Free Karma (Karma Series) by Donna Augustine

calm.
    “ I don't know if I want to see it.”
    “ You do the deed, you see it out.”
    I blew out a long breath. I'd never intentionally hurt someone and , no matter who this person was and what he'd done, I'd still prefer not to see it happen.
    “ No one likes this part.”
    And just like that, a little glimmer of the person he could be showed through a bit. Was it just me? I knew he made me more agitated. Maybe something about me triggered him as well.
    He walked away without another word.
    I headed over to a bench in front of the strip mall about fifty feet away. Fate found a spot about thirty feet down from me. I was glad for the distance.
    A minute later , when the sound of thunder rumbled, I was glad I was under the overhang. My mark dashed out of the coffee shop just as the rain started. First thing he did was put the roof back up on his car.
    I looked upward . “Nice touch.”
    And then the mark got in the car. It didn't take long for the screams to start. Even from where I sat, I could see the cloud of bees swarm up in the car. That's when I really started wondering what I'd done.
    I had a gut reaction to the pain I knew I'd inflicted. I leapt to my feet to go and help him, but Fate got to me first and wrapped a hand around my forearm.
    “ You can't.”
    “ What I can't do is this. Let go of me.” I tried to pull free but instead of making headway toward the car, I was being towed further away by Fate.
    A ll I could do was watch. There was a big difference between wishing bad on someone who's done harm and inflicting it yourself. The magnitude of the difference was hitting me hard, right now. In theory, I could’ve hurt someone evil like this all day, everyday. The reality was a lot harder.
    People heard the screams he was making even through the closed car and ran to help , but couldn't get the doors open.
    They banged on the windows and screamed for him to unlock the doors. Someone screamed for a knife to cut the canvas top but by time one arrived, who knew how many times he'd been stung.
    I couldn't break free of Fate but he'd stopped tugging me further away, so we stood there, arms outstretched in between us, as we both watched the horror of what unfolded.
    “ Will he die?” I asked.
    “ It takes ten bee stings per pound to kill a human. I'd guess he was about a hundred and eighty pounds. That hive probably had about 45,000 bees. Yeah, I'd say he's dead.”
    “ I just killed a man.”
    “ It'll get easier.”
    “ I hope not.”
    He dropped his grip but it didn't matter now. I could hear the sirens of the ambulance as we walked toward my Honda. The good Samaritans had helped the man out of the car and laid him on the cement. His body didn't move. The stingers were so dense, patches of his arms appeared gray from a distance.
    I could hear the people talking as we passed.
    “What a fluke!”
    “ The hive must have dropped from that branch with the wind.”
    “ Can you believe what just happened?”
    I imagined the coverage on the news later today, talking about the crazy coincidence of a hive dropping and lying dormant in the back of a man's car until he got in it. A freak accident , they'd call it.
    It's what I would've thought , a week ago.
    Now, I knew better.

Chapter Seven
     
    Everyone scattered out of my way as I stormed into the office and headed directly for Harold's door. It was shut but I didn't bother to knock.
    He looked up as I walked in, the door slamming into the wall in my wake. He pushed a hand through his hair , which just made it stick out more.
    “ This is the job?” I asked as I stopped on the other side of his desk. “I'm an assassin?” There was a chair but I ignored it, opting to pace instead. “You said right the wrongs of the universe! Not kill people!”
    Harold held his hands up in front of him. “It won't always be killing.”
    “ How often? Every other time?”
    “ I don't know.”
    Harold got up from his seat and went to shut the door. I guessed he didn't want