Chapter 7

Nyx was driving north on interstate eighty-seven towards Albany, where he would eventually have to drive south again toward Tarrytown. The sedan he used for transportation was second-hand, or maybe third-hand with an upkept Florida registration. The name on the vehicle’s registration, however, was to Thomas Reed. A fake identity with all the proper legal documentation that had cost him more money than the average person made in a year. The drive had given him plenty of time to contemplate the contract he had accepted. Am I being greedy, do I abandon this contract? often entered his mind along with this is so unusual.

He arrived at the storage unit that housed one of the items he would need for the contract. Nyx had storage units up within fifty miles of every one of his apartments. One unit stored a vehicle and an appropriate identity, and another contained weapons and equipment he felt suited for each target. Upon entering the unit, several cardboard boxes were neatly arranged in the corner of the room. The boxes were labeled kitchen accessories, clothing, office, etcetera. The boxes contained attaché cases with the weapons and ammunition he would need for almost any scenario.

The case containing the Beretta 92FS was the item he was particularly after. He normally carried a nineteen-eleven handgun chambered in forty-five ACP for both personal defense as well as the demise of most targets. The instructions, however, were insistent upon the usage of a nine-millimeter handgun. He didn’t know exactly why, but he had the tools for the job. The details did not involve the use of a suppressor, but the lack of a suppressor was not something he was going to budge on anyway. He closed the rollup door and secured it with the combination lock. The procured weapon entered his duffle bag and safely placed into his car’s. Phase one was complete; on to the next strange request.

Nyx had to purchase a one-hundred-foot category six ethernet cable from the electronics store. To Nyx, this was starting to sound like a multi-faceted act of corporate espionage. Stealing sensitive data was not only popular among nations, but large corporations also put high interest on data theft. He arrived at a local mom-and-pop electronics store in Albany. It was always best to procure items outside the target’s vicinity. His demeanor became relaxed and natural in public rather than the stone-faced stranger in private. He had walked up and down the various aisles until finally reaching the Cables section. Upon examining the stocked items, a man dressed in retail attire approached him.

“Are you finding everything that you’re looking for sir?” the worker asked.

“Actually, I am looking for a one-hundred-foot CAT 6 ethernet cable,” Nyx said casually.

“Well, most places don’t carry that length in stock, but I could make you one real quick. It’ll be about twenty dollars. Would you like straight or cross-over?”

Nyx had an unsure look on his face. , he thought to himself.

The worker noticed the puzzled look on the customer’s face. “Most modern devices will accept either. The conversion happens automatically within the router or switch these days.”

“Straight is fine,” Nyx said. This would just have to be the correct one. He was already starting to get a headache. Pondering the question any further was just going to agitate him.

“Alright, sir, give me a few minutes.”

It was nearly four in the afternoon when he began his drive out of Albany and south towards Tarrytown. Nyx was still a little bothered by all the technology crap he had just endured. Phase two was complete; now he must arrive at his target’s residence and wait until around seven forty-five.

Nyx parked a few houses down from Andrew’s residence and waited for nightfall. A little bit of luck was on his side as he noticed no streetlights on this particular section of the road. This would make stealth a much easier task as the clock ticked closer to his instructed time. The 8PM execution time was also something strange to him in the instructions, but it might’ve been the most optimal timeframe he would’ve chosen anyways. The occasional car would pass by on the street, and he would either pretend as if he was making a phone call or looking for something within his phone.

The wait was long, but he remained patient. He was a professional, after all. At seven thirty-five, the area was nearly pitch black. He exited the vehicle, extracted the handgun from the duffle bag and secured it to his shoulder holster. He donned a pair of black gloves to go with his dark attire and grabbed the remaining item, the ethernet cable he had purchased earlier. Upon earlier evaluation of the property, he had noticed at least two security cameras. One was near the front door to the residence and another focused on the door of a guest house. The absence of floodlights or security lighting was a pleasant bonus. Gaining entry through a side door or room window could be a simple task for him.

