by Blake Hudson
“Don’t just look at me, pick me up, for Christ sake,” Howard said turning on the ‘I am stinking rich, do as I say attitude’, one that must have made him and Isabella the dream partnership, and a vivid nightmare for everyone with the misfortune of being in their company.
“But of course, please let me…” Carter said as he swung his steel toe boot into Howard’s side, then leant down and patted Howard on the cheek, that were more like slaps.
“I am a state school chap myself, be a sport and keep your plum mouth shut old boy at least until spoken to. Or I could just leave the room and turn a blind eye for thirty minutes. Captain Knox seems rather upset and in need of venting some frustration, and you’re tempting me to just let him,” Carter said in a quiet commanding way that only years of command could teach you.
“Sir, no need for thirty minutes, just ten will be enough,” Knox sneered out itching to unleash his rage.
“Hold fire Captain, just stand back, I have this,” Carter said turning to Knox and holding his hand up. Howard smiled with blood covered teeth, Harris put a hand on Knox’s chest pushing him back a little as he looked him in the eyes, telling Knox to leave it and don’t bite. In frustration Knox turned and kicked a chair to the wall, then leant with both hands on the wall, mentally counting to try and ease the adrenaline building as it flowed through his veins with a burning fire. Fucking Dani’s face! He was so sure and it was messing with his head to the point he was fucking losing it!
“El Toro…you said before that you have something he wants, what and where is it?” Carter asked as he walked away and picked up the chair Knox kicked and put it in front of Howard before taking a seat.
“I need assurances before I give it up. Pérez and El Toro will both kill me,” Howard said slyly, as he looked again over at Knox and smiled. Carter’s patience was wearing thin, he leant forward and swung out a big right hook, one he purposely let Howard see coming. Howard could do nothing but wait for it to connect, and connect it did. The crack reverberated around the room. So much so it made Knox look up, turn around and take notice.
Carter sat back and clenched his hand and then stretched out his fingers a few times before shaking off the pain. Carter felt it and Howard sure as hell felt it as he spat out a tooth.
“I do hope that wasn’t an expensive cap, old boy,” Carter mocked as he looked at the tooth on the floor.
“Now let us try again, the only reassurance I will be giving you is if you don’t tell me what I want to know you will be losing more teeth. And when my hands are tired these two chaps will gladly take over.
“Maybe it’s all bullshit and you have nothing El Toro wants! Or there is no El Toro and you are feeding us lies to save your skin,” Knox fired off over Carter’s shoulder as he moved in to hit Howard again as Carter waved him in.
“Go to Pérez, you will find him with the Cartel now and what El Toro wants is there. If you have the computer data like you say, you will have enough to bring Pérez in,” Howard said as he closed his eyes and braced himself for Knox’s assault, but it never came. Instead, Harris hooded Howard again.
“And what is it El Toro wants?” Carter said getting tired of asking.
“He wants a file, it is in Pérez’s office. The file is marked as NKM,” Howard said slightly muffled by the hood and then listened as Carter stood up and signalled to Knox and Harris to join him outside.
“What do you think?” Carter asked Knox and Harris as he looked at them both.
“I think he is full of shit, Sir. He is more involved than he is making out and I wouldn’t be shocked if he is playing both sides,” Knox said with a tone that told them he had zero respect for Howard.
“You think he is ratting Pérez out?” Carter said as he looked at the monitor screen that displayed Howard sat on the chair with a hood on.
“I think for an operation as big and slick as Pérez’s, to start going wrong like he claims, there has to be an inside man,” Knox said as he looked to Carter and Harris for their view, and both men nodded in agreement.
“It is true what he said, we have more than enough evidence pulled off the yacht’s computer to implicate Pérez,” Harris said as Knox thought thanks to the genius that was Dani. Jesus even thinking her name right now brought him pain.
“What truth do you think is in his claims about this file?” Carter asked them both.
“There is only one way to be sure,” Knox replied which made Harris stand upright as if he was ready to leave.
“Agreed Captain, you and the Major go check it out, take Gregory," Carter ordered before he walked off back to the direction of the NEST, then stopped and turned around.
“And men, don’t be going in to be heroes. I want you all back alive. I don’t want you taking any risks,” Carter said with a cold deadpan look.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Sir,” Knox said in a way you couldn’t be sure if it was sarcastic or not, as he and Harris left in the opposite direction heading to the garage.
“Harris, I will meet you and Gregory at the car. I just need to sort something first,” Knox said with a heavy tone as he braced himself for what he had to do, a talk with Dani.
Knox walked into Rose’s lab, and spotted Dani, he coughed once and Dani turned around.
“Lucas, thank god…” Dani said as she got up from the computer she was sat at with Rose and ran over. She went to hug him and he felt like the biggest bastard when he stopped her by holding her arms. Dani’s big smile dropped when she saw the look on his face.
“Lucas what’s wrong…?” Dani said as she looked at Knox with concern.
