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The setting is of 2010. No weird science nor aliens.

There's this crime lord who climbed too quickly up the power ladder. He has an uncanny ability to know exactly what everyone within his range (20 kilometer radius) is doing. Anyone who comes into his range is recognized, not by name but he can tell everyone apart without seeing them.

The means by which he obtained this ability is unknown (or irrelevant). He is, otherwise a normal human (with common sense). His seeing & hearing ranges are normal. A very skilled assassin is sent to kill him (as skilled as you could imagine within current technology level, no magic).

The requirement is only to kill him, by any means, but avoid killing anyone else. The maximum casualties allowed is 10 deaths.

Edit 1

His power range is a sphere.

His power only lets him know who does what, instinctively. He can't tell the intention.

He won't ever get sensory overload.

Edit 2

For some who are wondering why I won't just quarantine the area then send an army after him: he would see it from 20 kilometers away (maybe more if he has spies or scouts) he would have plenty of time to put on a disguise and slip away in the mass confusion (you're attacking a city after all) and if there's no mass confusion he would just explode some buildings (setup before-hand, it's sensible to have backup plan) to cause confusion and slip away.

Why I don't just send assassin to sneak into his building and kill him in his sleep: he's well aware of his vulnerability during unconscious hours and the ability to sneak into any building is overrated in movies. It's a den, of course there will be plenty of elite guards who, once they shoot, only miss half of the times (and there's plenty of them to make up for that). Beside, who said there wasn't something like an automatic turret with facial recognition that shoots anything unfamiliar? Remember, he's sensible. He doesn't have to be a genius, he can hire geniuses any day to design his den.

Why I don't rig some beggars and detonate when they got close to him: seriously, beggars have no chance to get close to him and why would he go to places where something like that could happen? When he goes out, he uses his armored vehicles, multiple ones just to confuse people. Again, he's sensible.

Why I don't send him an explosive gift: why would he read mails and open gifts by his own hands? He has assistants for that. Explosive phone? He's sensible, why would he want a stupid expensive iPhone for? He would order one, custom made, with highest security, encryption money could buy.

Drones: it's his obvious flaws, so it's only sensible to have his building or panic room protected from such. His anti-air should be as good as any warlord. And you don't see many warlords killed by remote controlled drones.

I must emphasize again that he's sensible. Meaning he won't work alone. He's not a genius but he has money to hire geniuses. He or his consultants would recognize his obvious flaws and should have some countermeasures.

The crime lord has been subject to previous assassination attempts and is very cautious.

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    $\begingroup$ Does he have to think to ask "is this person's intent harmful to me?" or does he have senses that proactively warn him about threats? In other words, does his power work like a book that he can read, but he'll only be on any one page at a given time and might miss something, or is it more like he has a personal assistant, scanning for activity and keeping him updated? Can his senses be overwhelmed with a large number of people in the area? $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Jan 19, 2017 at 7:14
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    $\begingroup$ Just take him down when he's asleep... is that so difficult! Else Military Drone the one used to kill extremist leaders! $\endgroup$
    – user6760
    Jan 19, 2017 at 8:53
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    $\begingroup$ ..are drones out of the question? $\endgroup$
    – Layna
    Jan 19, 2017 at 9:33
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    $\begingroup$ I am beyond confused. "The requirements is that only to kill him, by any mean, but avoid killing anyone else. The maximum casualty allowed is 10 deaths." So are we allowed casualties or not?! $\endgroup$
    – MonkeyZeus
    Jan 19, 2017 at 18:28
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    $\begingroup$ Do you realize that 2010 isn't the future anymore? It's the past now. You should try setting your story in 2020. That's still the future, for now. $\endgroup$
    – Darth Egregious
    Jan 19, 2017 at 19:34

31 Answers 31

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Plant an explosive device ahead of time at a location he is going to/under his car/etc. Use cameras to cover the location. Activate it remotely. So long as all the setup is done outside of his perception range then he has no extra defenses compared to any other target.

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    $\begingroup$ Exactly the plotline of Giovanni Falcone's assassination, and Operación Ogro. Both were spectacularly effective. $\endgroup$
    – Iwillnotexist Idonotexist
    Jan 19, 2017 at 18:22
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    $\begingroup$ But this requires you to know where he is going to go, and you need to plant the bomb outside his 20km radius... what if he never travels more than 20km from his base, you'll not be able to plant a bomb near his house without him knowing. Remember he knows where you are long long before you know where he is $\endgroup$
    – Innovine
    Jan 19, 2017 at 20:42
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    $\begingroup$ @Innovine People who don't wander more than 20km ever are pretty rare. In any case, that's just delaying the inevitable, since there's a difference between knowing you're gonna get killed and being able to do something about it. You'd just need to stage Operación Ogro on the 1-3 highways out of town and outside the 20km radius, then send a threat into that radius. He stays put -> Gets killed, e.g. by assassin or drone-lauched missile. He hides in the radius or escapes by lesser-known roads -> Gets tracked and killed by the threat. He evacuates by a highway he believes safe -> Gets blown up. $\endgroup$
    – Iwillnotexist Idonotexist
    Jan 19, 2017 at 23:14
  • $\begingroup$ @Tim B This may just work. For curiosity only, how big is the explosion that could kill him inside his armored vehicle(not a tank, just a very expensive armored vehicle that stop rockets)? And will it kill everyone inside the cars around him? $\endgroup$
    – Ngoc
    Jan 21, 2017 at 10:34
  • $\begingroup$ Twice as big as half its size. You would need to research the type and armouring of the vehicle and choose a less populated area for the attack. The vehicle itself would contain most of the blast though so collateral damage would be controllable. $\endgroup$
    – Tim B
    Jan 21, 2017 at 10:57
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Do it when he is asleep.

