The Value Of Murder

Prologue: Without Reward

Dimly lit, foul smelling and repulsive. Those are but a few words I could use to describe the feeling in the room. As I am sure you can imagine, being at a table and looking over the faces of the worlds most despicable men is hardly a tantalizing situation for anyone, but if it must be done, then so be it. I would expect some change of reaction after being in the room for a few moments, but of course they just stared at me as does all the others I have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with. Of course I should take into account that someone suddenly dropping down onto your table in any situation tends to cause a surprised or dumbfounded reaction.

"Wh-Who are you?!",

One of the men pulled back in his chair, his face changing from that of shock to what I can only describe as a hidden fear, after all, those who run the underground cannot be seen to be weak, especially when surrounded by others of a different faction. There were loud scratching and scraping noised as four of the other men pulled back and jumped up from their chairs after seeing the reaction of the first. Two of them including the first stood their, barely moving. The other three began to reach for what I assume is a hidden weapon. The sixth person in the room remained sitting, just watching the events unfold, not showing surprise or shock, a bemused look at most, but I would expect no different, he hired me.

"I said, who are you?!",

My head turned straight back to the first man causing him to take a step back and his words to waver as they ended.

"T-tell me! Now!",

The mans confidence seemed to return slightly upon seeing his fellow "lords" of the underworld look at him, I guess even in this situation, it was best to put up a front of confidence. In compliance to his words I raised my hand to my hood and pulled it down then reached around to my face to lower the wrapped material around my mouth so that he could see my face clearly. He began to murmur something as I shook my head in an attempt to return my hair to its usual unkempt look. I small grin appeared on my face.

"I must apologize... I didn't quite catch what you said, would you care to repeat it?",

I was feeling cocky, this was an easy job and I knew exactly how it would go. There was no complications to avoid. The room was somewhat secret and the men left their guards outside. It would be over before they suspected anything.

"I-I said-",

The first man paused mid sentence to clear his throat after realizing his voice was slightly shaky,

"I-"

"He said, who are you? Revealing your face does not tell us your name",

My head turned to the man who was not only the oldest here but also my employer. It had seemed he felt so comfortable that he was now resting his head on his arms while leaning in towards the table. I must admit, if it wasn't for my reward coming directly from him, then I would not have entertained his comment.

"My name? I am called Smith",

My employer looked slightly taken aback as he shifted in his seat. I purposely lied about my name, but being the one who hired me he knew that if he were to say anything then it would be clear what his intentions were towards the other five. As I said, I was feeling confident if not over confident in the current situation. There was a slight glint in the corner of my eye as one of the men shifted their stance. A second later their was a loud clap onto the stone ground as his foot slammed onto it and the man began to run towards me with a rather small knife.

"Don't you dare Fu-!",

I pushed all my weight onto my hand and twisted my body around, striking him in the face with my boot. The kick knocked him back, cutting off his vulgar choice of language and forcing him to drop the knife. The other two men took this moment to charge at me, one from either side, both wielding a similar weapon.

"Go to Hell!",
"Die you son of a bi-!",

One, two. I had shifted my weight forwards and kicked struck the table with the same foot as the I had used on the previous man, resulting in myself not only jumping off the table but also causing one of the one planks to break free from its holdings and strike the second of the two men, resulting in a rather blunt blow to the neck and chin as well as an audible crunching sound. The first of the two men spun and continued to run at me, lunging towards my chest.

A small stain of blood appeared under the leather of my gloves as I caught the knife mid strike between my index and middle finger. My grin faded upon feeling the knife cut me and I pulled him forward by the hand which held the knife and slammed my knee into his crotch, causing him to fall and find himself hanging in a rather pathetic manner by his hand which was still caught within mine from when I caught the knife. My second blow to him, this time the head, is what knocked him from my grasp and landed his head against the stone floor.

There were three men left, the first man, my employer and another who had just stood their with stone like stillness, slightly pale in the face. I reached down to the man I had just knocked to the ground and took his knife from him. Holding it be the blade, I spun and released it towards the first man resulting in his quick falling after the blade had found its way to his chest. All that remained was the last target then my job would be done.

"P-please, don't hurt-",

The man stammered back slightly until he found himself against the wall, his arms reaching out to his sides as he began to edge around the room to the door.

"M-me... I-I-I.... I will pay you! Anything!",

His facial expression suddenly burst into a fearful smile as he attempted to bargain with me. I wasn't interested and began to walk around the opposite end of the table to the door. The man stopped and crept the other way, reaching where I previously stood by the time I got to the first mans body and retrieved the knife. There was a gunshot. Blood sprayed across the wall as the man fell to his knees and struck the ground, landing partly atop of another. My employer grinned as he revealed his concealed weapon and holstered it beneath his clothing. This irritated me, there was no honor in that death nor in the kill.

"Why did you do that?",

My words came out quickly and with little emotion as I began to raise the material which covered the lower half of my face. Upon raising my hood he finally spoke.

"Tell me, what is the merit of a successful assassination",

His question surprised me.

"I don't know",

My answer was honest, as I never did dwell on the thought of a successful assassination, I only cared for the reward. I had spent too longer dwelling on the morals behind it in previous years and it was just easier to do a job without asking questions.

"I would say it is the ability to kill while remaining unsuspected",

My employers face grew a sly smirk as he rested his head back on his hand. I wasn't interesting in holding a conversation, I only wanted what was promised to me.

"Where is the reward?",

I was blunt and straight to the point.

"For what?",

The man's answer instantly ticked me off. I was not in the mood for some longwinded explanation of why I don't get a reward.

"For the job",

"You mean the one where I asked you to kill five m-",

My employer dropped to the floor as my knife pierced his skull. I am not interested in the words of a liar nor one who does not keep his word. In heinsight I shouldn't have believed him to start with, the way he described the job made it sound like any other man would have been killed before he finished with three of the men in the room allowing my employer to finish off the last of them. Pathetic.

I walked to his body and took what small amount of money I found on it, then did the same with the others in the room as well as retrieving each of the three knives and the gun alongside fifteen bullets, seven of which were loaded into the guns clip. It wasn't the reward I wanted, but it would do for now. Upon retrieving a box of matches from my pocket a lit several and threw them onto the bodies, leaving them to burn as I made my escape back through the way I came in.