East

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

June 03 | 18:30

The woman was in a hurry and she wasn't a person who liked to be in a hurry. She had a strong conviction that this was when people started making mistakes, and mistakes killed people. Of course, killing people was her job, but she much preferred to be the one doing the killing over being caught out of position or inadequately briefed.

The job she was on her way to perform had been a last minute change to her careful plans. The target was arriving at a different location and at a different time. If she didn't need to finish this job so much, she would have put a bullet though the client's head and gone home. The NIS dragging her out of recent retirement had been bad enough, but the manner in which they had done it was what had made her so bitter toward them.

But this had to be done. 

Which is why she found herself climbing to the roof of a building in downtown Seoul.

A few minutes later she was on the roof. Taking a moment to get her bearings, she chose a vantage point on top of a structure. The structures around it, although not much higher, would give her some concealment from surrounding buildings. Looking over to the building to the west, she could see the heli-pad. She started climbing and was quickly at the top. Shrugging off her backpack, she brought out the pieces of her rifle. She glanced at her watch. Not much time left.

A gust of wind blew her cap off. She stretched to reach out for it, but missed. Her hair fell down around her face. She put it in a ponytail as fast as she could and lay down on her stomach. Extending the bi-pod at the end of the barrel, she sighted on the heli-pad. An excellent view.

She heard the helicopter approach, saw the landing lights flicker on at the heli-pad, and watched the aircraft descend gently to a landing. The men dropped out of the doors and she waited for her target.

There he was. She checked the settings on the scope, made an adjustment, and aimed. She squeezed the trigger and he staggered. Another shot and he was down. Three more shots kept everyone around the helicopter busy and guaranteed that any medical attention would be a little longer in being called. Every second helped.

A flash caught her eye. There it was again, slightly to the right. She turned the scope toward the flash and caught a slight movement, but it wasn't easy to make out any detail. Then she could see a head poking out above a low wall. What had caused the flash? Then she saw the camera lens. This was her worst nightmare. Witnesses were always a problem, but witnesses with cameras were a big problem. You never knew if they were taking still photos or video, not that either was good news. Coupled with not knowing if they were transmitting live back to another location and things were going from bad to worse. She cursed the contract she was on and the people she was working for.

Had she been set up? Was that why the plan had allegedly changed, so that she wouldn't have enough time to spot a set up?

Focus! Fix the problem and clean up the loose ends later.

She fired one shot, slightly low in the hope that the wall was not solid. She saw the impact and some debris rose in to the air. She cursed the whole situation again and began to take the gun apart, putting the pieces in to the backpack. She quickly checked for the ejected casings, collected what she found and started to leave. She had to find that photographer before the police arrived and the whole block became a danger zone. Quickly, quickly!

This had to be a set up. She had almost no time to get ready for the mission and now no time to grab the photographer. 

She heard gun shots from the other roof. She jumped down from the structure. Reaching in the backpack she brought out a scope. On the other roof she could see the men. They were not looking in her direction, but seemed to be firing at a target on the same roof. They must have seen the photographer, she thought. Perhaps they would do her job for her. No, even if they got the photographer, they would still have the camera. Again, she cursed her employer and promised herself that their next conversation would be very interesting and on her terms.

The next step was obvious: get the photographer, or at least get enough information to allow him to be found later. She left the roof and started down the stairs. At the exit she raised her hood to cover her head and pushed the door open. The evening street sounds were momentarily distracting and she forced herself to concentrate on her surroundings, all the time moving away from the building. Standing with her back to the adjacent building gave a good view of the back of the building the photographer was on. She gambled that she had beaten him to the street and decided to wait until it looked like the police were arriving. This was a risk she had to take. Reputation is everything. No one hires an assassin who's photo has been on the front page of a newspaper. If the pictures were for blackmail by her employer, that was bad enough. Her personal business standards did not permit such activity and the penalty was final. Very final.

Why else would a photographer be on the roof, at exactly the right time and right place to interfere. She felt her anger rising and forced herself to be calm. This whole project was messing with her head. 

Calm, be calm.

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