The assassin stood perfectly still watching the koi swim lazily in the dark pond. He admired their beauty, the quiet fluidity with which they moved beneath the surface of the water. The pond was the color of onyx, its depths revealed by the reflections of light from the mansion that stood just a few meters away. Around him a small army of garden robots moved silently, re-arranging rocks and raking sand. Their activities and the darkness reminded the assassin of the bots in the desert all those years ago.

The events of the last few days were beginning to catch up with him. It was as though the ghosts of those he had killed, Kenzo Yamamoto, Professor Yao, the Russian Oleg Krachev and now this one who was soon to be dispatched to the great beyond, had possessed him. The ghosts were intent on draining all the energy from his body.

The first two kills had given him no pleasure but he had felt his blood race and his adrenalin peak as he watched the Russian’s life leave him. The man had begged for his life even as he choked on his own blood. Yet, that had merely spurred the assassin on, the same way he had been psyched up when he’d strangled the family’s pet dog at the age of eight. The dog had died with a lot more dignity. The assassin knew that he was just a few kills away from a well-earned rest, which he was going to spend in Shanghai, the other Shanghai. And the major-general had promised a surprise. The assassin looked forward to it, knowing that it had to be something of considerable significance for the major-general to mention it. What could it be? Female company to accompany him on those cold digital nights when the pixels etched themselves into his soul like fresh snow on a naked body?

He had been somewhat confused when the major-general had interrupted his reverie, telling him of the change of plan. The major-general wanted a Japanese minister and a teenage American girl dead and what the major-general wanted he got as far as the assassin was concerned. Once again, the assassin had turned to the scenario analysis AIs, trusting their judgment totally. The minister was most vulnerable at his house after midnight, the AIs had concluded unanimously. His Yakuza bodyguards generally left around 11.00PM, never later than midnight. How the AIs determined this, the assassin had no idea but he knew the AIs had access to terabytes of voice, data, CCTV dumps and who knew what other kinds of information. From this confusion of disparate data they made their deductions in a way no human ever could. He had arranged for the AIs to disable the minister’s CCTV cameras temporarily at a specific time.

The assassin felt the unit curved around the back of his neck vibrate and he called up the visual image of the menu that administered the drugs that temporarily replenished his energy. He hadn’t used the feature for a while but this time his body told him he would need it. He made his selection and felt a twinge as the nanobots entered his system administering the chemicals. A wave of energy pulsed through his body and knowing the effects wouldn’t last long, the assassin moved purposefully towards the house. There was light seeping through the balcony of the top-most floor. The assassin knew his quarry lay within, waiting to die.