Kairo Vale stared at the clock above the classroom door. 2:47 PM.
Thirteen minutes left on the math exam, and he'd finished it ten minutes ago. The ticking of the second hand was loud in his ears, like the click of a silencer being screwed onto a pistol. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, replaying the layout of tonight's target's estate in his head. One entrance, two guards at the gate, and a rooftop security system with thermal. Easy enough — if he didn't hesitate.
"Kairo," a soft voice whispered.
He opened his eyes. Alicia.
She leaned over her desk just slightly, brown curls falling to the side of her face. Her eyes were playful but alert — she hated breaking rules, but she hated not knowing things even more.
"You done?" she mouthed.
He gave a faint nod.
She rolled her eyes. Typical. Kairo was always done first.
The final bell rang, sharp and piercing. Students groaned, chairs scraped, and bags zipped. Kairo stood slowly, slipping his phone into his pocket and glancing at the message that had appeared mid-exam:
[UNKNOWN]: 00:30. One bullet. Black SUV. 91st & Halden.
He slipped the exam paper onto the teacher's desk without a word. His footsteps were silent — not out of habit, but instinct. He'd been trained to move like a shadow.
"Hey," Alicia called out as she caught up beside him in the hallway. "Are we still on for tonight? I was thinking maybe we could actually do something normal for once. You know, like a movie. Not disappearing at 9 PM again?"
Kairo hesitated.
She frowned. "Don't tell me it's another 'family thing.' That excuse is getting old."
He hated lying to her. But the truth — that he'd be scoping out a government snitch and putting a bullet through his skull by midnight — wasn't exactly first-date material.
"Just one last thing," he said. "After tonight, I promise… it'll get easier."
She folded her arms, studying him. "That's what you said last week."
"And the week before," he admitted. "But I mean it this time."
She sighed, then smiled — that same disarming smile that always made him wish he were just a normal guy. Not an assassin. Not a ghost in the crowd. Just Kairo.
"You'd better. I'm holding you to it," she said, nudging him playfully before turning down the hallway toward the theater club room. "See you at 10."
He nodded, watching her go.
If he timed it right, the hit would be clean. In and out. He could make it back in time.
But deep down, he knew better.
9:00 PM – Halden Street
The SUV was parked right where the message said it would be. Blacked out windows. Government plates. Kairo watched from a rooftop two buildings over, scope trained on the driver's side. Thermal picked up two figures — one in the front seat, the other in the back. Only one was the target.
"You have ten minutes," the voice in his earpiece crackled. It was Crowe, his handler. Cold. Precise. Always listening.
"Target confirmed," Kairo said. "Lined up."
"No witnesses. No survivors."
That last part wasn't in the brief.
Kairo exhaled slowly. His finger hovered over the trigger. The gun was silenced, the distance calibrated. Wind: minimal. Risk: low.
But something felt wrong.
The man in the front seat — he wasn't just a driver. He was watching the street through binoculars. A lookout?
No. A trap.
Kairo froze, lowering the scope. That wasn't protocol. The Organization never sent him into blind spots.
He pulled back from the ledge and ducked behind the rooftop vent, heart pounding. He tapped into the encrypted line.
"Crowe. Something's off. This isn't clean."
Silence.
Then static.
Then nothing.
Kairo's gut twisted.
He was on his own.
10:12 PM – Alicia's House
Alicia stood on the porch in her hoodie and jeans, arms wrapped around herself. Her phone buzzed again. No new messages.
She stared down the street, hoping, praying he'd show.
Inside her chest, worry bloomed. Not just because Kairo was late — but because deep down, she could tell something was very, very wrong.