Short story- The Waiting Game

In a few weeks, I’ll be participating in the New York City Midnight Short Story Competition. I will have a week to write a story based on three prompts that I’m given in under 2500 words. This is just round one. Round two is 2000 words in 3 days and round 3 is 1500 words in 24 hours. I’ve never made it to round three.

This was my story from last year. It received an honorable mention, which means it was almost good enough to move me on to round two, but not quite. I still really like this story and I hope you enjoy it, too!

The Waiting Game

She peers through the scope and lets out a long, slow breath. Her target should be emerging any second. She fingers the trigger, letting one eye wander up the street while the other stays in the scope, which is locked on the window of her target’s apartment. She notices a couple walking hand in hand and an old man getting out of his car.
She squeezes the trigger as the man pulls back the curtain. The crack of the glass is barely audible and the couple keeps walking and life goes on, except for the man with a bullet lodged in his skull.
She takes apart her rifle and imagines him laying on his back with blood pooling around him. She doesn’t like playing the cold-blooded assassin. It’s not her preferred task, but sometimes these things must be done.
She takes the elevator down and walks out of the hotel. She tosses her room card to a homeless woman on the street.
“It’s paid through the night.”

Callie waited at the bar swirling an olive around in her martini. Why was it that the more money a man had, the longer they thought they could keep a woman waiting? She glanced to the door again and rolled her eyes. No William, but she had definitely caught the attention of another table of men. If William didn’t show up soon, she would have to ward off advances from at least one of them. Their third round pounded on the table as Callie focused back on her drink and counted all the minutes William kept her waiting.
“Excuse me, miss? Did you say something?” The bartender was in front of her looking concerned.
“Oh no, sorry. I must’ve been talking to myself.” Callie did that sometimes.
“Okay, let me know if you need anything.” He looked up and she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Hi beautiful.” A kiss brushed her temple as William sat down next to her and took a drink from her martini. “Sorry I’m late. I got held up at work. Landed a big deal today.”
“Great. You could have called. Or texted.” She wanted to come off as annoyed, but amicable. She wanted him to make it up to her. This was only their sixth date. Callie didn’t know a lot about William, but enough to know that he was very rich. She wanted to see firsthand exactly how rich. She was going home with him tonight.
“I was so focused on getting here, I wasn’t thinking. Let’s just eat and forget about it.”
“I think you owe me for waiting. Here tonight, at Louie’s last week, Sophia’s the week before...”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He cut her off. “What can I do to make this up to you?”
She put on her naughtiest smile and got close to his face. “Use your imagination.”
He kissed her and smiled back. “Hmm, well I have a pretty wild imagination.”
“Mmm, so do I.”

She slips through the halls. The house is all but abandoned and she knows where the only occupant is sleeping. Fortunately, she’s not here to kill him. She finds his office and rifles through the papers on his desk, making sure to leave everything exactly as it was. He can’t know anyone was here. She tries the drawers. Locked. She looks for a key to no avail. She jimmies the lock open, but it doesn’t matter. Nothing useful is here. She searches behind pictures and bookcases. Maybe there’s a safe somewhere. Nothing.
She moves through the house looking for anywhere else it might be. The trouble is, she doesn’t know exactly what “it” is. That’s her job, to figure out what exactly he is up to, and she’s pretty sure it’s something big.
She walks into his gun room. As the son of William Chamber Sr., one of the biggest gun manufacturers in the States, she expects a room like this. He has some interesting, hi-tech stuff in here: an ADS underwater assault rifle and a Heckler and Koch MR556, neither of which are available to regular citizens. He also has antiques like a Colt Lightning and an original Winchester.
In the center of the room are two pedestals with drones that she’s never seen before. She walks around them, studying their hardware. One looks like a prototype for the other. There is the obvious camera, probably a pretty powerful CPU with GPS. There is also a tablet next to it, which must run the control software. She touches the home button and it springs to life, requiring fingerprint access. Interesting. It has carrying capabilities, too, like the ones Amazon wants to use to deliver packages. She snaps some photos with her phone and then gets out of there.

Callie hated mornings after. She never knew whether to stay or hightail it. Waking up early afforded her the opportunity to sneak out before he woke up. She carefully lifted the blankets and slid out of bed. She found her discarded clothes and slipped out the door. Damn, this house was huge. She poked her nose into a few rooms as she passed. Downstairs she found a gun room. It reminded her of a museum. There were guns mounted on the walls and drones on pedestals in the middle of the room. She had never seen anything like this outside of movies. Who was this guy?
“Who are you talking to?” William’s voice startled Callie, who was talking to herself again.
“No one. I was just looking.”
“Looking for anything in particular?”
“What? No. Just looking for my way out.” Callie was still a bit flustered, but regained her composure. “I didn’t know you were a gun collector.”
“Well, I was waiting to tell you, but I guess now is as good a time as any. My father is William Chamber Sr. Owner of Chamber Recreational Munitions.” Callie’s face remained blank. “We are the biggest mass producer of guns for recreational use in the U.S.”
“Oh. Never heard of them.”
“I’m the CEO of the company. Have been since my dad retired two years ago.”
“Wow. That’s incredible. So, you make guns?“
“Well, no. I mainly run the company, but lately I’ve been working with my design team on these drones.” He picked up the tablet and pressed his thumb to the home button. He touched a few more things on the tablet and the drone buzzed to life. Callie jumped back a little as it lifted off the pedestal. “Let’s say I’m trying to broaden the scope of the company.” He caught her eye and winked. “There’s a lot of money in drones now, maybe more than in guns. I’m getting some resistance from the board, but it will work out. We’ll be selling these things within the year.”
“Wow. I really don’t know what else to say. I’m sorry but I don’t know anything about all of this.” She understood his whole demeanor now and what was mysterious before turned very off-putting. How did she end up with a gun manufacturer? She used to protest the NRA, but she wasn’t getting into that conversation now. “Listen, I need to head out. Busy day ahead of me.”
“Oh, right. Would you like some coffee first? I can give you a cup to go? It’ll take five minutes.”
“Nah, I’ll grab one when I get to work later.” There was always a fresh pot of coffee in her office. Journalists and editors needed coffee by the gallon to make it through the day.
William made a few more swipes on the tablet and the drone touched down in its place.
“That is very impressive.” Callie didn’t want him to know her feelings yet. She would save that for the next day.
“Thank you. I think it will be my biggest accomplishment, if we can get these things mass produced and marketed.” He led her down the hall to the front door. “Are you sure you have to go? I have a bit of time before I have to check in to the office.” He wiggled his eyebrows and got closer, putting his hands on her waist.
She smiled and kissed him, keeping up the pretense. “Tempting, but I really do have things to do.”
“Okay, well then, I guess I will just have to wait until next time.”

