It Was Time

“OK,” I said. “As you wish.”    
   
Who could blame him after 42 years of marriage. Since Michael was paying the tab, I’d comply with his wishes as best I could. I suppose it was natural that he’d want to make love to his wife on her last night. By all indications they’d had a good marriage.    
   
Tanya had recently made the decision to stop all treatments and so it was a matter of time. Her cancer would consume her, and he wanted to spare her from the agony he knew was in her future. He shared that she wanted to live as long as possible but knew her inevitable death would be a painful decline.    
   
Tanya and Michael had two beautiful daughters and three grandchildren. My assignment was to give Tanya a painless death on the night of Michael’s choosing but he assured me it would be within a few days. I advised him to give me a firm schedule of the selected day’s events with the assurance that I would monitor them closely and act decisively when it was time.    
   
I studied family photos to help me with clear identifications. Tanya was beautiful despite her 62 years. She’d obviously loved deeply during her life. The lines around her eyes and her thin-lipped smile seemed to reflect years of giving to family and friends. I thought how much richer life she’d lived that most of the lives I’d ended since my time in the military. In one of the photos Michael took a few weeks before while she was still receiving treatments her face seemed to show despair, but more recent photos showed a woman loving life. I thought she’d made the right decision to stop the fight and just live for a while. I hoped Michael’s decision was for the best.    
   
I decided to use a load intended for deer, thinking it would be best to have a large pool of possible perpetrators rather than using something that might lead to thoughts of a professional’s work.    
   
I would use a bullet that kills cleanly and dependably from a variety of shot angles, and from any reasonable distance. Accuracy is always important to me. Without good shot placement, no projectile can do its job properly. The load would be 180-grain .30 caliber. The all-copper projectile does not destroy meat as much as a lead-core bullet, but it has the speed needed to optimize mushrooming and impart system-disrupting shock. If was careful with my first shot, Tanya should die immediately but her body would be intact and presentable for viewing at her funeral.    
   
After two days of preparations, Michael said it was time. He informed me that he and Tanya had a date night planned and would be spending the night at a nearby Harmony Cove Retreat, a place they’d stayed before. We’d consulted about locations, and he’d complied with my wish that it be an area frequented by hunters. Fortunately, it was deer season so my ability to make the kill and remain undetected seemed more likely.    
   
Michael didn’t seem squamish about me watching them closely. In fact, he set up a camera to record their last night together. I was able to remote into the feed and watch from a distance.  
 
The first thing that impressed me was how natural they seemed together. Their robes dropped to the floor next to their bed and they spent several minutes whispering and kissing before crawling onto the bed.    
   
Just over an hour later as planned, Michael and Tanya took a walk beside the lake to a spot called Reflection Cove. They wore swimsuits for wading.    
   
It was perfect location because hills on either side of the lake elbow limited wind and the waters were glassy smooth. Michael had said Tanya always went to the water’s edge and sometimes wade in. As planned, he held back, and I knew it was time.    
   
From my perch I had a clear view of Tanya’s backside. Her shoulder blades protruded slightly from weight lose because of her treatments. But still, she was in good shape for a woman of 62 years who’d experienced a severe illness.    
   
Bringing the crosshairs to the center of her back, I suddenly saw images of Tanya swaying over Michael from the hour before. Her breasts were beautiful as they swung heavily from a life lived and the birthing of two daughters. She was a marvel to behold, a body ravaged by early stages of cancer still committed to pleasing her lover of 42 years.    
   
My thoughts refocused on the task at hand. Michael stood silent and looked away from the place where Tanya stood. I aimed slightly to the left side of her back in hopes that the force of the projectile would turn her to the side and avoid face planting into the rocky shore. I felt the irony of being concerned about her face when such violent injury was about to result from my actions.    
   
My finger felt the resistance of the trigger.    
   
Can I do this? I thought.    
   
Tanya’s back seemed to glow with love for the world and all those who were a part of it.    
I knew it was time.