Once I have killed these people I will find you and kill you. If you behave in the manner I have told you and follow all of my instructions, at the completion of the matter you will never see me again. Is this understood?"

Crace sat back and let his mouth hang open for a moment while his brain figured out how to close it, a moment passed until he found some words.

"How did you know about my folks and my sister?"

The man tapped the screen again summoning another caption,

"Answer yes or no."

"There won't be a problem with the money or the job I promise."

"Answer yes or no."

"Yes."

Crace leant back from the table and stared at the man who coolly stared right back at him. Prior to the meeting Crace had wondered if this guy was just some sort of nut job fantasist who was pretending to be a hit man, but right now, looking across the table at this guy, he felt like he was staring at death.

Death stared back, smiled and nodded, as if reading Crace's mind. The man tapped another white box and Crace leant forward to read it,

"If you wish to leave now you may do. We will never see each other or speak again and you will be safe to carry on with your life as if this meeting had never taken place. You have ten seconds to get up and leave the table."

"I don't want to leave, I need... no, I want to do this I swear." Crace whispered urgently, leaning in close, head inches from the table, the light of the iPad illuminating his face from below. The man didn't reply, and it took Crace a moment to realise death was tapping his index finger on the table.

He watched it. Eight, nine, ten, before the finger pressed another square on the iPad,

"You want me to execute your wife, Karen, who works as a lawyer Maybrick Legal Inc. You want me to do this so that you can inherit Karen's wealth, wealth that was left to her by her father who died last year, and also a joint six million dollar insurance policy that is payable should either of you die before your apartment is paid for. Is this correct?"

"Jesus, it sounds like I am one evil son of a bitch, but let me tell you buddy, she is looking to nail my ass to the wall if the divorce she is threatening me with goes though. I'm in a hole here, I gotta girlfriend who is pushing me to move in with her, my job is up and down, it ain't easy being a broker these days I gotta tell you. I can't afford to split from that bitch and get a divorce."

"Answer yes or no."

"Yes. Jesus Christ! It's correct. Yes."

"If you wish to leave now you may do. We will never see each other or speak again and you will be safe to carry on with your life as if this meeting had never taken place. You have ten seconds to get up and leave the table."

This time Crace counted along with the tapping finger, eight nine ten. He didn't leave; he just sat with his hands on the table like the first email had told him too.

"You are about to contract me to kill your wife Karen. You must place the first fifteen thousand dollars, as instructed, in a brown paper parcel, in used one hundred dollar bills onto the table. Once I pick up the money the deal is final with no provision for alteration or cancelation. Do you understand? Yes or No?"

Crace licked his lips and then chewed the bottom one, this was it, at last he was out of it and now his heart beat a little faster in excitement. There was no way this could come back on him, he'd been careful to cover his tracks with this, there was no way any of it could be traced, all he had to do was look surprised when the cops told him Karen was dead, he'd been acting all his life, one more little scene would be easy to play.

"Yes." He reached into the Planet Hollywood jacket and took out the fifteen thousand and placed it on the table next to the iPad. The man stared back at him for a moment and then tapped the screen again.

"If you wish to leave now you may do. We will never see each other or speak again and you will be safe to carry on with your life as if this meeting had never taken place. You have ten seconds to get up and leave the table."

Crace shook his head at the guy to let him know he was in, committed to this. It felt like he'd just done a deal on the stock exchange, that feeling he got when he knew he'd made the right decision and struck a home run.

"Keep counting buddy, I ain't going anywhere."

Eight... nine...ten.

The man smiled and nodded, picked up the money and placed it into his pocket, this reminded Crace to mention the jacket before the guy left, deciding 30k granted him at least one question.

He watched as the man put the iPad to sleep and pick it up with his right hand and then noticed the man's left hand as it pulled a silenced Glock 9mm pistol out from under the leather. Crace watched the matt black silencer slide out from inside the jacket like a mamba from under a rock and realised the coat had been too big so as to hide the gun.

The pistol clicked once, although Crace never heard it, due to him already pretty much being dead. His head made more noise than the gun as it landed face first onto the hands he had been instructed to place in front of him.