She walked confidently toward the target. The crowd alighting from the train dispersing around her like burning silk. There he was, walking, head down, engrossed in his phone but instantly recognisable from the photos on his file.
He looked up for a moment as she jostled past him and entered the train he had left.
Damn, that hurt. He rubbed his arm, must have been her bag or something. He tried to catch sight of her in the train carriage but more people were pushing past now and it was impossible in the crowd. He turned back to the exit. He felt a little breathless. The faces of the crowd blurring, their babble subsiding into a dim echo. A thud. People looming over him mouthing words that he couldn't hear. He tried to claw at his neck. No breath. The circle of blue sky above turning dark.
She walked straight along the train carriage and exited at the next set of doors. She skirted round the crowd trying to resuscitate the man on the ground. Someone was shouting for an ambulance. She carried on past.
Out of the station into a waiting taxi. It pulled out into the traffic. Ten minutes later she got out at a residential address leaving a generous tip. The taxi drove off as she walked up the driveway. She paused, looking back at the receding taxi. Satisfied it was out of sight. she walked back out of the drive and walked along the quiet street she had just been driven down.
It was several hours later. She sat at a desk in a cramped office in front of an old desktop computer. She had just completed her T114 Suppression Order paperwork and sighed as her mail pinged aggressively. It was HR, apparently her travel expense form was missing authorisation from her line manager. 'For god's sake,' she muttered. It looked like she wouldn't get out of here till late. She looked up as someone squeezed in through the door.
'Oh. Hello David.'
'Hi Sharon, how did the T114 go today?'
'It was fine, any coverage?'
'Yeah, it's on the news alright, they think you are Chinese.'
She grimaced at the glossy black, bobbed wig strewn untidily on a chair next to her and ran a hand over the short sandy fuzz on her scalp.
'They see what they want to see don't they?'
'Yeah.' David sniffed. 'Boss man wants all your paperwork complete before you leave.' He winked and made a fast withdrawal as she threw a pencil at his receding back.
Facing the screen again she huffed, so many forms and checklists to complete. What ever happened to a good old fashioned assasination followed by cigars and a pat on the back?
She grunted and got on with the paperwork. If she was lucky she might get out whilst it was still light.
