Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything else from Hitman: Codename 47, which is the property of IOI Interactive. However, the original characters are mine.
Author's Note: Aww, still no reviews yet :( Oh well, I suppose that its not entirely surprising, given the apparent rarity of Hitman fanfics on this site, along with the fact that my work might not be quite up to standard ; But I'll keep going anyway, any practice is good practice.
Jacketed Hollow Point
Chapter 2: Game On
The pawn shop faded back into the inky blackness of the night as Jin briskly strode down the street, shivering slightly as he strengthened his grip on the parcel and pulled the coat tighter around his body. The air seemed to have gotten colder, the winds stronger and the night darker since his rendezvous in the pawnshop. The crowds of holiday shoppers who had filled the streets when he first arrived had gone home for the night, the neon signs mostly switched off and most of the closed stores sheltered behind rusty, flyer-plastered shutters, leaving the quiet street devoid of life.
Yuen's pawnshop was located in one of the smaller back roads in an older area of Kowloon, and getting a taxi here at this time of the night would be difficult. His pace quickened as he reminded himself that this area of Hong Kong was by night rather quiet, desolate and infested with more than its fair share of petty thugs. He was certainly more than capable of handling such trouble, but he wanted to arrive at the target area as quickly as possible while keeping a low-profile, so any sort of violent confrontation was something to avoid tonight.
Brushing his hand through his wind-tossed hair, he mentally did a quick recollection of what little he knew of his target. The man's name was Tobias Rieper, although that was almost certainly an alias. His age and nationality were both unknown. In fact, there was almost no information about this man whatsoever. One of the only things Jin knew about this man was that he was personally responsible for the theft of the Triad's Jade Dragon statue and the murder of Lee Hong, previous leader of the Red Dragon Triad. As simple as it sounded, the accomplishment of these tasks alone made Mr. Rieper a very extraordinary man. The assassination had taken place during the early stages of the gang war against the Blue Lotus, a rival Triad. In the past week or two leading up to the murder, high ranking officials and negotiators of both Triads had been killed one by one, with evidence apparently showing either the Red Dragon or Blue Lotus groups as the most likely suspects. Both sides repeatedly denied any involvement and continued flinging accusations at each other, causing the situation to worsen and eventually explode into an all-out gang war that still raged on even today, albeit with much less chaos and bloodshed than when it first started. Due to the circumstances at the time, it was somewhat unsurprising that Lee Hong was notoriously paranoid, and the fact that he was found garroted to death and the statue missing in his own restaurant which had been guarded by a small army of Red Dragon bodyguards spoke volumes of Mr. Rieper's abilities. Nobody in the compound had the slightest notion that someone had infiltrated it, and the only actual evidence of the presence of an intruder had been the discovery of an unconscious guard, stripped of his weapon and uniform.
The only things Jin had to go on were the name Tobias Rieper and a vague description of him as a tall, bald Caucasian-looking man with a barcode tattooed on the back of his head. Since these pieces of information were merely quoted from the restaurant's bartender's description of an 'unusual customer' he saw that night, they weren't exactly what could be considered comprehensive target information. Little wonder then, that although Jin had been given the task of finding him little more than a week after Lee Hong's death, seven years had now passed and he was still hunting for the very same man.
It was certainly unusual then that only several days before, Jin had been informed by his superiors that Mr. Rieper would be in Hong Kong, presumably on more 'business'. No doubt he was highly dubious about the accuracy of this information, but seeing as he had been denied any further information as to how and why his superiors had acquired this knowledge, he chose to simply brush it aside as a matter of professionalism. Working as a 'cleaner' for the Red Dragon for the past nine years of his life had made him no stranger to being told only what he 'needed to know'. His past experiences had also shown him that in his line of work, the less you knew, the safer you were. And of course, he personally couldn't care less about how much they hid from him so long as they gave him enough information to do the deed, paid him and let him get home in one piece.
The glow of neon and the tinge of exhaust smoke hanging in the air told him he'd reached the main road. Looking up, he was relieved to see a taxi parked at the roadside, and wasted no time in climbing in and directing the driver to his destination.