Pose as a homeless bum or something and hang around to learn when he is asleep and awake. He's an otherwise ordinary guy, so just use those standard assassin skills, wait until he sleeps, sneak in and take him out, or plant a bomb.

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    $\begingroup$ Why didn't I think of this? Scrap my answer, this is clever. +1 $\endgroup$
    – Zxyrra
    Jan 19, 2017 at 9:08
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    $\begingroup$ Wandering in his general direction for 20 kilometers dressed as a homeless guy so you can observe his sleeping patters is going to be VERY obvious and VERY suspicious. I'd recommend getting a job in a delivery truck instead. Extra points if you actually rent a place and live inside his radius, so he gets used to you being around. $\endgroup$
    – wavemode
    Jan 19, 2017 at 15:16
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    $\begingroup$ @Innovine: coughmailmancough $\endgroup$
    – TMN
    Jan 19, 2017 at 16:48
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    $\begingroup$ Speedboat salesman $\endgroup$
    – Daniel
    Jan 20, 2017 at 0:27
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    $\begingroup$ @innovine You have a more reliable mailperson than I do. Yes, the mail arrives everyday, but time of day seems to be as random as the weather. $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Jan 20, 2017 at 14:49
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You need to check-mate him.

In chess, each opponent is also omniscient in the sense that they know where all the pieces are and what their possible next moves are. The best chess players are those that can predict all the possible future scenarios and avoid being left without an exit plan.

One relevant story that incorporates this component in a certain way is Death Note. One guy has a curious power and the best detective is sent to take him down. The detective has all the pieces in his head, but he only needs concrete proof of what is going on to link them all together. The whole time, they are "fighting" in the open, next to each other.

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    $\begingroup$ referencing the nature of complete information games and Death Note in one post...+1 $\endgroup$
    – atakanyenel
    Jan 19, 2017 at 13:23
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    $\begingroup$ Yeah but in chess there can be up to 30 collateral deaths :-) $\endgroup$
    – frIT
    Jan 19, 2017 at 14:52
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    $\begingroup$ @Mindwin you are correct. I assume our Kinda-Omniscient crime lord does not read thoughts, thought he can see what everyone is doing, like in chess. I worded it poorly. $\endgroup$
    – ecc
    Jan 19, 2017 at 15:43
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    $\begingroup$ So... point Deep Blue at the problem? $\endgroup$
    – jpmc26
    Jan 19, 2017 at 23:18
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    $\begingroup$ @ecc spoilers! (if possible tag please) $\endgroup$
    – Joshua Drake
    Jan 20, 2017 at 17:08
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Brute force

There is a difference between knowing someone is going to kill you and being able to stop it. If your assassin is skilled enough, perhaps they can get there and finish the job anyways; they just need to be really, really good at what they do.

Espionage-like tactics

Send someone or something without the obvious intent to kill. Ship in a delivery of poisoned or allergenic food, a gun that fires backward, explosives, or an escort who doesn't realize their lipstick is laced with slow-acting neurotoxin. It may take some time, but you can minimize causalities without risking detection - and look damn cool in the process.

Sensory overload

@SRM has the right idea in the comments: depending on if they can sense everything at once, lure them into a crowded area where everyone has completely different objectives, make it hard to focus on one hostile individual, then finish the job in a nearby cafe bathroom, subway car, etc- somewhere where causalities will be reduced, but there are people relatively close by.

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Sniper/Bomb Drone

As the title says, a small flying drone equipped with a gun can do the trick, it's improbable he won't be outside for at least a few minutes, so you could snipe him from above.

Another way is with a drone with a bomb on it, just reverse the propellers, and drop as fast as possible on him, detonating near his head. A rolling one might work too, but it is a bit more obvious. (Maybe just a kid playing with his toy truck and suddenly boom.)

Of course the drone is piloted outside of his range.

This is also assuming he can only detect humans.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ah! My first thought as well, drones are not persons, and they are more and more common. A sniper drone might be complicated (need to stabilize the drone to aim, deal with recoil, deal with latency, ...) but a bomb one seems dead easy. $\endgroup$
    – Matthieu M.
    Jan 21, 2017 at 12:59
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    $\begingroup$ Space lasers! Like drones but so many times cooler $\endgroup$
    – Darren H
    Jan 22, 2017 at 1:54
  • $\begingroup$ @MatthieuM. A professional filming drone is stable enough to aim, and to mitigate recoil, you may shoot straight down. $\endgroup$
    – satibel
    Jan 23, 2017 at 7:46
  • $\begingroup$ With a sniper drone, you don't really have to worry about recoil etc, if you really, really want to kill him the drone is expendable. $\endgroup$
    – SIGSTACKFAULT
    Jan 23, 2017 at 16:50
  • $\begingroup$ you still have to worry about recoil a bit, because if the gun flips up while the bullet is in the barrel, it will deviate. (of course a 500$ drone with a pound of c4 strapped to it will do the job just fine if you don't want to reuse it.) poison dart may be another ammo you might choose. $\endgroup$
    – satibel
    Jan 24, 2017 at 12:10
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Mechanical view on the problem

The problem is akin to the issue of radio silence in the military -- there is a time for secrecy, but when action starts, secrecy gets in the way of action. The idea is to keep secrecy as long as possible.

