Red Reaper - Soldiers of Fortune [book one]

Chapter SEVENTEEN

Konstantin Ivanov

... the night before ...

Despite my recent lapse in judgment in confronting Detective Dickhead, I don't generally make a habit of meeting my marks.. I am much more resigned to move through this city as a ghost passing through their lives as I observe them, in order to determine how best to kill them..

But Katya had come to me for help with her shitty situation and I haven't got the cruelty in me to say no to her.. Maybe because it reminds me of what Lucky had told me about her supervisor putting his hands on her, using his authority to achieve gratifications that he does not deserve.. The thought of leaving either woman defenceless to a predatory employ doesn't sit well with me and I can't help but feel a protective instinct when it comes to their safety..

An uncomfortable feeling, uncommon for me writhes within.. Empathy..

I am not so different from these women.. Nika has me do his dirty work, he points my gun in whichever direction he decides and I either comply or die..

To be controlled by another, manipulated and used, it corrupts the very idea of my soul.. And after all these years, I am beginning to grow tired of his orders..

A seed of rebellion grows inside me, vindictive and ripe with vengeance..

With that being said, I can't compromise myself to achieve Katya's directive.. If Nika found out I had delayed his request to focus on favours for the women in my life, he'd sooner have them killed than forgive my disobedience..

That is how Nika operates.. Calculated, cold and without mercy..

It is better to get all of this ulterior business over with quickly, and to achieve the desired results, quick and clean, somebody has to die.. Katya would never admit to herself that is what she wanted, but she would not have come to me otherwise.. She could hire any goon to put the fear of God in this guy, shake him down or break his legs.. She came to me instead because she knows I will do what needs to be done..

She knows that I am ruthless and if she were not prepared to face the consequences of what she has asked, she should not have come to me..

My plan to instill terror in the perverted producer is clean, I have no need to introduce myself to my targets and Dane Keely will be no exception.. Instead I have opted for a different approach to scare the man, without ever having to stand face to face or step food inside his hideaway home, high in the Northside hills that overlook Darkport City

Laying on my stomach in a silk suit that I am disappointed to be getting dirty, my Dragunov balances on its bipod while I watch through the MIL-Dot reticle.. Quiet and with my breath slowing to a meditative calm, I line up the duplex crosshairs, running a glance along the series of four small 0.25 millimetre diameter dots that align along each axis, using their placement to gauge the range from which my shot will be made..