Angel of Death prologue

Prologue

         They murdered him.  Atop the greatest tower, overlooking the blood splattered siege.  The men in black that had scaled the barb topped walls came in, M16’s ablaze.  After them where the agents, and spies… and the asset.  He ran from his chambers, the silken robes that were wrapped around his shoulders broke loose and fluttered to the floor.

         Bang… Bang… Ba-SLAM!  The steel laced doors buckled under the strain.  He sped up, sprinting for the escape shaft.  Another man appeared around the corner of the switchback staircase.  A muzzle flashed, reflecting off the shined marble floor.  The cracking of stone tore apart the cold silence.  With a resounding CRASH the palace broke apart, letting the moonlight stream in.

         “It’s all over Ali, you’ve lost!” the gunman shouted at the fleeing man, raising his weapon again.

         Ali rolled to the side as another bullet ripped into the wall above his head.  The wall began to crumble.  As Ali pulled himself to his feet, the click of an empty chamber was barely audible over the crashing marble.  In a desperate fervor, Ali shouldered himself through a bolted door, the assassin on his heals.

         The window faced east, towards the slowly lightening sky.  Beyond the window, Ali could see the grounds of his valiant palace dancing with flames and sending soot black smoke spiraling into the sky.  The snap of a clip being slid into place made Ali realize that this was it, this was the end.  In his last moment on earth his last thought was instantly sprung into action.

         The windows shattered as Ali threw himself through it.  But within a single moment his life was snuffed out by the flash of a muzzle and a series of pops from a silencer.  Ali’s lifeless body tumbled down three stories and into the pitching fires.  His charred remains never surfaced after the flames were extinguished.