When the action starts, secrecy is dropped and the key is to hit quickly enough and hard enough, that:

  1. The target has no time to avert the threat once it realizes what's going on

  2. It cannot recover from the blow.

The problem of your limited-range-omniscient is thus the same as any ordinary target, but just expanded: there is always a point where a target will realize that someone is after them: at the latest (for any ordinary person), at the exact moment when the body is hit. But at that point it is too late and the hit is too hard.

Your target has an "outer envelope" of 20 kms. It means that you have to put them in a situation where they cannot react fast enough, once they realize about the threat.

The idea of bringing the person into a booby-trapped area, all by itself, has a shortcoming, in that it is slow. Also, you would have to evacuate anyone who knows about the attempt from a radius of 20 miles around ground zero. It could work, but they are many ways it could fail in such a long time span.

Aside of sensory overload (@Zxyrra: brilliant idea, which can be used in conjunction!), I guess the simplest way would be to take off the individual from a distance. They are no long-distance rifles that can reach that far (a pumped-up howitzer could, but the damage would be too large and that's explicitly forbidden).

So one might perhaps go in the direction of a very fast self-propelled weapon, radio-controlled (or better self-controlled), what we would call today a drone. The drone would have to be pretty fast, and be pretty fast to redirect their course, so that the person cannot escape it, no matter what they do.

Combining the solutions into an elaborate trap

Since the art of war is deception (Sun-Tzu), one would have to attract the target in some place where it would be an easy prey, through some lie. A good way to do that is to use his sensory ability against him, by making threats appear all over the place, obscuring the actual source. That sensory overload (like movie scenes in a house of mirrors) could be used to upset the target and lure them into an open place where it can be taken out in the most unexpected way (e.g. a drone or a bystander).

So

  1. Trick the person into believing that some place is booby trapped and get them to panic, through the use of sensory overload ("hall of mirrors").
  2. Get the person to "hurry out of there" into an open and empty location.
  3. Take the person out with a fast moving, self-propelled, self-directed weapon... or get the person to do something stupid that will inevitably get them shot on sight by a bystander (e.g. a policeman or security guard)!
  4. Or combine the two: the person realizes a drone is coming and is drawing a rifle to take it down. Armed guard, not knowing what's going on, yells "drop that weapon!" and finally shoots.

Warner Bros. could have written a scenario for a cartoon, with more or less with that kind of formula (with the coyote going mad in a hall of mirrors and finally realizing they are doomed in front of a live artillery shell that keeps rotating so as to always point at them).

That's not the only solution to the challenge, but could make for quite a fun and grandiose finale?

Of course, not all of it could be planned beforehand by the assassin. Perhaps they went as far as the drone, and the shot by the policeman was an unexpected twist that saved the day. In real life, things never go exactly as planned and good/bad luck enters in.

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Send an unintentional "assassin", that has no intent to kill him. The assassin could be a pizza delivery guy, delivering pizza bomb, he never knew anything about the special pizza delivery. For extra sadism, the "assassin" could be his family or close friends, they thought they're giving him a gift for the Holiday season. Little did they realize that you've spent the last few months to socially engineer them to choose a particular gift that you've bobby trapped.

Or you can send a hitman that has a regular job, like construction worker or a postman. Hire the hitman for his regular job nearby the crime lord's residence, the hitman must never suspect that he's being hired to do a hit. Get him close enough so that the hitman himself don't come with any intent to kill. At the planned moment, tell the hitman that his hiring was actually a facade and make him an offer he can't refuse, with the condition that he immediately do the hit within an hour, equipments are already provided nearby.

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  • $\begingroup$ Seems the best and easiest solution to me. Rig up something that can kill passively, and get some patsy to bring it to him. Candy-gram for Mongo! $\endgroup$
    – T.E.D.
    Jan 19, 2017 at 22:35
  • $\begingroup$ My solution was very similar to this. Get a person with lethal skills within striking distance and only tell/motivate them to kill right then and there. $\endgroup$
    – GenericJam
    Jan 19, 2017 at 23:27
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Smartphonebomb.

Build a smartphone, way out of his range. Name it the new iPhone X or Samsung Starshine 7. Let him know this is the state of the art cell phone for the crime lord of the 21 century. It is a must have! Give it to him as some sort of present, e.g. crime of the year. He has some ego, so he will accept it. Because it's golden and with fancy diamonds.

Inside this phone is a small portion of explosives, triggered by a certain phone number / SMS.

The phone is given to the boss by some innocent bystander how doesn't know about the explosives.

Let the boss get used to the phone and use it regularly and at some time, call him, wait until he's at the phone and boom.

  • Triggered well out of 20km Range.
  • Casualties: one.
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    $\begingroup$ No intelligent criminal in their right mind would accept a smartphone given freely by a stranger, or possibly even somebody close to them. Best case scenario they get a free phone... worst case scenario the thing is bugged and will leak unknown amounts of information. the risk/reward just isn't worth it. $\endgroup$
    – James T
    Jan 19, 2017 at 9:14
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    $\begingroup$ Maybe not. But this one is too self-assured because of his ability, that he believes he cannot make mistakes, because he knows everything everybody around him does. That's also why it isn't just any smartphone but one where he really believes he has to have it. $\endgroup$
    – Alexander von Wernherr
    Jan 19, 2017 at 9:21
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    $\begingroup$ You could just give him a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 $\endgroup$
    – Garto
    Jan 19, 2017 at 10:56
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    $\begingroup$ Tell him the Note 7 is now a valuable collector's item, sought by paperweight collectors everywhere. $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Jan 19, 2017 at 13:47
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    $\begingroup$ @JamesTrotter Just rig all the phones that are sold that day and ensure only the one obtained by the mob boss explodes. There are some logistic problems but they aren’t unsurmountable. I think this is actually fairly realistic. $\endgroup$
    – Konrad Rudolph
    Jan 19, 2017 at 15:13
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If he expect his enemies to coply with the Geneva Protocol, then shell the entire area around him with sleeping-gas, go there in a gas mask and stab him with a cheap kitchen knife. Dependent on the crowd-density and the used ordnance, the accidental casualties would be < 10.

