Life of the Party

Nobody noticed when they arrived, the balloons the cake and the other special things she brought along to make it a special day. The most important thing was the cleanup; if there was a mess then her boss would be angry. And when he was angry, then in the future someone else would take her place. The hiring process was quick and painless but when someone left a mess, it would be less pleasant.

Ghislaine chambered a round in her Ruger Mark IV and adjusted her costume. The children would be happy to see her princess costume while the target would be less excited about it. It was pretty brave of the leader of the syndicate to hold a birthday party at his estate; a gaggle of ten year olds would surely trash the pool deck with their ice cream and cake. Hector Romero was known to be ruthless, and yet he had a soft spot in his heart for his young daughters.

The security team didn’t bother to put the cake through the metal detector and this was to be expected. They had made a scouting run at two prior parties, both to assess the defenses as well as to earn his trust. The hit was worth a cool million dollars, and she knew the stakes were high. She brought along two helpers to carry the cake and the gifts. One was a particularly good cleaner who knew how to remove evidence. His job was to go after the surveillance footage; there were two video recorders in the bunker that he would destroy with a thermite grenade.

“Ah, what do we have here? Cinderella?” the guard joked as Ghislaine passed through the metal detector holding balloons for the special birthday girl.

“Something like that,” she said.

If security found the gun, plan B would go into effect. She would take out the two security guards with a knife and sneak into the kitchen; and from there take out Hector. She knew about the trap door in the kitchen; when things got busy, he could retreat to a bunker, but not if Cinderella and her Ruger showed up first.

So far things were going to plan. Her only fear was not shooting any children; even assassins have some code of honor, and killing kids was not allowed.

The hit went more smoothly than expected. Hector was in the bedroom getting ready for the party. She kicked the bedroom door open and there was Hector Romero, adjusting his tie. His eyes brightened as a stunning tall blonde in a Cinderella costume kicked open the door, but then his mood darkened as he saw the gun with the silencer. As he frantically tried to draw his gun from his waist she unloaded four .22 rounds into his chest, and when he hit the floor, she fired twice more.

She took a photo as proof of the kill and then it was time to go. She looked outside to see the children playing pin the tail on the donkey; it was just like any other day.

As she entered the kitchen, the cleanup crew had done their tasks; the CCTV system had been destroyed and they had discretely killed the security team inside the house. The good thing was that it had gone as planned, it was even pleasant. Well maybe not for everyone involved.