Wraith

by Kathleen Kelly

  “Hello, Flint.”

  I jump and reach for the gun which is tucked into my waistband at the back.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve got a gun on you. And besides, I’m not here to hurt you. I only want information.”

  I take the gun out anyway. I don’t need this fucker, stabbing me again. Looking into my bedroom, he’s sitting on the end of the bed, gun in hand, smiling at me.

  “You stabbed me, motherfucker.”

  “I couldn’t just let you go. They would have suspected you were a rat.”

  “They did anyway.”

  Felder chuckles, but there’s no mirth to it. “Fucking bikers, hey, they don’t trust anyone. I need a favor.”

  “And why the fuck would I help you?”

  Felder stands, gun still leveled on me as he walks past and sits on my fake black leather couch.

  “Well, because I can end your time here. I can dispose of all the bad guys, and you can go home.”

  I chuckle at him. “I’ve got them. I’ve already sent the tapes off. Petrov incriminated himself, so I’ll be going home.”

  “Yeah, but I’m a sure thing.”

  My leg and shoulder are killing me, so I put the gun down on the kitchen bench. If he were going to kill me, I figure he’d have done it by now.

  “You’re not listening. I have them cold.”

  “Why are you still here, then? Why haven’t they arrested the bad guys and sent you home.”

  “Red tape, it’s always red tape.”

  “Ring your handler, see what they have to say,” says Felder with a smirk.

  The smirk bothers me like he knows something I don’t. I take two steps in the direction where I have the cell hidden when Felder clears his voice.

  “You looking for this?”

  I look over my shoulder, and he’s holding the cell in his hand.

  “How the fuck did you find that?”

  “I’m trained to find shit like that.”

  He tosses me the cell, and I catch it awkwardly in one hand. Limping over to the couch, I sit at the opposite end to him. I dial my handler and wait for him to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Gerald, it’s Flint.”

  “Flint! Good work, man. What you sent us on Petrov, nails him. We have him dead to rights.”

  I grin into the cell. “Yeah, he did himself in, didn’t he? When are you coming to get me? When can I come home?” I hear murmurings in the background, and what sounds like a hand over the receiver. “Gerald? You there?”

  “Sorry, Flint. We can’t pull you out yet. If we take out Alec, the father will step in. We need you to get something on him, too.”

  “You’re fucking joking, aren’t you?”

  “I wish I was. This comes from above. You understand, don’t you, Flint? We’ve never had anyone this far under for so long. We have to ride this out.”

  “We have to ride this out? But that’s the thing, Gerald, it’s me riding shit out, alone. I’m fucking done.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  I glance at Felder, and he shakes his head at me. He knew what they were going to do. It appears I’m the only sucker who didn’t. I disconnect and let the cell fall onto the couch between us. “What do you need to know?”

  “I need to know where Jax, Reaper, and Petrov will be in the next forty hours.”

  “Why forty?”

  “I have another mission to see to in forty hours. Can you help me?”

  I rub my forehead and nod. “Yeah.”

  “Good. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, Flint. They were always going to use you up until they nailed all of them, or they got you killed. You know this, right?”

  “No, I didn’t know that. I hoped to be home with my wife. I thought nailing Petrov would be enough.”

  “Who else do they want?”

  I sneer at him. “Petrov’s father, Vassili. The fear is, even if we nail the son, the father will step in.”

  “I can do him, too?”

  I’m surprised at his lack of empathy. “Just like that? You’ll just add another one to the list?”

  Felder nods. “It’s what I was trained to do.”

  “I think the CIA runs things a bit differently than the FBI.”

  “Yeah, we do,” agrees Felder.

  “I can make it so they are all at the same location, and what happens next is up to you.”

  Felder smiles. “You didn’t take much convincing?”

  “I’m done here. I want to go home. And if you can promise me a one-way ticket, I’m taking it. But… no blowback on me. None of this comes back to hurt me, or I’ll burn you, too.”

