IT WOULD TAKE VOLUMES and volumes to list the many ways men have devised to exterminate one another, and I am sure you have already started to accumulate quite an extensive list of your own personal favorites.

Some very good books are available on this subject and even television, movies and fictional stories are out to teach you a new trick or two! but be careful. Some of the methods depicted are only theories of an imaginative writer and do not work in reality. so be sure that any method you choose is a proven effective one.

In Chapter 2, much detail was given concerning the effective use of the pistol and the rifle in making a kill. Although several shots fired in succession offer a quick and relatively humane death to the victim, there are instances when other methods of extermination are called for. The employer may want you to gather certain information from the mark before you do away with him. At other times, the assignment may call for torture or disfigurement as a "lesson" for the survivors. Your assignment could call for suicide or accidental death may be the order. It may, or may not, be important that the body disappear. There are ways to put off discovery of the body and ways to make it disappear completely.

Books that deal with these subjects are available for your information, but the following techniques are personal favorites.

EXPLOSIVES

I will be rare to get a request for someone to be taken out with a bigger boom than that created by your 22. If you get such a request and don't know how to handle explosives properly, you'd be better off passing up the job.

Here, again, much data is available on making homemade explosives, but these directions should be pretested before actual use. Quite of the few directions I have found product nothing but an unsatisfactory fizzle.

Also, beware of the ability of the authorities to trace explosives. Sources for these supplies are limited, so make sure the components you have are untraceable.

The only time I can think of that explosives might be in order is when several marks will be together in one place at one time, and you might be able to get them all with one shot. Notice that I stress the word might. Shrapnel doesn't always kill. So in the aftermath, it will be your responsibility to enter the area and make sure that the desired result was accomplished. Survivors are not good for business. And since explosives tend to attract immediate attention, you will have to work fast and take extreme added risk.

Personally, I prefer discreet one-one-one contact and tend to avoid anything that draws attention. If explosives are the only alternative I military C-4 plastics or a military issue hand grenade (baseballs; the pineapple kind is obsolete). A hand grenade, properly placed, can give the desired results in a one-on-one situation. For instance, a grenade placed beneath the mark's car directly under the driver's seat with a wire leading from the pin to the drive shaft will work wonderfully. Just make sue the mark is the only one who drives the car or you may blow up some innocent victim. Messy mistakes of this type are not only a professional embarrassment to you and your employer but they tend to alert the mark of your intentions and bring the authorities out in full force.

I once witnessed the destruction of a small stone house by means of a simple fertilizer bomb. The readily available components of it make it untraceable and it worked so well that all that was left was part of the foundation and a large, gaping hole where the bomb had been.

To make a fertilizer bomb, purchase a fifty pound bag of fertilizer from your garden center. Get the kind with the highest nitrate content you can find. Next, buy one pound of black powder from a gun shop that sells reload supplies. Then, get 10-20 feet of waterproof fuse from a hobby shop that sells model rockets.

Place the gunpowder inside a jar which comes with a screw-on lid. Drill a hole in the lid and slip one end of the fuse through tying a knot in the fuse to keep it from slipping out of the jar. Screw the lid on the powder filled jar.

Under the bag of fertilizer place the powder filled jar cap side down. Extend the fuse and light or use a cigarette as a delayed igniter. RUN LIKE HELL~

Dynamite is nice and can be picked up from many building sites or roads under construction. But during storage the sticks have to be turned over regularly to prevent settling of the nitro. And the blasting caps necessary to make it go off are so tricky that just by walking across the carpet enough static electricity could be created to blow you away.

As I said in the beginning, unless you know what you are doing, stay away from requests for this kind of extermination, or the life you take may be your own.

ARSON

Arson is a good method for covering a kill or creating an "accident." When properly set, the fire will appear to have started from natural causes and arson will not be suspected.

Fire investigation has become a science in recent years, and authorities and professional fire fighters can learn a great deal about the fire and its origin by a study of the scene.

Before you try to fake a fire, know how to do it properly. For instance, lots of the new carpeting on the market is now fire retardant, as there are many other sympathetic materials. So rather than start a fire in the middle of the room, start it under an electrical appliance or from a stove burner that has "carelessly" been left on, or some other likely spot.

Don't ever use gasoline or other traceable materials to start your fire. Woodgrain alcohol is you best starter because it burns away all traces.

