by Alex Siegel
"I'll be there in a minute." She closed her phone.
A terrible sadness consumed Marina as she started the helicopter. She had tried so hard to turn Liam into a legionnaire, and he had given his best effort, but his faults had proven too fundamental. He hadn't been born for the role. In her desperation to have a full team, she had fooled herself into believing he could be more than he was. Her wishful thinking and impatience had killed him.
Marina sighed. All she could do now was learn from her mistake. The next legionnaire she recruited would be the right one. She would wait for a clear sign from God.
She pulled up on the collective, and the helicopter took off. She only went a hundred feet in the air, just enough to avoid kicking up a lot of dust. She flew a short distance and landed close to her team. She didn't need the app in her phone to find them. There was enough light for her to see their dark shapes moving around. She hopped out of the cockpit, adjusted her weapons, and ran towards her team.
By the time Marina arrived at the irrigation ditch, the battle was over. About twenty bodies were scattered around, and they had died from grenade and bullet wounds. They were wearing expensive, military-style body armor with a solid chest plate. Their FN F2000's were also something ordinary thugs didn't carry.
The ditch was about ten feet wide and had cement sides. Weeds were growing through cracks.
Aaron and the remaining three legionnaires were gathered around two captives. None of her people appeared hurt. The enemy soldiers were wounded, but they would live long enough to have a conversation.
Marina drew her knife and stood over the two captives.
"Two questions," she barked. "Who do you work for, and where is the truck you intend to dump into the Aqueduct? I want answers now."
Neither man spoke.
Marina went to work with the knife, and there was a cruel smile on her face. This is for Liam, she thought.
The interrogation went quickly. Marina used her knife to cut things that were never meant to be cut. She caused pain in places that rarely felt pain. She rapidly turned two men into something resembling diagrams from Gray's Anatomy. Her legionnaires turned away, and even Aaron seemed uncomfortable.
Marina extracted only one name: Marcus Alpert. According to the soldiers, he was the commander of the operation, and he was driving a tanker truck containing thousands of gallons of formaldehyde. The last step of the plan involved using a remote control steering system to crash the truck through the guardrail. He would hit the California 152 bridge at exactly 7:00 AM.
"That's ten minutes from now," Marina said.
"We could set up a road block," Hanley said.
"We don't know which direction he's coming from." She bit her lip anxiously. "Hanley and Katie will take the west end of the bridge. Shoot the driver of any tanker that approaches. Ipo and Aaron will take the east end. I'll be in the air."
Marina ran back to her helicopter. She jumped into the cockpit and pressed the start button. She waited impatiently for the engine to warm up.
When the gauges looked good, she flew into the air. The sun had risen fully, and its light shone upon the checkerboard of farms all around. She could see the highway for miles in each direction. She hovered five hundred feet above the bridge.
It took only a minute for her to spot the approaching truck. It was slightly ahead of schedule, but there were no other trucks like it in sight. The big tank was made of polished stainless steel, and the cab was black. She pressed a button on her dashboard and heard the chain guns pop out on the sides of the helicopter. Electric motors spun the barrels.
I'll take care of this myself, she thought.
She flew towards the truck at high speed. As she approached, it skidded to a stop, leaving black tire tracks on the highway.
"Got him!" Marina yelled.
The truck drove across the grassy median to perform a U-turn on the highway. It sped away from her. Even with its heavy cargo, it moved fast in a straight line.
Her helicopter was faster. She approached the truck from behind, and her finger hovered above the fire button. One quick burst from the chain guns would end this chase, but she wanted to take Alpert alive. The annoying tank was also preventing her from getting a clear shot. She didn't like the idea of spraying poisonous formaldehyde all over the highway. Why do they always make this difficult? she thought.
The truck made a dangerous turn onto the driveway of a farm. Marina went past the farm and had to pull hard on the stick to stop her forward momentum. She flew around.
