Assassin

Wednesday, January 4th Vernon Valley Ski Resort Vernon, NJ - 8:43AM ———————————— Peter Brown and his family are beginning their annual ski trip to the mountains of New Jersey. For the past five years, as soon as their youngest child Scott was able to put on a pair of skis, they have been starting off the New Year on the slopes of Vernon Valley while the kids are still on winter break. Peter and his wife, Emily, along with their youngest son Scott, who is now 12 and Scott’s older sister Lisa, who is turning 16 this year, have been making the trek from their home in Wayne to the mountains of Sussex County, pretending that they are enjoying the Aspen trails that were part of both Peter’s and Emily’s childhood decades earlier. When Lisa was just 8 years old, Peter was offered a promotion that was too good to turn down. The result had the family relocating from the mountains of Colorado to the New Jersey town of Wayne, located within an hour of New York City. Today, as has been their family tradition, is all about enjoying the outdoors and skiing the mountain slopes. There is nothing else on their agenda but fun and enjoyment. At this moment, Peter and his daughter Lisa are making their way to the top of the expert slope that few of the hundreds enjoying the day manage to attempt. Both of them are experienced skiers that have similar competitive personalities. This is only the second time that Lisa has managed to make it this far. Last year, on her first attempt at the expert slope, she came within seconds of beating her father down to the bottom, proving to herself that she was closer to winning than either of them expected. Coming in second place in this family was something Lisa was looking to change this year. Emily is an experienced skier as well, but she chose to remain back with Scott, as he was trying to master the intermediate slope for the first time. Now that he is 12, the last thing he wants to do is spend another day with the beginners, especially in this family of highly skilled skiers. As the chairlift finally makes it to the top, Peter and Lisa push themselves off the chair and prepare to begin their long journey to the bottom as their competitive juices start flowing once again. Peter: “Now Lisa, it’s more important to ski safely than trying to beat me.” Lisa: “Sure Dad, nice try keeping your competitor from getting off on the right foot, or ski to be exact.” Peter: “That’s not what I meant. I want us to have fun today and we can both do that without attempting anything dangerous or risky. Both your Mom and I have taught you from the start how dangerous skiing can be, especially if you do not take the necessary precautions. We don’t need to add a hospital visit to today’s agenda.” Lisa: “I promise to take it easy on you, it that helps. First one to the bottom gets to pick the restaurant for dinner and I do not intend to be eating a Fu’s Asian Garden again this year just because it’s your favorite.” Peter: “Well, we’ll see about that. I suggest you make sure your goggles are on tight so as to keep all of the snow I will be throwing your way out of your eyes when I’m out front.” Lisa smiles as they gently move themselves into position. She so enjoys their good natured bantering and knows that her father will be so proud of her if she beats him to the bottom. While Peter’s competitive nature does not allow him to ease back, he knows the day will be coming soon when Lisa will pass him by as the best skier in the family. Maybe today will be the beginning of that journey. As they make their way into position, Peter begins to count down from three. As he reaches one, they both push off and the race begins in earnest. Lisa gets out ahead from the start. She planned her trip in great detail. She knew what turns to take quickly and what turns required a little more patience. The longer she can stay out front, the better her chances. Peter is so proud of her and enjoys watching her take the lead as he pulls in behind her, waiting for the right opportunity to make his move. The expert slope is a difficult one. It has numerous trees and angles to maneuver that require careful attention to avoid finding oneself running into one of the many bushes, or God forbid, trees that line the course. The first mile is only for the more gifted skiers. The second mile merges with the intermediate slope, taken you the remainder of the way down. This is not without its obstacles. Once you reach the final mile you run into dozens of skiers with multiple levels of skill that could become an obstacle course for the advanced skier, especially one trying to beat another to the bottom. Add in the fact that Peter and Lisa will be traveling at speeds twice as fast as everyone else, you can easily find yourself running up the back of another skier and taking them down with you, making it dangerous to both parties. As they make their way toward the first half mile marker, Lisa is still in the lead but not by much. Peter knows that the next turn will be critical. The safest path is to give it a wide berth and take all of the surrounding trees out of play. He hopes Lisa will take the safer route and then they can travel the rest of the expert slope with little obstacles. As they make it to the treacherous turn, Peter sees Lisa choose the more dangerous route of cutting the turn closer to the trees. His heart jumps into his mouth as there is nothing he can do to stop her. He places himself right behind her so as to be close by if something bad happens. As they make the turn, Lisa comes close to wiping out as she hits a few exposed roots on the course but manages to maintain her balance. Peter quickly avoids the roots and they are finally clear of the last of the more dangerous aspects of the slope. As they reach the halfway mark and begin merging with the intermediates, Lisa maintains her lead and she knows that the rest of the way will be more about speed than skill. Could she beat her father to the bottom? As both Lisa and Peter concentrate on the other skiers on the slope, they speed along with little in their way. Luckily, there are less skiers on the slope than they had anticipated. As Peter begins looking for a chance to make his move to the front, he proudly watches Lisa in front of him and just then, without warning, everything goes dark. Wednesday, January 4th Vernon Valley Ski Resort Vernon, NJ - 8.43AM ———————————— Using the long range scope attached to the sniper rifle, the assassin is able to follow the prey from the chairlift to just about 500 yards from the summit. There is no reason to rush as the shot is planned for the final leg of the downward journey, not before. This will be the first of a series of assassinations to come. There are a number of people that have to pay for their crimes and none of them will be able to avoid their fate. As the wind begins to blow, the assassin, once again, picks out the point of contact on the slope and adjusts the trajectory to compensate for the wind conditions. It will be a good twenty minutes or so before the target makes its way into the rifle sights. All that remains is to wait and watch for the moment when vengeance will be the order of the day. All those who deserve punishment for their crimes will begin to fall. As our sniper waits in silence, the words being uttered in Arabic are quite telling: “Alaintiqam Hu Hadiat Lilah” (Vengeance is a Gift to Allah) Wednesday, January 4th Vernon Valley Ski Resort Vernon, NJ - 9:01AM ———————————— As the twenty minute mark grows near, the sniper prepares the tripod for its designed purpose and will remain behind the scope until the job is done. The blue and white ski suit should be easy to spot. More importantly, the location chosen gives the sniper a clear view of the merging area where the expert skiers merge with the intermediates.