Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
“It might make you the best of the other young men in training,” my trainer says as his eyes narrow in on me. “But it does not make you the best there is. You must be flawless, Nico. You must master hand-to-hand combat until you know the moves so well that you don’t even feel your hands making them. Learn how to wield your weaponry as if each piece extends from your very own body. Excel at tactical warfare beyond the abilities that your enemies may possess. You must be like your brother—The Ghost.”
No one calls my brother by his real name anymore. That name is now dead. It’s been replaced by his identity as The Ghost, only. A title that was earned through two additional years on this planet than I have, and countless hours of learning how to move with both silence and brutal perfection. At nineteen, my brother has already made several kills. His reputation already strikes fear in the hearts of our adversaries when they whisper his name. He will one day be the best assassin that the Bratva has ever known. It will assure our rise in Moscow and carve out a place for both of us in Russia’s history books—the books that no one on the outside knows about. First, my brother will ascend to the top, and then I will follow in his footsteps. But for now, I keep training until I can master the skills that my trainer scolds me for. I argued with him about it, but I know that he’s right. I don’t want to win arguments; I want to kill without my targets seeing me coming, just like my older brother can do. I admire him more than anyone else in the world, and someday, I’ll earn a nickname too.
When the time comes, and I’m invited to go on my first kill with my brother, I eagerly accept the chance to watch him in action.
“Now remember, Nico, only the Ghost kills tonight,” Bratva leadership reminds us before we set out for what is supposed to be a fairly easy, straightforward kill. “There is only one mark tonight. He will be armed but unsuspecting. Your brother will take the shot, and you will do nothing more than watch from the shadows to see how it’s done. Do you understand?”
I nod my head obediently. This is a rare opportunity, one that I wouldn’t get if my brother weren’t such a skilled assassin worth emulating. It’s about more than just the skills my brother possesses. I have those skills too, maybe just a hair shy of his, but in time, they’ll be an equal match. Perhaps I’ll even be a better assassin than my brother one day. It’s how the Ghost behaves, how he thinks, and lives that makes him such a formidable force to be reckoned with. It’s his ruthlessness. That part, I’m still learning. I still hesitate and question things. I still want to know why I’m going to be making a kill before I’m assigned to one. And no matter how many times my brother, whom I look up to as being a good person and my best friend, tells me not to get personally invested in any assignment—I still have a hard time detaching from it.
When we get to the location where our mark will be, I follow the plan. I hide out of sight and watch as my brother inches closer to the man with the target on his back. Neither of us knows who he is or why the Bratva wants him dead. The only thing we know, and the only thing that we need to know, is that the man dies tonight.
I watch with silent, expectant eyes as the Ghost inches closer and aims his gun. There’s a silencer on it, preferred for this mission since this isn’t meant to be a direct confrontation. It’s meant only to be a fast, silent kill, followed by a quick exit from the scene—the kind of work that my brother does best.
But as I sit there hiding in the shadows and waiting to see how this hit unfolds as flawlessly as expected, I notice something else. In the corner of my vision, another shape emerges. There’s a second man here, and there should not be.
My brother doesn’t see him as the other man creeps up behind the Ghost’s position. I watch in horror as he pulls his gun and aims it at my brother’s back. Without thinking, I jump out of my hiding place and shout.
“Behind you!” I scream recklessly.
My brother turns and looks at me in horror. He sees the other man now, and the look in his eyes as he smiles at me gives away that he knows I was trying to protect him and doesn’t blame me for what’s about to happen next.