She saw the driver of the truck jump out and run into the farmhouse.
Shit, she thought.
* * *
A ringing phone woke Bill Burch from a deep sleep. He climbed over the girl in his bed to reach the phone. She whined about his elbow hurting her chest, but he ignored her.
He finally put the phone to his ear. "Yes?"
"It's Alpert, sir. I'm being chased by a helicopter!"
Burch wiped the crust out of his eyes. "What?"
"It's black and silver. I think I saw guns on the sides like an attack helicopter."
"What about the mission? What about the Aqueduct?"
"I don't know. My cell phone stopped working. I couldn't call anybody on my team. I had to break into a house to make this call. Fuck! That helicopter is getting close. It's going to land outside."
"I told you to be careful!" Burch yelled. "I warned you!"
"I have to go!" There was a click.
Burch stared at the phone in his hand. He had to assume the mission was a complete failure.
He sat in the darkness of his bedroom for a minute. His next step wasn't obvious. His clever plan to kill members of the Gray Spear Society and earn the respect of the other Pythagoreans had failed. The desalinization plant would be a financial disaster which would hamstring his entire business empire. Even worse, the Society would probably come after him next. He was doomed.
His only choice was to do what he usually did in catastrophic situations: lie and run like hell.
"Get out of here!" he told the girl. "Go back to your room."
She turned on the light, put on a bathrobe, and left. He caught her grumbling as she walked out.
When he was alone, he took his secret red phone out of a hidden drawer in his nightstand. He put his eye against the retinal scanner to activate it.
"Vulture?" Burch said. "Are you there?"
"What do you want?" a sleepy male voice responded.
"I killed three members of the Society, but now I could be in trouble. I need protection."
"Stay calm. Get on your private jet. Head west. Once you're out over the Pacific Ocean and beyond radar range, call me for new instructions."
"OK. Thanks." Burch turned off the red phone.
He got out of bed. He needed the butler to start packing his things immediately.
* * *
Marina landed the helicopter. She hopped out of the cockpit and hid behind a tree. She didn't see any movement in the big, white, two-story farmhouse. After one final look to be sure, she ran to the front door.
Marina didn't enter the house. Instead, she circled around and took quick peeks through the windows. The furniture inside was simple and traditional. When she got to the kitchen, she saw two dead bodies on the tile floor. A woman and a young girl had been shot in the heads. Mother and daughter had been baking a cake together.
He doesn't want hostages, Marina thought.
She assumed all the civilians were dead, and only her adversary was left. There was limited cover outside, so she expected he was hiding in the house. She didn't like the idea of playing hide and seek with an armed man. She would probably win the game, but it would take time, and there was always a possibility he would escape. She needed a more immediate solution.
Six five-gallon propane tanks were stacked behind the house. They were intended to supply a barbeque grill, but she had another purpose in mind. She threw them through a window into the house. She drew a gun and quickly shot
holes in all the tanks. Finally, she took a flare from her utility belt, ignited it, and dropped it inside.
She ran. The propane didn't explode with concussive force like a bomb, but she could feel the heat from the flames. Expanding gases blew out several windows. She went around to the front of the house.
A man jumped out of a second-story window. He stumbled when he hit the ground and hobbled away.
No, you don't, Marina thought.
She shot him in the legs. When he turned to shoot back at her, she pumped a bullet into his right shoulder and made him drop his gun. The Lord's rage was a bonfire burning in her gut, and it steadied her aim. Everything was moving in slow motion.
Alpert was a big, stocky man. He had short, brown hair and a full beard which puffed out on the sides. He was wearing a traditional trucker's outfit with a plaid shirt and a baseball cap. His olive skin color suggested Southern European heritage.
Marina drew a knife, and with an animalistic scream, she attacked her enemy. Alpert pulled a knife from under his shirt and settled in a defensive stance.
