An Upgraded Soul

A man who was in his middle years drank some plain tea as he watched through a terrestrial telescope from time to time.

'Where did the kid go along with that gangster like guy today? It was the first time he had left the garage since he came?' the man thought as he sipped tea in a leisure way.

He was having the most relaxed days of his career at present. It was such an easy target, a schoolboy who was an orphan with no protection who had to work for his living. The man couldn't even fathom who would want such a kid to die though he did not mind.

He had been taken by his parent organization when he was a kid himself. His father had been murdered and his mother had been r.a.p.ed in front of him and killed. He was later taken and given the training to become a pawn for the organization. Given his exceptional talent, he was later promoted to elite ranks. The training he was subjected to had long erased any traces of humanity he possessed. He was made to **** his first love, kill his best friend, pillage his own subordinates, their families and villages. For him, to kill is just like breathing. He enjoys killing the girl who he had s.e.x with after the act. It gives him a kick from all the experience of being in control of a weaker life.

The only things which keep him going are s.e.x, drugs and the most important, killing. He had been addicted to seeing the splaying of blood for very long. He had successfully accomplished 24 tasks out of 30 missions which were very high in the rankings. His parent organization made up for their lack of high tech support and information network with brutality and savagery.

From the past decade, their parent organization had started starving because of the development of the military of their target countries which surrounded them. This forced them to accept assassination contracts which were widely different from their usual way. He had been deployed in south and south-east Asian countries during this period. He had mastered some useful assassination techniques from peers which helped him quickly adapt to this lifestyle. The main characteristic he possessed which enabled him to become a 'Prime' class assassin was his patience. He enjoyed watching and observing his prey's lifestyle for weeks, even months on end before making a move which sealed his prey's future.

He liked to take it slow. He had observed this kid who he had to kill for a full week even if he knew that this kid did not have any protection, from this one could know why he was so successful. Though this kid was an easy target, the request from his client was a little special which was not unknown before but a little uncommon. 'The target's death has to appear like it was a natural accident leaving no room for speculation of a preplanned homicide'.

So, he had to study the target's mannerisms for two full weeks before enacting his plan. He had observed that the kids seemed to have a problem with excessive sleeping so he would be frequently sent out of the class to wash his face with cool water. He took this water as his target and joined as a full-time electrician in the school. It was easy as the salary he demanded was very friendly.

He then proceeded to alter the electric circuits of the places which Aditya usually frequented and waited for the client to give the green light. He had used this method before so he was pretty confident. 0.1 to 0.2 Amp is already fatal to humans. He had set up a circuit with the capacity to pass 10 Amp in the instant of contact. It was a perfectly closed circuit which he had used some tricks to set up which was why the fish in the pond were not affected.

That day a relative of that kid came visiting and the 'go ahead' was given to him. As planned that kid approached the lake for splashing his face and got electrocuted as planned but the result was totally out of his expectations. The kid actually survived with minute injuries, it was not a fatal injury at all. When the school security guard called for the electrician to check if the pond was electrocuted, it was him who had come to check and of course, he would not give himself away. But when he checked the circuit, it was perfect and he was sure he would die the moment he touched the live wire. This puzzled him.

He was not true technical personnel to be aware of the problem accurately so he could only stop his trials and report back to the client which was the protocol to be followed. The orders were to be at standby and to not make a move, therefore, he had to wait.

He had watched the kid leave the school, go to a place which was probably his home, meet some people before started working in a garage. He had marked him many 'tracers' so he was not worried that the kid would escape his range. He did not have to follow the kid every time, that is a crude and outdated method which has many risks and disadvantages. Like today, he did not have to worry that the kid would escape, so he just waited in his room patiently till the kid came back. He looked at his mobile which had an unknown app running in it. He could see a blue dot on a map coming towards his current position. 'the kid is coming back' he smiled as he drank his tea.