One good fire in an area that will create a lot of smoke from burning materials is preferred. Fire investigators can trace the origin of the fire, and two flames started simultaneously will immediately arouse suspicion.

It is not the flame that kills most victims of a fire, but the inhalation of smoke. A fire victim will have smoke present in his lungs. Therefore, if this is your choice of extermination, your mark should be unconscious, but breathing, when the fire is set. Make sure that no scratches or bruises point to foul play. And remove the batteries from all smoke detectors with gloved hands before you set the fire.

Never hang around to watch the fire you set. Police have been known to photograph the crowd; that's how a lot of pyromaniacs get caught. Don't let your curiosity get the better of you!

BARE HAND KILLS, KNIVES, AND SILENT WEAPONS

All of these are primarily self defense methods or tools. Who wants to take a chance with his bare hands or a knife in a one-on-one confrontation when a gun is so much quicker, cleaner and more effective and gives you so much more leverage? A mark may risk a chance at defending himself against your personal onslaught, but that cold steel with the silencer attached shows right away that you mean business and gets instant respect.

However, skillful knowledge and use of these abilities is desirable and recommend. There may come a time when you need a silent method for eliminating a mark in a crowded area, or a way to quiet a bodyguard as noiselessly as possible in order to get the mark.

As in all kill methods, be sure of your proficiency before your life depend son it. Stay in top physical condition, practice regularly until the moves become automatic and study pressure points so you will know where to strike and how much force to use for desired results.

an ice pick hidden against your arm as you casually stroll past an unsuspecting victim in a crowded place can e used to strike him a powerful kidney blow without interrupting the natural swing of your arms as you pass.

Movies and fictitious stories like to show the cutting of the victim's throat as a slice from ear to ear. However, this is not the best, or preferred, method.

Using your six-inch, serrated blade knife, stab deeply into the side of the victim's neck and push the knife forward in a forceful movement. This method will half decapitate the victim, cutting both his main arteries and wind pipe, ensuring immediate death.

As described earlier, the proper way to make a kill with the recommended knife is to twist the blade before withdrawing it from a vital area. The serrated edge will make an open, gaping wound that cannot be closed to stop the bleeding.

You combat instructor should be able to teach you a wide variety of skills with silent weapons, when to use them and where to strike. You will develop your own personal preferences and style.

There will hardly be a time when you will kill with your bare hands unless you use your ability for self-defense. A knife may be called for on occasion, and should be carried with you on all your assignments in case it is required. Silent weapons are specialty measures which require skill an talent for effective use.

In any case, the object is to get to the mark, complete your assignment, and get out, as cleanly and as quickly as possible without drawing any unnecessary attention.

POISONS

Poisons are sweet, silent and effective, and some leave no traces. Poison is one of the hit man's best friends.

If you know your mark's habits well enough, the desired result can be achieved while you are sitting miles away. If you make personal contact for their introduction, poisons will give prompt, guaranteed results.

Because there is so much government regulation, effective poisons are getting harder and harder to come by. The recent Extra Strength Tylenol scare didn't help matters. Yet, there are sources still available for your use.

At the local library, a very helpful assistant led me to a reference section, where I copied down the name and addresses of several large chemical suppliers (You don't want "industrial" chemicals: they are janitorial supplies.) I obtained phone numbers from information and called the numbers systematically until I found the one that carried the products I wanted. Under the guide of HM Research and Development, I ordered the minimum amounts required and sent along a money order for faster processing.

Later, I went so far as to have a company letterhead made and sent inquires on certain chemicals, minimum ordering requirements and costs to the suppliers on my list. The letter went something like this:

Dear Sirs:
Our firm is interested in obtaining small quantities of the following chemicals for research purposes only. Please send a quote on minimum purchase requirements, costs and delivery.

Sincerely,

Jow Blough
President, HM Research and Development

With the information and catalogs I received from the suppliers who responded, I started a file for future reference.

Newspapers and magazines often feature articles on newly discovered toxic substances and as warnings about misuse of everyday toxic chemicals.

Recently there has been quite a stink about dioxin, a chemical waste material who's disposal the Environmental protection Agency has not handled satisfactorily. it is claimed that two ounces of this pure waste in powder form, if set off by a small blast into the air we breathe, could wipe pout the entire population of a large city. Poison for thought, isn't it?

One of the luckiest sources for poisons that I ever stumbled across was an air-head who worked in the laboratory at a local hospital. This fellow would steal, smuggle out and deliver almost anything I could request in exchange for a bag of dope.