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  • $\begingroup$ Simple and direct. $\endgroup$
    – Stilez
    Jan 19, 2017 at 16:35
  • $\begingroup$ Shelling a residential area with sleeping gas, even at night, is almost certainly going to cause all sorts of accidents, not to mention widespread panic (which in turn also causes accidents) $\endgroup$
    – Erik
    Jan 19, 2017 at 19:17
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    $\begingroup$ Also one of the reasons knockout gas is rarely used is because if it's concentrated enough to guarantee that it knocks everyone out, it's toxic enough to kill some people. In 2002, gas was used to incapacitate terrorists with hostages and about 15% of the 800 hostages died. $\endgroup$
    – Ben Millwood
    Jan 22, 2017 at 7:53
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Get a job at whatever liqourstore this guy gets his fancy wine/beer/vodka/whateverthehellcriminalsdrinkthesedays from (he's been getting his liquor here for years so he trusts it and won't have it pre-tasted)

A fine rich gentlemen such as himself doesn't have the time to go to a store and get some fancy liquor, so he sends some grunt to pick it up for him. All that is left for your assassin to do is make sure the liquor is in the back of the house. (and hope it's something that can be re-sealed without it looking to suspicious)

Poison the liquor, give it to the grunt, and pray to the God of Murder that your crime-lord takes the first sip.

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    $\begingroup$ How does this work against paranoid one that have food tasters and things that villians do? He should know that's someone out there want him dead. $\endgroup$
    – Ngoc
    Jan 19, 2017 at 7:43
  • $\begingroup$ @Ngoc But he has been getting his liquor for years at Mario's Evil Winery (TM). Mario is a friend of the family, whom the crime-lord owes several favours from. He would know better than to posion his best costumer $\endgroup$
    – Marbatico
    Jan 19, 2017 at 7:54
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    $\begingroup$ He gets his liquor from more than 20 km away? $\endgroup$
    – nzaman
    Jan 19, 2017 at 8:36
  • $\begingroup$ @nzaman perhaps he lives in a mansion on the countryside, or on his private Island depending on how rich he is. $\endgroup$
    – Marbatico
    Jan 19, 2017 at 8:45
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Use two (or more) people with extemely specified instructions

He knows the intentions of everybody in a sphere of 20km around him and he is a crime lord, which means he is generally surrounded by other criminals (his bodyguard, hired assassins and on). This means that there are a lot of things you can think around him while being ignored (if he or one of his lieutenants hire assassins he will probably rule out as safe intentions like "I will kill X", everytime X is somebody else). If the real assassin does not know his target until the very last moment he cannot be alarmed by him (there is nothing wrong with a compound security guard who has been ordered to shoot whoever enters that corridor, right? It's his duty, I just need to stay away from that corridor). You can push this even more if the assassin isn't aware of the lethality of the actions he is to perform (he simply has to press a button whenever somebody enters the room, it has been somebody else to rewire the button from the light to a landmine - and even in that case you can split up the task so, in the end, nobody knows exactly what's going on, and so it is impossible to detect the outcome of their combined actions from their intentions).

After you set up the situations, you have to drive the target in position and, this time, his power is going to help you. He is bound to have an emergency response procedure for when certain things happen, but you don't need to make them happen, just to be read while thinking about making them happen. The best bet here is something flying since 20Km isn't really a lot in the air and, worse, striking down something over you can still be lethal, so the safest course of action is to hide first and react second. At this point you have your target running straight in to the trap.

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    $\begingroup$ +1. You've actually solved a harder problem: the OP has added the note that the target cannot read minds to judge intention, he can only tell what people are doing. I especially like the idea that several people could be sent to set the situation up, none of them doing anything suspicious, and it's only when the final assassin comes in that it all comes together. The whole thing can be coordinated via cellphone, so the assassin doesn't begin to act until all preparations have been completed -- just in case someone screws preparations up. $\endgroup$
    – Wayne
    Jan 21, 2017 at 1:23
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Build a ninja-robot

It's unclear whether his power works on all objects or just on people (and if it worked on everything than that invalidates quite a few answers posted here). So just build a machine without a consciousness and program/remote control it to sneak into his house and kill him.

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    $\begingroup$ No sci-fi. The time setting is 2010. $\endgroup$
    – Tony Ennis
    Jan 24, 2017 at 12:45
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Railgun

If you are looking for a way to kill him and not just fixated on the assassin method then you could look into railguns since they can fire from up to 300km away. The projectiles hit speeds of around 2km/s so it would take 10 seconds to hit your target from 20km away.

I'm guessing a railgun attack won't even cross his mind, and since he knows everything in a 20km radius I'm thinking his room would have a big window facing the city because he knows he won't be hit by a sniper.

So all you have to do is fire a railgun and hope that he doesn't get up from his seat in the next 10 seconds. However you would need to build or bring a railgun without him or his trusted people knowing. My best bet would be bringing and firing the railgun from a boat (if his house is close to a coast).

