Messenger of the Reaper

By Jimmy Straley and Angelyn Straley

An action filled thriller about a hitman who after 40 years of service is ready to retire. There are a few requirements he must meet before this is possible. He must train someone to take his place but, he must warn his new protégé that this job comes with a terrifying price. As the hitman, the Reaper will follow you along for the rest of your l

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jimmy Straley
• Release date: Nov 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781778390241

Jimmy Straley

I was born 11-06-1960, in Sherman, Tx, but spent most of my life in Ft Worth, Tx. I have two grown children, Elizabeth-27, and Jimmy Jr-29, who also reside here in Tx. I also have two teenage stepchildren that live at home with me, Francisco-16, and Kristofer-15. I have been divorced once, but I am currently remarried to my wife Angelyn Straley-34, who did the editing on this book. I first started writing this book back in 2008, but circumstances and lack of support prevented me from continuing. It wasn’t until 2015 when my new wife inspired me to restart and continue my pursuit in finishing the book. Since then, I have worked diligently in bringing the reaper to life (so to speak) which has been a figment of my imagination for some time.

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Copyright © 2021 Jimmy & Angelyn Straley.

This book is written to provide information and motivation to readers. Its purpose is not to render any type of psychological, legal, or professional advice of any kind. The content is the sole opinion and expression of the author, and not necessarily that of the publisher.

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ISBN: 978-1-77839-023-4 (sc)

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All characters and names in this book are fictitious and are not meant to resemble or impersonate any persons alive or dead

Jimmy

I was born in 1960 in Sherman TX. But was raised and spent most of my life in Fort Worth. I have been a mechanic for over 40 years I am currently married to my wife Angelyn. At present I am retired which has provided me with the extra time to write. My first attempt to write this book was back in 2008 but at the time I was still working and didn’t have the available time. When I divorced my first wife all was lost I thought and I simply gave up. When I remarried in 2014 my present wife found the lost manuscripts and asked me about them. She was extremely impressed even though they were only about half done at the time and began encouraging me to finish them.

My wife was born in Georgia in 1981 and moved to Texas when she was 20. She has been a waitress and bartender for about 25 years. She is now retired and edits the books that I am writing. After marrying her in 2014 I found out that she is a great editor and we both work together as a team and are still happily married today.

Angelyn coauthor/editor

I was born in Douglasville, Georgia in 1981, and as a child I was moved around a lot. I was raised in Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Florida and Texas. When I turned 20 I decided it was time to go my own way. So I moved to Texas permanently. I was married in 1996 and had 4 children and was divorced 10 years later in 2006. I spent 20 years as a bartender and waitress. I met my husband, Jimmy Straley in 2013 and we married in 2014. Jimmy has been my hero since day one. I was very surprised when I came across his unfinished manuscripts and saddened when I asked him about it. His first wife was very unsupportive called him stupid and telling him to stop wasting his time, that he sucked and would never make it. After reading the material I began to urge and encourage him to try again and to finish. He had started in2008 stopped less than halfway through. With me by his side as his wife, support, coauthor and editor he started again in 2015. The book was amazing and was published in 2016. Now we are working on the sequel (revenge)and to this day we are still happily married, he is still my hero and are still a team. Jimmy the author and Angelyn the editor.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 1

The night was calm and still except for the flies that were buzzing around my head from the dumpster that I was crouched behind. I had been out on many jobs before but this one seemed different. There was still plenty of time before Mr. Dead Man would show, so I sat admiring how bright the moon had made the alley, and the stray cats kept climbing in and out of the trash, coming out with an occasional mouse or prize catch. There was also an evil chill in the air as if someone was watching me and I couldn’t afford to have anyone see what I did for a living. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The place was gloomy in its own way, the only thing missing was Him, and I knew he would be here because he always was. I think I am one of his best representatives, because I always have business for him.

After about an hour I noticed Mr. Dead Man was coming down the alley towards me, but there were other people close by on the street so I had to be fast and quiet. I would use my 9mm but, it made way too much noise, so that only left my knife. I positioned myself behind the dumpster, and waited as he strolled leisurely down the alley coming closer. As he came past me, I sprang out, clamping my left hand over his mouth and shoving my nine-inch steel blade between the third and forth rib, so that I could reach his heart. His eyes were wide open when I looked into them. As I turned the blade you could hear his ribs crack and break. Upon jerking out the blade his eyes became even wider as he fell to the ground and blood gushed from the wound like a fountain. While he lay on the ground looking up at me, he asked in a muffled voice why to which I replied I don’t know, I was only hired to deliver this message. Then I wiped my blade off on his shirt and he was gone. I then thought to myself perfect, no witnesses and no sound. Then I heard something behind me, and as I turned, I noticed it was Him, he had come to collect what I had for him. But this time was different. I had always been able to see the reaper when he came for the souls that were waiting for him, but it was the deal I had made with the devil. As I looked into his face all I could see were two glowing red eyes, then he looked towards me and whispered Soon, I will be back for you. A cold chill went down my spine; he had never talked to me before. Putting away my knife I needed my proof so, removing my cigar cutter I snipped off the right index finger, wrapped it in a plastic zip lock bag, and left as fast as possible. That encounter had put me on edge.

