Damian Wright… Brother… Son… Friend… Hired Dark Ops Assassin. Learned from the best when he got to the Marines. He was taught by Mike Berra. Mike worked along side Max Pennington and Lou Wright. Together they took out over 40 marks. When the three of them came home it was to silence. No crowds, no cheers, no one even knew the work they did to better the world. Years later, Mike stayed with the Marines as a trainer as Max and Lou worked their way up the Dark Ops ranks for the CIA. They always stayed in touch, but it wasn’t until Damian was personally assigned to his team that Mike began to wonder about coincidence.

Damian came on strong. “It’s in the blood” Mike would always say as Damian smirked. After 3 months of training, Mike got a phone call. While Damian was shooting the center of the targets each time, he glances at Mike. “What is it… is it Lou?” Mike looked at Damian, “nope you’re getting called to the big leagues son.” While still classified as a marine, Damian is now being erased from the record books. Mike does not hear from Damian since that day.

After years of success, taking out marks left and right, always saying yes to his handler, Damian decides to give Mike a call. It is December 24th, 12:21pm. Mike picks up his buzzing phone, “hey Mike, its Damian… I just wanted to say Merry Christmas before I go out. Mike hangs up. He starts texting. He slams his phone down.

Lou is preparing for his kill. Everything is planned down to the second. within 11 hours and 39 minutes he will complete his Bad List mark. His phone buzzes. He stares at it for a few minutes and puts it back in his pocket. “Stay focused… deal with this later” he tells himself.

Present moment… Lou is on his knees. The crumbled paper is beside him with his brother’s name on it. He pulls his phone out and looks at the text he got from the afternoon. “Call me – Mike.” Lou calls Mike… “So you know that your mark is your own brother?” The first words that come out of Mike’s mouth to Lou. “What the hell is going on. Why is my brother even an option, why is he even on this list!” Lou stands up and begins pacing. “I trained your brother Lou… too good I guess. It must be in the blood. You, Max, me, and now Damian… we are the best at what we do.” Lou begins to stand still as he realizes what Mike is about to say. “You trained my brother to be like us? You made him just like me? But why, why would the CIA need another me?”

Lou looks down at his phone, Mike is now trying to FaceTime him. He answers. Mike does a head nod then slowly turns the camera. Max is sitting next to him. Mike puts his finger up to his lips to make sure Lou does not say anything. Lou’s eyes widen as he realizes the entanglement the three of them are in with Damian becoming to look like a scapegoat. Max holds up a paper that reads “meet at corner coffee shop on 5th at 5am.” Lou nods and hangs up.

5am, coffee shop, Mike and Max are in the back booth, Lou walks in blowing into his hands for warmth. He sits down in their booth face to face with them. The waitress pours him a cup of black coffee. “Explain everything, I won’t get mad until I hear you both out” Lou says as he sips the coffee in his left hand and balls his right fist. “Relax Lou, I’ll tell you what’s up” Max says. Lou stares in anticipation. “You have rules, I get that, Mike gets that, even your brother gets that” Max is cut off by Lou “what the hell does my brother know about what we do and why would he get that?” Max looks at Mike and sighs… “Lou your brother was hired by the CIA. You have your rules, your codes, what ever you have to make you feel better and justified. You take out 1 of the 3… Damian takes out the other 2. It’s as simple as that. However, your brother, one of the best with no hesitation of doing his job and no rules, got a little sloppy.” Lou stares at the both of them… “Why didn’t one of you tell me after all that we’ve been through?” Mike puts his hand out and points at Lou, “You know the rules, we cannot discuss other Ops, no matter if its your brother. I train, Max finds marks, you kill the chosen, and Damian kills the leftovers. We all go home happy not knowing anything else and completing the jobs set forth by the CIA.”

“So now what… I have to kill my own brother?” Max looks at Lou, “No dipshit, I needed to do my job and make it look like Damian is the mark and you are the contract. You think I would make you kill your brother? You are all family to me. Damian is stuck in the Bahamas. He took out the other two from your list of three yesterday while you were planning your one kill. However, he called Mike. He said ‘Hi Mike it’s Damian, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas before I go out’ and that is the sign that he is in trouble. Once he made that call, Mike had to tell me so I can make the decoy Bad List with just Damian’s name on it. Then he texted you. The CIA knows Damian’s stuck and instead of sending a team to extract him they want to take him out. It is easier and cheaper to tie up loose ends then lose information to someone on the list or connected to someone on the list.”

Lou rubs his head with both his hands… “Max and I are coming out of retirement. The three of us are going to get Damian before the CIA questions anything. Trust me, we all are in a deep load of shit, but we can make this work if we all work together… just us three, that’s all we need and you know it” Mike pats Lou on the shoulder as he stands up. He reaches into his pocket… he throws three plane tickets on the table. First class seats to the Bahamas for December 25th at 7:21am. Max and Lou stand up, Lou grabs the tickets, “we get my brother, we get out of there, and we make sure the hire ups understand that this will not happen again.