It was silent. The kind of silence that made you yearn for some kind of noise to drown it out. The kind of silence that would make any normal person go insane, but Johan was content with the silence. He had spent his years in hotel suites just like this one, listening to nothing but the soft ticking of the clock on the flower covered wall. He had no desire to hear about the events and tragedies happening in the world around him and no need for another human being to talk to.

Johan sat staring blankly at the roses on the wallpaper, tracing every design with his eye and memorizing every small detail and mistake that the artist had made creating nothing but imperfection and failure in his eyes. Once again he unfolded the piece of paper that he was holding, reading over and over again the information he had acquired about Nina only an hour ago. It was shocking how careless people could be with their information and how easy it was to find it.

He pulled out his laptop from its leather carrying case, placing it on the small table in front of him and hitting the power button. As soon as it was loaded he went to his e-mail and began working on a message that would explain everything to Nina, but when he was half way through he decided it wasn't like him to explain everything. He usually sent letters, leaving no return address, and letting on nothing about who he was to his victims, causing them to go insane trying to figure out who this mysterious person was that was sending them letters. He deleted everything and started from scratch, typing only a short sentence:

I will come for you soon...

He was satisfied with his work, knowing that Nina would stumble over these word wracking her brain for the meaning behind them. He stood up and placed his laptop back into its case and fastening the latches to keep it in place and setting it back on the table. He grabbed his coat from the closet and walked out the door.

He took the elevator down to the lobby smiling to the girl next to him inside. When he arrived in the lobby he stepped out of the elevator onto the freshly, polished marble floor and made his way toward the revolving door and out into the open air. He flagged down a cab, climbing into the backseat.

"Where to, sir?" asked the cab driver as he pulled away from the curb into traffic.

"Heidelberg Palace." replied Johan looking out the window at the passing people.

He had no idea where he would go from here, but he did have a plan. After his breakdown earlier that day he was determined to get back to his old self and do what he was trained to do. He had been molded into the perfect killer, leaving no trace that it was him. He had been molded into a monster.