Snippet #2306040

It was midday, and Carl sat on his white sofa, his feet on the glass table, with the flatscreen in front of him, showing a pristine picture as he took a swig from his newly opened whiskey bottle, and then putting it on the sofa table, on which his feet was also resting.
"Damn it, what do they want now?" he muttered when his secondary phone, the one he used for contracts aside from his job at Cyirus started ringing.
He picked it up after waiting it out a few signals, hoping that whoever disturbed him would give in and hang up.
"Yeah, speak."
It was a contract of high priority, therefore he was to be offered a very significant sum. He was told to meet for negotiations around 7 pm at "the usual place".
Before he had time to respond that he didn't do high risk hits since the incident, the other side hung up and a few hours later, Carl was sitting at a bar downtown, looking discretely around the room, to see if he could spot his contact.
After a few minutes the tall man with the greying black hair whose face he knew very well was sitting on the bar stool next to him. Just as the older man was opening his mouth to speak, Carl interrupted him.
"I won't do it."
The contact closed his mouth without speaking.
"I don't do high risk shit anymore. I've had Shadow Tech watching my ass ever since the incident, sure I'm high up in Cyirus, but Cyirus ain't gonna do shit for me when I end up chased around Echo by freaking God's army."
The older man sat silent for a minute or so, until he eventually opened his mouth again, this time he wouldn't be interrupted.
"Well, you being observed by Shadow Tech sure isn't going to help this operation, but you are a low-priority threat to them, and they have not once caught you during your missions since the "incident"." he said. "I am fully aware of Shadow Tech's power and influence on almost everything, and this is indeed a very high risk hit. But everyone can be bought, and the reward is ultimately what decides how much people's lives are worth to them when it comes to these sorts of things."
As he spoke he wrote something on his touchpad, handing it over to Carl when he was done.
Carl had not seen the amount of credits written on this touchpad in the hands of a single person ever before. Surely there were some really rich businessmen, company owners and no doubt Shadow Tech agents in the possession of this sort of sum. But for him to be rewarded this much for a single mission. Unbelievable. This could only mean one thing though, and that was no pleasant idea for Carl.
"You're asking me to take out Shadow Tech agents, aren't you?" was the question he asked his contact after a pause of staring at the sum.
The only response to this was a slight smile, followed by a nod.