‘I am afraid so, young disciple. That is the only way to combat the servants of the Evil One.’
‘Wise Teacher, I beg for the honour of removing this evil from the world.’
‘It would please the Mighty One greatly if you could do this.’
‘I will feed the earth with their blood and put an end to their plague of evil.’
The priest bowed and beamed a benevolent smile at her.
‘Very well. The Mighty One is speaking to me, and he says that he is most pleased with your dedication and piousness.’
‘I am his humble and devoted servant, until such time as he deems my soul worthy to leave this disgusting body in which it is imprisoned.’
‘Serve him well and perhaps he will soon see fit to release your body from this living hell.’
‘May I have his blessing to requisition the necessary weapons, ammunition and gear?’
‘It is granted.’
The film cut to a new scene, which was filmed from a GoPro camera. The girl named AH-192 was standing in a thickly wooded forest and was attired in full camouflage combat gear. Strapped to her small body was an array of tools and weapons, and in her right hand she gripped a high-powered sniper rifle, holding it with the casual ease of a seasoned professional. She spoke calmly to the camera, and there was no trace of emotion on her face or in her cold, flinty eyes.
‘The Mighty One has ordained that I cleanse the earth of the evil-possessed GH-185, GH-1720 and GH-1919. I pray that His powerful hands will guide mine in the execution of this task. I have been informed that the evil ones are in possession of AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades, nine-millimetre pistols, combat knives and an M-60 machine gun. This will not present any significant obstacle to my mission.’
‘She is quite the confident little slut, isn’t she?’ Hrothgar chuckled as he quaffed on his whiskey.
‘She is no slut,’ Mr Li replied sharply. ‘She is one of the most efficient and deadly assassins on the face of the earth. Watch and see.’
The girl knelt, clasped her hands together and muttered a quick prayer. She then took the GoPro and attached it to a shoulder mount on her left shoulder, so that the viewer could see what she was seeing.
‘I want you both to remember that these G-grade models she is hunting are quite lethal themselves. They have been through the same intense training regime that she has, since birth; they, however, failed to meet our stringent requirements. Keep your eyes on the screen, my friends, and watch how effortlessly she deals with them. They have been told the same thing about her, by the way. The priest told them that she, AH-192, was possessed by the Evil One, and that they need to eliminate her.’
‘Those are quite impressive odds,’ Sigurd remarked. ‘Three highly-trained killers against one.’
Mr Li’s artificial smile broadened.
‘This is how confident we are in the abilities of our A-grade models. Just watch and see.’
The scene played out like something from a first-person-shooter video game. Hrothgar and Sigurd were both hushed into an awed trance as they watched the killer take out her targets one by one with swift, merciless efficiency. The targets put up a good fight themselves – one managed to graze AH-192’s arm with a shot from her pistol – but ultimately it was no contest. Mr Li paused the film after AH-192 had killed the last G-grader.
‘Would you like to make any notes about product AH-192?’ he asked. ‘There is a complementary tablet device which you will find in a pouch under your seat.’
‘One question,’ Hrothgar said. ‘If these assassins are so eager to die, what’s to stop them simply killing themselves?’
‘Don’t worry about that,’ Mr Li replied with a self-satisfied smile. ‘They long for death, yes, but we have made sure that one of the major tenets of our religion is that suicide is an unforgivable sin, resulting in a reincarnation of the lowest order.’
‘What if they are captured in the course of their mission?’ Sigurd asked. ‘Surely then suicide would be the best safeguard against information being extracted from them?’
‘No. Capture is simply not a possibility. They will fight until they are killed. No product would allow itself to be taken alive. That too is seen as a sin punishable by the worst form of reincarnation.’
‘You really have thought of everything, haven’t you?’
‘This facility has been developing these products since 1942. We’ve had plenty of time to perfect the manufacturing process.’
Sigurd, Hrothgar and Mr Li spent the next three hours watching footage of a number of A-graders hunting and eliminating their targets in various ways. Hrothgar and Sigurd made notes on their tablets as they observed the footage, while Mr Li looked on with smug pride. After they had finished watching all of the footage, Mr Li stood up.
‘I’ll step outside to give you two some time to speak about the details of your purchase. Would you like some more whiskey? Food? Anything? The services of a pleasure product? I assure you, it will be unlike any sexual experience—’
‘We’ll talk about our purchase options and tell you when we’re ready,’ Sigurd interrupted gruffly. ‘You can leave now.’
‘Very well. Press the “call’ button on your armrest when you’re ready.’
He left the room, and Sigurd and Hrothgar talked about the assassins they were interested in purchasing. They called in Mr Li a few minutes later.
‘Mr Li, we are ready to make a purchase,’ Sigurd announced.
Mr Li smiled and clasped his stubby hands together.
‘Excellent. Which products will you be taking?’
‘We’ll go with AH-1513. She is dark-skinned enough to be passed off as South-East Asian rather than Chinese, and as she’ll be doing her missions in that area, this will be desirable. Also, we’ll take AH-477. As I said, we
