Eric withdrew his Glock from his hip holster,  darting over to the front entrance of the safe house. He froze in place, seeing the door ajar, his expression hardened as he pushed open the door, seeing, his handler Holiday laying dead on the ground. His eyes darted back and forth, searching for anything out of the ordinary or any flicker of movement. He caught a glimpse of something shiny: the reflection, sniper scope. He gripped the pistol in both of his hands, walking over to Holiday. His instincts were on high alert now.

His training through decades of fieldwork;   had taught him not to miss anything and Question everything. His eyes narrowed onto a piece of paper on the table, He ran over to the table and snatched the paper. He froze when he read the two names on it.

"HeadShot Damon's on their hit list the Ledger"

Emlin peered through her scope as she fingered the trigger, the rifle recoiled with a scent of gunpowder. The bullet rushed out of the muzzle as it flew out shattering the glass. Eric swiftly tucked the paper into his pocket, bolting over to the couch to take cover as he ducked behind it. He didn't like this at all. 

The one thing he knew for sure about his handler was that he was always cautious and careful. He knew how effective and efficient this assassin organization was, after all, he was one who had tracked them down. This couldn't be a coincidence that he was sure of. It had to be a set-up or ambush plus Holiday knew  better.

He thought about all the names in the ledger. Someone in the government wanted Damon dead, but why he knew nothing about HeadShot? Unless, of the one name in the ledger was behind the organization and found out about him and put on their hit list. They had been waiting for him to come, which meant that this had been orchestrated to lure him here.

His burner buzzed inside his jacket pocket; he reached into his pocket and pulled it out. Seeing that it was an unknown, encrypted number, knowing  only certain people had this number and one of them was dead now. If he was going to find out why Damon was on HeadShot hit list, the best way was to see who was on the other end of the line.

Emlin swiftly moved her crosshair of her scope, zeroing on Eric where he was standing inside the safe house, before she spoke.

"Eric,  Your rusty you never enter a safe house if the door ajar, you should know that by now."

He immediately recognized the European accent. It was the voice of the assassin he had tried to stop in Malta from assassinating Leslie de Vallette. 

"I want to know why Damon's on your organization hitlist for? And what do you want with the ledger," Eric inquired.

"I can't answer that, you know because it's a need to know and I don't need to know. And the ledger is power that's all I can tell you."

"You're  telling me you don't know why someone in the government wants him dead. He's knows nothing about Headshot and the ledger, you never get it, I can promise you that."

"I have a back-up team of shooters in place just awaiting my orders to shoot and they don't miss Eric," she stated.

Eric dropped the burner and crushed it with the bottom of his shoe. He sprinted out of the front door of the safe house, as the operators hustled towards him, opening fire. He raised his pistol and shot of the men in the head. 

Gunfire starts a round chipped asphalt behind him, and then  his leg blew to the side, the ricochet caughting his heel. The force of the bullet spun him around, dumping him onto his white Porsche Coupe. He accessed his legs,making sure there was no damage, the bullet hadn't hit his leg. Slowly getting back on his feet, gripping his Glock in his hand, he aimed his pistol at the operator and double tapped him in the back of the head.

Three more men rushed towards him with MP5 submachine guns clutched in their grip and fired off some single shots at him.

Eric dashed over to Holiday's Hummer to take cover behind as he dived behind it. Bullets riddled the Hummer with holes as glass shattered. Eric bolted from behind the bullet riddled Hummer and lunged at the operator. He slammed the butt of MP5 into the skull, knocking him out cold.

If this was all about the ledger that he and Damon had grabbed from Dragunov's office in Russia. Dragunov was just a Russian Oligarch where HeadShot was assassin organization. There has been always a reason for everything, and coincidences meant trouble. He slipped his pistol back into his hip holster, getting down on his knees to search through the operator. 

He rummaged through the pocket, finding no id on just a burner and some ammo inside. Yes, there were a lot of powerful names of people high in the government. There had to be more than just the ledger, and there always was.

The rifle's tripod detached in seconds, she jumped to her feet. Placing Batista back in the Hardigg case and dashed down the staircase behind the building. Strolling over to the Dodge Ram she had rented earlier today. She tossed the rifle case into the back of the truck. Grabbing the door handle, she climbed in and closed the door behind her.

She flashed onto a memory: Her standing, kneeling, prone, firing on targets from seven to three hundred yards. She learned to breach, to scale barbed-wire fences, to rappel from trees, fences, and walls. She sped down the road  on her way to the safe house, her encrypted burner vibrated inside her pocket in her jacket. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out.

