It was exactly 7:24 when the loud engine of the delivery bike broke through the silence of the

night. The security guards looked up. The sound grew louder, and then the bike rounded the corner of the street and pulled up in front of the building. The driver got off. He was a young teen, maybe just turned 16 and dressed in a green debonairs uniform. He rounded the motorbike and took out whatever was in the box. With the contents clustered in his hands, he entered the building. He looked surprised to see the security guards watching his every move. Is this Taipei avenue number 17? he asked. The security guards nodded. The boy shrugged to himself, and turned towards the elevator. Before he even set one step, one of the security guards stopped him. Sorry, but youll have to go through the metal-detector. The boy looked surprises once more and then shrugged again. Sure he answered. Whats all this security for? The guard answered: Theres an important uhhhh meeting upstairs. They want us to search everyone before we let them in. The boy put the Debonairs Pizza, the pack of straws and the 2L coke bottle on the floor and passed through the detector. A green light flashed above the detector. The guards watched on, never letting their eyes off the boy. After passing the pizza and the straws through the detector, the guards asked: Which floor are you going to? After some thought, the boy answered The ninth. Just then, as the boy walked towards the elevator, a loud crash disturbed the awkward silence. The security guards whipped round. A big truck full of goods had crashed into a small car. There was a lot of shouting in mandarin, and one of the guards went outside to break it up. While both guards were preoccupied with the accident outside, the boy swiftly pulled out something, small and sleek from under the pizza box and stuck it onto the display screen on top of the elevator. When the guards turned around to see the boy waiting for the elevator they did not notice and change. The elevator arrived with a loud ping and the boy stepped in. Just as he was about to press the button, the guard stopped him again. You forgot the coke. The boy grinned: Id forget my head If it wasnt attached to my body. The guard smiled, and handed him the coke bottle. Then the boy pressed the button and the elevator doors closed. Now if you have noticed, the bottle of coke never passed through the detector. But there is no metal in a coke bottle so there shouldnt be a problem, right The guards watched the display screen to see whether the elevator would stop at the ninth floor. The screen displayed the numbers in neon green: 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 th. The guards smiled and turned back to watch the entrance of the building. However, on the seventh floor high above them, the elevator stopped and opened the door. Out stepped a young human form, dressed in the jet black clothing of an assassin. He held a little screen in his hand, which displayed the number 9 in neon green. He held a pack of straws in his hand and a 2L coke bottle in the other. Behind him a green debonairs uniform

lay crumpled on the floor, and a white cardboard pizza box lay next to it. He set the 2L Bottle on the floor and opened it. The bottle collapsed on itself and the bubbling liquid when streaming out onto the carpet. All that remained was a small plastic container in the middle of where the coke had been. The assassin opened it and pulled out a subnose revolver. Then he grabbed several olives off the pizza and stuck them in the magazine of the gun. Then he closed the mag, cocked the gun and set down the vestibule the gun and the straws in his hands. As he rounded near the corner, he heard the heavy footsteps of the security guard approaching the corner from the other side. Swiftly he unpacked a straw from the paper cover and raised it to his lips. When the guard rounded the corner, the assassin blew into the straw. The guard collapsed without a sound. The assassin stepped over his unconscious frame and continued down the hallway.