You Don't Want to Stand in my Way

Brief -
An unfathomable power splits and falls into unexpected hands, scattering the world with individuals who find that they are no longer just ordinary people. Some will seek to do good, but others will seek to change the world to their will and will let nothing stand in their way..


****


The dagger they used to cut him glimmered in the streak of moonlight with each silent stroke. The man’s leg jerked out feebly, as his life slipped away and blood began to pool on the concrete pathway around him. His last thought was of his family and the silly conversations he had only moments ago that seemed so trivial now. How unaware he was, of how precious the memory became in the milliseconds that they flashed through his mind. He was only moments earlier teasing his daughter about meeting her new boyfriend this coming weekend at the family BBQ, telling her he wanted to interrogate him on arrival through a smirked grin, to the ever-growing frustration of his daughter. It was a warm memory in contrast to the cold of the sidewalk, which faded as his body became still.

Once the silence had settled, the attacker, clothed all in black, held the dagger up momentarily as it began to take on an eery glow of fluorescent light, the blade casting a tainted hue over his face, before disappearing quickly again.

“That’s it” ... There was a finality in his tone and the briefest pull of a smile in the corner of his mouth. The words were almost a relief; the type someone resigns to after completing an exhausting task or lifted from a heavy burden.

Behind him another two men squatted silently, the man on the left moving his foot back an inch as a stream of blood began to pool outwards, and the other casually clenching and unclenching his gloved hand as he waited patiently. They were here more for controlled support than anything, but the evening jogger did not seem to be too hard to handle.

The attacker who had sheaved the dagger, seemingly the leader of the group, cleaned the blade on the grey hoodie of the man who lay motionless in front of him and then delicately sheaved it in an intricately wrapped cover he held in his other hand. The blade was slightly curved and small, with an intricate handle which looked as if it had seen many years of use and had gone dull over time. It was an alien-looking dagger with emboldened etching, and small fine jewels, all strangely out of place against the modern clothes of the wielder, but he handled it with cautious care, like a mother to her infant.

The small group moved like cats as they darted away in the dying evening light towards a sleek SUV idling patiently down the closest side street. In the instant the sliding door closed, the SUV began moving to leave the now quiet street behind them.

***
Jacob Morney was not a patient man and tonight was especially trying as his hands tore up another tissue absentmindedly that he left in a pile amongst others on the desk in front of him. His gaze fixed on the open window from the second story of his home, which faced the gated driveway. This was his routine for the last hour, either fiddling unconsciously while seated in his office chair that stood taller than his head or pacing manically back and forth along the wall-to-ceiling bookcases of the rear wall of his office. He wore a well-tailored suit, one of the many of his collection, but this was his favourite. He wanted to look and feel his best, it was a momentous night after all. All the research, the trips to Australia digging in the desert, not to mention the millions of dollars spent since he learnt about the book. All of it would be worth it for tonight he settled.

The fortified gate at the front of his house began to make a grating vibration noise, as it slowly separated outwards. The static buzz of a walkie-talkie echoed in Jacob’s office

“Boss, they have arrived”

Jacob watched as the SUV made its way slowly into his compound. Sitting back down in his chair he placed a hand gently on an old leather book as if to comfort him, while a broad smile spread across his face. It held strange symbols on the cover, etched deep in the worn red leather. It was fraying on the thick spine and the symbols were etched with a metallic substance on the face of the cover.
He didn’t see the shadow move from the corner of his office. The last thing he saw was a masked face, and the barrel of a silencer moving up toward him with trained efficiency. He thought to move to the telecom he had to signal for help, but at the same moment he knew there would be nothing that could be done and he simply blinked before the wet thud of the silencers barrel turned his world into darkness.