This was it. The last murder.

Elijah Rhodes leaned into the conference room’s plastic chair with a sigh of relief. He was almost free. The very thought of being done with it all made his chest feel lighter somehow. As the door sounded behind him, Elijah sat up, bracing himself for whatever came next.

“Congrats on the case, Rhodes,” Steele gripped the hitman’s shoulder with a heavy hand,

“You never cease to amaze me.”

Elijah Rhodes nodded, eyeing the file between Steele’s thick fingers. He wanted more than anything to just get this last job done and be finished for good. Elijah shoved his hands in and out of his coat pockets impatiently, fingering the little silver ring that inhabited his right pocket.

The over-stuffed file dropped on the conference room’s table as Steele gestured toward it, “This next one is a bit on the rough side. We’ve got a foreign case, external employers, and severe government interest involved. I know you’re on your way out, but this can be your last big case.”

Elijah couldn’t help frowning a little; external employers were a huge setback. An unsettling feeling gnawed at his stomach, “Who are we talking about?”

Steele cleared his throat loudly and tugged at the end of his striped tie, “Well, Russia Bandello.”

At the sight of Elijah’s shocked expression, he raised his hands, “But it’s nothing you can’t handle! They’re just after your everyday conman. Seems the guy was somehow able to break down Bandello’s system and cross the border with some cash.”

Flipping through the thick file, Elijah rolled his eyes, “Some cash? Steele, it says right here that we’re dealing with an estimated $ 25 million dollars. In K's. This is a highly sensitive case.”

Steele shrugged his bulky shoulders, “So what? I know you can handle this. You’ll be going out with a bang, y’know?” He stabbed the open page, pointing at the target information, “It’s all set up too. Those Bandellos really know how to make a job easy. Look, the guy’s getting married this week; all you have to do is show up in your Sunday best and take him out. Couldn’t be any easier.”

Leaning in to read the background check page, Elijah froze in shock. He tore the paper out of the file, rereading the top names desperately. ‘Target: Alec Harmon. Significant Other: Kristina Stewart.’

Kristie.

The room went silent. Elijah felt an icy shuder run down his spine at the sight of the two pictures attached. The page blurred before Elijah’s eyes. “I can’t do this,” his voice sounded shaky.

“What do you mean? This is your last case, you have to do it!” Steele slammed the table with his hand, demanding Elijah’s attention.

Forcing himself to breathe, Elijah looked up. “I said I can’t do it. I won’t take the case, Steele, find someone else.”

The older man grumbled, “I can’t, you’re already contracted.”

Elijah gripped the page tighter, fighting to ignore the way his heart was sinking. This was Kristie...this was no anonymous family he would be destroying.

“Dammit, Rhodes, you have to!” Steele shoved the file onto Elijah’s lap, “This is a serious mess, I don’t want to know what they’ll do if you break the contract. I’m already on eggshells with Russia himself from our last encounter. There’s no backing out now.”

In a daze, Elijah collected the pages, folded them into the file, and stood up stiffly. The empty, white office spun around him.

“I need to go,” he managed to choke out. Any words that Steele yelled after him were muffled by the fear roaring in Elijah’s ears.

~

It was a bad night for Elijah. It always was when he got caught up thinking about Kristie again. After so long, he was finally beginning to heal. The abrupt mention of Kristie’s name had sent him spiraling back into the familiar pain. But it was more than that this time. She was getting married; she was happy without Elijah in her life. Worse, Kristie was marrying the very man that Elijah had been ordered to kill.

A nauseating heat burned in Elijah’s stomach at the thought of it. By impulse, his hands reached for the liquor cabinet. They fell into the well-known pattern of filling and draining the glass. Elijah shot a couple back, welcoming the comforting buzz. He fell back, exhausted, onto the sofa. Painful memories swirled around in his head as he drifted in and out of sleep. The sudden too-loud ringtone of his phone jolted Elijah back to consciousness. In a haze, he picked up without checking the caller I.D. first. “Yeah?”

Static whirred in his ear, followed by a strangely low voice, “Rhodes.”

He blinked in confusion, “Yeah, who’s this?”

“This is a warning. You will complete this mission without hesitation or face the aftermath,” The voice continued in a raspy accent, “Are we understood?”

