The Assassin's Bullet

By C.S. Michaels

After making a life-changing decision, Cameron Blake embarks on his mission to rid the world of the most lethal and menacing criminals. Shortly thereafter, things take a dark turn for Cam as he soon realizes that he has gone from the hunter to the hunted. Not only is the killer after Cam, but his wife and two best friends get caught up in this harrowing situation. They must work together before Cam’s life-changing decision winds up getting them all killed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: C.S. Michaels
• Release date: Jul 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9781548433871

Book preview

Chapter 1

The crosshairs of my rifle’s scope were lined up square on the man’s head.

He was oblivious to the fact that in just a few short moments his life was going to end. The good news for him, if one chose to look at it as good news, was that he was going to die quickly. There would be no long, painful death. That may not make him feel better if he knew he was going to die, but it made me feel better.

My target was in his apartment, sitting in his office, looking at his laptop. He was behind his desk and facing the wall with his back to the window, exposing a perfect head shot to me. The shot I was lining up was about two hundred yards away, which normally wouldn’t be a problem for me. I had made that shot thousands of times, albeit never at a human being.

However, in this case, once I fired the shot, the bullet was going to have to travel through the window and that was a risk. You never knew what glass could do to the trajectory of the bullet so I was going to have to be ready to fire a second shot if needed. Firing a second shot was a worst-case scenario, but I needed to be prepared just in case it was required.

I didn’t want to fire a second shot because that would increase the risk of getting caught. Not only would I have to take the time to line up the second shot and fire the rifle again, but I would have to eject the first shell. That meant additional time looking for the shell when I was ready to leave because I couldn’t risk that it would be found by the cops. Not that it really mattered if it was found because I knew it wouldn’t lead them to me. I had made sure that I wore gloves when I loaded the shells into the rifle, but I still didn’t want to leave any evidence behind, proving that I was here.

In addition to that, if I had to take a second shot then that meant my first shot wasn’t accurate. If I wounded him or missed him, he would have the chance to get away before I could get another shot off. With all that going through my head I still felt comfortable with my shot.

I had practiced many hours of firing a shot, ejecting the shell and then firing another shot accurately. I had even bought a window and put it in front of a target just to see what it would do to the bullet when I fired. It hadn’t affected it too much so I felt relatively comfortable that my shot would be true. However, all my practice shots had always been at paper targets that weren’t going to try to move after the first shot was fired so that was easy compared to this situation.

I knew I could get a second shot off before he made it to the door in his office, but if he dropped to the floor immediately after the first shot and crawled to a spot in the room where I didn’t have a good view of him then I may not have a chance to get the second shot off. Even if I did take a second shot before he had a chance to hide, I would have to rush the shot which meant I may miss him.

If he could manage to get to a spot in the room where I couldn’t see him then he could call for help if he had his cell phone or he could wait for help. If he called for help they would send people scouring the area and they may find me. That meant that if I missed him and couldn’t get another shot off then I was going to leave the area immediately without finishing the job.

Even if he didn’t call for help, I wouldn’t be able to stay where I was. He could just wait me out, knowing I would have to eventually leave. That would force me to try to finish the job somewhere else, but he would then be watchful, making it much more difficult. I had to succeed with this attempt because it was the best attempt I was going to get.

Those were all the things that were going through my head at the moment since this was going to be my first kill. Well, let me rephrase that statement. This was going to be my first kill for money. I had killed before, but that was for personal reasons, which those people deserved, by the way. This was the first time I was killing someone as part of a job and I needed to ensure that I didn’t make a mistake.

I was hoping that if I was successful then this would lead to other jobs in the future. That probably makes me sound like some kind of monster, but I’m actually one of the good guys, as unlikely as that sounds. I’m sure most people would disagree with that statement, but in my opinion, I’m one of the good guys and I’m just trying to do what’s right. I’m sure I would have difficulty convincing the public of that, but I wasn’t going to concern myself with what other people might think.