“Dani… I want you to head back to the UK,” Knox said in a quiet, cold manner.
“Well, I wasn’t planning to stay in Spain forever Lucas, I can head back in a day or so,” Dani said trying to joke a little and lift Knox’s mood. She wasn’t sure what had happened on the ship and was hoping his domineering was down to what he had just been dealing with.
“No… I want you to leave right away,” Knox said sternly, so much so Rose couldn’t help but take note.
“What… Now? Okay, but you will be coming to see me once you finish here… right?” Dani asked, puzzled at Knox’s attitude and starting to fear the worst.
“Dani… I don’t think that…” Knox began to say as he looked away, but Dani cut in.
“Look at me Lucas, if you are going to tell me what I think you are, then the least you can do is look me in the eyes when you do it,” Dani said standing back, going on the defensive.
“What I said before I was getting lost, carried away,” Knox said but still didn’t look at Dani.
“Look at me, Lucas! I don’t believe you! You said you wanted to spend time with me. You said you wanted to work out how to make us…” Dani said as she grabbed Knox’s arm, pulling at it for him to look at her. When Knox heard ‘us’ he turned to Dani and looked her in the eyes.
“There is no us! There can’t and never will be!” Knox said with almost hatred in his eyes. It wasn’t hate aimed at Dani but at himself for saying the words. The words that caused the look of pain on Dani's face, a pain he was relying on. Dani’s eyes began to well up as she tried to compose herself before she spoke.
“You don’t mean that Lucas, I know you don’t,” Dani said fighting back her emotions that were battering down on her like raging storm waters at a flood gate. She couldn’t understand it, why now?
“Dani, listen to me. I want you to go, I mean it. In fact, I have never meant anything more in my life. So please hear me when I say that I… I don’t want you and I never did!” Knox said slowly and firmly, letting his harsh tone coat his words like venom.
Dani said nothing. Hell, she didn’t have to Knox thought as the devastation in her eyes said it all. He had crushed her with the weight of his words as he knew he would and he fucking hated himself for it!
She just looked at Knox shaking, as a single tear rolled down her face. When she finally realised she was let
ting him see her cry, it was enough to get her to move. So, she slowly turned her face away as if he had slapped her, before barging past him and running from the room. Knox turned and before he could stop the action, he stretched out to grab her but he was too late. On instinct, he even tried to call out her name but the word just wouldn’t form.
What had he done, he thought to himself, but he in reality he knew. He knew what he had done and it was mission ‘afuckingcomplished’! He wasn’t fooling himself, as he had fulfilled what he always knew he would do if he got too close to her…
He had hurt the woman he loved.
Rose put a hand on Knox’s back as she walked up to him, he flinched before turning to see who had touched him.
“Hey, don’t hit me… Listen I will go check on her,” Rose said with a look of understanding and not wanting to say too much.
“I should go and…” Knox said but Rose gave him a knowing look.
“Maybe not a clever idea, she is going to be really pissed, but you already know that…I am guessing you were counting on it,” Rose said thinking if Harris had said anything like that to her his bank accounts would be emptied and his information on any database would state his name as Mr Dick Head. But her and Harris were a dream and for men like them, that was all it was ever going to be. Because the simple fact remained for men like Knox and Harris, getting close to someone just wasn’t an option in their line of work and the word love was more of a curse than a virtue.
“Okay, Rose could I ask a favour of you?” Knox said with sadness in his eyes that Rose couldn’t say no to as she nodded and waited.
“Can you take Dani to the hotel so she can pick her stuff up and get her to the airport, please?” Knox said deflated.
“Of course, I will make sure she is okay and sort that out,” Rose said with a sympathetic smile.
“Thank you, I just want her…her safe,” Knox said forcing the words out as he put a hand on Rose’s shoulder. Then he gave a slight smile before starting to walk off.
“I understand and Captain…” Rose called out and Knox looked back.
“Get your head straight…
Harris and Gregory need you.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Blood Retribution
Knox, Harris and Gregory headed up the same road Knox had done only a few days before when racing Isabella. It would have been nice to sit back and enjoy the views but the red mist of his anger clouded everything. Not driving for a change was a novelty for Knox as Harris had taken the wheel of his beloved 3.0-Litre Jaguar, but with too much on his mind, relaxing was the last thing he would find himself doing. For a start, what they were going to encounter at the Pérez residence was anyone’s bloody guess and then, of course, there was Dani.
But he knew he had to push thoughts of Dani back to the deepest depths of his mind and keep them locked there behind a barricade of pain. Because first and foremost he had a job to do and people were counting on him. He couldn’t trust the lying sack of shit that was Howard, and even if he was telling the truth, then how could he trust a man who so easily handed over the woman he was to marry. No, this whole situation had ‘stitch up’ written all over it. Knox wasn’t sure who was pulling the strings on this one, but he wasn’t going to play into their hands, so Knox was formulating a plan.
