"PLEASE, GOD NO!"

"Sir, please stop moving. Nine millimeter is expensive these days and you're making me use more than I need."

"W- What do you want?! Cash? I have cash. Tons of cash.  You can have it all if you don't kill me."

"What I want, you couldn't ever give me"

With that, I unsheathe my knife and pull him up by his collar. I slide the blade in, making sure to hit the brain stem as fast as I can, to end his suffering quickly. When the squirming stops, I lay his corpse on the ground and cloak, before skulking my way out of the building. I pass bewildered bodyguards, one by one, and leave. I dial up my comms to the right frequency to speak with Elena's captor, and am greeted with the same distorted voice. 

"He's dead."

"Yes, he is. And messier than usual."

"He had reinforced windows. Even my rifle wouldn't have penetrated."

"How could you tell?"

"Cut the shit. When are you giving Elena back?"

"When I feel like it. Now, your next targe-"

"No. I want to see her. Hear from her. And I want insurance."

I switch to the preset secure channel with Kev, while the voice is probably still rambling.

"You got it?"

"Yes, wrap up the conversation and we can plan how we're doing this."

"Alright."

I switch back. "Hello? Hello? Are you still there, my assassin friend?"

"I prefer hitman. And no, I think we cut out."

"Ugh, well, His name is Mirok Sticlach And he's on Typhon, on an archaeological research site. He shouldn't be hard to get to."

"The insurance."

"I'll send you a video in which I Elena must do something unique to prove that she's still alive. You will determine what this is."

"Fair enough. When am I getting her back?"

"When. I. Feel. Like. It."

"Not good enough."

"Very well, I'll send you a finger for every time you ask that question from now on."

"And for every time you threaten her, I'm removing something from your body once I find you. He will die."

"Yes, he will. As for the first claim, I'm not so sure."

I switch off the frequency and back to Kev.

"Okay, where is he?"

"It appears he's at... A comms relay on Harmony."

"Harmony, huh? Well, beautiful place to die."

"You don't care."

"I really don't."

I chuckle and end the transmission. Standing on a rock several miles outside Grear's compound, I decide to check my map and head to the nearest settlement. 

Getting here was hard enough, through the miles of foliage. No fauna on this planet, however. Only plants. Lots of plants. Beautiful place, with the sprawling green, red, blue leaves, but easy to get lost in. As I push my way through a thornbush, I begin thinking of what I'm gonna do once I find him. First, I think to myself, the fingers. As I finish the thought, I get a danger indicator on my HUD. 

"DANGER, TAKE COVER!" My suit's OS nearly screams at me. I oblige and throw myself to the ground, narrowly dodging what had to be a Kraber's .50cal round. I cloak and run. As I start the tracing subroutine to paint the shooter on my HUD's map, another round puts a hole in the tree I was passing. I dive to the ground. They must have painted me. Realizing the fact that I had the option only to fight or die, I grip my Pike and pull it over my shoulder. The tracing subroutine finishes, and the shooter's position is revealed nearly perfectly, plus or minus ten inches. I spin out from behind the tree, level my rifle, and pull the trigger. The sniper falls dead, and I breathe out a sigh of relief. Only then does it dawn on me that they were missing on purpose. The tranquilizer dart in my back drains its toxins into my system, and the world starts spinning. I fall unconscious before I hit the ground. 

"Finding me was a horrible idea, Jason."

"Whabayu- whenar whoisgob.." Gibberish. I can't even speak.

"The toxin was exotic. I didn't think it'd make you talk like a toddler, though."

As I come to my senses and form a sentence, I realize that we're in my own apartment. My TV still hanging loosely from the wall with four bulletholes neatly blasted into it, covers still on the floor from my morning gunfight. The thing that wasn't here when I last saw it, was the short man in the corner. He couldn't have been more than 5'3". Short, but stout. He could have lifted me and heaved all the way from Solace, no doubt. He's sitting on my kitchen's island, like some kind of heathen.

"Get off of my goddamn counter."

"And he speaks."

"Get off of it. Glasses, not asses."

He kindly ignores my request, and continues on speaking.

"Now, I must admit, your tracking was pretty good. It almost slipped by my proxy AND firewall. But it didn't. And here we are. The one who's been making threats tied to his own chair, and the one giving orders..." He stands and starts to walk toward me, "still giving orders."

"I'm tied up now, but if you had the balls..."

"My dear friend, we're not middle schoolers. Nobody cares who 'has the balls'. people want results." He's standing over me now, "Such as my employer. You get it, right? Killing for money? Doing worse than that, all in the name of cash?"

"I never kidnapped a teenager."

"You caused one to die. A sick one. Now, usually it'd just be a trip to the hostpital and she's fine, but you had chosen that day to end a life. The wrong life. She died sitting there waiting. A few more minutes and she'd have been fine, but these alien sicknesses are deadly. And so are you, Mr. Joker. For more than just your targets."

"Joker? How do you know my callsign?"

"Jason, you couldn't recognize the face and manners of someone you served with?"

The man walks briskly behind me, and slams something into my temple. I slip into darkness once more.