The only exception to my all black was the red scarf I had pulled up over my mouth and nose; I wasn’t coming to the party as Madi, but the Wraith. I felt Spice’s anticipation. I hated it when she did that. It made me feel like a vampire. I checked the time; I had an hour until the boat arrived. An hour to clear the field.
Krisan wasn’t able to find out how many men were on the island, but it had to be at least a dozen.
Good thing I had come armed for bear: two pistols, a rifle, grenades, knives—everything I would need to kill everyone here and find out where they were taking the girls they kidnapped.
I turned the little boat around, gunned the engine and let it run out to the sea; I would find another way back.
This side of the mansion had several decks, and several windows with lights shining inside. The house itself had palm trees and rock gardens surrounding it along with a couple of pools.
I made my way up to where the palm trees were and ducked down behind a large decorative rock formation to conduct a last-second equipment check—
Subdued music wafted over the breeze. I heard laughing, tingling of glasses, and what sounded like dancing.
Crap. I’m late.
I checked the time again. Our info had to be wrong. The ‘shipment’ was already here and I couldn’t go in—guns blazing—without risking innocent lives. One of the reasons I was here was to save these girls, not get them killed.
I scanned the two-story building again looking for a window that didn’t have a light on. The moon wasn’t out, lending a fairly dark shade to the night. The other side of the house was lit up; this side, not so much.
I located a small, vertical window that had no light. Focusing on it, I took a step forward…. and appeared in a bathroom a second later, stepping out of the shadows on to the expensive tile floor.
Empty.
On the left was a pair of sinks set in a marble countertop with golden faucets. On the right was a walk in shower with see-through glass walls.
I moved to the door and pressed my ear up against it. There was a party going on—I hadn’t heard it because of the wind. From what I could tell, the house was half-moon shaped and they had a deck that was guarded from the majority of the wind.
My cell phone vibrated.
I just found out they have two shipments this week. One is for the modeling agency, the other is from Mexico. The models may already be there.
“Great,” I muttered. Here I was dressed to kill, literally, and there was a house full of women who thought they were about to become big-time international models.
I heard steps outside the door. Heavy steps—too heavy for a woman. The Ka-bar came out of its sheath easy enough and I held it with the point up. As soon as the sound passed the door, I flung it open, wrapped one arm around the big man’s neck, and drove the point of the blade through his back and into his lungs.
I yanked him back into the bathroom, threw him into the shower with a twist, then stabbed him one more time to make sure he died quietly.
The rush of power filled me with a euphoria that never got old. I just wished it wasn’t tied to killing. I took a second to clean off the blade before shoving it back in its sheath.
He had a phone, thank goodness. I dialed Krisan on it.
“Yes?” she answered hesitantly.
“It’s me. Do what you can with this phone.”
“On it. Just toss it somewhere and leave the line connected. I’ll hang up when I’m done. Where are you?” she asked.
“Second-floor bathroom.”
I opened the bottom drawer under the marble countertop and placed the phone under several towels. Odds were that even if they came in here they wouldn’t be worried about a phone so much as the blood-soaked floor and dead body.
I went back to the door and cracked it open. The balcony area was completely visible from the floor below. If the house extended around the large open area it would be a ballroom. Instead, it was more like an amphitheater. About thirty girls. They all look like model wannabees and none of them were looking coerced—which meant the next shipment arriving in an hour would be those who were kidnapped.
In the few seconds I had the door open, I spotted a dozen or more armed guards.
“Come on. Just go out there and start shooting them. I promise you won’t hit any of your ‘innocent’ bystanders,” Spice said from behind me. The eagerness in her voice for me to start killing was disturbing coming from my little sister.
“Will you let me handle this, please?” I asked her without looking back.
She shrugged. “I’m hungry and your liver is looking tasty,” she said.
I spun around to ask her what the heck she was talking about but she was gone.
That’s great. All I need is for her to start acting psycho. More psycho.
I checked my phone when it buzzed.
I have an idea. Wait one -Krisan.
Whatever she did, I didn’t have to wait long. A half minute later there was a knock on the door. I slipped behind it as it opened.
“Manuel?” a man called out as he walked in. I brought the base of my blade down on his head. He collapsed in a heap. With one hand on his chin an the other on the top of his head, I twisted. If it wasn’t for my Wraith given strength, I’d never have been able to snap a neck fast enough to actually kill someone—maybe just paralyze them. But he died right after the snap.
I heaved him up and threw in the shower with his friend. Just as I was feeling the rush, the door opened again. I shot backward, driving my heel into the man’s gut, then twisted and spun unbelievably fast, bringing my other foot around and kicking him in the head. He slammed against the wall, dazed but alive… Until I stuck my knife through his throat into his brain.
I dragged him over and threw him on the other two. This was getting ridiculous. I cleaned the blade in a rush, worried that someone else would come in. I had three full grown dead men in the shower; I wasn’t sure how many more I could fit.