My car was parked about two blocks away and I had to get to it without being seen. Upon reaching the street I noticed the wind was whipping around, and that there with tiny ice shards in the air. Turning the collar of my jacket up, I made my way down the street to where I had parked my car. Fortunately, because of the wind, and my jacket collar, I was able to get around without any one seeing my face but, my car is a different story. A 69 Dodge Charger with a 426 hemi and a blower sticking out of the hood, high gloss black and not a dent on it. I have had it up to 215 mph a couple times, but I was in a real hurry then. I was just hoping that no one was standing around admiring it when I got there. As I rounded the corner, I noticed that my wish had come true. There was no one around so I would be able to put away my tools without anyone noticing. As I opened the trunk lid a soft red light came on exposing the blood red interior of the car, and the seats shined from the crushed red velvet that covered them. You could also see the arsenal that I carried around in the trunk. It was a cop’s worst nightmare in there. Two M11 machine pistols, a couple pounds of C4, three RPGs, an M25 and a 30.06 sniper rifle and in case I was in a no-win situation, a vile of the deadliest anthrax virus known to man. I wasn’t going alone. My 9mm and my knife kind of looked out of place in there but that’s where they belonged. After putting away my tools, I made my way around to the driver’s door, unlocked it and sat down behind the wheel. Placing my belt on, I put the key in the ignition. Slowly turning the key, the engine turned over a couple of times and fired to life. The deep rumble of the engine made the ground shake. It may be a little flashy but it is the only place that I feel safe. We were one and we would not let each other down. Heading towards the interstate I had to get home to collect my pay. I had five hours to get from Oklahoma City to Dallas, and she was purring down the road. We would make it with time to spare. As I rolled down the highway towards home, my phone started to ring, looking at who was calling I decided it was best to answer.

Hello.

Yeah, this is Jenkins is this Mr. Problem Solver?

Yes, it is, have you heard the news yet?

I don’t care what the news says, I need proof that the job is complete, they will say anything on the damn news.

Would the right index finger do for you, because I am bringing it with me?

Damn you’re good, I didn’t even ask for it when we talked about the contract. How did you know to bring proof?

Just part of the job for me. Do you have the 50k that is owed for me to pick up?

Yes, I do. Come by my office at 11am, bring a brief case and introduce yourself as Mr. Johnson of Micro Gain Export. You have an 11 o’clock meeting with Mr. Jenkins and when you get in the office, I will pay you.

Ok that sounds fine to me I will be there. We’ll talk later then. I made a sigh of relief as I hung up, because that gave me a few more hours to get there and I no longer had to hurry, so I lowered my speed down to 60 mph, that way I didn’t have to worry about catching a speed trap in one of these hick towns.

