by Anna Collins
I did want my freedom from this place, but Leslie was the only one who was intellectually capable of coming up with a cure. If she could do it for Spencer, then there was no reason why she couldn’t do it for me. I had to find a way to convince Spencer it would be in his best interest to keep us around. I wasn’t sure this Spencer was going to listen to me. This Spencer had become a man with a one track mind, and there was virtually nobody who was going to change the outcome.
“You need all the help you can get. For you to ask us to leave, makes me think we are close to something you don’t want us to uncover. By looking away from me, you pretty much signify I’m on the right track. I know when somebody is lying or purpose leaving something out of their story. That is exactly the impression I’m getting from you. Willa and I will be staying on. If you want us to leave, then you’re going to be in for one hell of a fight,” Tristan said as he stared down the stone cold stare of a man who was used to always get what he wanted.
“I don’t think there’s any reason it has to get ugly. Don’t make me be the enemy. The one thing you don’t want is to fight me. I can assure you I have more bite than bark. There are others who made that mistake and have lived to regret it. I don’t want to count the two of you in the same category, but you are leaving me little choice,” Spencer said as he moved his hands through his hair exasperated, breathing deeply as if he was struggling to find a way out of this.
“I can see this means a lot to you. You’re going to have to give us a better reason to leave than that. Mostly, you had been very calm, but I don’t think you would be like that if you were having one of your episodes. Whatever Leslie gave you mustv have been a miracle drug. She is definitely not some Charlatan. Willa deserves the same treatment, and I’ll be damned if you stand in our way,” Tristan said as Spencer motioned for two guys to come forward in a menacing fashion.
“I really hoped I wasn’t going to have to do this. You have brought this on yourself, and I just hope they don’t hurt you too badly. You might think you’re a match for them, but trust me, when I tell you they are more than able to handle someone like you,” Spencer said obviously trying to make Tristan doubt himself, but I could tell he wasn’t backing down for anything.
“I really want you to look into my eyes. Listen to what I have to say and tell me if I’m bluffing. If your men come any closer, then I will not be responsible for what I do to them. I won’t hold back. They know something you don’t and never will. They see what’s in my eyes. I have conviction, determination, and a will to succeed at any cost. They may get a couple of licks in, but I will use every tactic including the dirty kind to get the results I want. I don’t think it’s fair you have two men against one. If I were you, I would get a few more men,” Tristan said as he didn’t even blink. It was like they were having a contest to see whose will was going to be stronger than the other.
“The one thing I know about you is you won’t kill a fellow soldier. You only use violence in the face of overwhelming adversity. Self-defense is not going to help you this time. Your words are hollow, and they mean nothing to me. These men work for me for a considerable sum, and I want my money’s worth,” Spencer said as those two men converged on the both of us.
The one on the right was drawing his gun. It was there one second and gone the next. He made a gasp of surprise to shake his hand like some insect had stung him. I didn’t see it, and it was more of a blur. There was the gun in Tristan’s hand. He had the safety off, and one pull of the trigger would end any kind of resistance on their part.
The gun with its cold hard steel barrel was staring them down with the eye of the storm about to unleash a kind of hell they weren’t ready for. They kept looking at him and then back at Spencer trying to figure out what to do.
“Need I remind you I’m responsible for keeping your kids fed and a roof over your head? You both live beyond your means with vices I helped you with because you serve a purpose. I could easily return the both of you to the ditch where I found you. You gave me your word when you came to work with me you would protect me with your lives. I’m going to have to let you know your employment is predicated on you taking care of business,” Spencer was doing his best to give them the proper incentive, but they were hesitant against Tristan.
“One soldier can tell when another soldier has nothing to lose. You may have thought you had them underneath your thumb, but facing life and death is something different than standing guard over a pompous ass,” Tristan said as he waved the gun back and forth threateningly, but not actually pulling the trigger unless absolutely necessary.
The one thing I noticed was the time limit for the attack had already surpassed. I thought the shot through the window was enough to give me a better idea of what we were dealing with.
I was following my instinct. I could tell they were at a stalemate and nobody was willing to cross the line.
“I would think an attack of this degree would have you more concerned. I’m surprised your mind is not occupied with other matters besides having us underneath your roof. None of this makes any sense. The first bullet was terrifying enough, but now I wonder why there wasn’t more. A force like that would not just be content with one shot through a window. They would pepper this place and keep us pinned down for as long as it took for them to breach the property. I don’t claim to be a tactician, but I see all of this as some kind of play we all have our parts to go through. Why is it that I get this feeling you have planned everything down to the tiniest detail?” I asked him as he walked between the two men and whispered, most likely not sweet nothings.
