If you recognise it… I don't own it.

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"Gundam Wing" – Start

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My heart stopped when I saw his picture on the screen. I wasn't sure whether to praise a God I didn't believe in that I was the one being hired for the job, or if I should curse that someone wanted him dead.

"What method do you want?" I asked bluntly, using every last bit of my control to keep my voice level.

"He is to be a guest for a period of time in a secure location, before the contract is to be fulfilled."

That was better than I could have hoped for. I would have time to find a solution.

"What are the deadlines?"

"One week for invitation, before we ask for the assistance of another specialist."

"That will be sufficient. You will want photographic evidence?"

"Of course."

"Accepted." I declared.

"Payment will be…"

"There is an additional charge for accommodation." I cut them off.

"Understood. We will pay twenty five percent extra."

"Fifty." I countered, "One third now. One third after he has accepted the invitation. And one third after completion of the contract."

It wasn't that I didn't want to take the contract… But anyone in the business would negotiate a higher rate of pay for the extra requirements. I had to make sure that they didn't realize I was eager for the job.

It was all part of the deception required in my role. I didn't enjoy doing my job. But it was necessary. As much as I hated it. Though at that point I was blessing it… Otherwise I wouldn't have known until it was too late. No matter how good he was… All a hired hitman needed was for him to have one bad day. And those happen to everyone.

However, I didn't need him to have one bad day. I knew him too well. He couldn't evade me.

"Agreed." I raised an eyebrow at the speed of their acceptance. These people were desperate. They were also wealthy. I came at the upper end of the price range… But then again, I was among the best. And prices reflect quality.

The way the system works is simple. They didn't know who they were hiring. And I didn't know who they were. Double blind. It prevents me from naming them if caught. And allows for plausible deniability on their end, especially considering the ambiguous words they were using. Though since they were contacting a hit-man… The terms were very plain.

I monitored as the money I had required was moved into my account. Swiss, of course. I then immediately moved the money though a complicated and virtually untraceable series of computers, until it was in my Cayman bank account… You don't allow money to be traced in this business. Everyone knows the old saying: 'Follow the money'. We make sure that it's as close to impossible to do that as it can be.

They didn't saying anything else over the system. They simply closed their connection.

For a moment I simply sat in front of my laptop, trying to figure out who they had been.

I had very little to go on. I knew their target. I knew that they were desperate enough not to bargain… Or rich enough not to need to… Or possibly both.

Apart from that I knew nothing. There were no clear motives. The most puzzling problem was why they wanted him kidnapped and then killed. They didn't want him interrogated. Simply detained.

I supposed a ransom would be requested. That was the only logical conclusion. But taking into account my fee, the ransom would either be extremely high in monetary value or of no intrinsic value.

That still left the question of who! Who would dare to try and harm him?

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In a strange way it was so easy to plan how to abduct him. I knew his habits. And they were hard to shake, but also useful to my plan.

He always took a day after a mission off. Always the second day after. Using the first to complete his reports, repairs and everything else.

On his day off he would sleep until he woke up. Nothing short of an emergency would get him up before then.

No one would expect to hear from him from the minute he left the Preventer's office the day after a mission, till about noon the next day.

And he was currently out on a mission. Due back in two days. In the evening.

He also never eats or sleeps well while on a mission. Only really managing enough of both to stay alive and sane. He could fake alertness with enough enthusiasm and coffee. But he would burn through it pretty fast.

So in three days he would be arriving home to his condo mentally and physically exhausted.

At that point it would not take much to subdue him. The trick would be doing it without being identified or allowing him to draw his weapon.

I also wanted to do it without undue harm or stress to him. That would require a plan, but fortunately I already had an idea in mind.

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It was almost laughably easy to hack into the computer systems for the condos. I changed a few files to make it appear as if the empty condo above him had been bought.

The next day I impersonated a contracted builder and moved some equipment into the room. I then created a great deal of noise. No one bothered to complain. It isn't a particularly wealthy area. Most people there couldn't care less what was going on.

He arrived back from his mission and tried to get some sleep, before he went to sort out the paperwork.

I only stopped creating noise at four in the morning. He left at seven thirty. I knew he wouldn't have slept well, if at all.

I was waiting for him in my van that evening. I had parked next to his assigned space in the underground car-park, in a disposable van. The tall van blocked the view of his space from the few working cameras.

The expected time of his arrival came and went. I started to worry… Perhaps he wasn't coming home… Maybe an injury had been discovered and he had been sent to hospital.

There were so many possibilities. But I had no way of knowing the truth. All I could do was sit and wait and hope.

If my plan didn't work I would need a different plan. One that would probably be harder for the both of us.

Then I saw his motorbike approaching. He was almost slumped over the handlebars. He parked next to me. Not even giving the van a second glance as he took his helmet off.

His long braid fell out of the helmet. My fingers itched to stroke it, but I restrained myself. I couldn't move too soon.

I could tell when he noticed my bait on the floor. It wasn't anything complicated. Just a small flashing diode.

He bent down and picked it up. His back now to me. Silently I opened the van's sliding door.

He was still staring at the diode as he straightened up. Exhaustion robbing him of most of his quick thinking, else he would have realized it was simply bait. But that was what I had counted on.

One of my arms snaked around him, trapping both of his. While my other hand forced a breathing mask over his face.

He was trapped. My superior height meant his feet dangled uselessly in the air. He couldn't break my grip. His head was trapped between my chest and the mask, with no room to manoeuvre.

He tried to hurt me, by digging his keys into my thigh, but my jeans protected me from most of the assault.

All I had to do was wait. The sedative linked to the mask would overcome his adrenaline quickly.

While I waited though, I murmured to him.

"Shush. Shush. It's alright. Just relax. Everything will be fine."

I felt him fall limp in my arms. His keys falling from his grasp. But I still did not release him. I knew he could be tricky. He could easily be faking unconsciousness.

Instead I kissed him on the top of his head, and counted to thirty. Then I removed the mask from his face. I lifted him into the van.

I had a gurney fixed in the centre of the van. I restrained him to the gurney, ensuring that he would not roll around or be harmed.

I had no fear that he would try to escape, for I had smoothed a sedative patch onto his skin. He would not be waking for either thirty-six hours or two hours after the patch was removed.

Once he was secured I checked that all my equipment was also secured. Then I shut the van door, started the engine and drove away.

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