Blur

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  “Any more, do you see any more?” said Mikaela.

  “Yes you need to move. Come to me. I’ll cover you.” said Helen. Mikaela looked down the street and saw more figures headed her way.

  “Remember to leave one alive.” said Mikaela.

  “I’ll do my best. You need to move now before I have to take them all out. Stay in my line of sight.” said Helen.

  The figures were getting closer, Mikaela could count four of them, and each had swords drawn. Mikaela began to run. She had to run in a straight line to draw her pursuers after her.

  The fact that Helen had eliminated one so close to her only led to the illusion that she was alone. It looked as if Mikaela had shot him at point blank range. That illusion wouldn’t last very long once Helen got started. As if on cue, Helen took out the last Blade in the group chasing Mikaela. She eliminated them in sequence until one Blade remained.

  “You’re going to have to take him down. If I do it there won’t be much left to ask questions of.” said Helen.

  “Can’t you hit a leg or arm or something?” said Mikaela as she ran.

  “I could –” said Helen drawing out the word. “You do realize this is a Barrett M107? Anything I hit will result in the disintegration of said target. And I mean that quite literally.” said Helen.

  “Shit, fine.” Mikaela said under her breath as she turned around. She drew her Glock immediately and stopped running.

  “Here are your choices; you can die now in a spectacular fashion as my partner erases you like she did your friends.” said Mikaela.

  The Blade, expecting the others to catch up to him turned his head quickly and realized he was alone. He dropped his sword.

  “Or you can answer my questions and I give you my word you will walk away. If not I can put a bullet through you and call it a day. What’s it going to be?” Mikaela held the Glock to the Blades’ forehead.

  The Blade looked at her a moment, thinking.

  “What questions?” he said after a few moments of silence.

  “Smart man, why are you here?” said Mikaela.

  She didn’t lower her gun as she asked the questions, staying alert to any movement on his part.

  “Our job was to secure the vehicle. That’s all I know.” he said.

  The Blade sounded young, maybe mid-twenties, his voice cracked as he answered.

  “Who sent you?” Mikaela knew she couldn’t let him live, but she would try and get as much information as she could.

  “The Kage always sends us.”

  Who the hell was the Kage? Mikaela was about to ask her next question when the Blade’s head disappeared, along with the upper part of his torso.

  “Helen! What the hell!” yelled Mikaela.

  “It wasn’t me! Get down!” Mikaela dove for cover as Helen scanned the area.

  “Anything?” asked Mikaela.

  “Gimme a sec I’m looking.” said Helen.

  There were too many vantage points to search them all from her position.

  “It seems they only wanted to silence him. Make yourself scarce, I’ll meet you back at the car. Be careful heading back.” said Helen. Mikaela replayed the image again in her mind. It was possible there wasn’t another sniper hiding in the shadows. This looked like a very controlled explosion. Was it possible they were wired to explode and didn’t know it? She headed back to the car. The more she thought of it, the more sense it made.

  “I think he was wired and someone detonated him.” Mikaela said to Helen as she wiped the blood and gore from her face.

  “That’s some retirement plan.” said Helen.

  “Tell me about it but it explains a lot. Stay up there and keep your eyes on the car. I’m going to make sure our friend John doesn’t drive away.” said Mikaela.

  Mikaela ran back to the car and shot two of the tires. The silenced Glock sounded like a whisper as it ejected bullets into the tires. Mikaela observed the tires, expecting them to go flat. They remained intact.

  “What gives?” asked Helen. “Is he using run flats?”

  Mikaela looked at the tire and saw that her bullets had penetrated but caused no damage.

  “I have never seen this before in my life, outside a Bond movie.” said Mikaela.

  “That’s probably where they got the idea from,” said a voice behind her. She whirled around seeing a figure in the shadows. “Tell your friend to come down or she gets to watch you die,” said the voice.

  “I heard, be there in three minutes,” said Helen.

  “She’ll be here in three minutes.” said Mikaela.

  “In the meantime why not introduce ourselves - you are Mikaela Petrovich, probably the most effective person at CATT.”

  Mikaela glared. “And who are you?” she said.

  “Me? I represent a group with a vested interest in the outcome of John’s arrival here. My name is Trevor. We can all wait for John to arrive. I’m sure he will be here shortly.” said Trevor as he stepped forward pointing a gun at Mikaela.

  Chapter Forty Six

  John’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket and he opened it. It was Mole.

  “John? John?” said Mole.

  “Yes, what is it Mole?”

  “Still alive - That’s good man. It’s getting crazy down there.”

  “You have no idea.” said John.

  “Actually I do but that’s another convo. Something rocked the car pretty hard. You may want to go check it.” said Mole.

  “Got it, I’m on my way.” Masami looked at John.

  “Something is wrong with the car. I’m going to check it out.” Masami stood to go when John stopped her.

  “Where are you going?” said John.

  “What do you mean where am I going. We are going to the car.” said Masami.

  It wasn’t a request. John knew how to pick his battles and this one was lost before he even started.

  “’John?” Mole was still on the phone.

  “Yeah, I’m going to the car now.” said John.

