The Rookie

He threw up in the trash can. The stink in the dark bathroom did not help him either. Years of training had not helped him. Down on his knees, facing the can, he threw up again. He looked to his right. His revolver was on the floor. He picked it up. It was still warm. He had been holding it tight for the last two minutes. Right from the time it was in his pocket close to his crotch,

till now. He saw his watch. "So much in two minutes!", he thought to himself...

It was all over in thirty seconds. There was a loud gunshot and blood sprayed all over the walls of the dimly lit room. He had just managed to shoot the 'bastard' in the head. He had starred in

the climax of the encounter.

The situation was surreal. Every second seemed to fill his mind with many thoughts and many images. The demons in his mind took the shape of the 'bastard' whose picture he saw during the

mission briefing. The demons taunted him and so did the bastard. He could not take it. He tried very hard to keep his eyes open, and stop biting his own teeth but could not. Finally, he pulled the trigger.

He could hear his own heart beat. It was racing as he climbed the stairs. The team consisted of four members and there was a backup team too. He was the rookie, freshly drafted into the team. He could remember every word his team mates had spoken at every step he took.

'The bastard is sleeping in the fourth floor of an old building in sixth street', one of them walked into the office.

'Hope the intelligence hasn't fucked it up this time', the other one had asked.

'The intelligence does not know about this. It is my man who gave it to me.'

'Are we doing it?', the rookie had asked.

'This motherfucker is responsible for half of the trafficking that takes place. Sells children like he sells fucking peanuts. Shot one of our men point blank and skinned another undercover agent. You ask me if we're doing it?'

The rookie had no answers.

The next thing he could remember was the conversation he had with another senior member.

'It will be bad at the first time. You'll hear screams, see a lot of blood and also some brain if you shoot him in the head point blank'

'Shoot him in the head', the other senior added.

'You'll even throw up. But don't worry even I did it in my first encounter', he was told.

They had reached the fourth floor now, a hundred and fourty one beats and ninety seconds later.

'You do it', one of the seniors told him.

He looked at his bulletproof vest. Tightening his grip on his revolver, he broke the door open.