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  If you feel you may need to carry the data with you to the jobsite, mail it yourself and carry the unopened envelope. Even law enforcement officials should be leery of opening sealed mail without probably cause and the necessary legal documents.

  Then, just before you leave to complete your assignment, open the envelope, review the contents and destroy in the manner described above. If something goes wrong as the job goes down, you certainly don't want the authorities to find such incriminating evidence in your possession. Your employer wouldn't appreciate carelessness on your part much either.

  TRANSPORTATION

  The next task to be faced is getting yourself and your equipment to the jobsite.

  Any travel agent will be happy to make arrangements for travel, lodging and a car rental for you at now charge. Simply call a travel agency, give a false name, tell the agent your destination, when you want to leave, and ask for an open return flight home.

  The travel agent will want your phone number to call you back when the information you request is assembled. You can get around giving out your number by telling her you are using a neighbor's telephone or that you're going out for the afternoon and will call her alter in the day to get the information.

  This way, the agent will see your face for only a few brief minutes when you go down to pay cash for your tickets, which will be prepared in the false name you gave. There will be no record of your true identity, phone number or address, and airlines don't require identification for tickets paid in cash.

  However, identification is required for car rental, so don't make such arrangements through a travel agent. And don't make motel reservations in the same name used on your flight tickets. You need not make it any easier than necessary for anyone to identify you between your point of departure and the crime scene.

  If for some reason you cannot fly, you may have to drive. Trains and buses are much too slow and the trip would tire you considerably. But if time permits, train and bus may be the safest method available.

  In any event never use your own automobile as a means to getting to the jobsite. A rental car would work best.

  Car rental agencies require a valid driver's license and one major credit car as identification even when you pay cash. This is a security measure for them to guard against theft. So if you plan to rent a car, even for cash, a fake or stolen set of identification is in order. (Make sure you get a car with unlimited mileage and a trunk for locked storage).

  Obviously, your risk factor is greatly increased when you drive. Even a minor violation can place your location at a particular time, so the driver's license you use must match the name on the rental contract just in case. God forbid that you should become involved in an accident! But should any situation occur where your face has been clearly seen, placing you in the area where the hit is to go down, either cancel the contract immediately or put it off for a while. Your employer will understand and will be grateful for your precautions.

  When using a rental car, always carry enough cash to cover any major breakdowns that may occur.

  Even though the agency normally foots these bills, this is a part of the price you pay for anonymity.

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  Hit Man: A Technical Manual For Independent Contractors Sometimes it is good to cover your trail by flying into a large city a few hundred miles from where the hit is to take place. You can rent a car there and travel to the job location. If you choose to travel this way, steal an out of state tag while you are out-of-state. Stolen tags only show up on the police computer of the state in which they are stolen. You will use the tag to replace the rental tag when you go to make the actual hit. In that way, any suspicion or checks on the parked car will not Ben traced back to the rental agency or to you.

  TRANSPORTING YOUR TOOLS

  You can't work without your tools, and you can't count on being able to purchase them when you get to where you're going. Even with proper false identification, there may be residency requirements or waiting periods, so you need your own, dependable selection of weapons from home.

  Of course, you'd never get through airport security with a gun on your person. But you can carry one in your luggage if you notify airport personnel in advance and it will be stored in the cargo compartment. Otherwise, you may have some embarrassing questions to answer as that suitcase does through airport X-rays. But even if you get permission to pack your gun in your luggage, how will explain that little sound muffling tube that is attached to the barrel.

  If time allows, you can ship everything UPS or by bus or common carrier, with pickup at the terminal by the addressee (fictitious name) when you arrive. Or, you can use Express Mail -- next day arrival guaranteed -- post office to post office, which may or may not require ID by addressee at time of pick-up.

  However you choose to transport your weapons, pack them well! Use a metal, foam-lined box or two or more cardboard cartons packed one inside the other as your shipping container. Disassemble guns and other metal parts and roll them in soft cloth, newspapers, or clothes you plan to wear on the job.

  Include several extra pairs of rubber gloves and clean work shows, unless you plan to carry these items with you.

  If you are driving and for some reason have no choice but to transport these dangerous tools with you in a car, pack well as above and gift-wrap or prepare as if for mailing. Carry the wrapped box in the locked trunk of the car, out of public view, to prevent theft or suspicion. If the package is small enough of it inside a large suitcase or metal footlocker, use a combination lock as a double safety precaution on your outer container. Authorities and crooks alike are known for confiscating keys; however, a search warrant with probable cause may be necessary for the authorities to get you to open the combination lock.

  Note: Every item you use on a job should be considered disposable then you won't have to worry about how to ship these items home again.

  THE TRIP

  You are on route. Your tools on the way via Express Mail. You are traveling under an assumed name.

  Everything you purchase is paid for in cash. Anything you buy is a necessity -- food, lodging, and transportation. You will use only bills in small denominations, not crisp new one hundred dollar bills. You don't want to draw any attention to yourself or become memorable.

