He glanced at his watch, which read four thirty in the afternoon, meaning the target was to meet him in the small café in approximately five minutes. He was seated outside at one of the street tables, allowing for a quick escape if need be. Children were kicking around a ball across the street, and some pigeons were hopping around, painting quite a pleasant picture if he didn’t know the danger of the situation he was currently in.

  The sun was just about to begin its descent behind him, which would force the target to squint when looking at him, which had been done on purpose to throw the target off. His team was waiting around the corner in an unidentifiable van, waiting for the predetermined signal. This was set to be a simple snatch and grab with him posing as a potential buyer of the high-profile arms dealer.

  The team had been tracking him for months in hopes of finally getting to the bottom of who his suppliers were to expose the whole circle. He heard loud talking behind him, which caused him to turn around. He saw a woman with her back to him speaking loudly on the phone in what seemed to be a dispute about the laziness of a boyfriend. He chuckled to himself, thinking about how trivial some lives were, but as he turned back around, the target took a seat at the table in front of him.

  Positively identifying him as the right man, he got up to sit at his table. He sat down and ordered a cup of coffee and an espresso for himself from the waiter standing nearby. This order would signal to him that he was his buyer, so they could proceed with their transaction.

  “What are you looking for. You said you're in the market for something big,” The supplier asked.

  He looked him up and down before answering, “I was told you could provide the biggest?”

  The waiter interrupted them and then placed their order in front of them.

  “Don’t fuck with me, I don’t have time for this. What exactly do you want? No games.”

  “My client is looking for something large-scale, something that can cause the most damage possible while being transportable,” he responded.

  At that moment, while he was speaking, the woman who was on the phone walked past, still on the phone, and bumped into their table, nearly causing his coffee to spill. She glanced back at him and murmured some apologies as she continued walking.

  The target took a sip of his coffee before responding, “I can get you that, but it would come at a high price.”

  At that, he made the predetermined signal to his team to say they have their man, and it was time for extraction, but before he could respond. The target started coughing, and he grabbed at his neck. Eyes bulging, he started to scratch at his neck, foam coming out of his mouth.

  He instantly saw the signs of poison and rushed to stick his fingers down the target's throat, but he was already too far gone.

  His mind racing at a thousand miles a minute, his mind went instantly to the waiter, but they were standing there in shock. As if he had taken a slap to the face, he looked up and saw her watching from across the street; she was no longer on the phone. She saw him spot her. She turned and ran down the opposite street.

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  He got up to begin the pursuit of the woman, pressing in his earpiece to relay to his team that the target was dead, and he was in pursuit of the killer. What was meant to be a simple snatch and grab had turned into a complete fuck up.

  “Is the killer armed at this time, Grey?” his communication piece relayed.

  “Unable to confirm,” Grey responded while sprinting down the street. He had seen the woman run down.

  Looking left and right at every alley he passed, he eventually spotted her climbing into a white sedan. Running to cut her off, she floored the accelerator, skidding off. As she did, Grey noticed a motorcyclist slowly coming up in the opposite direction she had taken off. Quickly thinking he kicked the slow-moving bike to throw the motorcyclist off and, without pausing, picked it up and sped off after the sedan.

  Hearing the shouts of outrage behind him, Grey ignored them and started to shift up in gears to close the gap between them. Swiftly moving left and right to avoid obstacles in the narrow road, he gained on the sedan. He started pulling level with the sedan and reached into his coat and pulled out his Smith and Wesson M&P and shot the passenger window of the sedan out.

  This caused the women to swerve hard right into a lamp pole on a street corner, bringing the sedan to a complete stop. Bringing the bike to a stop, he jumped off and approached the crashed car. As he neared the broken window, three shots rang out, coming from inside the car, forcing him to drop to the ground. Looking up again, Grey saw the woman running down a nearby alley on the driver’s side of the car. He immediately got up to continue the chase.

  In the distance, he could begin to hear sirens as police closed in on the crash and the sound of gunshots. Following on foot, he watched her run into a side door of a nearby building. He slowly opened the door with his pistol out in case she was waiting for him on the other side. After clearing the entrance, he could hear the ring of metal, and he looked up to see her running up the long staircase. He followed, slowly gaining on her. He heard the loud bang of a door, and when he reached it, he saw it was leading to the roof. This time, he rushed through, knowing she preferred to run rather than fight. Bursting through the door, he saw she was about fifty metres in front of him.

  A single shot rang out in her direction. She stopped immediately and slowly turned to face him. He had shot about a metre to her left.

  “Drop the fucking gun”, Grey shouted.

  She lowered the gun to the ground as he slowly advanced on her.

  “Now kick it towards me.”

  She looked at him with a slight smirk on her face and kicked the gun towards him. Approaching her, he finally noticed her for the first time. She was beautiful, truly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Long dark hair reaching to her waist. Eyes were a steel blue which seemed to pierce his soul. A beautiful face and full lips, she could’ve been on the front cover of a fashion magazine. She was nearly as tall as himself he noticed, and he stood at six feet. He was in a complete state of shock as he approached her.

  “Who are you?” he asked once he was within two metres of her. “

  You don’t know me”, she said in a light voice that sent shivers down his body.

  “Who do you work for?” he said in a stern tone that he couldn’t quite pull off in the moment.

  “It doesn’t matter who I work for now that my task is complete; I am dispensable.”

  Without even realising it, she had slowly started to close the gap between them, and he made a mental note not to allow her any further. Once again, he asked her.

  “I won’t ask again. Who are you?”

  She took one more step, completely closing the distance between them, and she softly said, “I am Angel.”

  As she whispered those words to him, he felt the icy tip of steel puncturing his side, and he gasped, dropping to his knees. He rolled onto his side, seeing her walk away.

  He saw her glance back at him, making eye-contact with him before he finally succumbed to the sharp pain in his side and fell unconscious.