Im working on the next installment of one of my short stories and, in it, there is an FBI agent who is a high-ranking official. One of his very best friends is a mercenary/criminal mastermind type of guy. One of the member's of the criminal's mercenary group is taken hostage by a gang and he turns to the FBI agent for help. The agent responds that he is willing to help get the hostage back, but he has a favor. That favor is for the mercenaries to assassinate a foreign leader that is visiting the UN in New York City. What I'm wondering and what I could use some advice on is how to sort of justify this FBI agent going against what he has been trained to do and asking these mercenaries to commit this unthinkable act? I guess. Any advice and help would be great for me.
That depends. Is the agent a Bad Lieutenant kind of character, where his actions are questionable but they lead to eventually punishing the true bad guy? Or is he a genuine bad guy who uses his position of authority and reputation to hide this abuse of power? How you present him from beginning is a major factor in this.
I wouldn't say that he is a "bad lieutenant" kind of character. He is generally a law-abiding agent. But this mercenary is one of his best friends, and because of that, he lets him get away with almost anything. Because the mercenary is sort of a "Robin Hood" type character (the whole, "steal from the rich, give to the poor" type of thing). The FBI agent assumes that his mercenary friend can successfully assassinate the foreign leader, without revealing that the FBI agent was behind it. But he is still sort of torn between the right and wrong. He knows that this is breaking the law and that he would be put behind bars forever if he was caught, but then again, he knows that this leader deserves to die and that no one is going to do anything about it, because they are too scared of what could happen. He sort of just wants justice right now, no matter the consequence.
Where is the foreign official from ? What is your agents work background? Family background? Does he have mother and sister, friends etc? Was their an early case he was involved in that he solved but couldn't bring the official to justice because of 'diplomatic immunity.'
The foreign official is from Libya. The FBI agent has always been successful, he has always gotten to the bottom of the case and put criminals away very easily. The only one that has gotten away is this mercenary (who is actually the main character of my story) but that is only because they are good friends and the FBI agent is kind of a push-over and easily manipulated. He has family, but he is not close with them at all. He is married and has one child. Before he got fully involved with the FBI, he was sent on a covert ops mission into Libya to bring this official down. The covert ops team was captured and when the President of the United States got word, he ordered them to stand down, in order to prevent a war with Libya. So the FBI agent has knowledge of all the war crimes and such that the official in Libya has committed (he is based on Gaddafi, can you tell?) and the agent wants to put an end to the horrible regime. He sees the official's travel to the UN as his "last opportunity" to finish his earlier mission but because he is so involved with the FBI, he cannot do it himself. So he has to ask his friend for the ultimate favor.
Could he have another family in Libya ? or maybe a half brother/sister. Did he have a partner that didn't make it ? Maybe he had a lover, I would personally try and make it more personal if you want it to come off as sympathetic/
Revenge: The foreign leader raped and killed the agent's daughter, who was a reporter in the foreign country. Patriotism: The foreign leader has been replaced by an assassin to kill the potus. Terrorism: The FBI agent wants to start a war by provoking the foreign country. Misdirected love: The foreign leader has a mistress that the agent's in love with and killing him is the only way to have her for himself. Sociopath: The agent is a sociopath who's killed harder and harder targets and he's just looking for his biggest mark yet.
This was helpful! Thank you I really enjoyed these as well. Thinking about the Revenge or the Patriotism approaches, as those seem like they would fit my character the best.
How to justify an FBI Agent asking mercenaries to assassinate a foreign leader? Well, as a Federal Law Enforcement Officer, an FBI Agent wouldn't have any real world need of assassinating anyone, therefore it wouldn't be motivated by or even connected to his work...which means that his motive would have to be something personal. This national leader has obviously wronged him in some way. Spend a little time thinking it over...what is something so bad, that if someone did it to you, you'd actually consider having them killed over it? Maybe they murdered someone you care for or are trying to black mail you with threats of destroying your career? As for your unthinkable act, actual mercenaries are professional soldiers who work freelance (as in for a paycheck, instead of out of loyalty to king and country). Hit men are more of an organized crime type thing and most real world mercenaries would consider such things beneath them, unless it was for some outstanding special...or very personal...reason. I can't imagine actual mercenaries doing a ninja style assassination. They would execute it like a commando raid.
