“And what would you do from the Rock? My mother will have her entire police division down your throats by the end of the day!” The aircar came to a rest.
“That’s perfect timing.” Valerie told him. She stood and opened the side door.
“What are you doing?” Gruter shouted, his face pale and eyes wild. The wind ripped into the aircars cabin.
She bent and grabbed one of his ankles. Pulling on it, she towed him out of the seat and he clawed to hang on with his one working hand. Easily too strong for him, she swung him, head first out of the aircar. If they were close enough to the ground, his scream would have been heard for a kilometre.
With her left hand she held him out into the open air and with her right, steadied herself on the edge of the door.
“Down there is your future, Gruter,” she shouted.
“Don’t drop me! Please!”
“Is that what Breena said when you beat her? Did she plead for you to stop?”
“Pull me in! Pull me in!”
“I know where you live, Gruter. I know where your mother lives and your brother. I know everything I need to find you and kill you. Then I’ll go after them. Anyone who lets a monster like you wander around is just as guilty.” Lifting him up as high as she could reach, she stared down into his desperate face and he flailed about for the edge of the door.
“Are you going to tell your mother anything?”
“No, please. Just let me in!” Swinging him back, she dumped him on the floor of the aircar and shut the door.
“Take us back to Hopwood’s,” she ordered Gregor in the cockpit. “I have a job for the Doc.” Crouching down she looked at the shivering wreck of a human being on the floor.
“One, one, six, floor thirty-seven, Burley tower.”
“Wh... Wh... What?” he stammered.
“Your address. Your mother is at one, five, two, floor seventy-two, Burley tower and your brother lives at one, three, nine, floor fifty-one, Stasovoy Tower with his family. I know everything about you and if you don’t do as I say, the very last thing you will see is the barrel of my gun between your eyes.”
“I. I won’t say anything. I swear!”
“Good. Now you know you really are banned for life. Let’s get to your punishment.”
“P. P. Punishment? I thought that’s what this was!”
“Oh no,” she let him see her predators smile and jammed the hypo into his inner thigh. “That was just establishing the rules.”
“What was that?”
“A local anaesthetic,” she drew the Stone Dragon knife. “I wouldn’t want you passing out from the pain.”
“Nooooooooooo!”
***
“Some message, Guv.” Cracker said as the aircar lifted off and Doctor Heenan went back inside Hopwood’s building. The Doc couldn’t stop staring at her, his eyes more than a little wild from what he just dealt with.
Valerie looked at Cracker. She could see some of the same wildness in the hardened Enforcers eyes as the Doctors. It was the same with Gregor before he and Hayley left. Gregor, to drop the aircar off on the edge of the city centre and Hayley to pick him up when he was done. Hayley hadn’t been quite as badly affected. Hurt a man in that area and all men wince in response. It had been the same since they learned to walk upright.
“No one touches my people and gets away with it. Especially after what he did to Breena. If we’d killed him, his mother would have come looking and you were right, that’s heat we don’t need. After the Doc patched him up, he’ll live. He won’t dare tell anyone and so he can never get his favourite toy back. Hanna will keep an eye on him. If he makes even a call to the wrong person we’ll know.”
“No argument here, Guv.”
“I want the word out on this Cracker. Keep Gruter’s name out of it, but I want everyone to know what happens to those who mess with my people.”
“Yes, Guv.”
“Good. Now then, I think we’re behind schedule. We’ve got a lot more people to see before the end of the day.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Olympus’s yellow sun shone down on Valerie as she stood in San Isidro Square. Towers rose up all around her and the only way the sunlight could make it all the way into the square, was by reflecting it off self-correcting mirrors, built into the Towers’ sides for just this reason.
She felt almost naked without her familiar dark overcoat. It had been left behind along with her pistols. The only weapon she carried was her Stone Dragon knife. Fashioned from one of their fangs, with its high carbon content, it was as sharp as any man made weapon. It wasn’t made from metal or any other technologically produced substance and completely undetectable. Especially here, so far from the Stone Dragon’s home on Blaze.
“You’re sure this isn’t a trap,” Hanna’s voice said in Valerie’s ear.
“As sure as I can be. Have you seen anything on the street cameras?”
“No, aside from the two police patrols, you’re completely clear.” Since Valerie met her mother-in-law a week ago, Hanna watched the square and those patrols were perfectly normal.
“What about you, Deni?” Valerie asked. “Can you see anything?”
“Nope. Air traffic is normal.” Deni replied from her place up in their brand new aircar. Profits from the territory were doing well and Valerie invested in an aircar. It was then extensively modified by the Workshop’s mechanics. It didn’t have any of the weapons and electronic warfare systems of the aircar Sneaker’s Crew took from Tumbler, but it had boosted engine power and manoeuvrability. Repainted as a taxi to blend into the background of the local air traffic, it was the perfect getaway vehicle. Hanna’s Hack into Air Traffic Control gave it a rotating ID. It looked like a different taxi was flying through on every circuit.
“Well then, I need to know what’s in the box and there’s only one way to do it.”
“Have you got your DNA spray on?” Hanna asked anxiously.
