A lifetime of hard work and it all comes down to this moment. My fingers slick with sweat I held the blade more firmly. My hand hovered over the three wires. Another four minutes to go I saw as I glanced at the timer. The man standing behind me gestured with his gun telling me to continue. He had resigned himself to his fate. But I still saw a trace of hope on his face. I did not have it in me to kill his hope and the hope of all the people still trapped in the building. Even if it meant that I might be giving up the one chance I had to kill the enemy.
It had all started five years ago when the sudden death of the Secretary of Defense, Damon Brandis, had shaken everyone. Since then I had been on the run. Trained in four different forms of self - defense and a master of disguise it had not been so hard to hide myself from the government. After two years I decided it was time to go back to the city. I assumed a new identity, Jack Moore, a run of the mill small town business man come to the city to earn some big bucks. I established a Pretzel business and after a year and a few well-placed investments it grew into a multi - million dollar enterprise. I got in with all the 'right' people and moved with the most informed but ignorant social circle. That is when I started tracking the movements of the government.
On the outside all seemed to be normal and routine. But it was all a façade and to get inside that closely knitted group of people I needed an inner source. Surprisingly, I got the answer to my problems at a fundraising event. Joseph Wright, the new Secretary of Defense was a feeble and weedy man. As soon as I saw him I recognized his weak chin and portly belly as a sign of frailty. He was the sort of man that you could easily obliterate. After a week of golf and visiting almost all the clubs in town I got my first opening. Within a month's time I knew all the names and personal information of the people working in the Defense department including a whole bio-data on the person I was looking for.
That brings me to how I came to be here. Joseph and I had been hitting around some balls on the golf course when he received an urgent page to reach here as soon as possible. As soon as we arrived at the address we heard the sound of blaring sirens. A large crowd was gathered below an old worn-down brown building. The police had received an anonymous note implying that a bomb had been planted inside the building. Few people were trapped inside the building. The bomb squad tried their best to diffuse the bomb but to no effect. After a few minutes I decided to interfere and asked to see the bomb. If I let the bomb go off it would keep the basement safe but would destroy the rest of the building. I had never meant for that to happen. I looked at the police officer behind me again and sighed. I cut the red wire.
The timer stopped with a loud click. As I came out of the building, along with relief I could see one question on everyone's face- if a highly specialized bomb disarming squad had not been able to deactivate the bomb then how could a simple businessman do it? But they were never able to prove anything. The next day itself I took the bio-data and the evidence I had collected to the Defense office. I had finally decided that I would execute my operation in a more law -abiding manner this time. I walked towards the receptionist. She asked for my name. "Damon Brandis", I said.
THE END
