Gasping for air, Jake leaned against the metal railing of a small bridge.

Ahh…I shouldn’t have gone drinking…

His whole body ached from the hangover, but the worst was that some point after that strange guy left, his memory had stopped functioning until he awoke today in the comforts of his home.

Jake had no idea how he managed to make it all the way there, it was nothing short of a miracle.

His phone suddenly vibrated for a moment, announcing a new massage.

Of course, the message he received was from Zack, who had sent him the information and time of operation for the evening, just like agreed.

Just like every other time, they were going to wait until it was dark to strike, not only could they utilize the cover of the night to veil their movements, Jake was also considerably stronger during the night.

He looked around his surroundings, it was a cloudy day, not many people could be seen walking outside in such a weather. The dark clouds looming high in the skies were threatening to drown the city with their rain.

Better get going.

Although it was till quite some time before the operation began, Jake put his headphones back on and already started walking home. On one hand, he would like to avoid getting caught by the rain without any protection, and on the other, he wanted to be in top form to make up for his slaking performance last week.

He started his music again and jogged home.

***

Click

Putting the old metal key onto his wardrobe, Jake made his way towards his computer located in his bedroom.

In contrast to the old apartment, the machine was a top of the line device. Since he preferred the mobility, Jake long had opted for an ultra light Laptop instead of a heavy desktop computer, he never really needed that much power anyways.

Opening Zack’s massage, Jake read through the details before opening a new document and noting down things.

Because he was very forgetful, he always liked to have a list of the important information on his watch, although it wasn’t really much this time around.

The impression Jake had gotten from Zack was only ever cemented when he read through the details concerning the Iron Wolfes.

Aside from the Irregular gang leader, there wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy of the group. They consisted of a few dozen permanent members and around a hundred or so people running errands for them.

They were like the other hundreds of small-time gangs that infested the city, annoying but harmless cockroaches.

Probably the most interesting part about them was the fact, that they had decided to set up their base completely underground.

Looking at the two marked exits on the map Zack had provided him with, Jake couldn’t help but chuckle. To think they would be dumb enough to trap themselves for him, before he even arrived.

Because of this, the plan this time was really simple. It consisted of him entering through the south entrance, while Zack’s man blocked the other one and made sure nobody sneaked past him.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

And when the people inside were trapped like sitting ducks, all Jake had to do was go through their stronghold and butcher them one at a time, and occasionally massage his backup when he found a kidnapped person, so they could rescue them later.

While it would have been more convenient to get rid of all indiscriminately, Jake wasn’t that heartless, it also wouldn’t be too much of a help if the Silent Killer was only known as an indiscriminate murderer.

Something like this would surely shorten his list of potential employers and hurt Zack’s overall plans, whatever those may be.

After Jake finally finished with his digital preparation, he moved on to the physical.

Standing in front of one of the few bookshelves he possessed, Jake suddenly pulled out books in a seemingly random order until…

Creak…grind...

With a strained rattle, the bookshelf abruptly moved back and out of the way, revealing a hidden chamber.

It’s so cool.

Jake had never stopped admiring this feature of his apartment. To be fair, it wasn’t really a feature of the apartment, but more something he had asked Zack to implement.

It had taken quite a bit of effort and time to get the mechanism up and running, not only did they have to buy the apartment next to his, they also had to modify the floor and walls without his neighbours getting suspicious.

While it wasn’t illegal to buy two apartments and connect the two using a secret mechanism, the point of a secret mechanism was that nobody should know about it, and to be looking really cool, Jake thought.

The room on the other side, while dark, was surprisingly clean. Because nobody but him entered here, and he refrained from opening the windows, there wasn’t really any chance for dirt and dust to accumulate.

Positioned in the center of the room was his uniform of sorts.

It only consisted of three parts, first a piece of black, skintight bullet resisting trousers. The second piece was a shirt with long sleeves made with the same attributes as the first one, the only difference was that it covered his hands as well, so he didn’t have to wear gloves all the time.

Lastly, sitting on the head of a faceless white mannequin, was an obsidian black mask. Small purple specks were sprinkled unevenly across the surface, giving one the illusion of looking at a starry night sky. Two slits served as openings for his eyes.

A few other things adorned the walls of the otherwise empty room. They were mostly different kinds of blades, some small and some large. Since he no longer needed such weapons, Jake had hung them there as memories.

The last item in the chamber was an inconspicuously looking smartwatch, and in fact it was just a normal, high grade model.

What wasn’t normal was the content, inside were maps and plans of his last operations, a stable contact number to Zack and other spicy people, as well as videos and photos of his successful operations, he had sent his clients as proof of success. For short, these were all things that would get I’m arrested asap if the police ever found the device.

Jake finished putting on his clothes and grabbed a backpack where he put the mask.

It would be utterly stupid of him to put it on and walk out of his front door, he would just be inviting the police to raid his home. So, Jake stored the mask until he arrived at his destination from which the operation would begin.

Jake left the room, and carefully pressed a button on the wall to close the entrance behind him.

He downloaded his list onto the watch and checked everything one last time to be sure he didn’t forget anything. Taking a deep breath, he locked the apartment behind him and started walking.

***

It didn’t took Jake too long to arrive at his destination, the route was actually were similarly to the one he took to school.

Walking along the sparely lit streets of a rundown residency area, he tried to find a good spot to put on his mask.

After some time Jake finally spotted a slim dark corridor between two buildings lacking any kind of cameras. Since he didn’t see any people for the better half of the last hour, he just pulled out the mask and put it on without carefully checking his soundings.

Stepping out of the dimly lit space was a figure that felt vastly different to the one who just disappeared into the darkness. The masked individual exuded a sharp, chilling aura that permeated his surroundings.

Pulling up the hood of his jacket, the figure started running along the streets.

***

After some more time, Jake finally saw a black van in the distance.

Looking at the non-existing number plate, he knew that he was at the right place.

Knock..Knock……..Knock………Knock

He knocked at the back of the car to declare his identity.

Silently, the right side door slid open, revealing the innards of the vehicle. On one wall were an array of screens and monitors, only one of them really interested Jake, because…

“Ah, hello my friend.”

…it was displaying Zack’s friendly face.

“Hm…”

Not bothered by the lack of a reply, Zack continued in an enthusiastic voice:

“We have just completed the last checks and are ready to begin. This guy,” he pointed on the one operating the array of screens, “ will make sure that we don’t have any problems with cameras or other devices.” The figure nodded at Jake, but because he wore black clothes that were meant to cover his identity, just like the ones he wore, he could only make out his rough body shape.

“Those ones,” Zack pointed to the back of the car where around six people, dressed in the same identical black attire,“ will do all the other things, like catching the deserters, so you can just focus on the plan.”

Suddenly the camera zoomed into his face, looking Jake straight in the eyes, he asked:

“Are you ready?”

“…Yea…”

And with this singular reply, the operation commenced.