Prologue
3 years ago…
The sun was setting, turning the eastern sky a deep orange, streaked with yellow and red, as I quietly moved swiftly over the rooftops towards the edge of the building. It was getting dark quickly as the setting sun finally dipped below the horizon. As the illumination from the moon slowly began to shine, I took some food and water out of the backpack I carried and started to eat and drink. Watching everything around me. I knew what I had to do. Time was of the essence. I had to get there on time. Looking at my watch, I downed the rest of my water and cleaned up everything around me, leaving nothing behind. Within minutes I was on the move again. My destination up ahead, I didn’t think twice as I jumped to the next rooftop, always moving towards the target.
Targets were not personal.
They were nothing to me. Just fodder for the fish. Men who didn’t deserve a second chance and would never get one. Not that I cared. I had seven targets in total. Five once I one was done with this one. To say each target wasn’t personal, I wouldn’t know because to me, they were. For me, this was all personal. I wanted revenge. I needed it, and I would do whatever it took to make it happen.
They killed my mother.
That was mistake number one.
Each mark was unique and dangerous.
They were all one and the same.
Businessmen, Politicians, Hollywood Stars, you name it. From all over the world, each target on my list had a hand in her death. Those men were the worst of the worst, just hidden in a world of blind ignorance. These targets were different though, they all had one thing in common. One thing that made this job even more exciting, they all worked in conjunction with each other.
That was mistake number two.
Now they were all on my radar.
I studied everything on each of them, waiting to make a move. Most of them had years of training and knew how to disappear, but so did he. My first target, I stumbled on by chance. I knew this job wasn’t going to be easy. The men I was looking for were considered ghosts in their chosen profession. Out in the open, they scattered into the wind. It was blind luck that I found the first mark. There wasn’t anything these men could do about it. Their names were on my list, and I wouldn’t stop until my list was complete.
My first mark was the youngest of the group, Matthew Hawk. The hothead, movie star, the one with the least number of brains cells. Matthew Hawk had grown up in Georgia, graduating High School third from last. Hawk didn’t have much in the way of options after graduating, and it was either work in a factory or military. Hawk chose neither and hitchhiked to California for sunnier dreams. A choice encounter with a movie director, and that was all it took. Hawk was famous overnight and one of Hollywood’s most famous actors. He’d been in several movies by the time I made my list, but it was his nocturnal activities that solidified his fate.
Matthew Hawk was a pedophile.
He liked them young.
That was rule number one.
Nobody fucked with kids on my watch. Ever.
The second target was much more accessible.
I knew once this target was eliminated, the others would be alerted, and the chase would begin. I grinned, expecting the fun of it all. There was nothing any of them could do. The inevitable was coming, and I never missed, not once.
Within a thousand yards of the target, I found a good spot on the roof and removed the rifle from my back. It only took me a couple of seconds to set the sight, get into position, and wait for the right moment. I knew it would come. It always did.
I felt nothing, lying there on the roof. Not even the wet dampness of the asphalt from the day’s previous rain. I was there to complete a task, nothing more.
The second target, a biker named James Doherty, had no idea that he had been marked for elimination. Doherty was the President of a biker club called the Golden Skulls. They were in deep with the Fed’s, the Cartel, and the Russian Mob, moving drugs and women in and out of the country. His club was nothing more than a front. A place where the powers that be could launder the money needed to do the sick shit they did.
Hearing the rumbling of bikes coming, I unfolded the small tripod and slowly lowered it into the prone position. I flipped the cap off my scope and placed my cheek against the butt of my rifle. Watching the scene below, I spotted four bikers come to a stop behind a large warehouse. In the next instant, a black sedan pulled to a stop next to them. Saying nothing, I waited for my moment, grinning.
That was mistake number two.
Doherty was out in the open.
I watched Doherty with each passing second as two men dressed in suits got out of the sedan and started talking to the bikers. Whatever was going on, Doherty was pissed. I could hear the biker from where I waited. The next thing I saw, I didn’t expect.
The men in suits started shooting as the bikers ducked for cover, each on returning fire. All of a sudden, in the middle of a gunfight, Doherty suddenly stopped and looked around.
As the clear view of my target came into view. It was too late now. Taking a deep breath, I looked into the scope of my rifle. The view through the scope flicked from Doherty to the civilian next to him in rapid secession. My gaze settled on Doherty.
Carefully lining up the crosshairs on the chest of Doherty, I made sure only to hit the target. The crosshairs slowly slid up Doherty’s neck until they came to rest in the center of Doherty’s forehead.