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

*When Patrick Lohan stepped through his dark wooden front door into the dark house without looking around, Cody knew all was going according to plan. Just like any other late night coming home from work for Patrick, nothing to be suspicious about. Cody's face twisted into a wry smirk in the darkness, crouching behind an ornately threaded green armchair in the living room, a few feet to the right of the door. Patrick barely got the chance to flip the light switch to ruffle through the mail in his hand before Cody rose up quieter than the night and wrapped his tight plastic cord around his-* 
 
 `` HAH! You're kidding, that's what she said to you?!'' 
 
 Cody woke with a jolt from his reverie. Maria was on the phone, *again*. Sharing an office with this woman was like being trapped in a coffin with speakers playing a pop song in a handful of different languages all at the same time. *Did she have to guffah just when I was getting to the good part? * he thought. It was impossible to start from the beginning at this point. Sighing, he lazily looked at his monitor and saw a message from Keith, the intern, on his screen: `` Hey Cody, have a minute?'' 
 
 He liked Keith well enough, but Maria drained any motivation to get anything done for the next hour. Sure, it was his choice to work in this office, but that did n't mean he was n't allowed to grumble about it from time to time. Though he knew it was n't Maria or Keith that really rankled him this morning. The night Cody was previously reliving in his head had happened more than two months ago. It had NEVER been that long between assignments. What no one in his office, or anyone in Cody's life for that matter, knew was that Cody also worked as an assassin in an organization he knew precious little about: The Architects... or, at least, that was the name on the check he received monthly. 
 
 The Architects had been giving Cody assignments for the last 4 years. He did n't know any of the people he was sent to `` take care of'', and he did n't want to know. All he knew was that he was to continue killing who The Architects told him to, and life as he knew it would continue quite ordinarily. Something about `` preserving and advancing the human race'' according to them. He did n't want to know. All he wanted from them was his check every month and his next assignment in a timely manner. But two months? 
 
 Maria was still chatting away behind him. Cody could n't remember the last time the woman stayed silent for longer than five minutes. Taking a deep breath in and out, his knuckles faded from clenched white to his normal skin tone. Cody stood up, his tall 6' 2'' frame clothed in a dark grey suit with worn brown leather Oxfords, he walked over to the breakroom. A stranger was walking past him in the hall, probably one of Jerry's clients, and bumped into him, muttering a quick `` Ope, sorry about that'' before continuing past him. Cody paid him no mind as he continued his long strides to the break room, a steaming cup of coffee the only thing on his mind. 
 
 All of a sudden, he felt a small tug on his left shoulder from a parcel weighing down his suit. His heart took off faster than kindergartners being released for recess. *Finally! * Coffee being the furthest thing from his mind now, he quickly rerouted towards the office's front door to check his parcel in privacy. Almost jogging in excitement, Cody tried to contain himself as he strode out the double glass doors to a cloudy day that smelled of day-old rain. When a good handful of yards from the building, Cody stuck his hand in his coat, pulled the parcel out of his pocket, and all but ripped it open. 
 
 His heart skipped a beat. 
 
 Written there in Arial font size 11 on a 5'' x 8'' index card, just as it always was, was his own name.
