To Kill a Tourist

By Peter M Stone

It was near the eleventh hour, for the family to be on the road for yet another weekend vacation. The parents were preparing their luggage behind closed doors once again. The children were never allowed in their bedroom while they packed their belongings. 

The Knicks family lived in a very good neighborhood and always had anything they wanted, inground pool to the largest SUVs and of course the forty-foot RV.

Steve was getting older and started secondary school that year and always had to come up with another answer for the same old question.

"Hey Steve, what does your mom and dad do for work. They are always at home and never leaving the house much," said his best friend, Shawn.

"Oh, they inherited a large sum of money when my grandpa died and don't need to work,"

"Ok, just looks funny because your family doesn't look like millionaires,"

There were always the other kids that had the Knicks' as being some kind of mafia leaders, or even worst paid assassins.

"What are you doing this weekend, Steve? We're having a party over at my house and you’re invited.

"Let me ask my parents if I could stay alone and if they say yes, for sure I'll be there,"

"Just stay over at my house for the weekend. My parents love you and wouldn't mind you staying over,"

Steve returned home and requested to stay over at Shawn's house for the weekend instead of going on the family weekend vacation. His dad told him he would have to pass the request with Steve's mom but in his opinion, he saw no problem. When Mrs. Knicks was told of Steve's plan to skip the weekend vacation, she told her husband it was fine.

"We might even have an opportunity to kill two birds with one visit," she said.

"I don't want you to use the word kill any or any other words that mean the same in our house. We are retired and just enjoying life after your dad left us over a million dollars, remember,"

"Sorry dear, we never know when there's a fly on the wall listening," Herb Knicks chuckled.

“Steve, yes you may stay over at Shawn’s this weekend. You know we don’t tolerate drugs or alcohol. And if you get into trouble while we are away, we ensure you that there will be consequences,” said his dad.

The Knicks had always been extra careful when on holidays/business trips with Steve. He asked too many questions and was never satisfied with his parents’ answers. Sarah on the other hand never asked questions and just wanted to know when they were going to arrive. As long as there was WIFI available she wasn’t heard or seen.

“Ok, who is our target and where are we going?” asked Thelma Knicks.

“I have just received Mr. Jones’ encrypted message. The target is a book store owner in a small-town called Perth. Her husband has come up the 50,000$ American to have her killed. Apparently, she’s been seeing the old police chief of the town at the back of her shop after hours. I told Jones that we didn’t need to know everything on his grocery list. You know how long winded he is when he gets going,”

Jones wasn’t his real name but it was the name his finger came upon in the phone book when he was thinking of a name to use. Jones had a black website that people who had someone they wanted to murder could use. All the messaging was done by a special encrypted code each individual was sent once Jones received the requested amount of money. There were conditions that had to be followed to be eligible and they included, no children, no religious murders, and above all no policemen. He had ten teams of mercenaries across North America, who on the average killed fifteen targets a year. He only used married couples and preferably couples with at least on child. This allowed a certain amount of inconsistency when criminal profilers were asked to assist on the murder investigations. Jones met the couples once and it was only after the couples had been screened by his two moles he had working in the FBI. It was a multi-million-dollar business that in his weird mind was keeping honest people from committing murder.

“Ok, we are fifteen minutes from Perth so let’s fuel up and have a bite to eat. Sarah will have her regular Big Mac with fries so I’ll order that before she wakes up. What are we using to do the job this time?” asked Thelma.

“I’ve brought my Ruger 9mm with a silencer in case there are anybody within listening range. But I’m thinking that we could also use the Russian VX toxin. You get her busy in front of the store and I’ll lace her cell phone with it,”

“Well, it’s time to eat and fuel up so wake up Sarah and let’s get this show on the road,”

Herb Knicks was brought up in a small town similar to Perth. Everyone greeting others with “Hello how’s your day going,”. It also restored the memories of being beaten up at the local hockey rink by the town bullies. He just wanted to get in and get out of Perth so he could go back home to his swimming pool and golf with his beautiful wife Thelma.

“Sarah, wake up! Herb, something is wrong with Sarah. Come in here hurry!”

Herb Knicks ran into the RV and found his daughter Sarah dead on the sofa. He held her in his arms crying and asking her to wake up. Sarah had springled what she thought was powdered sugar on her toast while her parents were outside deciding how to kill the bookstore owner. Now she laid lifeless in her father’s arms foaming at the mouth.

“We have to call the police and the ambulance,” said Thelma.

“No, they’ll find our weapons and the VX toxin. We need the money so let’s go take care of business. We can’t help Sarah she’s already dead.”

“You are the most cold-blooded person that I have ever met, Herb Knicks.

They pulled up in front of the little book story named, “Last Chapter”. They were both still mourning the lost of their cherished daughter Sarah.

