Just like everybody else in the world, John Sposato was greedy, and his greed was going to be his downfall. Shifu knew that in his mind Sposato already had the money spent that they were going to take from Dominick. But that's just the way some people are. Money makes them stupid.
Liu Shifu shaded his eyes as the sun started to beam through the wispy ends of the passing cloud. When the time came, and he put a couple of slugs into Dominick's head, Sposato would be jumping out of his skin, his eyes bugging out, thinking about all that money they were taking. But Shifu couldn't wait to see Sposato's fat face when he turned the gun on him and put a few slugs into his head. Two birds with one stone. Dump the two of them and the whole kitty would be his. Could be as much as five hundred grand. Not too bad. It would be the biggest score he'd ever pulled off by himself. Not bad at all.
Thinking of how he was gonna pull all this off, he opened up the system.
He had unlocked the System: Angel Of Death, when he was 19, after his third murder when he had carried out a hit for one of the mob families, it was so long ago he could barely remeber who the poor sod had been.
Anyway since then, he and the system had, had a love and hate relationship. It got him out of as much problems as it entice him into. Shifu checked his current status on the system.
[System: Angel Of Death]
Status: Physique- 16 [+] Intuition - 7 [+]
Skill: [AOD] - Lv10 - [Upgrade requires 5 souls]
Skill: [Aura] - Lv3 - [Upgrade requires 1 souls]
Skill: [Killer Instinct] - Lv6 - [Upgrade requires 2 souls]
Souls - 5
Nothing had changed naturally since the last time he had checked, but it gave him a sense of comfort going into what was about to come.
With his stacked up physique stats he could manhandle and overwhelm his way out of most situations not involving a firearm, he wasn't impervious to bullets after all, at least not yet.
But with [Killer Instinct] he could handle a gun himself, like a veteran Special Forces Marine. As long as he wasn't overwhelmingly fucked, he felt sure he could shoot and kill his way out of most scenarios as long as he had some sort of weapon.
But like with [AOD], he was on borrowed time when he used [Killer Instinct], with the upgrade to Lv6 he would only have 30 minutes to resolve whatever situation he was in, before the side effects took over.
For the increased reaction speed, agility, thinking speed, reduced pain levels etc he gained from [Killer Instinct] whilst it was activated, he repaid it in kind when it was deactivated with a period of sluggishness, slowed thinking, extreme pain from burdening his body etc.
The effects from using [Angel Of Death] - [AOD] were even worse, he would experience all the side effects from [Killer Instinct] and also suffer hallucinations and his emotional control would be deteriorated to basically nothing. During which anything could spark him off and send him into a violent rage. But from it he gained a 3x multiplier from all his stats and [Killer Instinct] was also enhanced.
But just as easily as [AOD] saved his ass it had put him back on the firing line numerous times, overall Liu Shifu tried to keep the use of [Killer Instinct], [AOD] and the system as a whole to the minimum.
Each upgrade and enhancement was addicting and enticing but it cost a life, not that he was against killing but it was a hefty risk, one which he was becoming less willing to take. Plus he was beginning to sense an inkling that each use of [AOD] and the system was beginning to erode at him, little by little. He felt subtly quicker to arrogance and fury, which was a dangerous path in his line of work.
"Hey, Shifu. Shifu!"
Bang! - Liu Shifu snapped out of his train of thought and closed the system in his mind.
Sposato had his hand over the phonebox mouthpiece and was calling to him.
"He wants to talk to you."
Shifu took the phone and exchanged places with Sposato in the booth. "Hi. Dom."
"Hey, Shifu, I told Tim what I needed. Now tell me the truth. Is this guy gonna deliver. I don't wanna hear a lotta promises, then get a lotta excuses down the line. You know what I'm saying."
"You don't have to worry, Dom. If he says he can get you something, he'll get it. If he can't, he'll be straight with you."
"All right. I don't wanna end up looking bad on this. My IRA girl, she looks like a schoolteacher, but she can be a real ball-buster. You disappoint her once, that's it, no second chances. She'll find somebody else. And I'm telling you, she's one customer I do not want to lose. You understand me?"
"I hear you, Dom. I hear you."
"Now I understand that Tim's got all his heavy stuff in the Mediterranean, so it's gonna take some time to get us some samples. But let's keep my girl happy, okay.? Get me some silencers so I can show her something. Just something I can show. I'll pay you for it—don't worry about that. But just get me something."
"Did Tim tell you he had silencers available?"
"Yeah."
"Here?"
"Yes."
"Then don't worry about it. We'll get you something as soon as we can."
"Okay, but don't make me wait. I'm telling you. We can both make a lotta money off this broad. Let's not screw it up. Okay?"
"I hear you. Don't worry."
"Okay, Shifu, let's stay in touch—"
"Say, Dom, you didn't get any word on that stuff I was looking for. You know what I'm talking about?"
"Yeah, I know. I talked to my people, but they're all nervous about this Lipton soup thing."
"Why? That was a couple of weeks ago."
"They heard that there's a lot of federal people going around asking questions about all that shit. Now I know they got a chemist who gets that stuff for them, but like I said, they're all nervous. I got stuff like that from these people before for other customers of mine, so I'm pretty sure they can get it. They just wanna wait till this Lipton soup thing cools down before they'll give it to me. In the meantime, I'll get you the other stuff, the—you're on a pay phone, right?"
