Hypersoft X

Start writing here…The man silently sat in the dimly lit room, his legs propped on top of a wooden table, his hands folded neatly in front of him as he watched the door that was staring him down from across the room. The man was in his mid-thirties, black hair with some flakes of grey spotting from the amount of stress that overcame him, and his steel-blue eyes could cut through anyone when looked the wrong way. Yet, this man, he sat at this table in the middle of the room, the table wasn’t empty though, there was a pistol on that table. It sat in front of the man, coaxing him to pick it up, to point it at the door when nobody was there, and yet, the man waited. He watched as the light under the door stayed well-lit, nobody passed his door to dim it for him to know that someone was there.

“Anton, listen to me, it’s dangerous. Dangerous to believe that your idea of this Hypersoft X is going to change the world without any consequences,” Anton’s father remarked, standing across the counter at the island. His face had wrinkles from the amount of stress that he had to deal with at his own company. 

Anton sat across from his father, staring at him as he listened and he then said to him, “I get that it’s dangerous Dad, I’ve seen your work and deal with threats from mafias and gangs.” Anton had been starting to work on his business a bit more, hoping to soon launch it this Friday at the launch party that his girlfriend had planned months ago.

His father gave out a sharp laugh, shaking his head at his son and he then said to him, “No, no… Anton, when you launch a business that is going to change the world, your enemies will be something you wish you never had. A hitman will be hired to hunt you down to kill you, you will be up all hours of the day with your brain on high alert because you don’t know where that hitman is going to come from.” He takes a drink of his scotch, coughing a bit and he then sets his glass down to proceed to talk, “Having a family is dangerous, it will end up causing you to value certain assets, and as well as protecting the ones you love. That’s how dangerous it gets Anton. It for sure has fucked my life over and making this business of yours will surely fuck with yours.” 

Anton scoffed at his father, shocked that his father would try to ruin his dreams of launching this business that he had worked so hard on for years. He gets off the barstool he was sitting on, grabbing his phone and he then seethed out through clenched teeth, “At least I won’t have to worry about that, I’ll make sure of it.” Anton grabbed his coat, anger boiled through his veins and he then began to walk to the front door to leave.

“Anton, you forgot something that I have to give you. The sole purpose of why you were here.” His father called out, he made his way to the coffee table that was near the door, unlocking the drawer and pulled it out. He held out a silver metal flash drive, looking at it for a quick second, and said, “This has important stuff on it, Anton if you go ahead with your plan of launching Hypersoft X on Friday night and I’m not there.”

Anton frowned slightly at what his father said, he took the flash drive with no second thoughts and then asked in confusion, “Why won’t you be at my launch?” He pockets the flash drive and waits for a response, concerned now.

“As I said before, you don’t know whether or not you will have a hitman, mafia or gang after you.” His father remarked, he gave his son one last hug and he then pulled away. “Good luck son.”

It was slowly creeping towards two in the morning, having stayed in the seat that he sat in because he had a feeling that someone would be knocking on his door to tell him that they were some sort of general appliances for an apartment. As the man sat in the dimly lit room, with a gun sitting on the table, waiting to be used, he glanced at his phone. It was going off every few minutes to tell the man that he had a notification from one of his friends, or even a colleague… He didn’t have friends, so why did he even think that it would be one of those kinds of notifications. Oh well, a man can only hope that they were considered important to someone other than themselves. 

He sighs softly under his breath, raking his fingers through his black hair as he closed his eyes to compose himself and regain whatever emotion that bypassed his wall into the depths of his brain. The man, of course, was known as Anton Bennett the CEO of Hypersoft X, and a very dangerous man to be reckoned with. Anton had a lot of enemies, some wanted to kill him because of what his product could do for the world. Anton was considered to be a man in the industry of future technology, hoping that his products would make the world around him different. He had businessmen from all over the world asking him for his software, hoping that it would change their country for the better, yet Anton didn’t reckon with other countries yet with his software. 

