn't going to die. Could she really trust this man? He hasn't lied to her, that she knew about. "Who are you to question me? Didn't you just say you were going kill him?" she lets defiance fill her voice.

He laughs, "I did, but I don't kill unless I am contracted too. You killed that man today just for his wallet. You don't even know how much is in there. What if he left all his money at home, would you go to his house to check?"

This Kayla knew well enough, she reached in the bag and pulled out his wallet. She took the cash out and put it on the dash board, pulled the license out and read off the address. She measures his reaction as being resistant. This guy isn't liking the idea of breaking into the drug dealers house.

"Do you know how to pick a lock?"

Kayla nods, then she reaches next to the steering wheel and giggles the keys.

He's stills not onboard with this plan, "What if someone is home?"

Kayla smiles "You mean like other drug dealers?" she pops out her knife and whips it open.

He laughs again, "Ok kiddo, well go to his house. But if I say go, you don't talk back and you don't look back. Deal?"

Kayla smile widens, "Deal" she holds out her hand covered in dry blood. "My name is not kiddo, it's Kayla." she states firmly.

He laughs evens louder, "If you say so kiddo, you can call me John." he puts the truck in drive, reaches over and shakes her hand. "Before we leave, would you like to wash your hands in that pond?"

"Are we coming back?" she ask

"I don't think so. Why?"

"Then I will wash my hands." she gets out if the car and walks to the grassy section of the pond. Bends down and rinses the blood from her right hand, and the knife. She grabs her two bags from behind a bush and walks back to the truck. She tosses her bags in the back seat and jumps in the front. "We can go now."

3

John was contracted to kill Troy and the two guys that work with Troy. The original plan was to wait until all three were in one location and drive by shooting. John was certain he could kill all three with a fully automatic sub-machine gun. It would be classified as gang related and some local rival crew would take credit. The contract was specific to say that all three must die violently. Kayla took care of Troy, and did it in broad daylight.

The amazing part is how fast and smooth she moved. The only person paying attention to her was a pedophile, and they are not quick to report to the police. Then she cut the wallet out of his pants, removing any doubt that it was a robbery. This small child committed an excellent hit. And without even knowing it. She has a gift, and he could teach her how to use it.

Now she is headed to kill the last two of this contract. If done in the same fashion, with the same knife, the police will be looking for a serial killing midget robber. This will go down as one of John's best works. A close second will stay the Russian Job. But what will he do with this little girl. She seems capable of handling her self, but will she have stomach to handle what she is about to do. She is about to murder two grown men.

It's a lonely life, John leads. He is always on the move. One city to the next, one contract to the next. It's hard to get to know people in this line of work. Even having a partner is outta the question. It's to difficult trust someone that kills people for a living. She needs someone to show her how this is done, he can't just leave her to the wolves. John was in her same position once upon a time.

These are concerns for another day. John inspects her knife, the blade's curve and depth, the grip length. John drives to the opposite end of town. He stops by a hardware store and finds an exact match. She may have the stones to pull this off, but leaving a child to make this perfect isn't a smart move.

John has gone over the layout of this house half a hundred times. He knows the the rooms that the other two live in and he knows their patterns. By four pm all three are up and playing video games in the living room. By seven pm they all clean up and prepare for another night. The first to rise is Troy, every morning by ten am. Followed by the short guy with a temper at noon. The last one is the tall guy that seems to be perpetually lost. John's instincts tell him he should worry about this one. When people don't fit in, they are normally there for other reasons.

John worries about how much he should tell Kayla. If warning her would lessen her resolve. Or if surprising her will throw off her desire to finish this contract. He is also wondering if she needs to know about the thirty grand this contract pays when completed. He just saw her kill a man for a couple hundred, there's no telling what she would do for a couple thousand. She is a survivor, little scrappy one. But John doesn't want to be on her wrong side.

John is a few blocks away when he makes his decision. "There will be two people in this house. One just woke up the other has been up for a few hours. The shorter of the two has a real violent temper and the taller I am not sure about. We are going to pull up into the garage, you can go into the house via the bathroom window thats in Troy's room. The couch they sit on, faces the opposite direction. You won't have long to act, they will be expecting Troy from the kitchen area, to your left. So I would stay right. Aim for the neck and soft spots. I will come in from the kitchen area. If they are not both on the couch, you may be seen before you can get to either of them." he can't watch her reaction and the road, he pauses to get feed back.

