AJ grasps the cool brass of his Father’s study door knob. Cotton mouth, sweat trickling down his forehead, clammy hands… “what am I doing” was his only thoughts as he rotates that knob. The cherry wood door creaks open. AJ straightens his posture as his eyes lock with the dark set eyes of his father. Slowly swinging his glasses in his hands, papers spread over the massive study desk, AJ’s father smiles for the first time in years. Stoic, almost like his brain needs to tell him to take a step against his will, AJ remembers to breathe. His father pushes back from the desk in his rolling leather chair. “AJ… no matter what happens from this point forward, you have made a choice, whether it was the urge of knowledge or the need for thrill, you are in the same position I was in at your age.

AJ tilts his head in a dog-like understanding… “16 son… that is when I was given my first envelope. 16, headed into my senior year of high school and my father changed my life forever. Most of me will forever be grateful for my own father bringing me into this life, but there is still that little part of me that holds onto humanity. That is going to be the one hurdle that you will continuously face. Decades our family has been a part of history, making the world a better place, without any recognition of what we have done to make said world more peaceful and rectified. That is how we like it, that is our pact to society… we take care of what is needed, no one finds out.”

AJ finally takes a seat in the other leather chair in the study as he is absorbing all his father is saying. His father is looking out the window as he pauses… the crackling fire pops ever so more than usual as AJ’s senses are heightened. Thoughts racing through his mind as he glances at the papers on the desk. Neatly placed piles, pictures of random people with a red X through them. Thumping is felt in AJ’s chest as he clears his throat. Silence is broken as he looks up from the papers to his father. His father is staring back at him with a smirk and a glassy look in his dark set eyes. “17 minutes of me explaining before you looked at my desk. you figured it out yet son? It took me 24 minutes when my father explained what we do in this world behind the scenes… in the shadows… in silence.”

AJ cracks his knuckles as he tries to comprehend the magnitude of this conversation. So… we… are… “we do not just kill son” AJ’s father cut him off. “It is a science, we do our homework, we have standards, we take out those needed to be gone. History shows us the path and future is where we will bring this world to a better place. I used to have hesitations when my father trained me. I would see the in-depth process of our traditions. But after years of training and shadowing my father, I finally got the hang of it. After my mind was cleared from my first tradition, I understood the importance of what we do. I did my second tradition… I studied the history of a man who was targeting young students coming out of Columbia University. He thought they would have money so he would attack them, lure them, or convince them to come back to his place. He made a few of them get the money from their parents but no matter the scenario he killed them. After watching this man for three months, he ended up killing two people. There would never be a third…” AJ stared at his father as everything started making sense. The quietness of his Father, the cold feeling he always got as he looked at his father, the hours he spent in his study. Always thinking how much work his father did at home as a college professor just did not make sense. AJ clears his throat as his father tries justifying their traditions.

His father stops in silence as AJ stands up. Face to face… AJ takes a breath… “When do we start?”