This is the speech that Martin, representant of Thelevia Corp, always told his clients when he tried to sell them their best agent, nicknamed Agent Blink. The clients had no question to ask, only an answer : yes or no. They didn't need to know who Agent Blink was. They didn't need to understand what Thelevia Corp really was, or what was their main activity. Those clients only cared about getting a job done. And more often than not, the job was done if the contract was accepted.
Thelevia Corp was a mysterious company that no short story could pretend to explain in full detail, in fact they aren't important at all for today. But among all their activities, they employed a lot of assassins. However, they preferred to refer to them as agents, or sometimes as spies. To not create toxic competition, those agents were just a handful at a time, and mostly assigned to different tasks or different kinds of targets. Agent Blink was a specialist in silent intrusions. All agents came with their own rumors and legends. What people said about Agent Blink, is that their victims had only time to blink once between the moment they noticed the intruder and the moment of their death.
In a crummy apartment located in a residential area of a big city, a woman, soon approaching her 30s, wakes up in her bed with a terrible headache. As she's about to get up, she notices a guy she doesn't remember meeting, also sleeping in her bed. She decides it's probably for the best to let it go for now. She gets up to grab some clothes, her phone and sat down in her kitchen waiting for the coffee to be ready. She checks out for any messages that could have come up during the time she was asleep.
"Amazing pizza alert ! Don't miss those deals, today 2pm at your local place !"
Only one text, with this message. As she promptly deletes it, she notices it's already past 11 am. After she finishes her cup of coffee, she goes back in her bedroom and notice that the man in her bed is still asleep. She goes in her kitchen again, grabs a glass of water only to throw it on the guy's face, who suddenly wakes up panicked.
"I'm going to need you to get the fuck out of my place in five minutes." she told him.
"What's the hurry, babe ? You told me you didn't have work today !" he replied, awkwardly wiping the water splashed on his face.
The woman wasn't amused and simply stood there, staring angrily in his eyes. "Alright, fine. You're weird" the guy said, quickly giving up. He put his clothes on, then looked back with a smile.
"See you soon, Ashley !"
"Wait, how do you know my name ?"
"That's what's written in my phone."
"Urgh. Just go away, please."
The moment the man got out of her apartment, Ashley went to her closet, opened it, then checked at the bottom. She was relieved to see that her stuff had not been touched overnight. She opened a hidden part of the closet and examined its contents to see if anything was missing. Black suit, night vision goggles, gun and bullets, and many more 'accessories'.
Following the seemingly nonsensical text message, Ashley went to what was called "her local place". It was the rooftop of another residential building in a nearby area. She was early, so she sat and waited, watching her phone often. 2:10pm, still no one. She was angry, but also anxious. What's going on ?
Suddenly, a person shows up. It was a guy called Alex. Slightly younger than Ashley, wearing a cap, and most notably, missing his right arm. He waved with his remaining one, with a slight smile but with the clear look of someone not proud of himself.
"You're late, asshole." said Ashley, not even looking at him.
"Sorry, I'm new to this kind of business."
Ashley eventually closed her phone and looked at Alex, who came to sit next to her.
"'Pizza alert' ? Really ?"
"Like I said, I'm still a beginner. Don't judge me too hard, Ash." replied Alex, which made them both have a hearty chuckle.
"How long have you been in Intel now ?"
"Barely two weeks now. It's a whole new world, you know ?"
Ashley looked at Alex's missing arm, feeling some kind of sadness and a bit of guilt.
"Do you regret it sometimes ?"
"Regret what ?"
"Not being able to… kill people."
Alex, who was acting pretty laidback, all of a sudden started showing a more serious face. Clearly, this question gave him some internal trouble.
"I'm just glad the organization kept me alive. I thought I would be your next target once they amputated my arm and dropped my main gig."
Ashley didn't know how to follow up on that statement.
"Well, they could always get Diana or Wilfried to kill you instead."
Alex laughed. Ashley's humor bit managed to cheer him up, and she was happy about it. But eventually, she had to ask for the real reason of their meeting.
"So, what about the new contract ?"
"Oh, yeah. You've got two, actually."
"Two cases at once ?"
"Well, yes and no. Those are two different contracts, but the two targets live at the same place."
"What do you mean, they live in the same place. Very close business partners ?"
"They are a couple. You have a contract and both the guy and the girl."
Ashley knew for a fact that this was an unprecented contract for her to take, and probably for her fellow 'agents' as well. She didn't really care about killing two people at the same place, but she was intrigued about the reasons why this contract was placed.
"You should probably check out the pay for this one." said Alex as he handed her the details.
"Oh yeah, I see that. I'll take it then."
"Haha, you never change. What do you ever do with all this money ?"
"Not your business, Alex."
Ashley took her pen out and put her signature on the contract. She got up, handed back the document to Alex and started to leave the rooftop. Alex did the same, and caught up with Ashley as she was exiting.
"Say, Ashley. When we were together, did you… um, fall for Alex or for Agent Hawk ?" he asked, a bit shyly.
"Alex, please. You know we should both forget about this time."
"Oh, right, yeah. I'm sorry. Let's never talk about it again."
After a while, they arrived at the bottom of the building, and prepared to go their own way. Just before parting, Ashley told him :
"I definitely fell for Alex, but I don't think I can forgive Agent Hawk for giving up his place as the best assassin I've ever known."
Alex was noticeably depressed after hearing that, and took a bit more time than Ashley to walk away from the building.