Elijah sat up quick, coming to his senses in a sudden jolt of dread. “Who is this?”

He controlled his breathing and strained to hear any background noises.

Only the low, accented voice followed. “We are watching, Elijah. We hope you are able to complete the…extermination…without any difficulties. If you cause any disruptions, there will be consequences. We are aware that you seem to have a special connection with the target’s fiancé. Perhaps, that is motivation enough for you to complete your orders, to keep her alive.” The voice let out a slithery breath. Then, the line clicked.

Elijah dropped his phone, gripping the ends of his hair tightly. Fear wrapped around his throat with chilling fingers. Kristie was in danger. Again.

Memories flashed behind his eyes of Kristie, smiling, laughing, talking. He remembered with fresh pain the way her eyes had looked when he broke their relationship off. She hadn’t known that Elijah was doing it to protect her. But it hurt, just the same. And he had thought she would be safe, out of his life, free to live her own. It seemed that the past had come back to haunt him now. There was no doubt about it; he had to go through with the mission.

Elijah failed to hold back the sob that tore at his chest. He pressed tight fists against his eyes and cried. For Kristie and her fiancé, Alec. And for himself; his own unrealistic hope for a future with Kristie, destroyed. After struggling his entire life with the guilt of his own sins, Elijah knew without a doubt in his mind: he was a terrible, horrible man.

~

The wedding day arrived on schedule, just like any other mission day, and Elijah treated it thusly. He dressed, packed, and left the cold apartment with the routine stiffness that masked his features before every mission. This case was the same as any other, he reminded himself, as if the terrors of the night before had never happened. It was merely a name to cross out, nothing more. Strike, leave, repeat. Tomorrow will be different.

Elijah refused to let himself think beyond repeating the phrase over and over. He kept his eyes on the road as he drove, blinking away the memories that threatened to resurface. His phone buzzed, breaking the silence. Elijah reached for it. The familiar notification that lit up his screen sent Elijah’s stomach sinking. Would he accept the mission? The ‘confirm’ button waited patiently for his decision. He reminded himself of Kristie, and of the way the voice on the phone had threatened on her life.

That was enough. There was no longer any hesitation in Elijah’s decision; he pressed the glowing button, and dropped his phone to the console. The mission’s button was replaced by a time count, slowly ticking away the milliseconds. It was time for action.

~

From up on a second-level balcony, Elijah took in the overwhelming sight below him. The wedding was breathtaking. Elijah smiled despite himself, knowing that this was exactly the type of wedding Kristie had always dreamed of. There were flowers and lights strung in an arch across the entire room and little candles leading down the classic aisle. People arrived in swarms, seating themselves in the beautifully ribboned chairs and waiting silently for the ceremony to begin.

Elijah scanned his own surroundings briefly, popping open the lid of the heavy case that leaned against his leg. None of the people below would be able to spot him standing between the enormously tall, columned arches. Light from stained-glass windows stretched its way across the room, towards the center, leaving Elijah in a heavy shadow. The crowds below began buzzing with conversation as more people were seated. Elijah noticed the pastor making his way to center stage, shaking hands with a tall man in black. It was the man from the file picture, Alec Harmon. Kristie’s husband-to-be and Elijah’s target. He walked with an air of importance, laughing with broad shoulders and a strangely perfect smile. Elijah wondered what parts of the man Kristie had fallen in love with, what parts made him better than Elijah. But more than that, he wondered if Kristie knew who this man really was.

An organ’s piercing notes sounded suddenly, jolting Elijah back to the present. The music swelled and every seat below went silent, anticipating the bride’s arrival. The wide doors swung open and Elijah swallowed around the sharp knot in his throat.

Oh, God. There she stood, glowing like an angel in the colorful light of the stained-glass. His heart swelled at the sight of her smile. From the upper balcony, he watched her take slow steps forward, matching the sweeping tune of the organ. She only had eyes for what was in front of her, unaware of his presence. Elijah’s heart ached at the sudden thought that it could’ve been him, standing at that altar, beginning a new future with Kristie.

