SNIPER

Selecting the assassins

The next morning Percy dressed in an impeccable Armani suit, with his dyed black hair planes all back with a neat parting at the side and a black briefcase, Percy walked into Skyrose publishing company, a twenty-floor towering skyscraper at the heart of the city with his two security guards. 

The lobby was a busy pandemonium with people coming and going. He turned to his left and headed for one of the elevators. 

The building had two of them one on the left and one to the right. inside one of his men, a tall burly man with hefty muscles that could squash an egg with minimal effort pressed the button to start the lift, but instead of going up the lift went down to open to another floor which most of the city lacks the knowledge of its existence. 

" Your coffee sir, " a young tall lanky guy with geeky glasses and mouse-shaggy curly hair said to Percy in a twitchy nervous tone while making sure that the files in his hands don't crumble to the floor from his trembling limbs. 

Percy without looking at his secretary collected the cup of coffee and headed for the conference room with the two men a breath behind him and his secretary trying to keep up. 

Along the corridors there are armed men dressed in blacks serving as the security of the company, keeping an eye on the rest of the employees monitoring everything they are doing. 

Percy pushed open the barred door with authority causing the men inside to look his way. He strutted in confidently to the head of the long large conference table and slammed his briefcase on the table, leaving his security details to take up space at each side of the door, while his secretary scrambled to find his seat at the table. 

He tried to be stealthy about it but he was so edgy and high-strung that the little pull he applied to the chair caused it to drag on the floor protesting in a loud screeching sound that drew the attention of everyone in the room including the cold blank glower from his boss. 

His adam's apple moved up and down his throat, he threw out a timid sorry to the room while taking his seat as fast as he can with no further mishap. 

Satisfied that there won't be further distraction coming from his secretary Percy turned to face the room, his aura confident and commanding demanding everyone's attention without words as his eyes teased lightly on everyone in the room without focusing on one. 

" We have a new target, 'Lucas Huan' and we are here to select the killers for his hunt, " his deep voice boomed across the room. " Blake, "he called out. The guy was responsible for gathering intel on the target. Yesterday after he had left the restaurant, he sent the name and photo of the target to him. 

The guy in question got to his feet with his tablet in his hand, he was an Asian average looking both in looks and built with no remarkable features. 

He stood by the side of a 146-inch large wall Samsung screen tv using the tablet in his hand he pulled up Lucas's information, including his photo, before turning the face the room. 

" The target is Lucas Huan, the CEO... He stopped to clear his throat when his words came off shaky and then began again this time more confident. He is the owner of the Huan pharmaceuticals passed down to him by his father. Blake paused his eyes fleeting across the room to see if he still has his audience's attention. When he saw that everyone was still staring at the TV screen, he turned back to it and began to explain again using the pointer and hand gestures to pass his message across. 

" A graduate of Havard business school, aged twenty-eight, not married lives alone in his penthouse at twenty-two Manhattan St, with no pets. He has a housekeeper that comes in every morning to clean his house gets his coffee from a small cafe a stone's throw from his house uses the gym every Saturday morning and then Sunday morning plays golf with his friends. He is a creature of habits and never changes his routine. " he finished and then he turned to look at his boss waiting for his comments. 

Percy waved him back to his seat and turned from his seat at the head of the table to address the room. " We have heard about the target now we select the killers. " At the end of his words, a tall dark guy of African descent with sculpted features and low cut dark hair stood and went to the screen. 

He clicked on few buttons on his tablet and the whole screen lit up with images of several individuals with their qualities, Rank, and weapon of choice in the display. It looked like a database system. 

He clicked on the first image zooming in on the photo to make the picture large on the screen. A white guy with eyes dark and cold like ice, his handsome chiseled face half hiding under the black hoody he was wearing took up half of the screen. Dark Shadow, aged thirty-six, has been with the agency for ten years rank Alpha, the weapon of choice Arrow. Fast, blends in with the shadows his kills never see him coming, has over hundreds of targets to his name. 

Everyone in the room watched the dark broody killer pondering if he should be chosen for this hunt. 

" An alpha, interesting, " Percy speaks up with a glint in his eyes as it focused intensely on the screen. 

Everyone turned in his direction with interest waiting to see if he will pick the killer. 

" If we are going to include an alpha in this hunt then we better pick others who will offer him a challenge we wouldn't want him winning so easy and it will be something of fun for our Patrons watching all over the world. "

Assassin hunt is broadcasted live in a private chat room strictly for invites. The clandestine viewers make bets on each hunt for who they believe will be the winner of the hunt. 

The black guy minimized Dark Shadow and started to scroll through the images for Percy's scrutiny while others watched on with interest. 

" Stop! " Percy yelled out and the guy's hand froze on the image, as well as every other person in the room as their eyes focused on the image the black guy has his pointer on. 

" Not that, the one on its left, " Percy directed when he realized the guy's pointer was on the wrong image. The dark guy moved his pointer to the left and then zoomed in on the right image. 

The name Snipper was written under the guy with buzz-cut amber hair color, piercing green eyes, sharp cheekbones, strong square jaw, slightly wide neck covered in tattoos, and a pale skin complexion. He is twenty-eight years old

Sniper is a former military discharge cause of a knee injury turned gun for higher just to survive recruited by the agency two years ago. This is his second hunt. 

His weapon according to his name is a sniper, he is a sharpshooter known not to miss a target and can shoot as far as three thousand yards. 

" Pair him up with the alpha, " Percy instructed his excitement growing. He has always enjoyed the process of picking out the killers for each hunt, there was something phenomenal diving into individuals killers' personalities and picking out the ones that will give the most exhilarating show to his Patrons. 

Pick the black guy, Percy said to the guy by the screen stopping his movement again. 

