Adam flew backwards in the light gravity and fell heavily onto the wooden chest next to the bed. Bundnet ran forward.

Quickly regaining his senses, anger flared in Adam. He pushed off of the chest, and the two combatants crashed into each other in the center of the room. Adam climbed on top of the suit’s metal frame and began to rip at the upper cage above Bundnet’s head. Metal bars easily broke from their joints, as Bundnet’s mechanical arms flailed wildly, trying to pull Adam from atop the cage. Then Adam dropped in behind Bundnet and ripped the power cords from the battery pack.

Instantly, the servos fell quiet, and Bundnet found himself trapped in the suit, only able to move it with his own feeble strength. He stopped struggling, and watched as Adam moved slowly back in front of him.

Adam just shook his head. “You don’t have any idea what you’re up against, do you?” The alien’s bottom lip was trembling. He didn’t answer.

“ This is what I do. I kill aliens for a living. And I’m very good at it-”

Adam then shot out with his right arm, clamping his hand around the alien’s neck. He squeezed, and could feel — and hear — the crunching of bone as the alien’s windpipe collapsed. In another moment it was all over.

Adam Cain, alien assassin, had successfully fulfilled yet one more contract.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Adam quickly gathered up his backpack and recovered his MK-47 — just as he became aware of the wailing of alarms outside the building. How long they had been going off he couldn’t tell; his mind had been on other matters.

But Adam didn’t panic. Yes, he had been discovered, but all he had to do now was get out of the compound. And that he had no doubt he could do.

The windows of the bedroom were shuttered and the exterior walls of the building were made of stone, so his only escape route was through the bedroom door.