Failure Means Death

Harriet sat at the elegant table, looking out the window at the city far below. The lights of the buildings and cars lit up the freshly fallen white snow. Somewhere out there, Mark was waiting with a long-ranged rifle, prepared to take the fatal shot. Harriet shivered, unable to determine if it came from watching the frozen white powder fall from the sky or from thinking of the cold heartless deed that was about to take place. She had done horrible things during her lifetime. She was a thief, a liar, a cheat, and much more, but a killer….. She couldn’t bring herself to even consider the thought of taking another life.

A buzzing sound in her ear pulled her from her thoughts.

“He is almost to the restaurant,” Giovanni's deep voice said, slightly distorted by the sound of an electrical hum. “Harriet, get into position. Mark, be ready. Taylor and Mitch, be prepared if things go wrong. Remember, your lives are on the line and I would prefer not to have to find more helpers.

That horrible voice. That horrible man. HE was a killer.

As she got up from the table, Harriet thought of the kill chip that had been implanted in her back. Failure meant death. The chip was a fail-safe for Giovanni. An insurance just in case one of his agents decided to disobey orders or if they were captured. It was surprising how effective people were when their lives were on the line. 

A large black helicopter landed on the pad outside and a man was helped by some of the restaurant personnel. That was their target.

Most restaurant visitors had to use the “Mine elevators”, large glass-like boxes that allowed one to see the interior of the hard mountainous rock. Along with the top-rate cooking and elegant ambiance, this elevator was one of the attractions of the restaurant, showing the brilliant and rich mineral deposits that made up the mountain through the clear tram windows. Harriet had found it quite impressive during the ride up and was surprised to find that the minerals had temporarily cut off her signal from Giovanni and the rest of the team. It had been the first time, in what seemed like years, that she had truly been left to herself and she found it wonderful.

The young man from the helicopter, dressed in an expensive-looking dark black suit, entered the building.

Showtime, Harriet thought to herself as she approached the man.

“Mr. Russell !” She said, adding a touch of excitement to her voice “It’s been a long time”. 

The man turned his head to look at her, no doubt trying to find out how she knew him. In reality, she didn’t. She hadn’t even heard of the man before last week, but for the sake of the evening, she was a reporter that had interviewed him a number of months back.

“Please miss, I can’t seem to recall your name or how I had the pleasure of making your acquaintance”, he said calmly.

“Jill Denvers from channel 8, we met around this time last year at the charity” she replied, keeping a smile painted on her face.

“Right, Jill… ok”, please forgive me, I’ve been a bit off since my father passed away”

He said the words with a kind smile, but she could see the sorrow in the man's eyes. He was in pain. His world shattered, and now she was going to kill him. 

No! She reminded herself. I’m not a killer. I’m just here to have a conversation with him and Mark is the one who will take the shot.

“I’m so sorry for your loss” she said, dropping her smile. “That must be incredibly hard. Please, my table has the best view in the entire restaurant. I would be honored if you joined me there”. 

The view was truly beautiful. Giovanni had paid a large sum for the table, taking the bet that it, along with an attractive young female, would be the correct bait to ensnare the man. Giovanni had been very precise in the way that he wanted Mr. Russell killed: Brutally and in a public place. With him and his father both out of the way, the third in line of Mr. Russell’s company, one of Giovanni’s puppets, would be promoted and gain control of the company's assets. Harriet's role in all of this was to ensure that the man would be in an easily sniped position and to confirm the kill.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind the company,” Mr. Russell said, “And please, it’s Lucas.

As they walked to the table, Harriet looked out the window facing Mr. Russell’s helicopter and noticed a number of people arguing over something. 

Lucas, noticing her gaze, shook his head and gave a soft chuckle. “The pilot and my guards don’t always see eye to eye I’m afraid. I needed some time away from them all so I left them there to have some bonding time.

Slowly, the man took the open seat facing her and smiled. 

“Ms. Denvers” He said “ I can’t imagine that it is by coincidence that you just happened to have an open seat at the best table and that you hadn’t even ordered your food yet. Here is what I propose. I will take ten minutes to answer whatever questions the new station wants you to ask me, and then we talk about something else for the rest of the evening, deal?”

“Target in sight, I’m taking the shot,” said Mark’s voice in her earpiece.

“Mr. Russell, I…” Harriet was cut off as she felt a rolling heat fill the room as an explosion erupted at a nearby table, sending broken dishes and shattered wood throughout the room and knocking her back onto the floor. 