I ran back behind the door when it opened again and reached for the back of a head and realized it was a woman, not a guard. She started to scream and I clamped my hand around her mouth, dragged her in and shut the door.
While I pushed her up against the far wall I let my eyes flare up and my voice change. With my mask on it was pretty scary. She thought so too.
She had a long green dress on with a slit up the thigh and a scooped neck. She wasn’t more than nineteen from the way her eyes looked; no older than Neve when she came down here.
I slammed her against the wall for emphasis and held one hand over her mouth while I put the knife away.
“Listen carefully. Do not scream.”
She nodded.
“This place isn’t what you think. It isn’t a modeling business and Alvarez isn’t an agent. They’re human traffickers and this time next week you will be in the middle east or eastern Europe as a hooker or in some sheik’s harem.”
She shook her head, eyes wide with fear and disbelief. No one ever believed bad things could happen to them.
“No, this is legit. My agency in New York sent me to this guy—”
I clasped my hand over her mouth. “Why does a modeling agency need armed guards.” I pushed her head to the side so she could see the dead guards and the semi-automatic weapons they were carrying.
Maybe I shouldn’t have wasted time trying to convince her, but it was important that she didn’t think I was just some random serial killer, I was there to save them.
“Just don’t hurt me,” she said, her eyes wide with fear. It was too much for her mind. I got that.
“Sit. Don’t make a noise and don’t make me knock you out. Concussions suck,” I said to her in my most commanding voice.
“She’s going to get you killed,” Spice said. Her tone wasn’t a happy one. She stood over the shaking girl with a look like glee.
“You worry about me, not her,” I whispered as I went back to the door. My phone buzzed again.
Incoming.
I looked up at the girl; she was white as a sheet. Then she fainted. It was probably for the best.
I dragged him to the shower as the euphoria hit. It was more subdued this time—like I was becoming used to it. I tossed him in and then decided; while it would probably scar her for life, the safest place she could be was behind the wall of bodies in the shower.
They know something is wrong. They’re rounding up the girls and switching to radio instead of their phones. I won’t be able to give you a heads up.
Roger, I typed back.
“Okay, Madi, time to work for a living.” I made sure my mask was in place and I took a second to look in the mirror.
Damn if I wasn’t a scary mother fragger. I shouldered my rifle, took a deep breath and kicked the door open.
CHAPTER 13
Someone screamed and it wasn’t a woman, Rodrigo realized, it was a man. Why would a man scream?
He decided he didn’t want to stay to find out. He pushed one of his men toward the courtyard and ran for his office. The girls were all freaking out as his men herded them toward the outside holding area, cleverly disguised as a dance floor with a cage motif.
The boat with the captives would arrive in less than an hour and he would have twenty more guys to back him up; he just needed to hold on till then.
He ducked instinctively as automatic gunfire lit up the night. None of his men had automatics. It couldn’t be the Dumas woman? Could it?
He pushed past a dark-haired girl, ignoring her cry as she fell to the dirt. At the end of the far wall he slipped his key in the nondescript wooden door, leaped through, and slammed it closed behind him. Lights turned on and he hit the big red button in the center console.
Sheet metal slid down over the door and the only window. Magnetic locks slammed it all home. The monitors lit up, showing him a near-complete view of the island in full HD color. Now he had it all.
He sat back in his chair, put his feet up and waited. When the boat arrived, it would be over for her... if this was even her.
✽ ✽ ✽
I was in an elevated position looking over the amphitheater and trying to take out guards as they became visible. The half-moon shaped building surrounded the amphitheater and there were wide staircases at either end leading up here. One charged up the stairs and I tossed him over my shoulder when as he tried to take my M4 rifle away from me. He landed in a heap as I spun and fired several rounds into him. More bullets bounced off the rails and the wall behind me.
They were driving the girls to the dance floor but I could tell from looking that it was just a big cage.
The guards were taking turns peppering me with fire while others tried to reach the stairs. The railing was only twelve feet up...
I leaped over the side just as another one opened fire. A line of pain blazed a trail down my side but I ignored it. I rolled as I hit the ground, coming up and firing as I moved. Another one fell, then another. I was down to just four if my count was right.
I had to be careful, though, because anyone one of them...
The punch caught me off guard and sent me sailing through the air to crash into the house. The frame shook from the impact and I was pretty sure I had multiple broken bones. They were already knitting, but it still hurt like hell.
I tried to stand but he was on me in a second, his hand clamped around the barrel of my rifle shattering it like a dry noodle.
“I was wondering when you would show up,” I said to him. He yanked the remains of the rifle from me, I didn’t have it clipped on and it was useless to me at that point so I just let it go; Super strength almost always meant invulnerability to bullets.
He grabbed me by the coat, jerked me up in the air and slammed me down onto the stone amphitheater floor. It cracked like glass under the force and I grunted from the pain as ribs broke. I let out my breath as I hit so my lungs wouldn’t collapse.
