“So let me get this straight, you are going to walk into his office, shoot him in the face, take the USB key from computer and walk out?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit risky? I mean won’t his people hear the gunshot? Even if they don’t, isn’t there a good chance someone will find his carcass and raise the alarm?”

“Yeah.”

“Shouldn’t we talk about alternatives? Maybe a diversion and I go in to steal the USB key covertly, you know go for the subtle approach?”

“Nope.”

“What do you mean ‘Nope’?”

“I mean, nope.”

“I give up, you have a deathwish, not to mention the psychosis that planning to casually murder someone suggests. Good luck Paden, I can’t be a part of this. I’m sorry.”

He nodded, spat at his feet and pulled the brim of his hat down. He remained silent for just a few more seconds and then;

“Ok then. You’d best scoot.”

“I can’t persuade you to leave the cold blooded murder then?”

“He killed my wife, my mother and my dog. Shooting him once in the face is kind compared to what I’d like to do to him, you know?”

This does not yet appear on ficlets.com due to a technical problem with that site and its OpenID login, i.e. I can’t get on the site, logged in.