Next morning, the whole family had set out after breakfast. Richard called Francis and let him know that they will be reaching shortly. Francis received them at the office door and led the family to the room where a large screen was attached. Then he led Kaushik to another room and told him to wait. He left the room and the door to the room closed with a slight hiss.

The whole room was white, with no furniture, windows or anything. It was also quite small, 6 foot by 6 foot at max. Kaushik had to wait for only for a minute or two before a female voice resounded in the room. "Welcome candidate, to the Silent Assassin Course, or SAC for short. May I assume that you know how this test is conducted?"

"Yes, you may. I am Kaushik Roy. Fell free to call me Roy." lightly answered Kaushik. He concluded that this voice probably belonged to an AI, designed to oversee this test.

The voice continued, "Thank you candi... Roy. I am designated by Soca. It's an anagram of SAC O, or Silent Assassin Course Overseer." replied the AI. "Shall we proceed with the course?"

"Yes let's continue." Said Kaushik while shrugging his shoulders.

Soca's voice assumed a more formal tone. "Once again I welcome you to the Silent Assassin Course, Roy. I am going to give you the briefing so please pay attention. Our secretary of defense will make an appearance for the Gala Parade. We have intercepted a coded transmission which we believe to be an open contract for an assassination attempt on his life. We do not know who the attackers are, or what their plans are, or how many assassins will be there. Our only lead is the money that will be delivered. Your job is to kill the would be assassins. Any questions?"

"Yes. Is there a difficulty setting for this SAC test? I mean is there an easy difficulty SAC test and a hard difficulty SAC test?" Inquired Kaushik. He is expected to go in blind, without any assistance, into a sea of people where anyone can be an assassin. Is the agency purposely trying to disqualify him?

"Yes there is a difficulty setting. For this test, it's set at maximum." Answered Soca while maintaining her professional voice. If she could peek inside a certain room, she could see several people face palming themselves while muttering, "Fucking stupid robot."

"I see." Kaushik narrowed his eyes dangerously. "May I choose my arsenal now?"

"You will receive standard equipment for an agent. Just name what other things you need, and I shall materialize it for you. But are you sure you don't have anything to say?" Asked Soca curiously. As far as she knew of normal human behavior, this human should have gone on a rant of how unfair this test was, or how powerful his father was.

"Now that you mention it, yes I do have one more thing to ask." Grinned Kaushik. Soca sighed internally as she prepared to shut off her hearing function. She knew she couldn't be wrong about human behavior.

"Tell me Soca, where is the camera right now?" Smirked Kaushik, oblivious to the inner struggles Soca was going through.

"The what?" If Soca was a human and sitting on chair, she would have fallen from the chair right about now.

"The camera which is being used for the audience. Is it behind me, or on the right side of me, or on top of me?" Kaushik clarified.

"It's in front of you." Soca was intrigued. This human had managed to surprise her twice; first one was when he introduced himself. As far as her memory went, he was one of the only four people who had bothered to introduce themselves to her. Most of the people here saw her merely as a sophisticated robot, nothing more. This Roy was unpredictable, maybe he was the one? She would have to watch him closely now and analyze his actions.

Kaushik grinned and raised both of his hands. Soca watched him with rapt attention. He was going to do something. Maybe he was going to display some superhuman abilities? What could it be?

Kaushik made a fist with both hands, then slowly raised both his the middle fingers, shook them a few times, and then relaxed his hands.

Soca again, fell from her metaphorical chair. This man had managed to surprise her again. If she could peek inside THE certain room, she could see the facial expression several people getting dark, while muttering "You're too cocky Boy."

Over the course of next few minutes, Kaushik chose his weaponry. He chose a fiberwire, a karambit and a silenced pistol. He also asked for a grappling gun which he could use to access normally out of reach heights. Then he asked for a dummy practice range, tested each of the weapon and after he was satisfied, the testing began.

The colors in the room flickered for a moment, and before Kaushik knew it, he was standing in a corner of a small restaurant. People are occupying most of the tables. Waiters shuffling about taking orders or placing foods on tables. Sound of muffled music coming from outside. He looked around calmly and muttered, "Damn, is this what a military grade VR looks like?" It was indistinguishable from actual reality. He would have believed it to be an actual real world, only if it wasn't for the fact that suddenly everyone and everything inside the room stopped moving, as if time has stopped. Even the music stopped playing, bringing the place in total silence.

"Ah... Hello?" Kaushik tried shaking his hands in front of a guy who was sitting in front of him. He got no reaction whatsoever. He tried calling for Soca, "Soca, a little help please?"

"Hello Roy. This is the starting area of your mission. Observer the table in front of you." Soca was going to watch the man and his every move, though her voice gave none of her intentions away.

