Body Count

by mike Evans

  Lincoln looked at the picture of Christian, trying to see what part he had played in all of this. He was a man tasked with security, and muscle, but had nothing to do with handling someone. From what Clary had told him, there wouldn’t be very many capable of handling Gabriel. Hell he’d been surprised that the man had even dealt with Fox, but the more he thought about it, he was starting to think that Baker had played a much bigger role in all of this than he originally had thought. Lincoln went through his records of people coming and leaving the office building and noticed that there was an agency vehicle checked out to Christian. Lincoln went through the records, following the GPS, then called to get a specialist to come in and look up the footage of where the man had spent the most time. A short time later a man knocked at the edge of the broken door. “Director, you called for someone to come in and help sir?”

  Lincoln motioned for him to come then indicated the GPS report. It did not take long for the specialist to track the man to a local airport. The IT pro was not surprised when Lincoln had him hack into the airport’s security system. They looked through the different views after recording a half hour window of when Christian had shown up to when he had left. When he saw on the screen an ambulance and police cars racing through the airfield, the two backed up the video further. By the time that the tech was done, the director patted him on the back and thanked him then instructing him to get out. He looked at the footage of Gabriel and Addison, watching him arrive directly after the prison assassination, and seeing his wife run up to him and then come back out with a second man a few minutes later.

  Lincoln sat back in his seat, knowing that everything Gabriel or Jacob August or whatever name he went by, was justified regardless of if it was legal or not. He knew that when this made its way up the ladder that there were going to be questions. He wanted to make absolutely sure that he had all counts of deniability ready in place and as well as many details and dead ends as possible for those with questions. Lincoln did not take long to debate his next action before he called in Captain Connett for a one on one meeting. Connett knocked and Lincoln motioned for him to come in.

  Lincoln said, “The man that you helped with earlier is gone. We need to get a team put together. Once we figure out where he went, we are going to put all forces that we can into taking him out.”

  “Can I ask what happened to the men that were interrogating him sir?” Connett inquired.

  “He broke free of the handcuffs somehow. He killed the three of them and two more men that were questioning a second man that he escaped with. We found one of our cars in the parking ramp of the building where he’d taken the shots from. We don’t know where he went from there, we can only assume he had a car stashed here somewhere.”

  “You didn’t look for his car when you took him down at the building?”

  “Don’t forget that I am a Director, Captain.”

  “Well it should be all the more embarrassing that I have to point that out to you. Did you send new guys over there?”

  “Security sent them over there, so watch your tongue and do so wisely. There isn’t a lot of compassion in me today. I have five phone calls that I need to make to mothers and wives explaining that their children, husbands, or fathers were killed in the line of duty. Now what I need from you is to assemble your team. I want you to have planes and helicopters standing by depending on the distance that you will need to travel. The minute that we get word of where he is, we are going to send you after him. He needs to be dealt with. We are not going to be a facility that is worried about having these people coming for us. We are the CIA for God sakes.”

  “So there’s no further questioning that you need to present to him? It’s ok to do what we need to do take him out?”

  The Director sat for a second tilting his head back and forth thinking of the questions that would be coming for him soon. Fox, Baker, Christian, all from his office and now a man with no name that only could be found by contacting Clary, who this Gabriel would not contact because they might find him. He pushed his usual rational way of thinking to the side and agreed this plan of action was the only way to move forward. Lincoln leaned forward on his desk and instructed, “Make sure that there isn’t anything left of him, and when I say that, I mean I don’t even want there to be anything left recognizable. You take him out and you do it hard.”

  Connett got up from his seat and said, “You know I probably don’t have to tell you this-”

  “Then save yourself the time and don't.”

  “But if you would have let us take him out when he was going through a personal assault on everyone in his path, then we wouldn’t be sitting here right now, would we?” Captain Connett boldly asked.

  Lincoln commanded, “Again, head out of here and get your men ready, do it now. I’ll remind you that I am anything but a man of patience. We are going to put him down as a suspected terrorist and put his picture up everywhere in the nation. There won’t be a place that he can hide which is going to keep him safe. I would imagine the way that he looks by now that anyone who sees him is going to think that he was up to no good anyway. He looks like he’s been through a war and with as many shots to the head as he’s taken in the last day, I confidently think that he is going to be looking for a doctor. We have a fax line, phone lines, and webpage being set up especially for this. We can get people looking for him in every doctor's office there is between here and California. I hope that he is still in the states or our net is going to have to be deployed quite a bit wider.”

  Connett nodded his understanding then turned and went to assemble his men. Lincoln accessed Interpol, put in Gabriel’s picture and hit send. He had a reward of ten million dollars cash listed with it and knew that there barely wasn’t anyone alive that wouldn’t turn someone in for a winning lotto ticket. He sat back, praying that the man had not yet left the country and that they would find him in time. He wasn’t ignorant and knew if this Gabriel left the states, he would become a ghost and they would likely never see him again. Though Lincoln worried that if the man had time for his wounds to heal, he would remember how he had been treated when he was there and thought that he very well might start at the top and work his way down the ladder for more revenge.

