I pocket my phone and walk towards the waiting car.
***
The plane is waiting. I board, and soon we are in the air. My mind stays on my girl.
The problem is not that I left. The problem is that I know I can’t go back to her.
At least not yet.
I grit my teeth and take another sip of vodka.
The flight lasts a few hours, and then we land.
Russia.
Fucking Russia.
My home.
Supposedly.
The moment I step outside, my skin starts itching.
I hate it.
The cold settles deep in my bones. Russia in winter is no joke.
This country never really lets you go. You can flee, burn passports, change names, but it never fully leaves you.
I have been back for minutes and already I can’t wait to leave.
A car is waiting for me on the tarmac, its engine idling.
No driver. Exactly as it should be. I am here for a job, and I don’t need anyone around to fuck it up.
Once inside, I open the compartment and find what I need, a Makarov and one of my Ferrum Syndicate masks.
I don’t need to cover my face, not really. The people I am after never get the chance to speak, let alone breathe my name to anyone else. Still, fear works better when it doesn’t know what is coming.
The drive through the city is quiet. With the time difference, the sun is beginning to rise, while snow gathers along the sides of the road.
By the time I reach the gates of my target’s house, my pulse is even. I am calm, focused, exactly where I need to be.
The security is laughable. Two men, poorly placed and barely alert. I am past them before either realises they have stopped breathing, leaving no noise behind… no disruption at all.
Inside, the house is warm, the lights low, the air still. During the flight, I studied his file closely and learned that he works nights and sleeps through most of the morning. I move through the rooms without hurry.
I leave the bedroom for last.
He wakes with my blade pressed to his throat, his eyes flying open as he manages a single word.
“Ferrum…”
I push the blade in deeper, cutting off anything else he might have said, until the only sounds left are his coughing and the wet spill of blood.
I finish it with a few bullets for good measure, and the room falls back into silence.
I return to the car and set the timer before pulling away. Once I have put enough distance between us, I press the button without looking back.