Despite his injuries, he defended himself skillfully and was obviously well trained in knife fighting. She wasn't in a mood to put up with any nonsense though, and she systematically cut him apart. She sliced the tendons in Alpert's wrists, elbows, and knees to cripple him. She took away the use of his limbs one at a time. When she was done, she stepped back to admire her work. He was lying on the grass, completely at her mercy.
"Who is your boss?" Marina growled.
"I won't tell you," Alpert replied, but there was terror in his eyes.
She licked the blade of her knife. "Then where should we start? Eyeballs or testicles?"
He squirmed, but he was too crippled to resist. She decided to cut out his eyeballs first, and it turned out that one was enough to get him talking.
"Bill Burch!" he screamed.
"The billionaire?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah."
Marina's phone rang. She checked the caller ID and saw Jia's code number.
Marina answered, "What is it? I'm a little busy."
"We got a name for you, ma'am," Jia said excitedly. "Bill Burch! He's the secret owner of the Moss Landing Desalinization Plant. Min Ho also found evidence that he purchased the equipment needed to make the special batteries."
Marina snorted with amusement. "You get the second place ribbon, but good job anyway. Where is Burch now?"
"His mansion in Carmel."
"We're on our way. Text the details to the entire team."
"Yes, ma'am," Jia said. "What do you mean by second place?"
"Never mind. Bye." Marina put away the phone and looked down at Alpert. "Unfortunately, you won't get the slow, horrible death you deserve. I have a pressing appointment with your boss." She looked around and spotted the tanker truck. "A fast, horrible death will have to do."
She searched him until she found the keys to the truck. She ran over, climbed into the cab, and started the engine. It made a satisfyingly deep rumble which jiggled her guts. She put the transmission into first gear and drove towards Alpert.
"No!" he screamed. "Don't! I'll pay you anything!"
Marina grinned as she drove over his pelvis. She heard the bones being crushed, and it was accompanied by a beautiful screech of agony. It would take him a few minutes to die.
She jumped to the ground and ran back to the helicopter. A minute later, she was in the air.
Marina flew back to where she had left her team. She saw flashing red and blue lights up ahead. Apparently, the police had come despite Min Ho's efforts to jam their dispatch systems.
While holding the flight stick with one hand, she took out her phone and activated the locator app. It showed her people were two hundred yards away in the middle of a soybean field. She flew over and landed in the middle of the field, but she let the helicopter engine continue to run.
Aaron, Ipo, Hanley, and Katie were lying in the plants, and when she jumped out of the cockpit, they stood up.
"We got the message from Jia!" Aaron yelled over the engine noise.
Marina nodded. "I want to fly to Carmel right now. When Burch finds out what happened here, he may run."
"How far is that?"
"About an hour by air."
He frowned. "I did some homework while we were waiting for you. Burch's mansion is huge: seventy-nine rooms, a large domestic staff, and tons of professional security. I'm sure there are plenty of hidden surprises, too. I don't think we're properly equipped for that kind of assault."
She looked at her small team and was forced to agree. A daytime raid on such a large, complex target could go wrong in a hundred different ways.
"We'll use tear gas," Marina said. "The enemy won't be able to stand and fight."
Aaron raised his eyebrows. "It will take a lot of tear gas."
"We have twenty-four canisters back at headquarters along with gas masks."
"That's not enough." He shook his head. "You need to saturate the area and drive off any civilians."
She snarled in frustration. He was right, and it was hard to argue otherwise even though the facts were very inconvenient.
She noticed some police officers running across the field towards the helicopter. Time to go, she thought.
"I know where I can get some more," Marina said, "but I need to make a call. You fly the chopper. Take us to Half Moon Bay Airport."
He had an anxious expression, but he didn't complain. She knew he had been taking helicopter lessons. It was time to put his new skills to the test.
Aaron took the pilot's seat, and Marina was the copilot. Liam's body was loaded into the rear cargo area. Ipo, Hanley, and Katie sat in the spacious passenger section.
