Being the thirty-first at something doesn’t sound that impressive. The average person rarely thinks outside of the top five, maybe 10. The escapades of the thirty-first anything rarely makes the news headlines - unless it was the most dangerous people in the world and Hector Hailfort was dangerous.
In the year 2030, every country in the world had come together and compiled a list of the world's 100 most dangerous people: everyone from spies, assassins, and gangsters to martial arts masters, bounty hunters, and revolutionary leaders. The world powers made this list public, along with a bounty for everyone on it. Hector has sat uncomfortably at thirty-first ever since.
He, personally, didn’t think he deserved to be that high. He was only a thief; the murders were all unavoidable parts of the job. If a security guard walks in on him carefully stuffing fine art into his bag, is he not supposed to kill him? It was the guy's bad luck to walk in on him; that guard should take it up with god. It should be those guards; he had killed multiple men across multiple heists. All of them should take it up with god together, he thought.
No matter what Hector thought, he was number thirty-one. He didn’t look dangerous, only standing at 5’6” with well-kept medium-length brown hair and slightly tanned skin. Green eyes, which sat behind thick black-rimmed glasses most times, and a charming smile got him into places he wasn’t supposed to be. That’s how he had infiltrated the annual Wormwood fundraiser he was currently attending.
The CEO of Wormwood Technologies loved to throw annual charity balls in her penthouse apartment that sat on the top of the Wormwood HQ building. It was a mansion on top of a skyscraper, much larger than any apartment Hector had grown up in. The internal servers for Wormwood were on the floor right below the party; with the rest of the building shut down, this was his best route in.
Wormwood was the leader in modern communication technology. Their leading product, The WristWorm, was a bracelet that would project a screen onto the user's arm. It quickly took over the standard phone as a shortage of precious metals in the late 20’s had skyrocketed costs. Wormwood had proprietary technology that no manufacturer could reproduce with the same effectiveness. Wormwood started to expand into other areas and undercut competition till they were the only ones left.
So, when a benefactor reached out through various underground channels to request his services to steal the original blueprint file, how could he refuse? His modified WristWorm beeped as he stood in the corner of the bathroom; he smiled. There was a strong enough signal here that could work his magic. His screen lit up and worked its way into their servers. It wasn’t sexy. Thankfully, he had a few bots that wrote and ran code he didn’t feel like typing. Once he finally clicked into the system, there was a small thing he had to do.
If he copied the files and deleted them, a thousand red flags would have gone up. Red Flags means system lockout, which means prison. He needed to change a few lines of code within the servers and delete any backups. So he did just that, and then Hector copied the files and deleted them from the servers. He allowed himself a small chuckle; he wasn’t out of the woods yet. There was the matter of leaving the party.
Hector returned to the party from the bathroom while he patted his hands dry on the front of his slacks. He was distracted by ensuring his hands were dry when he bumped into a short, blonde woman.
“Oh, do forgive me, Ma’am.” Hector smiled as he looked into her warm brown eyes. There was a moment of recognition between them; people on the list made a habit of memorizing the faces of their competition. She was Maria Roseaid, the 90th most dangerous person in the world. She was only a thief.
“Ah,” Maria clicked her tongue, he was a problem for her. Two thieves in the same place was never good for business. “No point is there?”
“Afraid not.” Hector smiled and winked, walking past her. He swaggered towards the front door, slipping effortlessly through the crowded ballroom. When he reached the entrance, there was a commotion.
“SIR! ARE YOU- I CAN’T- SIR! I NEED BACKUP!” Hector recognized the voice of the doorman. He had schmoozed him earlier that night with a tale that included women of the night and a bustle of dragon fruits. That's how he had gotten into this event in the first place. Hector poked his head out to look into the entrance.
“HAILFORT!” A deep voice screamed his name. His eyes went wide as a flash of white turned the top of Hector Hailfort’s head into a fine red mist. His body crumpled to the ground; a woman who had tried to look into the foyer under his arm screamed and followed him.
Steam rolled off the barrel of the beam rifle as the large man who shot it slung it over his back. He walked across the room, whistling while approaching the body. The giant man held up his WristWorm and took a photo of the body, tapping on the projection before giving a crooked smile.
“I love gettin’ paid.” You could tell he smoked by his voice and that any tooth in his mouth that wasn’t silver was stained yellow. He knelt and patted the suit jacket, finding a small grey disk under the collar. He plunked it off and stuffed it into his pocket. The brute lifted the corpse over his shoulder and stood up. The beady black orbs he had for eyes scanned the crowd and then stopped.
Maria felt her stomach drop. She knew who he was; everyone knew who he was. He was Albert Sal, The Pig, the 4th most dangerous man in the world. A meaty finger beckoned her forward and away from the stunned party guests. Maria swallowed her pride and stepped forward, looking into the eyes of the beast. The Pig held his WristWorm out towards her, scanning her face. There was a ding; he squinted at his forearm.
“You’re only worth 20 Million?” He let out a laugh. “You wouldn’t be worth the ammo I used.”
“Thank you, Sir.” was the only response she could muster. Her fingers shook as she swallowed a sob, “We- Hector and I were lovers.” She lied. “Can- May I hold his hand one last time?” She stifled her crocodile tears.
Albert let out a snort that turned into a laugh.
“Why not? An old fool can’t help but like young love.”
Maria approached the beast like a skittish deer. She grabbed the man's hand, slipping his WristWorm onto her arm and hers onto his. She brought the cold hand to her lips and kissed it. Albert jerked it away from her with a cruel laugh; Maria fell to her knees to sell the performance. Albert wouldn’t discover the switch until the next day after he had spent the rest of the night with sex workers and a bustle of dragon fruit.
In the early morning, the Pig’s furious calls got a special edit to the Top 100 List: BOUNTY INCREASED FOR MARIA ROSEAID #90 TO $500 MILLION. MARIA ROSEAID MOVED FROM #90 TO #30.
She wouldn’t stay at #30.