  You are working. This is your job and you are a professional. You will purchase no gifts or souvenirs, nothing that may point a finger to your locations along the way. This means specifically items like pottery labeled "Made in Mexico," shells marked "Souvenir of Florida" and the like.

  You will not become involved with women -- on any level -- while you are on assignment.

  Women have an eerie way of memorizing quickly and in fine detail any man that shows a sexual interest in them. Save pleasure for after business.

  You will not drink, even socially, nor will you take any drugs or stimulants. If you need artificial courage, you should try some other career.

  You will make no long distance phone calls. The phone company computer will be recording the numbers dialed.

  You will be careful of the food you eat and the water you drink. You don't want a case of food poisoning or dysentery to hamper timely accomplishment of your assignment.

  You will not draw any unnecessary attention to yourself in any way. You won't over- or under-tip.

  You won't be drawn into any memorable conversations. You won't exhibit any rude or argumentative 52

  Hit Man: A Technical Manual For Independent Contractors behavior. Your profile will be low and non-disruptive for the duration of the assignment. Though inside you are like a wild animal stalking his prey, others may view you as yet another passive wimp! Let them.

  If the waiter is too slow, be patient. If the clerk doesn't give back the right change, forget it. If the food is bad, don't eat it. Don't let any little incident cause anyone to remember your face later.

  PART TWO: DESTINATION

  The excitement is building as your plane comes in for a landing. Where will you st
ay, and how will you get there?

  Unless you know your way around and can use mass transit to your advantage, you will probably need to rent a car. Nothing flashy, and in a solid color. Ask for a city map at the rental agency or purchase one at the airport newsstand if one was not provided by the employer.

  A place to stay is the next priority. It can be any motel, fancy or cheap, but it should be in close proximity to the jobsite to prevent excessive travel. In fact, if you can find one within walking or jogging distance of the hit, you can forego the car rental and taxi to the motel ( not to the jobsite!). Just don't over or under tip the driver or get into any extensive conversation with him. This is where a disguise can come in handy.

  Check into the motel using a fictitious name. Identification is not required when you pay cash.

  Register for only two days maximum. If you stay is to be longer than two days, change motels and use another name. When you register, use a made-up tag number to correspond to the fictitious address you give.

  If you are in town six days, you will have used five different identities -- one for the plane tickets, one for the care rental, and three different names used at three different motels. This should cause some real headaches for anyone trying to pin down your exact location. Especially if you keep changing your appearance as you change your name.

  If you are using a car, keep driving to a minimum. In a strange area, your risks of traffic violations and accidents increase tremendously. Just remember, while you are out, to "borrow" a tag for use when you are ready to make your move.

  Of course you will have to call for your equipment if you pre-shipped it to yourself. And you will have to drive, jog or stroll past the places your mark is known to haunt (no pun intended!) After these initial checks you can determine whether you will stick to your original plan or if changes are in order.

  Before you leave to do the job, and each time you change motels, you will thoroughly wipe down your room so it will be clean of fingerprints. Make sure you leave no personal items behind that will be proof of your presence. This is a precautionary measure.

  As you dress for the job, certain precautions should be taken. Clean tennis shoes should be worn during the job, because the ones you wore before may have traces of soil from your hometown, which will leave an important clue for the investigators. The shows don't have to be new, just clean. And since the police can take impressions to ascertain height and weight of the criminal, it doesn't hurt to wear a size larger shoe than normal or even add a weight belt to throw off the investigation. Soft soled tennis shoes are quiet and good for running, should the need arise.

  Clothing, of course, will have to suit the area, particularly if the job is to be done during the day or in a public place. For night work, you can wear your regular clothing under a pair of overalls if the coveralls will not arouse suspicion in the area.

  Wipe down your weapons as you assemble them. Even the inner parts of your guns must be wiped to remo0ve any prints that were left behind during the last cleaning.

  Wipe down each bullet and wear rubber gloves as you load the clip. Just in case you leave behind an empty cartridge, you don't want your fingerprints emblazoned on the casing.

  After loading the clip, discard that pair of gloves. Do not leave them in your room, but throw then away along the way. Handling the clip may have weakened the thin rubber from contact with metal parts. If they are too weak, or if just a tiny hole or tear has begun, it might become large enough to leave an incriminating partial print at the scene of the crime.

  With your luggage and your duffel bag containing your tools in the trunk of your car, the room wiped clean of any clues to your existence, your plan of action firmly in mind, you are ready to go. Your knowledge, guts, reflexes and professionalism will see you through.

  When the time is right, make your move. Quietly. Efficiently. Whatever method you choose.

  53

  Hit Man: A Technical Manual For Independent Contractors The secret. Now that the deed is done, is to stay in total self Control. Don't panic! Don't hurry!

