Part 1: hired gun
It was a cold wet miserable day as James Timothy Roberts looked out at the target. A grimy grey cinder block building nestled in the middle of his sights. He smiled to himself as he settled into what he knew would be a long wait for the target. There were some times he just loved his work, he wasn’t an evil person he just loved money too much. His best work was just sitting and waiting and then a short pull on the trigger and some ones problem was no more. A few times he felt remorse but it was short lived and he would also drown it in a few shots of rotgut hooch.

He was a sniper the best on the private market, if anyone could afford his price he would take out a target. No matter who they were he would take them in his sights and one shot was usually enough. There were times when a second shot was needed, not for the target but a possible witness. He did not think on after his work but would wait for the next job to come in. This time he was waiting for the head of a Russian mafia family. Those sorts of jobs gave him a sense of well being as he would think he was making the world a slightly better place. Even if the methods were not the types that were smiled on by the powers that be.

His back was starting to ache with holding the same position for over eight hours and he started to feel that annoying itch in the middle of his spine. Someone was watching him he could feel it and he allowed his senses to try and home in on the viewer. As he slowly moved his head he was surprised at what his eyes showed him. There was a young girl of about four sitting on a wall at nine o clock and about fifty yards away looking straight at him. He knew he was well hidden but this girl seemed to be looking straight at him through the bushes and camouflage that hid him from casual view.

As the hours ticked on as he waited for his target to appear the girl did not move. Whenever Tim turned to look at her she was playing with a doll and smiling. This child’s behaviour was really starting to get to him and he sighed when the target appeared. Letting out a slow breath he gently eased the pressure onto the trigger of the rifle and the silenced shot sped towards the target neatly drilling a hole into the centre of Don Mikhail’s forehead. Gently Tim eased the rifle into its cover and zipped it closed and then eased himself out of hiding into the rental car next to where he was hiding.

He drove through the city and forgot about the young girl that had been watching him and settled into the hotel room and used the throw away mobile telephone to call his employer. After sending the message he stood out on the balcony and set the cell phone under his foot and stamped down on it. He kept hold of the sim card and slipped it into his wallet for disposal later. As he left the hotel and headed to the airport he saw her again across the street. After a closer look there was something that was familiar to him but he could not place it. Without a second thought he arranged his ticket and flew home.

A few months later and in a back water town somewhere in the south east UK Tim is waiting on the appearance of another target. He knew little on why this person was wanted dead only that his target had managed to anger an American business man. He did not even know the gender of his intended target. All he had been told was his target would be wearing a blue velvet cape and carrying a teddy bear with a red ribbon.

Suddenly there was the flashing glimpse of dark blue and red. Tim eased onto the trigger and the shot left the barrel, a curse left his lips as he saw it was heading towards a child. For the first time in his career he was panicking, as he turned his head away he saw that strange young girl stood looking at him. Her face was lit with a small quirky smile as she looked at him and nodded. The fact that she seemed to know him unnerved him as he looked at her. The eyes seemed to bore through him marked by a strange light and she nodded again at him and then curtseyed.

As he stood there looking at the girl and her strange smile and she seemed to nod as she looked him up and down. She was dressed as though she was heading out to a birthday party and that ever present teddy bear in her arms. Her eyes seemed to grow larger as he looked at him and he found himself falling into them. It felt as though he was starting to drown in them, he felt as though he was starting to fall into the blackness of her pupils. He started to feel light headed as he stood there; he did not notice the form of a black suited man standing a few feet from him. As he stood the suited figure raised a small side arm and carefully taking aim straight at him. His assailant slowly squeezed the trigger and there was a muffled muzzle flash and the round entered Tim’s body and he felt himself falling.

Time felt the impact and looked down and slowly smiled, he started to find that his body was beginning to fail. As he crumpled to the pavement a small rosebud of blood blossomed on his crisp white shirt, as he fell the stain spread slowly across his shirt from his heart and it looked like his life would be over soon. Once he had hit the floor he turned his head the girl was stood there but she seemed to change and grow and became a woman with a gentle smile and her dress turned white. In her arm the teddy bear changed to a book and she walked over towards Tim and slowly knelt down and brushed the hair from his eyes.

“Sleep well little one, things are about to change and your battles will soon be over but will begin again.” She said her voice soft and gentle almost maternal.

With those words the world started to close around Tim and his vision started to close down. He felt as though he was starting to float and he started to lose the sensations in his arms and legs. He started to feel as though he was fading but instead of being cold he felt warm all over. As the blackness claimed him he swore he could feel arms encircling him and cuddling him close to a warm body. The final thing that went through his head was a buried memory. He was stood in a garden and he could feel the breeze against his knees and something else was brushing against them. Then it was changed to a feeling of fear as the presence of a man was felt. His memory added the figure of his father and he remembered what had happened. He had played dress up with his older sister and had worn one of her old dresses that fitted him. For the first time in his young life he had felt complete, it was changed that day as his father beat him for saying he was a girl. Over the years it had changed his thinking, the girl inside was buried deeply. He became the angry young man who was lost dealing with people and the only way he could keep the rage in check was the fact of becoming a hired gun.

As the blackness closed around Tim and the sensation of the warm embrace claimed him, his body just became an empty shell. He became aware again as things seemed to change and it was as if his vision was coming back. There was the sensation of the breeze against his legs again and that strange tickling that he remembered as the hem of a dress against his legs. He seemed to take a breath through his nose and the smell was of a garden in the start of spring. The slight teasing scent of roses and other flowers and he looked around and all around him could see a garden. As he looked around his gaze settled on the figure of a young woman sat under a tree and for some reason he was drawn towards her. Her face was gentle and open and her hair an almost blazing white and her eyes loving and caring. He slowly walked towards her and without another word settled on her lap.

to be continued