Chapter 1
PRESENT DAY
"Xin, is the target in sight?"
Xin inhaled sharply, fighting off a sneer that threatened to crack his quiet exterior. "Xie xie," Xin replied softly over the phone. He couldn't believe that Victor's harsh undertone had the power to stick needles into his composure. Nothing got past Xin's thick skin. "Tag him!" The commander's response was curt.
Xin clapped the cellphone shut and tapped it against his pursed lips. Sitting on a folding chair, off-center of the sparsely furnished room, he eyed the last of the exiting thugs with mild interest. Xin hailed him, inclining his head to encourage him to come near. The man hesitated, glanced back at the troop, and then quickly stepped forward to be addressed by his superior.
The man who hailed him had short black hair and wore dark glasses. He wore a dark grey suit and a metallic tie with an engraved silver tie clip that fastened to a crisp, plum-colored shirt.
Bending over, listening closely to what the mysterious Asian man had to say, he did not realize that this man was a figure only he could see.
Xin, using his thumb to hold the cell phone to his palm, extended his four fingers to stab the man through the protective black army gear in his lower abdomen.
"No, look at me, look at me," Xin said as he coaxed the man's attention from the sudden pain in his side to look into his eyes as he inserted the small phone into his flesh. "You're fine. You feel no pain," he told him. Xin used his fingers to slowly push the cell phone deeper into the man's side before he removed his coarse hand and the gash quickly healed, leaving a contused wound.
Xin covered the spot by pulling the man's jacket over the area and smiled. "Now, hurry along before they realize you're gone."
The man swallowed hard as he slowly gained his bearings coming out from under the strong trance. He felt sick as though he wanted to throw up, but he couldn't fathom the reason. He shrugged it off as just the intensity of the job at hand; for protecting the subject from attack would not be easy. He inhaled to calm himself. As he left the room, he almost gagged on the saliva that had accumulated in his mouth. He covered his mouth, coughing to clear his throat, and was shocked to see a spattering of blood in the palm of his hand. This confused him even further.
"Hey! Roger!" Looking up from his bloodied hand, he saw his teammate waving to him from the entrance.