Shoot Terrence
The mission is all that matters. Casualties are secondary. 6 must neutralize the threat under any means necessary.
He stands in silence, and waits for the opportune moment.
“You hearing me? I said drop the gun.”
6 ignores him. Instead he examines Terrence’s temple, trying to find a clean shot without risking the hostage.
“Hey!”
Terrence grows impatient, making him erratic. It may be all he needs.
“Hey! You listening to…”
Terrence peaks his head from his hostage far enough to guarantee a safe shot. 6’s bullet nevertheless lands lower than he expected. It hits him in his throat. He lets go of the girl, and grabs at his neck. The hostage runs away screaming. Some of his blood ends up on the collar of her shirt.
Terrence stumbles, trying to keep his balance whilst choking on his own blood. He says something. 6 catches a voiceless word.
“Brother.”
Terrence drops to his knees. The rest of him eventually follows.
It’s done.
Epilogue
From the surveillance trailer parked three blocks away from LAX, Brandon Harper watches the mission unfold before his eyes. The monitors linked to the sniper cams tell him everything. All terrorists are neutralized. 6 stands tall over a dead body. Cold, and emotionless.
Harper is impressed. He takes a sip from his all black coffee. He inspects the time on his diamond studded Rolex. It’s quarter to midnight. He’s eager to get some sleep, and call it a day.
“I think it’s safe to say that the mission was a success. No hostages harmed. All threats encountered were neutralized immediately.”
“Almost immediately,” chimes Cassandra Sutrozky, Magnet Securities’ chief psychological analyst. She is less impressed with the results. “6 hesitated.”
Harper disagrees.
“He made the right move. Terrence had a hostage. He waited for the right moment to strike, and then he did.”
Cassandra doesn’t have to shake her head to make it obvious that she disagrees.
“6 recognized his brother.”
Harper knows that there’s no way Cassandra can be so sure. The range of the sniper cams are limited. They can barely make out faces from the windows. Even now, as 6 is busy securing the hostages, he’s too far away for anyone to read his face, let alone Cassandra.
“How do you know?”
“Intuition.”
Cassandra’s intuition has never failed, which worries Harper. Because it tells him that the Project might not be as foolproof as he’d hoped.
Harper sighs, and drinks his coffee.
“It doesn’t matter. He killed his brother. The test proves that the Project works.”
“I was under the impression that the test was meant to evaluate the subject’s willingness to comply with orders under extreme conditions.”
“And 6 passed with flying colors.”
“6 completed the assignment in spite of emotional reservations. He still remembers fragments of his past self. I would hardly call his success passing with flying colors. Especially not after eight whole months of reprogramming.”
Harper sighs. He hates to admit it, but he knows that Cassandra is right. At least, to an extent. Tonight proves, if nothing else, that the Magnet reprogramming project has gone far since its development. But after twelve years of work, results were to be expected. And whether or not Cassandra is right about 6, that he is emotionally compromised, the doubt cannot be tolerated. Not for Magnet Securities.
Brandon Harper has spent too much time and money for anything less than perfection.
“Sir, where do we proceed from here?”
Harper rubs his eyes and thinks for a moment. Cassandra offers a suggestion.
“Sir, should we cancel 6?”
Should we, she says, as if to make it a mutual decision.
Cassandra has always been an expert in manipulation. As much as Harper trusts her work, he also knows to be careful around her. He knows to keep a close ear on even her most subtle words.
“No,” he says. “6 doesn’t have a long life-span anyhow. 72 hours. We might as well run him through a few more ops. Get our money’s worth.”
Cassandra doesn’t agree, but she nods, and replies “Yes sir,” regardless.
“Debrief him, Cassandra. Find out if he really did recognize his brother.”
“And if he did?”
“Like I said, he doesn’t have a long shelf life. Keep him around. Make him useful. Until then, I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yes sir.”
Brandon Harper exits the Magnet Securities mobile surveillance vehicle. The sudden presence of cold air rinses his face, making him feel awake, and alive.
Brandon Harper is happy. He’s proud of 6, of what he’s helped him achieve. After 12 long years of hard work, everything is finally coming together. With the reprog experiments a success, the role of Magnet Securities in America’s national defense is secured.
The face of war is changing. And Brandon Harper will sleep well knowing that Magnet Securities has just secured itself a spot on the frontline.
Mission Completed