You might often find such a source for yourself, but don't use him too often. His chances of becoming careless in his efforts to satisfy his habit are great. You don't need someone of this character telling anyone who he steals the stuff for.

A chance visit to the local garden supply turned up a wealth of unexpected information. The first surprise was a booklet covering the poisonous plants, insects and reptiles of my state. The book went into amazing detail about the potency of each poison, the lethal amount, and the resulting effects. I spent days scouting the woods and garden centers, picking up plants to break down for my stash. I smashed seeds, dried leaves and ground berries until the wee hours of morning, placing each small bottle with a tight cap and label.

Carolina or yellow jessamine, for instance, is in the same plant family that produces strychnine and curare. All parts are toxic. Aside from a variety of side effects, death is brought about due to stoppage of breathing.

The flowering oleander is another good one. All parts are very poisonous. Final effect is unconsciousness, respiratory paralysis and death. People have been poisoned by using the branches of this plant to skewer meat or stir food. Even the smoke of burning oleander is poisonous.

Pokeweed, or inkberry, is entirely poisonous, but especially the root. About two hours after eating, vomiting and purging begins. Death is said to be caused by respiratory failure.

One thoroughly chewed castor bean seed will cause death within two weeks from uremia, with symptoms beginning up to three days after ingestion.

The fruit pulp of the chinaberry tree is especially poisonous. Toxic alkaloids attack the nervous system and cause death by paralysis.

The list goes on and on ...

At the same garden center, I chanced to survey the wide assortment of chemicals available for the do-it-yourselfer. my favorite (and one that is highly recommended by several other connoisseurs) is nicotine. A product called black leaf 40 contains 40 percent nicotine. Nicotine is on the restricted drug list and cannot be legally purchased in pure form. Boil this liquid until all the water evaporates and you will be left with a thick, lethal syrup. I prefer injection into the bloodstream via dart or poison-filled bullet. Placing it directly on the skin has never gotten any results.

If you live in a coastal area, you might have read recent newspaper warnings against eating the common blowfish (also known as puffer). It seems that the bladder of this saltwater fish contains tetrodotoxin, a poison which is 150 thousand times more potent than curare. If the bladder is accidentally broken during cleaning and the meat contaminated by its contents, eating the fish will bring about blocked nerves, causing all muscles to stop working. The victim stops breathing and dies within minutes. There is no known antidote, and the victims of such poisonings are often diagnosed as having died from food poisoning.

If you don't live in a coastal area where you can easily obtain one of these wonderful sources of deadly poison, why not ask you local pet shop owner to order one especially for your salt water aquarium.

Of course, all your poisons should be tested prior to actual use. Because there metabolisms most resemble that of man, try small amounts of the poisons you collect on mice and rats. Dogs and cats can withstand much greater dosages than humans and are not a good choice for valid testing. After you have tested your poisons for effectiveness and established your favorites you are ready to go to work.

The Mafia is said to have coated assassins' bullets with garlic juice, supposedly fatal if it enters the bloodstream, though safe to ingest. If this is true, than how much more effective will it bot to fill your hollow point bullets with the liquid poison of your choice to ensure a job well done?

Dip your knife in the lethal drug. Star tips, darts and ice picks become doubly effective when used in combination with poison. Soak the mark's tea bags in the potent additive. Empty his medication and refill all capsules with milk-sugar except for one loaded dose. Let your imagination soar!

The Poor Man's James Bond sold by Paladin Press, give recipes for potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide, both lethal granules. Effects of these poisons were tested for us by a few previous users of Extra Strength Tylenol.

Poisons offer a quiet alternative to things that go boom in the night and are well worth the effort it takes to accumulate and test them.

Rumor has it that Jake T was causing friction for some boys who brought in illegal substances on the West Coast of Florida. Old Jake wanted a big piece of the action and started throwing his weight around. Something had to be done before Jake upset the apple cart.

A professional was brought in.

"I don't care how you do it," said the big boss, "But it has to look natural. We don't want the heat on our backs because some asshole with an overgrown ego doesn't know how to mind his own business."

The professional followed old Jake discreetly for a few days, checking for clues, habits and behaviors that would help hymn make a decision on how to accomplish the extermination.