“So, what’s it going to be? The poison that you brought that killed our daughter or the 9 mm with the silencer?” asked Thelma.

“Listen, you’re not going to blame me for Sarah’s death. I placed it in the pantry in case we were ever stopped by the police. Sarah had never opened the panty door once as long as we’ve had the RV,”

“Let’s get rid of that fucking VX toxin once and for all before you murder me with the damn poison,”

The two opened the door of the “Last Chapter” book store as if they’d been there a thousand times. They had over thirty kills under their belt and knew exactly what to do. Thelma started to chat it up with Suzan the owner and before long she had her outside looking over their RV. Sarah’s body had been placed on bags of ice and put under the foldable love seat.

Herb quickly found the owner’s cell phone near the cash and laced it with enough VX poison to kill a couple of elephants. Once the dirty deed was done, all it was to do was to ensure the target was dead before they left.

“Thank you so much Thelma for showing me your beautiful motor home. Now is there any special edition of the book store that interests you?”

The plan was working like a charm, as Herb found a copy of “How to get away with murder” that he brought to the rear of the shop.

“That will be 35.95$ and please come by again. Now don’t get any ideas with that book,” Suzan laughed.

Just then Thelma who had went out to the RV called the number of the book store and Suzan picked up the murder weapon which use to be just a cell phone. She looked Herb into the eyes and slowly folded onto the floor. The VX toxin was the most potent strain of Russian poison that was presently on the market. It took all of 17 seconds to kill the book store owner and earn a hefty 50,000$ American.

Herb walked out of the store that had only two clients all day long. Two clients that were just tourists that ended up buying a book on how to get away with murder.

“I verified the entire inside of the store and there were no CCTV cameras nor are there anywhere in this little piss pot town,” said Herb.

Heading out of Perth there were so many back roads that led to nowhere. It was getting late and because of Sarah’s unfortunate death the Knicks had not yet eaten. Herb pulled off into a field that hadn’t been cared for in years. Tree saplings were spouting up a little bit everywhere and it made the perfect place to open the awning and talk over the days’ events.

“Herb, don’t we have a shovel in the rear of the RV?

 “Yes, we do, are you thinking of burying Sarah in this god-awful place?”

“No, I’m going to bury your bastard body here. You caused Sarah’s death and now you will pay for it,”

“Honey, it was an accident. I could say it was your fault too. Just put the gun down and let’s talk this over,”

Bang, Bang and, Herb laid dead next to a dried-up puddle of cow manure. Thema quickly dug a hole just deep enough and long enough for her past husband to fit into. Once Herb was nicely tucked into his final resting ground Thelma emptied the remaining 8 bullets into his body.

“I never loved you anyway. I’m telling you now your brother always kept me sexually satisfied. You were nothing but a bank account for me,”

She covered her husband’s body with dirt and so gently place that cow manure over his face. Coming back into the RV Thelma fell to her knees. Sarah was sitting on the bed at the rear of the RV holding the AK 15 that the Knicks always carried as back up. She had carried out the perfect pseudocide by taking just the right amount of fentanyl to completely look as if she was dead. She then put baking soda along with some vinegar in her mouth to create the foaming effect. She was now about to make her mother pay for killing her dad.

“Do you think we were that stupid that Stephen and I didn’t know you two were a couple of cold-blooded killers. We have had to live like a couple of dead-beat children while you and dad lived like millionaires. Driving big vehicles, boats and don’t think we don’t know about you and Uncle Jeff. Christ what were you two thinking,”

“We only wanted the best for you and your brother,”

Just then the family SUV drove up behind the RV and who else but Stephen driving it.

“You two planned this whole thing. Who are you for Christ’s sake,”

“We are the next generation of the Knicks killing machine. Mr. Jones has already sent us the crypto messages to change over your contract to Stephen and I. You have taught us to be two cold blooded contract killers that give a rat’s ass if you were our parents or our first contract that we’ve agreed to do for 0 dollars. Now get out of the RV and lay down beside your lover’s brother,”

“Listen we can work all of this out. Let’s just sit down together and find a way we can work together,”

“Listen Thelma, you have killed over 30 targets without a single tear. You even killed dad and then told him you never loved him. Look at how fake you both have been. You have done something right however. That’s teaching us to be as cold blooded as you are and now get in the fucking hole,” said Stephen.

Sarah was a mere 14 years old but she killed her mother as if she was stepping on a spider on the floor. They placed her body along side their father and poured the spare diesel fuel of the RV over their bodies. They even sat and watched as their parent’s bodies sizzled into a pile of liquid skin and bones.

Jones sent the 50,000$ American to his new mercenaries along with a card of condolences. The Knicks pulled into Perth acting like any other tourists. They left a target laying dead in a little town’s book store. Yet the same tourists were cleverly killed by the next generation of contract killers.