Hypersoft X was a software chip built for TVs, computers, and any technology that anybody could think of. Hypersoft X would be placed in certain spots of technology pieces, and it would spy on the person that was selected. It could be used for home, the office, any stores and it would save every conversation in a drive on an app for the person to view later. It was used mostly for police officers more for when they wanted to go undercover for criminal activity, and they would hide the chip wherever they deemed fit. It has been able to capture a couple of dozens of criminals throughout the years that the software had been launched, yet, it had made Anton have enemies from different gangs and such. Hypersoft X is the most popular software in the year 2024, the Government had given Anton a medal for making such a revolutionary technology that was hard to detect when it came to paranoid people and conspiracy theorists that may have been right about a few things that the Government didn’t want the public to know about. 

Anton tapped his fingers on the tabletop, his eyes diverting from the door to look at the time that displayed on the microwave screen and he mutters under his breath, “Two-thirty in the damn morning,” and there hasn’t been anyone near the door, except for the old woman that lived across from him with the annoying Chihuahua that barked nonstop at every little thing. Anton averts his attention back to the door, noticing that the light from underneath was black and his brows furrowed, and he frowned. Anton reached for the pistol that sat on the table, his fingers wrapping around the handle of the gun, and he quietly slid out from where he sat as he tried not to make any sort of sound. 

The light under the door shifted as Anton made his way to the door, the shadow of feet showing underneath, and then the sound of a gun getting loaded could be heard from the other side in the hallway. Anton keeps a finger on the trigger, pressing his back up against the wall next to the door and he breathes deeply to regain composure as he waits. As Anton stands quietly up against the wall next to the door, waiting for whoever is on the other side to knock his door down, the sound of the barrel sliding back into the original place that it was designed to be in was all that Anton could hear as his blood roared in his ears. Anton breathed in quietly, exhaling out and he continued to wait with his pistol up against his chest. 

Anton stood on the lower level of his building, staring at everything that he had just accomplished. His launch party was tonight, and he was dreading it immensely after what his father told him. He exhaled slightly, raking his fingers through his hair and he felt a hand on his shoulder. Anton glanced over his shoulder to look at his wife, smiling faintly and then looked back at the doors in front of him.

“Everything will be fine honey. You will do great during your launch, and I’m by your side.” His wife responded; she kissed his cheek before walking out of the building.

Anton shoved his hands in his pocket, realizing that something was in it and he frowned. He pulled it out from where it was, noticing it was the flash drive that his father had given him. He exhaled a bit, pursing his lips and he muttered under his breath, “You’re not dead yet, but this launch party is going to be great you fucking bastard.” Anton pockets the flash drive into his pocket once more, and he fixed his tie. He glanced around the building one last time, realizing that he managed to accomplish his dreams without any problem. Anton smiled faintly at the accomplishment, exhaling a bit to expel any sort of bad energy in him and he then walked out of the building as well.

The rattling of the doorknob filled the room as the intruder tried to get into the apartment Anton’s in, it stopped for a split second before suddenly, a loud gunshot could be heard, and the doorknob to the door was blown to the point where the door swung open from the damage. Two pairs of feet appeared in the line of vision of Anton’s as the person was slightly in view, but not completely and they stood there as they scoped their surroundings from where they stood. The stranger cleared his throat, not moving from the safe spot of where the door was, and then said in a low tone of voice, “Where are you, Anton. I know for a fact that you are in here.”  

Anton stayed in the spot next to the door, his back pressed up against the wall and he peered through the eye hole of the door to see what the stranger looked like. Anton held onto the gun that he was holding onto, his breathing shallow as he tried to not show where he was hiding. Anton knew right away who the hitman was, having crossed paths with the man quite a bit and he then shook his head a little in disbelief. 

The hitman’s name was Ryan Westwaters, having a stature of 6’5 and a body like a generic-looking bodyguard that you find at clubs. He had dirty blonde hair, with brown eyes that looked like the pools of dark chocolate that people tend to not eat because dark chocolate tasted gross. He had a five o’clock shadow on his face where he possibly shaved this morning but has now reappeared at two in the morning, he had some scars visible on his face from people that had fought back and possibly done some sort of damage to Ryan’s face. The man shifts slightly on his feet, waiting for some sort of response and he then sighed a bit when he realized that Anton wouldn’t give away his location. He put his gun away, deciding to take a different route and he then responded to the pitch-black room, “Alright, Anton. We have done this a dozen times, and it always ends with you either beaten up or with me having to let you inflict some sort of injury on me so I can tell my client that you got away.”