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm pretty sure a railgun would kill him and everyone in the room. Not exactly a collateral-free solution... $\endgroup$
    – chif-ii
    Jan 19, 2017 at 17:50
  • $\begingroup$ He said less that 10 deaths was ok. But I guess they can always wait for him to be alone. $\endgroup$
    – user31746
    Jan 19, 2017 at 17:56
  • $\begingroup$ What if he's never alone? Or his guards always sleep on the floor below him? $\endgroup$
    – chif-ii
    Jan 19, 2017 at 19:07
  • $\begingroup$ Well I don't know that. I gave him an option since I don't know everything about the story. He could use this option and make it work somehow. Maybe have some people pretend to invade his home as to distract the guards or something like that. I'm sure the villain is so cocky he won't move from his seat and will communicate the positions of all the invaders. $\endgroup$
    – user31746
    Jan 20, 2017 at 9:43
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The hypnotized hooker.

Even crime lords have needs. A high class escort girl had some hypnotic programming in her subconsiousness, she doesn't know about.

She'll seduce him, get him into bed, trigger the programming and the hooker will kill him with an ice pick in her bag.

Or place some HMX in her bag, that'll go off, when they go off.

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    $\begingroup$ This is interesting, but I am dissuaded by the OP's "no weird science" line. I don't know how realistic "subconscious hypnotic programming" is in the real world, however prominent in fiction. $\endgroup$
    – Zxyrra
    Jan 19, 2017 at 7:28
  • $\begingroup$ Well, some say it works and they try to quit smoking that way. $\endgroup$
    – Alexander von Wernherr
    Jan 19, 2017 at 9:03
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    $\begingroup$ It's fiction not real psychology. Quitting smoking by programmed hypnosis only anecdotal "evidence". This, probably, crosses the weird science line. $\endgroup$
    – a4android
    Jan 19, 2017 at 9:46
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    $\begingroup$ Since we have an quasi omniscient crime lord, I'd assume the weird line is a bit more flexible or curvy. $\endgroup$
    – Alexander von Wernherr
    Jan 19, 2017 at 9:58
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    $\begingroup$ @AlexandervonWernherr Yes the old quasi-ominscient crime lord trick. It does make the weird line a bit wobbly, but there is still the economy of novelty. This applies most in fiction, but is common to most worldbuilding. One impossibility is usually enough. Solving a weird problem with a weird solution is usually too much to be credible. $\endgroup$
    – a4android
    Jan 20, 2017 at 4:29
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His power's main weakness is the distance limit. Is he a complete reclusive hermit? If not, there will be places he goes even if only occasionally,which are more than 20km away.

Any amount of preparation can be made to kill him in any place more than 20km from where he is at any given time. So if he visits a sick relative or a fellow criminal more than 20km away, if one of his kids (if any) or his mum or some relative is deathly ill, in trouble, or badly hurt, or something else happens that takes him 20km away, your assassin has an easy time of it.

Update to elaborate on this

He can't tell what someone did in the past, only what they are doing now. He can't read intentions, only actions.

Very likely, he travels, or has a friend or relative or somewhere he goes more than 20km from home. If needed arrange a traffic accident for his out of town mother, or a serious sports accident for his kid, or just wait till he goes to his favourite hotel or whatever he does for vacations, or buys something from a regular supplier not in the same town. He cannot know what has been done in those remote locations. Plant a lethal device in the place he's enticed, with a wifi based trigger, and a nearby webcam to keep an eye on the scene. Then create your enticement or wait for his arrival, and retreat 20km. When he's visible in the webcam, trigger the device. Nothing will give away the explosive placed under the driveway, the poison spray in the airvent, or whatever else you choose, because at no time is he within 20km of anyone doing any action that would catch his attention.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm under the impression that those 20 kilometres move around with him... $\endgroup$
    – karhell
    Jan 19, 2017 at 12:09
  • $\begingroup$ Exactly. So whenever he travels somewhere more than 20km away, he has no more idea than anyone else would have, what's gone on there, unless someone in that area already knows about it. He only knows what people within 20km are doing now, not what someone may have previously done in that area. If he is going (or can be enticed) somewhere known, and a IED + hidden wireless webcam is waiting for him, and your assassin has a laptop and internet/wireless trigger but is >20km away, he would have no way to know it more than anyone else. $\endgroup$
    – Stilez
    Jan 19, 2017 at 15:02
  • $\begingroup$ Ah, right. I wasn't thinking of traps. Bit risky to use, but hey, it could work. $\endgroup$
    – karhell
    Jan 19, 2017 at 15:38
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If there are few people in the area, you could send a missile with too great a splash range for him to avoid. Otherwise you could use some other inanimate object he can't recognize since he only recognizes people. A remote controlled robot if you're lazy or a trained poison monkey if he doesn't see animals. A flood is a possibility, or a fire. You might even be able to lure him out of wherever he's staying by just doing something extremely unusual repeatedly like throwing a typwriter at a wall repeatedly within his range in the hope he can't stand t=not knowing and comes to check it out out of curiosity. also planting a bomb before he arrives is the obvious choice.

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  • $\begingroup$ Missiles and bombs are highly likely to exceed the casualty limit. $\endgroup$
    – Frostfyre
    Jan 24, 2017 at 15:06
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Cell Phone Bomb

This is not a science-fiction creation, either; the Israelis used a cell phone bomb to assassinate Hamas bombmaker Yahya Ayyash on January 5, 1996.

Shin Bet made up a cell phone that had bugging devices inside it and gave it to Kamil Hamad, who was the uncle of a childhood friend of Ayyash's. Kamil gave the phone to his nephew Osama, knowing that Ayyash sometimes used Osama's cell phone.