"This is the money handover." Calmly stated Kaushik once he examined the two persons sitting in front of him. One was wearing a suit, another was wearing a t-shirt. There was a silver briefcase on the left of the man wearing t-shirt. Kaushik instantly understood the scenario.

"Correct. I suggest you take a seat. The simulation will resume once you do. Kill the assassins, reach the exit, you win. Fail to protect the secretary, or give up halfway, you fail. You are free to do whatever you want in here. And remember, after the simulation starts, you are on your own." Kaushik could swear that Soca's voice sounded a little excited, like a kid getting a new toy. However, he chose to ignore it.

He took a seat a bit away from the duo. Far enough to be not noticed by them but close enough to keep an eye on them. The whole environment instantly came to life once he was seated. He picked up the menu card which was on the table and pretended to skim through it while watching them. After a minute or two, he saw the shirt guy push the briefcase with his leg towards the suit guy. A bit after that, the suit guy picked up the briefcase and left the restaurant.

'That's my cue.' Kaushik got up from his chair and left the restaurant. He found the suit guy with little effort. He kept tailing him. After what felt like ages, they arrived in front of a bookstore. The suit guy walked inside after greeting the guard stationed beside the door.

'The guard didn't frisk the suit guy. They must have some kind of code word. I need to get my eyes in there.' Kaushik ran towards the opposite direction of the bookstore and entered an alleyway behind a house which is directly in front of the bookstore. After confirming that no one was around, he took out the grappling gun and reached the roof of the house.

He ran to the edge and activated one of the standard gadgets he received from Soca. It was a multi-purpose contact lens which has a sophisticated vision enhancement that allows one to see people in darkness, including through walls, detect and identify objects and analyze environment. Inventors of the technology called it the detective vision. It was inspired by an old video game which was inspired by an older superhero comics. A must have tool for anyone going inside enemy territory and do some stealthy detective work.

'There he is, talking to another guy.' Kaushik sat at the corner of the roof without moving a muscle. The suit-guy was easy to find since the briefcase showed up in detective vision. 'Alright. Let’s check out the building. One front entrance, that one looks like a back entrance, a spiraling staircase on the left. Those shelves look like bookshelves. One guy guarding the front door, one is speaking with the suit guy, two are upstairs. Hmmm?"

Kaushik deactivated detective vision and zoomed in a bit. On the first floor balcony, a guy stood wearing a suit with a binocular in his left hand. The most important thing Kaushik noticed that he was holding up a transmitter in his right hand, and speaking through it.

'Interesting. Why is he using an old shortwave radio? Didn't those things become obsolete some 30-40 years ago because of their short range?' Kaushik kept watching the building. 'The suit-guy is coming up the stairs.' The transmitter-guy also stopped talking over the radio and went inside the room. The suit-guy put the briefcase on the table, opened it and whirled it around so that the transmitter-guy could see the content. He picked up a stack of the bills, skimmed it and put it back. They shook their hands and the suit-guy proceeded to leave.

'Now I get it. Communications through those radios are untraceable. They are using it so that no one will be able to pinpoint their location. Money has come to this guy. Meaning he is the boss behind the hit. Looks like I got my first fish.' Kaushik cracked his neck and took a deep breath to calm himself.

He took out his pistol, checked the magazine and put it back. He also checked his other equipment. After his last minute check ended, he ran to the opposite and grappled down to the alleyway. He normally walked out and calmly entered the alleyway behind the target house. After checking that no one was looking, he grappled to the roof. Then he tiptop to the edge directly above the balcony.

It was an open balcony, with no roof. The transmitter-guy was again out in the balcony, looking for something in the distance. It would be so easy to put a bullet in his head and be done with it.

But Kaushik decided against it. To make sure that the guy died in one shot, he had to shoot him in the head. But just below the balcony, there was a sea of people. If he shot the head, then definitely some of the blood and brain matter would splash onto the people. And if they noticed, they would make a ruckus and the job would get a lot harder.

He had to be stealthy. He tiptoed to the opposite side of the roof and anchored the grapple hook to the side of the roof. Then he pulled out the grappling cable from the gun and tied it around his waist. Then he went to the side overlooking the balcony, pulled on the cable a few time to test that it was secure. This way he made sure he won't fall from the roof by accident.

Then he made a lasso with his fiberwire and in one swift motion, put it around his target's neck. He immediately pulled up the cord, using his target's own weight against him. After he stopped kicking, Kaushik pulled up the body on the roof, upholstered his gun and shot him in the head to make sure that he is dead.

Kaushik loosened the cable from his waist and put it inside the grappling gun. Then he dropped down onto the balcony to retrieve the walkie-talkie.

