Silent Knight

Chapter One

I watched as the blood slowly trickled down his neck, along his arm, over his knuckles, and onto the white tile, savouring the sound each drop made as it came into contact with the cold, hard floor.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

I grinned under my mask as the light drained out of the man's bright blue eyes. The blackened stainless steel knife in my left hand didn't shake as I grabbed a towel to wipe the red mess off of the beautiful tool. I slipped open the pocket of my dark suit and took out a small chess piece, the black knight. Gently, I slid it in between the man's thumb and index finger. Now my job was done; I could go. Satisfied, I turned around and walked back to the open window I had snuck in through. Before I left, I turned around one more time to look at my work, the surgical, straight line across his neck. It was one of my cleanest. Too bad it was so easy this time; it wasn't as rewarding when it was this easy.

The contract for Robert Evans came in only two days ago. A businessman. Wife. Kids. Secret affair. High up on the ladder in the marketing world. Easy to make enemies. A job I usually would consider too easy for my liking, but when they offered me nearly ten million dollars, I couldn't say no.

It wasn't hard to track Mr. Evans down. When the man wasn't working, he was on his phone. Tweeting about his work or whatever coffee he was drinking at the time. Always with his location turned on. With a hood up and a black windbreaker zipped up to cover my mouth, I stalked him all day as he travelled from meeting to meeting. I watched as he went home for supper, to give his wife and kids a kiss before excusing himself to meet coworkers at the bar. I scoffed as I trailed behind his car as he drove past the local bar and downtown to the city's most extravagant hotel. A tall, young brunette was waiting for him at the door, a bottle of wine in hand.

By now, the moon was overlooking the city, the sun long set. I opened up my laptop and watched through the hotel's cameras as he went up to the top, V.I.P floor with the brunette. I sighed; that was going to be a lot of stairs. As the two of them fell onto the bed, I closed the laptop and began to change outfits. Out of my dark outfit into another dark one. This one designed to help me move without making a sound while also built to protect me from harm. The armour doubled as a way to hide any details of who I was, any of my identifying features hidden by wearing the suit.

It was perfect.

The final touch to the suit was the helmet that slid over my head. Before I could put it on, I removed the oxygen mask I had been wearing while I was waiting in the car. Quickly, I took a puff from an inhaler and put the helmet on. I'd always preferred wearing the helmet over wearing nothing. I had installed it with the same medications from my inhalers and if needed I could hook it up to the oxygen machine. It also gave me reassurance wearing the helmet, knowing my face was hidden. The mask was the same colour as the suit I was wearing along with a dark screen covering the front so that I could see out, but no one could see in.

Now that I was ready, I went back onto my laptop and created a simple video loop to play on all of the cameras to show empty hallways, rather than the deed I was about to perform. Next, I disabled any systems that the hotel had on the windows and doors so I could move in and out without triggering an alarm.

Now it was time to move.

I slid out of my vehicle and into the alleys. Shadows enclosing me in darkness as I made my way to the fire escape. At the bottom, I looked up at all the stories I would have to climb and sighed. I was in good shape thanks to the career path I had chosen, and my lungs were under control, but it felt like a waste of my time to ascend this many stairs. Then I recalled the ten million waiting for me and I started to climb.