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Luke had to spend countless hours begging Niki to not come with him. If the circumstances were different he would have loved to take her with him to Paris, the city of romance, or whatever.

"Look Niki," said Luke, "I'm taking the Eurostar. You'd get claustrophobic."

"Just take a plane." Niki said this like Luke hadn't considered it. He wasn't an idiot, however, and had planned all this the night before.

"I've never taken the Eurostar before. It'll be a new experience for you." This, like most things Luke told Niki, was a lie. He had not only taken the Eurostar countless times, he also hated it with every square inch of his body. He was even more claustrophobic than Niki and paranoid. Just the idea of going in a train that was hundreds of metres below sea level gave him shivers.

"Ugh. Fine," said Niki, disappointed, "but I will be waiting for you when you get back."

"Fine by me." Luke was relieved. He could kill this Mayor of Avignon in peace.

The trip to Paris was fortunately not a long one. The Eurostar was fast enough that Luke didn't notice the cramped space. Actually, he did, but was good enough at not showing it. He just sat and played Sudoku on his phone for the two hour long journey. When he got there, he prepared for what was going to unfold in a day. He called Daniel. Fortunately, Daniel hadn't changed out his phone yet so he didn't have to wait for Daniel to call him.

"Hey Daniel," said Luke when Daniel eventually picked up the phone.

"You in Paris?" replied Daniel monotonously.

"Yeah. Where should I meet you?"

"The Hotel Sofitel Paris Arc De Triomphe. I've booked a two bedroom suite."

"I'll be there as quick as I can."

Luke took around an hour to get to the Hotel as he had decided to walk there. When he got there, Daniel was waiting in the lobby. Luke had forgotten about his brother for a good portion of a decade while he had been in University. He had black hair, green eyes and was tanned from his holiday in Portugal. Knowing Daniel it probably wasn't a holiday and instead a business trip, but Luke decided not to think about it.

"Hey, Luke," said Daniel when he saw him.

"Daniel! I've actually missed you."

Daniel leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"I've got the equipment in the room."

They walked up to their hotel room, which was incredibly luxurious. Each bedroom had an ensuite which was well decorated with bath salts and shampoos. Each king size bed had a silk duvet which was softer and smoother than satin. In one corner of one of the rooms was a Barrett M82, which Luke assumed was for him. Daniel gestured for him to sit down on the couch.

"Okay, Luke," said Daniel, "you're going to need to be prepared. Very well prepared."

"Okay. I need facts."

"Tomorrow at 8:30 a black Range Rover will pass through the Arc De Triomphe. The Mayor of Avignol will be in the passenger seat. The number plate is BG-494-NA. Some people I know were able to destroy the airbags in the car, so you should have an easier time. And finally, make it look like an accident. We don't want people looking too closely into it."

"I'll book a hotel near there."

"Good luck."

THE NEXT DAY

Luke had booked into a hotel only a hundred metres from the Arc De Triomphe. He was on the top floor. And Luke had to admit, the view was amazing. There were luscious green bushes surrounding the hotel and a beautiful, tree filled park further out. He looked at his watch. 8:29 AM. He should be here anytime now, thought Luke. 8:30 AM. Luke stopped the alarm on his phone and got into position. A black Range Rover with the number plate 'BG-494-NA' came into his line of sight. He had made the calculations required the night before. He decided to shoot the tire when they were about to go through the Arc De Triomphe, which would hopefully crash the car into the wall. If that didn't work, Luke would have to go down there, face hidden, and shoot them himself with a Glock. He really hoped that he didn't have to go down there and finish the job with people knowing that it was a murder. The car was five seconds away from being in position. 5. He tightened his grip on the trigger, sweat on his forehead from his nervousness. 4. He heard knocking on the door, presumably room service. Damnit, thought Luke, why the hell did I order room service? 3. The car inched towards the position where its members would die. Luke, at this point, was reconsidering pulling the trigger. Did he really want to enter this life? 2. His grip tightened ever more on the trigger and the sweating slowed down. He gained confidence and concentrated on the target. 1. The car was almost in position. It was just a few metres away. Luke begged the car to travel faster. 0. Luke pulled the trigger.

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