What Shin Bet didn't tell Kamil Hamad was that in addition to the phone being bugged, there was also a bomb with 15 grams (a little more than a half ounce) of the high explosive RDX inside the phone.

When Ayyash used the phone, Shin Bet detonated the bomb and killed him.

See the Wikipedia article about Yahya Ayyash.

Also, if you think 15 grams of explosive doesn't sound like very much, here's a video showing the detonation of 9 grams of RDX. Watch it, and imagine a charge 2/3 larger going off right next to someone's head.

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Just shoot (or stab) him.

Presuming the assassin is unknown to the target, if the target can't tell the intention, all the assassin needs to do is prepare in advance to only do usual stuff inside his range. Once inside, the target will see the assassin "walking" and such. If needed, the assassin can wear disguise (a policeman carrying a gun seen from 20km is the same as 2m). When the assassin is in range, strike as usual.

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Sniper at long range. He knows somebody is pointing a gun in his general direction, but he can't be sure he's the target. Especially if your assassins are like the Weavers in Wanted.

Edit:

New idea just popped in. Find somebody utterly incompetent and accident prone. Find a way to assign him as a bodyguard to the crime lord. Wait for results.

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    $\begingroup$ knowing a gun s being pointed in your general direction is probably enough reason to find cover and get out of their. Edit: also, the longest distance sniper kill ever is 2,47 km so shooting him without him knowing it is out of the question. $\endgroup$
    – Marbatico
    Jan 19, 2017 at 8:34
  • $\begingroup$ Depends on your neighbours. ;-) $\endgroup$
    – nzaman
    Jan 19, 2017 at 8:35
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    $\begingroup$ New idea just popped in. Find somebody utterly incompetent and accident prone. Find a way to assign him as a bodyguard to the crime lord. Wait for results. $\endgroup$
    – nzaman
    Jan 19, 2017 at 8:39
  • $\begingroup$ @nzaman add the above to your answer! $\endgroup$
    – Joshua Drake
    Jan 20, 2017 at 17:15
  • $\begingroup$ @JoshuaDrake: Okay. $\endgroup$
    – nzaman
    Jan 21, 2017 at 12:46
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He know people is coming to kill him, he has no other magic powers to prevent people killing him, he could hide, but he has no more super powers to run away at super light speed. There are a number of variables that can influence the result.

If you know a building is going to explode in 60 seconds, but you are on the top floor and you cannot get out in 60 seconds, your knowledge of the imminent explosion is of no use.

  • Do the police/military know what is actually the appareance of this villain?

If there is a sufficiently large task force seeking for him, a SWAT team or a military squad, he would be forced to escape. He do not have the powers to escape forever, nor the "superior smartness" to find original escape routes.

At some point he would do a wrong step and get caught/killed. Or he could escape enough to reach a lowly dense populated area so that also "medium area of effect weapons" could be used.

The plot become more complex if the police actually does not know the appareance/identity of the villain, he could disguise at his will any investigation (he could already know answers to questions police ask to him, or avoid at all investigators by being in the wrong place at the correct time).

Again he could do at anytime a wrong step (because he is not a crime genius), that lead police first find his identity and then to hunt him.

His kind of powers are usefull for any "low-profile" criminal for to a real evil genius. He could also be a perfect gambler in games like Poker because he know if other people really have a good hand or not.

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  • $\begingroup$ The recurring problems with dealing with him was that he always spot whatever traps/explosives you hid in his range. After years of surviving the the underworld, he's good at spotting threats. And he's sensible so he won't place himself where he could be sniped or tripped. That's his henchmen's job. $\endgroup$
    – Ngoc
    Jan 23, 2017 at 13:21
  • $\begingroup$ He can't do that. Assume police start placing small explosives in a ring immediatly outside its radius, he is trapped. Then they could just start placing even smaller rings around him, he will see them coming, slowly and he can't do anything to avoid that. First or later there will be sufficiently nearby explosive to kill him. This is just from a theroical point of view. A Omniscent being alone is not enough, he must have lots of people working for him or big tools to support his power, which alone is not very much. What if the threat is not directed to him but to his minions? $\endgroup$
    – CoffeDeveloper
    Jan 24, 2017 at 14:02
  • $\begingroup$ Even If I had his power, it would not be much of use for me: there's no one (that I know :P) that wants to kill me. His power has a bit of utiliyt just because he choose to be a crime lord. And that's the interesting thing of your character. It has a really interesting power to play with, and you cannot rely only on Wordbuilding answers for that. $\endgroup$
    – CoffeDeveloper
    Jan 24, 2017 at 14:05
  • $\begingroup$ +1 agree with the "wear him down" approach - no super strength, no super stamina, sooner or later he will make a mistake or just fall asleep. Spec ops will capture him. After that he will know what the guards and other prisoners are doing - but so what? $\endgroup$
    – KerrAvon2055
    Jul 6, 2018 at 11:54
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He has an uncanny ability to know exactly what everyone doing in his range He is otherwise a normal human (with common sense). His seeing & hearing range are normal. A very skilled assassin is sent to kill him (as skilled as you could imagine within current technology level, no magic).

The crime lord can't read minds, so the assassin sets up shop well outside the target radius and hires a dozen guys with some story - they need to wear Google Glasses and accept to be remote controlled through radio earbuds. They can believe that they're pawns in a RPG for the filthy rich; they just need to never break character or they lose a hefty sum for services rendered.

Under this guise, the assassin can inspect the whole area and determine where to strike.

