Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020 | Page 63

Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2020
from the vehicles. He knew that they would be outside his door in a matter of minutes, so
in a scramble, he gathered the essentials he would need to survive. These included his rifle,
food and water, clothing to change into, and a large backpack to store this in. With this, he
ran out of the back entrance of his apartment to the fire escape. As he reached the bottom
of the fire escape, he realised he had made too much noise and attracted the attention of
the security forces standing by the entrance. At the sight of Zhong, they opened fire. His
instincts kicked in, and Zhong found himself sprinting through dark alleyways and behind
decrepit buildings. Luckily, Zhong was able to outrun the security forces, due to their heavy
equipment and armor. After catching his breath, Zhong thought to himself, “Why was I
being shot at? I haven’t done anything to those men!” For Zhong, this all came as a new
realisation. He knew that the government was sometimes extreme in their law enforcement,
but had never experienced it first-hand, at least not until now. This was the tipping point
for him. He contacted Chen and informed him of the situation, and not even minutes later,
Zhong was in a civilian car driving towards the movement’s headquarters.
Back at the movement’s headquarters, Zhong again walked up the set of stairs and swung
open the door. He told Chen, “I accept your job offer.” Chen seemed delighted, “Good.
Let’s get to briefing then.” Zhong was told that his job was to assassinate the all-powerful
shadowy figure that ruled the Greater Bay Area, the Chancellor. After the briefing, Zhong
exclaimed, “That’s it? Nothing about where to find him or how the job should be done?”
Chen replied calmly, “No, I’m sorry. Our intelligence is very limited. However, I’d expect
that you know enough about him to get the job done.”
Zhong decided that there was no use in staying around at the headquarters, as that
only increased the chances of being discovered. He changed his clothing, put on a hooded
jacket, and walked towards the train station. He headed towards the area around the region’s
governing offices, as he figured it would be the last place that security forces would come
looking for him. He knew that the Chancellor never came out of the building for anything,
so Zhong would have to find a way in. His plan was to walk back into the governing offices
building, and to pretend that he had to give a mission report to the Chancellor. Then once
inside, he would request a private meeting with the Chancellor, and finally, he would kill
him with whatever tools he could find inside, or just with his bare hands.
As he walked up to the office’s security checkpoint, the guard said, “Ah yes, Zhong, the
Chancellor has been expecting you.” At first he felt relieved, that this would be easier than
expected. But then he felt a sense of unease at the fact that the Chancellor had anticipated his
presence. After all, who else would have sent security forces after him?
As he stepped foot in the Chancellor’s office, he was shocked to see that there was no
security presence. The Chancellor spoke first, “I heard that you did the job well. Now as
you know, payment is in order. Why don’t we get that sorted?” Zhong was paranoid. He
knew that the Chancellor was lying. His instincts told him that there was a good chance he
would not leave this room alive, and he now regretted his decision to go with a rushed plan.
He looked over at the Chancellor, and saw him on his cell phone. Sensing Zhong staring
at him, the Chancellor tried to relax Zhong,”I’m just telling my personnel to bring in your
payment.” For a few seconds more they sat there in silence, until Zhong felt something, or
someone, was behind him. He turned around, and saw four special forces personnel, all with
guns pointed at him.
Seeing that, Zhong realised the predicament he was in.The Chancellor smiled, and
proceeded to inform Zhong of what had happened, “You see, we knew that you had not
completed the mission. We wanted to make sure you had completed the mission, and so
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