The Last Vacation

1

“One, Two, three…''My voice trailed off, I started my Mario Kart and down the track I went I looked side to side I had left mom and dad in the dust, no catching me, I smirked. I was a lucky kid I got to go on frequent vacations all the time and my parents would always spoil me. What can I say? I was the only child in a rich family. We had been all over to almost every major city in the US, Europe and now finally Tokyo. Between the beautiful gardens, the food and of course the mario kart racing, I was in hog heaven. I was fourteen and felt like this was the peak, little did I know this vacation would be the last and when it was over I would no longer be just a normal teenage.

2

Japan was awesome. It was everything I had imagined. I had taken a bit of classes and learned a thing or two about the language from the countless anime I had watched.

After our fervent racing, I went to lunch with my mom. Dad had kind of just disappeared for the day it was common on our vacations for one or both of them to disappear for some time. She was on her computer, she always did that on vacation.

“It's a tough job baby, no real breaks,” She would always say.

It was sparking my curiosity. Mom always said she was in sales or something, but something felt off about the company. The way we were situated she had her back to the wall and her screen set up so that no passerbys would be able to see what she was looking at. 

I noticed as the waiter arrived with our food she pulled the screen towards her. She nodded and thanked the server. Not moving her hand until they had walked away.

I also noticed she always used a personal hotspot, never the free wifi at any of the places we went to.

I took a few bites. 

“What do you think so far baby, is Japan everything you imagined it would be.”

I smiled, doing my best to act like I wasn’t suspicious.

“Absolutely mom, and this food is amazing. I never thought I’d be a fan of sea urchin.”

She laughed, “You actually like that stuff, it's so horrid.”

I continued enjoying my meal for a few more minutes. Eventually She closed her laptop and grabbed her phone. 

“I’ll be back, watch my stuff ok sweetie.”

I smiled. “Of course, if anyone comes by, I'll kick their ass.”

I waited until she was out of sight. Now was my chance.

My palms began to sweat. Should I really be doing this? It was silly. I wasn’t going to find anything. Probably some website for selling cars or something like that.

I pulled open the laptop. Of course it was locked. I think I had memorized the pattern of moms typing. From what I could tell she changed the password pretty often. I think it was CornCobbInYo4rface or something like that. A reference to a scene in Nacho Libre, an old Jack Black movie we had seen recently.

I hovered over the enter button for a moment. Should I be doing this? What if mom came back from the bathroom and found me on her computer. I doubted she’d be pleased with me snooping around.

I hit enter.

I gasped and quickly looked around the restaurant making sure no one was watching me.

There was an image of a middle aged Japanese man. A price was listed below his photo. Holy shit I was looking at millions.

A message popped up on screen then. 

“Mrs. Hanady target is on the move; he'll be in Tokyo by nightfall at the rendezvous just as anticipated. The target has brought more security than expected with him. I know you and your husband haven’t had a mission like this in a while, use extreme caution.”

I quickly closed the computer and moved back over to my seat. I picked up my tea and took an awkward slurp spilling some of it like a two year old. 

What the hell had I just seen. Are my parents Assassins?

The vacations and constant traveling, the odd behavior of my parents, it all made sense now.

3

It was nighttime now and I was alone back at the hotel room. I had not seen my dad since Mario Kart racing and my left after we got back to the room late afternoon.

Everything felt off. Mom and dad usually had acted odd during these vacations, but this time things seemed much worse. I had a bad feeling about this.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard crashing and shouting down the hall.

The door to the apartment swung open.

“Devin baby, we need to pack our things now!" Mom yelled.

I could tell she was trying to keep her cool but Her voice was beginning to waver.

I quickly burst out of my room to find my mom drenched in sweat.

Then a hail of bullets began tearing through the wall from the hallway. I saw blood spray out from her shoulder. 

“Mom nooo!!!” I screamed.

She was quickly on top of me, throwing me down behind the counter.

I immediately looked up to see she had an FN 509 with an extended mag and a suppressor out. She wasn’t wearing what I saw her leave with. Her business casual outfit was replaced with an outfit that reminded me of Laura Croft from the Tomb Raider games.

She quickly returned fire before looking back down at me. She was making sure I hadn’t been hit. 

“Mom you’re…”

She shushed me “It's ok son, it's not too bad. I’ve got this.”

I knew my mom was tough, but I was beginning to think she wasn’t being honest. Her skin was beginning to get pale and it seemed like she was losing a decent amount of blood.

