Donnie looked at his pale-faced driver and frowned.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you dawdling around like some old lady?! Get out NOW!" Donnie yelled, "I have a plane to catch. If I miss that, you can be sure that you're not going to have a good life."

Or any life, for that matter.

The driver gulped and quickly went out into the rain.

Luckily, it was a drizzle now so the driver didn't need an umbrella. Donnie watched him go out, the frown on his face deepening.

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

At that moment, the driver saw two motorcyclists heading over on the slowest lane and he waved at them. He hoped that at least one of them would stop, and was surprised when both did.

They had on a full-face helmet on and with the visor down, all the driver could see was his own reflection. The driver sized them up, noting that from their built, one was a guy and the other was either a girl, or a young boy.

Donnie, who was watching this from inside, became vigilant.

He didn't like it when he couldn't see people's faces.

He took out his gun and placed it beside him, out of sight, with his hands on the trigger. Just as he did this, he watched in horror as the smaller figure shot the driver in the head while the first guy simultaneously turned towards him and shot through the window.

The window shattered, causing the bullet to slow down a bit, giving Donnie that window of opportunity to twist his body out of the way. The bullet still hit him, but instead of hitting his heart, it was slightly above it.

Donnie had also pulled up his hand to shoot but was then shot again several times. One in the shoulder, stomach, and chest.

No vital organs were hit, but all in areas that seemed to cause excessive blood loss.

Donnie lay there, gasping in pain, as the blood gushed out from his wounds. He was already feeling weak and going into hemorrhagic shock, which occurs when you've lost at least 20% of total blood volume.

Donnie was confused.

How could he lose so much blood so fast?

He, who specialised in torture through beatings and cuts, knew what he was experiencing but he couldn't understand how four shots could cause such an effect. Had it been an exploding bullet?!

An exploding bullet is a prefragmented, or frangible, bullet that has a prescored outer jacket with a plastic round nose containing compressed lead shot within. Once the bullet hit something, there would be a controlled explosion, which produced increased damage.

That would explain how the window had smashed so easily, when it had been reinforced.

With those thoughts going in his mind, Donnie watched, as if in slow motion, as the guy now aimed at his head. He probably felt that it was taking too long and wanted to end it now.

Just before he pulled the trigger, however, Donnie could hear police sirens in the background. The guy turned to look behind and cursed, while his partner said a few things, revved up his engine and dashed off.

The guy soon followed.

Just before Donnie passed out, he saw a concerned face, some background noises about calls for an ambulance. The one thing that kept playing in his mind were the words of the smaller guy as he left.

'Xavier isn't going to be happy about this'

✿ Author only posts on w.e.b.n.o.v.e.l. ✿

Kyle and Sayuri were cuddling on the sofa in the living room, watching the news.

"My, my, my," Sayuri said, pursing her lips as she watched one sensational news report after another.

Unknown bodies found in an unnamed mall.

Man dying of a heart attack in a mall, his bag full of rare and precious books.

An attempted assassination, with the guy in ICU at the hospital.

"You've been very, very busy," Sayuri said, laughing.

"All in a day's work," Kyle said, a smile on his face.

"You know, you could have let your agents deal with Donnie," Sayuri said.

"I know," Kyle replied, leaning back and putting his hand around her shoulder, "But I wanted to vent a little. Shooting him felt good."

"Yeah, best to get it out of your system," Sayuri agreed.

"For now," Kyle said, "His suffering is just beginning."

"So now, we wait," Sayuri replied, snuggling closer.

"Yeah," Kyle agreed, "MIB can do the monitoring so we have a bit of a breather."

"Do you think he really believed Xavier was behind the attempted hit on him?" Sayuri asked.

"I can't say for sure, but I would say there is a good chance," Kyle replied, "We made it convincing enough. Your drowsy drug sure made him believe he was dying from blood loss."

"It was your exploding bullets that made the effect even better," Sayuri said, "Spreading it right into his blood system like that. Quick and effective."

"We make a good team," Kyle acknowledged.

"That, we do," Sayuri agreed, "By combining our knowledge and skills, we could do so many things that were probably never considered. I still find it amazing that Lucka could hack into their car."

"Oh yes," Kyle nodded, "In fact, it is possible to can hack into the computer system of any car built since 2005. So, interfering with the air conditioning, radio and wipers is a piece of cake for Lucka."

"How did he make it stop?" Sayuri asked.

"He cut the transmission so that the accelerator would fail," Kyle explained, "So even though the car was going 100km/hr, it was easy to make it slow down and stop."

"To think the bug you planted under the car did more than just track them," Sayuri said, "You think so far ahead."

"The more we depend on technology, the more vulnerable we are," Kyle mused, "It's a double-edged sword."