Anton pursed his lips in a tight line as he listened to the man talk about how things always ended between the two of them, and Anton unloaded his gun to hide it in-between his pants and waist. He then replied to Ryan with a bit of warning in his voice, “Move away from the door, gun on the floor at the entrance and walk to the table, Ryan. I’ve got a proposition for you.”

Ryan chuckled lowly at what the man told him, he shook his head at the request and then slowly put his gun down onto the floor near the door entrance and he walked towards the table that was in the center of the room. Ryan sat down in the chair that Anton was sitting down earlier before he arrived at the apartment complex. He propped his feet up on the table with a smirk on his face, he noticed that Anton was behind the door and he remarked, “You were seriously hiding behind the door, Anton? How cliché of you.” 

Anton closed the door halfway as he showed himself to the hitman that had figured out where he was hiding, he shrugged his shoulders at what the man said to him and he walked over to the gun that laid on the ground in front of his door. Anton picked up the gun, keeping his eyes on Ryan, and put the gun where the other one was placed; he fixed his shirt and then closed his door so nobody could peer into his apartment. He stood in front of his door, staring at Ryan, and then responded sarcastically, “Well at least I don’t hide behind couches or in closets, Ryan.” Anton crossed his arms over his chest, watching every single movement that Ryan made, keeping his guard up just in case the man had something up his sleeve.

Ryan rolled his eyes at Anton for what he told him about his hiding tactics, he shifted his posture in the seat and he then leaned over the table with his fingers intertwining together. He tilted his head to one side and cleared his throat to say, “Well, Anton. What is your proposition that you have for me? It better be worth it for me to risk this job of killing you.” Ryan was always the one that was hired to kill Anton for the years that Hypersoft X was launched, Anton’s rivals had wanted the man either dead or severely hurt to the point where Anton was hospitalized. Ryan had always played this cat or mouse game with Anton, always letting the man go with just barely a scratch half of the time, for some reason, Ryan never wants to kill Anton. In his mind, he just wanted the man to live so he could figure out what Anton’s motive is with Hypersoft X. He has heard about how much it has changed Government officials’ lives, and as well as undercover cops. Ryan has witnessed people buying the tech for purposes of finding out their significant other was cheating on them, or that they’ve been doing shit that they shouldn’t be doing. Of course, Ryan has never had a reason to use this tech for anything and has watched the advancements that it has made throughout the years. 

Anton smiled when the male asked him what proposition Anton had for Ryan, he made his way over to the other side of the room and sat down in his armchair. Anton grabbed the decanter that sat next to his armchair, he held it up to display that it was scotch and said to him, “Want any scotch, Ryan?”

Ryan shook his head no at the male, declining the offer of alcohol and he then said to him, “No, thank you, I’m good. Now the proposition at hand?” Ryan didn’t want to be here any longer than he needed to be, wanting to get home to be there when his little girl was awake, and he looked at the letter opening knife that sat on the coffee table. Ryan thought about the millions of ways he could kill Anton with it if he needed to do so without his gun with him.

He pointed at Ryan, smiling slightly, and offered, “We’ve been going at each other’s throats for years, Ryan. You would never kill me, yet, for some reason leaving me as a bloody pulp and taking a picture for your clients always worked. My proposition to you is, would you work for me?” Anton waited for the other to say something to him about what he had to offer he would most likely pay him in some sort of way, but he doesn’t know what, yet. 

There was a moment of silence between the two of them as Ryan pondered over what the other asked him, a small chuckle in disbelief left his lips when he realized that Anton was being serious about the proposition that he had offered Ryan. Ryan points a finger at Anton, shaking his head at him, and remarked, “You want me to work for you? I’m not someone you just hire on the spot when I am in the middle of a task to kill someone. Or the person that I just beat to a bloody pulp. What’s in it for me, Anton? What do I benefit from, if I join you in alliance?” Ryan raised an eyebrow at the fact that Anton was caught for not thinking it through for what Ryan would get in the deal. 