I should probably explain how I became an assassin and why I think I’m one of the good guys. My name is Cameron Blake and this path I’m following started about a year and a half ago when my parents and sister were brutally murdered in their house in Kansas City during the middle of the night.

As one can imagine, it was quite a shock to me when the police came to the door to tell me my family had been killed. At first, I couldn’t even comprehend what they were telling me. It was like some bad dream and I kept expecting to wake up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a dream. It had actually happened and I was living a nightmare.

They were the only family I had and there was a cop sitting in my living room on a Sunday morning, telling me everyone I loved was dead. Sure, I had a few other relatives, but we weren’t close. The only family members I was close to were now dead and I didn’t know how to react to that.

The cops told me three men had broken in to my family’s house to rob the place after waiting until everyone had gone to bed. After they had broken in, they started taking everything they could get their hands on, which wasn’t much because my parents lived modestly.

At some point during the robbery, one or more of the men went upstairs and brutally murdered my parents and my sister while they slept. The cops couldn’t explain why they had done that because it wasn’t like my family went downstairs and caught them in the act of robbing them. They were sound asleep and hadn’t even known what was happening. The men had purposely and deliberately gone upstairs with the sole purpose of killing them.

The men were eventually caught and brought up on murder charges, not only for the murder of my family, but the murder of another couple which happened a week after my family was killed. Eventually, it went to court and I had been optimistic they would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Unfortunately, the evidence the prosecutors were counting on to convict the three of them didn’t work out the way it was supposed to so the three of them were found not guilty. To say I was pissed would be a huge understatement. I just couldn’t believe those three killers were able to go free and for a while it haunted me every day, forcing me to become a borderline alcoholic.

Eventually, my best friend Jonathon Riley suggested that I take the law into my own hands. At first, I couldn’t believe he had suggested such a thing because I never thought I could do something like that. I had shrugged it off, not wanting to risk going to prison the rest of my life. As much as I would have liked to make them pay for what they had done, I certainly didn’t want to go to prison.

However, there were some events that took place shortly thereafter that changed my mind. I won’t go into those details, but suffice it to say, it was significant and I decided something needed to be done.

After I got my vengeance, I felt good, knowing that I prevented those monsters from killing other people. I thought I would feel remorse, but I felt nothing for them, knowing they deserved everything they got. Feeling satisfied that we had done something good, Jon and I decided to kill people that we determined were a menace to society so they couldn’t hurt anyone again.

Some people would say that it wasn’t up to me to determine who was good and who was bad or who should live and who should die. I’m sure they would add that it’s not my responsibility to be judge, jury and executioner. They would probably be right, but I didn’t care.

I knew one thing and that’s that I didn’t want anyone to ever go through what I had gone through. I’ll never forget how I felt when I heard my family had been murdered. It turned my life upside down. The feelings of sadness turned into feelings of anger when the men were found innocent because that meant there was going to be no justice for what happened to my family.

If only the law would have done its job and the men would have been found guilty, I would have gone back to my regular life and I wouldn’t be sitting here, prepared to kill a man. However, that didn’t happen and it would be an event that would change my life forever.

To this day, I still don’t understand how those men were set free. It was so unfair and I couldn’t live with that outcome. Something needed to be done and if the justice system wasn’t going to do anything about it then I would take matters into my own hands. Once that happened, I figured I would take justice into my own hands for other people that were still free and not paying for their crimes. That’s how I justified it to myself. Whether a jury would understand my decision to kill people, I had no idea.

It didn’t matter because I was never arrested for the murders. Of course, the police came and talked to me, knowing I had a motive to see those people killed, but they couldn’t prove anything. They watched me for a few days, but the deed was done so there was nothing they were going to get from me.

Those events set in motion a journey where I am now a hired assassin. Jon and I figured horrible people like the men that killed my parents deserved to die and we were going to do everything we could to make it happen. We also figured that if we were going to kill people, we might as well get paid to do it so that’s why I’m here, ready to fire my rifle at the man in front of me.

I pushed those thoughts out of my head as I brought my mind back to the present and prepared to squeeze the trigger.

