This is the second half of the first chapter as written in the previous post. Enjoy and if you like, please comment.


Read from the start here: Chapter One

“If this is the whole reason you came up here, you’d better start talking quickly. I’ve got a spare one of these with your name on it.” Dane flicked a tiny metal object into the air and snapped it right out of it, pocketing it.


“You hostile son of a bitch.” Cam chuckled. “I’ve got a secret about you and I’m making it public. That’s right, I found her.”


The cold sound of two dense objects smacking into one another was the only thing that could be heard as Dane’s massive, fur covered paw immediately slammed into Cam’s throat. He held it against the wall, which had dented due to the impact.


“If you’re talking about the fact I have a daughter…” Dane whispered directly into Cams pointed ear. “You’re too late. I know about her. I know she exists and this game of yours cuts the boundary line between pathetic co-worker and sworn nemesis a little too fine. And you should also take note that I do not hesitate to severely damage my enemies in any way I can. So take care about what you say or do in future, because the next time, this little chat we’re having now, this social interaction between you and me, it won’t happen. I’m going to ‘cut’ straight to the chase. Or as I like to put it, ‘I’m going to gut you’.”


Dane let the choking mutt go and he fell down to his knees, and then onto his stomach, gasping desperately for air and clutching his neck with both hands. His vision became hazy and dizziness settled in. He was weak now, and it was this that prevented him from forming any resistance as he was lifted up, and thrown through the door he had entered earlier.


Dane slammed it shut and went back to the edge of the building. That was a delay he didn’t need, and because of that he was very slightly behind schedule. He perched the silver case in front of him, and very delicately spun the chambers of digits that would unlock it. Lining them up in the correct sequence, he then unlocked both sides and laid it open with one half on either side of him. The contents were embedded in a soft cushiony material, holding them into their unique slots until pulled out. Dane didn’t waste any moments in taking out all the pieces, and proceed to slot them together like a jigsaw puzzle. He had done this so many times before, he was confident he could do it without even looking. Luckily he had left more time for this than he knew he would be able to complete it in, and so he was now dead on time for the big event.


Rolling his hand along the central piece, he admired its intricacy and power. As for what it was, it had no official name, but as everybody in Dane’s underground group liked to refer to it, it was a ‘rifle’.


He was part of a faction that performed assassinations for cash. If somebody was in need of such a deed, they would eventually find out, through word of mouth alone, about their existence. It was not something he had knowingly involved himself in, but once you were in, the rules said you were in for life. It had a history behind it, but that story wasn’t for him to think about now. He had a more urgent matter to attend to.


He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a slightly crumpled photo of a young woman. This was his target. Apparently, her husband had grown jealous of her constant cheating on him and thought it was time to deal with this matter in this most extreme of ways. It had been hard to murder his first victim, but as his mentor had told him, if he was going to survive, he would need to earn his way. This was the only way. And so, here he lay, steadying the rifle on the concrete, ready to scout the crowd below for this target.


A crisis of conscience had plagued him on his first job, a young businessman. It never went, the guilt of taking someone’s life away, especially when all you knew about them was not even true. There had been many cases where a jilted boyfriend, or even girlfriend, had decided to make their ex pay, but had concocted a great lie in order to mask their pettiness. It wasn’t even conceivable to Dane that anybody could do such a spiteful thing. Of course, now he knew different.


As a matter of fact, he was now a thick skinned mollusc compared to what he was before. Nothing ever shocked him any more, not even when he had discovered he was father to a child. A daughter that had been born and brought up without his knowledge should have set off the paternal instinct inside him, but it didn’t. Dane never confronted the mother, never even had the heart to see her in the flesh, let alone his own child. He just left things as they were and never returned.


Focusing the scope to the right depth of vision took a little less time than he anticipated, and he was nearly entering the final phase of this operation. He surveyed the whole crowd on the busy plaza below. It was home to a market for traders to sell their wares, or simply a place for lonely people to be amongst a crowd. Dane saw her, next to a table with chequered cloth draped over it, and several handcrafted ornaments holding it down from the slight wind. She picked up a globe, and shook it to see the dancing rice grains cover whatever it was inside. She made her way off to another stall, one chock-full of jewellery, and then another laden with paintings and crafts.


‘This is it.’ He thought, knowing that what would happen next would probably destroy the lives of those his victim loved and cared about. But also, not knowing that it would actually affect his life and those lives of people he loved and cared about. He held that thought back just long enough to take one final look, set the crosshairs just above her nape, onto her neck, close his eyes, pull the trigger and let the bullet fly at speeds exceeding 2000 feet per second until it arrived at its target and instantly killed the recipient.


The clock struck 8:03 am.


Next Chapter: CHAPTER TWO