[...The assassin Hovagner accepted a new assignment: to kill a target hiding in the Xia Kingdom.
Through an intelligence broker on the dark web, Hovagner located the target's former assistant, Catherine Aitchison. By following her, he successfully picked up the target's trail and completed his assignment without a hitch.
However, less than a day after he reported the job complete, the client contacted him again and asked whether he had taken anything from the target's home.
The moment Hovagner received that call, he realized he might be in trouble.
He did indeed have a longstanding bad habit: after completing an assignment, he would take an object from around the target as a trophy.
Nor was this much of a secret. Quite a few people in the business knew about it.
With no other choice, he admitted it.
The client was delighted to learn that the item really was in his possession and offered the generous sum of five hundred thousand dollars to purchase it. The two quickly agreed on a delivery arrangement.
For an assassin, concealing his real identity and appearance was a basic professional requirement, and the other party had no desire to reveal their identity either.
They therefore agreed to a contactless exchange. Five hundred thousand dollars would be deposited directly into the account where he received his fees, while he would leave the item at an agreed location-beneath a public bench in a busy square with no surveillance equipment.
Yet on the very day of the exchange, shortly after Hovagner left the item at the agreed location and departed, a dazed, down-and-out young man slumped onto the bench...]
"Classic popcorn movie plot."
Having finished reading the last plot synopsis he had obtained, that was the only assessment Xia Xu could offer.
It was an obvious Hollywood popcorn