  His second call was to the airport manager where Gabriel’s wife had been found. A man who sounded like he had probably had unhealthy amounts of coffee answered the phone, “Hello, this is Andre, how may I help you?”

  “Yes Andre, are you the manager there?”

  “Yeah that is what is on my name tag. Look is there something I can do for you or would it be alright if I took your information and called you back?”

  Lincoln replied, “Actually, it can’t wait and I need your assistance now rather than later.”

  “What, do you need a hangar or do you need private transport? I really have a pile on my desk right now and don’t have a clue what the answers are.”

  “Well let me be your new best friend then. My name is Director Lincoln and I am in charge of things at one of the CIA’s buildings. I have some questions for you and if you can help me out, I'm sure there is something which I can do to help you take care of your problems.”

  “If you are calling from the CIA I don’t see how you are going to do anything to make me feel any better at all.”

  “How about I can promise that I won't send thirty agents to comb through your files and airfield and hangers, making your clients, bosses, and employees worry if they are going to be arrested? I just need to know one question and then you can forget that you ever talked to me.”

  “What do you need to know Mr. Lincoln?”

  “That plane that crashed, where was it going? I want to know everything about it that you can tell me.”

  “Well that isn’t too damn hard, it looks like it left shortly before the incident happened. The pilot didn’t ask for permission, but by the time anyone figured it out and called it in, he was already almost over the ocean and gone. We know that he was heading east, but that’s
all that we knew.” “So you don’t have any way of knowing where he might have landed?”

  “No, not really, but you could check with all of the different airports I'm sure that he needed to stop for fuel at some point.”

  “So they aren’t in America, and they are somewhere in Europe?”

  “Yeah that’s about the gist of it sir.”

  “Well good luck with your problems Mr. Andre.”

  Andre said, “Wait, so you are going to help us out though, the airport I mean?”

  “Your information wasn’t very useful sir. I already was more than aware that they left the airport and that is about all that you told me. Best of luck solving your problems.”

  “You said you’d take care of my problems. Do you know how much shit we are dealing with right now?”

  “No, but I can only assume that it is nothing compared to my problems.” Lincoln set the phone in its cradle leaving the airport manager stringing together a line of curses that all had to do with him and the CIA.

  He called back the same specialist, this time giving him a very specific request and within an hour, he had narrowed it down to a number of locations that they might have landed at. He went through the list looking for fuel purchases as well as airports large enough to accommodate a jet of that size and when he found him, he got a shot of Forsyth and the boy outside of the plane. They tracked their movements towards Paris and Lincoln took over from there telling the airport that the plane had been stolen and to seize it and the passengers in it.

  Chapter

  Twelve

  Forsyth followed the man to the hangar. He looked down at Mikey, hoping that things weren’t about to go to shit. He hadn’t flown himself across the ocean too many times. Most of their jobs had been in South America and those that were on this side of the world had been corporate jobs and Gabriel had taken normal flights over to avoid any suspicions. When they got within a hundred yards of the hangar, Forsyth could see within the dark hangar the bumpers of several police cars sticking out from the inside. Mikey asked, “Is that where we are going Mr. Forsyth?”

  Forsyth knew something was wrong immediately. He figured the scene that they had left behind was more than enough to bring people to try and ask him the leftover questions. He knew that Mikey was a bargaining chip that they could use against Gabriel and he refused to let that become a possibility. If Gabriel had to come to Europe it should be because he was reuniting with his son and not because he was going to wage yet another war, especially one which Forsyth wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle.

  “Mikey I need you to buckle up buddy. We are gonna do something….well we are gonna do something stupid. That’s really about the only way to explain it.”

  “Isn’t that a bad word?” Mikey asked.

  “No, not when it’s true. Just don’t tell your dad that I said that.”

  Forsyth let the plane coast to a stop. Unbuckling his belt he sprinted as quickly as his old legs would take him into the back where he grabbed his carry on and the information that Gabriel had given him, plus Mikey’s go bag, and the cash that Gabriel had supplied, knowing that the bank codes would come in useful but when the need for money arose, it was best to be able to fold it than rely on the ability to access it online.

  Mikey yelled, “I think you are supposed to be sitting behind the wheel when we are driving. That’s how my daddy drives anyways.”

  Forsyth tossed the backpack to Mikey. “Here kid, you keep this for me ok, it has some extra clothes and stuff for you. I got a feeling the next few hours are going to be wild ones. Are you in for the ride?”

  “So are we going to still get some dessert before we eat supper?”

  Forsyth gave him a grin and replied, “Ok, we are going to eat just as soon as we find a ride. But first, we are going to do something that you normally shouldn’t do with an airplane this beautiful.”

