I move through the shadows of the half-lit hospital, lights dimmed in the late hours of the night to let the patients rest. My footsteps are silent. I pull on the pair of black leather gloves from my pockets.

Now is the time to hunt.

It’s Christmas Eve, and many of the non-essential staff are at home rather than working or visiting in the dark halls of the hospital.

But there are other hunters about, and I have to make them my prey.

We’ve come at a time that would be good for them to strike—if I were the one carrying out this job, it’s when I would come, and I never assume that my enemies aren’t as smart as me. That’s what’s made me so successful over the years. I never underestimate my foes.

I step behind a corner as I hear footsteps approaching, and I watch a group of three nurses discussing some charts pass by. They head down the hall without having seen me.

They’re likely nearby, moving with the crowds, but not too closely.

I stay out of sight or look inconspicuous as possible as I watch a few other groups move by. A doctor who looks haggard on his way to change out of scrubs. A small family leaving one of the rooms with emotional looks on their faces. More nurses.

But as an older couple passes by, I spot two figures behind them who catch my eye.

They’re dressed like patient care techs, the people who transport and clean patients. Each wears scrubs, but they don’t fit very well—one of the outfits is clearly too small for one of the men, and they aren’t walking like people who know their way around very well.

I’m not sure yet, though. Once they’re a ways ahead of me, I start tailing them, keeping a slow pace and pretending to be distracted by my phone. Every now and then, I glance up at them as they walk.

They’re heading in a circle, doubling back around to the ward where Kirk and Eva are. They must be waiting for the foot traffic in the hallway to die down.

When they get to one of the large doors that’s operated only by the barcode scanners on their badges, I get the confirmation I need.

They speed up nearly to a jog to catch up with a nurse and follow her through the doors. They don’t have security badges.

As soon as they’re through the doors, I jog to catch up with them, and as soon as I slip through the doors, one of them turns his head toward me.

We lock eyes, they look at each other, and they take off in opposite directions.

Fuck.

One of them is heading directly toward where Kirk is, and he’s the one I go after first.

He darts down a hallway that’s all but abandoned. I don’t know how long it will be that way, so I burst into a full sprint after him. He’s quick, but I’m quicker.

When I catch up to him, he must have heard me, because he spins around and tries to throw a punch at me wildly. As I dodge it, I notice the gun he has strapped to his torso. I have to act very, very fast.

With a quick jab, I hit him in the nose, making him grunt, and he tries to tackle me, but I sidestep him. He hasn’t gone for his weapon yet, knowing what kind of panic drawing a gun in a hospital will cause, but a desperate man will do anything.

Instead of trying to fight me further, though he takes off running again.

Within a matter of seconds, I catch up to him and grab him around the neck with my arms, wrapping him in a sleeper hold. He struggles fiercely, but the hold I have on him is tight as iron.

Before he has even stopped moving as he slips out of consciousness, I look around at the rooms nearby. I see a sign for a bathroom, and I make my way toward it as the hitman goes limp in my arms.

I drag him inside and prop him up on one of the stalls, locking the door behind us. When I’m sure that he’s out cold, I take his head in my bare hands and snap his neck with one hard, swift motion.

Every second counts, and I don’t have time to deal with him otherwise. Besides, I can’t have killers waking up after we’ve left.

With the first man dead, I slide out from under the stall and rush out the door to find the second man.

I reason that he has probably looped around toward Kirk’s room. I have to head him off. I make my way down the winding hallways back to where I started my hunt.

Surely enough, as soon as I step out onto the hallway, I see the second man halfway down the opposite side.

We lock eyes once again, and he bolts, running carelessly in the opposite direction. He collides with a doctor, sending her and the papers she was carrying flying. Before the doctor even realizes what’s happening, I rush past her after the second hitman.

This one is faster than the last, and it’s a struggle to keep up with him. He knows as well as me that if we get seen by too many people, we’ll be caught, or the police will get involved, so he darts off to the right and heads down a set of stairs.

I follow him, bounding down several stairs at once to keep up with him. Three floors down, he darts out one of the doors, and it’s several seconds before I can follow him out.

As soon as I step out onto the floor, I have to hold myself back—this floor is packed with people moving around.

Carolers, if I were to guess based on how they’re dressed.

I curse and move through them carefully, my eyes scanning the crowd to find the man again. I can’t lose him, not now.

The sound of electric doors moving brings my attention to the elevator, and I turn in time to see the doors of one closing.

The hitman is watching me from inside, standing calmly next to a couple of other nurses with a triumphant look in his eyes.

I clench my jaw. There’s no time to wait for an elevator. I dart back into the stair shaft and bound up the stairs as fast as my legs can carry me.

When I make it back to the top of the stairs, I hurry toward the hallway, rounding the corner in a matter of seconds. My mind races with what could happen if he gets to Eva and Kirk before I do. Eva is tougher than she looks, but this man is armed and dangerous, and he already knows that this isn’t going to be a quick and clean job. He’s liable to do anything.

When I round the corner, I see him.

His back is facing me, and he’s heading for the door to Kirk’s room.

I wonder at first why he’s not running, but then I see the reason from the opposite side of the hallway. Another nurse is approaching, her head down and eyes focused on a chart in her hands.

I don’t have time to lose. I move as silently as I can up behind the hitman, feet not making a sound as I close the distance between us.

My legs carry me closer with every step.

I’ll reach him.

The only question is whether I can do anything about it once I’m there, once that nurse is close enough to see us.