“Very few people believe that being an assassin for the Guild is easy. 
Hitman Shop
Prologue
Meet the team
Target 1 - Report
Target 2 - the brief and is that a plan?
Target 2 - Erm well I spose that was a plan, maybe not the plan
Target 2 - and let there be bullshit and luck
Target 3 - Marcy Ballantyre
Target 3 - The lying, the whore and the Sauveuse
Target 3 - the 4 oh no 3 stoogies
Target 3 - all aboard
Target 3 - so the plan is... we have no plan
Target 4 - The Abatangelos
Target 4 - Smoke n not mirrors
Target 5 - Cairo Bain
Target 5 - Does a plan ever come together!
Target 6 - Cyrus Bell
Target 7 - Toshio Harada oh wait no Dr Algar Hader, bugger, both?
Target 7 - Target - Toshio Harada
Target 7? - Dr Algar Hader other spots
Target 7, no wait 8, hang on lost track
Those who do… don’t tend to last long.”
“People who get into it fresh think that the hardest part is finding the target in a sea of people, or that it is taking them out without being spotted.”
Duncan rocked back on his heels and craned his neck to look the young man with him in the eye. “Now, I might be biased, kid – my skill set allows for that last bit quite easily – but I think that the waiting is the hardest part. The anticipation of not only fulfilling the mission, but the moment of largest risk. Once the adrenaline takes over, I pretty much go on autopilot.”
The kid nodded. He didn’t talk much. Duncan wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not – it definitely made the time pass more slowly. Looking down over the square had its natural lifespan when nothing was happening.
“Of course, the rest of the team have to worry about flushing out the mark. When you’re a sniper-” he gestured with his chin towards the rifle in the youngster’s hands “-you just make sure you pull the trigger at the right moment.”
The young man nodded again. Duncan felt his irritability rise. “Don’t you have any thoughts for yourself, boy?” he demanded, looming over the youthful prone form.
“I… yes, sir!”
“Then speak!”
“Uh…” he was struggling for something to say. “I was just trying to learn what you know, learn from the best. That’s why Geraldine sent me up here…”
That wasn’t her real name, of course, just one the experienced team leader – who was currently roaming in the crowd below – had chosen. The kid was smart to listen, though. ‘Learning from the best’ felt more like ‘sucking up’, but Duncan had done plenty of that when he started out, too. He could let it go as long as he wasn’t being tuned out.
“I remember the time I-”
Target approaching.
Geraldine’s words over the team’s private communication channel brought them both to alert, leaning forward to scan between the wooden planks that obscured them.
A moment passed while they both scanned the crowd; the kid with his sniper scope and Duncan with his binocluars.
“Found her!” the kid whispered. “1 o’clock, twenty metres.”
Duncan fixed his gaze on the well-dressed woman in her mid-fifties. “Confirmed.”
“Should I-”
Duncan patted the kid on the shoulder without taking his eyes off the target. “Don’t worry. She’s close enough – I’ve got this one.”
Reaching his hand between the planks, he targeted her carefully, then winced.
An invisible beam shot from his hand, untraceable and silent, intersecting her position.
Without warning, sound or any other perceptible effect, the woman vanished.
“Of course,” said Duncan as he stood, “It helps when you can remove the Strong Nuclear Force from your target."
“People who get into it fresh think that the hardest part is finding the target in a sea of people, or that it is taking them out without being spotted.”
Duncan rocked back on his heels and craned his neck to look the young man with him in the eye. “Now, I might be biased, kid – my skill set allows for that last bit quite easily – but I think that the waiting is the hardest part. The anticipation of not only fulfilling the mission, but the moment of largest risk. Once the adrenaline takes over, I pretty much go on autopilot.”
The kid nodded. He didn’t talk much. Duncan wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not – it definitely made the time pass more slowly. Looking down over the square had its natural lifespan when nothing was happening.
“Of course, the rest of the team have to worry about flushing out the mark. When you’re a sniper-” he gestured with his chin towards the rifle in the youngster’s hands “-you just make sure you pull the trigger at the right moment.”
The young man nodded again. Duncan felt his irritability rise. “Don’t you have any thoughts for yourself, boy?” he demanded, looming over the youthful prone form.
“I… yes, sir!”
“Then speak!”
“Uh…” he was struggling for something to say. “I was just trying to learn what you know, learn from the best. That’s why Geraldine sent me up here…”
That wasn’t her real name, of course, just one the experienced team leader – who was currently roaming in the crowd below – had chosen. The kid was smart to listen, though. ‘Learning from the best’ felt more like ‘sucking up’, but Duncan had done plenty of that when he started out, too. He could let it go as long as he wasn’t being tuned out.
“I remember the time I-”
Target approaching.
Geraldine’s words over the team’s private communication channel brought them both to alert, leaning forward to scan between the wooden planks that obscured them.
A moment passed while they both scanned the crowd; the kid with his sniper scope and Duncan with his binocluars.
“Found her!” the kid whispered. “1 o’clock, twenty metres.”
Duncan fixed his gaze on the well-dressed woman in her mid-fifties. “Confirmed.”
“Should I-”
Duncan patted the kid on the shoulder without taking his eyes off the target. “Don’t worry. She’s close enough – I’ve got this one.”
Reaching his hand between the planks, he targeted her carefully, then winced.
An invisible beam shot from his hand, untraceable and silent, intersecting her position.
Without warning, sound or any other perceptible effect, the woman vanished.
“Of course,” said Duncan as he stood, “It helps when you can remove the Strong Nuclear Force from your target."
Hitman Shop
Prologue
Meet the team
Target 1 - Report
Target 2 - the brief and is that a plan?
Target 2 - Erm well I spose that was a plan, maybe not the plan
Target 2 - and let there be bullshit and luck
Target 3 - Marcy Ballantyre
Target 3 - The lying, the whore and the Sauveuse
Target 3 - the 4 oh no 3 stoogies
Target 3 - all aboard
Target 3 - so the plan is... we have no plan
Target 4 - The Abatangelos
Target 4 - Smoke n not mirrors
Target 5 - Cairo Bain
Target 5 - Does a plan ever come together!
Target 6 - Cyrus Bell
Target 7 - Toshio Harada oh wait no Dr Algar Hader, bugger, both?
Target 7 - Target - Toshio Harada
Target 7? - Dr Algar Hader other spots
Target 7, no wait 8, hang on lost track
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