Chapter1: Project 007

20 years later

Present time

Catalina

"Project seven, can you hear me?" The chief commander of the organization talked over the little device implanted behind my ear. "Target secure. Carry out the mission."

I didn't need to respond; A secret organization had hired me to carry out a mission. The plan was easy, kill the mafia boss as quietly as possible. I'm allowed to eliminate anyone trying to stop me from making my boss- or bosses happy.

Being told who to kill, when, and where to kill had become my life. After I took refuge, I was brought to another country and was given a new identity under a protection program. I had tried to escape several times to find 'Boss Chen'- my mom's murderer, but Uncle James, my adoptive patron, had taught me that 'patience' when it comes to vengeance is an integral part of the puzzle.

"People fail because they're impatient," Uncle James would often say as he trapped my king, "checkmate."

I smiled at the memory of the silly old man. He's the closest family I have. He took me under his wing and cared for me; he trained me to project my anger into something useful, like learning foreign languages and hacking up systems. While kids my age played house, I developed survival skills.

By 17, I had joined the Marines. By 19, the higher-ups thought, given my skills, it would be better for me to become an agent- a spy, as layman calls it.

The gruesome physical and mental training of being a secret agent made me sharp; it taught me to be more critical and aware of anyone and anything surrounding me. The agency trained me to decipher unsolvable enigmas, blend in, and gather any necessary information- at all costs.

By the age of 21, I realized that I would never be able to find my mom's killer working for an organization that plays dirty politics and claims to regard the value of life- they did not.

And so, I went invisible in the system and advertised myself on the black market.

Shortly after, someone bought me and sold me into the organization.

"Project Seven, hold the mission. Target Z is with a company." The chief bellowed in my ear.

"Copy," I responded. I looked at my phone and watched the target welcome my target; the motherfucker Boss fucking Chen. I grinned.

'Payback's a bitch.' I said to myself, ready to blow his head off.

'Patience,' I hear Uncle James on my mind. I knew that Boss Chen was coming to see this target tonight. It didn't take long since I discovered who Boss Chen was; even a stray cat could follow his tracks and eliminate him quickly.

He was messy, egotistic, and sloppy of a mafia lord. I could have killed him with a sniper by the building adjacent to the hotel room he liked to keep his escorts.

But I was patient- unlike him, I had time-plenty of it. So like a piece on my chessboard, I maneuvered my players to bring him to me and planned ways to kill him how I wanted his death would be.

The two were alone in a private room at a sushi restaurant. My skin crawled as I grew impatient to decapitate the man that murdered my mother.

"Project Seven. Gather intel but spare Target Z.

That man he is talking to is another mafia lord; we don't want to cause a scene. Wait for the lord to leave and execute the mission."

I raised my brow. "You want me to let a mafia lord leave the place alive?" I hissed.

"We don't ask questions, Seven. We enforce them."

"Copy." I watched the two men laughing and drinking as if they had not just made the world around them a more sinister place.

I looked closely at my monitor and saw what Target Z had been planning to do the entire time.

'Bastard.' I jumped out of the rooftop where I had been waiting patiently.

"Target Z is planning to kill the mafia lord," I said as I discreetly made my way to my target.

"Intervene now," the chief yelled. The gadget implanted in me made his voice twice as loud as it almost gave me a headache.

I held my gun behind the target's head. "Drop your weapon now." Target Z held his hand up. "You're aiming at the wrong target. Do you even know who that man is working for?"

"Seven. Now". I clicked my weapon next to the target's head. It made a very hush sound as it went through his brain.

I looked at Boss Chen. His relaxed demeanor bothered me; it almost seemed like he was expecting me. I pointed the gun at him; he chuckled and looked at me assertively.

"You look just like your dad. But I can see you have your mother's eyes."

I cringed. Hair all over my skin stood. 'How did he know my parents; how did he know me?"

"I think you are mistaken. I don't know what you're talking about nor care. Who do you work for?" I clenched my jaw as I painfully stopped myself from pulling the trigger.

"Hahahaha," his laugh was as evil as his actions. "Isn't that your job? To know things?" He crossed his legs—- left above right, and sat down on the chair across from me. "I'm disappointed."

"I don't have time for you. It's either you tell me, or I'll kill you." My gun, still aimed at his forehead.

"Now, Seven, you don't want to do that." He said with disgusting arrogance and confidence.

'Fuck. How did he know I'm a project? Am I being blindsided?'

I swallowed hard. I heard more than enough information. I do not want to waste another second in this room with this horrendous example of a man.

"You know I'm a project," I said, suppressing the surprise in my voice. "Then, you must know how I do things."

I looked him in the eye as I pulled the trigger. He smiled before falling down from his chair with a bullet on his head.

"Seven. What the hell are you doing?" The chief yelled as a swarm of bodyguards barged into the room.

I maneuvered swiftly, disarming the men that were there to kill me. As I knocked them down one by one, I glanced at the lifeless body of Boss Chen.

"Seven, get out of there now!" The man shouted in my ear, but I was too preoccupied deciphering the clue this man gave me.

I looked at him meticulously. Remembering every movement he made and every word he said.

I looked at the man who ordered to murder my mother. The bullet from my pistol visible.

'Who are you? How did you know my parents? How did you know I'm a project?'

I pictured the events in my memory one more, 'BINGO' I said to myself as I grabbed what looked like an encrypted computer chip at the sole of his left shoe.

'I'm gonna figure it all out.' I scoffed as I escaped the now blood-filled room.