Unlocking the latch to the living room window was child’s play to him. Further into the instructions, the request was to frame this job as a potential burglary that had gone wrong. Using a small glass-cutting tool that he had extracted from his tactical vest, he slowly cut a small chunk of glass from the window, gaining access to the locking mechanism that had secured it. He slowly moved the second half of the window open. Now was the time to exercise extreme caution and remain as stealthy as possible. Maneuvering through the house, he noticed one room slightly illuminated.

Unholstering his pistol, he moved quietly towards the opening. A quick peak inside revealed a young man seemingly playing a video game. Nyx waited the extra three minutes while his watch turned to seven-fifty-nine. He was unsure why eight-sharp was such an important time, yet he exhibited the patience he was known for. He moved fast and smoothly through the doorway, pistol trained on his target. The last footstep landed not on soft carpet but a large plastic mat that made roller chairs much easier to move around the office. The sound was obvious as he noticed Andrew’s head start to tilt in response. There was no point in creating theatrics; Nyx pulled the trigger sending a single nine-millimeter round through the skull of his target.

Nyx was not completely out of the loop when it came to pop culture. He had seen enough gamers in his time to know a little bit about their vocabulary. He had no idea who this other player was, but rather than potentially causing alarm, he typed “GG” into the chat box and powered off the computer.

This is where the instructions became even more strange. “Does this guy really have a secret room with an elaborate security system?” he asked himself. “That’s like some secret spy shit.” He removed Alan Turing’s book from the shelf and heard an audible click. Well, I’ll be damned. The entire bookshelf had swung open with ease. ‘The PIN’, three-one-three-three-seven. This was rather exciting, even to him. The door opened, and he descended the spiral staircase. At the foot of the staircase, he was in an immediate state of curiosity. “What the fuck is that!?” he barely whispered while looking at the large golden contraption through the window of the room labeled Mind. He wasn’t sure whether this was a nuclear warhead or some elaborate piece of art. He shook his head and proceeded with the instructions.

Upon entering the Body room, he was greeted with the stirring sound from the many fans within the equipment. The whirring noise was relaxing at first but quickly became annoying for him as the decibels raised and lowered randomly. One end of the cable needed to be plugged into any available port on a switch. There were three large rectangular boxes that looked like they could be a switch. All seemed like they were filled with wires running to various locations around the room. He examined the mechanisms closer; luck would have it that there were two open ports on the lower switch. He was already feeling the frustration from this new tech adventure. Plugging one end of the one-hundred-foot cable into this port will have to do.

Nyx ran the full extent of the cable out of the room and back up the stairs. He just needed to plug the other end into the modem. He knew what a modem looked like; that was easy. The cable clicked into place, and the lights above the connection started to blink rapidly. He could hear fans becoming louder from the room below. This was no longer his concern.

He did have one problem left to deal with. Nyx had to take a few items to make it seem like a burglary. He was many things, but a thief he was not. Being materialistic was not in his nature, so the thought of what to take had left him pondering for a moment. A wallet, people take those. He snatched the wallet from the left corner of the desk and placed it into a pocket on his vest. Before he could consider the next item, the noise from the room below became almost deafeningly loud. Soon followed what had sounded like several explosions. A strong odor of burning metal and chemicals filled his nasal passage. The noise was alarming; it was time to go.

When Nyx returned to his car, he realized that this particular contract had not been as exciting as he thought it would be. It was solely on him to accept a contract that he personally had no part in the planning. Too many things could have gone wrong, and not knowing the technological aspects had made him uneasy. The combination of greed and intrigue was simply not worth the risk. He wanted to close this contract quickly and put it far behind him. There was no point in waiting the extra days to verify the fulfillment of the contract. He had spent enough time with the body to certify the success of the hit. Besides, he was more than anxious to leave this area behind him.

Nyx had already packed his bags and secured his apartment before starting the endeavor. He drove several miles down a dark road until he had a strong cellphone signal and pulled over to the side of the road. Pulling the laptop from the back seat, he powered it on and plugged his cell phone into the computer. Setting the phone to tethered mode enabled him to have internet access remotely and access to all the features he would have with a wired internet service provider. The site popped into the Tor browser without any interruption. He quickly logged in and navigated to the contracts section. He clicked Complete under the contract issuer, Avery Freeman.