"Agent Mark Graves!" I hear the sound of my commander calling out for me ring throughout the large room. "You're next target has been chosen."

"What!? So soon!?" Justin complains annoyed. He voiced what we were all thinking, this was way too soon for another assignment. I only just got back a few minutes ago and it usually takes a week to get another assignment. "Ugh, this is so unfair!"

My mind wanders through every possibility as to why I'm being assigned to a target so early but my eyes widen when I come to the most logical conclusion. Promotional assassination. Promotional assassination is basically a really big target that once killed allows the assassin to move up the ranks. They're usually ten times more dangerous than the normal ones but some people like that about them. However, I am not like those thrill-seeking lunatics.

"Mark!" The sound of Steve's smooth voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I realize that everyone has shut their mouth including Justin, which is saying something. They all must be coming to the same conclusion as I did. "The Commander is waiting for you. You don't want to keep him waiting for long."

I nod to him and start to make my way slowly to the office of my commander. When I get to him, he nods which I return. His eyes are usually tired with a little bit of brightness in them but that brightness is no more as he gestures for me to enter his office. I sit myself down on the chair in front of his desk and he closes the door behind us. In his usual chair is a man facing away from me which makes me look at the Commander confused but he stays silent.

"Agent Mark Graves, it's a pleasure to meet you." The deep and ominous voice breaks the tense silence in the room. The chair slowly turns to reveal a man with tanned skin and black hair that shows slight streaks of grey in them. His body type makes him look like he can snap me in half and not even break a sweat but his light blue eyes show the same tiredness I see in the Commander. I don't need to ask who he is, it's pretty obvious. "I am Director Frost."

"I know who you are." I don't change my blunt attitude for someone as important as Director Frost. He smirks at me as I continue to glare at him with a confused look on my face. "The real thing I want to know is why are you here?"

"Well, I have a pretty big assignment on my hands and I was looking for an assassin who would be good enough to complete this task. So, I started talking to my good pal Commander Crimson and to my surprise he was going on and on about one assassin he believes is perfect for this job. Now, we're here talking to said assassin." He gives me a wicked smile that shows off his crooked yellow teeth. "You all caught up yet?"

"Yes, Director Frost."

"Excellent!" He claps his hands together and slowly gets out of the Commander's chair. He walks towards me slowly sizing me up like a predator sizes up his prey. He walks in front of me and uses the desk to lean on. He grabs a file that was strewn on the desk and throws it at me. I struggle to catch it but luckily it didn't fall to the ground. "That file has all the information about your target. I'd go over it with you but that's the Commander's job. I just came to tell you that if you mess this up you'll be stuck as a low-class rookie assassin for the rest of your life." He looks me dead in the eyes making me gulp. "Do you understand, Agent Graves?"

"Yes I do, Director Frost." I look into his cold blue eyes with confidence clearly shown in them. He smirks at me satisfied with both the confidence and the response. "I will not let you down."

"Excellent! I can see why Commander Crimson talks so highly of you!" He gets off the desk and adjusts his navy blue suit. "I'll get out of your hair and let the good Commander here debrief you. Maybe after you finish the job we can talk about naming you Special Agent Graves?"

Although the idea of promotion sparks something in others, I have no reaction to the idea. It's just a silly title that makes my name longer than it should be. The Director nods to The Commander before leaving the room with no more words leaving his mouth. I hear The Commander sigh as he sits back down in his chair. He grabs the folder that is exactly the same as mine.

"Your target is target 279. Her real name is..." The Commander stops himself making me look up at him confused. He looks saddened which confuses me even more. He never gets emotional over targets, in fact, he's more than happy to see them gone. Something tells me this target isn't the usual one. "Her name is Clara Lillian and her crimes against humanity is classified."

"Classified?" I give him a weird look. This truly is an odd assignment. First, Crimson gets all emotional over the target and now I can't even find out what her crimes are that caused this Clara Lillian to have a target on her back. Something isn't right. "I understand if they're background is classified but what they're crimes are never classified. What did she do? Murder, theft, treason?"

"If you turn to page fifteen of your file you will see some photos of the target." He continues without even answering my questions. I can tell by the dead look in his eyes that he won't tell me no matter how much I beg. We both turn to the same page and I can hear him gasp, which he tries and fails to cover up. I look over at him curiously making him straighten up and continue with the debriefing. "Your mission is to bring her here alive where Director Frost will deal with her."

"Alive? Why do I need to bring her in alive when Frost will probably just kill her. That is what deal with her means?" I question him more and more but he shrugs them all off. "Why can't I just kill her like I do with all my other targets?"

"Because she isn't like any other target we've faced before!" He slams his hands down on the desk in a rage almost startling me. My eyes go as wide as saucers at his unexpected anger. His enraged eyes soften and he sinks back into his chair with a sigh. "Look, you can kill her if you want but you have to drag her dead corpse back here and explain what happened to Director Frost and face the consequences. So, unless you want to be stuck here forever you'll bring her back here alive to be properly disposed of."

