PROLOGUE: MURDERER

Somewhere in a large exclusive housing community, everyone was fast asleep in their expensive residences. Everyone, except for one scared individual who was living in the biggest and most luxurious mansion in the whole residential village. His whole house was in darkness, except for the flashlight of his smart-phone and his laptop’s screen.

Someone has cut the main electrical source! Why aren’t the back-up generators kicking in? But I’m sure the special security setup will still work because it has its own power source…

The slightly overweight banker loaded slugs into his collector 1887 Winchester lever shotgun with shaking and sweaty hands. It was a collector’s item that he had acquired at an auction due to his penchant for purchasing Terminator 2-related collectibles. Of course, he knew it should not be used for shooting a possible assassin that’s out to kill him at that very moment, but what can he do?  

I know this gun costs a fortune but it’s the only one in my study as of the moment. And my life, literally, depends on it right now!

Meanwhile, as the nervous financial adviser finally pulled back the barrel’s slide with a loud clack, a shadow noiselessly passed behind him. You could easily see that its silhouette was holding at least two long sharp weapons but before you could even be sure, the dark figure disappeared from sight.

The trembling banker felt the slight movement in the air and whirled behind him, partly in panic, partly as a natural defensive reaction.

”I can feel you near, y-you BASTARD! You won’t be able t-to get me! If you k-kill me, you will N-NEVER be able to get out of here a-alive! If my heartbeat s-stops, the whole house g-goes on automatic l-lockdown and it has emergency p-power to do it. My b-bodyguards will be able to k-kill you for sure!”

A long hollow silence. Then a deep, husky voice whispers into his ear...

“Then all I need to do is to bring you out of the house before I end your miserable life.”

”Who, w-wait… What the, it’s Y-YOU!”

A hollow thump resounded within the whole study. It’s followed by an even louder thud, which almost echoed within the expansive but deathly silent mansion.

”Thank you for informing me early on, you lame excuse of a friend. Makes my job a lot easier to complete.”

A few moments later, one could hear a large cloth bag stretching, along with a number of scraping and scratching sounds. For the finale, a shotgun slid to the other end of the room with a harsh clatter.

Then complete silence, except for the midnight insects’ chirruping coming from the gloomy outdoors.

As the sun came up, the mansion’s staff were now in a frenzy upon seeing the drops of blood in the study, along with their boss’ beloved shotgun that’s still loaded and lying on the floor. The authorities were immediately called in but they could not find any signs of forced entry, exits, or unfamiliar fingerprints inside the study or even the whole house. The only sure finding was that the blood on the floor belonged to the absent banker.

Two days later, the police were able to find the missing man.

Once the unfortunate multimillionaire’s body was fished out from the river nearest his home, it was already twice its normal size and the skin had the same color of a dead squid left out too long in the sun. Also, his tongue had been cut out, his fingernails savagely removed and other signs of torture can be found all over his body.

His face, meanwhile, was frozen in place with a horrified, open-mouthed expression as if he was screaming endlessly as he died.

Finally, across his chest, a word was carved with large slashes, obviously with the use of a long knife or even a short sword. The wounds’ dried blood marks showed that the man was still alive when the carvings were made on his rounded torso.   

TRAITOR

The very next day, around two cities away, the banker’s killer reads of the discovery of his victim by the authorities on his wide-screen, state-of-the-art smart-phone. He secretly smiles and tucks the phone away into his expensive leather jacket before riding away in his powerful high-end motorbike.