The Skin Thief

Chapter 48

So, they found him. My intel got to who it needed to, and the invisible powers of my government actually found him.

They found the weapon maker.

They want me to kill him.

His face takes up most of the tablet and I stare at it blankly. A lump forms in my throat. I can't help but think that it is odd, the way events line up before one's death. All it took was five words at a restaurant for someone's fate to be sealed.

I think back to what Mr Salt had said that I'd picked up off the listening device.

"The weapon is almost ready."

I shudder and stare back at the picture. He looks so young – my age perhaps. How can someone so young be responsible for a weapon of mass destruction?

A new thought enters my mind. Those five words may be the reason someone loses their life, but those words will save thousands more.

I click off the picture and read the profile that comes with it.

His name is Benjamin Harlows and, I have to admit, he is impressive. At only twenty-six, he is a Dr in chemistry and physics. He is nothing short of a genius, a protégé who was pretty much recruited by the government at the age of fifteen after submitting a pretty explosive project in a local science fair.

"Look at us, both recruited by our government as teenagers," I mutter to myself and scroll onto the next page.

It details his education, which he of course excelled at and finished top of his class in every subject he took.

"Is he just me but with chemistry instead of killing people?" I ask and chuckle to myself. Somehow, the joke makes it all easier. The red wine I sip as I read also helps take the nervous edge off.

I continue reading, my brows raising as the report states how he breezed through the most advanced of science classes, even taking multiple per semester.

"That explains how he got a doctorate so quickly," I say.

After I'm through the education part, it then gets interesting. Even before he had graduated, Benjamin was working for the government on weapon systems. Not even a day after his graduation, he disappeared to a super-secret government base and a couple of million krenda appeared in his account.

For a little while, he vanished completely, but now he re-emerges once every couple of months to spend said millions on women and parties.

When I first read that, I thought that was going to be the way I'd get to him. But no. His parties, though excessive, are extremely well protected. Every guest has extensive background checks and are thoroughly searched. Security is everywhere, both in disguise as party guests and in uniform. The team are also the best of the best and extremely loyal, so there will be no dream walking into one of their bodies as the government would know instantly that a dream walker was here.

I open up a new section of the document. Inside, are videos. It takes me a few seconds to realise what they are.

"How the fuck did they get hold of these?" I gasp as I press play.

They are videos of weapons testing. The video begins with a large shot of the ocean. Then, there is a huge boom, making me jump. There is a giant shockwave, before a great cloud of white rises from the water. The water itself also grows, and I watch, unblinking, as a huge wave forms. Then, there is a second explosion. It comes from within the first, the white water mixed with smoke expanding into an enormous dome that seems to consume everything in its path until that is the only thing visible on the screen.