Chapter 2

The man in my scope was in his mid-forties with small circular glasses. He had a small head and was starting to go bald but kept what remained of his black hair cut short. Although he was sitting down and I couldn’t see the rest of him, I knew he was five feet nine and had a small pot belly that was normal for someone his age. I knew this because I had been following him for the last few weeks, trying to determine where my best shot would be.

We had done a lot of research on him so I knew everything about him. I knew he had a wife and daughter. I knew he would be working from home at this time of day, just like he did every day. His wife would be at the salon right now like she was every week. The daughter was at school now so there was no chance that she would be home when I took the shot.

In fact, there wasn’t anyone else that would be in the home. The maid wouldn’t come until the afternoon so either she or the wife would get home first, meaning the daughter wouldn’t be the one that discovered her father. I may be a killer, but I wasn’t going to put his daughter through the emotional grief of seeing her father dead.

She probably didn’t even know the extent of her father’s illegal activities so it was going to be hard on her to lose him, but it would be even worse if she were the one that found him. I knew it wasn’t good to put a wife through it either, but this had to be done and someone had to find his body. I certainly preferred that to be the wife rather than the daughter, especially since I figured his wife knew exactly what kind of work he was in.

Because I have been watching their activity, I knew she would be the one to discover the body, I also knew I had a few hours before that would happen, giving me plenty of time to make my escape. I purposely set it up so I would be here at this time and the killing would happen now.

I was in a precarious position, high atop a building, so if someone saw the body and called for help before I had a chance to get down to the street, it would greatly increase the chances of me getting caught. Since I knew I had two hours before the body was discovered, it would make escaping the area much easier.

Knowing I was just minutes from killing the man, there was no guilt inside of me and that was because of who this man was. According to the bio that Jon had gotten me, this man was responsible for a lot of killings, not to mention a host of other illegal activities.

His name was Enrique Ramirez. He was the son of Jorge Ramirez who was a drug lord in Miami. Apparently, the father dominated the drug market in Miami and had decided to expand his operation in the New York City area, where I was now. According to the information I had read, he had been a person of interest and investigated, but there was never enough evidence to bring charges against him. He had done a great job of insulating himself from all the illegal activities, including ordering the hits on several of his competitors, both in Miami and New York.

Enrique, the son, was the number two man in his father’s drug operation. From all accounts, Enrique was as ruthless as his father. Although he may not have killed the people himself, there were rumors that he had several people killed over the years. One article we found showed that the FBI had investigated him for over a year before finally bringing charges on him. The father paid for the best lawyers that money could buy, but it seemed likely he would still go to prison.

Miraculously, the jury found him not guilty on all charges and he walked away free, sending the public into an uproar. There were rumors that the jurors had been bribed or threatened so they would find him not guilty, but it had never been proven. After reading about him going free, it brought back all the memories of the murderers that killed my family, which is why I felt no guilt about doing what I was doing.

When Jon and I discussed this operation, we decided to make it look like a rival drug lord ordered the hit. Since the father had been suspected of ordering hits on his competitors, we figured it would be plausible to believe that his competitors would order a hit on him. Given the fact that someone was paying me to carry out the killing, I assumed it had to be from a rival so we might as well make it look that way.

That’s why I was shooting from two hundred yards away. I didn’t know exactly how hits were carried out, but I figured shooting someone sniper-style would fit into that category. Not only did I think this would make it look like a professional hit, which it was, but I liked the idea of doing it from this far away. I didn’t want to try to break into his apartment to kill him. It would be much more difficult to do and I knew there was a bigger risk of being seen or leaving evidence at the scene.

The other reason I liked the idea of shooting him from here was that I figured it would be much easier for me to get away than if I tried to kill him from inside his apartment. Also, it would have been difficult to attempt to sneak into his apartment to commit the murder, mainly because he had guards posted outside his door. They may even be in the apartment with him, but I didn’t think so. During all my surveillance, it seemed that the guards waited outside, but even if they were inside the apartment with him, it wouldn’t matter. If they were in the apartment, they would be standing guard by the door so there was no way they would hear the shot.

