One Perfect Sentence – November Challenge Starts Now!

[AgentPete]

It may not have escaped your notice (or there again, it may have escaped your notice, depending on how deeply engrossed you are in the current LiMoWriMo) that there’s been some political malarky, shenanigans and/or tomfoolery recently afoot.

What a great moment, therefore, to set you this challenge:

Write A Great Opening Sentence To A Political Thriller.​

The mission brief, should you choose to accept it, is simple. Write a killer sentence that hooks like a polearm. It can be as long or as short as you want it to be. The Rules are simple. Please remember to make your entry anonymously - tick the “Posting as Anonymous?” box to do so.

(Tip of the cap to @E G Logan for the topic suggestion!)

 

[Anonymous]

The bullet punched a hole in the president's wife at precisely 8 57 AM.

 

[Anonymous]

The existence of weapons of mass destruction were confirmed beyond doubt at the intelligence briefing.

 

[Anonymous]

When she placed the missing ballot paper on the President's desk, Julia knew that her life as an intern was over and that she'd be dead by the evening.

 

[Anonymous]

Shame about the baby, of course, she mused, as the wailing finally drew to a close – but if you’re carrying a bomb in your buggy, you can’t draw attention to yourself.

 

[Anonymous]

‘Six...eight....seventeen...’ – that was the head of state checking the bodies in the building against the list in his hand.

 

[Anonymous]

‘Vengeance is... pretty cool really, and well worth waiting for,’ he thought as his arthritic fingers slowly attached the silencer.

 

[Anonymous]

All Chiefs of Staff had confirmed we were in a go situation; there could no hesitation from this point onward, and as my finger hovered two inches above the button, it was crunch time... us or them.

 

[Anonymous]

... And then the Labour party was voted in ...

 

[Anonymous]

He was born to rule... his father's opulence and ambition would ensure that.

 

[Anonymous]

Seated five rows back from the stage I watched his every careless move, and although when Circus Narcissticus rolled into Chicago Dome next Friday I'd be two rows further back, his hutzpah would allow me to ensure every worldwide news outlet would soon be in meltdown.

 

[Anonymous]

The Beginning of the End, read the headlines the morning after the election that voted in a dictator as leader of the free world, but for MI6 agent, Christine Peel, it was just the end of the beginning.

 

[Anonymous]

After his sudden death, her mentor, Lenny Hvratsky, the world’s least-known assassin, had left her all their operating cash, his third best revolver (with ammunition and silencer), the deeds to a piece of as-yet unrecognisable US land, and a business class ticket in the name of Madame Marie-Elise Hvratsky, which was not her name – from JFK to Marseilles, that very week.

 

[Anonymous]

The light was still on in the minster's office as she cut through the back alley, it was unusual for him to be working this late but even more so was the hulking black shadow that suddenly crossed in front of the window.

 

[Anonymous]

The world’s journey to the precipice began when Didem Üzümcü turned to the silver-haired client, buttoned her blouse and said, “Actually, no.”

 

[Anonymous]

The revelation of a secret sex tape was just another day in the office for the President—that it was with his Russian counterpart made it more problematic.

 

[Anonymous]

Legacy, three syllables, one for each bullet.

 

[Anonymous]

"Coup is such an ugly word, we prefer to consider our action simply a pre-election security move."

 

[Anonymous]

Even before the all votes had been counted, I knew that bastard had won. I picked up my gun, checked it was loaded and placed it on my desk. It was going to be a long night.

 

[Anonymous]

Forty-five had survived six bankruptcies, 4,000 legal actions and two assassination attempts, but when he looked at the impassive beauty of his wife’s face behind her dark glasses he wondered if he would survive another term with her as first lady.

 

[Anonymous]

After three exhaustive weeks spent meticulously documenting late-night commercials, I unearthed undeniable evidence—subliminal messages cunningly woven into the fabric of frequency patterns, so imperceptibly they slipped past unsuspecting viewers.

 

[Anonymous]

Even before the all votes had been counted, I knew that bastard had won. I picked up my gun, checked it was loaded and placed it on my desk. It was going to be a long night.

CORRECTION - Even before the all votes had been counted, I knew that bastard had won, so I picked up my gun, checked it was loaded and placed it on my desk, knowing it was going to be a very long night.

 

[Anonymous]

Radar operator Corporal Shufen Lin was the first to see them over the Taiwan Strait.

 

[Anonymous]

Smoothly removing a small but efficient-looking gun from a shoulder holster, the well-dressed young man remarked: “Now, Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen of the Cabinet, if we are all sitting comfortably, let us begin...”

 

[Anonymous]

Faced with the death of the Vice President, the poisoning of half of the Senate, and the Speaker’s struggle for survival, Ingrid did not hide in a bunker reserved for the elite, she grabbed her Glock and traversed through the burning Capital to the location where she knew he'd be, where he'd told her he'd be waiting.

 

[Anonymous]

"We showed them," said Yusuf to the television screen, "and now they will show us."

 

[Anonymous]

Leaving the intelligence briefing, the Prime Minister knew: the only way to kill the Russian president, without it turning into a massive shit show, was to take charge of the mission and to kill the bastard himself.

 

[Anonymous]

His Honor defined "precipitous," in that he'd made no careful consideration of the office and rose dangerously high to a crashing and sudden end.

 

[Anonymous]

What had begun in jest fuelled by idle curiosity was becoming ever more sinister as page after page of text was redacted by ugly blocks of black ink - who the hell had he married!?

 

[Anonymous]

The Prime Minister looked down at the dead American President at his feet.