Phobia-1

The train was as packed as ever. This was a normal evening routine. Sitting in the seats, a young man with a hat was reading a newspaper. Beside him were old men and some office workers. Right in front of him was a rather handsome college student sitting beside an old woman. If looked at like this, the two of them, the newspaperman and the college student, had nothing that could relate them to each other. Or that was what it supposedly looked like.

He looked in front of himself. As he lowered his purposely uplifted newspaper and saw through the narrow gap between the rim of his hat and the edge of the newspaper, he saw two blue eyes staring at him about four inches away. As shocked as he was, he immediately pulled down the newspaper and acted even more shocked. The particular emphasis is on the word 'acted'. He had to act shocked to a level that would be normal. He had to look normal. He couldn't afford to be caught after all. 

He peeked at the original target that he was monitoring, momentarily ignoring the owner of those blue eyes. The student, his target, fortunately, hadn't noticed him. More like he particularly didn't pay any attention to him even after the tiny shriek he let out after being surprised. Now that he was assured, he looked up to see who those blue eyes belonged. 

Leaning over him while holding the handle on the roof, was a blonde guy smiling brightly at him. Something annoyed him about that. He blatantly ignored the blonde guy and resumed his secretive peeking at the student.

After a few stops, the student got off. Now the blonde guy leaning over the newspaperman took his seat.

The man folded his newspaper and took out a little notepad and a pen. He started jotting down.

'Jay Lawrence, Age: Twenty-one, Profile: Student, College: St. Mary Hills, Study: Humanities, Behavior: Indifferent to surroundings; Mysophobia; Heterosexual; Follows fixed schedule each day; Takes evening train at seven to home; Address: '

He needed the address to complete the target profile. But that was enough for the day. Spying can be easily categorized as stalking and lead to police involvement, which he had to absolutely avoid. He was a spy after all. 

His name was Hugo McMallen and he worked for an overseas independent spy organization called 'WORD'. WORD was an organization that would do anything for you as long as it wasn't terrorism and you pay them handsomely. 

Hugo was commissioned to gather information about Jay Lawrence by a very important client. This mission alone was worth five million dollars without any potential risks. Hugo was planning to quit after this mission and open a small restaurant with the money.

He looked at the seat where the student was sitting. He found the blonde man again staring at him and smiling.

'What the heck?' Hugo felt annoyed for some reason. He didn't like that person.

At the next stop, Hugo got off and took a taxi to the hotel he was staying at. He was impersonating a businessman with the name Richard Harson. He checked in the hotel reception, ordered some food and alcohol and went to his room. Entering he went straight to the bathroom for a shower. As he was showering, the food was delivered. He came out and served himself the food. He poured the alcohol into a glass and stared emptily outside the fortieth-floor window. The view was magnificent. Well, it made him feel nostalgic. During his first commission, he accompanied a senior spy. That time too, the view outside was good and they had alcohol together.

Quite a queer coincidence to be in a similar situation as the first mission on the last mission. He sipped the alcohol and went down with the whole bottle. Just one day more, and he would be free from this dangerous life forever.

He got up to move to the bed. His vision suddenly blurred and he fell on the bed. 

'Did I drink too much? But normally my tolerance...' he was thinking when he saw someone come out from behind the curtain.

"Who... ... ...?", Hugo barely said those words.