Chapter 1
Something was off.
The night was crisp and clear, no fog. Cold enough to prevent strolling. The targets were laughably insecure, and stationary on the sofa. Had been for hours.
It was an easy first job for trainees, the kind of job he'd have completed when he was ten, but... he’d been sent instead. That meant something was off.
It was too easy. It smelled like a setup.
A sudden crack sounded, like a child's firecracker. It lacked the directionality of small arms fire. He swiveled, and rested the crosshairs on a Gandalf lookalike, casually walking up the middle of the road.
He hadn't approached. He hadn't exited a vehicle. He was just there in the middle of the road.
Gandalf pulled something from a pocket, and the streetlight nearest to him dimmed and went out. Then the next.
Whatever he was doing, it was both impossible and extremely useful.
Then a woman was next to him, she too hadn't approached or arrived, she was simply there, but without the sound. She looked younger than the old man, but not by much. Their faces said early eighties, but their postures and gaits said forties.
Something was definitely off.
A motorcycle then - an old two-stroke with a clogged carb. The sound of it preceded the thing drifting down out of the night sky to start rolling against the road, where it rolled to a stop next to the two octogenarians. Andre the giant's bigger, hairier brother handed something to Gandalf. Small package, looked like a picnic basket. Gandalf left the package on the steps, then turned to talk to the other two. Didn't ring the doorbell, didn't knock. Just left it like a milk delivery.
Gandalf and the woman walked up the street the way Gandalf had come, and the street lights turned back on as he passed. When the last one was re-lit, he and the woman vanished - simply ceased to be, as he watched them. Crosshairs over Gandalf's ear one second, painting empty air the next.
He began to see why the contract was handed to him.
Hairy the giant hopped back on the bike and took off again, rode toward the cul de sac at the end of the lane and up over the houses and trees, then angled north and gradually faded into the distance.
He turned his attention back to the targets, and he breathed in and out quickly, then stopped breathing as he aimed. Three quick squeezes. The woman first, then the child, then the man. The incendiary rounds penetrated all three and lit both the sofa and the floor behind.
He packed up the rifle, descended to the ground, and walked the hundred yards to the picnic basket delivery. Package secured, he stowed it in the trunk before driving away. A faint orange glow became noticeable in the rearview from the sitting room window of number four. He would be long gone by the time the fire service was even called.
They would be far too late.
He approached cautiously when he returned to the hotel room. His security measures were still in place, and the door hadn't been opened. The room hadn't exploded, so the windows hadn't been opened either.
He entered after disarming the door, and set the package on the bed before he instigated contact with Base. He had never retrieved a toddler before, and he was forced to wonder if the contract had been sent by Recruiting.
The designated code warbled from the portable phone, so he answered. "Contract completed." He said.
"Excellent." came the usual female voice. "The designated remuneration has been deposited. Due to your success a subsequent contract has been delivered to the front desk. There is no need to contact Base for this contract, we will be notified when you sign."
The line went dead, and he hung up.
The clerk at the desk was a chubby man who smelled of cold meat pie and stale cigarette smoke. He was more interested in the small cubic television behind the counter than anything else, and handed him the envelope with barely a glance in his direction.
He waited until he returned to the room and was secure again before he scanned the envelope, then felt the whole of it with his fingers. There were no lumps, no soft spots, and the scan indicated no chemical agents.
The envelope was empty aside from the new contract. The whole thing had to have been set up by Recruiting.
The contract was to train the Package.
Upon finishing reading the contract, his first instinct was to tear it in half and leave immediately. What stopped him was the bottom line.
One million, up front, per annum . Ten million upon completion.
Further, the contract stipulated that specific skills and general knowledge base could be subcontracted, but it was the 'special' instructor the contract mandated that caught his attention - designated 001.
There had been whispers during his own training of a completely separate Division, but nothing that anyone would even repeat. Those same whispers became dangerous when they circulated through the organization, as demonstrated by subsequent rumors of sources of rumors being eliminated. He had stopped paying attention to them long ago, but apparently they were not without some validity.
If he took a regular contract every month for ten years he couldn't hope to earn what the contract in front of him offered. In the end, that was what made the decision for him.
He signed the contract with his designation, and it flashed blue and disappeared.
It didn't burn up, it didn't dissolve or explode, it simply vanished.
After a moment, a note appeared on the table in front of him, just the same way.
Initial resources deposited . It read. Then it vanished.
He left the sleeping child in the basket and went to the grocery store to make sure he had nutrition for it. When he returned, he sat down to make an itemized list of secure locations and training materials and tasks.
That done, he placed his sidearms on the sofa next to him and allowed his head to fall forward. He could already tell that nothing about this job would be easy.
He would need sleep.
Training Journal Nov 3 1981
0930: Subject responds poorly to commands, instead preferring to cry about 'mummy' and 'daddy'. After hours of methodical experimentation I have determined that subject responds positively to tickling, to being held, food, and giraffes. At 0830 it became necessary to secure a manual on diapers, the changing thereof, and proper skincare. The necessary materials were secured by 0900.
The amount of attention received from females of all ages increased tenfold during this excursion. The ramifications of this increase will need to be factored into further exposure.
1320: Subject will not consume pureed peas. Carrots were acceptable. Subject enjoys apples, oranges, bananas, and grains. I theorize this is due to naturally occurring sugars, but conclusions will have to wait.