  “Yeah about that – whatever hit the car, hit it with enough firepower to rock a tank. Just thought you should know. You know as in dangerous?” said Mole.

  “Got it, lots of firepower, sounds like a certain person I know has caught up.” said John.

  “Ice queen?”

  “I’ll let you know.” said John.

  With that John hung up. He knew there were quite a few weapons that could pack that kind of firepower. He wasn’t going to take any chances. Together with Masami, he walked several blocks out of the way and climbed to the roof of an adjacent building to look down at the car. He got to the roof of a building a few blocks away with an unobstructed view.

  He saw Mikaela, some other woman and Trevor. What the hell was Trevor doing here? Was he working with Mikaela now? And who was the other woman? She looked ex-military, seriously ex-military. Trevor was looking up at the rooftops surrounding him.

  “If I were John, would I come straight to the car, I think not. What do you think ladies?” said Trevor.

  “I think that if he’s smart, he puts a bullet between your eyes and ends you.” said Helen.

  Trevor laughed.

  “No, no that’s not John’s style. He’s more of the up close and snuff you out kind of guy.”

  “Pity.” whispered Helen.

  ‘John! I know you can hear me!” yelled Trevor.

  “I guess he needs some motivation.” said Trevor to himself. Trevor pointed the gun at Helen’s chest and fired. At such proximity, the force of the shot sent her over the hood of the car to land on the other side, a look of surprise on her face.

  “It is a trap.” said Masami quietly.

  “Come on down John, or she’s next!” Trevor pointed the gun at Mikaela.

  John stood up. “Stay here.” he told Masami.

  “Ah there you are, come on John, let’s talk.”

  “Don’t hurt her Trevor.” Ten minutes later John was at street level.

  “That hero complex will get you kille
d one day John.” said Trevor.

  “Trevor, what the hell are you doing? You called me, remember?” said John.

  “I know, I know, but it seems my superiors are getting impatient John. You remember what I told you about not producing?” said Trevor.

  “That they would start looking at me.” said John.

  “Exactly, where do you think they are looking now, John?”

  “I can guess.” said John.

  “Now now, in case you‘re thinking of doing your thing, I wouldn’t. The moment I sense any movement from you, even a slight breeze, I pull this trigger and end her. We both know you aren’t that fast.” said Trevor.

  John stood still.

  “This was never about the assets, was it?” said John.

  “Oh no, I’m sure someone is concerned about the loss of assets. It just isn’t me.” said Trevor.

  “This was a retirement op?” said John.

  Retirement ops were undertaken to remove potential or perceived threats. On occasion they were used internally to remove assets that had become dangerous or no longer useful.

  “Something like that, John. I’m sorry it came to this but apparently someone doesn’t want you around anymore.”

  “Trevor, this is a bad idea.” said John slowly.

  “You know John, initially I thought so. Then I thought, with you out of the way and unrestricted access to CATT. Well, not so bad an idea.”

  “Why CATT, What does CATT have to do with this?” said Mikaela.

  “You want to do the honors, John?” said Trevor.

  “Access, by now he has disrupted the hierarchy of the organization, primed to place one of his people to run it. This means you are in the way, a loose end.” said John.

  “Exactly and I am not known to be sloppy. Don’t worry Mrs. Petrovich; there are a few people interested in your talents. I don’t think they will kill you, at least not until you’ve outlived your usefulness.” said Trevor.

  “David - no.” said Mikaela.

  “Oh I’m afraid the position for the director of CATT will be vacant very soon, probably even as we speak. Placing kill orders on you and your boss was quite the challenge. However once it was in, well they jumped right to it. It was as if they didn’t like you Mrs. Petrovich.” said Trevor.

  Trevor favored chest shots. It was the years of training and his particular method of execution. John remembered asking him about it once.

  “Headshots are too immediate, no pain. I like to see the life leave their eyes.” was his response. John counted on this.

  “Keys and code please and don’t lie to me John. I would hate to have to shoot it out of her.” said Trevor.

  John tossed the car keys and told him the code.

  “Thank you. Now we have to conclude this conversation. If you blur, the second bullet goes into her and she, unlike you cannot blur. Are you ready?” asked Trevor.

  John nodded. Trevor fired.

  Chapter Forty Seven

  “What’s our situation, Rogers?” said David.

  “Sir, we are down two squads. They just keep throwing men at the problem.”

  “I’m going to assume that problem is us, Rogers.” said David.

  “Yes Sir.” said Rogers.

  “Someone with a lot of weight and very connected friends wants us to go away.”

  “It would appear so, Sir.”

  “Well, Rogers, I’m nothing if not accommodating. Get the explosives. Switch frequencies and let them hear us. Give them our location and let them pinpoint us.” said David.

  “Sir?” asked Rogers.

  “Yes, that will give away our position. Tell the men to fall back before we suffer any more casualties. Make sure to lure them here.” said David.

  “It was an honor, Sir.”

  “Cut the shit Rogers. I don’t plan on dying. I’m just taking as many of them out as possible, now go!”

  They were in an abandoned warehouse on Laight Street, below Canal Street. The Blades had infiltrated the top floors and were entering the ground floor. Rogers stepped away and gave his men the orders.

