Hitman: Enemy Within

Hitman: Enemy Within is the first novel in the Hitman series. It was written by William C. Dietz and released on August 28^th, 2007, by Del Rey Books.

The novel's plot is set between Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and Hitman: Contracts and revolves around a rival murder-for-hire organization known as Puissance Treize (French: "Power Thirteen") which attempted to destroy Agent 47's employer, the International Contract Agency.

Plot[]

Aristotle Thorakis visits Pierre Douay at his castle on the Rhine River, Germany. Thorakis, in desperate need of a 500 million euro loan, agrees to betray the ICA in exchange for Douay loaning him the money.

Near Yakima, Washington, 47 is assigned to eliminate biker leader Big Kahuna. He first kills Mel Johnson, a member of his gang, by rigging a giant fiber wire to a bridge that slices off the top of his head. His plan is to impersonate Johnson, attend a biker summit at an abandoned barnyard, and kill "Big K" with a fatal batch of fentanyl-laced heroin that 47 knew Kahuna would sample. Everything went according to plan until Cassandra Murphy, disguised as a biker babe named Marla, warned Kahuna and exposed 47. This results in a large shootout that only 47 and Murphy get out of alive. 47 leaves with the biker gang's DVR full of surveillance footage, which he uploads to Diana in hopes of identifying "Marla".

Cassandra Murphy meets with her superior from Puissance Treize, an ex-KGB official named Mrs. Kaberov, who is extremely dissatisfied with the Yakima incident but gives Murphy a second chance at the request of Ali bin Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Fulani. Kaberov presents Murphy an elegantly gift-wrapped bullet in a box, and tells her "It's part of a matching set. And, if you fuck up again, you'll get the second one right between the eyes."

The next morning, 47 is greeted at a diner in Yakima by Mr. Nu. He explains that the ICA is trying to root out an unknown traitor, and presents 47 with information on Cassandra Murphy. 47 stakes out Murphy's house-boat docked on Lake Union in Seattle, from a neighboring boat whose owner 47 had sedated. As Murphy came home to the boat, 47 successfully rushed in after her and forced her to turn off her house alarm. After restraining her in a chair, Murphy manages to free herself after being bound and gagged by 47. She narrowly escaped alive. 47 calls Diana, aboard the company Jean Danjou yacht in Greece, to reveal that he placed tracking devices on Murphy's clothes and purse.

Thorakis receives Douay in a New York City hotel penthouse. Douay explains that Murphy has gone to Morocco to protect al-Fulani, and 47 has followed her there. Thorakis fears for his anonymity, but Douay falsely reassures him that al-Fulani doesn't know who the ICA mole is.

47 arrives in Fez, Morocco, and brawls with a random thief before finding his way to an ICA armory keeper undercover as a local tailor. 47 buys information on al-Fulani from Prof. Paul Rollet, a former French intelligence agent, before going to investigate al-Fulani's mansion in town. 47, disguised as a tacky tourist, coincidentally appears at the same time as an actual tourist in similar clothes. In a haste, Murphy tells her accomplice to snipe off both men. The civilian is killed while 47 kills the four guards chasing after him, acquiring one of their walkie-talkies to boot.

al-Fulani and Murphy hold Prof. Paul Rollet captive at al-Fulani's mansion, interrogating him about 47 before killing him. Knowing 47 will try to kill him on his weekly visit to an orphanage he operates to front a child brothel, al-Fulani organizes it so the children visit his mansion instead.

47 infiltrates al-Fulani's orphanage, disguised as the steward of Wayne Bedo (a wheelchair-bound Ohioan who patronizes the child prostitutes). 47's hopes of killing al-Fulani at the party are disappointed, and his disguise narrowly protects him from Cassandra Murphy. 47 returns Bedo safely to his hotel room.

During the party, 47 has a flashback to his adolescence at the asylum, and his first kill - Number 6, a fellow clone who often bullied him. After killing 6 in a bathroom and executing a well-planned escape, he is found in the city by an asylum doctor who instead congratulates 47 on a job well done.

The Dinka people are forced to flee southwest Sudan, because of genocide inflicted by the Janjaweed. They are headed for the Sudan-Chad border, but are intercepted by the Janjaweed. They sell the Dinka children into slavery, who will later be purchased by al-Fulani.

Diana warns 47 that the Otero brothers, four hitmen from the Tumaco Cartel in Colombia, are planning to kill al-Fulani (whereas 47 needs to interrogate him alive to find out who the ICA mole is). Someone in the US government is willing to pay 47 $250,000 per brother. While 47 searches a public square al-Fulani will be appearing at for any bombs, Cassandra Murphy also checks security and narrowly fails to spot 47 in the crowd. 47 proceeds to an abandoned Catholic church on the countryside, which the Otero brothers are using as a base. While Pedro and Manuel Otero are entertaining a pair of women, 47 kills them both. Jose and Carlos return to the church with a tanker truck full of gasoline, 47 manages to shoot Jose before Carlos gets away in the truck. 47 gives chase to the truck on a BMW motorcycle, latches onto the truck and shoots Carlos before the unmanned truck crashes into a construction site and explodes.

