CHAPTER 5

Dinner parties were not Michelle's thing. She hated the fuss of having to be nice to a bunch of uptight rich people, who looked their noses down on anyone who didn't come from money like they did. Thank god Riccardo wasn't like that.

However, the dinner party Michelle was hosting only consist of herself, her husband and his best friend, Martin and his fiancé Maggie. She was looking forward to spending some girl time with Maggie. She and Maggie weren't that close, they have only ever spoken to each other on a few occasion, when they all happened to be out together. Michelle thought that it was about time she fixed that.

Michelle went about preparing dinner for her guest, who were already on their way according to her husband. She was in the kitchen sipping a glass of white wine and listening to some soft music as she prepared dinner.

She likes to cook and clean, it was very therapeutic for her. A lot of her husband female clientele were appalled by the fact that she likes to get her hands dirty. But Michelle didn't care, it was the way she was brought up. She had many hidden talents and cooking was just one of them.

Just as Michelle turned the dial on the oven to off, she heard voices signalling the arrival of her guest. She took another sip of her wine before placing it on the counter. She adjusted her black dress and fluffed her hair then left the kitchen to greet her guest.

Michelle smiled when she saw Maggie and Martin.

"Maggie, so good to see you again."

Both women embraced.

"Likewise and thank you so much for having us."

Maggie replied, stepping back to Martin's side. Martin took a step forward and captured Michelle in a bear hug, lifting her slightly off the ground.

"Oh, my!"

Michelle breathed, as she was caught off guard. After a few seconds, Martin let her back down and stepped back.

"Michelle, you looked as lovely as always."

A big cheeses grin was on his face. Michelle laughed, then frowned when she saw the bruises on his face. She looked at Martin concern.

"What have you done to yourself?"

His smile fell slightly and a look passed between him and Riccardo, but then his grin was soon back in place. If Michelle hadn't known better, she would have thought she had imagined it.

"Oh, this."

Martin said touching his face.

"Just had a run in with an old friend but it didn't turn out the way I'd hope."

Michelle snorted. "I'll say."

Martin's brows raised in amusement. "Well, that wasn't very lady like."

Michelle smiled. "You ever said I was a lady?"

Riccardo stepped forward and slipped his hand around her waist, pulled her closer to him. He turned her to face him and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"Well, you are my lady."

Michelle smiled shyly and turned back to her guest. Riccardo and Martin excused themselves, leaving the women to entertain themselves. Michelle escorted Maggie to the great room, where she offered her a glass of wine.

"So Maggie, how have you been?"

They took seats across from each other, both sipping their wine.

"I've been good, I'm trying to juggle my job and planning for my wedding, but I love the challenge, I wouldn't have it any other way."

Michelle smiled and Maggie watched her. She was an exceptionally beautiful woman. She can sometimes come off as cold, but she guessed that the result of living a hard life. She and Michelle weren't really friends. On the few occasions that they have talked, Maggie would always get the feeling that Michelle didn't want to form any close relationship with her. Maggie was fine with that, she already had more friends than she can handle.

"Well, if you want I can help with the planning. I mean, I have already been through it, so I might know a thing or two."

Maggie was surprised by the offer. She was grateful, but still surprised.

"I'd love that! Thank you. I mean, if you're not too busy."

Michelle smiled and shook her head.

"I'm never too busy to help a friend. Maybe we can discuss the details over lunch tomorrow?"

"Definitely, I'll set it up."

Both women started talking and discussing napkins colours and teams. Maggie smiled inward as she realised that she might have just made a new friend.

+++++++++

Martin paced back and forth as he described to Riccardo his encounter with the ghost killer. He was still surprised that he was still alive, no one had ever lived to tell about the killer. Granted, he never really got to see who the person was, but the killer didn't know that, did he?

Riccardo folded his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"So you're telling me that this ghost killer, can move faster than the eyes can see, fight like a ninja and vanish into thin air? Who the hell are we looking for, superman and cat woman's love child?"

Riccardo's voice held a good amount of scepticism as he spoke. I mean, who can blame him, his friend was telling him that a superhuman kicked his ass.

"Are you embarrassed that this guy got the drop on you because if you are, you can tell me instead of making stuff up?"

Martin stopped and gave his friend an irritated look. He dropped himself into the chair across from Riccardo and ran his hand through his thick brown hair.

"Look Rick, I'm not making this shit up. I went over to have Lance signed the papers so that we can close the deal, but when I got there it was like everyone retired or some shit. The door was open and security was nowhere to be found. When I entered the house I heard the commotion but by the time I got there everyone was dead."

Martin couldn't believe what he saw himself, and if someone had told him it, he would have laughed at them and send them to get their head check out. But he saw it with his own eyes, he just couldn't deny what he saw.

"The guy was dressed like something out of those Jet lee movie. All black leather with one of those long coats. I couldn't believe my eyes and before I knew it, I was flying in the air. I thought I was dead Rick, but he left me alive."

Riccardo could see that his friend was telling the truth. He was hoping that it was all in Martin's head. He did not want his fears to be true.

"Shit." Riccardo said.

He stood and went to retrieve a file he had in his safe. He put the combination in and got the file. Walking back over to Martin he handed it to him. Martin accepted the file but looked at him curiously.

"What's this?"

"Open it and see for yourself."

Martin sat back and opened the file. The words, genetically engineered human beings and programed killer jumped out at him. He continued reading, flipping from page to page. His interest was drawn in, although he was highly fascinated with what he was reading, he couldn't believe it. And he wouldn't have believe it, if he hadn't encountered one of those same genetically engineered killers himself.

Martin closed the file and look back at Riccardo. He was still trying to process the information he just read.

"Where the hell did you get this? Do you even know who would want to play god like this?"

Riccardo understood everything that his friend was feeling, because it was the same thing he felt when he first read it a few months back. He sat back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair to relief some of the tension he was feeling, but it didn't help. He was still feeing uneasy. Something big was going down and it had something to do with. He wasn't a fool to think that it was a coincident that most of the people who were being targeted were clients of his.

He had a lot of enemies in the business world as well as the crime world. He didn't get to where he was by being friends with everyone, he had accumulated his fair share of enemies along the way. He was the best in his business of dealing in gun traffic and rare and unusual artefacts. Whatever a client needed he was able to supply it, no questions ask.

It was a very competitive business, that made him a millionaire and there were quite a few who would just love to see him fall. Riccardo knew he had to get out in front of whatever was going down. He wasn't going to let whoever was after him get the better of him. He was going to find the son-of-a-bitch and kill him. That's a promise he made to himself and those who know him, knows that he never breaks a promise.