“We need to get some food in this house,” I said, eating the last of the ribs.
“I’ll write up the list and you do the shopping,” Jordan said.
I frowned as I stepped up behind him. I took a look at the screen and just saw a bunch of numbers and codes, and the shit damn near gave me a headache. I looked down at Jordan and watched for a few seconds as his fingers flew over the keyboard. He was in his world at his computer station. A master at the game. My partner in crime fighting.
“Why do I have to do the shopping?” I whined.
“Because you will be available during the day and I do all of the cooking. Don’t be a bum.”
I chuckled and walked towards the table where my mask and gauntlets were. “Fair enough. All right, stay safe,” I said as I slipped on the rest of my gear and grabbed my provisions bag before climbing in behind the wheel of my car. Using the remote control, I opened the garage door and pulled out. Crystalane was a very rich suburb just outside of the city. It would take me at least an hour to get out that way. Good news was that it was now past rush hour and traffic wasn’t so terrible.
I drove out to the address Jordan gave me. It took an hour and fifteen minutes to get there. That was with me driving at least thirty miles an hour over the speed limit. I’d love to be able to fly. That was an ability I really wished I had. I parked in an alley two blocks away from the location after I drove past it. Walter’s home was awfully grand. At least two-thousand acres of land covered with trees. Of course, that was all I could see as I drove by. I was pretty sure there was a pool, tennis court, guest home, and a huge, sprawling mansion. That was typical of these types of estates. Sometimes life just wasn’t fucking fair.
I traveled back to his property on foot. From what I could tell, there wasn’t much security. I did spot some cameras, and I managed to avoid them thanks to the binoculars I carried in my utility belt, which had both infrared and night-vision capabilities. I continued to make my way through his property, passing his tennis court, private pond, and the swimming pool. The guest house was on the other side of the mansion. The closer I got to the house, the more cameras there were.
He also had a few security guards monitoring the area. So far, I’d only counted four. I was sure there were more inside monitoring the camera feeds. Another little device I had with me to avoid this mess was an EMP generator that carries enough power to knock out all things electrical within five-hundred yards. That was good enough to knock out the power in this mansion. Perhaps, I would talk to Jordan to see if it would be possible to piggyback on some asshole’s satellite so I could get some extra eyes inside these locations I was always scouting.
I found myself a comfortable spot with a good vantage point. I was going to be there for a while. I looked into my bag of provisions and pulled out a bottle of water and a stick of beef jerky. I watched the grounds for hours, memorizing the routines of the security guards. As the sun started rising, I found another hiding position, one that would give me cover during the day. Sitting there surveying the house was boring as fuck, but also something I was well trained at.
At around seven a.m., a limousine pulled up to the front and one Mr. Walter Darring walked out of the front door of his mansion with what I assumed was his assistant. He was an older gent, at least sixty years of age. Mr. Darring wore an impeccable suit of ashen gray. A businessman by day and a monster by night. I guess many of us had dual roles. He climbed in the car with two more security guards dressed in black suits. Well, now I knew how the man traveled and how many people he had under his employ for protection on the road. I needed to figure out which would be the best way to take him out. At his home or on the street?
Taking him down on the street might be too public. I wanted to do this with stealth. I decided to go home for now and come back tonight. I was going to need my tranquilizer rifle for this one.
***
“I have another name for you,” Jordan said when I returned.
“I need to take a shit and get a few hours of sleep. Then I want a real meal when I wake up,” I said, snatching off my mask as I made my way towards the bathroom.
“Umm, okay,” Jordan said. “Do you want to know about the new target?”
“Not right at this moment. Tell me about him when I wake up and can focus better,” I said, then closed the bathroom door. I handled my business, then washed my hands before stepping out. “You don’t want to go in there for a minute. Might want to put a biohazard sign up, just saying.”
Jordan chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Get some sleep. You’ll be busy enough later on, I’m sure.”
I nodded as I took off my jacket and shirt, revealing all of my rippling muscles Jordan was checking out. “Tonight, I will deal with Mr. Jingles, aka Walter Darring.” I took off my leather pants and climbed in under the covers naked. It didn’t take me long at all before I was fast asleep.
“Eric, it’s time to get up now,” Jordan was saying as he shook me awake.
I opened my eyes and rolled over, looking at him. “What time is it?”
“Six p.m., dinner’s ready.”
He walked away and I climbed out of the bed. I took another quick shower and got dressed. When I came out of the bedroom, Jordan was setting up the table for dinner. I took a seat in one of the chairs as he was bringing in the last bowl of food. He set it down on the table and then took his seat.
I looked at the spread of food he’d sat on the table. String beans, mashed potatoes, and meat loaf. “This looks and smells delicious.” I started piling food on my plate, I couldn’t wait to taste it. I was fucking starving.
We ate in silence for a while at first, then Jordan spoke. “Did the surveillance go well?”
I swallowed the juicy meatloaf and nodded. “He probably has less than ten guards. Once I take out the electrical devices, no one will be able to call out for help or radio for back up. I’ll try not to kill the guards, but if they leave me no choice, I will. What I want is to grab Mr. Jingles and take him someplace nice and quiet to have my way with him.”
