Zero

“Her lie reflected my lie”, he thought as he finished setting up his gear. He looked through the scope and quickly acquired his target. A balding, fat, middle aged man in his government standard gray suit. Damian’s target was chatting and smoking with his coworkers, a habit that Damian has grown to expect from him. He repeated this ritual at 11:30 every night that he worked, just smoking away his break. “His last break”, Damian whispered to himself. Damian was rather good at what he did, and he prided himself in that. You would have to be good to do what he does for a living. Damian was an assassin, one of the world’s best actually. He’d yet to fail a mission. He was also a member of a secret collective of assassin and mercenaries that only took on high paying top-class jobs. Damian’s work often changed the world overnight. World leaders, Fortune 500 C.E.O.s, Intelligence Agency Directors, he had killed them all. Damian enjoyed his work, it was a thrill, and the pay was pretty good too.”Her lie reflected my lie” Damian repeated to himself, perched at the top of a skyscraper across from his mark. he was thinking of his last relationship again, a terrible ordeal for them both. His ex-girlfriend had been hiding a terrible secret, a second life, she was a member of a rival collective, one that often competed with Damian’s. They were in effect enemies, sleeping in the same bed.The target returned to the building, his break was over, and it was time to finish his night-shift. Damian sighed to himself, reminding his-self that he only wanted to set up tonight. He packed up to leave, leaving his setup prepared for tomorrow night as he sneaked off the roof and into the night.

Damian pulled into the parking lot at 9:30 right on schedule. He now had 2 hours to sneak back into the tower, climb up the 46 flights of stairs and assassinate his target. Damian removed his break-in kit from the trunk of his rented black sedan. He had done his homework. He knew that the tower would be completely devoid of human life at night which meant that h only had to break in instead of the normal routine of bypassing security personnel. Still it wouldn’t due for him to be seen by a bystander, he must make a clean getaway. Leaving the lot he sneaked to the tower’s loading lock, prepared to lockpick his way into the building. He removed his tools from his break-in kit and quickly got to work. Within 10 minutes his work was complete. He was in. He would have to do the same for 3 more doors on his way to the stairwell, as well as disabling a few electronic security devices. Finally a good 30 minutes later he was ready to start the arduous task of climbing up the building 46 flights of stairs. Unfortunately for him, he had learned his first night sneaking in that most of the power in the building was cut at night, after everyone had left for the night. So he couldn’t simply ride the elevator to the top. Slightly out of breathe Damian had reached the top at 11:07. Perfect timing for him to get the job done. He kicked in the door that lead to the roof as he had a flashback to the last night of his relationship. After discovering who she was he now had to escape the apartment they once shared. Not an easy task as she was just as skilled as he was. But after a long fight, he had escaped.

Damian had spaced out, quite a dangerous thing to do in his position. His distraction began after the relationship ended, h couldn’t get her out of his mind. It was now 11:25. Damian centered himself as he had been trained to do, and began to set up. He waited patiently, but his target was late. Had something happened? Had he found out that Damian was after him? Had Damian gotten his schedule wrong? No, the target appeared about 11 minutes late, to Damian’s relief. There he was smoking and chatting, completely unaware of what was about to happen. Damian took aim, clearing his mind as his distraction began to enter his mind again, interfering with his work. He aimed, removed the safety, and fired. The shot rang through the night, he had done it, his target was dead. There was no time to celebrate though. Damian knew that someone would figure out where the shot came from and report that information to the police. He packed up his gear and quickly descended the tower, erasing all traces of his work. He made it to the sedan with no incidents. As he was pulling away he heard the sirens. He froze as he contemplated his next move. Should he stay or race off? But the police passed, headed to his now dead target. He breathed a sigh and slowly pulled away. He was now in his motel room, in the darkness and relative safety he could now rest. He would leave the country tomorrow, return to the collective’s base and retrieve his next mission. It was time to move on, but he couldn’t help thinking that her lie reflected his lie.