For a moment, Harriet laid on the ground, wincing from the pain in her left arm which she had used to soften her fall. Examining it, she saw that she was bleeding, but it didn’t seem terrible. Luckily, other than a few cuts, nothing else had been horribly hurt. 

Observing the room, she saw that other than the shrapnel that it had sent throughout the room, the damage from the explosion had been relatively limited. People were running around, trying to leave the room, but no one seemed to have been killed. What had been the objective of the explosion? A second later, someone's hand grabbed her by her good arm and helped her up. 

“Jill, are you alright? You’re bleeding, let’s get you some help!” Said the voice of Mr. Russell.

It took Harriet a second to realize that he was talking to her.

Jill Denvers, that’s right, that’s me, she thought to herself. At least for tonight.

“No, I’ll be fine” She replied as she took a ripped piece from one of the sacred white table cloths and wrapped it around her bloodied arm to stop the bleeding. 

She had been more badly hurt in the past, and she was confident that she would be able to make it through until one of Giovanni's medics helped her. Besides, she needed to somehow finish the mission, or no matter how much medical attention she received, it wouldn’t be able to save her life.

“Mark, if clear, take the shot. Taylor and Mitch, approach the target with care but keep a distance. Harriet, don’t let him leave. We can still make this work” Giovanni's voice whispered through Harriet’s earpiece.

How could they do it without being caught? At his distance, there would be too much motion for Mark to get a clean shot and if Taylor or Mitch killed him they would certainly be apprehended and killed by the kill chips.

Two large men in black suits entered the room and approached her and Mr. Russell. “Sir, we need to get you to the chopper now,” said the larger of the two as he grabbed the arm of Mr. Russell and started pulling him to the door. 

“Wait, we need to see if anyone needs help,” argued Mr. Russell.

“This is a setup,” said the voice of Giovanni. “Neither of these men work for him. My intelligence indicates that a terrorist group has been trying to get their hands on him in order to demand a ransom, but according to the reports that shouldn't happen for another few weeks. Harriet, stop them now before they leave!”.

Harriet grabbed one of the decorative water grafts on a nearby table and smashed it on the head of the man grabbing Mr. Russell. 

In surprise, the man let go and then turned his attention to Harriet.

Harriet had had some combat training, but it was limited. She was good at stealing things or impersonating people, but usually, she left the more violent tasks to her teammates.

The man swung at her as Mr. Russell shouted an order for them to stop. Weaving left, she was able to dodge the first attack and return a satisfying jab to the side of the man's face, but a second later she got hit in the side by the second kidnapper who had now turned his attention to her.

Pain filled her side, but she could keep going as long as she didn’t receive too many more of those.

Fortunately, two men dressed as waiters, Taylor and Mitch, jumped in and were able to distract the two suited assailants, allowing Harriet to grab Mr. Russell redirect him to the door that led down the nearby corridor away from where the fight was taking place.

“What is going on!?” Demanded Mr. Russell as he pulled himself free from Harritos grip. “Why did you attack my guards?” He continued.

As she was about to respond, Giovanni’s voice filled her ear.

“Say exactly what I tell you to.”

“I was hired by Mr. Jones, to keep an eye on you tonight”, she said, repeating the words that Giovanni told her. Harriet had no idea who Mr. Jones was, but at the mention of the name Mr. Russell relaxed a bit so it seemed correct.

 “We suspected that there would be an attempt to kidnap you so we took some precautions.” Harriet continued, trying to emphasize the same emotion in her voice as Giovanni was. “You don’t know either of those men, and the commotion that we saw earlier was most likely them commandeering your helicopter. The bomb was set to put you in a state of fear and panic so that they could take you without resistance. We need to make our way to the mine elevator in order to get off this mountain and get you to safety immediately!”

Mr. Russell seemed to believe her and started following her down the corridor once more.

“I guess that means I owe you one for saving my life back there then, don’t I?” He said. This comment made Harriet wince. The man she was sent to help kill was thanking her for saving him. It would be funny if it wasn’t so terrible.”

“Just doing my job” Harriet replied, avoiding making eye contact with Mr. Russell. She still needed to accomplish the mission, and she had no idea how.

As if able to perceive her thoughts, Giovanni's voice once again intruded the silence of her mind. 

“Harriet, take him to the base of the mountain via the mine elevators and exit through the main entrance. We will have Mark reposition himself and take the shot as you leave. You need to hurry, the two kidnappers managed to get away from Taylor and Mitch and are on their way to your position.”

That wasn’t good. Luckily, they were close to the elevator entrance and she could see that there was still one that had a man in it and that hadn’t left yet. Most of the other restaurant-goers had piled into the other elevators as quickly as possible and had already left, but this one remained. 