From his experience, he could already deduce from his client's messages that this kid seems to be unaware of his 'true' identity. It was a classic 'prince living like a pauper' scenario. If some people want this kid to die, it could only mean that the 'king' has become old enough to retire or about to die so the minister wants to replace the king. That will only be possible when this prince dies.

As to why he did not think that the 'King' had already died, then, in that case, the client would have already told him to kill this kid with no restraints. There was no need to stage an 'accident' drama or drawback after failing once. Of course, it was his assumption, nothing of his theory was backed by any facts as the 'client' whereabouts were strictly confidential. He did not need to think deeply about this as his only duty was to kill this kid when the client has given the signal and to escape this country to enjoy for six months with the reward earned.

From his client's hesitation to kill this kid, he could speculate that the 'king' seems to also have this 'prince' in his sights but he is not taking this kid under his umbrella for some reasons. So, the client is treading carefully while the 'King' was paying attention. As he speculated his own theory, he saw that blue dot had reached the location which was opposite to the building he was staying in.

He grabbed the terrestrial telescope as he saw a kid getting off the same car in which he had left in the morning. It was already late in the evening so many people did not notice this kid as he lowered his head deliberately.

'why was this kid's face swollen? was he in a street fight? Who did he have a conflict with?' thoughts popped up in the middle-aged guy as he saw the kid limp his way back to his room without greeting his colleagues in the garage. He scratched a scar on his left arm which had a snake tattooed around it unconsciously as he figured out the possible reasons.

He saw the kid slowly and carefully walk in his room, he could see the kid grabbing a towel and standing in front of a mirror as he checked the swollen areas while touching them and wincing from time to time. He staggered into the bathroom.

The man waited patiently as he did always after some time the kids came with only his towel on. This time he could clearly see red bruises on his c.h.e.s.t, abdomen and back also. He could basically confirm that the kid had taken a good beating but he also knew that though these wounds looked glaring, they were superficial and he was sure they wouldn't affect his daily activities. The inflammation would disappear in a week for sure.

He saw the kid take up some book and start flipping the pages at a rapid pace. This was the one habit of this kid that he always found senseless. This kid would always turn the pages of a book at high speed as if he was doing important work. His expression was grave and serious when he did it as if there was an important purpose in doing so. It was almost as if he was studying, like it was possible.

The other thing he noticed was that he would always flip the pages of a new book, he did not touch a book which he had already gone through. The books on his shelf were rapidly increasing. As he had a high power telescope, he could also see the titles of those books. At first, the kid took books meant for children, as days passed by he took up other books with more higher information. These days, he saw that the kid was interested in programming languages like Python, JAVA etc.

When he was musing over these inconsequential thoughts, a pop up lit up his mobile screen which was like a bubble. The bubble was green in colour with two red stars glowing in it. The man's face lit up with joy as knew his vacation was about to start. The green light represented the 'go ahead' while the two stars represented a 'clean, long-range shot', 'seems like the 'King' has been successfully diverted', he laughed as he thought.

He got up and put on some travelling clothes as he had to escape immediately after the shot. He patiently removed all traces which might trace back to him form the room. His luggage was minuscule, to begin with, so it was quick before he whitewashed the room.

He removed a bag from a secret cabinet he built in the floor under the bed and unlocked it to expose some dark metal parts. He skillfully arranged them in a very experienced style while humming to some unfamiliar song. Slowly a sniper rifle was formed after assembling all the parts. He also took a suppressor and attached to the muzzle end of the rifle. This man who had hooded eyes, a round bald head with black hair sticking out in the sides, with a hawk nose and wheatish complexion who looked like a commoner from any angle suddenly had a cruel and sinister aura envelop him as he sneered and pointed the gun at the kid while checking the telescopic sights.

"The distance is around 80 meters, sorry kid, I want to say that it is pure business but that would be a lie as I will definitely enjoying blasting your brains out." the man sneered while l.i.c.k.i.n.g his lips as he proceeded to load the rifle with ammo. But just as he was about to do so,

"Are you usually so unaware of your surroundings?" a young female voice was heard.