  Wait until you know beyond any doubt that you have accomplished your assignment. Check for a pulse at both the wrist and throat. Drag the body out of the line of view of windows and doors, so discovery will be delayed. Cover any spots of blood with carefully dropped newspapers or clothing so that, too, will not be visible and arouse the suspicion of anyone peeking inside.

  Be absolutely positive that the mark is, indeed, dead. You don't want to rush out too soon and have to wait around to read the morning paper to see if your mission was successful, or read that he survived and sought medical attention.

  Take a few minutes to calmly survey the scene for any evidence that you might have left behind.

  Pick up those empty cartridges that were ejected when you fired your gun.

  Did you remove your gloves for any reason? I hope not! But many a man has been caught because he thoughtlessly removed his gloves after making the kill to help himself to food or drink from the victim's refrigerator.

  If the hit was supposed to look like a burglary, mess the place up a bit and take anything of value that you can carry concealed. Of course, you can't keep anything. These items will have to be ditched along with your work clothes and weapon, but any cash you find is yours to pocket.

  Excitement made you a bundle of nerves? If nature calls, try to control the urge. One man was actually convicted by the print he left on the victim's toilet seat. It seems he had this scar...

  If you have to take a piss, flush the toilet with you gloved fingers. You can't imagine how many idiots will remove their gloves to facilitate the operation of the sipper to take a pee. Without thinking, the flush before pulling the gloves back on ... leaving indisputable evidence to convict them on the flush handle. And believe it or not, the toilet handle is one of the primary sources for prints during the investigation.

  Check the victim one final time to make sure your part of the contract is complete before you leave the scene. Then make your exit, usually through the front door. Even if someone sees you casually leaving the victim's house, he has no idea for the reason of your visit or what you have done. And you disguise will conceal your identity.

  Walk; don't run, to your car or whatever your planned destination might be.

  The first thing you should do when you reach the car is change into another disguise and get out of those work clothes. Check them for bloodstains. If there are none, you can toss them into a charity collection box or trash bin. If the victim's blood is on those clothes, they must be burned or buried.

  Of primary importance now, too, is changing the rifling of the murder weapon. This should be done before you leave the crime scene. That way, even if you get picked up or stopped with the weapon in your possession, its ballistics will not match the bullets you left behind in the mark.

  Now move your car to some other location where you will not attract attention as you switch the tags and disassemble your gun.

  When you are driving, stay calm and obey all traffic rules. Toss your gun parts out at intervals or in various locations about town. Throw them in lakes or waterways. Bury or sink the gun barrel and silencer in different spots. Crush the plastic housing of the disposable silencer before you discard it.

  The shoes you wore should be discarded as carefully as your weapon. You might have left distinct parts behind that will end up as plaster casts. Toss them separately at intervals along the highway. Ever see a single te4nnis how lying in the road? Now you know from whence it came...

  Hide, bury, burn, toss -- but, in any event, do away with every tool and article of clothing that was near the scene of the crime. Even your rubber gloves. Remember, they may have powder residue on them, and they most definitely have your fingerprints on the inside!

  If you are flying home, stop and wipe the car for prints and wear driving gloves as you return the car to the rental agency.

  If you are driving home, wash the car and vacuum the interior immediatel
y when you arrive at your destination. Remember why you wore clean tennis shoes? Well, foreign soil from the jobsite is now in the car's interior. It's in the air filter, too, so make sure you clean that as well.

  Sound like a lot of unnecessary trouble and precaution? Perhaps. But it's the overcautious who remain at large.

  Take, for example, the case of the federal judge slain in Texas in 1978. The contract was for $250,000 and was paid on schedule. The hit was made, fulfilling the contract -- but the contractor was soon apprehended. How? Undisguised, this so-called hit man took a taxi to the jobsite. The taxi driver fingered him! Why? See if you can tell me.

  54

  Hit Man: A Technical Manual For Independent Contractors PART THREE: THE AFTERMATH -- GETTING A HOLD ON YOUR EMOTIONS

  You made it! Your first job was a piece of cake! Taking all that money for the job was almost like robbery. Yet here y7ou are, finally a real hit man with real hard cash in your pockets and that first notch on your pistol.

  Some people would say that a hit man is an emotionless, cold-blooded killing machine that he has no fear and no belief in God. On the contrary, a hit man has a wide range of feelings. He may be excruciatingly tender towards his woman. He may be extremely compassionate towards the elderly or disabled. He may have a strong aversion to the useless killing of wildlife. He may even be religious in his own way.

  What the professional lacks is remorse. He feels no guilt.

  I'm sure your emotions have run full-scale over the past few days or weeks.

  There was a fleeting moment just before you pulled the trigger when you wondered if lightening would strike you then and there. And afterwards, a short burst of panic as you quickly looked around to make sure no witnesses were lurking.

  But other than that, you felt absolutely nothing. And you are shocked by that nothingness. You had expected this movement to be a spectacular point in your life. You had wondered if you would feel compassion for the victim, immediate guilt, or even experience direct intervention by the hand of God. But you weren't even feeling sickened by the sight of the body.