1800: Subject seems to enjoy exercise, so this will be worked into the daily routine. As energy levels drop, subject becomes irritable and contrary.
2030: Subject expended a great deal of energy while tired and subsequently fell asleep while studying the locomotion of stuffed giraffes. While subject slept I secured general knowledge training materials. Apparently trainees of subject's age learn what the parts of the body are called. What colors are called. Basic numbers. Basic language. I am devising a training regimen based on these parameters. Once subject has mastered the basics, training will progress into more advanced and more physical knowledge.
Training Journal Nov 10 1981
1100: Subject lacks the fine motor control to pronounce complicated words, but subject's mind will absorb and retain knowledge even though he cannot accurately relay that knowledge. During basic shape recognition training this morning, subject accurately identified circle, square, triangle, glock, kalashnikov - though subject refers to it as 'kankov' - and ruger. As delineated by the training manuals I have read, subject's training introduces three new shapes every day in addition to reviewing the shapes from the three days prior. Sundays include shapes from everything he's learned thus far. This pattern holds true for sounds as well. This morning subject correctly identified a cow, a pig, a chicken, kankov, M16, and TNT - pronounced 'teenti'. Furthermore, subject is able to respond in French as well as English. If subject continues to learn at the present rate, I will include more languages.
Training Journal Dec 4 1981
0630: The child training manuals were for the most part correct. Subject responds much better to training being made to resemble a 'game', and better still when there are rewards for learning correctly. Subject shows no limits to the amount of information he can assimilate during training, provided his attention can be focused. Subject has begun to learn in Russian and Portuguese, and can correctly identify most small arms and light assault weapons by their shape.
1445: Training continued while subject was taken on a walk through the park. He correctly identified the sky, grass, birds, and sniper vantage points.
1500: I have been forced to concede that subject needs a designation for interaction with others. I have designated him 80.
Training Journal March 8 1982
0900: Subject seems to be handling transition well. We are on a 727 headed for Switzerland, and so far subject seems unperturbed. In the interests of maintaining a global perspective and minimal presence, I have worked out a schedule of movement every six months. After Switzerland will be Chile, the training center has already been secured there.
1030: Subject was thrilled by takeoff and the knowledge that the entire plane is now travelling almost as fast as a .22 rimfire round. I will update training to include muzzle velocities, as well as German and Italian. Perhaps basic economics as well, subject has shown excellent capacity with numbers and basic mathematics.
1730: It's still cold enough to start on survival training, so we'll go hunting in the morning.
Training Journal June 16 1983
1300: Subject does not have enough mass to fire a rifle yet, though he can field strip and clean one, and handles each with ingrained safety protocol. 80 did fairly well skinning a puma. For his first time, I'm not dissatisfied with the effort. Subject has all the required knowledge, including anatomy and tanning procedures, but there is no substitute for experience.
2100: The addition of Mandarin, Arabic, Hindi, and Swahili have been seamlessly integrated into subject's training. 80 seems to enjoy learning new things, though he is still not habitually using his perception to the fullest. We will work more on that when we are secure in Mozambique.
Training Journal Feb 29 1984
0800: Subject is responding well to combined training methods. This morning's physical training included urban assault training while 80 recited protocols in all ten languages. As a result I will add Latin, Spanish and Bengali.
1230: Subject made an excellent point during lunch. I have written a schedule of remuneration for kills made. 80 has earned ten dollars for this morning's cobra kill. Remuneration decreases for firearm use.
1645: 80 pointed out that there is no remuneration offered for killing people. Subject was instructed that money for killing people came from contracts. If there is no contract for the kill, there is no remuneration. We do not kill a person without a contract for the kill. 80 was confused by this until it was explained that animals had no police or governments to come looking for a killer. He is beginning to understand risk, and why our tactics discussions are necessary.
Training Journal July 31 1985
0900: Secure location in Laohuzhen breached this morning... but there was nothing I could have done to stop it, and it turned out to be a benefit to the subject. Logic dictates we move immediately to prevent it happening again, but that would have no effect.
During training this morning a tear, hole, cut? opened in the information room. Space seemed to bend around a vertical slit that darkened and widened for one second. A man stepped out of it and shrugged off twelve slugs from my .45s. He immobilized me with a gesture, though 80 managed to pierce the intruder's thigh with his combat knife while he was distracted by me.
The intruder smiled when this happened, and removed the knife. The wound sealed as I watched.
The intruder then explained that he was the client. He was more than pleased with the work I'd done with 80, and increased the per annum by half. He introduced himself as 001, and explained that the time had come for 80's specialized training to begin. He and 80 stepped into the spatial distortion and then out again five minutes later. 001 thanked me for 80's training and implored me to continue as we were. He said he would show up wherever we were every Monday at 0700 for the five minute session as had just happened.
001 then stepped back into the spatial distortion. The spatial distortion then closed and I could find no evidence of it either physically, electrically, or radiometrically.
From speaking with 80 after he returned from the five minute training session, it appears that on the other side of the spatial distortion he had spent an entire month training with 001.
What this means for 80's progress is yet uncertain. 001 would not answer a single question regarding what he had done or how. He had apparently sworn 80 to secrecy regarding his 'extracurricular' training as well, and truthfully I'm not entirely sure I want to know. All I can do is fulfill the contract as I have been.
Only two thousand, two hundred forty-four days left.