“Where are you going to take him?” Jordan asked, scooping mashed potatoes into his mouth.
“Someplace dark and dirty, like where his victim was. Anyway, that’s what’s going to happen tonight.”
“Do you want to know about the new target?”
I nodded. “Yeah, sure. Who are they?”
“A local politician.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Are you shitting me? Who?”
“Mayor Cecily Danvers.”
“Jesus. Are you sure about this, J?”
He nodded. “Positive. Trust me, there’s no way I’d be making mistakes about these targets. I know what you’re going to do to them, so I would never make a mistake about who deserves your justice.”
Okay, I believed him. “Is there any way we can prove they are involved? I mean, it looks like it’s building up to be a long list of targets. What if we can turn them in to the police?”
Jordan shook his head. “That was the first thing I tried to do. Even if law enforcement found a way to log into the site, they wouldn’t be able to track who’s bidding. It’s like you told me, sometimes you have to work outside of the law to get justice. I’m a criminal hacker, so I didn’t go about gathering my information legally, which means there would be laws protecting them if we tried to use the information we have against them.”
“What about the money trail?”
“Foreign banks handle the transaction, which means they are not going to be working with the law to rat out their million and billion dollar clientele. They’re not under U.S. jurisdiction. Not only that, but from what I’ve seen, the money looks to be going into a legit, albeit dummy, business, which is owned by a ghost corporation. I even found a target who’s in France. He’s also a politician, so there goes your diplomatic immunity. That’s a bunch of red tape and a lot of untouchable shit thrown into the mix.”
“Okay, I get it. The law can’t help.”
“That’s wh
y people like them, and sites like this, continue to exist. Don’t you think the government knows about the dark web? With all of the illegal shit that goes down on that thing, nothing to very little is being done. We’re in the major leagues with this one, Eric. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“If you think I’m flaking out, you’re wrong,” I told him.
He shook his head. “I don’t think that. But I’m concerned if you think we’re in over our heads. I mean, we’ve never tackled with people like this.”
I sat back in my chair. Of course, my plate was empty because that food had been good as fuck. “We are in deep, we may even be in over our heads, but like you said… we can make a difference, so it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you cover your tracks. I don’t want any of them to be able to track you down while we’re hacking their shit.”
“Oh, trust me, I am taking all of the precautions.”
“I’m sure they thought they were, too. Just make sure you’re doing better than they did,” I said. I stood up and approached him. “I don’t want anything to happen to you, or me for that matter.”
“I am doing my best and that has to be enough, Eric,” Jordan said, looking up at me.
I nodded. “It is.” I leaned down, kissing him. I pulled back and walked to my gun cabinet, pulling out my tranquilizer rifle and two dart cartridges so I could take out his security. They might not know about their boss’ evil ways. They might just be doing a job, so I would try the nice approach first. But if they got in my way, they would be dead. After I loaded up, I climbed into my car and headed out. Because of my plans for tonight, it was going to be a long one.
Chapter Seven
I was back in my secret spot that gave me a great vantage point to see all of Walter’s property. I noted the rounds his security team made, and they hadn’t deviated from the way they had patrolled last night. So, things were looking good as far as my plan went. I aimed my tranquilizer rifle and looked through my night vision scope at one of the guards as he rounded the corner into my line of sight. I controlled my breathing, and then I made the shot, hitting the guard in the neck with the dart. He grunted, reached for the dart, but then lost consciousness quickly after.
I waited a few more minutes until the other guard came into view and I shot him before he could go to his friend. The tranquilizer that was in the darts was the good shit, so they would be out for hours. I climbed down off the wall I’d been hiding on and pulled out my EMP device. It would only give me maybe fifteen minutes to get in and do what I had to do. I got a little closer to his home and hit the button. Instantly, all of the lights went off inside the mansion. A few seconds later, the backup generator came on and the security lights sparked to life, shining their brightness over the yard and on the mansion itself.
Shit, I figured a rich bastard like him would have a backup generator, which was troublesome but nothing I couldn’t work around. I moved in closer to the house, peeking into one of the windows. This room was empty, but not a good point of entry. By this point, his security would be on high alert and I needed to get to my target. I crouched down low and then leaped up high, latching on to the ledge of the second story window. Again, I peeked inside and saw nothing. I lifted the window, using a bit of strength to break the lock, and climbed inside.
I could hear some commotion going on in the hallway and on the first level, but I didn’t let that deter me. I aimed my rifle as I stealthily stalked through the mansion, keeping to the shadows. Closer to the first floor, I heard two of the guards conversing. Apparently, their scumbag boss was hiding in his panic room until all of this could be sorted out.
