Prologue
The walls came alive with flickering shadows dancing. Shafts of moonlight shone through the broken ceiling windows. There was a faint smell of rust and metal in the air. Somewhere far away, water dripped. Drip. Drip. Drip. Aside from the deafening sound of the leaky faucet, there was nothing else.
He looked around carefully, as he came to a stop in the center of the abandoned warehouse floor where the majority of the factory's work was done. In front of him laid a dusty belt, scattered with empty cans and tools that had been unused for years.
What a strange place to meet, he thought, glancing at dark corners and shadows that seemed to move.
He waited.
But, not for long.
A silhouette formed before him. First, the shape of a masked head. Shoulders cloaked in black cloth. Torso. Thighs. And finally, a partial view of half of one leg.
"Can I not see the face of my hire?" A cocky smile twitched at his lips.
The shadow did not answer, but studied him with brilliant green eyes, unmoving.
"Well, at least, give me a name." He raised his hands to show that he was harmless.
"The rule is that no one knows my name."
He smiled.
So, a female was what he hired. He hoped he had the right information. Because this female cost him a lot of money. And he did not put a lot of faith in women. They were the things that caused nations to go to war. The things that put him in the position he was in.
"I won't ask again." He stopped when her eyes went down to his hands. "Just wanted to give you the name of my target." When she did nothing, he produced from his back pocket a small little item, and held it out for her. "You know how to use this, right?"
Her green eyes leveled on him. If he could see her face, she was probably smiling behind that mask of hers.
"Don't worry." Her voice was tinted with humor. "Your money is worth it."
"Good." He tossed it at her. Her hand flashed so quickly, he almost thought he imagined it, when the flash stick disappeared in mid-air. "Are you as good as they say?"
A sharp laugh filled the silence briefly. He blinked, and she was gone. Startled, he shuffled into a 360 degree turn and looked for her. She couldn't have gone far. He barely did a half-blink!
But, there was nothing. He saw nothing. Only shadows and silhouettes of things he had already seen when he walked through.
She was good.
He chuckled amusingly to himself, anxious to see what she can do, and started back out the way he came.
Strange place to meet, indeed.
She watched him go. A bemused expression on his perfectly sculpted face. Something about that face was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. It was too perfect; the way his eyes were set, those lips, straight teeth, immaculate skin, almost shiny.
Everything else about him seemed normal. He wore a pair of Levi jeans, and a fitted white polo under a dark blazer. Everything screamed normal about him. Maybe because he was so arrogant, unafraid of meeting her in a dark place. Most likely, he was just another greedy man looking to off somebody who probably slept with his wife. That's how they usually come.
She snickered. Men were so fickle.
Whatever the case. His money was in her bank account. And she had a job to do.
She waited until she could no longer hear his breathing, satisfied that he was off the premises, before she pulled off the mask and looked down at the flash drive in her hand.
"Acquire target." She said to herself, sliding it into her pocket, before whistling a tune and walking in another direction.