“Wait!” Mr. Russell called, “We’re coming, hold the door!”

The man in the elevator turned and stared at the two with a confused look of terror, but complied.

A loud bang was heard behind them as they ran towards the elevator. Allowing herself to look back for a moment, Harriet saw that one of the guards from before had burst through the door and was now chasing after them at full speed. Harriet turned herself once more towards the elevator opening and ran as fast as her legs could handle. Finally arriving at the elevator Harriet threw herself in, banging her shoulder against the clear back wall. 

Mr. Russell, who had arrived just seconds before, was on the ground, deeply inhaling as he was trying to catch his breath. “Floor zero, please,” he said in between breaths to the surprised-looking man that had been waiting in the elevator.

“But the man over there...” The man began but was quickly cut off by Harriet, heaving as she was trying to catch her breath. “Was the one….. who set off the bomb….. Floor zero, now!”

The man was almost there, and Harriet could see the white of his eyes before the elevator’s metal doors finally shut. A loud BONG was heard, and Harriet assumed that it was the sound of the man's body hitting the metal doors.

Everything hurt, but she had succeeded. She glanced at Mr. Russell who looked as exhausted as her but unharmed. She almost felt happy until she heard an electrical buzz in her ear.

“Harriet…. too many people…..security on the bottom level….unlikely that Mark …... clean shot.... you have to take him out….. Failure ….. death.“

With every word, the message got more and more static as the elevator dug deeper into the mountain. Eventually, the com system went dead, evidence that the signal was being completely blocked.

Killing him would be risky. If she was apprehended, Giovanni would hit her kill switch before she could be questioned. She would need to somehow escape the security that was most likely piling up outside the elevator door, but as hard as that would be, there was a chance that she could get out alive. On the other hand, if she didn’t kill Mr. Russell, Giovanni would hit her kill switch as punishment for failure and that would mean certain death.

Thoughts began to rush through her mind as her face went pale.

“I’m not a killer, please… don’t make me be a killer!” Her mind screamed.

Giovanni had taken everything from her… her name, her family, her friends, and now, he wanted to take her soul. And for what! So some rich monster could make some more money? Her life no longer meant anything, and she was more of a tool to be used to promote the wicked designs of an evil man rather than a human. If she killed this man, it would only be a matter of time before she would be made to kill again.

Harriet slowly moved her arm and grabbed the small concealed knife that she had hidden in a side compartment of her jacket. 

Mr. Russell, seeing the pale face of Harriet, broke the silence. “Jill, you did well up there. You saved my life and I don’t know how I will be able to thank you.” He paused and then softly smiled. “I supposed I could start with a raise.” He said with a light chuckle. ”How is your arm doing?” he continued.

Harriet looked down at her arm, wrapped in the once white, now red, table cloth. It hurt, but she would live. What she was about to do would hurt much more.

“Mr. Russell, I need to ask you for a favor,” she said as she pulled her knife from her jacket.

------

Giovanni watched the monitors on his desk, each one showing the views of one of his pawns. Mitch and Taylor had been badly injured, but neither of them had been killed. Mark was waiting in the crowd to confirm the kill and after he would make his way back to headquarters. Harriet was, unfortunately, going to have to be terminated. Her camera hadn’t yet gotten a signal and her screen was still blank.

“What an extraordinary shame”, Giovanni muttered to himself. “What a waste of a wonderful asset”.

It had to be done. The chances of her escaping without being questioned by the police were far too slim. Regardless of whether she had killed the target or not, she had to be eliminated. 

Finally, Harriet's signal came back online and her camera showed the wall of the elevator. “Goodbye Harriet,” he said into the com chat linked to her earpiece as he pressed her kill switch.

A few seconds later, Mark's voice shot through on the coms.

“Sir, the mission is a failure”, he said in a whisper.

Giovanni's eyes shot to the screen showing what Mark saw and a scowl emerged on his lips.

“Help, I need help!” cried the voice of Mr. Russell. At his side was Harriet, a large bleeding cut on her back. “I need a doctor now!” Mr. Russell continued.

“She must have had him remove the kill chip on the way down,” Mark said through the com. “What should we do?”

“Make your way back to base and prepare to relocate.”

Giovanni leaned back in his chair, the scowl still painted on his lips. 

“Harriet” he whispered into her com. “You think that you have escaped, but you will never be free. You are mine and I will have you back”.

A second later, a weak voice came through on her line. My life is my own. I choose who I am Giovanni, and I am no killer”.