Debt Paid in Full

[Khendon Sevon]

There was a soft metallic sound as the slide on the Sig Arms .45 was brought back. With weapon cocked and a round chambered, the suit emerged from his limousine. Jet black hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and equally black glasses made the man’s skin seem white as newly fallen snow.

The night was silent save for the occasional distant honk of a cab’s horn. Towering giants rose over the sidewalk in rectangular triumph.

With an easy gate to his walk, the man entered the revolving doors of one of the buildings. He hated the silly contraptions. Sure, they made it easier to keep an area climate controlled; but, he always felt like they were going to close up on him and devour his very soul—if he had a soul.

The silver weapon raised and the familiar kick followed a distinct boom. The same sound echoed a few times in the hall as more rounds jumped from their rest within the gun’s magazine.

Another .45 chambered, another shot.

He wanted to make sure they knew he was here.

[Averin Trangall]

The hotel was unusually noisy. Karn attributed it to the gunfire. He had spent many a night hiding out in one of the darker corners, out of the direct line of sight of the clerk. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

He peeked his head up cautiously over one of the couches to gaze on the assailant. The man looked like a black and white photograph. And he was wearing sunglasses at two o'clock in the morning. Karn didn't own any sunglasses, but if he did, he was sure that he wouldn't wear them at night. It was probably pretty hard to see outside. The lights in the main hallway were relatively bright, though. Maybe the guy's eyes were overly sensitive or something.

The man was wearing a suit, so there was probably a wallet or some other object of value somewhere to be found on his person. Karn had no doubt in his abilities, but the man looked more than a bit crazy, mostly because of his arbitrary attack against the hotel employees that resulted in at least a few deaths.

He liked to think of himself as a ninja, but he knew that he was nothing more than a thief. He was the best thief, of course, but still a thief nonetheless. And what did thieves do but steal things? This would make for a fun challenge.

He dipped his head back below the couch and crawled further into the corner to listen to what would be going on and plan his course of action.

[Khendon Sevon]

By the time the Sig’s magazine emptied and the last spent cartridge cleared the chamber, the walls were painted red. Thick streaks—similar in smear pattern to modern art—adorned the mild cream color of the place.

Pools of crimson fluid seemed to well from an underground stream. The floor was coated in the dark liquid.

The man walked towards the elevator, his expensive leather shoes left tread marks of scarlet in their wake. He entered the lift and thumbed a number—good old thirteen.

[Averin Trangall]

Karn waited for the elevator doors to close, then bolted across the lobby area to the receptionist's desk. He leapt over it in a way that he liked to think would have been graceful if not for the awkward landing. The receptionist had been quivering in fear below the desk, and certainly was not expected. Karn thought he felt a bit of a rolled ankle and definitely jammed one arm unfortunately hard up into his shoulder.

He pushed himself up off the ground, disentangling himself from the woman who was either catatonic with fear or unconscious with her eyes open. Either way, it was pretty amusing to look at.

Her purse sat on a chair towards one end of the counter. Karn was just about to open it to rummage through it when the revolving door started spinning. A man wearing an expensive suit and carrying a leather briefcase walked into the main hall area and stopped dead. An instant later, he was on his way out of the building, eyes wide and stride hastened. Karn shrugged and dug into the bag.

He found a few things in it that might come in handy. He particularly enjoyed the money.

[Khendon Sevon]

Ding!

The door slid open. A man smiled and took his first step towards the elevator car.

The suited savage grinned and his hand shot out from behind his back and rested the cold muzzle of the .45 on the man’s forehead. “Bad luck, eh?” He cocked his head, the predatory grin still painted on the muscles of his face.

Boom.

Shock contorted the man’s face even before the bullet blew it apart. Head went backwards with legs still firmly placed on the even ground. What seemed like an eternity later, the body dropped like a felled tree.

He waved goodbye. Ding. The door slid closed.

The magazine of the Sig Arm’s handgun slammed into the floor of the lift like a lead bar. It took less than a second of fishing for the man to retrieve a fresh fistful of ammunition and slide it seamlessly into the waiting weapon—flush with the composite material skin.

The elevator stopped—floor thirteen.

[Averin Trangall]

The security display said the elevator stopped on the thirteenth floor. That would be a lot of stairs, and Karn didn't feel the elevator would be particularly safe, given the circumstances.

He glanced around the hotel lobby again to remind himself of the carnage. Whoever that man had been, he had killed indiscriminately. What would keep him from killing Karn the same way on sight? Nothing? Karn's extreme guile and cunning? Not if the man had good reflexes.

Besides, all Karn was armed with was a dagger, some mace, some wire, and, of course, his unrelenting but useless guile and cunning.

The sound of police sirens came from outside the hotel. Karn got good at telling police sirens from fire trucks and ambulances early in his career. He gave himself three guesses at where they were headed. He got it right on the first one.