Well, double shit! That wasn’t good news to hear. They knew they had an intruder, too, because the guards had been discovered outside. Okay, so maybe I didn’t have the best plan for extraction, but I wasn’t willing to give up. Not yet, at least. I hid in one of the empty rooms as one of the two guards made their way up the stairs to investigate. I wondered if maybe it was time to end the stealth mode and just go full on attack. One thing I needed to do was destroy that fucking generator. I was hoping my EMP device would have been strong enough to take out the generator, but I wasn’t that lucky. If I wanted to salvage this plan, I had to locate it and shut it down.
That was my strategy until I heard the sound of police sirens approaching.
Triple shit with a heaping helping of fuck it added on top! I had to abandon my mission… at least for now. I could hear the guards drawing closer as they appeared to be checking all of the rooms. There was mention of the broken lock on the window in the room I’d entered through. Best take them down and get out of there. I flung the door open and charged forward, kicking one guard in the stomach and sending him flying back into the other room, where he crashed into a trophy cabinet. The glass shattered and trophies fell to the floor, along with the guard who was grimacing as he coughed up blood.
His partner managed to get a few rounds off, striking me in the chest and shoulder, and I growled from the pain. Damn, that fucking hurt like hell. I didn’t let that slow me down though, as I ran towards him, snatching his gun away and breaking his arm good enough for the bone to come poking through his skin.
“Ahhhh!” he screamed, right before I rammed my head into his, knocking him unconscious. Two less guards guarding this asshole would be helpful for when I returned.
I looked outside the window after I’d opened it and saw that the coast looked clear. I really didn’t have time to survey for any hidden traps before jumping back down to the ground and sprinting off into the cloaking of the trees. One thing I needed to do was get off his property. I was sure the police would be doing a perimeter search and I didn’t need to be around when they did.
Motherfucker! I’d fucked up royally. Not only had I failed to get Walter, but I had alerted him to the fact that he was a wanted man. No doubt, he would be beefing up his security, making it that much harder for me when I tried again. I ran back to my car as fast as I could and drove off. I couldn’t help but think back to everything I had done wrong tonight. The first mistake I made was not having a backup plan to destroy the generator.
Without any bit of electricity, Walter wouldn’t have been able to hide safely in his panic room. They wouldn’t have been able to call the police or radio each other for help. I could have taken them all down and walked away with my target. When I had run missions in the military, it was always as a team, and someone else came up with the tactical plan. I just followed orders. This was different now, it was all on me, and tonight was a tough lesson to learn. I needed more practice. I returned home and Jordan watched me in silence as I pulled a beer out of the fridge and chugged it down in a few gulps.
Jordan sighed. “I take it things didn’t go as planned?”
I took my mask off, laying it on the table. “That’s a good guess.” I finished off the contents of my beer and in a fit of rage, tossed the empty bottle against the wall, sending bits and pieces of glass in all directions. “I fucked up,” I roared as I gripped the back of one of the table chairs. I’d squeezed the chair so hard, the leather split as the metal bent in my hands. I looked down, seeing the damage, and forced myself to ease up.
Jordan came over to me and started rubbing my back. “What happened?”
“I didn’t think it through, that’s what happened. I got lucky when I took out that son of a bitch three months ago. He was stupid and arrogant, so he didn’t make the same moves this guy did. There was a backup generator that was protected against my EMP. I was still trying to complete the mission, but that generator really fucked up my plans. It allowed him to get into his panic room where he was able to contact the police. Either that, or he has his panic room set up to contact the police as soon as the door is opened. Regardless, there was no way I was getting to him tonight.”
“This is bad news. There’s got to be another way, maybe his home isn’t the best snatch and grab location. You might even have to put your stealth away and go for a full on attack,” Jordan sugg
ested.
I turned, looking at him. “You mean take him out on the street?”
He shrugged and nodded. “Why not?”
I shook my head. “I’m not ready to be on the news yet. But what I could do is maybe get him while he is leaving his home. It would be a bold assault, but I’m guessing I can take out his security and get to him before the police can come to his aid.” I walked over to Jordan’s computer station. “Can you, I don’t know… piggyback on someone’s satellite and zero in on his house? I want to see if he’s going to stay there or leave. I need to know his every move.”
Jordan nodded. “I sure can.” He walked over to his station, taking a seat. His fingers flew across the keyboard, which meant he wasn’t playing around. As I watched him in action, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of this in the first place. I looked up at all the screens and, truth be told, didn’t know what the fuck I was looking at, but I was sure something magical was happening.
“Got it,” Jordan said and pointed to one of the screens that gave me a bird’s eye view of Walter’s mansion. Police cars were on the property and officers were investigating the premises. I was sure they would tell him they didn’t find anything or anyone, but with the guards I’d injured, they’d know there was an intruder. Precautions would be taken for sure.
“I’m going to need some coffee,” I said as I pulled a chair over to the station. “Can we keep this going all night?” I asked.
“I’d rather not keep my location up that long on the CIA’s spy satellites. Let me see if I can break into his security feed. That way, we can at least see what his cameras pick up on his property,” Jordan explained. Again, his fingers flew across not one, but two keyboards, and then he smiled. “We’re in, and it was easier than I thought it was going to be.”
Cobra- The Vigilante Box Set 1 Page 10