She waits in the woman’s apartment. She is not sure what she will do yet. Kill her? Maybe, but that’s a last resort. She wants to get her on board. She did some research on Callie Fuller and thinks she has potential. But what is she doing with a guy like William Chamber?
Keys rattle in the door and it opens.

Callie closed the door behind her, hung up her jacket and keys and turned to the room. She screamed and jumped back, knocking into the door. A strikingly beautiful woman with long brown hair, much like her own, sharp features, dressed all in black, sat in her chair.
“Oh shit!. Who are you and why are you in my house?” Callie pawed her pocket for her phone, getting ready to dial 911.
“Don’t bother. I’m jamming the signal,” the woman said. “But don’t worry. I just want to talk.”
“Why would you possibly need to talk to me?” Callie’s hands shook so bad, her phone slipped through her fingers.

She feels bad for the poor girl. “Come, sit down. Calm yourself.” She gets up and gets Callie a glass of water and sets it on the side table. Callie is still visibly shaking, so she takes her arm and guides her to the couch.
“I need an inside man and I think you’re just the woman for the job.”
“Inside what?” Callie reaches for the glass and takes a drink of water.
She continues: “William Chamber, Jr.”

“I’m not planning on seeing him again.”
“Didn’t you just spend the night there?”
“Have you been following me?” Callie was looking for something she could use to fight this woman. Maybe if she smashed the water glass.
“No, I’m following him. This was your sixth date, no?” Callie’s eyes snapped back to the woman’s face. The woman lit a cigarette she had taken from a pocket above her chest. “Yes, I’ve been following him for almost a month, now. I need to know what he’s up to. He’s working on a deal and we want to know what it is.”
“Drones.” The word came out of Callie’s mouth before she could stop it.

“Drones? Like the one in his trophy room?” She sits up.
“You’ve been in his house?”
“Of course, but I didn’t find anything and the drones are just ordinary. At least from the pictures I took.”
“I don’t know. All I can tell you is that he was super proud of the drones. He helped develop them. He said they would be his biggest accomplishment.”
She leans back and thinks for a moment. “I’m going to need you to go out with him again.”

Callie sat in a different bar, swirling a different olive in a different martini. She was waiting for William again. Only this time, she was nervous. She wasn’t just going on a date with an extremely rich, handsome man; she was gathering intel for a spy.
Callie’s job was to get William back to his house again. Once he fell asleep, she had to locate some papers, proof that he had made a deal to sell his drones to the Middle East. She would let her in and they would search together.
The first part of the plan was easy, she didn’t even mind sleeping with him again. She almost felt like a real spy.
When he got there, he was in a frisky mood, so they got dinner to go and went back to his place. Finally, after eating, having sex, and watching half of The Searchers, he was snoring happily on his pillow and she was free to roam.

Callie better not mess this up. When she sneaks in at midnight, everything is quiet. She rendezvous with Callie in the gun room and looks over the drone again. Still nothing she can see that’s out of the ordinary. They head to his office again. Maybe this time, there will be some evidence there.
They rifle through his desk, this time not worrying about keeping it neat. Suddenly, the door opens and the light goes on.
“Callie, what are you doing in here?” The woman walks over to him and knocks him out.
They tie him to a chair and prepare to interrogate him. They splash cold water on his face and he comes to, sputtering.
“Mr. Chambers.” She draws her finger down his cheek. “Who are you making this big deal with?”
“Callie, what is going on? Why am I tied up?”
“What is special about the drones? Who are you selling them to?”
“Why are you talking like that, Callie? You hit me! What’s going on?”
“Look at me, Bill, not Callie. She can’t help you now, she’s with me.”
“What do you mean? Why are you talking like that, Callie? Who are you talking about?”
“Here, let me explain it to him,” Callie breaks in.
“Who are you talking to? It’s just you and me here, Callie.”
“William, darling. This woman needs to know who you made a deal with to sell the drones. Was it Russia? China? The mob?”
“You’re not making sense, Callie. I think there’s something wrong with you. There’s no one else in here besides the two of us. ”
The woman takes out a gun. It has a silencer on it. “This is your last chance, Bill, tell us what we want to know.”
Bill starts crying. Warm urine soaks into the carpet as he sobs. “You’re fucking crazy, Callie. There’s no one else here! I’m not in some secret deal! They are just regular drones.”
The woman pulls the trigger. She hates it when people call her crazy.

Callie told her date not to be late. She wasn’t waiting in bars for guys anymore. But here she was, sitting at a bar, swirling an olive around her martini and thinking about what happened to the last guy who made her wait.