  “Sitrep Rogers.” said David.

  “All enemy personnel are in the building.”

  “Excellent. Then it’s time to die. Make sure your men are clear. You have thirty seconds.” said David.

  Thirty seconds later David set off a detonation that imploded a quarter of the block.

  Chapter Forty Eight

  Getting shot hurts.

  It hurts, but it’s easy and usually involves small pieces of metal travelling at high velocity ranging anywhere from 700 to 1500 feet per second, and punching their way through you.

  Letting yourself be shot is difficult, since that involves remaining still while someone else is doing the shooting. Every cell in your body is screaming for you to move! And you don’t.

  Except that John did. It was one of the first techniques Nakamura Sensei taught him and the hardest to learn. He called it multi-level blurring and it allowed you to avoid serious harm to internal organs. To blur while appearing to stand still was a very specialized ability. It meant that John would have to be moving just slow enough to let the bullet hit him while blurring fast enough to avoid serious internal damage, all while standing still and appearing to be shot.

  The bullet tore through his left pectoral muscle and would have removed a large chunk of his heart had he not blurred. The surface wound was very real, so were the blood and the pain. As he fell to his knees, Trevor stood over his body. He knew he was going to pass out, loss of blood and multi-level blurring pushed him beyond his body’s level of endurance. Trevor placed a foot on his shoulder and shoved him back as the world tilted, blackness filling the edges.

  “You should have killed me when you had the chance, John,” said Trevor as he pushed Mikaela into the car and drove off.

  John opened his eyes in a bright room; the pain embraced him immediately. A hand on his shoulder pushed him back down into the bed.

  “You need rest. I don’t know how you did what you did. You should be dead right now.” It was Masami.

  “Where are we?” said John.

  “The dojo, It was the safest and closest option.” said Masami.

  Lea walked in several minutes later.

  “It appears you are very difficult to kill.” said Lea.

  “I hope you never have to find out how difficult.” said John mid grunt as Masami pushed him back down.

  “Where is the Sensei?” said John.

  “The toxin –” Lea looked away.

  “The toxin was too much for his system to take, even with my help. He went peacefully.” said Masami.

  The anger began to burn within John.

  “He left you a letter.” said Lea as she handed John a folded piece of paper. He took the letter and unfolded it.

  Kane-San I write this letter because my time is short. I have lived a full life and have no regrets. You must find a woman named Rukio. After some investigation with my sources, I believe this is the person who began to instruct Kei. I believe she is the key. At the very least she can lead you to your Sensei.

  You must master at least another technique. I am certain by now you know that there are five. Have Lea introduce you to her uncle Hideki.

  Regarding Lea, I entrust her safety to your watchful eye. She can be impulsive and headstrong and I fear these events will cloud her judgment.

  Be careful in whom you place trust. Find those who wish you harm and deal with them as lightning hits the ground – swiftly, decisively and with overwhelming force.

  Himara

  John folded the paper and remained silent for a moment.

  “How do we find these bastards?” said Lea.

  Lea was beside John’s bed. John ignored Lea for the moment and turned to Masami.

  “How long have I been out?” said John.

  “An hour, I was able to get to you as soon as Trevor took Mikaela and left. I healed you first and then aided the woman.” said Masami.

&nbs
p; “What woman?” said John.

  “Me.” said Helen as she walked into the room. John had forgotten about Helen

  “John, meet Helen Martine. Helen, John Kane.” said Masami.

  “Vest?” said John. Helen nodded.

  “Re-kev or at least that’s what David called it. It’s stronger than Kevlar but reformed to be as light as a t-shirt. Something about interweave technology. In any case I’m glad I wore it.” said Helen.

  “I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason you are still here to talk about it.” said John.

  “So you’re Kane, huh?” said Helen.

  “In the flesh.” said John.

  “I heard you took a bullet in the heart. Why aren’t you dead?” said Helen.

  “Masami there is very good with her hands.” said John.

  Helen didn’t look convinced but didn’t press the subject.

  John winced as he sat up a little higher, looked at Lea and changed the subject.

  “Lea, this is how we will find them,” said John as he pointed at Helen.

  “Can you still track whatever bug Mikaela put in my computer?” said John.

  “How did you – never mind, yes I can.” said Helen.

  “Good let’s find out who Trevor is working for. Masami, can I have my phone. We are going to need a car.” said John.

  “I have my Rover outside.” said Helen.

  “I appreciate the offer but I prefer something a little more secure.”

  John pressed the number that dialed Mole.

  “Holy shit John! Your vitals were flat an hour ago and here you are calling me!” said Mole.

  “Mole –”

  “John what the hell – what happened?”

  “Take a breath, Mole. How do you know about my – never mind, explain it to me later. I need a vehicle, something as close to a tank as Iris can get.”

  “What about the other vehicle?” said Mole.

  “Taken, along with Mikaela.” said John.

  “What! Holy hell John. Details, later. Iris will be pissed but she’ll understand. How soon do you need this?” asked Mole.

  “Now.” said John.

  “On it, give me ten minutes.” Mole hung up.

  “How is CATT involved in this?” said Helen. “Why take Mikaela?”