Chapter 4

They had another session about an hour later, and a final one when they awoke in the morning. “Sorry darling, but I’ve got to go get ready for my meeting,” Lawton told her.

“I understand. Today’s a workday for me too. Are you going to give me your number?” They exchanged phone numbers. The number Lawton gave to her was the burner phone that he had bought for this job. They got out of bed and Lawton quickly dressed. Meagan was still naked, looking round and soft in the morning sun. Lawton kissed her and hugged her naked body, taking one last chance to dig his fingers into her plump body. “Will I ever see you again?” she asked.

“Next time I’m in town I’ll look you up.” Of course, he would never see her again. He kissed her one more time and left.

He drove to his hotel, showered and put on fresh clothes. Infante was supposed to arrive at the resort hotel at noon. Lawton wanted a chance to look him over before the job. He drove there and parked well away from the entrance, but with a clear view of people arriving. At about 12:30, a limousine pulled up and Infante got out. He looked as expected from the pictures Lawton had seen. He was 58 years old, but looked like he was in good shape. He was about six feet tall, grey hair with broad shoulders and a deep chest. He obviously worked out. Lawton made a mental note to make sure he didn’t give him any opportunity to defend himself. Well, that was the way he always worked. Infante went inside, followed by a small entourage of four beefy guys. Obviously bodyguards. Lawton expected bodyguards and had planned accordingly.
Lawton went back to his hotel and had lunch. Then he went to his room and took a nap. It was going to be a late night. At about four, he went to the hotel workout facility and worked out for an hour. Exercise always helped ready him for a job.

Afterwards he went to his room and checked over his pistol. It was a Glock 9mm, specially modified to accept a sound suppressor. Not a silencer. There’s no way to silence the noise made when a round is fired, the best that can be done is to suppress the crack enough so that the sound doesn’t carry far, or be heard through walls. The only people that say silencer are people that don’t know anything about firearms like, say, television writers.

He showered and dressed to eat in the hotel dining room again. Normally he would have a glass or two of wine with dinner, but not tonight. Tonight he was working. Afterwards he went back to his room and watched TV to pass the time. His information was that Infante’s dinner meetings usually broke up at about ten and he went to his suite. Lawton wanted to give him time to wind down from the day and hopefully be in bed. He packed everything except what he would wear tonight. The room was paid for through the next day, but Lawton didn’t plan to return. After the job was done there wouldn’t be a reason to hang around Chicago, so he would drive through the night to St. Louis. At midnight, Lawton put on dark slacks, a neutral colored shirt and a dark sport coat. The coat hid the custom-made holster that carried his pistol with sound suppressor. He exited his hotel through a side entrance. It was quiet this time of night, and a desk clerk might remember seeing him leave. He didn’t want to be remembered. He drove to the resort hotel and parked near a side entry. It was time to carry out the job.

The universal key card got him into the side entry. Like all hotels, there were stairs by the side entry. Lawson didn’t know if Infante would have guards in the lobby, but if there were he didn’t want to be seen walking through the lobby to the elevators. He went in the stairway and up one flight. He was in good shape and could have walked all the way up to the 28th floor where Infante had his suite. But that would leave him with an elevated heart rate and he would be breathing hard. Since his marksmanship was essential, he wasn’t going to exert himself on the stairs. No need to. He exited the stairway on the second floor and walked to the elevators. The up button brought him an elevator and he pushed the button for the 27th floor. From there, he walked to the stairway. On the walk up, he took the pistol out of the holster and jacked a round into the chamber. He came to the door that would open onto the 28th floor. Hotel stairway doors are notoriously noisy, unless you open and close them very, very slowly. Lawton was able to close it so gently that it didn’t latch, making his entrance nearly silent. Infante’s suite was two turns and down the hall, which Lawson knew from reviewing the hotel plans (thank you dark web).

He came to the corner of the last turn and readied his weapon. He came around quickly with his weapon up. As he expected, there were two guards sitting in front of the door. There was a time when they would be playing cards to pass the time. Now, of course, they were both watching their phones. Lawson put two rounds into each of them. The suppressed Glock made a “chuff” sound each time. Both rounds went to their heads. They were easy shots, maybe a dozen feet. Some people think that a shot to the head instantly incapacitates the target. That’s not always true. Sometimes the target manages to get a shot off before he realizes he’s dead. But two rounds are almost always a sure kill.

The guards were dead and Lawton stood at the door to the suite. It was time to earn his million dollars.