Prologue

            The shrouded figure waited in fervid silence. Each slowly drawn breath a fiery burst of flames, stoked with dark anticipation. A gloved fist clenched the weapon, eager to deliver its deadly assault. An obsessive goal would soon be realized.

            Here he comes. Watch the shadow. Wait! Wait for him. He’s close! So close I can hear his breathing. One more step...

             A silent lunge brought their bodies together,touching almost, to engage in a strange dance of death. An upward thrust, an eager delivery, and the knife surged into the soft flesh. The razor-sharp blade punctured the heart and severed the pulsing aortic valve. A sudden twist of the handle completed its deadly plunge. The blade slowly exited the wound, while the precious, life-sustaining fluid spread silently downward. The wounded man’s brow creased sharply, his eyes pleading with bewilderment as he crumpled to his knees, his voice silenced by the blow. The strange sensation of impending death engulfed him; warmth and chill all at once and the sudden awareness of searing pain. Confusion clouded his mind, but it was soon replaced with stunned awareness of his fate. His limbs tingled and grew unresponsive; his grip on the killer’s arm slowly loosened. He moaned softly and looked upward, beyond the face of his murderer toward the starry heavens. He tried to utter a prayer, but his lips remained silent. His final thoughts were of forgiveness, praise and thanks, while the meaningful remembrances of his life floated across his vision. He drifted into unconsciousness and finally, the eternal sleep of death.

            The body was rolled onto a wooden pallet that had been emptied of its load. Sacks of sweet feed were placed gently, almost lovingly, over it in their original basketweave pattern. It was nearly dawn, and the body would have to be disposed of later.

            The culprit slithered past the barns and tossed the weapon to the ground in haste as a car approached on the road nearby. Its brilliant headlights seared into the murderer’s eyes, arousing alarm and dread of capture. Ducking to the ground with breaths coming in great gulps, the perpetrator’s chest heaved with torrents of nausea. When the road cleared, the executor leapt into the darkness of a densely wooded hillside as the first glimmers of light crept slowly over the treetops.