The sun glistens off the glass windows on the sides of Samson Towers. The city is bustling with the morning rush hour traffic. Down in the streets below, the daily drama of impatient drivers blast horns and shout curses at one another unfolds. Yet another ordinary day in another ordinary city.
**********
A limousine pulled over by the side of a building. Across the road, a pair of eyes watch from a window as its passengers enter the building. Two men remain outside the building, watchful eyes scanning the surrounding environment for any sign of trouble. The driver leans against his car, puffing away at his cigarette. Occasionally whistling at young girls walking past.
**********
"Make sure you have your men ready outside once he enters the conference room. I don't trust this guy.
If he can retrieve the artifact, he can't be that simple a man. Make sure his step out of the room is his last."
"Understood boss," a man of medium build acknowledged as the entourage walk into the lobby of Stevenson Building.
"Good morning, Mr Stevenson," greet the guards as they open the door to a luxurious conference room.
The well-built man of 40s proceeds to take his seat at one end of the table, his bodyguards distribute themselves around the room. Smiling to himself, Mr Stevenson takes this moment before the meeting starts proper to congratulate himself on his astute purchase. Meanwhile outside, his aide passes on some instructions to one of the guards, who runs off quickly to carry them out. The aide then enters the room, doors closing behind him.
**********
The man at the window did a final check of his rifle. Looking at his watch, he mutters to himself,"The time is coming." He gives the area around the limo a final look, then places his head on the rifle, picking his first target through the scope attached to the rifle.
**********
A young man walks down the corridor, towards the double doors of the conference room. Dressed in a black suit and pants set, brown hair neatly combed back, he looks like an executive just under 30. The guards stop him at the door. Setting down the metal briefcase he was carrying, he raises his hands to his side to allow a guard to do a body search. Satisfied, the guards open the door for him. The young man nods in appreciation at the guard on his left before entering the spacious room. The guard's look remains cold. As the doors close behind the young man, a group of guards, armed with sub-machine guns take up positions along the corridor.
Inside, the young man takes up his place at the opposite end of Mr Stevenson.
"Mr Javier, thank you for coming down today. I suppose the item is in that briefcase?" Mr Stevenson begins.
The young man smiles and nods in reply. He sets the briefcase on the table and opens it.
"Here it is," the young man says, as he tilts the briefcase to allow Mr Stevenson a look. Mr Stevenson smiles and nods to his aide, who dutifully brings out a laptop and makes his way across the table.
"Please check the account number, then press this key to start the transfer," the aide says as he set the laptop in front of Javier. Javier does so and the aide returns to his place, metal briefcase in hand.
With that, both Javier and Mr Stevenson rise from their seats and proceed to the middle of the table, right hands held out for a handshake.
"It's been a pleasure doing business with you," says a smiling Mr Stevenson.
"The pleasure's all mine," replies Javier. He then takes a small stick from his pocket,"Would you like me show you another artifact? I think you may find it interesting."
The stick is ornate. With a circular top made of gold, bearing the head of a dragon. There are two red crystals encrusted in the eyes of the dragon. The lower part of the stick is wrapped using a black strip cloth and looks very much like a handle to hold the stick from. Mr Stevenson's eyes twinkle with interest. "What is it?" he asks.
"Well," pressing the top of the stick into Mr Stevenson's stomach. The eyes of the dragon start to glow as a small blade snaps from the top,"it is a dagger."
Immediately, handgun appears in Javier's right hand as he turns towards Mr Stevenson's aide. Mr Stevenson, already collapsing to the floor, clutches at his stomach, his white shirt red with blood.
Everyone in the room is caught off-guard by the sudden turn of events. Before they can even react, the aide and the bodyguards standing behind him are already felled by muffled shots from Javier's gun.
Twisting around, making a full circle, Javier starts to pick out the guards around the room who, having just recovered from the shock, are just drawing their guns. Not one of them had a chance to fire a shot.
Turning another circle, Javier admires his work. Every single guard has a hole in his forehead.
Javier turns back to Mr Stevenson on the floor and stares coldly into the eyes of a shivering Mr Stevenson. He pulls out the dagger, drawing a weak wince from Mr Stevenson. Surprisingly, no blood remians on the dagger. The blade retracts and Javier pockets it.
"Now that you've tried my dagger, I guess you're ready go," Javier says, grinning an evil grin as he does so. He empties the rest of the magazine into Mr Stevenson's head and body, and the gun disappears in his hand.
Next, Javier picks up the metal briefcase. Walking over to the laptop, he chuckles as he read the words "Transaction complete" from the screen. He then proceeds to the door, picking up a gun from the hand of a fallen guard.
**********
A dozen gunpoints greet Javier as the door opens, but amazingly, he shows no surprise. Instinctively, the leading guard squeezes his trigger and lets rip a burst of bullets heading straight for Javier. On cue, the other guards open fire. Now it was the guards who show surprise. Their bullets seem to pass right through Javier's body as if he is a ghost.
The lead guard is gripped with horror. "Who or what is this standing before me?" he asks himself.
He didn't have much time to ponder further on that question. His comrade to his right has just fallen at the sound of a gunshot. The next gunshot is to be the last thing he hears. He can feel himself reeling back, numb. Panic has now seized him as he realises that his body no longer responds to him. Darkness envelops him, and he passes out for the very last time.
**********
Javier starts towards the guards, gun raised and firing. One by one, the guards fall, a bullet to the forehead. A few manage to get some shots off but in their panic they didn't bother to aim. One or two shots hit Javier though, and he flinches as they enter his body. Seeing this, the guards start to recover but it is too late. In just half a minute, Javier has worked his way through the group. He discards his gun and pauses to look at his wounds. The wounds start to heal, pushing out the bullets that breached his body. Then with a satisfied smile, he walks into the elevator and out Stevenson Building.
**********
The man who stood guard on the right of the entrance crumples to the ground as the men come out. In a knee-jerk reaction, the bodyguards scramble to get their charge into the safety of the limo, just as the other man who stood guard falls to another sniper shot. The driver has just gotten into the safety of the bulletproof car too, or so he thinks, and is starting up the vehicle.
The man at the window smiles to himself as he picks up a nearby device and pushes a button on it.
*beep beep*
*BOOM*
A fiery cloud shot up as the limo exploded. Nearby windows are shattered by the loud bang. Already a crowd is gathering nearby, though not too near for fear of secondary explosions. After taking in everything that has happened, the man at the window checks his watch again and starts to pack up.
Just as the hitman turns away from the window, a man in a black leather coat comes out from the crowd and heads towards the wreckage. He reaches into the burning back seat and picks up a metal case, before continuing on down the street, seemingly untouched by the fire. This drew gasps from the crowd behind him.
**********
At about the same time, the monotony of the urban morning is broken by a loud explosion rocking the 20th floor of Samson Towers. As if on cue, windows in the building and those of the other buildings and vehicles around shatter in unison. Through the 20th floor window, flies a burning body, which then lands hard on the bonnet of a car below, frightening the couple in it. There is a virtual standstill as everyone got out of their vehicles to find out what happened.