I felt like something was going to happen. We couldn’t stand here forever with whatever questions we had for one another still lingering in the air. We had to be ready, but there didn’t seem to be anything to make me think we were under the gun. Nobody was smashing through the front door, and there were no muted voices muffled from the way they were talking about coming in here.
I walked over to the front window, and I peered through the curtain to see absolutely nothing. The tree line did not show an advancing army nor did it give any sign somebody was going to come in here and finish the job.
“I can multitask with the best of them. I’m trying to be a good person by letting you both leave here without having to get your hands bloody. It bothers me you’re not taking me up on my offer willingly and quickly. Anybody else in your shoes would have been on the boat and halfway across the lake by now. Do you have a death wish? Is that what this is all about, Willa? Dying has to take its toll, and I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to end it all in a blaze of Glory. I’m sure I would think the same thing, but I have something you don’t…money.” Spencer said as he stayed behind his two men like they were the only line of defense which was going to keep us from choking the truth out of him.
“I don’t believe you. Now that Willa brought it to my attention, I’m inclined to take her side. You obviously think people should jump whenever you tell them to. This is something you’re going to find it doesn’t work on us,” Tristan said as he was still staring at these two men, begging them with his eyes not to do anything stupid.
“I don’t have to take this insubordination. You will abide by my wishes. Don’t think I won’t use extreme force if necessary,” Spencer said as these two men took one step forward. I heard the click of the gun before the explosion made them both draw their own gun and had them leveled on the both of us.
“That was a warning, and if I wanted either one of you dead, I would’ve been able to do it. I was a cut above the rest in my class. I showed them I was a natural at target practice. It’s one thing when the target doesn’t move, and it’s entirely different when the person I’m looking through the scope at has a heart beating inside his chest. Don’t come any closer. I think you can tell I have an itchy trigger finger,” Tristan said as he showed not even a trace of nervousness with a tremor or a shake of his hand.
“I’m trying to look for the answer in your eyes, but you are doing y
our best to shield yourself from scrutiny. I would believe you, but you have done very little to instill any kind of trust. I don’t know what will happen if you throw these three salivating dogs at each other, but it won’t be good,” I said feeling like a part of me was ready to show Spencer the error of his ways.
“I grow weary of this situation. I’m going to leave this to play out naturally. I wouldn’t put all your trust in Tristan. He’s already proven he’s able to lie through his teeth by omission. I heard what he said to you, and this should be more than enough cause for you to leave him. The truth has a funny way of coming out.” Spencer said as he backed away with his hands in the air.
Chapter 19
It felt like we were at a standoff like you would see in the old west with two adversaries standing back to back ready to go those 10-paces before turning and letting the lead fly. Spencer had disappeared, and I wanted to follow, but to do so, would mean going through the two meatheads in front of me. I had no idea which way to turn, but the only person I could really trust was Tristan. I almost laughed, thinking about how he had kept the truth from me. He was no better than Spencer. I had to convince myself there was a purpose for his madness.
I didn’t want to be put in the middle. There was still no visible sign of entry. No crashing of glass or people screaming for us to surrender, no hell to pay. I was beginning to doubt the validity of his claim that somebody was coming here to get him. It felt like some kind of story he was telling to give us a reason to leave without looking back.
“The both of you know better than to think you stand even a remote chance of beating me. By all means, give it your best shot, but I think you’ll come up short. Spencer wasn’t wrong about me not wanting to kill anyone. I will if I am forced to, though. The pain I will inflict will make you want to die. Let us get this over with as I find myself in a heightened state of awareness. Everything is crisp and clear. This is not something others would know about. Only soldiers like us would have any idea what this feels like. It’s tunnel vision. We all know the only way this can end is with both of you hurt and nursing wounds for months on end,” Tristan said with about as much authority in his tone that could be had at a moment like this.
“William and I have come to a consensus. We don’t want to tangle with you, but we have to regardless of our own personal opinion. Spencer has paid us well. To do nothing means we won’t be able to provide for our family. Not even you are going to take the food out of our children’s mouths,” the soldier said as he advanced and got a chop to the neck which made him stumble with his eyes rolling into the back of his head.
“I would take this as a warning shot. I’m sure your ears are still ringing from when I fired right between the two of you. Your friend is suffering from vertigo courtesy of a pressure point I learned a long time ago. Don’t attempt anything more and I won’t have to put you both down like dogs,” Tristan said as the one who was not injured took exception to his friend looking around with confusion and almost passing out from whatever he had done.
He made this scream and then he attacked only to get the butt of the gun striking squarely against his jaw. I could actually hear the bones breaking in his face when a couple of teeth went flying in response to the weapon making contact. His head snapped to the side, and then he came back with a right hand barely missing his target by Tristan ducking underneath the blow.