One way he could do this could be with another remote-controlled squad posing as a TV news team, or something like that. Unbeknownst to everybody inside the crime lord's radius, the TV cameras also contain powerful remote-controlled rifles. One of the guys gets instructed to get a good head shot of the crime lord while he's crossing the street, and...

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Several approaches:

SUICIDE BOMBER

arm him well out of range and just have him drive to the mob boss's location and have him go about a routine until he's within range of the boss. If you don't care about dead civilians, this is a sure-fire way to get him.

REMOTE DRONE

Have a drone operated beyond his range. Kill him when in range. Use a small drone with a single-shot to keep the drone small and hard to detect, giving the added bonus of a stealth weapon so that normal means of detection are less useful as well.

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  • $\begingroup$ Both of these solutions are highly likely to exceed the casualty limit. $\endgroup$
    – Frostfyre
    Jan 24, 2017 at 14:59
  • $\begingroup$ @Frostfyre edited. Thanks for the suggestion. $\endgroup$
    – user20762
    Jan 24, 2017 at 15:46
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Killing him in his sleep is one good, clean but perhaps an anti-climactic end to such an enemy.

TLDR:

The information he gathers from his power will inform him of where to go, you just have to read how he will react to a situation and then create that situation and be waiting for him.

Another possibility lies in his ability know actions, not intentions. Your assassin would need an accomplice. The assassin enters the 20km radius and carries out rather mundane tasks regularly - visiting a shopping area for example. One day the accomplice enters and does something which seems suspicious, he rents a hotel room near by, prepares a bomb, loads some smuggled guns - all thing that draw the crime lord's attention. The exact workings of the power aren't too clear to me but some how get across to the crime lord that this man with the bomb has no qualms about killing his men but doesn't want too many innocent people to die.

The crime lord will have had attempts before and, as before, he will send some of his men to get rid of this man. To make the accomplice think twice he will relocate somewhere with innocent civilians (you can choose any public place you like as long as a bomb can't be used an a clear shot couldn't be got).

Your assassin also visits that public place and in a crowd walking along he will seem no different until he is close enough for the power not to make a difference.

If your assassin is armed it must be with something day to day, no knives or guns. He has to use his environment most likely.

The exact details depend on the setting you choose but I thought this was perhaps better for story-telling.

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  • $\begingroup$ Whilst I appreciate the feedback of those taking the time to down (and up) vote this could downvoters leave comments for how to improve? $\endgroup$
    – Lio Elbammalf
    Jan 26, 2017 at 2:34
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Use two people.

The first poses as a repairman, painter, electrician or street cleaner, and hangs around on the street with a view of the crime lords entrance.

The second guy comes a bit later, driving up, parking his car near the bosses entrance (driveway, garage, etc) and gets out and goes shopping or trivial activities nearby.

Nothing suspicious yet. Now when the boss moves close to the parked car, the first guy reaches into his pocket and presses the button on the detonator. Car bomb explodes dramatically, taking out the boss.

If you think the triggerman glancing at the boss will be detected, have several different triggermen wandering around, each looking less often.

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Poisoning might work.

Poison the food outside of his realm of cognizance and then bring it in. He can't sense intention, so he won't have any reason to suspect the food is non-standard.

A slow-acting toxin would be sufficient to avoid a taste-tester detecting the poison.

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  • $\begingroup$ He has plenty of reason to suspect the food: he's a crime lord who's been a target before. According to the OP in comments, he's extremely cautious and has food tasters. $\endgroup$
    – Frostfyre
    Jan 24, 2017 at 15:18
  • $\begingroup$ Comments are not the appropriate location for additional information. $\endgroup$
    – Bryant Makes Programs
    Jan 24, 2017 at 17:07
  • $\begingroup$ True, but the original question also explicitly states that the guy is reasonable and not an idiot who, while not the smartest, is willing and able to hire smart people. From this, it can be inferred that simple threats, such as poison in the consumables, would be accounted for. $\endgroup$
    – Frostfyre
    Jan 24, 2017 at 17:21
  • $\begingroup$ I believe expecting that he will have every meal sampled is unrealistic. In addition, there are plenty of toxic substances out there that are slow acting and wouldn't be caught by a taste tester. Adjusting answer to account for this. $\endgroup$
    – Bryant Makes Programs
    Jan 24, 2017 at 18:30
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So many "Sensory Overload" fails!

Since the person CANNOT, EVER! Become sensory overloaded..

Use sensory deprivation..!

  1. Stop all food going to him. This you can actually do with the intent of him starving to death.. Because he can NOT read a persons intention(s).

  2. He sleeps. In middle of night, send and EM-pulse so that every electrical device is shorted out. He cannot see, he cannot hear, he cannot smell nor feel or taste. Now all you need is some imagination. Cause your last stage is to just throw, like non-working flashlights. Not to kill him. But confuse him.. You cannot now when you actually throws in a pre-made bomb. And then, to late..

  3. Use him against himself. There are ALWAYS extremely positive things that if given to the wrong person, would completely derail this persons life. Remember, everything is in the eye of the beholder, so! Do something that this person cannot handle mentally. Your intentions are good from start to finish! It will be himself that will end his own life because he cannot live with; Guilt, shame, beliefs, etc. Everyone has such weak spots..

  4. There is extremely easy to make a poison, out of very ordinary products (which I won't list nor explain, of course..). But this travels through mold spores. They cause Cancer within a year, and is virtually untraceable due to the lenght of the death.

