THE LAST KILL

Part 4: The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

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The following day, Silas yawned as he crossed the street and walked towards NexusCore, his body would rather prefer to be in bed snoring and making love to Lena in his dreams, he's missed her. This city was just too cold for him; Moscow was cold too, don't get me wrong, but London was a new kind of cold, it's mildly cold, and annoying, because he had just never been used to anything mild.

Today, Silas Volkov’s mission began at NexusCore, but first he had to take out the NexusCore’s security consultant. He began to subtly infiltrate Vance's inner circle, and this took hours of small talk with the men, they liked him within minutes, and then he got the information he needed about the entire security of NexusCore, he'd be posing as a corporate security consultant, he took an excuse and visited the restroom, pulled two pistols out his pants and quickly screwed in his silencer. It was going to be bloody, and the deaths were going to be quick too, and quiet. And he walked back out, when the men saw him, they laughed in remembrance of the jokes he'd made, and they all threw short salutes towards him, Silas smiled and walked into the security hallway.

He found the security consultant's office and stood just by her transparent glass, she raised her head up and saw him, and saw that he was stained with blood, his face and his hands, he had silently taken out the guards that led to here. She knew instantly that it was over, and was ready to hand over the entire security system to him, but Silas held back, she might be on guard.

“Hey.” He said, pulling out a white handkerchief from his back pocket and nuzzling the muzzle of his gun, “nobody leaves. Nobody lives.”

“What…a.whaaat?” She said, fidgeting. Her gun was just in her cupboard, right beneath her desk, and she thought about it, but her eyes betrayed her when she looked down towards the cupboard hoping it was within reach.

“Don’t even think about it.” Silas warned.

He wasn't going to kill her, but she just wouldn't give him the password, and time was running out, he threatened to put a bullet in her leg, but she wouldn't budge, she still said no, she wasn't giving, he put a bullet in her leg, and she screamed in pain for over an hour, bleeding profusely, and still wouldn't tell, Silas Volkov couldn't take it anymore, so he ended her life. Nobody lives.

Luckily for him, the system was access free, and she was just working on the page he needed before he came in. He gained access, and also access to restricted areas, gathering intel on Vance's highly encrypted network. He confirmed Vance's deep involvement in illegal data harvesting, and shadow finance.

“Something to write The Architect about.”

He pulled the seat closer, and dug deeper, and faster, uncovering things, his eyes running around every code on the screen, deep things, dark things, and a shocking truth: Eleanor Vance is the only surviving heir of the very crime lord he took down in his infamous "last official kill" decades ago. That was the Hollowman.

What? He could remember that day when they hunted for The Architect, but missed and found block 996, which was the home of another Mafia lord, the Hollowman, his mother opened the door, she had been cooking, and her apron was stained. Silas saw that. He remembered her asking him if he was lost, or needed help, and the next thing he did was put a bullet right through her head. He could remember having his boys raid the house, screaming for The Architect, and had a fourteen year old girl beg them, she begged them with everything in her, she could see her grandma bleeding, and dying, she told them that she was just returning from school, and that her dad was not home. He remembered that too. But just that moment, her father walked down the stairs having heard gunshots in his house. He was the Hollowman. Silas remembered that too.

They had robbed the wrong house. Nobody fucks with the Hollowman. What had he done? The Hollowman had two loaded double-barrels in his hands, but he wasn't going to shoot, only because he knew whoever it was out there in his living room would recognize him. But these guys had already taken the life of his mother. The Hollowman stood there looking at them. He didn't say a word.

“Your dad is not home.” Silas repeated to the little girl, mockingly, and ruthlessly sent a bullet into her leg. In front of him, the Hollowman watched in silence as she screamed and cried in pain, every iota of power and defence left him. Then one of Silas Volkov's men walked up to him on the stairs.

“This is not The Architect?” He said, pulling his guns out of his hands, he placed his on the Hollowman’s head and shot him, then they left the house. Eleanor Vance's father's death was the mission that made Silas a legend, though it was about The Architect, but it allowed him to fake his own demise. Vance is quietly trying to erase everything that is linked to her family's criminal legacy, her father,—the Hollowman, a legacy Silas himself helped to spoil.

Walking out of the security hallway with a flash drive that contained what he needed to end Vance's career and NexusCore, and then finally get to meet The Architect and end him too, Silas Volkov didn't ever forget the goal. His goal. He shoved the drive into his pocket and walked back into the hall where those men he spoke with earlier were, they were still there, laughing out loud, just that this time, there was a lady among them.

“Ah, here he comes.” One of them, whose name was Nero, said.

“What did I miss?” Silas asked, pretending to be one with them.

“One more thing,” Nathan added, “you didn't tell us your name, and I haven't seen you around the Core's premises ever, are you new here?”

“Uhm…” Silas had just seen that Vance had made everyone in her company get a change of name, and must begin with the letter N, so he quickly answered, “Night…nightcrawler. New in Security.”

“What!?” Most of them asked in unison, laughing at the name, “what are you, a kind of superhero?”

Silas sensed he's being watched. There's a lady among the men, and she's been there just staring at him with a mischievous smile on her face. Did she know about the quiet killings that had just taken place in the security hall? Was she one of them? He just couldn't tell, but her presence disturbed him greatly, and he had his hand close to where he hid his pistol, just in case she wanted to misbehave. He knew how to handle situations that had people misbehaving. But who was she really? He sets a subtle trap and confirms his suspicions: Kira was her name, a young, exceptionally skilled, and dangerously ambitious enforcer for The Architect, she was shadowing him, testing his loyalty and also his readiness to complete the mission. But he was on it and needed no stupid babysitter. Kira represents the very ruthless, unburdened version of Silas's younger self, and she is here to stay till it's over.