  “I can tell we’re going to be great friends.”

  I shake my head. “Nah, you’re a means to an end. I don’t trust you. You kill far too easily.”

  “Do you know why?”

  “Why you kill? Screw loose?”

  “My daughter, Ann. She was sold to Petrov, but he took a liking to her, and she believes he loves her. You see, I let her down. I let work get in the way of what’s important, and I won’t make that mistake again. And I can’t let these bastards do this to anyone else’s daughter. They have to be stopped.”

  “That’s why you took them out?”

  He nods, and I get a glimpse of the man underneath the monster. Make no mistake, this man would go through me to carry out his objective. I can feel it to my bones.

  “Do you have a number where I can contact you?”

  “Yeah, give me your other cell.”

  I pull it out of my pocket, unlock it, and hand it to him. Felder pushes some buttons and hands it back. On the screen is the name Ice and a number.

  “Ice?”

  “In case of emergency.” Felder chuckles and heads for the door. “How’s the leg and shoulder?”

  “Fuck you,” I mumble.

  Felder smiles and leaves.

  I have no idea if I can really hand over Reaper, Jax, and Petrov, but I know I can’t stay in this cesspool any longer.

  WRAITH

  Flint Armstrong is a good man.

  Hook is a vile bastard who lives solely to please his MC. I’m glad his task force looked into me, or I would never have found out he was an agent and may have killed him

  Who am I kidding? I would have killed him.

  Everyone in the MC who makes money off the backs of teenage girls deserves to die.

  It’s been twelve hours since we had our chat, which only leaves me twenty-eight hours. Angelica hasn’t reported back to me regarding Ann. This means one of two things—they haven’t found her or something’s gone horribly wrong, and they have no idea how to tell me. Either scenario doesn’t fill me with a sense of joy.

  I pick up my cell and check it for what feels like the thousandth time in the last twelve hours. My gut is telling me Flint has changed his mind. He’s not a killer like me. Oh, I’m sure he could put someone down if he had to but not because he wanted to or because he likes it. Throwing caution to the wind, I dial his number.

  “Yeah?”

  “You haven’t called,” I say icily.

  “Been busy. Looks like I can’t make it.”

  “We had a deal.”

  “Look, man, I’ve got things to do. The big boss’ wife has rocked into town. So I’ve gotta go.” The air in my lungs goes out in a whoosh. “Ah, man, this must be a bad connection. You still there?”

  “Petrov has Ann?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Look, like I said, gotta go.”

  The line goes dead. My knees buckle, and I hit the floor hard.

  How did she get out of Switzerland?

  How did that bastard find her?

  How do I get her back?

  I suck in a lung full of air and get to my feet. It’s not going to be easy getting Ann out of his house again. Petrov has beefed up security tenfold. Looking outside, it’s late afternoon. I can’t make a move until it’s dark, but he could shift her before then, and I can’t risk it.

  Hell, is sh
e even at the house?

  There’s only one thing to be done, I suit up. There’s enough guns and munitions here to bring down a small army. I pack as much of it as I can carry into my duffle, and the rest I put into the slots on my vest and the belt I’m wearing. Going into the closet, I pull out a large trench coat and place more items in its pockets and put it on. Anyone who’s observant is going to be able to tell I’m packing, but regular civilians will think the trench coat is weird for this time of year but dismiss it and move on.

  Walking quickly, I head out to the latest car I’ve stolen—a silver Toyota Camry. Boring, lots of them on the road, so no one will notice it. I put the duffle on the passenger side and get in the car.

  Where the fuck do I drive to?

  I turn it on and head for Petrov’s, my gut tells me it’s where she’ll be. As an afterthought, I redial Hook.

  “Yeah?”

  “Is she at the Petrov estate?”

  “It’s a party, everyone is here.”

  I hang up and drive faster toward my destination.