The next day, Ashley spent a lot of time preparing her attack, as she always did. She studied the place, the necessary tools to bring, and most of all, her targets. She had to commit the perfect crime every single time. The man was apparently unemployed and lived through the money of his wife, who was the second target. She was a very intelligent and prolific researcher in Bioinformatics in a nearby research lab. Ashley thought they were a very weird couple, but judgement wasn't part of her job. She got ready by taking her equipment and dressing up in her black suit, turning into Agent Blink.
Agent Blink's plan was quite simple. The previous day, after parting with Alex, she took care of setting up cameras to monitor the couple. She also tricked the door with a device that didn't allow it to close completely after the next time it was opened. Both of these methods were simply 'the usual' for Agent Blink, it was almost a classic.
For hours, she sat there on a nearby rooftop and waited, monitoring her targets' activity. However, she never saw the man. The whole time she watched, his wife spent the evening alone, watching television then reading. Agent Blink didn't want to think that she had to abort the mission because of this, as she took her time carefully to prepare. After a while, the woman went to bed and even turned off the light. Agent Blink had to reconsider her options. Taking out the woman before the man even gets home was very risky. She had to be sure that both were dead within a short span of time, or else someone other than her husband could be the first to discover her body. She had to eliminate all possibilities of failure.
After barely an hour had passed, someone came into the house. Agent Blink made sure that her cameras could see in the dark, but the person who came in the house was barely recognizable due to the somewhat low quality. All she could make of what she saw was that the person who entered was definitely a man, but she wasn't sure he was the target. Immediately, the newcomer went into a bedroom and got into the bed next to the woman. Okay, she was now pretty sure that the guy was her target. It seemed like the couple were discussing something when he arrived, but she could not hear it. Anyway, it was finally time to act. Agent Blink checked out the time. It was past 1am. The realization of how late it was gave her the urge to yawn, but she had to fight it to stay focused. She got up from the rooftop, and her real job finally started.
As usual, Agent Blink infiltrated the house without a sound. Everything was almost pitch black, but she had her night vision goggles ready. She also knew how the house was laid out thanks to the cameras, placed at many different angles. Slowly but surely, she managed to sneak up in the bathroom without making a sound. The couple was completely asleep and didn't even notice Agent Blink entering the room. Standing up over their bed, she could see both of their faces, sleeping, not worrying about anything. But when she looked at the man, she realized something. The man in the bed was the man who woke up in Ashley's bed the previous day. For a moment, she was extremely anxious. She feared that everything was a setup to get her. Quickly, she pulled out her monitoring device and looked at the entrance… but there was no one coming. And the man didn't even make a single move, he was just lying there, with his guard completely open, almost welcoming the swift death about to fall on him. Was this just a big coincidence ?
It was time for her to accomplish her task. She had to kill the man first, but not with a gun, to not wake up the woman. She pulled out her knife, immediately covered the man's face with a pillow she found on the couch in the living room, and drove the knife straight to the man's heart. The man's body was starting to shake and struggle, in a kind of grotesque way, but it was barely audible, and over very quickly. Just as the first half of her task was completed, Agent Blink heard something that almost startled her.
"Thank you…"
It was a woman's voice. Agent Blink immediately drew her gun and pointed at the woman lying in bed. The woman turned on the lights, then looked at her. For the first time in her career, Agent Blink completely failed to her reputation : her target was right there, looking at her… and still alive. But she was too intrigued to let this go. What did she mean by 'Thank you' ?
"Who are you really ?" she asked her target.
"I was too weak to kill him myself… I should have done that long ago when he got abusive with me, but I couldn't… and part of me still loved him… thank you for putting him out… " the woman managed to say, but half of it was almost inaudible due to how her voice was strained due to her sobbing.
"You were the one to put the contract on your husband and… yourself ?"
"I am sorry. If you let me live, I will feel guilt for the rest of my life and will probably end my days at some point… please, let's not delay the inevitable. Please, just kill me… Right now, please kill me…"
Agent Blink was at a loss for words. The woman in bed was the first target to beg for death, but ironically, this time, she didn't want to shoot. But her surprise didn't end there.
"Your hair… You are Ashley, right ?"
"Who told you that ?" replied Ashley.
"He told me… he told me everything about the other women he was sleeping with. Since we got together, he abused me, he humiliated me, and he enjoyed it… But I was too blind to see how much of a monster he was, and I just accepted it. My life is meaningless. Please just kill me, now."
Ashley didn't know what to say. For a moment there, she wasn't Agent Blink. She was Ashley. One of the women that her target's husband cheated her on. Indirectly, she was the fuel to the woman's miserable life. She wanted her to live. To fight through it, and live a life inspiring to everyone. Maybe she could be a symbol to all abused women in the world. Maybe she could also find a massive breakthrough in her research. But her life was going to end right now. Agent Blink's employers wanted it. The contract stated it. She begged for it. Agent Blink's gun was ready for it. Ashley didn't want to do it. But she did. When the woman's blood splatted all over the bed, Ashley was thanked by a smile coming from her victim. But also, tears. The tears, however, didn't come only from her victim's eyes.
The next day, she asked Alex to come to 'the usual place' so she could exchange her report for the paycheck. As expected, Alex was late, but he had what she was looking for. It was, indeed, a good sum of money. This time, however, she didn't want to spend it all for herself. She was considering charity, for once.
Alex asked about how her mission went. She hesitated for a moment, then looked at her phone, trying her best to feign indiferrence.
"Oh, you know… the usual."
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