Vengeance

by R. J. Patterson

  Alex and Black mingled, careful to introduce themselves as Angela and Phillip to the others milling around the room and sharing drinks together. Finally, after half an hour, Alex saw someone she recognized.

  “I’m suddenly starting to wonder what kind of group this really is,” she said.

  “What do you mean?” Hawk asked over the coms.

  “I just saw Jeremiah Gillman,” she said. “He was one of the men listed as a client of Andrei Orlovsky’s, our favorite Russian arms dealer. I remember his name and looking him up. He’s got quite the resume when it comes to arrests. I doubt he’s simply here to help save the planet. I know for a fact that he’s more interested in destroying it.”

  “In that case, steer clear,” Hawk said. “We don’t need to stir up any more trouble that we’re already going to have before this thing is said and done.”

  “I believe I told you that I was rather confident about everything going as planned here,” Alex said. “If Gillman is our sole threat, I’m sure we’ll be able to handle him.”

  “Just stay alert.”

  Alex watched the crowd sift back and forth across the room, like a listless tide. Attendees flitted from one conversation to the next, most touting what they’d been able to do in the past year to bolster their standing as a true warrior for the environment. Alex learned enough about the Muncies to know what they had done, which included starting a business reward program for employers to incentivize their people to utilize water fountains. After her fourth retelling of the story, Black offered to retell it next, which he did flawlessly.

  “We make a great team,” Alex said.

  “Yes, we do,” piped Hawk.

  “I was talking about Black and me. For some reason, we just haven't fought as much as you and I do, Hawk, when we're out in the field.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Hawk said with a sarcastic chuckle. “Can you please just save the commentary until after you’re all done with the operation?”

  “If I didn’t know any better, Hawk, I’d think you were jealous,” she said.

  “Can you blame me?” Hawk said. “You’re dazzling tonight.”

  “I won’t argue with that.”

  Black tapped Alex’s shoulder with the back of his hand. “Look over there. Dr. Becker is preparing to speak.”

  Becker tapped a microphone and cleared his throat. “May I have your attention, please? I want to thank you all for coming tonight to this benefit. I can't tell you how much it means to me to see so many friends taking time out of your busy schedules to be here to support a cause that I feel is important for the future of our planet.”

  He sipped his drink before continuing.

  “As you know, I've written several papers on the impact our degenerating environment is having on children, and if we don't take action now, we're going to do irreparable damage to this beautiful world that we live in. And as you all know, this message isn't one widely accepted.”

  “Here we go,” Black said under his breath to Alex. “Can I just rush the doc right now and carry him out of here before he continues this fear-mongering speech?”

  Alex glared at him. “I warned you about that. Control yourself.”

  “It was a joke,” Black said. “I’m not going to jeopardize this mission.”

  Becker rambled on for another five minutes before closing with a pitch to donate to the Defenders of the Earth Society or, as he later referenced it, DOE. Alex had researched the non-profit beforehand to see Becker’s level of involvement. He was easily the most prominent board member among a list of names she didn’t recognize. Her attempts to dig up more information on the others resulted in dead ends. It was almost as if they didn’t exist, which was curious for a group that was raising large amounts of cash.

  “Okay, maybe I wasn’t joking,” Black said. “This is bordering on the absurd.”

  “Be patient,” Alex said. “He’s wrapping this up, and then we’ll talk to him in private.”

  “His study is down the corridor directly behind him,” Hawk said over the coms. “From what I can see, there aren’t any guards patrolling that area, so you should be able to get in there without being seen.”

  Several guests approached Becker after his presentation, irking Alex that they got to him first. Once he was finally free, Alex looked at Black.

  “Now’s our chance,” she said. “Time to go.”

  Black wove through the crowd, grabbing a drink off one of the wine trays held by a server as he went. Alex sauntered up to Becker.

  “Thank you so much for inviting us,” Alex said. “My husband and I are just delighted to be a part of such a wonderful organization doing so many great things for the world.”

  “You’re welcome,” Becker said, pausing as he stared blankly at Alex’s face. “Remind me of your name again. I can’t quite place it at the moment.”

  “Angela,” she said. “Angela Muncie. You invited me and my husband, Phillip.”

  “Ah, yes,” Becker said. “Please forgive me for not remembering. Events like these have a way of exposing my weak memory skills.”

  “All is forgiven. I was interested in making a sizeable donation, but I wanted to speak with you about it—in private.”

  “Of course. Just follow me this way to my office. Hopefully, that will give you all the privacy you require.”

  Becker led Alex down the corridor and then unlocked his office door. He gestured for her to enter and followed his lead, easing inside.

  “So, what concerns do you have or questions can I answer for you?” he asked as he followed her into the room. He closed the door behind him but didn't see Black wedged between the wall and a briefcase near the far corner.

  “Before I give you a dime of my money, I was wondering if you could tell me why you were meeting with an international terrorist mastermind,” Alex said as she produced a picture from her clutch.