11:30 pm, 10/12/2006, Jade Fortune Industries, Queensway Road, Hong Kong
The automated glass doors slide aside, and the sound of footsteps on the black marble floor sent soft echoes throughout the near-empty lobby as Jin casually strode across it toward the reception desk. Behind the desk, a receptionist wearing far too much make-up quickly looked up at him, acknowledging his presence.
"Welcome to Jade Fortune Industries. How may I help you, sir?" She smiled in a polite, yet thoroughly artificial greeting.
"Is there a Mr. Harry Yuen working here?"
"Just one moment, sir." The receptionist reached downwards for one of the desk drawers as Jin quickly passed his eyes over the cluttered desk. Spotting a bunch of keys labeled 'General Access', his hand moved over to quietly scoop the keys from the table surface and pocketed them in a single swift motion before the receptionist came back up, holding a small grey file.
"I'm sorry, sir." The receptionist said after a few moments of flipping through the file. "The person who you're looking for isn't here."
"Okay, thanks anyway. Do you have a washroom I could use?"
"Yes, it's just right at the rear of the elevator hallway, to the left." said the receptionist, turning to point at the hallway behind her.
"Thanks."
Continuing past the reception desk, Jin looked ahead to see a row of elevators, lining either side of the equally-empty hallway. At the rear of the hallway was the aforementioned restroom and his real destination, a small grey door above which was positioned a yellow sign that read 'Emergency Stairway'.
Upon reaching the door, Jin gave a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure the receptionist wasn't looking before retrieving the bunch of keys from his pocket, systematically trying each one on the keyhole as quickly and quietly as possible. Fortunately for him, the second key in the chain was the correct one, and the lock released with a quiet click. Twisting the knob, he gently pushed the door open and slid inside, closing and locking it behind him.
Turning to face the dull-grey concrete staircase, Jin hefted the package over his shoulder and began climbing upwards.
Several minutes later, Jin emerged out onto the roof, reunited with the chilly breeze of the howling wind. Consulting his mental map of the area, he deduced that the Marriot hotel would probably be aligned with the easternmost side of the roof, an assumption which he confirmed as his eyes glanced in that direction, spotting the unmistakable bright yellow neon lettering decorating the face of the hotel.
Hurrying over to the vantage point, he immediately dropped into a crouch and gingerly opened the long parcel in his hands, slowly retrieving the rifle from its brown paper housing.
Grasping it tightly, he took a few moments to contemplate the fine instrument of death he held in his hands. Constructed mainly from wood and metal, the SMLE No. 4 Sniper Rifle was truly a thing of rustic beauty, its slightly scratched wooden furniture and the weathered metal optical scope highlighted in full glory by the soft gleam of moonlight. The rifle was a sniper version of the regular SMLE infantry rifle, which the standard issue rifle of the British infantry during the Second World War. Chambered for the long-obsolete .303 British rimmed rifle bullet, ammunition was hard to find and the rifle was somewhat antiquated, to say the least. However, as with most firearms, the weapon's age did little to lessen its beautiful lethality; the SMLE was still one of the smoothest fastest firing bolt-action rifles in the world, and the scarcity of ammunition was hardly a concern for Jin. After years of use the rifle was like a familiar companion to him, and he knew everything there was to know about using it to partake in the art of taking human life with a single, well-aimed bullet.
After studying it a few moments longer, he proceeded to ready the rifle for firing. His gloved hands moved quickly, loading the magazine of the rifle and operating the bolt mechanism like a master musician playing a well-practiced instrument. Raising the weapon to his shoulder, he used the scope to scan across the windows of the hotel, eventually finding and pinpointing the window on the sixth floor, where Room 607 should be.
Jin's mouth twisted into a grimace as his eyes fell upon the darkened, apparently-empty room. No matter, though. He would have all the time in the world to wait. Or rather, that was what ran through his mind right before he felt the fine-edged garrote wire slip gently around his throat.