Espionage [H.S]

Chapter 5

Harry's P.O.V.

What can happen in a second? You could drop something, you could break something, you could fall. You could die. Life is so thin and simply living is a choice: thinking, moving, breathing. That's what makes being a hit-man so special; being in control, not just of your life but of others. I am the one who decides whether someone will stop living in the blink of an eye because I have to power to control death and control it I did.

I had to work my way to the top, every kill was a mark of my skills. Every one got me closer to being the best of the best. I killed 92 targets to get where I am. The young, old, rich, poor, it didn't matter when their hearts stopped beating. I remember how every single target died, the look in their eyes when their last breath escaped them. Nothing else mattered about them and that's what set me apart from other agents. I noticed a fatal pattern that occurred in far too many other agents. They cared, they felt, and in the end that brings them their demise. To kill is to be ruthless, to be cold, to be detached. Even hesitating for a second, to think over your morality, begin to feel anything less than impassive, you die. It is nature to kill or be killed; to hunt or be hunted. You keep your distance and you do what is needed. Feel nothing, need nothing.

It's not romantic, what we do. It's gritty and bloody and terrible. There's sex but it is not sexy. If you think we're fighting and doing these things for our countries please reconsider that thought. We fight for ourselves, I fight for myself. I fight for organizations. I lie and kill in the service of other liars and killers. I steal, kill and destroy because there is nothing else for me left out there in this world. It's all too easy to be compromised. It's all too easy to simply follow the orders of ordinary people.

I had no idea why I was on this roof top of an old abandoned warehouse, this is just where I'm told to be. I was waiting for a man to walk down the street and sit in the park for lunch; something so simple, something people do on a day to day basis. I scanned the park of people looking for him but he wasn't there yet. I waited, until I finally spotted an older man with a petty coat walking across the grass to a wooden bench. He sat and pulled a bagged sandwich out of his pocket and began to eat. Poor bastard didn't even know what was coming for him. That better be the best goddamn meal of his life because it's about to be his last. This was it, I laid down flat and positioned the gun, tightening the silencer. I could feel my heart rate surging, it felt all too familiar. I lined the scope up and took it off safety, it would only take a second and everything for him, would cease to exist. My finger toyed with the trigger and sweat had started to bead, I could feel the chaos in my breathing. He was going to die and I would make it so. Before every kill I felt the same thing, pure adrenaline. The way other people feel while watching a horror movie, the way normal people feel before going on a roller coaster, the way I felt now; absolute adrenaline coursing through my veins. Nothing else matters in that moment, it's thrilling really, and it was almost like darkness taking over. I wasn't just doing these kills because I was ordered to do so, I'm doing it because I want to. I watched him as time ticked by quickly, I waited and when I felt like I was almost drowning in the adrenaline in my bloodstream, I pulled the trigger. No sound was heard for a second, and I watched as his body slumped over and people screamed. I never missed what I aimed for, I hit right on the center in the back of the head. As calamity seemed to ensue the park below, I packed my bag and disassembled my gun. 93.

✧✧✧

"You've been doing great Styles. You've regained your spot in the top ranks. Storm hasn't stolen any information or targets since the Labcorps' hack," Walton stood and shook my hand, placing his other hand on my shoulder for a second and then pulling away. "Great job, honestly. Go home, get some rest, or go out, have some fun."