He didn’t let go and he didn’t give me long to regain myself. I grabbed his wrist, wrapped my legs around his arm and tried to dislodge him. He slammed me into the ground again; this time I saw stars. I had to do something fast or it was going to be a short fight.
Amped up as I was, I was strong, but this guy was an order of magnitude stronger. My bones and tissue were already healing, but they were still damaged. I tried punching him in the mouth when he lifted me up the next time; no good.
If at first you don’t succeed... I stuck my hand into my pocket and wrapped it around the high explosive grenade. I hit the ground again at his feet. He dropped, putting a knee on my chest and cracking more bones as he did.
“They want you alive, but they said nothing about how many pieces. How about I rip your arms and legs off and watch you flounder around like a dead fish?”
He had his face right in front mine and I could smell his cigarette breath.
“If you want to impress a girl, try a breath mint.” I pushed open the safety with my thumb and pressed down on the electronic detonator. Since he was on top of me, pinning my torso with his knee, it was easy enough to stuff the grenade down his pants.
“What?”
I teleported away just before it exploded. It wouldn’t likely kill him, but soft tissue was soft tissue, even if it could take a hit from a tank, it still moved. The shockwave would hurt. I stepped out of the shadows behind a tree, turned and observed the effect. He dropped to a knee and mewled like a kicked puppy. Oh good.
“How are you going to finish him off?” Spice asked me from behind.
“The old fashioned way.”
I pulled a brick of C4 out of my pocket and thumbed the detonator. I couldn’t help but saunter up to him. I grabbed the back of his head and yanked, opening his mouth I stuffed the C4 in, hard. Then I kicked him in the side of the head with all my Wraith-given strength.
I didn’t stick around to watch; another shadow step and I was on the other side of the compound when the boom happened. The screams of the women told me all I needed to know.
“Any more guards?” I asked Spice.
She shrugged. “No more than three, maybe, though I don’t know where.”
Three more plus Alvarez?
I pulled my pistol and shot one in the face as he came around the side of the building. The girls screamed as the remaining two guards grabbed them and used them as shields. I drew my second pistol and raised both slowly, letting my eyes burn. The first one opened his mouth to speak and I pulled the triggers. Bullets exploded out of each barrel and through their foreheads.
Now just Alvarez.
The girls were a huddled mass of tears and crying as I approached. I ignored the headless torso in the center of the amphitheater. My injuries were almost completely healed at this point. I cracked my neck and came to a stop.
“Look around,” I said in my scary Wraith voice.
It took a second, but they complied
“This is a cage. Those are guards. You are not here to be models, you are here to be slaves.”
“But... but... we met other models who told us this was a good deal, lot’s of money, easy job...”
I shook my head. “People do all kinds of bad things for money—and for freedom. Don’t go anywhere. Just stay right here. There’s a boat coming in an hour with more cargo. Once I have it cleared I’ll send you all on your way back to the states.”
I didn’t know if they believed me, but at least they stayed put. I turned and surveyed the area, again looking for any sign of Alvarez. My neck hurt, still, and my ribs were tender so I pulled off my scarf to make it easier to breathe. No one ever talked about how hard it was to breathe through a mask.
It seemed like the kind of thing that would come up.
I turned to the girls one more time. “Anyone see where Alvarez went?”
To my surprise, a young black girl with long straight hair pointed at a wooden door at the end of the half moon shaped house.
“Thanks,” I said as I walked toward it. He probably was ready for me, but it didn’t matter. I only needed him to talk; I didn’t need him to live.
The door itself wasn’t anything to write home about. I pulled it open and the real door underneath brought a whistle out of me. Some kind of reinforced metal. I knocked on it and the way my knuckle hit made me think it was thick.
“Alvarez?” I called out. “I’m pretty sure you can hear me.”
I waited a moment to see if he would engage... when he didn’t I went on.
“I’m the Wraith. Look around the island. All your men are dead. I killed your men in Detroit, in New Orleans, in the club the other night, and now, here on this island... You think a little metal door is going to protect you?”
A speaker system clicked and I heard his voice distorted by electronics. “What do you want?”
I smiled; not the pleasant kind. I looked up, scanning the underside of the gutters until I found the camera pointed at me. “Your head on a pike. But I’ll settle for knowing where you’re taking the girls you don’t ship to the middle east.”
Silence.
“Have it your way then.” I hauled my foot up and kicked the door as hard as I could. I’d killed a lot of people in the last hour, I had the strength, speed, and regeneration that came with it. The building shook but the door didn’t budge.
“That’s hardened steel, rated to withstand an F4. You’re not getting in,” he said over the speaker.
I let my eyes flare a little as I looked at the camera. “Is that what you think?”
He had a point, though. Hardened steel rated for someone stronger than me, despite my kills. I don’t think I could lift a car. Maybe punch through regular steel... but I have the problem all super-strong people have; I have the strength but I don’t have the mass. I’ll just move myself before I move the door. Then an idea hit me.
Superhero By Night (Book 3): The Wraith [Guerrilla Warfare] Page 6
