Without examining the invitation too carefully, Tony guided her gently by the arm, and they left the park quickly.

Neither spoke on the way to his apartment. Tony was thinking about how his friends at NASA would never believe this story. He also enjoyed his good fortune that this was the week Lori was out of town. This couldn't have been better if he'd planned it himself. Several times, he looked over at the brunette on the way to his apartment, and each time she looked back at him with an excited, eager expression on her face.

When they approached his apartment door, he fumbled with the keys before letting them in. “How about a shower?” he suggested eagerly.

“Only if you'll be in there too,” she said seductively.

“Wouldn't have it any other way,” Tony said, scarcely able to believe his luck.

He walked into the bathroom, already pulling off his sweat-soaked tee shirt. It took a second before he noticed his new friend had stopped in the bathroom doorway, her hand inside the fanny pack. He knew something was wrong the minute he looked at her face; focused and dangerous, any remnant of the fun and sexy woman he'd met in the park had disappeared.

The weapon cleared the pack, and in a swift and obviously well-practiced move swung toward his head. Tony tried to move his arms to protect himself, but they were still tangled up in the armholes of the shirt and by the time his brain had registered what was in her hand, it was too late to even scream.

The silenced .22 automatic popped twice in rapid succession and two neat holes appeared on Tony's forehead. The small caliber bullets didn't have the energy to exit the back of his head, but they bounced around inside his cranium, tearing up brain matter as they went. His body landed half in the bathtub, with his feet hanging out. He twitched several times before all movement stopped.

The assassin returned the weapon to her fanny pack and picked up the spent shell casings, placing these in the fanny pack as well. She felt her victim's neck and discovered a faint weak carotid pulse.

Straightening up, she went to the refrigerator and found an almost full, half-gallon container of orange juice. She removed the lid, drinking thirstily and then went back and rechecked Tony's pulse, slowly shaking her head. She retrieved the weapon from the fanny pack and added a third hole to Tony's head.

This shot she angled explicitly, so the bullet would travel into his brain stem. Again, she checked his pulse, satisfied that this time there was none. She noticed a sizable crimson pool forming on the floor of the bathtub, where the side of Tony's head was partially blocking the drain.