The helicopter took off. Aaron was an unsteady pilot at first, but he quickly got the hang of the unfamiliar aircraft and achieved straight, level flight. He had an expression of fierce concentration.
Marina looked up the number of the Chief of Police of San Francisco using the contact list in her phone. She dialed it.
"Hello?" a man with a familiar voice answered.
"This is Miss Sharp," Marina said.
There was a pause. "What can I do for you?"
"You owe me two big favors. There was the ugly business with the Gang Task Force and the dramatic affair with the mayor's niece. I'm calling in my marker."
"That's fair," the chief said. "What do you need?"
"Tear gas and smoke bombs. Go to the storage locker of your SWAT teams and get four full crates of each. Put them in a van and drive them to Half Moon Bay Airport. I'll meet you there. Look for a gray and black helicopter."
"Uh..."
"I shouldn't have to ask twice," Marina said. "If I recall correctly, the mayor was extremely grateful when he saw his niece safe and sound. He promised I could have anything I wanted, no restrictions."
"He did say that," the chief replied in an unhappy tone.
"This is a small favor in comparison. I'll see you in a little while. Come alone." She hung up.
Aaron smiled. "I like how you do business."
"Thanks." Marina kissed him on the cheek.
"But he'll know you're involved in the mess that's about to happen in Carmel."
"He won't tell anybody. He'd get into too much trouble."
He furrowed his brow. "You bend the rules too much."
"If I were any other way, you wouldn't love me."
"I suppose that's true."
Marina also called Imelda and ordered her to bring supplies from headquarters to the airport. The helicopter would be loaded to capacity.
The trip to Half Moon Bay took a little more than an hour. She realized she would have to refuel before continuing the mission, and all the delays were like water torture for her. Every minute that passed gave Bill Burch more time to escape.
The airport finally came into view. It had just one runway which was so short, only light aircraft could use it. The main building looked like a warehouse with blue walls
made of sheet metal. The airport didn't have a real control tower. Instead, a single air-traffic controller sat in a small, gray building beside the tarmac.
Aaron landed in the designated spot for the helicopter.
"Everybody," Marina said, "stow your weapons. We don't want civilians to see us dressed for war. The body armor is suspicious enough. Ipo, get the refueling truck. We need to gas up before we go."
"Yes, ma'am," Ipo said. He began to unbuckle his utility belt.
After Marina removed her own weapons, she got out of the helicopter and took a deep breath of cool, humid air. The area around the Aqueduct had been a lot warmer and drier. The airport was close enough to the coast that she could smell the Pacific Ocean.
Imelda was the first to arrive. She was driving a brown van, and she parked it next to the helicopter. Marina helped her transfer additional weapons, gas masks, and a crate of tear gas to the cargo area. With Aaron's help, they moved Liam's body to the van.
Imelda stared at the corpse with a quivering lip, but she didn't cry. She was a veteran and had seen dead legionnaires before. She knew death was an inevitable consequence of fighting for the Lord.
Imelda drove off, and a few minutes later, the refueling truck arrived. Marina and Ipo watched the technician pump fifty gallons of fuel into the gas tanks. They made sure he didn't get too nosy.
After the refueling truck left, another van arrived. It was dark blue and had the word "POLICE" painted on the side. A red and blue light bar was on top, but the lights were off.
The police chief stepped onto the tarmac. He had a big, round, bald head and pale skin. His face had the wrinkles of an old man, but he moved with vigor. His dark blue uniform fit his slim body like a second skin. He had removed his rank insignia, name plate, and anything else that might identify him. Now, he looked like a generic San Francisco cop.
"That's a different look for you," he said to Marina.
She looked down at her gray and black body armor. A mesh of stiff fibers formed a fabric which was as thick as a rug. Hard, triangular plates protected her chest and abdomen.
"It's the latest thing in Paris," she said. "What did you bring for me?"