'Alright. One down. Now onto the others. They are using techs which are untraceable.' Kaushik has thoroughly searched the dead body. It had not one single thing that can be used to track someone. 'But the subordinates will have to update the boss after a set time interval to make sure everything is going according to the plan.' Grinned Kaushik, "And that will be my clue for how many are there."

Kaushik kept waiting for two minutes. After that, the walkie talkie came to life with a slight buzzing sound. A woman's voice came through it, "I am hungry baby. When the food is coming?"

"Soon, sexy, soon." A male voice this time. "Wanna eat some protein?" Another male voice. Kaushik waited for other voices, but he was met with silence.

After five minutes of silence, the female voice came back again, "Is it here yet?"

"Be patient." "I still got the protein." Two voices came through like previous time and then silence.

After another five minutes, same process repeated itself, but again with a bit different wording.

To someone else, their conversation would not hold any meaning, but to Kaushik, it was a chest full of precious treasure. 'So three assassins. One woman, two man, that much is obvious. The girl is blending with the crowd. There were a lot of people chattering in the background whenever she was talking. She is probably going to use a up-close method, my bet is on poison. Poison dart maybe? The first man is inside some disco. There was a constant sound of muffled bass in the background. He is most likely the sniper. The last one is inside some alleyway. There was people chattering in the background, but the volume was low. I will bet anything that he is some kind of bomber. Last desperate measure.' Concluded Kaushik.

'I need to locate them first.' Kaushik discarded the walkie-talkie and started running on the rooftop, jumping from one to another with ease using another gadget given to him by Soca, the jumper. The jumper is basically a mechanical leg which gives it's wearer enhanced leg power. One can jump higher, kick harder, run faster with it on. With this tool, jumping from roof to roof was merely a child's play for Kaushik. He started by checking out all the alleyways and soon found the bomber man.

'One found. Others should be nearby.’ Kaushik activated his lens and scanned the man. 'I see several small beads with him. My bet is that they are pandemic grenades.' Pandemic grenades were a kind of grenades that used corrosive substance instead of blowing things up like a normal grenade. Very effective against people.

Kaushik assessed the surrounding buildings. Much to his delight, there was only a single disco in the vicinity. It was a three-story building. He immediately took cover and scanned the building. In a room on the third floor, a lone person was looking out of the window, binocular in hand. Kaushik smiled, he has found his second man.

'Now how do I find the woman? There are like a million woman in the street now.' Kaushik tried to think of a way. 'Well, if I can't find her, then I should let her find me.'

Kaushik sprinted out of his hiding place and made a run for the disco. Between the roof he was on and the disco, one two-storied building was there. Kaushik chose a window on the second floor of the disco and jumped for it.

With the help of the jumper, he easily crossed the distance. The glass on the window shattered on impact, spraying inward. His bulletproof clothing prevented any broken glass shard from harming him. He immediately got to his feet and scanned his surroundings to check if anyone heard the noise, which none had.

Kaushik opened the room and looked outside. He activated another gadget that he received from Soca, the Scrambler. The Scrambler could be of any form, in this case a ring which Kaushik wore on his left pinky finger. It sends out a constant wave of EMP for a limited time which can scramble the feed from security cameras. A must have tool for anyone looking to break in and not get caught.

Corridors of the second floor were devoid of any people. Scans showed some people inside some of the rooms, busy indulging themselves in carnal pleasure. Kaushik took the chance and immediately went to the third floor. Then he entered the room beside the one where his second target was in.

'I will start with the sniper. Then the bomber. After both of them are dead, the woman will be sure to come check on them.' Formulated Kaushik in his mind. 'Now how to kill the sniper? Breach and clear? He could have booby trapped the door. The moment I open the door, a bomb will go off. So that's a no go. Shit, I going to have to take the leap of faith.'

Kaushik made up his mind. He opened the window and got on the ledge. Then he grappled up to the roof. He secured the grappling hook to the railing and wrapped the cable around his left leg two times. Then he suspended himself from the ledge upside down and took out his pistol. He loosened the grip on the cable and slowly lowered himself just above the window where his target was using his binoculars. He activated the lens and waited for the moment.

The target kept watching the road, binocular lowered. He kept watching the road like a hawk, without making much motion. The walkie-talkie came to life and the excited voice of woman came through, "Guys, the meal is here. Get ready, we are gonna party."

He immediately put the binocular to his eyes and sure as hell, the secretary was coming in in an open roof car. He lowered the binocular to get in position, the sight of a gun barrel pointing to his head made him stop his tracks.

The binocular is a great tool to look at distant objects, but it also limits your peripheral vision. Kaushik took that chance, and made his move as soon as the target has put the binocular to his eyes. The target froze upon seeing the barrel for a split second, enough time for Kaushik to pull the trigger.

