It was a stormy night when Darius came. Rain fell in torrents and lightning lit up the city. It was unfortunate, Jack thought, he had hoped to avoid that particular cliché. Still, one can’t get hung up on such things, he thought. He had been standing outside on the edge of his building, the tallest tower in the city, enjoying the rain and watching traffic move slowly and regularly below, like the gears of a well-oiled machine. He was, in fact, nearly mesmerised; a bad mistake in his profession, it almost cost him his life before. Jack watched him enter the main lobby of his tower and he started counting. He looked directly ahead. Inside his head there was nothing but the steady increase of seconds. It would take him only sixty seconds to get to the top of the building. Ten seconds left. Nine…Eight…
One… He whipped around and flung a long, ornate dagger towards the elevator doors. The doors opened and the Darius’s eyes shot open. He dove backwards, hitting the far wall of the elevator while the knife buried itself exactly where his heart would have been. He hastily got to his feet and pressed the ‘hold’ button. He pulled the dagger out of the wall in which it had impaled itself and walked out into the rain, opening an umbrella Jack hadn’t previously noticed. This displeased him. He liked to know what his ‘guests’ had on them at all times and prided himself on knowing if they were hiding something even if they were a great distance away. How did he hide it so well?
Darius strolled over to Jack, his coat thrashing around in the wind behind him. He handed Jack his knife, “Hello to you too, old friend.”
Jack took the blade and holstered it, “You’re getting slow, Darius. There was a time when you could have caught that blade in your teeth. And please don’t call me friend. Maybe you don’t agree but, personally, I don’t believe burying a knife in someone’s back and leaving them for the demons is synonymous with friendship.”
Darius smirked, “Oh please, Jack. Don’t insult me. You and I both know you could have killed all of them with your eyes closed and your hands behind your back. I couldn’t let our client get suspicious now, could I?”
Jack gave him an evil look and turned away to face the city once more. “Nonetheless, I can’t help but suspect you’re not here for a bit of friendly catching up.”
Darius grinned, “Ever observant, aren’t we, Jack? Yes, to be blunt, I need you for a big job. You up for it? There’s a big cash payment for getting it done right; in the way only you can.”
Jack sighed, “Whatever. It’s not like I have a choice, is it? Why don’t we just cut the bull and admit I work for you. This isn’t a request; it’s an order.”
Darius stepped back and covered his mouth in mock surprise, “Why, Jack, you are a freelancer. Of course you don’t have to do this for me.”
“I gave up my freelancing days the minute I took that first mission from you and you know it. Where am I meeting you to discuss the job?”
“I knew you’d see it my way. Let’s say the Hunter Monument, at six?”
With that, and without waiting for an answer, Darius walked casually away, leaving Jack to ponder just what he’d been pulled into.
“Well,” he said, “it could be worse. He could have been coming to finish the job.”
He fondled the handle of the long, ornate dagger that Darius had plunged into him during their last meeting.
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