The Assignment
Chapter Two
January 18th, 2004
7:56pm
It seemed to be a relatively short flight for him seeing as he spent most of the time asleep on the plane. When he arrived at TPA it was almost eight o'clock in the evening and he was already due to start almost immediately. Firstly however, he had to take a trip to the men's restroom to take care of some business. He entered the men's room and made his way to the sink where he washed his face and massaged the water through his unkempt grey stubble of facial hair. The premature grey hair was settling on his face now as it already had on his scalp. It was the job, it took its toll and often made those in his field look older than they really were. Vincent was feeling a little stiff after the flight and so he adjusted his neck by jerking it in various positions. A man came to the sink at his side and placed his briefcase on the floor inbetween the both of them.
"Here on business, mate?" he said in a gruff english accent as he washed his hands.
"Just for a while."
"Take your time, see the city a bit perhaps." he said as he rubbed the bristles on his near bald head.
" I don't think I'll stay longer than I have to."
"Well, enjoy." said the englishman as he walked away leaving his briefcase behind.
Vincent picked up the englishman's briefcase and walked into a toilet stall. He slid the bolt-lock shut and sat down on the toilet. There between his feet in the briefcase was an arsenal that would get him through the night. In the briefcase he found a butterfly knife, a HK USP intergral silenced pistol - - both accompanied by holsters, fibre wire, a palm pilot containing his targets' information, keycards to the targets' homes, an extendable aluminum steel baton, and ammunition clips for his pistol. As he left the washroom he ditched the briefcase in the garbage can, and continued on through the airport until he reached the pick-up zone filled with a wide selection of cabs. He adjusted his Silhouette 8586 sunglasses and moved to find a a cabbie who spoke solid english.
"Is this cab available or is it taken?"
"You come, hop in." said the Vietnamese driver.
As Vincent tucked his head into the cab and sat down, he immediately noticed the camera attached to the rear view mirror and quickly got out. He looked around for the "Yellow Cab Service & Co." decal on the sides of any of the cabs and quickly he found one. Vincent always seemed to trust this cab service the most, they didn't have cameras inside the vehicles. As he moved, it seemed almost as if he glided on air over everyone else's presence, and yet he was perfectly capable of blending in with his surroundings and not sticking out like a sore thumb.
"Hi, are you available?" Vincent said with an uncanny politeness.
"Yeah, sure. Take a seat. Where to?" replied the cabbie.
" 583 Secord avenue." Vincent said as he tucked away his palm pilot.
"No problem, you come around Florida often?"
"Not really. I'm not too fond of the south. It's too interwined, too close or tight-knit."
" I know what you mean, this fucking place can give you a heart attack sometimes. What can I say? It's Miami."
" How long do you think it'll take to get there?"
"Maybe fifteen or twenty minutes, it depends on traffic."
"Thanks."
"Seeing some friends or family?"
"Visiting a friend."
"You know, I'm not from around here. I grew up in New York. I thought I'd come down here for the fresh air. That's hurricane season for ya."
"Hey", Vincent leaned forward, "I have the right to a silent ride, is that correct?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, I'd appreciate it very much. I'm tired from the flight. You know, jet lag." Vincent smiled politely.
"Yeah, that's okay. sure. Jet lag. Yeah, I get that sometimes."
"Thanks."
As the car accelerated along, Vincent was making sure that his laces were tied, his belt was buckled, his gun was holstered, his knife was holstered, just to make sure that there wasn't going to be any trip-ups. However, in the event that a trip-up was made, he'd be sure to roll with it, maybe try to make it work to his advantage. The cabbie didn't have the slightest clue, he thought Vincent was just fidgetting from his flight and thought nothing of it.
The cab pulled up to an expensive looking condo in the downtown corridor. This meant that there would be building security, and quite a few people walking in and out through the lobby and foyer areas.
"Wait here, I'll be right back." Vincent said to the cabbie as he removed his sunglasses.
"How long you gonna be?"
"I'll be back in about 5 minutes."
"I gotta pick up another fare!"
"No you don't." Vincent said as he disappeared into the building.
He looked at his watch, the time was eight-twenty-two. As he walked through the front doors into the lobby, security almost completely did not noticehim and he smiled politely to tenants walking through the lobby. When he reached the terminal he took one of the keycards and swiped it but nothing happened, so he switched to another and yet nothing happened again. Shit, open up, Vincent thought to himself. Finally, a woman opened the door to come out, and held it open for Vincent. He thanked her as she passed him by with a seductive smile and slipped in.
Vincent took the elevator up. He had his hand on his hip ready at any moment in case his target had any hired muscle or security. The doors swung open at the third floor, Vincent quickly had his hand gripping his HK USP, sweat was trickling down the palm of his hands, he was ready for the little white haired woman walking her dog to step into the elevator. He chuckled, somewhat unnerved. The little old lady smiled at him and she smiled right back at her before he stepped off the elevator.
Vincent decided to take the staircase up to the fourth floor, because it made sense. If they were expecting him, they'd wait by the elevators expecting him to take the elevators non-chalantly as if all was normal. As Vincent opened the door the the staircase he came face to face with an armed guard, he quickly drew out his silenced pistol and put two in his head. At the top of the staircase another guard saw the muzzle flashes and started to open fire with his MP5 Sub-Machinegun. Vincent dropped to his knees in a firing position and shot two rounds to the sternum and two to the head. The cover that Vincent tried hard to maintain was gone, he shot up the staircase and kicked open the door to the fourth floor. He saw his target opening his frontdoor and peeking his head out, Vincent shot off a round, but missed. It was just to scare him back inside. Vincent walked to the frontdoor and kicked it open. His target FBI agent grabbed for his service weapon, and Vincent slipped on something and shot rounds to his target's wrist, and both of his legs. Vincent got up and dusted off his knee, and strolled towards his target who was bleeding out a whole ocean of blood.
"Please, whatever they're paying you - I can make it double !" The FBI agent said as Vincent heard a tapping coming from another room.
"What is that? Is someone else here?" Vincent said as he pointed the gun at the agent's head.
"Do you know how I am? Don't you know anything about me? I have kids, my name is James Astrono! Please, don't hurt them! Dont kill me! I'm begging you !"
A door opened up just a peek and Vincent, on instinct, pointed his gun at the door where two little bright eyed girls were standing in their pajamas.
"Please, I have kids, you fucking animal ! Don't you have a fucking heart! Don't do it in front of them, please, oh god. Don't kill me, I'm all they got, plea - -" Vincent silenced him with a round to the head.
As the bullet-casing clinked onto the floor and the flash from the muzzle of his integral silenced Heckler and Koch USP cleared, Vincent quickly holstered his weapon and left the apartment. He was sure not to make direct eye contact with anyone as he exited the building, as well as not to take his eye off of them either. As he trudged down the staircase, he quickly put on his Silhouette 8586 sunglasses and opened the freight door leading to the parking lot. Once there, he crawled back into the taxi cab he came with.
"Things went a little longer than I expected. I'll be sure to tip." He assured the cabbie with the most decent of smiles.