"Ok, I was just going to walk in the front door, but your thing sounds better." something feels wrong. "How did you come by all this... information. Are you casing the joint for some other reason?"

"No..." John interjects

"It's not a problem if you are. Everyone's gotta eat you know. I would just ask that you split it, or split some of it. What ever your comfortable with."

John has to laugh at that one. "Are you comfortable with the plan?"

"My plan was to go in there and rob the place, anyone between me and my money can get the knife." she hesitates "What are you not telling me?"

John notices she has a quick mind. This is very useful in this line of work. "I know you want details, and I don't want to give them. When this is over, we will discuss the things I don't want to. And we will decide on a fair split. But we are right around the corner, do you have any questions?"

"This is a little different than I signed up for, but I understand what you want to see happen. I can get it done."

With that he pulled into the driveway clicking the garage door opener, he puts the truck in park and jumps out. The garage is dark, and smells of oil and gas. He walks over to the passenger side and opens the window. She puts her hand on the wall, and steps on his knee to jump thought it. She finds a mess of a bathroom when she gets to her feet. She takes a mental inventory of the mess, a trail of clean floor leads to the sink. She checks under the bathroom sink and pulls out a paper bag. It's filled with money, jack pot. She puts it down and opens the bedroom door, pigsty. Boys are so messy. She cracks open the door to the living room there is only one person on the couch. He is big, but she doesn't see anyone else.

No regrets, she pulls from her resolve. She walks up to the couch and swings her arm over her head and lands square into the guys chest. He didn't even put the controller down before she pulled it out and stabbed him again. He throws himself off the couch and stands up looking at a little girl. Adrenalin pumping through his veins, maybe some drugs too, he jumps over the couch and tries to grab the little girl. She drops like a stone into a crouching position, and pulls her knife across the back of his knees. He howls like mad man, may be it hurts. She leaps to the left towards the kitchen. She moves back towards the big guy, his arms flailing about. He swings his arms to catch her, she allows him to catch her knife. She cuts his forearm pretty deep. He howls again. She pulls her knee to her chin and kicks him in the chest. He goes down face first with a thump. She leans over him and stabs his lung. No more yelling.

Kayla is a little concerned, there were supposed to be two guys. She looks to the kitchen for John, and sees a tall man standing there, holding a bowl of what she thinks is cereal. He looks confused. He looks at his buddy motionless on the floor, then looks back to he little girl. They stand there for a good ten seconds staring at each other. He then puts his bowl down grabs a knife from the kitchen counter. He holds it like she is holding her knife. She wipes the blood from her knife on his couch. She waves him forward.

He moves forward, he spins the knife on the palm of his hand and smiles. Confidence is wavering. He holds his knife in a way that doesn't look right. He swipes his knife from right to left and back. This may be just a fear tactic, but it's working. He steps forward, she steps back, his steps are bigger. "You are going to hurt for what you just did." he says with a smile. "I'm gonna cut you." he says teasingly.

John steps around the corner and slides his knife between his ribs into his lung. The tall guy spins around and swings his knife, missing John, but not this shirt. John and the tall man match swipes and the sound of metal on metal fills the room. John's concern of this man was warranted, few people are this good with a knife.

Kayla knows she isn't even a thought to this guy. She moves closer to the tall guy and his arm swings wide. She sees the opening and thrust her knife into his left side. He brings his elbow back making contact with Kayla's head. She crashed into an end table breaking it and smashing on to the floor. The pain in her head is blinding. Her ears are pounding. And the only sound she hears is her own heart beat. She looks down at her hand and sees her knife. Her hand is covered in blood she hit something important. She sees the tall guy laying next to her.

"Get up Kayla, NOW!" John yells

Kayla eyes are still adjusting, she does notice John is not coming into the living room. She stands, shakily at first.

"Kayla. We have to go, now grab your knife and get moving kiddo" in a voice that's soft and firm.

Kayla understands that this is not a request. She grabs her knife and jumps into the bed room, grabs the bag from the bathroom and sprints back to the kitchen. She stops standing in a pool of blood, noticing she left prints.

"It's fine kiddo, your feet prints were expected." his smile tells her he is thinking of something. "Can you do me one favor?"