Taking my eye off the man, I checked the surrounding area, making sure nobody was looking at me. It was a Wednesday afternoon in New York City so there were some people on the streets, but it wasn’t too crowded. The streets were never empty in New York City, no matter the time of day, so this was going to be about as good as I could get during the day time.

Since I was on top of the building, nobody should be able to see me as I tried to remain hidden behind the ledge. I only had the rifle and my head above the ledge so I was relatively hidden. Most people don’t walk down a street looking up so I wasn’t too concerned about being seen or heard. The bigger risk was from people seeing me from the windows of other buildings, which was why I picked this one. It was taller than most of the buildings in the area so nobody would be above me.

I had a black high-powered sniper rifle with a sixteen-inch barrel and an adjustable buttstock, allowing the rifle to have a maximum length of 36 inches. The adjustable buttstock could fold in, which allowed me to conceal it in a backpack. The rifle was equipped with a sixteen-ounce sound suppressor so nobody would be able to hear my shot. Not only was the sound suppressor needed so it wouldn’t give away my location, it also helped reduce recoil, allowing me to confirm the first hit and take a second shot quickly if needed. The rifle came with a ten-round magazine as well as one in the chamber, although if I needed that many rounds then I was in a lot of trouble.

The rifle had a bipod attached to the front of the rifle which I currently had resting on the ledge of the building, making it much easier to shoot with precision. The total weight was a little over eleven pounds when it was empty. I was able to purchase it through an unlicensed gun dealer so there was no record of me buying it. The retail price was fifty-five hundred dollars. I liked the rifle a lot and had been practicing with it for a little over a year, knowing if I was going to kill horrible people, this was going to be the way to do it.

I had grown up hunting with my parents, often going to Colorado to hunt deer and elk. I used to use a .30-06 and a .243 so I had a lot of experience with rifles. As a result, I was accurate to begin with but I knew if I was going to go into this line of work I would need to be even more accurate, so I practiced relentlessly.

We had found an empty field several miles from the Kansas City area where I was able to practice my shooting. I couldn’t go to a shooting range because the sniper rifle would stand out and draw a lot of attention, so we had found a deserted area that allowed me to practice in peace.

Getting my mind back on the task at hand, I focused on the target. I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to slow my heart rate. My heart was racing and I tried to steady myself, but that was easier said than done. This was my first time doing something like this and I quickly realized it was much different than shooting at targets. It was also much different than the other men I killed because this time I had no personal attachment. Last time, I had so much rage building inside of me for what they did to my family there wasn’t any kind of nervousness. This time, I had never met this person so I was killing a stranger, although knowing he was a terrible person made me feel less guilty about it.

I think I was more nervous about getting caught than I was about doing the actual killing. The last time I did this, I made sure that I had set up the perfect murder, or what I thought was the perfect murder. In this case, the police were going to know exactly where the shot came from. The only reason I felt safe was that they had no reason to suspect me. There was no link to me and the victim so there was no reason for them to suspect me. Of course, I knew the police were very good so I had to make sure I didn’t leave any evidence behind that could lead to me.

I also needed to make sure this hit was successful. Jon and I had already received half the payment for this job and we would receive the other half when he was confirmed dead. I already had one hundred thousand dollars which was my cut in an unnamed bank account in the Cayman Islands. As soon as this was done, I would get another hundred grand.

Pushing the thoughts of money out of my mind, I moved the scope up and down the street one last time, just to make sure nothing looked suspicious. I didn’t see anything, not that I expected to, so I determined I had a green light. I had been preparing for this for the last four weeks so I felt very comfortable with the plan. I moved the scope back to Enrique and settled the crosshairs on the back of his head and took one more deep breath.

I slowly squeezed the trigger.

