Vlad was dressed in his usual outfit of black denim jeans,? black silkshirt and sunglasses even though it was 12:00 am, well after dark. He hadone thought on his mind, make the meeting on time.
As he walked, herecalled the circumstances leading up to his midnight stroll. He had beencontacted in the usual way. When he woke up that morning, he had seen ayellow chalk mark across the road on an adjacent building. It would seemsomeone had need of his specialized services.
He certainly hoped so becausemoney was tight at the moment. The yellow mark meant that he had apotential customer and should meet him/her in Central Park at 2:00 am. Hewas already moving two hours early. . .
always get to the meeting first. Always be sure the area is safe. Always be sure its a customer you’remeeting and not the police. He made his way towards the meeting place,stopping only twice. Once, to kick a stray cat he saw walking in front ofhim. Once, to grab a bottle of Jack Daniel’s from the hands of a wino,take a few swallows and throw the bottle away.
He finished his initialsearch of Central Park and found nothing unusual. he completed his secondsearch of the area, again finding nothing out of the ordinary. Now thewaiting began. Vlad was experienced in waiting, one had to be in thisprofession. exactly a black car rolls into the park. Punctual, Vladthought, a good sign.
Vlad watched as two men emerged from the front seat. Both men had large bulges under their arms. High caliber handguns Vladthought, very nice, very efficient, very professional. The two man walkedto the side of the car, one surveying the area, the other slowly opened therear passenger door. A tall man in an expensive suit, Brooks Brothers, ifVlad wasn’t mistaken, and Vlad rarely was. The man appeared calm as hebegan his wait.
At 2:15 Vlad emerged from his hiding place to “greet” hisvisitors. No one heard him approach. When he appeared the two men reachedfor their weapons, Vlad was faster. By the time the two men’s hands werejust reaching into their jackets, Vlad had already drawn, and was aiminghis own revolver at them. Laughing, Vlad said “come on boys, no need forthose”. Addressing the man in the well dressed suit, he said, “why don’tyou ask your friends to take a walk? The well dressed man smiled, waved hishand, dismissing his bodyguards and said, “they said you were the best”!Vlad replied “that’s what I’m paid for”.
“Ah yes speaking of being paid”,the man reached into his pocket for something, Vlad could barely restrainhimself from blowing the man away, but he thought that would be bad forbusiness. The well dressed man’s hand emerged from his jacket holding a fat,white, unmarked envelope. He tossed the envelope. Vlad caught it deftlyin one hand, still keeping his gun trained on the man in front of him. Vladopened the envelope and saw two large bundles of hundred dollar bills. Also included, was a scrap of paper with a name scribbled on it.
The manwas watching Vlad intently, as Vlad seemed to ponder something. After afew seconds pause, Vlad said “I accept”. Upon hearing these two words thewell dressed man re?entered his car, waited for his bodyguards to rejoinhim and left. Vlad returned to his building, waited for the elevator andwent up to his apartment. Now that he had landed a job he had preparationsto begin.
After unlocking his door, he replacing the thin piece of hair hekept on the door to know if the door had been disturbed, he went to hisbedroom. Vlad looked at his watch, six hours until show time. He pried aloose floor board up from under his bed, revealing a battered lookingbriefcase. Vlad took hold of the briefcase, lifted it out of the floor andreplaced the board. After opening the case, he methodically checked andcleaned the contents.
Once he was satisfied that all was in order, herepacked the case. Next, he went to his closet. He decided on a veryordinary looking black blazer, matching pants, and of course, his trademarksunglasses. Vlad smiled as the old adage “All dressed up and nowhere togo” flashed through his mind. “Oh well”, he exclaimed “no where to go”, butonly for the next five hours.
Vlad then fell asleep. Precisely two hourslater, Vlad awakened, tidied himself up, washed his face, dressed and lefthis apartment. Three hours to go. Vlad hailed a cab and asked to bedropped at the UN building. Upon his arrival, he found a rooftop fromwhich he could see the front lawn of the building, yet couldn’t be seenhimself.
Vlad re?opened his briefcase and assembled its contents. Aftersitting this way for about three hours ( it seemed like more, but timemoves slowly even for a professional of his caliber ) he spotted his quarryapproaching. Five minutes later a car glided up to the driveway in frontof the building. A man Vlad recognized from the news, emerged from thecar. Vlad took aim. .
. . . .
. . BANG!!! A loud explosion, a burst of red on awhite shirt, silence, then a flurry of action. People scattered about aseveryone at the scene reacted to the death of the Soviet Ambassador. Theworld would be plunged into chaos by this act of terrorism.
Vlad surveyedthe scene, smiled, left his sunglasses upon the ledge and carved one morenotch on the stalk of his sniper rifle. Vlad then returned home to enjoyhis new found wealth.
