William Dietz - Hitman - Enemy Within

Agent 47 felt his stomach lurch at the sight. The setup was reminiscent of the asylum’s gymnasium, and he recalled the performances that had been held there. Rather than perform sex with adults, however, as the orphanage’s children were clearly expected to do, the assassin and his clone brothers had been forced into brutal fights.

As the audience began to applaud, and a dozen half-naked boys and girls were sent out to engage in a highly sexualized parody of a beauty contest, the assassin found himself reliving a very different performance that took place many years before.

It was winter. The asylum’s heating system had never been that good, and the air inside the gymnasium was cold. So much so that the boy named 47 could see his breath as he followed his brothers through double doors and out onto the worn hardwood floor.

Once they had lined up in front of the boxing ring, the boys were introduced to an audience that consisted of Dr. Otto Wolfgang Ort-Meyer’s friends and associates. Ort-Meyer was the man who—along with four former legionnaires—was responsible for having created the clones. But even though the boys shared the same DNA, experience had exerted a profound impact on personality, granting each brother a decidedly different identity.

The visitors, some two dozen in all, wore ski parkas, expensive overcoats, and in some cases, furs. They were seated on padded bleachers, and each was equipped with a thermos filled with coffee, tea, or hot buttered rum. They clapped as each boy was introduced, took a step forward, and stood with his chest out and shoulders back while statistics regarding his past fights were read out loud. Each round of applause was followed by a rustle of activity as members of the audience placed bets on the various bouts.

47’s record was well above average, and he was rewarded with more applause than most.

Yet that was nothing compared to the standing ovation reserved for number 6. Not only was he the asylum’s most accomplished kickboxer, but 47’s personal nemesis. No matter what the boy did to avoid notice, 6 consistently sought him out, called him names like “my little bitch,” and constantly taunted him. Which was why 47, who was slated to battle 6 during the third round, felt a persistent emptiness in the pit of his stomach.

Once 6 had been introduced and collected his applause, he turned to wink at 47, as if to say, “Here it comes!” before taking a step back into line.

Some of the visitors laughed when they saw that, and the betting was brisk as they put even more money on 6.

The final introductions were made. Then, once the process was complete, the boys were ordered to sit on the cold metal chairs that lined one side of the elevated boxing arena.

The ring measured 20©20 feet square, stood three feet off the floor, and was equipped with an inch of canvas-covered padding. Stained canvas, because it was difficult to get the blood out of the material, no matter how hard the boys scrubbed. There were four posts, each of which stood a little more than four feet high, to which the side ropes had been secured.

Number 47 hated the ring—and more than that, he was afraid of it-but knew better than to let his emotions show. Fear equated to weakness within the closed society he lived in, and weakness invited attack. If not from 6, then from one of his toadies or a wannabe. So all he could do was sit there and shiver, as the headmaster gave the first two combatants their instructions, then left the ring.

As the name would suggest, kickboxing incorporated both the hand-thrown blows typical of boxing, along with the power kicks, knee strikes, and leg sweeps common to Asian martial arts. Which, to Ort-Meyer’s way of thinking, meant kickboxing was the perfect form of unarmed combat for the clone-soldiers of the future to master. Each round of the competition would be supervised by the headmaster, Lazlow. He was a big man, one of the reasons the boys feared him and always did what they were told. Lazlow wore his hair in a comb-over that failed to conceal a large bald spot, and he stared out at the world through a pair of Coke-bottle-thick glasses.

Round one-which was intended as little more than an appetizer-ended quickly as Number 21 threw three rapid-fire volleys of head blows, spun, and delivered a reverse kick to 9’s solar plexus. Then, as the boy known as “Niner” struggled to recover, 21 hammered the youngster to the floor.

Round two was a bit more entertaining, as the combatants traveled the length and breadth of the ring before 32 finally managed to run a younger boy into a post, thereby knocking his opponent unconscious.

That brought up round three as what felt like an ounce of liquid lead trickled into the pit of 47’s stomach and continued to lay there as he scrambled into the ring. Lazlow’s expression said that he already knew who was going to win the third round as he checked to make sure both boys had their protective mouthpieces, cups, and hand wraps.

“All right,” the headmaster said, as 6 danced around the ring. “Don’t kill each other.” And with that admonition, he was gone.

47 had a plan—a fantasy, really—in which he would find a way to beat 6’s defenses down and kick the other boy in the head. But that’s all it was—a fantasy. Which quickly became apparent when the fight began. Even though both boys were made of the same genetic stuff, it was as if 6 had been imbued with an extra something that gave the bully a distinct advantage.

While 47 attempted to put Number 6 on the defense with a series of body blows, the other boy was able to reach around and grab him behind the neck, delivering a series of knee strikes to the groin.

“Take that, bitch,” 6 said, “and that, and that, and that !”

He was going to lose, that much was certain, so 47 did the only thing he logically could. And that was to take just enough punishment to make the fight look convincing, take a fall, and walk away with the fewest number of injuries possible.

But 6 seemed determined to polish his image as the toughest student in the school. So rather than put his opponent down immediately, he pushed 47 away, and subjected him to a succession of front kicks, side kicks, and a fancy roundhouse that landed 47 on his back. A blow so hard, and so well delivered, it left 47 gasping for air.

That brought Ort-Meyer and his associates to their feet as 6 accepted a loud round of applause and grinned from ear to ear.

It took the combined efforts of Lazlow and another staff member to remove 47 from the blood-splattered ring, and load the injured youngster onto a squeaky gurney that carried him to the infirmary. It was there, while recovering from the beating, that 47 made a fateful decision.

After months of being victimized, the boy had arrived at the point where he was willing to do whatever was necessary to end the abuse. No matter what that entailed.

The decision produced both a sense of determination and a feeling of freedom as 47 left the infirmary and returned to the long, narrow dormitory he shared with eleven other boys. A pile of human feces had been left on his pillow, and there was no need to read the note to know which one of his peers had placed it there.

“Hey, shit head!” 6 said, as he and his toadies filtered into the area. “Oops! What’s that? It looks like the turd fairy left you a present!”

That produced gales of laughter as the other boys left and went to dinner.

But even if 47 wasn’t the fastest boy in the dorm, he was among the smartest, and he began to formulate a plan. From his training he knew how dangerous habits could be. And Number 6 had habits. One of which was to get up at roughly 3:00 a.m. every morning and take a pee before returning to bed.

With that opportunity in mind, 47 spent the next two days making careful preparations.