Chapter 3

Through my scope, I saw a big red mess hit the wall in front of my target. Then his head fell forward as it crashed onto the laptop that he had been working on just seconds before. Although I didn’t need to worry about firing another shot, I ejected the shell then moved the bolt so it loaded the next round. Immediately, I realized I had done that automatically even though I had told myself not to eject the shell unless I was going to have to fire another shot. I didn’t want to take the risk of losing the shell so I made a mental note to look for the shell before I left.

I kept the scope on him and watched him for thirty seconds just to make sure he was dead. I didn’t have much doubt based on the amount of blood that was on the wall, but I kept the scope on him just in case he started to move.

Moving the scope to his back, I watched to see if there was any movement, indicating he was breathing. Keeping the crosshairs there for thirty seconds, I didn’t see any movement, proving he was no longer alive. If he wasn’t dead then he was a mighty good actor.

Satisfied he was dead I moved my scope up and down the street to see if anyone was panicking. There hadn’t been a sound as the suppressor did what it was supposed to but I was more concerned with the window making a noise as the bullet passed through it.

The bullet left a hole in the office window, but I didn’t think it made much of a sound. At least if it did make any noise, it would have been too quick for anyone to figure out what it was or where it came from. I know I hadn’t heard any sounds so I was relatively sure nobody else had either.

Knowing I couldn’t stay here any longer, I set the rifle down and picked up the empty shell. After scooting away from the edge of the building so I could get out of sight, I knew I needed to get packed up and leave quickly. I took the sound suppressor off first then I folded in the buttstock. The great thing about the rifle I had was that once I had that done it could easily fit into my backpack. It was much less conspicuous to walk around with a backpack then it was with something larger like a guitar case.

Once I had the rifle in my backpack, I stood up and took my gloves off. I made sure that I never touched my rifle or the shells with my bare hands. I couldn’t take the chance of leaving fingerprints on it.

With my gloves off, I took my coveralls off then wrapped the rifle in them, careful not to touch the rifle. The coveralls had been important because I knew I was going to be sitting on the roof and I hadn’t wanted to get my clothes dirty. In addition to that, if anyone were to see me on the rooftop I figured someone wearing coveralls would be less suspicious because they would think I was some kind of maintenance man.

I was wearing what was considered business casual which consisted of black slacks with a solid blue buttoned down, long sleeve shirt. I had black shoes on, but they were covered with shoe booties currently. I would take those off when I got into the stairwell. Once those were off, I knew this ensemble was going to help me blend in with the business crowd that was not only in this building but also on the streets.

I had contemplated wearing a suit and tie but as Jon and I discussed it we determined it probably wasn’t a good idea. I would stand out because most men in white collar jobs didn’t wear suits anymore. Certainly, there were exceptions. Vice Presidents and Presidents of large companies often wore suits, but the way I looked and the backpack I was carrying made it so I didn’t look like an executive. I would appear to be an average office worker walking the streets like so many other people.

That was why I chose to wear business casual. Having worked in the business world before starting this new career, I knew everyone wore exactly what I was wearing and they always carried their laptops in the same kind of backpack I was carrying. I figured this was a great way to camouflage myself.

Once everything was in my backpack, I put my gloves back on then slung the backpack over my shoulder and headed to the stairs where I had entered the rooftop. Picking up the motion detector that I had set in front of the door, I placed it in my backpack. The motion detector was used as a warning system, just in case someone came through the door. I had the receiver with me so if anyone would have come through the door then an alarm would have been set off, giving me ample time to break down the rifle and hide it before I was seen.

There was another motion detector that I had placed one flight of stairs down, in the stairwell, for redundancy purposes. I had also placed a wedge in front of the door to slow someone from entering the roof. The wedge wouldn’t stop them, but it would slow them down while they had to push the door open, adding to the time it took for them to get onto the roof, ensuring I had plenty of time to get everything put into the backpack.

Placing the motion detector and the wedge in the backpack, I opened the door and looked down the stairs. Not seeing anyone, I headed down the first flight of stairs, picking up the second motion detector. Putting that in the backpack, I took off my gloves then took