She gestured for me to crawl towards the hall leading towards the other bedroom.

I quickly shuffled into the room and turned in time to see more bullets rip through the wall. My mom was struck again this time on the side. 

“Go quickly!!” 

I ran down the hall and into my parents room. I turned in time to see my mom fall into the bedroom with a groan. I quickly slammed the door shut. 

She pushed herself against the bed clutching her side. 

“Oh god,” She groaned. I watched as she lifted her hand from her side, it was red with blood. The handgun had clattered to the ground a few feet from where I was.

She looked at me with deep sadness in her eyes. 

“Devin, bring me the gun.”

I hesitantly picked it up. 

I could hear voices now and pounding at the door. Whoever the attackers were, they were preparing to bust down the door. 

I looked up, my mom was holding out her phone and gesturing with her other hand for me to give her the gun.

“Devin listen to me, you're going to take the phone. It has your dads location marked. You’re going to get to him and get out of here as soon as possible,” I could see she was shaking now.

“I’ll hold them off so you can escape.”

I stood up now feeling the gun in my hands. The rest of my mothers pleading words became background noise. It made sense now, all of it, the training. The martial arts, my countless hours spent at the gun range, hunting, sports, The knowledge I learned about trauma care and first aid. They had been grooming me, preparing me for this my whole life. 

I looked up at my wounded mom, her arm outstretched to me waiting for me to hand her the gun. 

I looked back at the gun ejecting the magazine.

I walked towards the other side of the room closer to the door crouched down. It made sense why my parents had always chosen the hotels they did on every trip. The layout of this room provided many places to hide and maneuver, as well the building itself was a maze and had many escape routes. I hadn’t thought much about it before, but it all made sense now. Every place we stayed in our vacations were heavily secured. The rooms always had some degree of a tactical advantage or some form of an escape route. 

“How many of them?” I said, startled by how calm my own voice was.

“Dev, what??”

“Simple question mom, how many of them?”

I turned back to her. She looked really concerned. 

She stammered, “There's four of them.”

I looked down at the magazine. 5 rounds, left in the mag, one in the chamber. 

I closed my eyes envisioning the kitchen and layout of the hotel room. 

It would do.

“Hide.”

Before my mom could speak I rushed back into the hall keeping myself low and as quiet as I could. 

I quickly had to devise a plan.

The gaming room would be a good place to set a trap. I assumed the intruders would split up and search the apartment. The bathroom and closet in the hall were just death traps. I had to use the game room so mom could hide herself. I was confident she could hold out. I quickly made a trail with the blood and torn up furniture leading into the game room. I dropped my Nintendo switch on the ground too. Had to make it look like poor innocent me had run and hide in there. I surveyed the room one last time while keeping low, taking note of different items around the room. The glass ball, some corn on the cob I hadn’t finished.

Now off to my hiding spot, in the darkness I could blend in the east side of the room and would have a perfect view and like of sights at anyone entering. I’d wait till the first guy was out of view from the main living room. I glanced over at the odd statue. It was just the perfect size. 

The banging continued. 

I looked over toward the balcony and grabbed the statue. Here goes nothing. 

I sat in the dark corner mentally preparing myself.

I heard a loud crack and the sound of footsteps.I heard a voice in broken english. I have to say now I know what my Japanese sounded like to native speakers. “Seems the kid went that way. Xiang go check it out.”

In a few moments I saw the barrel of the man’s gun through the entrance. 

He was clearly casual. His guard seemed down. 

They really thought I was just some stupid twerp. 

The man haphazardly swept the room aiming his suppressed MP5.

Just a few more steps and he’d be out of view. I glanced around the room making sure the display above the door was ready to fall and my next hiding place was in view and open.

I held my breath, my hands starting to shake slightly. 

Slowly, breath,I told myself, In and out slowly.

Each step he made pounded in my ears, so close now.

Boom.

Boom.

I could hear the sound of the others ransacking the place. I heard the clattering of coat racks, someone was searching the closet.

Stay hidden mom.

“Xiang,” the man from the street shouted, “find him yet.”

The man in front of me turned and shouted something in Japanese.

Come on just a few more steps to the right.

The man turned back around.

One step, two step…perfect.

I didn’t hesitate. I pulled the string in my hand opening the balcony door. The man turned, raising his weapon in the direction of the statue. 

He yelled “hold still” and “hands up” in Japanese.