“Yes, Hanna. Don’t worry. Didn’t you say something about me not telling you how to Hack and you won’t tell me how to do Covert Ops?”
“Actually I think I said, I wouldn’t tell you how to go around killing people, but I take your point.”
High heels were in fashion on Olympus among the Privileged, just as they had been on Blaze, so with them clicking, Valerie walked confidently towards the banks entrance. The large glass doors slid open silently on her approach and she entered the massive foyer. Incredibly expensive wooden desks ran down an entire wall, clerks working industriously behind them. Each one with a well-padded and equally expensive chair in front of them. These chairs were much better quality than the Manual clerks sat on. They cost more than a year of their wages each.
“Welcome to St Lukes Bank. How may I help you, Ma’am?” a greeter asked courteously.
Valerie smiled back and was able to put some warmth into it for this stranger. “I’m here to access my safe deposit box please.”
“Of course, Ma’am. You’re name please?”
“Eleanor Zantolas,” she couldn’t help the catch in her voice from that name.
“Won’t you follow me?” He turned and led the way across the cavernous foyer to a free desk.
“Eleanor Zantolas to access her safe deposit box,” he told the clerk behind the desk and disappeared. Valerie sat down.
“If I may have your ID, Miss Zantolas?” the clerk asked.
“Here you go and please call me Eleanor,” Valerie said pleasantly and handed the ID Hanna created for her over.
The clerk ran the information through her computer and looked up a little concerned. “I’m sorry, Eleanor. We don’t have a record of a box for you.”
Laughing good-naturedly, Valerie waved it away. “My husband was right. He did forget to add my details when he opened it. Here is his verified permission,” she handed over the flash drive Hanna also created. It was more difficult to create and Valerie needed to send Deni back to her old home. Deni went through the underground tunnel at Gooseberry Station,
to the maintenance door and up the long shaft, to Valerie’s hidden emergency escape supplies. Fortunately they hadn’t been found. Deni was able to bring back a copy of Tom’s ID. Valerie was very grateful to her for making the trip. She wasn’t strong enough to do it herself.
Sitting in front of the clerk, Valerie kept her expression open and unhurried while the clerk checked the flash drive. This was the most vulnerable part of their mission. If just one bit of code was slightly off, the armed security team on standby in an adjoining room would be called in. Looking up, the clerk smiled.
“That is all fine, Eleanor. It’s exactly the sort of thing my husband would do. Would you like a private room and can we offer you a drink?”
“Yes, please. A room would be most appreciated and a coffee if it’s not too much trouble?” Valerie told her and sighed internally.
“Not at all.” The clerk waved and the same greeter was at Valerie’s side in a moment. “Please show Miss Zantolas to room fourteen,” she instructed and turned back to Valerie. “Here is your drive and ID. The box will be waiting for you when you arrive.”
“Thank you very much...?”
“Oh, it’s Jeanette.”
“Well, thank you very much, Jeanette. You have been a great help.”
“You’re welcome, Eleanor.” After shaking the woman’s hand, Valerie followed the greeter. He led her to the back of the room and through a security door. A line of doors ran along the left wall. At the one numbered fourteen, he stopped, opened it and waved for Valerie to enter.
Inside was a single low table with comfy chairs around it, much like the reading area in Renee’s library. A metal box and a steaming cup of coffee sat ready for her.
“OK. I’m in,” Valerie reported.
“Good. Still no movement outside,” Hanna told her.
Taking a sip of the coffee, Valerie opened the box. Inside was a paper envelope with Eleanor written upon it in Tom’s handwriting.
“Oh,” she sat down suddenly and tears sprang to her eyes.
“What is it?” Hanna asked, sensing something was wrong.
“I need to sign off for a few minutes,” Valerie told her abruptly.
“No, wait wh-” Hanna’s voice broke off as Valerie cut the connection.
Ever so carefully she picked up the envelope.
It was so like him. Tom loved the old way, just like his mother.
A drop of moisture struck the paper and spread out as her tear was absorbed. The envelope wasn’t sealed and she gently opened the flap. Inside was a folded leaf of paper and a flash drive. Placing the drive on the table, Valerie opened the letter.
Dearest Eleanor
If you are reading this then I have disappeared and in all probability I am dead. I hope this is not the case and we are laughing over a bottle of wine. The kids are grown with families of their own and you are all making fun of my foolishness.
If my worst fears have been realised, then I hope the children are safe and did not see anything. Take them to my mother’s. I know you and she do not see eye to eye, but she loves Daphne and Bobbie, just as she loved me. She will be able to help in this difficult time. I know how lost I would be should it have been me who lost you.
I’m sure you have guessed this is all down to the corruption in the Sandy Shores project. Whoever was behind it is covering his tracks by removing me. Inside this envelope are all the financial records for the project. Take them to Arnold Ison. He will be able to protect you and the children and hopefully get some justice for me.
Yours, always and forever.
Thomas
Her shoulders were shaking and tears ran down her face.
“Lightning blast you, Tom! Why didn’t you tell me? I could have protected you! I could have protected all of you, if only I’d known.”
