"Captain, we have a visual on the target. Your orders?"
"....."
"Captain! The target is right in front of us. What are your orders?"
There was no reply, not a sound of hesitation or uncertainty. Just plain, blank silence over the comms.
"Lieutenant! What do we do?" A young man’s voice came from behind the formation. He lay flat on the top of a high-rise building near the mayor’s residence, his sniper rifle ready, eyes fixed in the scope, flanked by two other huge soldiers.
The Lieutenant clenched his jaw. He tapped his comms and lowered his gun. Once the call connected, he exhaled. "Commander, we can’t reach the captain. We need..."
"The Captain is dead. Move into the building and secure the mayor. If there’s a scratch on him, consider yourselves unemployed and dead."
Cashel, also known as Bishop, was the black market’s number one hitman. One of the most feared people ever to exist, second only to the Commander.
It was 11:10 PM, December 24th. Two hours after he had been given a mission with the sum of...
How much was it again?
"Three hundred billion dollars," he muttered under his breath, releasing a puff of smoke into the air. He glanced at the half-used cigarette between his fingers and tossed it carelessly to the ground.
Then he returned his gaze to the top of the high-rise building facing the one where he stood and small smile appeared on his face.
The Military Special Mission Unit (SMU), the team sent to capture the infamous Bishop, were positioned up there.
It was almost ironic how they stayed on the roof waiting patiently for orders when he was right in front of them. That delay was all Cashel needed to finish his mission without hassle.
A soft chuckle escaped his lips at the thought. Then he turned around and glanced at the living area. On the floor lay a suited man, hands tied, blood dripping from his forehead.
"The Captain should be dead now," he said. He crossed the room in a few strides. Once he reached the man, he crouched to his level and smiled. "Isn’t this fun, Mister Mayor?"
There was no reply, the middle-aged man just glared at Cashel, showing his anger and resentment without fear.
Assuming he wasn’t going to say anything, Cashel rose and turned to walk away. That was when the mayor finally spoke.
"Does this look like a joke to you, young man?"
Cashel paused in his footsteps.
"You are barely three decades old and you have more lives on your hands than your own age," the man laughed softly. His voice was oddly stable for someone with a bomb tied to his throat. "I... I know you’re the kid involved in that incident nineteen years ago. Why don’t you stop this and let us talk? I’m the mayor, I..."
11:39 PM
"Lin Shenzhen, Stacy, and Maria." Cashel suddenly said, interrupting him. He turned around, the smile on his face was replaced with an exhausted yet blank expression. "Twenty-nine-year-old male, the SMU’s former commander and step-brother to the current one, his wife and his five-year-old daughter."
The mayor’s eyes widened briefly. His face went pale as the realization of what Cashel was talking about dawned on him.
Cashel tilted his head, a bitter smile appearing on his face. "My best friend was murdered the night he decided to resign from the SMU and the military, the same night your people and Eclipse found out Bishop was one of their soldiers...."
" ....He had nothing to do with any of this, you know. When he was brought before the court, he was proved not guilty." Cashel stated, reaching into his pocket to take out his phone. "He was set free that day, and then my information was spread across the world. As a result, I became a terrorist. So tell me, why did you have your people kill him and his family?"
"I have no idea what you’re talking about, young man. What does this have to do with..."
"You had Stacy kidnapped and beaten to death because she refused your advances, all in the name of helping her with her husband," Cashel’s bitter smile faded, his eyes darkening further. "Lin crawled to my apartment bleeding, saying he was attacked on his way back from dropping off Maria. He died right in front of my porch and when I went to pick the kid up, I found out she had been kidnapped as well and killed a while later."
The mayor was already sweating buckets. He was on the verge of wetting himself and could barely say a word.
Cashel, on the other hand, was barely holding it together.
It wasn’t new for someone in his line of work to lose those around them, but the fact that it was someone who didn’t even know the full truth and had still tried to protect him cut deep.
He had already left the hitman life after his last job. After receiving the payment he had been waiting for, he retired and planned to move east with Lin and his family for a new life, but they killed him. And he hated himself because he couldn’t help but feel responsible for their deaths as well.
11:45 PM
Now, after receiving this final offer the day Lin died, he had no choice but to take it up.
Lin’s father, a retired soldier, had called him and asked Bishop to avenge his son and his family. He had even offered his life savings.
Cashel let out a deep exhale, he reached into his pocket, took out a small remote, and dialed a number on his phone. He connected it to the speakers in the room just as the sound of footsteps reached the door.
He quietly turned to face the door and raised his hands in the air.
Bam! Crash!
The door burst open, the entire main attack team of the SMU rushed in through the windows, the door, and the roof.
Red dots suddenly appeared all over Cashel’s body and soldiers yelled overlapping orders to keep their distance and secure the victim.
Once they pulled the mayor to his feet and untied him, the man looked at Cashel and shook his head, a confident and arrogant look appearing on his pale face.
"You should have just turned a blind eye, kid. Now look at the consequences of your actions."
Cashel’s expression didn’t change, he simply shrugged.
"I don’t regret anything though." He glanced toward the door as a man clad in white from head to toe, with a gun across his chest, entered. "Commander Long Yuan. Good to see you again."
The man ignored him. He glanced briefly at the mayor, confirming he was safe, then raised his gun and pointed it at Cashel, who stood completely unbothered.
Cashel chuckled. "It seems you people don’t value friendship, huh."
11:50 PM
"Cashel Altar, you are under arrest for the murders of multiple individuals, extortion, kidnapping, torture, and infiltrating the special forces with devious intentions." The commander stated without batting an eye or acknowledging what he had said. That is, until his gaze moved to the phone in Cashel’s hand and the caller ID.
His face paled almost instantly. Even the other soldiers froze.
"F... Father..." he stuttered. The sound on the other end was a man sobbing uncontrollably.
"General....." He trailed off and snapped his head toward Cashel. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"Mister Lin Fanxin, I have completed my mission, sir." Cashel said with a sincere smile. He turned to the camera in the corner of the living room and bowed. "I avenged your son, daughter-in-law, and your grandchild, sir."
"...Cashel, my boy," the poor old man’s broken voice came from the other end. "I’m sorry for putting you through this."
"What are you saying, sir?" He laughed. "I’m only doing my job, and this is for my best friend after all." He glanced down at the red dots on his chest and smiled again. "It is a shame though that I won’t be able to spend Christmas with you, sir."
11:56 PM
"Don’t worry about that."
Cashel grinned. The sound of a helicopter followed in the background. He said one last thing to the old man over the noise. Once the man hummed in affirmation, Cashel disconnected the call and pressed the remote in his hands just as the commander regained his senses and charged at him.
12:00 PM
It was too late.
Bang!
Cashel pressed the remote and fired a single bullet into his own temple as the charges detonated. A thunderous explosion consumed the penthouse, at once from the first to the last floor.
The mayor, the commander, the entire main SMU team, and Cashel were vaporized in flames at exactly midnight on Christmas Eve