The Assignment
The crescent shaped moon was the only source of light that night. It was periodically interrupted by the passing of grey clouds. At 11 pm, it was eerily quiet all over except for a couple of dogs barking somewhere far away.
Samba lazily got up from the old, creaky wooden chair on the front porch. He slowly walked into his home and switched on the only light. Today’s assignment was going to be relatively easy.
A few hundred meters away, Tulsi woke up to the sound of her youngest kid crying out of hunger. These were difficult days. Patting him to sleep for some more time, she walked towards the village in a bid to find some food.
Samba loved to think of himself as an artist. He slowly put on his mask, gloves and belt. The small 9 mm pistol went into his belt and the GPS tracking device to the front pocket of his jeans. He then loaded his rifle and adjusted the sight glasses. After admiring himself for a quick second in the mirror, he started. It would take him some time to reach the destination.
Tulsi knew it was going to be tough to find food at this time. She did not have a choice. For a moment, she thought of the good old days when food was in abundance. But that was before her land had been taken away and she was forced to move to this new place.
Twenty minutes later, Samba had arrived at the designated place. He took out the GPS and tracked the victim. Satisfied, he took out his rifle and crouched into position. He was happy the client was willing to pay for such a sophisticated rifle. He had done assignments with much less. Slowly, he brought the rifle's sight in line with the target and in one swift motion, fired. He hit. Job well done, he packed up again and started walking back. He did not want to remain there longer than necessary.
Tulsi was walking a little faster now. It was late. Her legs were aching and she had to be back home soon. There was no luck yet with the food. In a split second, she felt a needle piercing her neck. She passed out.
The next day's newspaper headline read 'Rogue Leopard captured in unconscious state'
A few hours later, at dawn, one could have seen four leopard cubs behind the bushes looking on helplessly while their mother was put into a cage and carried away.