  5. Discipline. Extreme mental discipline. (If you cannot think out the rest for your selfs, well, then I guess you have to riddles.. ;) )

Fun, but a little "easy", thought-experiment! =)

BR, Don't assassinate people, please.

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    $\begingroup$ 1. You may have to somehow imprison him first. Easy said than done, he's a sensible crimelord after all. 2. I don't see how you could throw things into his place. He's in a reinforced den, not a cheap motel across the street. Beside, EMP will probaly kill a lot of people when their devices fail. 3. That assume you knew a lot about him, and he's a drama type. A lot of assumptions. 4. What kind of assasin kill in a year? Beside, food goes to his tasters first. 5. I'm still riddled. $\endgroup$
    – Ngoc
    Jan 22, 2017 at 1:27
  • $\begingroup$ Re: (3) Given how talented the assassin is meant to be I imagine that there are things his Ex would consider very positive. Far more positive than the "average" crime lord could achieve. Just do those things on a mobile highly defended airship that always follows within 20km of the crime lord. $\endgroup$
    – gmatht
    Jan 29, 2017 at 2:52
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Speed kills.

His knowledge radius is 20 km. Knowing something and doing something about it are two different things. By involving speed, you let him determine there's a problem, but don't give him time to avoid it. More dramatic tension if he knows what's coming and it's increasingly inevitable.

Example:

A modern passenger airplane can go perhaps 900 kph, which is 15 km/min. An approaching plane on an intercepting vector can then further shorten that interval resulting in an approach speed up to double (if head-to-head). At a combined 30 km/min, the target would have about 40 seconds to respond to a threat, while in a closed space not under his direct control.

A Gulfstream 650 approaches 1000 kph, so there'd be even less time to react on a faster private plane (that every crime lord who is anyone would simply have to have). To minimize casualties, the pilot (or a small skeleton crew) on the target's flight could know what's coming and swap auto-pilot/bio-break time for an escape just prior to danger arriving.

In all cases (mine and others), he can only tell what people are doing, not what they're intending. It seems like anyone who can behave normally until they get close could be undetected enough to do the deed. That's what the original Assassin cult did. Add in a diversion (or a lot of them) to occupy his attention, and you can get even closer.

"the slow blade penetrates the shield" - Frank Herbert, Dune

Overall, it sounds pretty easy to get him, relatively speaking, as long as you don't act squirrelly. The tough thing is getting in and back out safely. Suicide Mission assumption (like original Assassins) solves a lot of problems. The creativity could be in making something that isn't normally considered a weapon into a weapon - a pub dart (or a Jart), a baseball (or a bat), a beer bottle (broken), a steamroller (suddenly veering into his car), etc. - to get it close enough to do damage without causing alarm.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ram him with an SR-71 Strategic Reconnaissance Aircraft (capable of speeds of Mach 3 at altitudes of over 35,000 feet!). Or shoot at him from one. Yeah, it would take a short bit, but there's not much you can do against that even with 20 seconds' warning. $\endgroup$
    – JessLovely
    Jan 20, 2017 at 21:58
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Hire a semi-omniscient assassin. Preferably one with a wider effective range than the target.

If one semi-omniscient being can exist there, so can another.

Or, plant lots of little bombs, possibly car bombs, around streets he has to walk/drive down eventually. They have cameras in them, linking back to your operatives over 20km away. Wait for him to walk past a camera, then detonate the bomb.

Or, use a long-range telescope from a high vantage point, just over 20km away. It has to be a high setting, to counteract the curvature of the earth. From ground level, the horizon is normally around 5km away. The vantage point would have to be 100ft off ground level (or higher), for a 20km view. This assumes we're on Earth. Other planets would have difference ground curvature, and thus different horizon calculations. Wait for him to emerge via your telescope, then use a long-range near-instantaneous weapon to kill/disable/blind him, maybe a laser. Then take out the area around him with a slower long-range weapon, maybe a missile.

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Use a two part poison agent.

The news today gave me an idea for this. A two part poison, something that kills only if two chemical agents are injected.

Take the first agent and add it to a thousand dollar bottle of brandy. Send it to him as a gift. All his tasters can try it, the bottle is harmless. Once he has had time to drink some move on to phase 2.

Pick a place you know he will remotely be and set up a large number of containers with chemical 2. Ween he is in the area release the chemical. You will get a lot of people but again harmless. Your target, and maybe his food tester that cane with him are dead.

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This is from RED2.

Since he is a Crime Lord, he must give out assassination orders too. He must hire people too, and in doing so, he has to share details of the people he wants out. Assuming, he has full trust on his power of Perception, his Intuition on full regalia mode and that the person hired to carry out the job has to pass through This Crime Lord. SO,

  • create an online threat to Him
  • When he puts out the Word, get hired [because of your level of skill]
  • Origami a 'kunai' out of the photo of the soon-to-be-dead. Puncture his jugular artery in the throat ending him but finish the job you were hired to do. He knows you are an assassin, but his hindrance is that he cannot find out each person's intention {stone cold assassin killer}. -:)
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    $\begingroup$ I highly doubt a snapshot of your target will be anywhere near strong enough to kill a man... $\endgroup$
    – James T
    Jan 19, 2017 at 15:14
  • $\begingroup$ I don't understand this at all. $\endgroup$
    – kingledion
    Jan 24, 2017 at 18:53
  • $\begingroup$ Weak answer on the grounds that he is unlikely to meet a hired assassin in person. That would violate basic Evil Overlord safety regs: never meet with a dangerous person face-to-face unless they're a long-term asset already. $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Jan 25, 2017 at 3:13
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