Crack! A bullet went – the sound as loud as a pin hitting the ground. The victim, an old man, around 60, with white hair and blue eyes was now lying on the floor, motionless. The marksman got up, packed his gun up in a case, and jumped down from the balcony he was positioned on. As he strolled through the busy markets of Rabat, nobody suspected a thing. How would they, when the murder had occurred almost 7 miles southwest of their location, in Hay Riad?
Deep in the heart of the medina, Barbary knew he was safe. Just another day on the job, he thought to himself as he pulled out a small device that was completely untraceable. The mysterious recruiter had given him his reward for the job – 7,000,000 dirhams. Then came the next encrypted message. Another job, in which he must infiltrate a billionaire’s mansion in Lisbon. He accepted the mission reluctantly. He had very little experience in breaking in, let alone a huge mansion. But the job paid, and that was all he needed to know.
As he approached the Mediterranean coast, he looked over the files for his mission. The task assigned was to break into the mansion and head down to the basement. Inside the basement, he would find a surveillance feed and files he would need to retrieve on a USB thumb drive. After leaving the mansion, he was required to leave the USB on a bench near the Belém Tower.
Horns blared, signaling that the ship was leaving. He took one last glance at the Moroccan flag, and the allegiance he felt reminded him of the symbolic animal – the Barbary Lion. That’s where his codename came from. He was known throughout Marrakesh and Fes to be ruthless, just like the Barbary Lion
Hours later, he approached the front of the mighty mansion. It was marble and quartz, with the walkway coated in a maroon color. Security was stationed out in front of the building. Barbary slipped on his coat, which had small gadgets installed in it. The wall surrounding the building was made of a chunky rock-like texture, which could easily be climbed with his equipment. With a flick of his wrist, 5 claws emerged from the tips of his fingers on each hand. He glanced around and clambered up the wall. Claws scraping the rock, he hopped up on top of the boulder-like structure. There was a large field up ahead of him, completely open and sprawling with security. He jumped down into a small dip on the field. Inside, TV screens were showing the security camera footage of the perimeter.
All of a sudden, a guard turned the corner. Barbary silenced him with a non-fatal shot to the arm.
He shot too late, though, since two guards followed him with their guns out. Barbary took two knives and ran at the guards. The gun only had 1 dart in it, so he had to resort to close-range combat. Shots were fired, but Barbary meticulously dodged them all. He jumped from wall to wall, grabbing the panels with the claws on his free hand. He threw one knife directly at one of the guards’ chests, and their knees buckled. Out of ammunition, the second guard dodged the knife and grabbed it. Barbary, after grabbing the other knife out of the first guard’s cadaver, ran at the second guard and made an effort to stab him. The attack was countered, however, and the two engaged in hand-to-hand knife combat.
The guard managed to slice Barbary’s stomach slightly, but enough to make him wince in pain. Stumbling to the floor, Barbary coughed up blood. He lay on his hands and knees, then suddenly spun around and tripped the guard, stabbing him in the head. The guard fell to the floor with a thud, completely motionless.
Barbary got to his feet, grabbed both of his knives and slid them back into his coat pocket. Climbing out of the trench like this meant death, especially with the sounds the fight had made. Instead, he slipped out of his clothes and put on the guard’s uniform. Cleaning off the bloodstains, he walked out of the trench casually.
He wandered around the yard until he found the entrance of the gigantic mansion, and he walked in. Stripping off his fake uniform, Barbary put his coat back on and searched for the basement. The entrance to the basement was hidden by a trapdoor that Barbary had accidentally stepped on. He walked down the staircase to find the surveillance room.
His heart skipped a beat. The surveillance room was filled with pictures and videos of him. They all showed him killing different victims in a long loop. However, the only footage that wasn’t in a loop was his last kill. The old man with white hair and blue eyes, with a bullet hole in his head, lying on the floor lifeless. The camera panned back to Barbary, showing him jump out of the balcony and stroll into the market. Panicked, he opened up a small laptop and tried to log in. Within minutes, Barbary was able to get ahold of the files.
He looked through them in panic. His jaw dropped as he opened the first file. It was the details of every hit he had done, down to the last specs of his gun. There were also logs of the chats in which he got and accepted his contracts.
Whoever lived in this mansion was his recruiter.
He frantically looked around and ran towards a different room in the basement. That’s where he saw it – the portrait of the owner of the mansion, an old man with white hair and blue eyes. Barbary stared up at it in shock, recognizing the man.
Then he felt a gun pinned on his back.
“I got a tip that you’d be here. Barbary, the famed assassin.”
Barbary didn’t move.
“You’re under arrest for the murder of Alexandre Silva.”