It certainly helped the transformation process when I had a good understanding of what I was transforming an object into. But sometimes, a crystal clear purpose was all that I needed to have, which was the case with this little transformation. And to think I had just stumbled upon it one dark day. Instead of blocking or muting the available light like they were meant to do, now these lenses would amplify the available light. Like I said it was my clear purpose that made this transformation work since I have no clear understanding of the science behind night vision. But fortunately, my understanding wasn’t necessary for me to use them.
I had bought myself about a minute or two of excellent vision, but I needed to replenish the heat I had used. I pulled out the last two hand warmers, opened them, and with another quick transformation, I made one of their sides sticky so I could secure them to my arms. Once I felt their warmth flowing into me, I quickly ducked my head into the hole and looked around the empty hallway. Once I was sure no one was in the room, I entered and resealed the hole behind me. Uncertain where to go, I randomly turned right and walked down the hallway, listening for the anything that would help me locate Alexis.
As I came to the end of the hallway I started to hear bits of a conversation. And that was when the half of my brain that wanted to let Alexis live started back up again. What if Alexis has a family? What if he has children? What if they are with him in the room? Fear began to build inside of me, and that voice I had tried to quash in my desire to stay alive began reaching me again. This time, it was asking me what I was going to do now. With a deep breath I focused on what needed to be done in order for me to live through the night.
But with every step I took that pesky little voice kept asking questions. What if he has children? What if those children are with him? Again I chastised myself for the stray thoughts as I oriented myself on the conversation and started my search. For all I knew Alexis was alone and watching TV. But that little voice was persistent, it was bad enough that I was being forced to kill one good man. Could I kill someone else just as innocent?
As I was trying to ignore that rather pointed question I found the source of the conversation, a door with light seeping out from its edges. I had to know who was in that room before I could or would do anything. I stepped to the side of the door and placed my finger to the drywall. With another simple transformation I made a hole in this side of the drywall, about four inches wide. Then I took a deep breath and reached through the hole to touch the other side of the wall and made another hole though this time it was only about an inch wide.
Fortunately I had remembered to lift the glasses to the top of my head so the light coming from the other room wasn’t all that blinding. Holding my breath I examined the room and was able to make out Alexis sitting on a couch watching television. I instantly let out a sigh of relief. But why am I relieved? Just because he was sitting in this room all by himself didn’t mean that he was a single man, it just meant that he was alone catching up on his television. Am I really willing to sacrifice his life for my own?
Of course that was when the voice of self-preservation reminded me of something. Specifically, what Dante had told me before I left that restaurant, Alexis had been getting in the boss' way and it had to come to a close. If I were to balk at Dempsey's assignment for me then he would just send another one of his goons to finish the job. Plus I would have that less than pleasant reunion with the rather large bullet. So, the question that had been plaguing me since I opened the envelope, was once again silenced.
I tried to convince myself that Alexis' own actions had condemned him, therefore, I wasn’t a murderer that belonged to Dempsey. I was only responsible for the cleanup. With this thought, the last vestiges of argument were extinguished. My decision was made. Reaching into my coat again I pulled out my trusty pen. Yes. I went to an execution armed only with a pen. But honestly, I could have pulled anything out of my coat and it would have been the perfect weapon, since it was simply a placeholder for what I needed.
I have never really needed a weapon for anything. My take on the matter was if I needed a weapon then I was doing something very wrong. But that didn’t mean I was a stranger to guns, not in the slightest. I combed through my memories as quickly as I could and found the one I needed almost instantly. A long time ago I had been given the opportunity to help disassemble and then reassemble a nine millimeter Beretta. It was definitely a bizarre opportunity but then again, it was the type of one that I enjoyed collecting, you just never knew when some experiences would prove useful. And now, for the first time, that experience was going to be very useful.
Fixing the mental picture of all the pieces together I let the pen rest in the palm of my right hand and poured heat through that mental image and into the pen. In the blink of an eye, what had been a pen was now a serviceable nine millimeter Beretta, complete with the hopefully functional sound suppressor. With my tool in hand I dropped my eye back to the hole and made sure Alexis hadn’t noticed I was there. This was going to be difficult enough without having to look him in the eye. Thankfully, he was still engrossed in his show.