Blood sprayed from the wound and the man fell backwards. Kaushik was surprised at himself, or to be specific at the lack of his own reaction. He just killed a man. But he didn't feel any different. Was this normal?

He went up to the roof of the disco and jumped down onto the second floor roof of the next building. His Jumper helped him soften the landing. He would worry about his reaction later. Right now he has got a job to do. He sprinted towards the location where the bomber was and grappled down behind him. He put the pistol behind his head and pulled the trigger without delay. He caught the falling body and dragged it towards the far side of the alleyway. There was enough lighting that the outline of the body could be seen. He propped up body in a sitting position and took his walkie-talkie.

"Help me." Kaushik whispered into the walkie-talkie and waited. The woman immediately replied, "Hey B, you ok?"

"Help." Kaushik again whispered into the walkie-talkie and dropped it. Then grappled up to the roof and kept watching the alley.

Sure enough, an ordinary looking woman walked into the alley. She looked around for a bit, spotted the body, and ran towards it. Kaushik grappled down behind her and slowly shuffled towards her without making a sound. The woman shook the man for a bit, darkness in the area making her unable to see the wound on his forehead. She took his pulse and seemed to realize that he is dead. She shook her head and stood up.

Kaushik saw everything she had done despite the darkness in the alley thanks to the lens. He concluded that this is the woman he was looking for since she didn't scream upon seeing the body, rather checked his pulse. He took aim and just when she stood up, pulled the trigger.

Kaushik stood there for a minute. His job was not still done. There could be other assassins who were not communicating through walkie-talkie. He grappled to the roof and kept watching the Secretary.

'Something's not right. Where are the government snipers? Shouldn't there be a shitload of snipers watching all these rooftop? He is THE Secretary of defense. You'd think his public appearance will be a bit more heavily guarded than this. Unless...' Kaushik's eyes widened in realization. He hastily jumped down the alleyway and started frisking the dead guy. He gathered 22 Pandemic grenades and grappled up to the roof. Then he started sprinting towards the disco, specifically to the room where the sniper lay dead.

He reached the room and collected a briefcase containing the disassembled sniper rifle. He also took the binocular, the booby trap on the door and grappled up to the roof. He booby trapped the door to the roof, assembled the rifle and propped it onto the ledge.

'Someone made sure that the police won't be patrolling the roof today. Soca said this was an open contract. Meaning anyone can have a go at him. This also means that soon, there will be a flood of assassins. Please be wrong, please be wrong', Kaushik kept chanting the last part as he used the binocular to scan the rooftops. His hope, however was shattered when he saw two guys coming onto the roof and taking out a sniper rifle.

Kaushik sighed as he fired two rounds from the rifle in rapid succession. He was thankful that it was a magazine fed rifle. He could shoot as fast as he needed and the recoil was low. He was also thankful that the whole plaza was not that big. Meaning bullet drop and wind direction won't be a major factor.

Another one popped up on a different roof. Kaushik shot him immediately. Three came up on the previous roof and immediately took cover when they saw the dead bodies. Kaushik immediately picked himself up and changed position. He jumped down from the disco roof and flanked them on the right. With his jumper he didn't lose much breath. After he successfully flanked them, he easily put bullets in their heads.

This cat and mouse chase went on. Every time a sniper popped up, they took cover after seeing the dead bodies, and then Kaushik flanked them and shot them. When his bullets ran out, he picked up one of the dead assassin's rifle. After what felt like an eternity, the assassins stopped coming and Kaushik could take a breather.

Not long after, the Secretary left and Kaushik allowed himself to relax. The simulation around him started to flicker and the white room came back where he started.

"Congratulations." Soca's voice sounded much softer than the one she was using previously, as if she was talking to her lover. "To be honest, I didn't think you would be able to complete the test. You did well."

"Thanks Soca. Hearing you say that means a lot to me." Kaushik had relaxed completely and lay down on the floor.

"Are you seriously falling in love with me?" Dubiously asked Soca.

"Why in the world would you think that?" Kaushik gave Soca a smile. "Let me explain. You're an AI. Meaning you rely on statistics to assess someone rather than emotion. If you are saying that I did well, then it means my statistics are good."

"You are correct. In fact, your statistics are off the charts. So I would like to make a proposition." Soca's tone became serious.

"Let's hear it." Kaushik propped himself up to a sitting position.

"I have been working on a type of exoskeleton. Would you be willing to help me test it out?" Soca's voice turned a bit hopeful.

"Depends on the test. Listen Soca, can we continue this conversation later? I need to report to the officers and all that." Soca's proposition sounded very interesting. But he had things to take care of right now. Mike's special forces test is next.