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Fuck.
I curse myself for getting into such a precarious situation. I was too eager to break in that I didn’t take a moment to consider my actions. I moved too damn fast along the wall.
I did not stick to the plan. I should have been slower. I should’ve never taken a risk.
If this man sees me, I am dead. Without a doubt. I see the rifle ready in his hands, locked and loaded. Handsome Jack’s men do not play around, especially with intruders in the man’s private space, just like my own men.
So I take the last resort.
I pull out my own gun.
And I shoot the man.
But not with a bullet, but with an old-school tranquilizer dart that I had Jim sort out for me before embarking onthis venture. I’m not going to kill these guards when there are other ways to take them out of action. The dart embeds itself into the man’s neck and he immediately drops – limp – into a nearby hedge. He’ll be back awake in a few hours, unharmed but with a raging headache and a sore pinprick in the side of his neck.
Jim did not want me to do this tonight; he explicitly warned me about taking my revenge on my rival. I told him I was going to do it. I told him I needed to do it. He, like all the other times I’ve had a crazy idea, simply sighed and immediately went about helping me with the utmost professionalism and skill.
And that’s why he’s my second in command.
I approach the door to Handsome Jack’s mansion. It’s locked, as expected. But that proves no impediment to me. I’ve picked many locks in my life, most a hell of a lot harder than this one.
As the door swings open, I am suddenly reminded of a face.
Ava’s face.
The girl whose absence has caused me to act like this - getting obsessive about this revenge. Her absence has caused a void to open up deep in my life, one that can’t be filled by doing what I’m doing now. But what else can I do? I’ve tried to give her the space she clearly wants since she left me, but there has not been a moment since that night at her father’s house when I haven’t thought about her in some form. The image of her face has been like a constant background in my eyes, and nothing I can do can shake her from my thoughts.
I progress through the mansion. Little is known about the internal floor plan of this place, but I do know where I am heading.
Upstairs.
Ipass by lavish rooms. This building has been in the hands of Handsome Jack’s wealthy family for generations, and it shows. The foyer is grandiose, with high ceilings decorated with frescos depicting ancient Roman gods and myths. Tapestries don the walls. There is a carved marble fireplace positioned as the centerpiece of the room.
This is the den of my rival.
I am careful. Very careful. I hear people talking, so I keep low and quiet. I avoid lights.
Handsome Jack is very much tied in with his family. This building has clearly been in hands going back generations. It’s old, but I can see the man has tried to update it in a modern style and with modern security systems.
But those systems prove no match for me.
I pass by a hallway full of art and sculptures. It’s clear Handsome Jack views himself as a cultured man, despite his day business. No wonder he opened an art gallery. No wonder he tries to emplace himself amongst the stars and celebrities and artists of the city when he thinks of himself as more of an art collector than a man who orders deaths for a living.
He values the high life.
And he thinks that no one could break inside his little fortress. Ha.
I make my way upstairs until I’m in front of the door to the room I’ve been looking for.
Handsome Jack’s bedroom.
I sneak in.
He’s asleep in the middle of a large bed.
There he is.
I saunter right up to him and place my trusty knife against his throat. The cold black steel against his neck wakes up the man.
