DI Hanson left his boss's office with a feeling of accomplishment. They had decided that the best move was to go up the chain of command and try to get GCHQ involved. A lowly DI wouldn't get to know all the technical details but at least things could move forward.


Jack got home and checked to see if Jennie was home. She wasn't so he went to his laptop, inserted the USB memory stick and switched on. He watched loads of text gibberish scroll up the screen and then it cleared to show a log-in box. He re-read the text message on the phone to get the password and entered it into the box on the laptop screen. He was presented with a very odd looking Windows-like desktop.

He read the next part of the text message and clicked the icon called "Target Details" and was presented with a small form. He filled-in the form with details about his wife's health, her work and routine, he read the part about tailored, untraceable terminations, he read the part about blended payment methods, he ticked the box to say he could pay the £5,126,000 fee and he also ticked the box that he understood there was no going back when he clicked "Submit".

Jack paused. He was about to set off a sequence of events that would terminate the life of his wife of 15+ years. He thought of his huge wife snoring next to him for the rest of his life and clicked "Submit". He stared at the screen. Unknown to Jack, the USB memory stick had installed a special spyware program onto his laptop.

"Hi honey, I'm home" yelled Jennie and Jack nearly leapt out of his skin. He pulled the USB memory stick and re-booted the laptop into Windows. When Jack looked at Jennie, he noticed she looked a bit sweaty.

"Have you been running ?" joked Jack, "She would break every bone in her legs if she did !" he thought.

"Nearly." said Jennie, "I've been using the treadmill at the gym. I decided to loose some weight. I'm just going to shower" and she went upstairs.


Many miles away a text that read "Client 33 has activated system" appeared on a special mobile phone. The owner read it and put the phone down.


"Do you remember how we met all those years ago ?" enquired Jennie, not stuffing her face with food for once.

"Of course." replied Jack "It was a major turning point in my life". It certainly was, Jack had been at the lowest point in his life, broken, deeply in debt, near suicide but then he met Jennie and she had turned things around ... and he was about to have her killed.

"What an ungrateful prick I am." thought Jack "I can't kill Jennie. OK, she's rather fat but that's easy to sort out ... what to do ..." Jack felt mild panic as he got up from the sofa and went to his laptop. He searched for the local police station's contact details and thought about what he would say, totally unaware of the hidden spyware program monitoring his actions.

Many miles away a text that read "Client 33 search terms: kent police" appeared on a special mobile phone.

"Shit ! ... it might be nothing but best keep an eye on client 33" said the owner and put the phone down.


"What yer doing honey ?" enquired Jennie.

"Oh just remembered something I forgot to do at work" lied Jack as he faced a very stark choice :-

1. Allow Jennie to be murdered and live with the guilt, or
2. Go to the police, face many years in jail for attempted murder and lose Jennie anyway.

The police would also be very interested to know about the organisation that Jack had hired to kill his wife, and that organisation would be very interested to know who betrayed them to the police, with terminal consequences.

"I've got a few days before they do it. I need to think." thought Jack as he put his coat on.

"I'm just going out for wander !" shouted Jack to Jennie who was half asleep on the sofa.

Jack had to think, was there a third option that didn't involve murder or jail-time. He walked down the street totally unaware of the two men following him.

"He's going in the wrong direction for the police." said one of the men following Jack into a small two-way radio.

"OK just tail him." said the voice on the other end.

Jack thought of a third option. He would tell Jennie about the plot and the two of them would run away.

"Why would Jennie run away with someone who plotted her death ? damn !" thought jack running out of viable options. He turned yet another corner and back onto the street that led back to his house. Jack's only viable option was to continue with Jennie's death. Jack could barley get the key into the door his hands were shaking so much.

Jennie was on the sofa. "She's asleep." thought Jack as he sat next to her and watched TV.

After a while Jack got up to get a drink. "Do you want a glass of wine, Jennie ?" asked Jack as he took a sip of his. Jennie didn't respond.

"The gym session must have really taken it out of her." thought Jack as he sat at the table and opened the lid on his laptop. He had an idea and got the USB memory stick from his pocket and inserted it back into the laptop.

"There must be a way to cancel this or contact them." thought Jack as he watched this weird system boot for the second time and entered the password. Jack looked at each icon on the screen.

An icon called "Job Status" caught Jack's eye and he clicked it. A small window opened and Jack read it's contents. It was mostly details of the job to bump off his wife, but one line made him freeze. A cold dread crept over Jack as he read "Target: Terminated."

"Jennie !" shouted Jack as he read the next line which said "Payment: Pending."

"JENNIE !!" shouted Jack a bit louder. He went back to the sofa and put his hand on her shoulder to try to wake her, but instead of feeling warm, soft flesh he felt cold, dead flesh and he froze.

"The bastards did it !" cried Jack "Oh my fucking god, they actually went and killed my Jennie." cried Jack as he knelt down next to his dead wife.

Jack pulled himself together and remembered the briefing on the USB memory stick. It covered all things like acting natural, how to handle the police interview, disposing of any evidence, transferring cash, etc.

Jack took a deep breath and dialled 999, asked for an ambulance and gave his address. The operator make him establish his wife was actually dead and not unconscious. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later. The crew examined Jennie and concluded she had been dead for a few hours. They put her into the ambulance and drove to the hospital. Jack followed in his car.

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