He had watched Jake travel about town in his four-by-four pickup with the shotguns hanging in the rear window on the gun rack. He had picked up Jake's rather loose routine. The only thing he knew for sure was that wherever Jake went, he was always chewing on the end of a toothpick.

With that clue, he carefully soaked a toothpick in the contents of the bladder of a blowfish he picked up at the beach. After it dried, he placed the toothpick in a conspicuous place on the dash of Jake's truck, within reach of the steering wheel, and removed the other toothpicks that were lying about.

About two days later, as Jake was getting out of his truck, he dropped dead. Cause of death was determined to be food poisoning.

ACCIDENTS AND SUICIDES

It takes a lot of knowledge and common sense to efficiently fulfill a request for an apparent accidental death or suicide. An autopsy and police investigation can reveal a great deal about the accident and/or how the victim really met his death.

For instance, a body found lying at the bottom of a flight of stairs will have bruises, broken bones, and marks. Unless you know how to fake these results or bring about certain death from a real fall, you had better not get involved.

If the employer is requesting accidental death to collect double indemnity on an insurance policy, have him read the fine print again. many times these policies also pay double for violent deaths, so a foiled robbery or a burglary may be more in line with your abilities.

Faked suicides are very tricky too. A left-handed man will not shoot himself with his right hand. A man who jumps off a building to his death will not hit the pavement twenty feet from that building. Distance alone will indicate whether he jumped or was thrown. A person with a phobia for heights would choose a suicide method other than jumping from a building., And many a hanging has been discovered to be a result of foul play because the knot was tied in the wrong direction, or because there was no evidence of a ladder or other way for the victim to get his head into the noose.

Contrary to popular belief, most suicides do not leave notes. Usually these people are so depressed that all they want is out. So if your mark is not visibly depressed and all seems to be going right with him in the world, immediate suspicion may result from his death.

If you are qualified to fulfill a suicide or accidental death request, you should charge more for the hit based on your superior knowledge and abilities.

MAKING A RELUCTANT VICTM TALK

At times it will be an imperative part of your job assignment hat you extract certain information from the mark before he meets his fate. Most people will tell you anything you want to know, even when they are sure they are about to die, just to buy a few extra seconds or minutes of life. But there are a stubborn few who will take their secrets to their graves rather than break, even in the face of death. Sometimes you can pretend to bargain with these obstinate martyrs, even though you fully intend to carry out your contract once you receive the desired information.

I had the opportunity to accompany a master of persuasion on an assignment a few years ago. Although small in stature, this full-blooded Indian was ruthless in obtaining the information he came for. The mark was a much larger man, outweighing the Indian by more than eighty pounds. With my help, we subdued the giant, stripped him to the waist and tied him into a wooden arm chair.

"Talk," ordered the Indian.

Silence.

The Indian pulled an ice pick from his pocket.

The giant looked from the point of the pike to the Indian and then to me, as if begging for my intervention. I shrugged my shoulders in a helpless gesture.

The Indian circled the giant slowly. Suddenly he stopped and inserted the tip of the pick into the giant's upper arm about a quarter of an inch. When he withdrew his pick, there was a sickening little popping sound as blood spurted from the wound for a second, then stopped.

"Talk," repeated the Indian.

More silence.

Several stabs later, the giant was quivering like a jellyfish, his body like a pincushion, while the Indian was getting more and more into his work.

Suddenly he grew tired of the ice pick game. With a malicious grin, he pulled a pair of pliers from his other hip pocket and gave me a sly wink. Pointedly, methodically, he began with the giant's little finger on his left hand and crunched each knuckle slowly with the pliers. It seemed to no effort at all on his part as the soft bone gave way under the force of the simple tool. he ha only gotten to the third finger when the giant began to cry like a baby and spill his guts. The Indian listened, asked a few questions, then unstrapped the trembling giant and set him free. The big man raced for the door and into the night.

I'm not sure, but I think the Indian was a bit disappointed that it all ended so quickly. But the stain on the front of his pants showed that he had enjoyed himself tremendously!

There is no end to the various ways of torturing a mark until he would tell you what you want to know, and die just to get over it. Sometimes all it takes is putting a knife to his throat. not from behind with the blade across the throat the way they do in the movies, but from the front where the tip of the blade creasing the soft hollow of the throat, where the victim can see the gleaming steel and realizes what damage it would do if it fully penetrated.