  Becker’s mouth fell agape as he stared at the photo of him in a café with Evana Bahar. He scowled for a moment but remained quiet.

  “What’s the matter, Dr. Becker? Is your memory failing you again?”

  “Who are you?” he demanded.

  Black jammed his gun into Becker’s back. “I think the lady asked you a question. I suggest you answer it.”

  Becker glanced over his shoulder at Black. “You do realize you’ll never get out of here alive.”

  “That’s not the first time we’ve been told that,” Black said. “Yet, here we are.”

  “What do you people want?” Becker asked as his face turned pale.

  “We need to know how you contact Obsidian,” Alex said.

  “Contact who?”

  Black used his gun barrel to apply more pressure on Becker’s back. “We’re through playing games, Doc. Think long and hard about what your next response is going to be.”

  Becker swallowed hard. “Okay, I know some people involved in the organization.”

  Alex furrowed her brow. “You just know some people involved? I would hope that your relationship would be stronger than acquaintances if you’re partnering with them on missions.”

  “What are on Earth are you talking about?”

  “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about,” Alex said. “Six months ago you were in New York at the U.N. building when a bomber slipped inside and threatened to kill everyone. There was the threat of a virus, but you found a way out of the building and took something with you, too.”

  “You must have me mistaken for someone else, I never—”

  She wagged her finger at Becker. “Would you like to see the video from that day where you slipped through the barricade and escaped into the city streets?”

  After opening her phone, Alex scrolled to the video of Becker weaving his way through the crowd and breaking free before hustling down the street.

  “Obviously you weren’t infected,” Black said. “But you took something out of there. What was it?”

  “Look, I don’t know what it was,” Becker said. “I
was just a courier, doing a favor for a friend.”

  “You’re lying,” she said.

  Black jammed his gun a little harder into Becker’s back.

  “It’s the truth, I swear it,” Becker said.

  Alex narrowed her eyes. “How do you contact them?”

  “I don’t. They contact me.”

  “How do you contact them?” she said.

  Becker just glared back at her.

  “The lady’s not gonna ask you a third time,” Black said.

  Becker sighed. “I have a phone in the top drawer of my desk that’s used exclusively for contacting them.”

  Alex strode over to the desk and retrieved the mobile. She held it out in front of Becker.

  “Password, please.”

  He typed in the digits. “You don’t know how powerful these people are. They’ll hunt you down and kill you—and do it all before breakfast.”

  “We’ve heard it all before,” Alex said, “yet, here I am. So, let’s get moving.”

  Black shoved Becker to his chair and bound him to it with several zip ties.

  “Thanks for inviting us tonight,” Black said. “You throw a great party.”

  Alex opened the door and gestured for Black to hurry up. He went ahead of her down the hallway, tucking his gun discreetly into the back of his pants as he went.

  “We’ve secured the package,” Alex said over the coms.

  “Nice work,” Hawk said. “Now get the hell out of there before he alerts security.”

  “Oh, I doubt he’ll be doing anything of the sort for quite some time,” Black said.

  Alex and Black slipped through the crowd still milling around in the great hall. Once they reached the front door, they encountered the lead valet, who requested their ticket.

  “That’s okay,” Alex said as she pushed her way past him. “We’ll get it ourselves.”

  “Ma’am, I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” he said. “We must get the cars for you. You don’t even know where it is.”

  Alex and Black continued walking, ignoring his pleas for them to wait.

  “I said stop,” the valet said, followed by the sound of him chambering a round into his gun.

  Alex and Black spun around to see the valet with a weapon trained on them. They both threw their hands in the air in surrender.

  “I’m just going to reach inside my purse here and get it for you,” Alex said, moving very slowly.

  She retrieved with her fingertips and held it up for the valet. He walked up to her and yanked it out of her hands.

  “Wait on the sidewalk like everyone else,” he said.

  Alex and Black followed the command while the valet radioed one of his underlings to retrieve the car for them.

  “This should only take a minute—and then you can be on your way,” the valet said.

  Alex and Black remained silent as they stood still at the edge of the curb awaiting their car to appear. After a couple minutes, the car roared around the corner and then halted in front of them. The valet opened the passenger door for Alex. However, when Black walked around to get in the driver’s side, the man driving the car got out with his weapon trained on Black.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” the man said. “Both of you need to follow me.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Hawk squawked into their earpieces. “Are you guys all right?”

  “There’s nothing quite like getting ambushed by your valet,” Alex said, doing her best to disguise her communication with Hawk.

  He let out a string of expletives before begging them to remain calm and be patient. “I’m on my way.”

  “Let’s pick up the pace,” the guard said. “We don’t have all night—and Dr. Becker is looking forward to having another conversation with you two.”