  Mikey tilted his head to the side. Forsyth smiled, knowing he wouldn’t let anyone take this kid and said, “Don’t worry about it buddy, you just sit back and hold on tight. We are going to be out of this jam in no time. I know, I've been in worse situations than this.”

  “Were you in situations like this with that Gabriel man?”

  Forsyth looked at the youngster and asked, “Why is it that kids hear and remember everything that you aren’t supposed to hear?”

  “We don’t know much, it’s how we learn stuff. Mom and Dad always say you need to listen Michael August or you are gonna miss out on everything.”

  Forsyth couldn’t argue with a statement like that. He nodded then set about turning the wheel of the plane and accelerating in the opposite direction, avoiding the runway and driving straight for the parking lot. He had no problems avoiding the parked cars because the Europeans believed in much smaller vehicles than those that were driven by Americans. There were no oversize trucks or an endless supply of minivans or sport utility vehicles. He simply drove through the parking lot and to the consumer entrance. When the guards saw him they waved frantically for him to stop. They had no protocol for an occurrence like this and had absolutely no way to try and stop him and the plane. Mikey screamed, “I don’t think this is the way we are supposed to use one of these Mr. Forsyth!”

  Forsyth yelled, “Hold on Mikey, this is the stupid thing that I talked about, like really damn stupid. I’d even appreciate it if you don’t tell your dad about this, as long as he doesn’t see it first on tv.”

  Mike said, “Wow we are going to be on tv?”

  Forsyth nodded saying, “Yeah you know I could definitely see us on the news. Good chance my picture and yours might be all over the news over here. Hell we might even make the news in the states. They love covering crazy stuff like this.”

  Forsyth motioned for the guards to get out of the way, wanting to keep the body count for the day at zero. At the last minute the guard ran out of the way, abandoning the brick guard shelter. When the plane passed, the right wing caught on the side of the now empty guard booth, shaking the plane violently. Forsyth held tight onto the steering column and looked out the side window and saw sparks and fire erupting from the shack. He cringed, thinking that the plane would not be salvageable for the man that he had “borrowed” it from. He was thinking that he would need to exhaust one of the accounts to make restitution unless of course the owner had insurance in which case he would let them deal with their company and save Gabriel’s hard earned money.

  He took the plane into the street with the plane’s wing still sparking and sending out shots of fire. Forsyth could see the looks of drivers fearing for their lives. The first thoughts that they probably had were that of a terrorist on the loose or a completely insane man. In either case, he figured the latter would be better than the first. At least if they caught him the latter would lead him somewhere safe versus being shot on sight if they suspected wrongdoing on his part.

  Forsyth looked behind them and saw the police cars that had been hidden now coming for them and trying to catch up. The police cars had to find a different direction to get out as the wing was blocking the entrance and the exit. He increased the speed and was pleased that cars were doing everything that they could to stay out of the path of the plane that was the giant amongst them. When he had made it over a quarter mile away he swerved it into the barrier that separated the roads going in opposite directions. The plane's front wheel went out and it hit hard, leaving the ass end of the plane up and the nose almost touching the ground and completely blocking traffic in the other direction. When Forsyth assessed the damage he’d done he knew that there would be no quick walking away from this for bystanders. There would have to be a cleanup on a massive scale that he did not know how they would do. But he knew that other than with the aid of helicopters there would be no one driving after them in pursuit quickly.

  Mikey looked up at Forsyth in a combination of absolute shock, bewilderment, and joy. He tried bouncing out of his seat only to be reminded that he was wearing the seatbelt. He screamed, “Oh my gosh tha
t was awesome! Can we take off the other wing now? Wow you broke this plane good, how’d you get so good at doing that? That was crazy Mr. Forsyth! Geez, wait till I tell my dad about this, he is going to be impressed. I’ve rode with him like a million times and you know what, he hasn’t ever crashed a car with me in it. This is my second time with you and bam you already did it. Wow you are way more fun to drive with than he is. You think that if I asked him he’d do this with one of his cars too? I bet he wouldn’t, we always drive nice and slow and he always makes sure to not go the wrong way in traffic.”

  Forsyth sat back for a second, taking in the shit storm that he was creating. He thought about it from the scale angle and realized it was one that he definitely hadn’t achieved before. He hit Mikey’s button to release the belt and the two went to the exit door then swung it open. He held Mikey to the side as the door opened inwards and then he engaged the emergency slide. The two slid down surprisingly into helpful hands. Men and women had exited their cars and were there helping the two to their feet and asking if they were ok in French. Forsyth shrugged, letting them know he didn’t know enough in French to find a bathroom. One man said in English, “My friend, are you ok? Is your little one ok? What happened?”

  Forsyth said, “I am not sure but I think that he needs a hospital. We need to leave now, he isn’t looking good, would you look at his color?”

  The man looked at him and saw a boy with blonde hair and a fading tan. He said in broken English, “Uh, I do not know, he looks ok to me?”

  Forsyth picked Mikey up in his arms. He said, “Did you see that he just fell. Where is the closest hospital?”