The Title

by David Caldwell

Black and White: Part 04.

Starke Reality

'Killing is easy.' Hannah thought to herself. 'Grieving is hard. So damn hard.' 'I can pull the trigger and walk away. But now…there's no walking away from sorrow. It lurks in the dark corners of my mind. Waiting. A shadowy presence that will forever haunt me.' Hannah closed her eyes. An image appeared in her mind.

Claire.

Hannah squeezed her eyes tighter. The image was gone. Replaced by words. Black words on a white background.

CLAIRE IS DEAD.

A single tear leaked out of the corner of her right eye. 'Another tear. I'll be damned. I didn't think I had any left.' She opened her eyes. She began to clear her mind. Banishing the mourning spirit that troubled her to another part of her psyche. She focused on the red L.E.D. numbers on the elevator console. She came back to New York to kill. The plan was to gain access to the conapt and then pull the trigger. Twice. Just to be efficient. No one could accuse Hannah Starke of not being a proficient killer. No one had lived to say otherwise. However, real-time events are fluid, especially unexpected events and Starke was calculating potential modifications to her original plan. The person she intended to execute may just get a last minute reprieve.