First Mission

Homecoming

When the helicopter touched down on the apartment complex roof, Scinos leaped out and ran down a flight of stairs. He entered the living room and saw Solomon working on papers at his desk. Solomon didn't look up as he asked, "Did you get the Isela?"
Scinos handed the bag to Solomon who nodded his thanks. Solomon reached onto a side table and gave Scinos a few paper bills. Henrik walked down the stairs a few seconds after the trade was made, and the two boys headed out of the room. Before they left, Solomon said, "The Isela is very powerful. I will keep it safe. Great job, kids. You did well."
Henrik and Scinos took the elevator back to their apartment. They recounted their adventures and were happy to have completed this mission. The money was sufficient to keep them going for six months, by which time they would be asked to go on another mission. Scinos leaped onto the couch and promptly fell asleep. Henrik recorded in his journal the extent of their adventures.
Henrik had only been writing for a few minutes when a knock was heard at the front door. He jumped up and went over to answer it. "Strange, we weren't expecting anyone." Henrik thought. The door opened slowly and a man stepped in. He was wearing a long black overcoat with a green tunic underneath and seemed to have a permanent scowl. Scinos leapt up from the couch, brandishing his stick at the unknown person who'd just entered their apartment. The man twirled and in a deft motion snagged the stick out of Scinos' hand and threw it across the room. He raised a calloused palm. "Stop. I'm not here to hurt you."

Henrik looked at the man with apprehension. "Who are you and why are you here?"

The man bowed with a flourish. "My name is Macbeth, and I'm here to recruit you. I have reason to believe there are enemies plotting against me."

Scinos nodded. "That makes sense. What's the mission?"

Macbeth pulled a worn paper out of one of the overcoat's large pockets. "This is a rough sketch of the man I need you to kill."

A hastily drawn face with an expression of sadness stared back at the two boys. They were surprised by the lack of defining features but the artist had evidently put in effort with the amount of shading required to execute this portrait well. Henrik grabbed the paper out of Macbeth's hand and laid it out flat on the apartment counter. He looked at Scinos and then they together stared into Macbeth's cold blue eyes. "We'll do the mission. How much are we getting paid?"

Macbeth coolly glared back. "Thirty million. Half up front and the rest once you complete the mission."

Henrik and Scinos watched as Macbeth turned around, striding towards the door. He spoke over his shoulder. "The money and travel will be arranged. Meet my pilot tomorrow at Isla Blanca in the Spanish District. You'll need to pack heavy. We're going to Scotland."

The two boys stood dumbfounded as they realized how much money they were going to get. This would set them up for life. Henrik looked over at Scinos. "Did that guy give you the creeps or was it just me?"

Scinos responded, "I feel that he's hiding something. Something he doesn't want us to know that's important to this mission. Stay alert. We might learn what it is if he slips up." Scinos collapsed back on the coach and turned the TV on to his favorite TV show, where contestants competed for a prize by answering questions. Henrik sighed, and retired to his room. He slid into his gaming chair and pulled headphones over his ears. He tapped a key and some chill lofi hiphop started blaring through the speakers. Henrik opened up a browser tab and typed in the name Macbeth. There were no results. Henrik scratched his head, then opened up an incognito tab. He navigated his way to the dark web and typed in Macbeth on the hacker forum Tarantula. A few hits came up.

Henrik clicked on the first one. It detailed a user named M4cb3th asking for assassins to hit a man named Duncan. This wasn't out of the ordinary, many people had enemies and maybe Macbeth had issues with this Duncan. Henrik kept digging. The second to last site was another query from Macbeth asking about the realisticness of prophecies. He asked if the fact that some soothsayer predicted his rise to power was truth or simply made up. This was a little suspicious, but it was late, and Henrik was tired. He vowed to continue looking during the flight to Scotland.