A WOMAN RECENTLY ASKED HOW I could, in good conscience, write an instruction book on murder.

"How can you live with yourself if someone uses what you write to go out and take a human life?" she whined.

I am afraid she was quite offended by my answer.

It is my opinion that the professional hit man fills a need in society and is, at times, the only alternative for "personal" justice. Moreover, if my advice and the proven methods in this book are followed, certainly no one will ever know.

Some people would argue that in taking the life of another after premeditation, you act as God -- judging and issuing a death sentence. But it is the employer, the man who pays for the service, whatever his reason might be, who acts as judge. The hit man is merely the executioner, an enforcer who carries out the sentence.

There are many, many instances when atrocities are committed that the law cannot or will not pursue. and other times when the law does its part but the American legal system is so poor that real justice is not served. In those cases, as in cases of personal revenge and retribution, a man must step outside the law and take matters into his own hands.

Since most men are capable of carrying out their threats and wishes only in their heads, it becomes necessary for a man of action to step in and do what is required: a special man for whom life holds no real meaning and death holds no fear ... A man who faces death as a challenge and feels the victory every time he walks away the winner.

Some men could not kill under any circumstances. Other could kill only in self-defense or to protect what they hold dear. One man learns to kill in times of war and spends the rest of his lie trying to forget the horror, while his brother may consider all his wartime efforts a justifiable part of his past having no effect on his present.

How many times have you shared a few beers with a group of macho buddies who eventually turned the subject of conversation form women and sports to that of guns, ammunition, wars, and the killing?

It seems that almost every man harbors a fantasy of living the life of Mack Bolan or some other fictional hero who kills for fun and profit. They dream of living by their reflexes, of doing whatever is necessary without regard to moral or legal restrictions. But few have the courage or knowledge to make that dream a reality.

When the bragging and boasting starts, I just sit back and smile as one after the other talks of what he would do, and how he would be., if it weren't for family obligations, mortgages and corporate jobs.

You might be like my friends -- interested but unsure, standing on the sidelines afraid to play the game because you don't know the rules. Within the pages of this book you will learn one of the most successful methods of operation used by an independent contractor. You will follow the procedures of a man who works alone, without backing of organized crime or on a personal vendetta. Step by step you will be taken from research to equipment selection to job preparation to successful job completion. You will learn where to find employment, how much to charge, and what you can, and cannot, do with the money you earn.

But deny your urge to skip about, looking for the "good" parts. Start where any amateur who is serious about turning profession will start -- at the beginning.