Chapter One

Shawn has been hiding behind the tall glass building in the alley for some time now. His .38 Special is fully loaded and ready to blaze. His index finger is on the trigger as if he’s ready to shoot anything that moves, even the howling wind. He is on a life and death mission. Life and death! Failure is not an option. So, he must make sure every bullet goes to good use—to kill the two people in the black Audi 800 series, with NY state license plate number AXK9983. Those were all the instructions he was given. Just squeeze the trigger until all the shell casings kiss the ground. All of them, one by one.

He checks his Swiss watch with the brown leather strap on his sweaty wrist. It is ticking louder and louder every time he sees it. It is getting darker too. He is getting more impatient with each ticking moment.

It is a scorching hot summery night in July, yet, he feels so cold and terrified. He feels as if he’s been showered with ice water. Even the NYC potholes steaming out hot air haven’t been of any help.

Getting agitated and tired of waiting, his heart beats faster with each ticking second. He is not in the game with a clear head, because once he finishes this one job, he must hurry and run to save his own family. He thought of leaving all this behind and never looking back. But, he needs to do this job. He must do this job, for his family’s lives depend on it.

He brushes off the thought of quitting and gathers his energy. He’ll stay put and wait for the target, even if it takes forever. After all, he has no choice.

He is in complete chaos; it’s those kinds of predicaments, where he’s staring at a barrel of a gun to either shoot or be shot. He’s afraid that he’d screw up this mission because he’s put into a situation he knows nothing about. “Fuck it,” he says, “I am going to finish this!” When he thought about it, it shouldn’t really matter to him, because he doesn’t even know the targeted prey and shouldn’t care that much if they lived or died either, because his family comes first. Yes, family first!

Moments later, the target car was getting close by and approaching the hideout. “A black Audi 800 series,” he repeats to himself as if his memory suddenly got rusty. The car is slowly reaching the ambush territory. He recalls his precise instructions, “No hesitation, just get closer and squeeze the trigger.” First, shoot the passenger sitting in the back and finish off the driver afterward.

He was told that only two people would be in the car and the job would be easy as a walk in the park.

The car is now an inch away from him. It’s dark, only the light from the car lights the street alley. He gains his composure and runs as fast as he can towards the car. Once he reaches it, he inhales some air into his sponge lungs and pulls the trigger. Boom. Boom. Boom... 12 rounds of blast exited from his chrome black colt gun. The shell casings drop and drum the ground. After the first squeeze, his fingers just made love to the trigger. All he was thinking about was his own family.

He empties the gun and breathes heavily in relief. He likes the sparkling powder smell and power of the gun. There is something about holding a gun with a tight grip and letting the bullets just fly out of their cages. It feels good.

He completed his mission as requested. He just needed to make sure they’re both dead. He watched the car derail and stop when the driver lost control and crashed it into a nearby building. All airbags explode. The glasses from the windows shattered into tiny pieces.

The main target’s head is now tilted against the bullet holed door, blood running like a river from his weak body. The passenger’s head bumps on the inflated airbags of the steering wheel.

Shawn gets closer to check their pulses. He checks the driver first, a younger man in his late thirties, wore black suits with a white shirt and blue striped tie, confirmed dead. Shawn slowly goes around to the back of the car. The main target, a tall man with big jaws maybe in his fifties with grey hair, wearing dark grey suits with red tie and glasses, dead. Unresponsive.

Suddenly, Shawn’s eyes freeze. He gasps for air. His lungs begin collapsing. Blood of vomit filled in his mouth. He couldn’t believe what he sees. There was a third person in the back, struck by a bullet in the head. A little boy, his skull cracked open. Shawn couldn’t breathe. He drops on his knees on the ground. He cries like he never cried before.

He drops the gun and goes around the other side of the car, trying to help the little boy. He rushes to open the door. It’s jammed, so he kicks the door with a powerful move and the latched door opens. He pulls out the little boy and gives him breath into his mouth to mouth. He checks his pulse, nothing. The little boy is gone.

Shawn felt a sharp, twisting pain in his stomach; he was unable to muster it. Only tears filled his mournful eyes.

He was so upset now, mad beyond control. Blazing in rage, he picks up the gun and gets into his getaway car and drives faster to save his family, and to take revenge for the little boy too. He wants to punish those responsible for settings him up to strike the innocent little boy.

”Killing should be easy,” he says in a furry raged voice, and “Punishment is the only solution for these kinds of crimes,” he says.

Then, he speeds into the night.