Now the weapon he was carrying was pointed away from me. I fired one shot through his neck. He began to make a slight gagging sound as I fired the other shot into the center of his chest. 

Two shots, four left. 

His MP5 fell and his hands shot up to his neck before he collapsed onto the floor. 

I quickly threw the blinds of the balcony open. My hunch was correct, the statue looked like a human standing there. With the sound of the door opening followed by the shots I figured my trick would work. 

I slunk down in my next hiding spot under the bed. 

I heard the others shouting. 

From what I could understand of Japanese I heard something along the lines of “I told him to take the child alive.”

Good they thought I was dead.

I saw the boots enter through the door. My pistol already aimed at where the man’s feet. 

I fired two shots at both the man’s ankles.

He fell with a cry, bingo his head came into view and before he could react I fired another shot through his forehead.

Three shots, one left.

I moved into the living room sticking to the shadows.

I listened for a few moments.

I could hear someone shuffling around in my room. Someone else was down the hall near my parents room. 

I quickly checked the table in the center of the room. The glass ball was still there. I scooped it up before moving slowly over to my room. I could hear someone rummaging through things, tearing my room apart. I looked around quickly assessing the layout. There was a crevice by my door, it would be difficult for someone to maneuver around it. I took one last look at the kitchen.

I could see a few knives on a rack and the corn on the cob I didn’t get to enjoy. I had one shot left, I could make this work.

I waited till I heard the sound of the man dumping my bag onto the ground. I moved quickly towards the crevice. 

I waited once I heard silence, I threw the glass ball into the kitchen.

I heard the man grunt and make his way over to the door. He stopped for just a brief second. I raised the pistol to the back of his skull and fired.

One shot. Zero left.

I now moved over to the kitchen still carrying the handgun. The slide was now locked back indicating the mag ran out of ammo. Still would be of use to me.

I scooped up a knife tucking it in my belt and grabbed the corn cob pushing the metal stick all the way through till it was sticking out. 

I had always wanted to do this ever since watching Nacho Libre.

I heard the man in my parents room now. 

I then heard that same voice again in broken english.

“Ah Mrs. Hanady, you thought you could get the best of us. Oh well, it's time to say goodbye. 

I had moments to act. I ran into the room. The man from the street was standing there with his gun raised, aimed at my mom. She was in the closet clutching her side, her shoulder was bandaged up.

I flipped the corn around and yelled.

“Get That Corn out of my face,” in the most Jack Black voice I could muster. 

He turned and I had time to see that he was the man from the picture earlier, the one with the bounty on his head, he was the target. With the thrust of one hand and the flick of the other I sent the corn flying then the empty hand gun. The corn made contact with his eye and the gun smashed into his hand knocking his gun away from him. I drew the knife for good measure. The man grasped for the corn at his eye before falling to his knees. I approached the knife drawn ready to finish the job.

4

Mom and I came crashing into the hall. We moved at a brisk pace, I was using my shoulder to steady her. 

She looked at me. Her eyes watery. I could tell it wasn’t just from the pain from the two bullet wounds. She opened her mouth before turning away from me silently.

“Ba…no,” She stopped herself, “Devin, I told you to run, why were you reckless like that.”

“I wasn’t going to leave you mom, you guys trained me for this after all didn’t you? I learn from the best.”

She smiled a bit, I could tell it wasn’t just from pure joy. I could imagine being a mother and watching your teenage son kill a bunch of people like John Wick must be a bit startling even if you’re a hired killer for a living.

She grimaced a bit.

I opened my mouth to speak, but she interrupted me. 

“It's ok Devin, I’ve been far worse off than this before, though it's been a while since I’ve been shot.”

We continued to the fire escape. My mom pulled out a phone and a message popped up. 

“We’ll be waiting down below.”

It was the same account I had seen on the dark web on her laptop. Before we left she had snapped a picture of the man who had gotten corn cobbed and sent it. 

“Interesting way to kill a man,” the text said. “Here's your pay.”

A notification popped up on my moms bank app. She opened it and my mouth dropped open. I was looking at 2 million dollars.

After a few more moments of silence my mom spoke up,“I guess you could say that was a corny way to die.”

We both laughed together. 

I knew family vacation would never be the same again. My mind was still reeling, the adrenaline still coursing through my body, the exciting rush. The truth was I liked it and I was damn good at it.

I’m looking forward to our next family vacation.