Venom placed the remote on the stand and clasped his hands behind his back. He gave a smile and then uttered just one final phrase. “So, shall we start the bidding at ten million?”
The auction erupted with activity, with people standing from their seats and holding up their hands, shouting out their bids and quickly issuing counter-offers at every new bid voiced. Tauna joined in as well for appearances, but she knew that he wouldn’t pay her any mind. She only hoped Dalton could finish his part of the job.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Dalton stuck close to the stairwell’s wall as he approached the third floor. He peered around the edge and caught sight of a guard at the end of the short corridor, standing in front of a pair of double doors. Dalton moved back into position, drawing his tranquilizer gun from the holster hidden under his jacket. Quickly, he sprung out and fired a dart, hitting the guard’s neck. He reached for the dart, but just as he pulled it free, he collapsed on the ground.
Dalton cleared the corridor, holstering the gun and checking the small panel beside the door. It had a flat panel and a small camera lens. “Bax, I’m looking at a retinal and handprint scanner here. Are you in Venom’s system yet?”
“Gettin’ there. He’s got some pretty serious firewalls on this thing.”
“Don’t take too long, mate. If that auction ends quickly, I won’t have time to get out of here.”
“Just stay frosty. One wrong move and I could trip an alarm.”
Dalton sighed and leaned against the wall. He looked down at the unconscious guard. “I hope you’re a lightweight. Would be really inconvenient if you woke up before this was finished.”
A beeping noise came from the panel accompanied by the sound of locks turning. “You’re golden,” said Baxter. Dalton opened the door and slid inside. He hit the light switch and illuminated the large office. There were some large chairs in front of the wide desk and a fully-stocked liquor cabinet. Dalton went to the desk and searched around, but saw no sign of the case that held Fury.
“So where’s this thing supposed to be?” he asked.
“Hell if I know.”
“You’re in his system, aren’t you?”
“It’s not like there’s a list of all his hiding places, I just have access to the security system.”
Dalton slammed his hand on the desk. He looked up and saw a large portrait of Johnny Venom on one of the walls. Dalton stared intently at the oil painting and stood upright. “Oh come on…”
He went to the painting and peeked under the frame. Sure enough, there was something in the wall. Dalton set down his briefcase and gripped the frame in both hands. Grunting, he raised the painting from its mounting and set it on the ground. There was a safe in the wall with a keypad.
“Digital combination,” said Dalton. He knelt down and popped open the briefcase. Among the items in there was an auto-dialer. He hooked it up to the keypad and activated the device, watching as it scrolled through the numbers one by one until it accessed the correct five-digit combination. The locks disengaged and Dalton disconnected the auto-dialer, opening the door. Inside was a small case and he took it out, carefully setting it on the ground. Dalton went back to his briefcase, taking out a case identical to the one that housed Fury and placed it in the safe. He closed the safe, hung the portrait back and placed his prize in the briefcase before locking it.
“Time to get out of here,” said Dalton. But just as he spoke the words, an alarm sounded.
***
The alarms silenced the bidders at the auction and they all exchanged nervous glances. Johnny Venom was left in a state of shock until one of his guards approached him, whispering into his ear.
“Get up there now!” he snapped, keeping careful control over the volume of his voice. He didn’t want these people to know that Fury was potentially in danger and so held up his hands to try and quiet down the crowd.
“My friends, please. This is nothing to be concerned about. It’s a simple matter that I unfortunately must attend to, but once I’m finished, we can resume the auction.”
Venom ignored the shouts of protests from the bidders, just followed his guards. He whispered something to one of them before they moved amongst the boxes of the storage area. One of the guards stayed behind and walked back to the crowd, ignoring all the shouts and strolled right up to Tauna.
“Ma’am, if you wouldn’t mind giving us a few moments.”
Tauna nodded and stood, following the guard. He escorted her to a door flanked by two guards and led her inside another room, one where Johnny Venom waited. He held his cane between both hands, the grip so tight his knuckles had gone pale. His one good eye narrowed and his lips were curled just enough so Tauna could see his gritted teeth.
“Did you really think you’d get away with this, you stupid bitch?” he spat.
The guard who escorted Tauna grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arms around her slender form and pinning her arms to her sides. Tauna struggled, but it was futile and Venom stepped closer to her. He gripped the cobra headpiece of his cane and twisted. The top came off, attached to a sword hidden within the cane and he placed the tip of it against Tauna’s throat.
“I should have had you killed the second I saw you on that terrace. My men will soon capture your partner, and then I’m going to send Dante a message,” he said. “I’ll send him a special bottle of ruou ran, but instead of a cobra, he’ll find the head of a tigress in there.”
“You’re making a mistake, Johnny,” said Tauna.
“Am I?”
“If Dante wanted to steal Fury, why would I be here? Why even give you the slightest hint of who was behind it? It makes no sense. Whatever your issues with Dante, you know he’s not an idiot.”
Venom hesitated, touching the tip of the sword to her neck. He lowered it and turned his back on her, sliding the sword back inside the cane. “You make a convincing argument, my dear.”
