A Shot At Love

New Mission

It was the next day, another day and night that has passed so it can give me another one to live. Another day where I didn't die but someone else has. More than one person has died, just like every day more than a thousand people day but of course, why would people even think about that? It doesn't involve them at all. The only time they only care is if someone they love is on death's door or if they themselves are. No one cares about car crashes or cancer or being homeless until they themselves have a taste of it. Humans are disgusting.

What caused me to think of this? The newspaper, that I lowered on the kitchen table after reading a few pages. The death of the man I killed was on the front page but so was someone else's death. A family who was involved in a car accident, their 12-year-old child took more damage than anyone else, dying a couple of hours later. My life has nothing but lies and death.

There was a yawn coming from the stairs. Immediately, I grabbed my Beretta M9, pointing it at that direction. I was going to shoot until it was shot out of my hand. There was another yawn "Do we have to go through this every morning?" Blair had bed head. His red hair messier than mine, still wearing his baggy pajama pants. It surprised me that he can keep that on but can't manage to keep a shirt on in the morning.

"It's not every morning. Only whenever you piss me off." He sat in front of me, taking the forgotten newspaper while putting his gun on the table.

"Like I said, every morning." He then took my cup of coffee. I was about to protest but the notification coming from my phone stopped me. I glared at him before checking who could be messaging me but I didn't miss that slight smile he was trying to hide behind my cup of coffee.

"We need to talk about yesterday's job." It was from my boss.

"Shit..."

"Let me guess, the big boss? Wonder if you'll finally get in trouble for the many times you broke the rules." He chuckled.

"If it is, I'll be able to get out of it. I always do."

He was stifling a laugh but he didn't really succeed at it. He just went into a full-blown laughing fit. "What are you going to do? Cry crocodile tears again or threaten to hack their computer one more time? You need some new material because those tricks won't work for long. For all you know, they might not work anymore so good luck to you."

"Sometimes I wish you were always serious only because that way I can bug you instead of the other way around."

"Hey, I'm being friendly. I wished you good luck, didn't I?" I groaned before I got up to get dressed and leave the house but I, of course, didn't leave the house without putting my mask on. It was a long drive, mainly because I kept delaying, driving around the city and even stopping to get some drive-thru food but when I finally arrived, I finished the food that was meant to be for my boss so they can go easy on me. That's what I get for leaving the house on an empty stomach.

Thoughts raced throughout my head when entering the hidden building to our agency but no excuse came to my head. Not even when I was in the elevator. The ding the elevator made was just an alarming sound to remind me that my time was up. I stepped out, ready to face anything that comes my way, not really ready to hear my boss invite me in before I could even get the chance to knock. When I opened the door, files were spread everywhere on the desk. Not an inch of the desk was to be seen.

My boss looked up. She smiled, "Guess who has a new job." It wasn't even a question, it was a statement. She was making it loud and clear that I had no choice but to take the mission. I looked into her green eyes, her blonde hair pulled back. She pushed her glasses back up so she can properly see me again. "If you guessed yourself than you're right. Here's your next target." She handed me a closed file which I mindlessly took out of her hands, still looking into her eyes.

"I'm.... I'm not in trouble for what I did yesterday?"

"You've been doing this for months now, [Name]. The agency and I expected you to do this again so arrangements have been made beforehand. That doesn't mean you're off the hook though."

"What?" I yelled out of shock. "What could you possibly mean by that? What are you even going to do?"

"Take a look at that file." I raised an eyebrow, skeptical of what I would see but if a target is my punishment than she isn't very good at picking out punishments. Inside the file was a list of crimes that a single person has done. Listing the number of bodies this person has killed, the number of times for breaking and entering, where the deaths have occurred throughout the country. The thing that caught me off guard though was that there was no picture of my target. "This is a case that has been handed down from agent to agent for years. Each one of them promising to catch this criminal have done nothing but only fail."

"How have they failed? Lack of patience?"

"Death. Only a few number of agents have survived this case. Some gave up because it was too much to handle, or driving them crazy, or even doubting their tracking skills and you know how important tracking skills are to us agents. As for the others, they either committed suicide or have been killed. Some of those agents are actually in the target's death count."

"And you think this case will put me back in line? Have you forgotten that I am the best tracker in the agency thanks to this?" I tapped my mask. "This will be easy." I looked at the file one more time. "Though a little hard since there is no last name to this. It's just..... BEN."