She clicked the accept button and the answered. " Medusa"

The voice on the other end said in an authoritative threatening tone. "We need the ledger Medusa, May I remind you what's at risk here. The President of United States will be meeting  with the Russian President to sign a historic treaty."

"I'm handling it don't worry, we'll get the ledger I have a plan. And yes, I'm aware of our target Damon won't be a problem for us," Emlin stated.

Eric scanned area around him taking in everything, he couldn't be too careful now. Raw anger shot through him. His expression hardened. Damon's life was at risk now his best friend. They had been through a lot he knew what had to do. He was tense at the thought of it, but it had to be done.

He remembered a saying that Damon had once told him, when he had left the CIA.

"If you're going to win the fight you have to make the stand the truth can be weapon."

It wasn't like Emlin to have a back-up shooter team in place; he knew that for sure. What he didn't understand why is she had killed Holiday for  unless he knew something, why Damon had been targeted by the Headshot? He could not rule out the possibility that Emlin was testing him for something big? But what it could be?

Fifteen minutes later, the Dodge Ram came to a halt outside the safe house as Emlin stepped out, slamming the door behind her. She drew her Desert Eagle Mark XIX 50 caliber pistol, aimed at him.       

"Eric, we want to hire you for a wet job that requires your skills," Emlin asked in a serious tone, her finger rested on the trigger as her eyes narrowed on him.

"Tell me Emlin, why should I do this job for you?"

"Because if you don't I'll have one of our of assassins kill Damon and he won't either know it Eric." Emlin stated.

Eric dropped the burner; as his hands tightened into his fist, darted straight at her as he delivered a kidney punch that sends her flying, knocking her out cold. The gun flew out of her hand. She regained her balance, jumping back to her feet, reaching for her Gerber Mark II blade from her shealth.

She holds her  dagger by the end of the hilt, making sure her arm makes a perfect 45-degree angle before she whip it forward and the let blade fly. Eric pivots, bolting away as it stabs his arm, feeling the sting of the blade. It lands dead center before him.

"You and I are both cutouts fully expandable trained for solo offline covert operations. But's one there thing different: The organization I work for would never abandon me if the hit goes wrong there's always two of us, you. Where the CIA would throw you to the wolves, Eric," Emlin tells him.

"Yes, I'm a cutout man, but when I'm dispatched by my government to kill, it's only foreign agents and terrorist that are a threat to our national security. I came close, so to tracking down the assassin organization you work for and trying to identify who was behind it," Eric exclaims.

Emlin darts over and snatches up her 50 caliber pistol trains on him, her eyes are locked on him. "Eric, you're so naïve always wanting to protect the innocent, never thinking of the bigger picture. You will never know who is behind HeadShot I can tell you that," Emlin remarks in a cold and brutal tone.

She swings her pistol over to the operator laying on the ground, and fires a round into his head, slipping her pistol back into her tactical mini- wig. Walking back over to the truck she turned and sized him up.

Eric reaches for his pistol holstered in his hip holster and aims at the window of the truck. Without hesitation, he pulls the trigger and fires as bullet rushes out smashing the window of the Dodge Ram. Emlin grabs the door, climbing in closing the door behind her. "I would keep the burner if I where you I have a feeling that you're going need it and do that job that we want you to," she yells out the window.

"Who's your target," Eric inquires, trying to figure out what Headshot and Emlin are really up to.

"The President of the United States," Emlin states in an authoritative tone.

Throughout the years he had done whatever it took to secure the national security of his country, but assassinating the President of the United States that had never crossed his mind at all. Yes, he was naïve, but that was kept on the straight and narrow path all this time.

"I'll be your back-up in case you fail and miss the President. But I wouldn't miss I where you Damon's life at risk here and trust you know what happens if you do," Emlin said as she sped down the winding road.

He remembered the first commandant: Assume nothing

If we do this, there no turning back," Eric said, walking over to his Porsche Coupe as he thought about Holiday and Damon.

He sped down the winding road into Washington,DC following, closing behind her as they pulled up to a hotel and parked. They climbed out as she grabbed the other pelican case and handed it to him. They dashed  up the emergency stairs onto the roof where their sniper perch.

Limousines drove up along the street to the white house, Eric was already on his knees finishing assembling AR-30 Bolt action sniper rifle as he peered the scope.