The anonymous Chairman of ICA summons the board members, Mr. Nu and Diana to a company-owned private island off the Gulf of Mexico. He states that the Agency's management and board are being thoroughly investigated in search of the mole, and anyone who does not cooperate will be immediately suspected.

47 infiltrates al-Fulani's mansion, after sedating a guard on his way to work. He overhears al-Fulani tell Cassandra Murphy that he wants to flee Morocco and hide in Chad. 47 enters N'Djamena, Chad and is greeted by a Libyan freelance crew hired by ICA to help him across the desert. Under the guise of bribing him to export minerals, they find out from a local customs official (Al-Sharr) that they're not far behind al-Fulani. Because the official is a friend of al-Fulani's and regularly accepts bribes from him, he secretly sends someone to tail 47's entourage.

The slave traders from chapter Nine are approaching Oum-Chaboula, Chad with the children. Kola and Baka, a young brother and sister, share their concerns with each other.

The helicopter tailing 47 and the Libyans quickly turns violent, and they down the helicopter (with Al-Sharr aboard) with an AK-47. 47 spies on al-Fulani and Murphy when they all reach Oum-Chaboula, where al-Fulani buys 18 of the Sudanese children from chapters Nine and Thirteen. Kola and Baka are purchased by different people, and forced apart. The Libyan guide suggests al-Fulani is headed to Quadi Doum, an abandoned airfield, which turns out to be correct. During a hectic firefight, all of al-Fulani's guards are killed and 47 knocked Cassandra Murphy unconscious by hitting her with a car. 47 finds al-Fulani alive, and prepares to interrogate him.

ICA agents storm Diana's hotel room at the St. Regis in Rome, believing her to be the traitor because of $6 million worth of gifts from Puissance Treize front companies. Mr. Nu is prepared to torture her, until she successfully convinces him that she was set up and wouldn't be stupid enough to accept a bribe in such an obvious way. The Chairman requested that Diana be spared and placed aboard the Jean Danjou to guide 47, until more substantial evidence comes from 47's questioning of al-Fulani.

47 interrogates al-Fulani, with Kola the Sudanese girl as his volunteer. He immediately confesses that Thorakis betrayed the ICA to Puissance Treize, after which 47 left him at the mercy of the Sudanese slaves whom he equipped with his torture knives. 47, the Libyans and Sudanese children are flown out of the country by a freelance pilot originally hired by al-Fulani, but happy to switch employers for a price. 47 leaves Chad, knowing that Cassandra Murphy is still alive.

They fly to Noto, Sicily, where 47 entrusts Father Vittorio with the Sudanese children and donates a large portion of al-Fulani's money to him. 47 then arrives in Rome and tries to communicate with Diana, but ends up having to schedule a meeting with Mr. Nu. He is honest with 47 about suspecting Diana, as is 47 regarding what he learned about Thorakis. He prepares to stake out Thorakis' vacation home in Sintra, Portugal, posing as a paparazzi photographer.

Pierre Douay visits his boss, Louis Legard, in Paris' Prison de la Sante. Legard, the leader of Puissance Treize, is noticeably paranoid of his second-in-command Douay, but congratulates him on a job well done.

47 arrives in Portugal, and stakes out Thorakis' home with the paparazzi cover. He also takes up work in Thorakis' favorite restaurant, and finds out Thorakis has a potentially fatal peanut allergy. Posing as a journalist again, he pays Thorakis' maid for info on Thorakis' daily habits. 47 calls Mr. Nu back, now aboard Jean Danjou with Diana, and tells him that a controlled leak across the ICA board will make Thorakis react in a way that implicates his guilt.

Pierre Douay is back in his castle on the Rhine River, throwing a 7th birthday party for his daughter Nicole. Thorakis calls to beg for protection. Douay reassures him before bringing his daughter's party to an early close out of paranoia.

Just as 47 planned, a team of assassins were sent by Douay and Thorakis. Tova Holm and Hans Pruter, a romantic couple, were sent to 47's hotel by Puissance Treize. 47 waits for Holm to come to him and shoots her, sending photos to Pruter to provoke his rage and instructions to meet at the Castle of the Moors. He successfully kills Pruter, and appears the next morning at Thorakis' house as an ICA inspector with an appointment. He sprays peanut oil on Thorakis' mistress's food, and he dies of his allergy when they kiss.

Reception[]

The novel got fair reviews, and got a 3.7 out of 5 from Goodreads, the user-based critics commenting "If you are a fan of the video game series, you should read this."

Amazon gave the novel 4.7 out of 5. Google library gave the novel an average 4.6 out of 5. Apple Books gave the novel an average 3.9 out of 5.

Trivia[]

• Agent 47 is revealed to create more elaborate disguises.
• Agent 47 is revealed his first kill at the age of 12.
• More Agency members are revealed, and a new enemy.
• Agent 47 meets his old mentor Emilio Vittorio again.