  It’s broad fucking daylight, and there’s no way I’m getting into Petrov’s compound without being seen. I have no choice but to contact Angelica Strauss. I’ve reverse parked the car in someone’s driveway. So far, no one has come out and told me to move, so I’m assuming they aren’t home. This house is far enough away I can see who’s coming and going. No one has left the estate, but plenty of cars and bikes have gone in.

  Angelica answers her phone sounding like she doesn’t have a care in the world. “Jamison! How are things?”

  “Petrov has my daughter.”

  I hear her sharp intake of breath. “Fuck. I don’t know how she got past us.”

  “Irrelevant. I need your help.”

  “What do you need?”

  “Assurances,” I reply.

  “Such as?”

  “I’m out after this. If I decide to come back, none of this blows back on me or mine.”

  “Out? Come on, Jamison, you know too many secrets to be out.”

  I don’t respond. I know she’s right. But if I get my girl safely away from Petrov, she’s going to need a lot of care, and I can’t be on missions or out of the country. Ann deserves better than that. I don’t speak as I try to wade through the options which are available to me—none of them are good.

  “Jamison?”

  “Yeah.”

  “We’ll figure something out. But you can’t retire, you’re too good at what you do. I owe you for not finding Ann, but there’s no way on God’s green earth you can disappear.”

  “I can live with that.”

  “What do you need? I can have agents there within the hour.”

  “It’s funny how the CIA isn’t supposed to operate on home soil, but we do. I need a distraction.”

  “We do what we have to do to insure the safety of our citizens. What kind of a distraction?”

  “A big one, so I can get in and out without being seen or caught.”

  “Send me the address.”

  The line goes dead.

  Another hour to wait.

  True to her word, Angelica’s men turned up within the hour. Six of them, all specialists with a black van full of explosives and guns. There’s even a RPG.

  “What do you need?” asks one of the men.

  “I want you to keep them all busy at the front of the building while I sneak in the back.” He nods, the others stare at me, listening. “I also want you to supply suppressive ground cover to get me the fuck out. I’ll have a female with me. She’s the target we must protect at all costs. She’s a valuable asset, the rest are cannon fodder.”

  “How long do you need.? We’ll attack from different angels, get them to scatter and separate. Do you know where the target is in the building?”

  “No.”

  He frowns, picks up a long-distance big, black phone and dials a number.

  “It’s Agent White. We need infra-red intel on the property you were sent information on. Looking for a female inside, but numbers and real-time video would be helpful.”

  He nods as he listens and finally hangs up.

  “We good?” I ask.

  “Yeah, they’re set up already. A satellite will be over the house for the next thirty minutes, give or take, so we need to boogie.”

  I nod. “I’m driving to the back of the property. Give me exactly five minutes, then rain hell down on them.”

  For the first time, Agent White smiles and nods, and when I cast a glance at the other men, they are all grinning.

  The men the CIA employs are a scary group of people.

  This isn’t going to be easy. It’s daylight, and although it’s starting to fade, there’s not a lot of places for us to hide. No doubt more than one of Angelica’s men are going to get themselves killed, all for country. Well, for my Ann.

  It takes me four minutes to get into position. It sounds crazy, but every minute you wait for the action to begin feels like hours. I jog from the car, up and over the wall to a cluster of bushes and wait. Adrenaline pumps through my system, it heightens all my senses.

  In my earpiece, I hear White say, “Time to party.”

  An explosion sounds from the front of the property, and then I’m running across open ground to get to the house. Hopefully, all eyes are diverted away from me as this is the most dangerous part of the mission.

  I hit the outside wall of the house and flatten myself against it. I listen, but apart from the gunfire and explosions the men are setting off, I don’t hear anyone at the rear of the property. I try the handle on one of the doors, it’s locked.

  “Wait,” orders White. “Unfriendlies coming your way. Move to the next door on the left.”

  I do as he says, again I try the handle, it’s locked too, so I drop down and pick it, then enter.