Tauna raised her leg and tilted her foot at an angle. A small blade emerged from the heel of her stiletto and she drove it into the guard’s foot. He screamed and Tauna pulled the blade free. She broke from his grip and delivered a swift kick to his face that knocked him back where he banged his head on the wall.
Venom turned at the sound of the screams and drew the sword, swinging it towards Tauna in an overhead arc. She stepped forward and crossed her arms above her head, holding up his wrist. She grabbed his arm and twisted his arm behind his back. The strain caused Venom to release his grip on the sword and Tauna took it from him. She threw him forward and held the sword at arm’s length, now pointing the blade at Venom’s remaining eye. He blinked a few times, carefully raising his hands in surrender.
“You’ll never get out of here alive.” Johnny gestured to the door with his head. “That door is the only way out and my guards are standing right outside.”
“I think we should clear up a few things, Johnny,” said Tauna. “I don’t like you. And that has nothing to do with your feud with Dante. I find you supremely arrogant.”
“How’s that for irony?”
Tauna stepped forward, the blade nicking Venom just below his eye. He cringed, seeing the drop of blood on the tip of the sword.
“Don’t interrupt me,” she said. “If I were behind this alarm, I would have no qualms about killing you. Even now, I’m still considering slitting your throat and taking my chances with those guards. So here is what we’re going to do—I’m going to give you back your sword and then you are going to let me walk out of here. But continue with these unfounded accusations, and I will return. Are we agreed?”
Venom gave a simple, slow nod. Tauna tossed the sword against the far wall and turned to the door. She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Perhaps you simply got in bed with the wrong people this time, Johnny.” She opened the door and the guards turned, noticing their downed companion and raising their guns. Venom held up his hand.
“Stop. She can go,” he said.
***
“Bax, what the hell?” a
sked Dalton. “You were in the security system!”
“I don’t know! There must have been some sort of back-up or something I missed!” said Baxter. “Shit, you gotta get out now! Security cameras show guards lining up right outside the door!”
“You control the locks, don’t you? Even if Venom’s there, you can keep him out, right?”
The guards began pounding on the doors. Dalton waited for Baxter’s response, taking his tranquilizer gun from the holster and gripping it in his right hand while his left kept a firm grip on the briefcase. He continued to wait for the response and when it didn’t come, he finally asked, “Bax?”
Dalton tapped his ear and realized that something must have broken the connection. “Tauna? Anyone?”
No response, just a low hum of static. “That’s just perfect.” He was now completely on his own and he would have to find a way out before the guards could break through that door. He heard gunfire and the sound of wood splintering. The guards were getting through.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Dalton went back to Venom’s desk. There were windows behind it and that was his only option. He looked back to the door and knew it wouldn’t be long before they broke through.
Dalton ran to the window and held the tranquilizer gun by the barrel. He swung it, striking the butt against the glass. It shattered and Dalton climbed out onto the ledge. It was just a three-story drop, but a drop into a busy street. Even if he was lucky enough to not break something, he’d probably get hit by one of the speeding cars.
There was a small ledge along the window, not wide but it would give him a chance. Dalton holstered the gun and climbed out the window and pushed his back against the building, slowly moving out onto the ledge while holding the briefcase.
Slowly inching along the edge, Dalton heard the door break in completely. He heard shouts in Turkish but wouldn’t look back. His eyes were fixed on his goal. At the corner of the building, just above the first floor, was a tarp over the entrance.
“The window!” he heard one of the guards say in Turkish.
Time was running short and Dalton moved his feet as fast as he could while still maintaining his balance. The sound of gunfire startled him and his foot slipped. Dalton grabbed the ledge with his empty hand and now he was a sitting duck. The only way he could start moving again was if he dropped the briefcase so he could use both hands, but that wasn’t an option. But if he did nothing, Venom’s trigger-happy guards would have to be extremely drunk or just really bad shots to miss him.
That left only one option and it was the one he hated the most. Dalton pushed his feet against the side of the building and sprung off, dropping the remaining two stories and hitting the roof of a car. The driver screeched to a stop and honked. Dalton felt pain radiating all across his back, but when he opened his eyes, he saw the guard at the window aiming a submachine gun at him.
Dalton pushed through the pain and rolled off the roof of the car just as the bullets rang out. The driver was no longer concerned with spouting profanities and hit the gas pedal to speed out of the area.
The thief got to his feet and looked at the briefcase, thankful that the case holding Fury was quite durable. He ran to the end of the street, dodging bullets and risked a quick look at the front of the Cobra Club. Guards were already pouring out of the entrance and they spotted him immediately. Dalton turned and ran down the sidewalk, the guards running after him.
Dalton ran out into the street, waving his hand and causing a cab driver to screech to a halt and slam on his horn. Dalton drew his tranquilizer gun and aimed it at the driver. He started pleading in Turkish and Dalton opened the door.
“Out!” he barked in English.
Evidently the driver understood that much and got out of the cab. Dalton saw one of the guards raising his gun and ducked, shoving the driver down, too. Keeping his head low, Dalton climbed into the driver’s seat and stepped on the pedal while turning the wheel as far as he could to the left. The taxi took off in a U-turn, causing oncoming cars to swerve to avoid him.
