I was beating him in the head, again and again, again and again, the wet thump of fist on flesh and bone, the bite and tears of the concrete into him. Blood spurted from what was left of his face as I growled, my vision dim and red. He wouldn’t hurt anyone ever again. He’d be an example for everyone like him.

Strong arms lifted me off his shattered frame, and I was flipped over, cuffed roughly, and tossed into the back of a cop car. They had to drag me through booking, fingerprinting me and depositing me in a holding cell. It was like I had been to the most luxurious spa weekend; I slept with the contentment of a king.

You’re here to interview me for my psych assessment; I’ve been here before, done this before. I’m a thorough man; if you don’t know what that is, look it up. The desk sergeant will be getting a call soon enough, and an unmarked black Lincoln will be waiting outside to whisk me away to where you’ll never hear about me again. I’ll do my best to enlighten you while we wait.

I’m a man of peace and I live in tranquility. I’m sent to different communities to live and work for years. Just an average man, no trouble or threat to anyone.

But once I have my target, I’m a tiger. I stalk my prey and I’m meticulous in finding them at their most vulnerable. When I strike, their boys won’t be there to help me. He won’t have a piece or a knife or anything. He’ll be dead before he rounds that corner, though his end won’t come for several more minutes.

He’ll know why it’s happening before he dies. He’ll know what he’s done. The women and children whose lives he’s sold and ruined. The families he’s destroyed. He’ll deserve everything that happens to him and worse.

I don’t work for the government. The people I work for are bigger than them, and they have their own agenda. You can tell anyone you want about this conversation; it won’t do anything, and anyone who really knows anything keeps silent about this stuff.

I’m a rumor, an urban legend. They laugh and joke, but they know I’m out there and they know I’m coming for them. Do I think those monsters hesitate for a minute to hurt someone, thinking I might be out there watching? That’s the only thing I want.

So judge me if you want, but hear me out. I’m a soulless killer, I’m a ghost, I’m the invisible man, I’m the tiger in the dark. But there’s a lot of people out there for whom the cops and the Feds do nothing at all. No one is looking out for them. Except me.

I’m the one that makes the monsters check under the bed and lock the doors twice. I’m the reason they keep a pistol under their pillow.

Here’s the guard now. I’ll be leaving. Good talking to you.