Anton groaned slightly for a second as he realized that he didn’t take a moment to think things through, running his fingers through his hair as he tried to think of what the other male would get for not killing Anton on the spot. Anton then retorted back with, “Well, I can give you some sort of percentage of money for working for me and making sure I do not end up without a head on my body.” Anton tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair as he anxiously waited for Ryan to take the bait, hoping that he would have at least one ally in this crazy world where the wrong people wanted him dead.

Ryan gets out of the seat that he was sitting in, he stands up and brushes off the wrinkles that showed on his suit. Ryan was looking down at the floor as he thought about the idea of some sort of percentage that was a lot sturdier than being a man of hire and as well as being safer for his five-year-old daughter Myra who didn’t know that her father killed people to get money. Ryan looked back at Anton, taking a deep breath, and then he caved into the idea of having a somewhat safer job. He crossed his arms over his chest, standing beside the table, and then replied with, “I want 50 percent of whatever income you are making; I have a family to feed and bills to pay.” 

Anton sucked in his breath; a small, soft whistle of air blew past his lips as he realized how much the man wanted. He shook his head a bit, disagreeing slightly, and retorted back with, “How about 35 percent of income.” 

“45 percent of income or I decide to back out of this deal and shoot your brains out all over your nice looking armchair,” Ryan interjected, raising his eyebrows as he waited for Anton to disagree with that percentage that he was finally settling on as his final offer. Ryan looked at the time, realizing that it was almost four in the morning and he had to get home so he could get his daughter ready for school. 

Anton nodded slightly at the offer that the man decided to give as his final offer, as he considered that he didn’t want to end up with a bullet in his brain. Anton cleared his throat and held out a hand as a mutual agreement towards the hitman. “I accept that condition of 45 percent, but you could’ve had the 50 percent of income if you pushed it,” he smirked slightly at the man and watched as Ryan shook the hand to confirm their mutual agreement of the amount of income that Ryan would be taking home. 

Ryan released his grip from Anton’s shake, chuckling at what the man said, and he then said to him, “I do need my gun though to go home, Anton. You know, safety reasons being a hitman and everything.” Ryan kept his hand extended towards Anton as he waited for his gun to be back in his possession, his fingernails had some dried-out blood on it from earlier when he did another job for a different client. 

    “Ah, yes. Let me get that for you,” Anton exclaimed as he reached into the back of his pants and pulled out Ryan’s gun for him to take home. Anton noticed the blood on Ryan’s fingernails, raising an eyebrow in curiosity and he then looked at Ryan who now held his gun, checking it to make sure it was okay. Anton cleared his throat, fixing his watch on his wrist and he states, “So I will see you around at the business office later today to start your new job?” 

    Ryan puts away his gun, hearing the question that he was asked about and he then replied with, “Mhm… I will see you later Anton.” Ryan walked to the door, forgetting that he blew a hole in the doorknob and he pointed to it with an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry about blowing the doorknob off to your apartment.” Ryan opened the door, stepping out of the apartment complex, and began to walk down the hallway to the elevator that was at the end. Ryan knew for a fact now that his life and his family’s life is going to be in even more danger than it was because he is double crossing his client. He pressed the button to the elevator, waiting patiently for the door to open and it did instantly without having Ryan to wait. Ryan stepped into the elevator, his body relaxing a bit after realizing that he didn’t have his guard up in the elevator.

    Anton peeked out the door to watch the man leave the apartment complex, once he saw Ryan go into the elevator, he closed his door, and his body relaxed a bit as the realization hit him that he just escaped death once again. Anton loosened his tie in exhaustion began to hit his body like a semi-truck and he rubbed his face. “Lucky bastard once again,” he muttered under his breath, Anton collapsed onto his bed and he succumbed to the slumber that greeted him. 

    As Ryan made his way down to the parking garage to get to his vehicle, he thought about what just happened and he knew that he would also have a target on his head as well when he starts to work for the man. Ryan cleared his throat for a quick instant, his guard was up just in case, and he searched his left pocket for his car keys to unlock it. He finally got to the car, pulling on the handle to open the door and he looked around the parking garage one last time before getting into his car. Ryan shuts the driver’s side door as he puts his gun in the passenger seat, he starts up the engine and checks all the mirrors to make sure nobody was anywhere near him. When he was sure that nobody was in the parking lot, he drove off in utter silence and was greeted by the dreary weather outside.