[ WP ] You are an unassuming businessperson by day , but an elite assassin by night . One night , you get a new target : yourself .

It ’ s funny how much context matters. Most of the time, seeing your name on paper is no big deal. We get mail, we sign our names, hell, even our credit cards all have our names plastered all over them. It ’ s a common occurrence, basically. 
 
 But if you put just the right name in just the right paper in just the right spot, you can put a real scare into a man. That ’ s all it took to startle Jay: two names on the piece of paper in front of him. The paper itself was nondescript: white, 8.5 ” by 11 ”, no lines, the kind that you can find in printers and photocopiers across the world. The manila envelope in which the paper came, on the other hand, carried some gravitas. It had shown up in one of his drops, which meant that it was a job offer. Someone wanted an assassin. 
 
 The envelope was unmarked, as Jay demanded of potential clients. Secrecy was of the utmost important to him. He dealt in an unsavory trade, with unsavory clientele. The last thing he wanted was one of his customers demanding customer service during his day job. He didn ’ t really need the money from the drab office job, but it let him keep up appearances. Jay had secrets of his own, and he had good reason to want his secrets to stay out of sight. 
 
 Jay realized something was different as soon as he unsealed the envelope. Normally, the bio consisted of a full dossier: a description, some pictures, and associated notes. In short, a stack of papers. In fact, Jay always took a little bit of joy from removing the inevitable paper clip and spreading out the papers on his coffee table. It made him feel official. This single, folded sheet provided no such heft, and no such pleasure. Whoever had sent this was already on Jay ’ s bad side. 
 
 As soon as he opened the paper, Jay realized it had been intentional. 
 
 Terry Boudreaux 
 
 Marie Hebert 
 
 Those were not names he had seen in a very long time, and they were names he had hoped to bury along with his past life. Whoever had sent this had meant to send a message. Folding the sheet in half had just been salt in the wound, meant to irritate him. Clearly, this was someone who knew him. 
 
 It was the inclusion of Marie ’ s name that made things really problematic. Even if someone had discovered his government name from a life past, he still had recourse. He was a very, very good assassin, and he was a patient man. He could have found the sender, and he could have put his skills to use. Even if he ’ d failed in his attempt, it would ’ ve been a fitting end. 
 
 The girl ’ s name took away all of his options. He ’ d only crossed paths with her briefly, but he ’ d made his choice in those moments. She ’ d asked for a favor back then, and her request had made him want to keep her as far away from his world as possible. She deserved better than Terry ’ s life, and she sure as hell deserved better than Jay ’ s life. 
 
 He ’ d smiled when she had been adopted, and he ’ d quietly funded a “ trust fund ” that she would discover on her eighteenth birthday. It had been Terry ’ s small way of restoring a semblance of order to the universe, to right one small injustice in this world. And he ’ d done it in the only way he knew how: stoically, without any pretense or grandstanding. As soon as he ’ d put the money in the account, Terry had disappeared, forever. Jay had popped up in his place, albeit several states away. A quiet recluse with a penchant for privacy, Jay had buried himself in corporate America, going out of his way to avoid attention. He was, in short, a nobody. 
 
 With a gentle sigh, Jay settled on his course of action. There was a reason Terry ’ s name was first on the list, and it was Terry who would bear the brunt of the implied threat. Reaching for his gun, Jay mentally prepared himself to carry out his final assignment. He prayed it would be enough to spare her. He gripped the gun firmly, and opened his mouth. It was time for one last noble deed from Terry.