“Bax! Tauna! Does anyone bloody copy?” he shouted, but the earpiece responded with static. Just what the hell happened in there, he wondered. At first, he thought there might have been some sort of signal jammer inside the Cobra Club, maybe activated once the alarm was tripped. But for it to still work even after he’d gotten outside meant they must have his frequency. Worse yet, the possibility they could track him.
Dalton removed the earpiece as he took a sharp left turn at the next intersection, blaring past the cars that had the right of way. He tossed the earpiece out the window and hit the gas. He looked in the rear-view mirror and saw there was a car following him. Up ahead, the light turned red. There were no cars between him and the intersection. Dalton pushed the pedal down as far as it would go and reached for the briefcase on the passenger seat. He looked out the window and took a deep breath, then opened the door and jumped out, slamming into the side of a stopped car in the opposite road.
The cab continued into the intersection, cars ramming into it. The vehicle that had been pursuing him slammed on the brakes. The guards stepped out of their car and looked around the area. People were gathering in the intersection with onlookers on the street watching in surprise. But as the guards surveyed the area, they could find no sign of their target. Dalton Moore had managed to successfully elude them.
***
Should something go wrong, Dalton and Tauna had arranged to meet at a hotel room on the outskirts of Istanbul. Dalton entered the room and turned on the light. It was a typical hotel room with twin beds, a TV, and a desk with a chair beside the television. Dalton set the briefcase on the desk and also a plastic bag. He’d stopped at a store after he was sure he was in the clear and picked up a disposable cell phone. Dalton tore open the package and turned on the phone, dialing Baxter’s number.
Baxter answered before the first ring finished. “Hello?”
“It’s me,” said Dalton.
Baxter let out a noticeable breath of relief. “Oh thank Christ. What the hell happened back there?”
“You tell me,” said Dalton. “After the alarm went off, I lost contact with both you and Tauna. Then I had to evade some of Venom’s goons.”
“You okay?”
Dalton nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. He tugged at his bowtie, pulling loose the knot. “More or less. What about Tauna? You know if she got out?”
“No clue, I lost total contact with the both of you.”
“How’d that happen? Didn’t you have control over security?”
“Yeah, but like I said, there must’ve been a failsafe or something.”
“But how could they have cut off communications completely? I was still getting static once I got out of there.”
Baxter was quiet for a moment and then said, “Do you still have the earpiece?”
Dalton shook his head. “No, I got rid of it. Thought they might’ve tapped into our line somehow and didn’t want to risk the chance they could track me.”
“Smart move. Where are you now?”
Dalton stood and took his jacket off. “At the safehouse Tauna arranged. Thought maybe she’d be here already, but nothing.”
“And the weapon?”
Dalton glanced at the briefcase on the desk. “It’s here. And I’m still alive, so fortunately Dante wasn’t lying about the casing. You haven’t heard anything from Tauna?”
“Not a word, and something tells me I’m not going to.”
“What’s that mean?” asked Dalton.
Baxter sighed. “Look man, don’t you think there’s something not right about this whole thing? Dante hires you for this job as a way to work off our debt to him and as soon as you’ve got your hands on the weapon, the alarms go off? Our comms go completely dark? And now we’ve got no idea where our supposed back-up is supposed to be?”
“Please don’t tell me you’re saying what I think you’re saying.”
“At this point, I’d say it’s pretty damn obvi
ous,” said Baxter. “What if Dante set you up to take the fall for this? You wouldn’t doubt Dante would want to strike at Johnny Venom. And even if you did somehow get out with the weapon, it would only set Venom back. Until he found you and killed you.”
“Except he’d know Fury would end up right back in Venom’s hands.”
“You’re missing the point. Since when has Infernum ever had any interest in biological weapons? He probably couldn’t care less who Venom sells it to.”
Dalton shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. The way Dante talked about this, it seemed really personal.”
“Yeah, you’re talking about a guy who managed to turn more than a few dutiful operatives against their employers. Dante could convince the Virgin Mary to do porn.”
Dalton huffed and walked to the window, pulling back the curtain to look out the window. “So what do we do now?”
“Just sit tight for the moment,” said Baxter. “I’ve been monitoring the situation there. If Venom knows who you are, he hasn’t done anything with that information. Neither your name nor your picture have turned up on any watch lists, so I think we’re okay for the moment. Still, I’ll work on getting you a new identity just in case any of your existing ones are compromised. Might take a bit of time to get it to you.”
Dalton looked back at the briefcase. “And Fury?”
“Shit, almost forgot about that…” muttered Baxter. “Keep it close. We can use it as leverage in case Venom finds out who you are.”
Dalton nodded. “Okay. Don’t dawdle, mate. Lord knows how long it’ll be before my luck runs out.”
“Sure thing. Just stay by this phone and try to get some rest. I’ll call you with more details once I’ve got ‘em.”
Dalton ended the call and tossed the phone on the bed. He knelt down by the desk and opened the mini-bar. There were assorted snacks but what he was interested were the tiny bottles of whiskey. Dalton took one and popped the top open, overturning one of the glasses on the desk and filling it with the alcohol. He held the glass in the direction of the briefcase.
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