“Harris, I don’t have a good feeling about this," Knox said as he looked out the window.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I know that Howard is a spineless little shit and you were a little intimidating, but on reflection, I think he folded a little too easy," Harris said in his normally quiet and calm manner. Knox had come across only a few men like Harris, sometimes he thought the quiet and calm act was just that, an act. You always listen to someone who is quiet. Yes, it's annoying but you listen. How often do you see people switch off when they are getting shouted at or hearing someone who loves the sound of their own voice?
“It's not good going into a mission that I am second guessing,” Knox said as he looked over to Harris, whose attention was drawn away when he had to overtake at speed. An old man dressed in shirt and tie that looked as if he had worn it for months, travelled at 3mph in the middle of the road, with what seemed like half his worldly possessions tied to the pillion seat with string, on a bike that looked ready for the scrap yard.
“Goddamn crazy, old Spanish," Harris muttered before he turned his focus back to Knox.
“Agreed, I have been thinking about this mission and second guessing it as well. What are your thoughts?” he asked Knox in a way that made him feel even more respect for his comrade. Harris was his senior officer, yet he wasn't telling Knox what to do. He was asking for his view with no bullshit attached to it, and to Knox, that carried a lot of weight with him.
“I just have a feeling that somehow they will be expecting us, and I don't want to give them what they are expecting," Knox said as he got frustrated at the lead weight that didn't sit easy with his gut feeling.
“Add an element of surprise, is what you are saying?" Harris said with a smile.
“Yes, just that, when I was last at the mansion there was one thing I noticed and I think it could be used to our advantage," Knox said picking up on Harris' mild smile, which for anyone else would be a full-face grin.
“I am all ears, Captain and wake up Gregory in the back, will you,” Harris replied. Knox looked back at the snoring Gregory and smiled before spraying the contents of his water bottle on Gregory's face.
“Wakey, wakey sunny boy," Knox said as he and Harris laughed. Knox then discussed his plan with Harris and Gregory in detail.
Pulling up to the entrance of the Pérez driveway, something was already amiss. The green iron gate was completely open and the millionaire's fortress had been infiltrated. As Knox curiously drove forward he began to think maybe dropping Harris off wasn't such a clever idea. The CCTV cameras were both smashed and all in all, everything screamed don't go in. Which is just what Knox did as Gregory looked over at him clearly thinking the same thing.
The once busy gardens full of gardeners were now full of their abandoned tools, and the ground was soaked in water from sprinklers left on for too long. Clearly, something had gone down here, but no dead bodies yet so it wasn’t a total blood massacre they were driving into. To be on the safe side, Knox and Gregory had their guns drawn and Knox’s lay his on his lap ready. At least with the reinforced semi bullet proof glass fitted to the Jaguar, courtesy of Her Majesty’s government, Knox felt somewhat safe. Well, that's what he was telling himself, in truth the glass would stop hand gun fire and light arms from over thirty metres away. Anything that packed more of a punch and close-up, would penetrate like a groom with his virgin bride on their wedding night.
Knox may have spoken too soon about the bloodbath, as what looked like Juan’s body lay sprawled out in a pool of his own blood. His normally perfectly white clothes now crimson. But still no sign of anyone. Was Knox too late and the Cartel had been and gone? Was Pérez dead? Only one way to find out.
Knox parked under the cover of the garage. If they had to get out fast and were under fire, the garage would offer some form of cover from hostiles. He collected his thoughts before he took a deep breath and opened the F-Space’s door. Gregory followed and covered Knox as he walked, looking down the barrel of his gun as he checked every line of sight before moving from area to area as they made their way to the mansion.
As he walked up the main entrance steps, the door was wide open and blocked so it couldn’t shut fully. The door swung in the wind and knocked on the body of a guard lay in its path, he was bullet ridden like holes in gun range target. Knox took note that the guard still had his weapon and ammo, so whoever came through here wasn’t in need of any extra, meaning one thing, they were heavily armed.
Slowly moving through the massive mansion, its size helped them as they traversed room by room safely. Wide doors and cavernous rooms made for less fatal tunnels at least. Compromised lines of sight could l
ead to the enemy getting a clean shot off without them even knowing until it was too late. Each room was just like the driveway and front door, blood, bullet holes and bodies. Pérez must have stepped up his home guard, as there wasn’t this many working when he was last here. He signalled to Gregory to split up, he would take the one side of the house and Knox the other. They had to find Pérez who was now sure to be dead but most important, they needed to find that file…if there fucking was one!
It was eerily quiet, the kind of quiet that made you feel as though you could hear your own heartbeat. Nature was on baited breath, no sounds of birds in song and the air was still with not even the slightest movement from a breeze as that too had deserted. Beads of sweat formed on Knox's brow as the humid heat took effect. Movement! Knox spun to the flicker of shadow and light that he only just caught in his peripheral vision, and training his eye and gun in a perfectly synchronised movement he locked onto the moving target. A deep exhale of breath escaped him as the sight of the movement was determined, a ginger cat.