Most people would much prefer the compassionate quick release of a bullet to the slow torturous death of being cut and watching their own lifeblood seep from their body. And even facing death, they tend to want to leave the body behind to be whole and dignified instead of a mutilated, unrecognizable corpse.

You may threaten, bargain, torture or mutilate to get the information you want, and you must be prepared to use whatever method works.

HOW TO GET RID OF THE CORPUS DELICTI

If disposing of the body becomes part of your job assignment, you should charge a hefty additional sum. The risks you take in carrying out the request and the extra time you spend with the corpse are certainly deserving of higher compensation. There are many options, and the one you choose will depend on the circumstances of your particular job and location.

If you have a really strong stomach, you can always cut the body into sections and pack it into an ice chest for transportation and disposal at various spots across the countryside.

Or, you can simply cut off the head after burying the body. Take the head into some deserted location, place a stick of dynamite into the mouth, and blow the telltale dentition to smithereens! After this, authorities can't use the victims' dental records to identify his remains. As the body decomposes, fingerprints will disappear and no real evidence will be left from which to make positive identification. You can even clip off the fingertips and bury them separately.

Orf course, there are many easier and less gruesome methods for disposing of the corpse. We all know the story of how the mob buries the body in the still of the night in some footer for a multistory building where cement is to be poured the next day.

Or the one about tying cement blocks to the body and dumping it into the river. But there's a lot more to it than that. If you choose to sink the corpse, you must first make several deep stabs into the body's lungs (from just under the rib cage) and belly. This is necessary because gases released during decomposition will bloat these organs, causing the body to rise to the surface of the water.

The corpse should be weighted with the standard concrete blocks, but it must be wrapped from head to toe with heavy chain as well, to keep the body from departing and floating in chunks to the surface. After the fishes and natural elements have done their works, the chain will drag the bones into the muddy sentiment.

If you bury the body, again deep stab wounds should be made to allow gases to escape. A bloating corpse will push the earth up as it swells. Pour in lime to prevent the horrible odor of decomposition, and lye to make that decomposition more rapid.

Quicksand, the open sea, caves in isolated areas and abandoned wells are all potential places to get rid of the body.

Preplan your actions. Know what you're going to do with the corpse before you pull that trigger. be flexible enough to make sudden changes in your plan should some unexpected predicament arise.

DEALING WITH MAN'S BEST FRIEND

You've probably heard the saying, "There are many ways to kill a rabbit." A greater problem for the hit man is finding a way to silence a barking dog. An overzealous dog in the neighborhood, and more particularly, the mark's own canine, presents a problem that must be dealt with. If you can get to the dog without too much risk to yourself, you can feed it ground glass in raw hamburger a few days before the hit; the animal will die a slow and miserable death. Unfortunately, the ultimate demise of his best friend and protector may put the mark on guard for your impending arrival.

As I stated before, dogs can take much larger amounts of poison than a man's fragile system can handle. You will have to experiment to come up with the best available poison and the proper dosage, which may mean a definite decrease in the canine population of your own neighborhood.

Poison placed inside a capsule and buried in a ball of meat is one method to use. However, this means waiting whatever time it takes for the poison to get into the dog's system to do its work. I have found that if the dog gets a taste of the poison, he may spit the meat out or that some poisons will cause him to throw up his stomach contents in a very short time. And some pets are so finicky that they will eat carefully around any pill or capsule, leaving it as evidence in the bottom of the dog dish.

Shooting a dog will create a loud and continuous string of yelps and howls that may alert the countryside, unless you are an expert marksman and can shoot to kill with one shot. The best spot to go for is right behind and under the ear where the brain is located. Even then, be prepared for that one long yelp before death occurs. In fact, almost anything you do to a dog will bring out that resounding, attention drawing yelp.

A house dog and family pet will normally keep a distance between you and him while he barks his head off to alert his family that danger is present. An attack dog, on the other hand, should charge ferociously. The only advantage of coming face to face with an attack dog is that once he sinks his teeth into something, the barking will stop. If you know an attack dog is on the scene, bring material to wrap your arm to prevent his breaking the skin when he makes his attack. As he charges, offer the wrapped arm and let him sink his teeth into the material. Once he has a good, tight hold, place your free forearm on the back of his neck as a brace. Then jerk the arm he is biting up and back quickly to break his neck. Or, you can just as easily cut his throat while you have him in that position.

a hypodermic needle filled with poison or a poison tipped dart shot through a blow gun seems to give the best results.