The man awoke to the sound of a violin being played expertly. He picked the pistol up from his bedside table and crept towards the source of the noise. He paused outside the room the tune was drifting from and listened for a little while.

Raising the gun he moved into the room, when his eyes met those of the violinist he relaxed and set the gun down. “You play perfectly, would you like a drink?”

“Thank you, but I don’t drink.” He replied, not missing a note. “It’s a beautiful instrument, and in impeccable condition.”

“Have it, I’d rather that than it gets torched. I knew you’d get sent eventually, when they’d run out of cheaper men. At least I cost them dear to the last.”

“It wasn’t easy to get in here, I can see why the others failed. The world doesn’t need men like you I’m afraid, not any more.”

“And it needs men like you?”

“For a little while longer, do you have some last words?”

“I was a monster, but that’s what was needed.”

The violinist nodded, stopped playing and picked up the gun.