"Yeah, aren't you?"
"Yeah, of course. Now the coke I can get you, but the other stuff, the cyanide, you gotta be careful because, you know, I don't know how you fucking want to use it. But that's your business. Shifu. I'm not asking."
"Well, it won't be a problem of exposure. I don't intend to resell it to anybody."
"Yeah? Well, don't you take it."
Shifu laughed. "No, no, I don't intend to. I just have a few problems I want to dispose of. I have some rats I want to get rid of."
"Yeah? Why not use a fucking piece of iron to get rid of these fucking people? Why fuck around with cyanide?"
"Why be messy, Dom? You do it nice and clean with cyanide."
"Lemme ask you something then. You do the same thing I do once in a while. But I always use steel. You know what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, I understand what you're saying."
"So what I'm asking is, would you be willing to do a— you know—a contract with me."
"Dominick, if the price is right, I'll talk to anybody."
"Yeah?"
"Sure."
"And you mean to tell me your way is nice and clean, and nothing fucking shows up?"
"Well, it may show, my friend, but it's quiet, it's not messy, it's not as noisy—"
"Yeah, but how the fuck do you put it together, you know what I'm saying?"
"Well, there's always a way. There's a will, there's a way, my friend."
Dominick laughed. "All right, listen, we'll have to talk about this sometime. It sounds interesting."
"There're even spray mists around."
"Yeah?"
"Sure. You put that stuff in a mist, you spray it in some rats' faces, and they go to sleep."
"Fast? How long does it take?"
Shifu snapped his fingers. "About that fast."
"No shit. I thought—you mean, you don't have to put it in the guy's drink, something like that?"
"Not necessary. That will work, too, but it's very detectable that way."
"Yeah?"
"You make it up as a mist. As soon as they inhale it, they've already had enough."
"Just one squirt?"
"That's all it takes."
"Well, shit, if it's that easy. Shifu, there are definitely a couple of things we could get involved with, without any fucking problems. You know, as I said, contracts."
"Can do it either way. If a guy wants it done with lead, then it could be lead. If the guy wants to prove a point and he wants steel, it could be done with steel. I'm not averse to guns, I'm not averse to knives, I'm not averse to, you know, whatever."
"As long as he's dead, that's the bottom line. Shifu."
"Well, that's the thing, isn't it? If that's what they want."
"Your way sounds like a fucking James Bond movie, but if it works, then—"
"Dominick, I've done it all ways, whatever you've known or heard. There aren't too many things I haven't tried. I'll try whatever sounds workable. Some guys want it done messy and they want it as proof of the pudding. They want it shown. So I'll do it that way."
"But your way, what you were telling me, with the cyanide—there's no problem with that."
"I don't have a problem. I'm not saying it's not detectable. I'm just saying it's quiet and it's fast."
"In other words, you've done this before. You know there's no problem."
"Well, nobody's going to give you proof of anything like that, my friend—"
"I'm not saying proof. I'm just asking if it's really been done."
"It's been done."
"This sounds interesting. We gotta fucking go for coffee, break bread over this thing. It sounds good."
"Well, Dom, you know what they say. There's more than one way to skin something."
"I hear ya, I hear ya."
"It all depends on how determined you are to get it done."
They both laughed.
"As long as it gets done. Right, Shifu?"
"As long as the guy who's paying you gets it done the way he wants. It's the finished product that they're interested in. And I haven't had any complaints because as you can see, I'm still around. If I had any complaints, I'm sure I wouldn't be here."
"I hear you, brother. I hear you. But getting back to the other stuff with Tim, what should we do? You wanna beep me or should I call you?"
"Why don't you call me this weekend.? But just in case I'm not at that other number, lemme give you my beeper number."
"You got a beeper now, Shifu?"
"Yeah. This number is for me and Tim. We both use it. Okay?"
"I understand."
"Okay, the number is 1-800-402….." Shifu gave Dominick the number, and Dominick repeated it back to him. "Now, like I said, one of us will be carrying the beeper, either me or Tim."
"Okay."
Shifu looked out at Sposato, who was waiting by the car like a puppy desperate for a little attention. "Tim and I will work together on this. We work together pretty much on a lot of things."
Sposato was grinning. If he had a tail, he would've been wagging it.
"All right, take care of yourself, Dom. Bye-bye."
Sposato practically lunged as soon as Shifu hung up the phone. "He went for it, Shifu? He really bought all that stuff I told him?"
Shifu stepped out of the booth and nodded. Yup."
''How much is he gonna buy, Shifu? How much money will he bring?"
Shifu stared up at the sky. The sun was bright and warm on his face. "Don't know yet. Dom's gotta talk to his buyer. You know that."
"Yeah, I know. I just thought he would've told you something....You know what I mean?"
Shifu didn't answer. He took out his dark glasses and put them on so he could face the sun and soak up the warmth. The hook was in. Sposato had dollar signs in his eyes. He was ready to do anything to make this deal happen. Same thing with Dominick. He was eager to make this buy. Maybe not as eager as Sposato, but he'd get there. They all do. It never fails. They all want the easy buck, and they all get stupid. Just like the pharmacist.
He adjusted his glasses and soaked up the warm Indian summer sunshine. It felt nice. It was gonna be a nice day.