5

On a busy European street, the killer moves through a crowd with confidence and agility. He is energized by a recent meeting with his unseen employer and believes the encounter went well.

The killer recalls that fifteen days earlier, a caller using the name Janus contacted him. Janus claimed they shared an enemy and represented a legendary brotherhood thought to have vanished. When the killer doubted him, Janus described an act of treachery meant to prove the brotherhood’s continued power; the next day, global newspaper headlines confirmed the claim and made the killer believe.

Now convinced that the brotherhood endures, the killer believes it will reveal its power tonight. He has already completed his assigned murder and delivered the requested item to Janus, leaving Janus responsible for placing it somewhere important. The killer wonders how Janus can accomplish such a difficult task, but assumes the brotherhood has extraordinary inside connections.

As the killer walks, he reflects on his heritage and sees his work as a continuation of an ancient war against an enemy who once invaded, violated, and defiled his people. He traces his ancestry to the Hassassin, a feared order of drug-using executioners whose name evolved into the modern word assassin.