"Alright. Anything else to further confuse me?"

"No, Agent Graves. That is all." I get ready to leave but The Commander stopped me before I could even leave my chair. "Before you leave I need to warn you that this is not a normal target. She is special. This will make it extremely difficult for you but I know you'll do good. That's all I have to say so you're dismissed."

I want to question him further but I can tell that it's useless. He has some sort of emotional connection to the target that even if he explained I would never be able to fully understand. I get out of my seat and walk out of the office slowly thinking about everything that just happened in the span of a few minutes. When I close the door behind me, I see everyone looking at me. They're practically begging with their eyes to know what just happened.

"What are you all looking at!?" I snap at them making them jump and look at their feet. "Get back to what you were doing before and mind your own business!"

I growl slightly frustrated at everyone and try to make my way out of the building only to be stopped by Justin and Steve at the door. Justin pulls on my arm and looks at me with puzzled eyes. "What the hell just happened in there?" He asks in his usual angry voice. "Why did you get called in?"

"I just got another assignment." I brush it off hoping to let it go. "An assignment that I would like to get started on."

"Yeah right!" Steve says sassily. He places his hands on his hips and glares at me. "Director Frost was in that room and I don't think he talks to rookies like us for a normal assignment. It's a promotional assignment, right?"

"Yeah, it is," I admit with a hung head as they look at me with eyes that just scream happiness. "But that's all I'm going to say about it."

"Look, you don't need to tell us anything," Steve says with a bright smile that shows his perfect white teeth. I'm one hundred percent certain I just heard one of his fangirls faint in the background at the sight. "This is the big leagues, Mark! Aren't you excited?"

"Not really," I reply blankly making them nearly faint in shock. "It's just more responsibility and more work for only a little bit more money."

"Jeez, talk about ungrateful!" Justin complains annoyed making me glare at him. "This is the chance that every one of us rookies chases after! It takes years and you're just brushing it off!"

"Justin, stop yelling!" Once again Steve is the peacekeeper and the only thing stopping me from arguing with Justin. Even though we're best friends I don't think we would last if we even lost one member of our group. "Look, Mark, what Justin is trying to say is that this is a big opportunity. You'll do fine and we're both very happy for you."

"I don't think that's what I saying," Justin says making Steve elbow him hard. He winces and clutches his side. "I mean that's exactly what I was trying to say! So proud of you buddy."

I roll my eyes and feel the corners of my mouth twitch, I don't smile but it's as close as I'll ever get. "You two are losers," I say lightly making them both chuckle. "I'm going to leave and get this assignment over with."

"Knowing you, you'll take forever!" Justin chuckles loudly. "Good luck, man."

"Yeah, good luck." Steve pats me on the back and offers me another one of his signature smiles. "Stay safe and keep us updated, Mark."

"Will do." I look at both of them and give them both a pat on the back. "See you guys later."

I walk out into the elevator feeling the gaze of my two friends watching me worriedly. We've all heard horror stories about promotional assignments where the assassin never makes it back alive but I never let that get to me too much. The elevator door closes and the last thing I see is my two friends waving at me with fake happiness trying to disguise their worry but they can't hide from me.

I hit the button that gets me to the parking garage and I watch the numbers on the screen go down and down until I finally reach my destination. I leave as soon as the elevator doors open and quickly get into the sleek black car that I'm allowed to call mine. The file told me some likely places where I would find her at certain times. I always wondered who got this information but I don't really focus on it. I'm just glad that I don't have their job.

I decide that the best place to find my target is at a local park where she seems to spend large amounts of time at. I don't rush over to the park so it should only be a five-minute drive. Throughout the whole ride, I can't help but wonder about everything surrounding this case. I wonder if it'll get any weirder.

I parked my car not that far from the deserted park. When I get out and look around I see no one there except for one person. I walk closer and notice that it's a female who has the same hair colour, hair style, height and body type as Clara Lillian.

Her long and wavy brown hair is blowing in the rough breeze as she faces away from me probably looking at the cluster of flowers. She's not that small but compared to me she looks like a mouse.

I wonder if I should just get her and not even bother giving her one last wish but unfortunately, my mind won't let me make it that easy. She's going to die in a way that's probably more painful than my other targets so I probably should treat her the same as all my other targets. 

I clear my throat alerting her to the fact that someone is standing behind her. She jumps slightly and quickly turns around to face me. She smiles brightly catching me off guard. Why did my heart feel all tingly at such a simple gesture? I probably just have the flu or something. The young lady looks at me with confusion before she finally lets out a soft sigh.

"So, you're the one sent to kill me." She smiles dimly at my perplexed face. How does she know? Is this a trap? "Well, let's just get this over with."