"Providence," by Clark Boyd, in This Time For Sure, edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan, edited by Down and Out, 2021.
Xavier has job satisfaction problems. He's a hitman for One Shot Valenti and he doesn't feel a lot of job security. This is a business where getting laid off involves ceasing to breath.
Our hero has an interesting view of the world. Here he is watching a baseball game: "[W]hen there’s a conference on the mound, I amuse myself by pretending, aloud, that they’re discussing existentialist philosophy. “Coach, I can get this guy. Take a leap of faith.” “But Pedro, did the great Dane not also say, ‘The specific character of despair is precisely this: it is unaware of being despair?’ Now hand me the goddamn ball."
Honestly I didn't find the plot all that convincing, but the characters are dialog are more than worth the ride.