  CHAPTER 8

  ALEX STARED AT THE WALLS as she descended a series of staircases with Black and wondered just how long the castle had been here. Intricate stonework decorated the interior, equivalent to the kind of craftsmanship she'd seen in dozens of European fortresses. The only sign that she hadn't been transported back in time were the security cameras perched high along the corridor and the modern weapons slung around the necks of the guards escorting their prisoners below ground.

  “I don’t know about you,” Black said, “but I’m half expecting us to see a dragon chained up down here.”

  Alex smiled and shook her head. “And here I thought I was the one breathing fire when the doc tried to lie to us.”

  When they reached the end of the hallway, the guards slung Black and Alex into a cell and locked the gate. The men strode away without giving their captives even a second glance.

  “Well, I guess we know what’s coming next,” she said.

  “Yeah, and it ain’t gonna be pretty,” Black said.

  “Can you two talk?” Hawk asked, interrupting over the comlinks.

  “For now,” Alex said. “I guess they didn’t see our coms.”

  “We’ll just be grateful for our good fortune and go from there,” Hawk said. “As long as they’re working, I should be able to locate you and get you both the hell outta there.”

  “I’d act quickly,” Alex said. “We haven’t seen Dr. Becker yet—and I still have his cell phone.”

  “It’s probably how he tracked us down,” Black said. “You should’ve turned it off.”

  “It’s too late now,” she said. “There’s nothing we can do about it at this point.”

  “Don’t I know that all too well,” Black said. “That’s the story of my life.”

  Alex sighed and slumped to the floor, resting against the back wall. Black joined her, sitting down a few feet away.

  “What exactly is the story of your life?” Alex asked. “You know since we have all the time to kill.”

  Black nodded. “We’ve got all the time in the world, don’t we?”

  “Not if I have anything to say about it,” Hawk said over the coms. “Just hang in there, you two.”

  “We're not going anywhere in the foreseeable future,” she said before turning toward Black. “Now where were we? Ah, yes, at the very beginning.”

  Black chuckled softly. “This is the point of the story where everything starts off bad and you think things can only get better. But that’s not the case. It’s one horrible and awful thing after another. And to be honest, I’m not sure this is the kind of story that will keep our spirits up while we wait for Hawk.”

  “Beats watching the mice over there scurry back and forth across the floor in search of food.”

  “In that case, let me back up and start about two months before I was born,” Black said. “My father was deployed overseas, flying A-10s in the Gulf War, while my mother was pregnant with me and living in Tucson. He got caught up in some ground fire on a mission over Iraq and had to parachute out when he lost both engines. Unfortunately, he was captured by some members of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard and dragged through the streets before dying.”

  Alex winced as Black continued his story.

  “That left me without a father for the first six years of my life. My mother eventually remarried a man from my father's squadron, but he was messed up. He drank a lot and beat my mother nightly. One night when I was twelve years old, he came home drunk and reeking of perfume. My mother confronted him about his whereabouts, and they got into a huge argument. The next thing I knew, he pulled out a gun and shot my mother before killing himself.”

  “That’s more than any person should have to endure,” she said, fighting back tears.

  “I’m not done yet,” Black said, shaking his head. “I was placed into the foster care system when my grandparents declined to take me. But that wasn’t a great experience for me either as my foster father beat me and verbally abused me quite often. Needless to say, I had a lot of pent up anger, which I figured out that I needed to express in a way that didn’t result in me getting into fights weekly at school. So I started playing football.”

  “Run
ning back?” she asked.

  “Linebacker. I loved obliterating receivers across the middle of the field. My nickname was ‘The Hit Man’.”

  “And now you are one,” she said.

  “It didn’t start out that way,” Black continued. “I was offered a college scholarship to play at Notre Dame, but my grades weren’t good enough. So I went to junior college and had every intention of getting my transcript in order and earning an associate’s degree so I could transfer and play again, but then life happened again. I was attending a school in Kansas in the middle of nowhere and was at our local Walmart one night with my girlfriend Lana when a deranged lunatic walked in with a gun. He started shooting anyone that moved. I wanted to get out of there, so we ran toward the back, but it was locked. The shooter was a disgruntled employee who had planned out his massacre. As I was searching for another way out, he came up behind us and gave me this sadistic grin before pulling the trigger. I stepped in front of Lana and pulled her close to me as we dove to the side. However, he sprinted after us and shot her in the head first before turning his gun on me. I shoved the barrel away and kicked him backward before scrambling down the aisle. He fired a shot that hit me in my shoulder blade, but I kept running. I went for the gun section and grabbed a rifle off the shelf and started loading. The only good thing my foster father ever did was to teach me how to shoot a gun. I pulled out a nearby ladder used to retrieve items stored high behind the counter and climbed up so I could see almost the entire floor. Once I saw where that lunatic was, I scoped him in and picked him off. That scumbag still had several rounds of ammunition draped over his neck. He only killed eight people including Lana, but there’s no telling how many more would’ve died if he hadn’t been stopped. The next day, a man from the CIA paid me a visit—and here I am.”