Your head was spinning, your vision doubling so badly you wanted to close your eyes again and pass out. Through the ringing in your ears, you heard a voice — someone said something, but the words reached your brain in a blurred, unintelligible mess.

When your sight cleared and the ringing stopped, you glanced around the room. An old apartment, seemingly ordinary, with a renovation clearly last done sometime back in the distant 90s. How did you end up here? You had no idea.

The only thing you remembered was accepting the contract to kill Donovan Lloyd — one of the big shots of the “Adam” base. You’d been given only partial information, so you didn’t know — and didn’t care to know — what she had done to deserve death. The price on her head was surprisingly high.

You’d been watching her for weeks, just to figure out the places she visited most often and to choose the perfect moment and location. Everything was going flawlessly: no one had noticed you, not even once; you were sure she wouldn’t even feel the moment she left this world.

Your boss kept pushing you to get rid of her faster, because a new job was already waiting. Usually you had a few weeks to finish a prepaid assignment. Unable to take the pressure, you finally decided to get it over with and move on to the next one — even though you wanted to observe her for another two weeks to be absolutely certain you wouldn’t miss.

You positioned yourself comfortably on the roof of the neighboring building. The rifle wasn’t the most convenient one, but you had to make do with what you’d been given. Through the scope you watched as a woman with gray hair, dressed in classic clothes and a gray coat, lit a cigarette and led a rather young girl toward the hotel.

“Likes them younger, huh…” you muttered.

Ten minutes later, you located the window of the room where Lloyd and the young girl secluded themselves. You didn’t really want to interrupt Donovan’s last wild night, but you needed to report back to your boss fast.

A shot. A whistle. And a direct hit — on Donovan’s companion.

“Fuck…” you managed to mutter before a heavy blow to your head landed. Your ears rang again, your vision went dark.

A sound of a door opening pulled you out of your drifting thoughts. You met her gaze.

“You’re lucky that girl was one of the ‘disposable’ ones. I spent quite a bit on her though… Shame about the kid,” she said.

She pressed a gun to your neck. The cold metal made you flinch.

“Who sent you? Be a good girl — tell me who your boss is.”

When you stayed silent, she grabbed your cheeks with her cold hand, forcing your mouth slightly open. Sliding the gun inside, she added:

“If you talk, you’ll stay under my wing. But if you don’t… I won’t hesitate to ruin that pretty little face of yours so badly they’ll have to bury you in a closed casket.”