Behind the lines

The cloud moved across the face of the moon and the darkness deepened, this would be his last chance tonight, sunrise was barely 30 mins away.  He stood in the shadows, watching, clenching and un-clenching his muscles, as he had been taught, so that he would not cramp.  His eyes were fixed on the target, as they had been for the last 6 hrs, the window across the street showed a figure moving in the house, something that was somewhat un-common at this early hour of the day, however for the target this was a sign of their nocturnal hours that the seemed to follow.

A final glance around him assured him that if someone out there was watching him or on the lookout at all, they were both more patient and also better than he was and that he knew was highly unlikely. He slowly drew up to his full height, moving individual limbs and joints slowly to make sure that nothing was going to cause him to be at less than 100% efficiency, even after the long period of enforced in-activity.  His path followed the wall and it’s shadow, even though he was confident that there were no observers around, this was no excuse for him to not follow his normal procedures.  He reached the corner of the wall and paused, listening for any alarm, anyone moving or any noises out of place that might signify someone else hiding.  He reached into the pouch of the front of his webbing and pulled out a small mirror and using it along with his bowie knife he was able to see round the corner.  After verifying that the way forward was clear he slowly peered directly round the corner before moving across the open space to the alcove in the wall opposite. He paused once again as a dog barked in the distance but after a brief moment or two the silence resumed againg. He turned around and for the first time was able to get a close look at the door that stood in his way, he had observed the target returning some hours earlier and knew from his actions that the door had some kind of lock on it, however he did not know whether he would be able to defeat it.  In the darkness he had to rely more on his touch to ascertain his options and it didn’t take him long to realise that whilst the lock was fairly old he would be unable to use the tools he had on him that were aimed more towards the modern locks.  He turned around still merged into the shadows and surveyed the surrounding landscape, the wall with the door in it should be climbable but it didn’t really want to climb it here on the roadside even at this hour.  A glance to his right showed him the edge of the property and the alley that led to the next road over, he moved forward from the doorway and jogged the distance to the alley entrance, he glanced carefully down the alley and although the darkness prevented him from seeing anyone hidden their, his earlier surveillance deemed it unlikely and the darkness would now also hide his own activities should anyone appear on the street.

Moving down the alley he kept his eyes moving, scanning the ground at his feet for anything that would trip him, looking at the wall to his right that he would have to climb and repeated glances towards either end of the alley for any observers.  Once he felt he was far enough in the dark to be hidden he ran his hands along the wall looking for any kind of handhold that might assist his climb.  Whilst the wall was old it’s plaster style facing offered little assistance and his only choice was to attempt to leap and get a hand hold on the top of the wall, less stealthy however he was now faced with time running short and he knew that his window of oppotunity would close for tonight and he did not want to have to find another spot to hide in during the daylight hours.  He reached into his webbing and withdrew a pair of gloves, these were very hi-tech, with high levels of grip due to some new material NASA had developed, however they were also embued with a new Kevlar style residue that actually gave the glove a higher level of resistance to cutting edges.  This would prevent his hands being damaged if the walls were topped with glass shards or anything else designed to deter climbers.

With the gloves how in place he stowed as much of his kit in his small rucksack and attached a lightweight rope to it.  This he measured out 10 feet and then tied it round his waist, he could now get to the top of the wall and then pull up the remainder of his equipment.  He tensed his legs and then flinging his arms up to give him momentum and also reach he lept for the wall top.  One hand grabbed the top of the wall and the other missed getting a purchase, he hung from one arm for a second before he was able to grab again with his second hand and get a grip.  He hung briefly listening for any sounds of alarm and when it was clear that he was still undetected he pulled himself up and was able to see the top of the wall.  It was only a few inches thick and thankfully it was clear of anything that would have hindered his progress.  He hooked his right arm over the wall and pulled himself up so that his body was now flat on top of the wall with an arm and leg hanging down either side.  He reached down and slowly pull his rucksack up,  taking care to not disturb the wall surface any more than necessary, the fewer traces of evidence of his presence the better.   With his rucksack now also on the top of the wall he withdrew the nightvision goggles and surveyed the grounds of the house for the first time.

The house was surrounded by a lawn with a few trees and bushes and some areas that may have originally held shrubs and flowers, but the relentless had dried up all but a few stalks.  This did mean that whilst he had little cover should someone be observing from inside the house, there was little to prevent his descent from the wall.  A quick roll of the shoulders and he was off the top of the wall, he landed slightly heavier than he would have liked, however there was still no signs of any alarm and he jogged towards the house, scanning his surroundings as he moved forward.