Reaching down, I turned on the radio just to see what was being said about my latest job. As I heard the news, I got the shock of my life. At that point I knew I should have done more research on my mark, and not let them rush me on a job. This job was worth a lot more than the 50k that I was getting paid. I was now just hoping that I would be able to get out of this state before I was made. Then the radio repeated the story. At around 12:30 this morning State Senator Gene Styles was found murdered, police are searching for a white male suspect about 6 foot 2 inches, around 250 pounds, with dark hair. That is all that an eye witness that was found hiding in a nearby dumpster could describe. The witness said it was too dark to see much more and that he was afraid to show himself. The man had already killed once and, he was afraid he might do so again. Police are setting up road blocks at all borders to try and see if they can find this murderer before he strikes again. If anyone has any information about this suspect or leads to this murder investigation, please call your local police department immediately. Stay tuned and we will update you as we have more information. Shit! That is just what I needed, A witness. How stupid could I be? First, I kill a senator, and then I leave a witness behind. No wonder Jenkins wanted to get rid of me so quickly. I am going to have to clean this up, just as soon as I get my money. I can’t afford to be recognized in my line of work. The senator in Chicago is going to have to wait, and so is the 100k I am going to get for that job. Pulling over I checked the glove box to see if maybe I had left my casino card in there, if so, I could use the excuse that I had just left there and was heading back home. Ahh yes. There it is, I was now heading for Durant to cross the state line. That was my best chance to get back into Texas and I was taking it. As I was heading for the casino highway, the words from the reaper came flooding back to my mind, Soon I will be back for you. I could feel the cold hand of death upon my back and it made a cold shiver spread throughout my whole body. Looking into the passenger seat I half expected to see him sitting there, but it was empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, I began to relax a little bit. Still, the thought kept crossing my mind, is this the way it’s going to end after forty years of doing this type of work? No! It can’t end this way; I won’t let it. I’m not ready to go yet, this is not the way I had planned it. Then it occurred to me, that all the people I took out never planned to go like they did either, but they didn’t have much of a choice when it came down to it. I was a bag of nerves now and needed to calm down in case of any road blocks or other potentially damning situations that could occur. A drink was out of the question, because I didn’t need them to smell the alcohol. Hold on, I think I’ve got a couple of sedatives that should be able to help me calm down, at least for a little while. Digging them out of the center console, I swallowed a few down followed by a drink of my soda. I had about a half an hour before I reached the state line, so it should have taken effect by then. About five minutes and ten miles later I started to feel the effects of the pills I had just taken. That was good, hopefully the roadblock would be no problem now.

Wanting to get out of state as fast as I could and as far away from all of this rural farm land. I reached down and flipped the switch on the shifter. The super charger started to whine and slowly come to life as I pressed harder on the gas pedal. It won’t take long now to get there. I was up to one ninety and could have gone faster, but didn’t want to attract any attention or get there too soon. As I topped the hill about two miles from the state line, I could see all the red and blue lights just down the road. It was time to shut it down to a normal speed so as to not attract attention from all those lights. Pulling over to the side of the road, I got out and walked around to the back of the car, and after opening the trunk, I very carefully got out the vial of anthrax. Closing the trunk, I got back into the car and carefully placed the vial of anthrax between my legs in the seat, preparing for the worst. Then I proceeded towards the flashing lights. As I approached the line of cars waiting to get through the road block, I was motioned to stop by an officer standing in the middle of the road. Looking over my shoulder towards my left I noticed another officer was approaching the driver side of my car, and my stomach knotted while my ass puckered. I had been in worse situations, so I gathered up my courage and took a deep breath as the cop approached. I looked at his name tag and then spoke up in a calm voice. Morning officer Redkin, are you guys having a drunk patrol tonight?

No Sir, we are not, May I ask where you are coming from? The officer asked.

Certainly, I have been down at the Casino playing a few of the slot machines. I lied as I held up my casino card.

So, you haven’t noticed anyone around here trying to hitch a ride or acting suspicious? And do you mind providing me with your license and insurance?

No, I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, I told him, handing him what he asked for. He took my ID and looked at it then looked in the back seat of my car with his flash light.

Handing me back my papers he looked straight into my eyes and I swear I saw the reaper there as he said you may proceed Mr. Chrisp. Dropping my car in gear I eased slowly away and across the state line. I was free. I had made it back to Texas and was out of that hick state. There was no longer any reason to hurry any more. I was home and I didn’t have to be in Dallas for another four and a half hours since the time had been moved down some. Dallas wasn’t far away it was only about an hour and a half at normal speed so I would have time to go shower and clean up before the meeting. I found a place to pull over out of sight and put the anthrax back where it belonged in the trunk. It was a nice relaxing feeling to be back in Texas as I rolled down the road with the radio on listening to rock n roll, and I soon made it home. Parking my car in the garage I made my way into the house. Upon entering I looked around to see that everything was in place. Being in my profession you learn to be very cautious; you never know what can be hiding around the corner. Checking the time, I noticed it was 3:30 in the morning. I had a few hours before the meeting, so I decided to get some sleep after a nice hot shower to relax me. After my shower I set the alarm for 9:00am and laid down, and when I closed my eyes, I could see Him and still hear the words he mumbled to me in that alley. I could tell that this was going to be a troubled sleep.

As the alarm went off my eyes shot open and I noticed my face was wet with sweat, my heart was racing and, I was breathing heavy. I don’t know what I was dreaming about, but I’m glad I couldn’t remember. Oh well, it was time to get up and get to the meeting with Jenkins. Walking into the kitchen I turned the coffee maker on and went to go get dressed, a nice business suit should do nicely. After getting dressed I grabbed a cup of coffee and my briefcase and was on my way out the door to my meeting. The traffic in downtown Dallas was horrible