Along the Mediterranean Shore

Previous Chapter: Why I am so Cautious

This job is complex. It depends on psychology and is testing my ability to read and influence people. I'm in the bedroom of the target - who is asleep (with a little chemical help) - waiting for the Second-in-Command to arrive to his summons. The Second taps on the door. I make an affirmative sound, similar to what the target generally makes. The Second enters the room. I needle him as he closes the door, grabbing him as he slumps to the floor. I relieve him of his weapon and, using a silencer I’d earlier improvised, shoot the target using the Second’s gun. I put his gun into his hand and, after giving him a slow acting antidote, laced with some additional special ingredients, move to the porch. Getting into my rigging so I can get away, I wait until he starts to stir. Then set off the noise maker that sounds just like a gun going off. The Second is surprised by the sound, is further surprised he has his gun in his hand and is shocked to see the target has been shot dead.

I work the remote and am pulled up to the next floor balcony. They’re in a huge old mansion and there are plenty of nooks and crannies for me to keep hidden. In just a few seconds, guards start to arrive. I gather my things and tidy up, listening with one ear to my bugs. As planned, the Second is being accused of taking out the target. He’s denying everything, but sounds confused, as the evidence against him is quite clear. The drug cocktail I gave him has an effect of brief amnesia and as a consequence he doesn't remember being needled. From his point of view, he was in the hallway, then in the room hearing a gunshot and having his just fired gun in his hand. His protestations of innocence are falling on deaf ears. Now is the critical time, let's see if I’ve engineered things correctly...

Sure enough, he gets belligerent and, when he’s asked to give over his weapons, becomes surly and aggressive. I imagine the others backing up and bringing their weapons to bear. Included in the cocktail was a little extra to help reinforce his anger and frustration. Coupled with his confusion surrounding the amnesia, he starts to get very combative. Since what happened is so clear to the rest of the guards, they all fire at almost the same moment. 

It’s interesting to me the number of pharmaceutical drugs that have strange side effects. The consultant I used for this cocktail told me that certain drugs really mess with some people. After I’d given him some of the second’s blood, he was able to tailor a concoction to do exactly what I needed for this job. Lots of consultants in this business. I’ve acted that way a few times myself. One client really wanted to exact revenge personally. He paid me handsomely to develop the necessary plans and arrange for the needed equipment. Unfortunately, he was so intent on enjoying his revenge that he failed to take that last step - fleeing the scene - and was caught shortly after the dirty deed was done. 

I worked to create misunderstandings between the target and the Second. Simple things, like causing delays, tweaking messages, interfering with communication, that sort of thing. It helped that the target relied so much on electronic communications. A couple of weeks of accumulated little things all designed to lead to this point.

The client specifically asked to make it look like an inside job and helpfully gave a short list of likely candidates. The Second was at the top of the list and my research indicated that he’d be the ideal candidate anyway. He was known to be aggressive and stood up to the target on many occasions. Because of my bugs, I knew that the target actually liked the Second for his spine and they got along very well together. To outsiders, though, it was already easy to misinterpret their rapport. My efforts just served to muddy those waters. I doubt that the target or the Second even noticed the difference, though I wasn't trying to impress either.

Since, to the guards, the assassination was clearly accomplished by the Second, and he was dead, there wasn't any general search. Yes, they were stirred up more than usual, but nothing systematic. I was able to easily get out of the building without a trace. My largest concern was that the Second would’ve given over his weapons, hence my addition of the drug to up his anger and frustration. Even had he been reasonable, there was still a good chance no one would’ve given his story a second thought, he surely looked caught red handed. But with him out of the way, there would be no protestations of innocence that might intrigue someone and lead to the sort of investigation that might pick up any small traces I inadvertently left.

The main wrinkle is getting around the observers. Occasionally the client wants to know what’s going on. Maybe to ensure their money is being well spent. Or, my main concern, to clean up afterwards (dead men tell no tales). I saw these guys when I was initially doing my recon and factored them into the price. Ironic, to me: the client spends substantially more because of their paranoia, but such is life. This time getting around them is fairly trivial, but sometimes I have to take a more active effort to avoid them. Once, I found the observer was so obvious it was spooking the target, so I kidnapped him to get him out of the way.

Another job well done; time to relax and actually look around. I’m near Monaco, where there are plenty of beautiful women; I think I’ll head over and check them out, along with the food…