Tristan came up with a shot to the underside of his arm. That very same arm slumped to his side, and he wasn’t even able to move it. It looked like the anger was going to keep feeding him until somebody was able to take away his fight. That came with an elbow to the side of his head followed up by a knee to his nose which stunned him and made him look at the both of us for one long second before collapsing altogether.
He sat there with his hands up to his nose covered in blood and then he made this sigh showing resignation. The one who didn’t go down was standing there, and he was barely able to do this.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you ahead of time. We are all responsible for our own actions. I commend the both of you for standing up, but you need to know when it’s time to retreat. Look at your friend and tell me you want to end up the same way. I’m more than happy to make it happen. Don’t let it come to that. Don’t be foolish. We don’t have to do this, and you don’t have to let him pull your strings,” Tristan said as the soldier blinked and shook his head to clear the cobwebs from whatever birdies he saw flying around him.
He had his gun drawn and was trying to lift it, but I think he was having a problem seeing us at all. He looked to one side where there was nothing there, and then he looked to the other side where we were standing. He was trying to figure out which one was real.
“I can’t let you get away with this. It doesn’t matter what happens to me. At least this way, Spencer will know we did our best. It’s possible he will see it as a kind of loyalty he can depend on and not push us into the streets to fend for ourselves. Do what you need to do. I know I’m going to,” the soldier said as he struck out quickly with an impressive kick.
He wasn’t expecting any kind of retaliation, but he was about to get some. The foot made contact, but it wasn’t with Tristan’s jaw as intended. He had put his hands up at precisely the right time and grabbed onto his foot and his ankle. He was twisting it to the side with a moan of pain coming from the soldier’s mouth which showed just what kind of pain he was in.
He hobbled around unable to put 1 foot on the floor but still not going down. He should have been ready to play possum, close his eyes and not have to endure any of this anymore, but it was not how he was built, the army way.
“You have no idea how it hurts me to do this to you. I haven’t had to pull out this kind of arsenal in quite some time. Civilian life is not as easy as they claim when we come back. I thought I left that part of myself back in the Marines. It would appear this kind of training never goes away. You should really stand down and think about your family,” Tristan said as the man came at him again and found himself on the receiving end of the kind of maneuvers I had only witnessed one other time on television.
“You know as well as I do the reason why I can’t stand down,” the soldier said as he made one final ditch effort and found himself flying over his shoulder into a bookcase. He came down hard enough to knock him out.
I put my hand on Tristan’s shoulder, and it stiffened with his fist turning in my direction like he was expecting the enemy to come from behind. He softened a little. I could still see he was wired tight and ready to enlist all over again.
“I’m sorry you had to see that, Willa. I didn’t even know I was capable of this anymore. It seems so long ago, and yet only yesterday I was in boot camp for the first time. I can still feel the mud slapping up against my face as I crawled in the dirt with my training officer screaming orders and telling me not to give up. It’s a painful memory, but it’s one to have instilled in me a duty to country. I think deep down I will always be a soldier whether I’m in civilian clothes or otherwise,” Tristan said as he put the gun away.
“I can see Spencer is going to have to realize we cannot be deterred. You must have noticed his story about someone coming after him has no weight at all. The gunshot through the window was staged to make it look like our lives were in danger. They had to time that perfectly. I want to know the reason why he is, so hell bent to get rid of us. If he’s not going to tell us, then maybe there’s somebody else who will,” I said looking at him, knowing from his expression he knew exactly who I was talking about.
“What makes you think he’s going to allow us to get even close enough to question her? There’s a reason why he sent her back to the lab. Spencer has been manipulating all of us from the time we arrived. I don’t know what his end game is. You might not be worried, but I am. I could tell in his eyes he meant business and I doubt that taking two of his men down is going to solve anything,” Tristan said as I was blinded by the truth of who he was. Spencer was trying every tactic in the book t
o make us see it was best for us to leave.
“I’m sure it’s not going to be easy to get to the elevator. If I were Spencer, I would do everything in my power to shield her from this. I’m not sure she was complicit in telling us an enemy was coming, knowing there wasn’t. It could be that his story was meant to instill fear and give Leslie a reason to hide out downstairs in her lab,” I said as we cautiously approached the hallway leading to the elevator only to see there were two men barring the way with heavy firepower including an AK 47. That could mow down a room of civilians in a matter of seconds.
The weapon did not need anybody to be any kind of marksmen. It was the law of averages. The more bullets and the likelihood of hitting something were better than trying to shoot an automatic weapon.
“I would say Spencer has a pretty good idea of what we are thinking about. He has probably been monitoring us from the moment we arrived. He’s somewhere in this house having a good laugh at our expense. I don’t like this any better than you do, but we have nothing left to lose,” Tristan said as he pulled the gun he had in his possession and looked at it like it wasn’t even going to be close to enough.
