- Chapter 1
An unnamed professional assassin (credited as "The Killer") stakes out a Parisian hotel room. He prepares to use a sniper rifle to kill a target who will check into the hotel room at an unspecified time. While waiting for the target over a week, he eats, practices yoga, listens to The Smiths, and talks on the phone with his handler, an attorney and his former university law professor, Edward "Eddie" Hodges. The Killer narrates these activities, stressing the mantra of his rules and the routine—even boring—nature of his job and how his cynicism and lack of empathy are beneficial for his chosen occupation, all while growing increasingly sleep-deprived. The target eventually arrives in the company of a dominatrix. The Killer misses his target, accidentally shooting the dominatrix. He flees on an e-scooter, successfully evading the police and disposing his rifle and gear. He then flies to the United States under one of numerous fake identities.
- Chapter 2
The Killer returns to his lavish compound in the Dominican Republic to find it has been broken into and his romantic partner Magdala has been attacked. The Killer finds her in an intensive care unit of a hospital, with her brother Marcus watching over her. He learns Magdala was interrogated and tortured by two assassins but managed to injure one of them and escape. He tracks down the taxi driver, Leo, who drove the assassins to the Killer's home. Leo identifies a man with an injured leg, whom he called "The Brute", and a woman who "resembled a Q-Tip". The Killer shoots and kills Leo, leaving his body in his taxi, and, breaking his "Fight only the battle you're paid to fight" rule, seeks to track down the two assassins.