The music was fading, which was his cue to begin. Elijah checked his phone, watching the minutes slip away. Shaking away all the heavy emotions weighing him down, he finished assembling the suppressed rifle and rested its end against the edge of the balcony. Breathe in, breathe out. Just like any other time. Aligning the crosshairs, Elijah took a few deep, motionless breaths. He watched the ceremony up close through the gun’s scope, taking in every detail of his target. Alec’s debonair smile spread around the edges as he held Kristie’s hand. Elijah tried to concentrate on the timing and precision. It was just a mission to complete and get over with. He adjusted the sights, keeping them even with Alec’s head. Sliding his finger onto the trigger, like he had a million times before, Elijah prepared himself to fire.

Something about the way Alec kept turning his eyes toward Kristie pierced through Elijah’s concentration, reminding him of some foggy memory. And then it hit him, like a blow to the gut. A memory of the first case that had ever left Elijah aching. The gun loosened between his grip absently. Danny.

Every detail suddenly rushed behind his eyes with a fury. It had been late evening, right before the sun went down. The man’s name was Danny Agnello. He’d been walking with his wife, holding her hand, with that same adoring look in his eyes. And Elijah had shot him dead, right there. He’d reminded himself that it was just a job, that the man was rightfully ended, that he had made the right decision. But no matter how many crimes Danny had committed, Elijah could never rid himself of the guilt that came with taking the woman’s husband away. That look, between Danny and his wife, was seared into Elijah’s memory, repeating itself over and over. Danny’s eyes, their hands clasped together, the weight of Elijah’s finger pressing the trigger, Danny’s limp body slumping to the pavement, and the screams that followed. The images swirled around in Elijah’s mind painfully until Kristie’s precious face joined the mix of memories. A searing feeling burned against his side. Elijah wasn’t sure whether he imagined it or not, but it was almost as if the burning feeling came from the silver ring in his pocket.

Elijah stumbled back dizzily, forcing the agonizing reminders away and clutching at his pocket. In the panic of the moment, the rifle slid right out of his hands, wobbling against the balcony’s railing. Blinking back to reality, Elijah hurriedly reached for his gun. It toppled back and forth before his shaking hands. He stood frozen, watching hopelessly as it tilted off the rail and dropped to the ceremony below. Elijah cringed in horror, expecting a heavy crash, whispering a smothered, “No!”.

Not a sound followed. The peaceful wedding ceremony went on without interruption.

Bending over the balcony, Elijah caught sight of the rifle, hanging by the edge of its bipod on a string of lights. Without a moment to lose, he reached carefully for it, bending himself over the banister. The gun hung just outside of his reach as Elijah inched closer and closer. Right as his fingertips brushed the edge of the gun, Elijah’s phone buzzed against his pocket abruptly, announcing the thirty second mark. The ceremony below carried on, Kristie and Alec now facing one another.

In panic, Elijah lurched for the gun and grasped it with both hands, his legs holding him against the second level’s edge. He had less than thirty seconds to pull the trigger. With the steadiness that accompanied his experience, Elijah leaned his arms against the light’s wires, and balanced his torso on the edge. He levelled himself with the rifle to aim. Forcing himself to focus with a deep breath, he zeroed in the scope, squeezed the trigger, and

fired.

The phone buzzed, signaling that time was up. It was done.

Elijah’s shoulder absorbed the little recoil that followed, and only a muffled sound followed the shot. Alec fell to the floor heavily, and screams of horror ensued. The entire room fell to chaos as people fled in all directions, toppling chairs. Elijah barely hung on to the railing by his feet and grasped the string of lights desperately. From across the room, he noticed only one person frozen in place. Kristie.

First, she stared silently at her almost-husband, unmoving on the floor. Then, her eyes swept the walls, assessing every corner. They moved up, searching the giant columns. Kristie’s eyes moved with a strange calmness, until they landed on Elijah. The recognition in her eyes was obvious. Elijah’s heart crushed against his chest in anguish. She knew.

In that terrible, sickening moment, he lost his balance between the balcony and the string of lights. The suddenly too-heavy rifle tumbled from his hands to the floor, and Elijah followed.

The impact of his body with the floor below was not the worst part. It was the falling in between, when Elijah had time to relive every shot he ever took, every body that ever dropped, and every part of him that shattered at the look in Kristie’s eyes.