47- Diana Watching in Nepal

  The comlink securely connected to the satellite’s signal. An image of a snowcapped mountain materialized on the laptop—Kangchenjunga, one of the most difficult climbs in the Himalayas. Diana checked her watch. Just after six in the morning. That meant it was close to one o’clock there. Nepal Standard Time was unusual in that it was offset by forty-five minutes from Coordinated Universal Time. If she was correct in her calculations, then 47 would be in place and waiting for her.

  She zoomed in to the blinking beacon on the side of the peak. The homer 47 carried was undetectable to the naked eye but easily picked up by the satellite. Quite ingenious, actually, Diana thought. The Agency did indeed have cool toys.

  Another marvel the satellite provided was the ability to analyze physical structures, whether they were man-made or natural. In this case, the program detected where the rock surface of the mountainside ended and the thick layers of snow began, so that she could easily identify areas susceptible to avalanches.
...

  “Where do I place the boomer?”

  She smiled to herself. Agent 47 always cut to the chase. “The computer is calculating that as we speak. Wait … okay, here it is. You’re very close. Move about forty yards to the east. You’ll find yourself on a ledge of what looks like ice, but it’s really very compact snow. That’ll do nicely, and it’s right over the target’s head.”

  “I see what you mean. Give me a few minutes to work my way over there.”

  Diana watched the tiny figure use a rope, a pickax, and a series of carabiners to maneuver sideways across the face of the cliff. She admired how 47 seemed to be able to do anything. He was a superb athlete, trained to work in all the elements. Of course, he was genetically engineered to be a superman of sorts. Diana often wondered how strong his tolerance for pain and fatigue really was. The climb must have been terribly difficult, especially alone. Luckily, he wasn’t so high in altitude that the helicopter she had arranged to pick him up couldn’t reach him. If he had been another thousand feet farther up, 47 would have had to descend Kangchenjunga the hard way.

  Then she saw them.

  Diana furrowed her brow and squinted. She quickly maneuvered the mouse and zoomed in closer.

  Two men. Almost directly above 47.

  “47, I see two hostiles, maybe two hundred feet at one o’clock.” She focused the camera on the men as tightly as it would go. “They’re Chinese, all right.”

- Hitman: Damnation, Prologue