The assassin in question was a very dark man with skin like coffee, and eyes that matches his skin with piercing cheeks bones, and hollow cheeks, his stare intense and deadly. His nickname 'Blade' thirty-six, been with the agency for eight years, has a rank of gamma with six hunts, and slices through his victims before they could see his blade coming, he is fast and calculating. 

The next Assassin picked was called Lighting a young very beautiful curvaceous woman with fiery beach blonde tresses floating down her back, parted at the center with pale liquid blue eyes that looked to have sparkles in them with a dark rim surrounding them, her eyes are her most distinct quality. 

She was stunning and captured the eyes of the men in the room as they gazed at her with lust in their eyes. 

" Who is she? " Percy asked into the room having never seen the gorgeous woman ever before. 

" A recruit sir, this will be her first hunt, " the dark guy answered clearing his throat off the huskiness brought on by his strong reaction to the looks of the woman on the screen. 

" Mmmm, she looks feisty, I am going to have to keep an eye on her, that is if she can survive this hunt, " Percy spoke out loud while his stern grey eyes eyed the woman's features clinically. 

The last guy to be selected was a big guy built like a hunk, with ripped muscles and a face like Batista. He goes by the name Blockbuster, thirty-eight years old, wields a very large ax also a delta. 

" So we have our assassin picked and ready to be notified. Signal the chat room, " Percy orders.

Another guy in the room opened up the laptop in front of him and began to click furiously on it while the others waited. He focused intensely on his task for about five minutes before he looked up in the direction of Percy. " Done sir. "

Few seconds following his words few cellphones all over the city beeped with a particular message alert, the owners with an exaggerated eagerness and thrilled expression logged into the chat room and were welcomed by a robotic female voice before their screen lit up with information concerning the hunt. 

They were able to see the price target, the assassin selected, their ranks, and their qualities. 

Beside the screen was a button to click for your bet. Each viewer quickly clicked on the bet button and was lead to a page where they will pick their killer. 

About twenty viewers were watching, fifteen of them picked Dark Shadow cause he was an alpha, three of them went for Sniper because of his tenacity in the last hunt, and the remaining two, a blonde-haired woman, an heiress to one of the largest oil company in the city clicked on Blade and the other man, a young dark man in his twenties, owner of one of the best fashion design company stared at Lightning with interest, the fire he saw in her eyes sparked something in him but he was a bit reluctant to click, and then on second thought he made an impulsive decision and picked her.

The viewers are ready. 

Percy's laptop was open in front of him while the other guys in the room had their eyes on a single laptop. " Set the first fight between Sniper and Dark Shadow but put a five-minute delay on Dark Shadow alert to make things more interesting "

The guy directly in front of the laptop keyed in Percy's instructions and hit the sent button. 

On the screen of all the viewers, a small skit video played about the start of the hunt with the image of the two assassins selected dancing on the screen. 

**********

Sniper parked his beat-up pickup truck by the window side of the small cafe with a serving window facing the road, and then turned down the loud rock music that was blasting through his speaker. 

" What can I get you? " Called out a gruff voice before, the owner, a scruffy looking man with a wrinkled face and a smooth bald head made an appearance. 

" A medium-sized Cappuccino expresso with soy milk. "

" Be right back, " the owner says and disappeared back into the store. 

Snipper turned up his music and relaxed back in his seat with his elbow resting on the window while his long fingers with clean-cut nails tapped on the steering wheels. 

" Here is your order, sir, " the owner came back after five minutes. 

Snipper reached out to take the coffee when something vibrated in his pocket. He reached out to his back pocket and pulled out high-tech phone issues by Corporation to its killers. 

The sight of the red blinking light signaling the initiation of a hunt caused his heart to leap off his chest and the coffee he was reaching for to crash to the ground. 

" Fuck, " he cursed starting his truck and then reversed harshly out of the shop ignoring the so many curses rendered by people he nearly ran down in his bid to live quickly. 

His blood pumped in excitement as he sped down the direction of his house. He knew he has few seconds before his tracker goes online revealing his location to whoever he was paired up with. 

The microchipped camera attached to the necklace around his neck came on broadcasting his movements to the viewers. 

Snipper took the stairs three at a time just as he burst through his room, his phone beeped again alerting him that his opponent tracker is on now. 

He went into his room to his bed where he lifted the foam to reveal another compartment which he imputed a code to open up. He took out the long black suitcase that has his weapon and rushed out of his apartment. He entered his car and clicked on his opponent. 

He swallowed nervously when he realized he was facing off an alpha. His hand on the steering tightened as he drove off towards his location. 

He parked his car in front of a tall building on the other side of the street directly across from the building his target was in. 

With his weapon in hand, he came down from his car took quick access to the building, handpicked off the floor that will give him a maximum clear view of the target as he walks out of the building. 

The building he chose was a residential building. When he got to the right door he knocked thrice, his knock hard and impatient. 

A frail feminine voice yelled that she was coming. He took out the silencer in his pocket and held it ready. As soon as the door unlatched he pointed the gun at the old lady. Her eyes bulged out in fright at the sight of the gun. 

" Shush, " Snipper said gesturing with his finger to his lips and lead the old woman back to her apartment. He tied up the woman before going to the window to set up his equipment. 

The agency has a policy on not drawing attention to their existence and so every assassin must make sure that the body count is kept to a minimum and will not be traced back to the agency. 

He set up his Barret. 50 Cal and with the bullet loaded and ready. He took a peep through the long-range scope and waited with a silent breath, a steady hand, and focused intensity. 

He saw his target push the revolving door and walk out into the street. His eyes narrowed with a heightened intensity as he tried to pick off his target. He followed him with his pointer to make sure that his pointer was on his chest and then he took his shot.