When a lethal beauty walks into Dan Johnson’s office with a request for blood, a private eye finds himself caught between an easy payday and an impossible moral trap.
The Ice-Cold Contract
Dan Johnson sat at his desk, his fedora tipped back, watching the bubbles rise in his open bottle of Perrier. Five years clean from the scotch and the smoke, but only one week clean from Jennifer. The scotch was currently losing the battle against the temptation to smash the window, but the silence she’d left behind was winning.
When the door opened, Dan thought the universe was offering a consolation prize.
She was one-hundred-ten pounds of dynamite wrapped perfectly in a dress tight enough to be a second skin. She didn’t walk in; she arrived, commanding the dim light of the office.
“What can I do for you?” Johnson asked, his heart thudding a frantic rhythm against ribs that suddenly felt too small.
“My name’s Margo Wells, and you can kill Lane Pierce for me.”
Dan didn’t blink. The professional part of his brain—the part not currently admiring her dangerous architecture—evaluated the request. A hit. Not his usual line of work. “Take a seat, Margo. Can I get you a Perrier? Tell me about Lane Pierce.”
Margo didn’t sit. She advanced to the desk, sliding a glossy photograph over the scuffed wood. The man was smiling, slick, and holding the arm of a laughing woman. Jennifer.
“He’s a monster, Mr. Johnson. And he’s taken everything from me. Now, he’s taken her.” Margo leaned close, the scent of expensive perfume and cheap desperation filling the gap between them. “I know you don’t do this. But for her? I think you will.”
Dan stared at the photo. The effervescence of the Perrier mocked him. He could refuse, toss her out, and go back to his bubble water. Or he could find a steel jacket and solve two problems at once.
Where Does the Story Go Next? You Decide.
Option 1: The Descent. Dan takes the case. He convinces himself it’s for Jennifer, a final act of chivalrous (and homicidal) devotion. He gets the gun, plans the hit, but the closer he gets to Lane Pierce, the more he realizes Margo hasn’t told him the whole truth, and he might be shooting the wrong person.
Option 2: The Refusal. Dan declines. He points Margo toward the door and the bottle of Perrier toward the glass. But Margo Wells doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She leaves, but the threat remains. Now Dan has to protect Jennifer from the hitman Margo did hire, forcing him to confront Lane Pierce non-lethally, while battling his own relapse.