  “Keep moving. If you go out into the hallway, you’ll have a clear path up the stairs to the second floor. The third room on the left has a female inside, or the tech said it could be a man of slight build with long hair.”

  I’m grateful for the infra-red technology but nervous about relying on someone else for information, someone I don’t know. I normally hand-pick my teams, so they are loyal to me and the mission. These guys were sent by Angelica, so they are loyal to her.

  Whispering, I tap my mic. “Unfriendlies on the second floor?”

  “All are at the front of the building. Keep going.”

  With my gun held in both hands and up in front of me, I continue. There’s plenty of shouting and screaming going on, but so far, I haven’t encountered a single person. I get to the door White said a female was behind, and it’s locked. Again, I drop down and pick it.

  Opening the door, I slip inside and close it behind me. Standing in the far corner of the room is Ann. When she sees me, she runs and throws her arms around me.

  “Daddy!”

  It’s been so long since she called me that. I engulf her in a hug briefly then hold her at arm’s length. The entire left side of her face is bruised, and her bottom lip is split and swollen.

  “What the fuck happened?” I hiss at her.

  “Alec.” A sob escapes her and tears fall. “He told me I should have tried harder to get away. He accused me of sleeping with other men. Daddy, he… he… raped me.”

  Rage colors my vision as I look at my little girl, bloody and bruised. I knew Petrov was a monster, but I thought he loved Ann.

  “We need to get you out of here. You need to stay close to me. Where I go, you go. Understand?”

  Ann nods. I take a deep breath to calm myself and turn toward the door.

  Focus!

  I need focus to get us both out of here alive.

  I open the door when White speaks into my earpiece. “Move toward the stairs, your path is clear for the moment.”

  Scanning the area continuously, I keep moving. I can hear shouts from the men below as they yell for more ammunition. As we hit the bottom of the stairs, I feel a sting as a bullet goes th
rough my lower leg. I buckle and fall down on one knee.

  “Daddy!” cries Ann.

  I force myself back up and look for the assailant. Not seeing anyone, I assume it’s friendly fire. Pain is a feeling which can be controlled, and right now, I don’t have time to deal with it.

  “Stay close and keep quiet.”

  “You’ve been shot,” Ann whispers, but louder than she meant to.

  “Quiet,” I repeat, holding my gun to my lips.

  Ann nods as tears flow down her cheeks, there’s terror in her eyes.

  I continue toward the back of the house when Jax walks out into the hallway. It takes him a moment to realize we shouldn’t be here.

  “Who the fuck are you?”

  I raise my gun, which has a silencer attached and shoot him dead center of his forehead. In the movies, the sound a silencer makes is very different to real life. In real life, it’s loud, granted not as loud as a normal gunshot, but people will have heard it. I’m hoping with all the noise around me, no one will pay it much attention. I keep walking.

  Ann stumbles and clutches onto me.

  I stop and look down at her. “You need to stay close, but you need to let me go. I can’t keep us safe if you’re crowding me.”

  Slowly, Ann, releases me, her eyes fixed on the body in front of us.

  “Don’t think about it, keep moving. The dead can’t hurt you.”

  I step over him and hold out my hand to Ann. She tentatively takes it and focuses on the back of the building. Raising her foot, she attempts to step over Jax without touching him, stumbles, and I catch her before she falls.

  “Ann?” asks a voice from behind me.

  We lock eyes, Ann and I, and I see pure terror in their depths. Positioning her behind me, I turn and come face to face with Petrov.

  A smile creeps across his smug face. “You’re doing all this to get her back?” Petrov shakes his head. “She belongs with me.”

  Ann’s hands clutch onto me, and I feel her press herself against my back. Petrov has a gun trained on us, but I have the advantage. I’m well trained, and Petrov isn’t. I look behind him, and it’s the distraction I need. He looks over his shoulder, and I shoot him in exactly the same spot as Jax. Ann screams, and I reach around with one hand to hold her in place.