But he didn’t know, did he? The damning thoughts echoed through her brain. He thought you were Lieutenant Eleanor Doherty, a lowly helpless diplomatic pilot. Why would he tell Eleanor something that could get her killed? You killed them with your lying as completely as whoever sent those assassins.
She couldn’t stop it. The same thoughts reverberated around and around, again and again. Unstopping, unrelenting, unforgiving and all-blaming.
Valerie realised she was no longer on the chair, but lay on the floor curled up in a ball sobbing. On and on it went and time disappeared from her consciousness.
The human mind can only take so much pain before it has to let go. Slowly, ever so slowly, Valerie came back to herself and was able to push all the pain and guilt away, back into its box.
Opening her eyes, she stared at the table legs for a long time. Her mind couldn’t grasp why they were rising up above her until the awareness of the floor came to her. Unsteadily she pulled herself to her feet. Picking up the letter, she carefully folded it and placed it back in the envelope along with the flash drive. Tucking it in her inside coat pocket, she closed the lid on the safety deposit box and picked up her bag.
It felt like someone else was instructing her to move, she wasn’t in complete control of her body. Opening the door she stepped out into the corridor. The greeter jerked up from where he was leaning against the wall.
“All finished, Ma’am?” he asked politely.
“Err, yes. Yes, I’m done. They can put it back.”
“Are you alright, Ma’am?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine. I’d like to go now.”
“Are you sure there is nothing more St Luke’s can do for you today?”
“No!” it came out a lot sharper than she intended and Valerie had this overwhelming need to leave. “No, I’m fine,” old instincts kicked in. “I’ve just had a call with some bad news and I need to go.”
“Of course, I’m sorry. Please follow me.”
The greeter led her all the way to the front door. The warm sun felt good on her face when she stepped outside.
“Valerie, are you alright?” Hanna said, the moment Valerie reactivated her com.
“Deni, come and get me. Pick up two,” was all she said and switched it off again.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The bar was dark, close and humid, stinking of too many people in too small a space. The sticky floor underneath Button’s boots explained the stale beer aroma underpinning it all. Tall, with an average build, he slid his way past the groups of drinkers towards the bar. It was midway through the evening and most of the patrons were on their third or fourth drink. Some, who were a little unsteady on their feet, realised when they bumped into Button, there was no fat on his frame, only solid muscle.
People were three deep at the bar waiting to be served. Button took his place in the queue with easy patience. The bar hadn’t stinted on the staff and they were experienced enough not to skip people in the queue. People rattled through their drink orders until a small space appeared in front of Button. He managed to squeeze an elbow onto the bar.
Catching the eye of the bartender looking after his area, he flashed her a twenty sov note to let her know he was waiting and settled back for his turn. Those who arrived before him got served as was their due, then she turned to him.
“What’ll it be?”
“Pint of ale, please!” he shouted to be heard over the din of music and conversation. She turned away to fulfil his order and a strong hand grabbed his upper arm from behind. Button glanced back before reacting more violently. He smiled when he saw the tall, blonde woman. Snatching her wrist he pulled her through the crowd and into a hug.
“Cus!” he said happily. “Glad you could make it. Have you got a drink yet?” Those around him may have objected, but not only was she stunningly attractive, her shoulders were also wider than his own. They weren’t made from the cut muscle of a body builder, but the sleek lines of a lethal fighter. Something well recognised in the bars in this part of the city.
“Yep, and I’ll happily take another,” she told him.
“You got it,” he turned back to the bar and, as luck would have it, the bartender was just return
ing with his pint. “Sorry. Could I have another of those please?” He passed her enough cash to pay for them both. With a nod she handed him his drink and went off to pour a second.
“Have you got us a table?” he asked his cousin and took a sip of the beer. “Hmmm, that’s good.”
She nodded. “Over in the back corner.”
“Excellent, and here’s yours.” Button passed the pint over to his cousin and waved the change away. “Keep it.” He told the bartender before following his cousin.
With easy grace, she moved through the crowd back to her table. A half-drunk pint and her coat lay across it, to show it was taken. Button smiled at the thought of anyone even thinking they could take it while she met him.
Sliding in opposite each other, they both settled in and took a drink. It was quieter here and easier to talk, also under the coat would be a very sophisticated anti-listening device.
“Good to see you Julianna, it’s been too long.”
“You’re right there, Chao. Were you followed?”
His laugh in reply was completely genuine. “Only if they were tracking you. No one tails a Devil unless they want you to and then it’s only to hand out a very nasty surprise.”
“Alright, alright. We can’t all have spent decades being trained by the Legion. Where did they send you off to this time?”
“Shadow Company has been bouncing all over the place for the last couple of years. Ever since we lost Major Carter on Furioso, they’ve kept us very busy. The last few months haven’t been fun. We’ve been on New Titan on a training mission and believe me, that place is as cold as its name sake. Anything new on your front, Jules?”
“No. Completely the opposite, Billy had us keeping our heads down for the last couple of years. I’ve been stationed here permanently as the Cell leader. Arlene, my Intel Officer and the only survivor from the sweeps after Furioso, and I have been rebuilding.”
Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) Page 13