He reached the wall of the house and flattened himself against it just as the moon made a brief appearance from behind the clouds, lighting the garden up.  He hesitated briefly taking an advantage of the increased lighting to survey his surrounding, before moving towards the back of the house whilst hugging it exterior wall.  He turned the corner and was quickly at the back door which appeared to open into a small unlit kitchen, he could see a light further towards the front and he assumed that this would be where his prey would be.  For the second time that night he examined a lock, however this time his tools would be perfect for the task and retrieving them from his webbing, in fact the moment he reached for the lock to  attempt to pick it, he realised that the door was in fact unlocked.

That immediately set his mind on alert, the information about the target had all suggested that he was meticulous in his routines and this un-locked back-door did not fit within the profile they had built of the man.  He immediately reached around the back of the webbing and pulled out his silenced pistol, if the users profile had changed, it was entirely possible that he might not be able to acheive his objective without leaving some residual evidence of his presence.  “Oh well the best laid plans etc” he thought.

He gripped the pistol in his right hand and gently turned the handle with his left, feeling for the bite point of the lock and attempting to minimize any noise caused.  He pushed the door open and entered the room, closing the door behind him but not allowing the locking mechanism to engage.  In the event of an emergency egress this would save him precious seconds if he simply had to pull the handle.

He spent several seconds once again listening to his surroundings, all was quiet and this again was a concern, the target would normally still be up at this time but at the moment there was no sound of any movement.  He moved through the door from the kitchen into the downstairs living area, a desk on his left showed signs of recent use with a half drunk glass of water sat near the edge, condensation still clinging to the side, suggesting that it had been poured within the last few hours.  His scan of the room showed no other evidence and he moved forward towards the entrance hall and the stairs.  The rug in the hall muffled and slight noises he might have made and he reached the bottom of the stairs.  With no obvious noise in the house, the stairs now presented the biggest obstacle for him to pass without creating any noise.

He put his foot gingerly on the first step and slowly transfered his weight to it, ready to reverse the process if the stair felt like it was going to move and make any noise.  He continued up the first few stairs repeating the process all the while his pistol trained above him anticipating some kind of attack from the target.  By the time he was halfway up the stairs he could clearly see much of the floor above him and of the three doors leading off from the open landing, one was closed and one of the two open doors lead to a lit room.  He reached the landing with barely a squeak of the floorboards and moved forward his eyes moving constanly surveying his surroundings and attempt to spot an attack before it came.  His attention was focused on the lit room as it was more likely where the target would be.  He moved forward and was now at the side of the door, he slowly moved his head around, all the while tensed for an attack or the chance to take out the target.  He had around half of the room in view when he spotted it, lying on the floor, not what he had expected at this point.  The body was clearly dead, the head did not normally sit on the shoulders at quite that angle, although it did not appear to have been dead long.  He moved forward now with a little more speed, the target was down, although he had not been the one to effect the kill, he needed to quickly sweep the upper floor to make sure that it was clear and then get out of here before the sun had risen.  Questions were running through his mind as to who had taken out the target, but that would be up to his bosses to determine.  He moved with speed and determination now clearing the upper floor, there were signs that someone had been in here searching, a number of drawers had been cleary opened and not pushed back completely, he had no idea what they had been looking for but this was not part of his mission.  He retraced his steps downstairs and to the backdoor which now stood open.

Sometime since he entered the house he had passed another killer, someone he had not spotted, someone who had been calm enough to let him pass and not attempt to kill him.  Someone who had managed to get in and kill the target whilst he had been outside watching the property.  Someone who had realised that any kind of incident between the two of them would have alerted someone close by and this was certainly not something he would have wanted to do.  It would have most likely lead to his death, dragged through the streets by a population that hated his country.   Too many questions and too few answers, he moved out into the garden and across to the wall the gate to the street now stood ajar, he moved into the alcove and closed the door behind him hearing the clunk as the lock engaged. He looked up and down the street as he had 10 minutes ago, once again there was no sign of any movement, yet he knew that somewhere in the darkness of the surrounding streets another expert was moving away from the property, the question was  whether this was simply a case of crossed lines sending two operatives after the same target or was their a third player involved.