The Genesis Group

by Mike Dagons

  I’m a thirty six year old man, and I had been taught to respect my elders and the dues they paid, but he was testing my patience. “Man, I realize that you’re old enough to be my father, but you’re not, so stop it with the lecturing, and tell me what you think I need to know before you really piss me off.”

  “You got her killed, and you ain’t learned shit from it,” he repeated in a pained sounding growl. He stepped closer to me. And up close and personal, I could see he had tears in his eyes.

  God knows I felt his muthafuckin’ pain, and it’s why I didn’t shoot him for the shit he was saying, but I did not have the time or the patience to console him.

  I had been there ten minutes, and he hadn’t told me a damn thing that was worthwhile. So I figured he’d called me here to blow off some steam, hoping it might lessen his grief. It was an inconvenience, but I was willing to overlook it because I knew Monique really liked him, and she would have wanted me to show him some compassion. So instead of hurting him for wasting my time, I simply turned to walk away.

  I didn’t see the punch coming that lit up my jaw and knocked me on my ass. He didn’t give me a chance to shake off the dizzying effects before he fisted my collar and yanked me to my feet.

  “I’m going to beat your ass, like your daddy should have. It won’t bring her back, but it sure in hell will make me feel better.” He hit me in my face again.

  I let him do it because I felt like I deserved it. I knew that I was the reason Monique was killed, and I was punishing myself for it by racking up innocent bodies. I had been sending a helluva message about fucking with me and mine, but it was doing little to soothe my guilty conscience.

  I know it’s crazy, but I felt like I owed him the small measure of relief. Since I didn’t perceive him as any real threat, what could it hurt to let an old man hit me a few times. Maybe the pain he was inflicting on me would make me feel better.

  “You got her killed!” Leon shouted, just before he lifted me off the floor and threw me across the wet bar.

  I crashed into the glass shelves behind it, and then landed on my hands and knees on the floor. I only had a moment to focus before Leon leaped over the bar and kicked me in my side.

  I was dazed, but I still had the presence of mind to roll with his foot, instead of bracing against it, or it may have caused some serious damage to my ribcage. As it was, the impact of his big ass boot only helped me flip over onto my back.

  Reflexively, I hooked an arm around his calf, firmly gripped his pant leg, and yanked his legs out from under him, bringing him down.

  When he landed next to me with an elbow shot that knocked my head back and opened up a cut over my eye, it dawned on me that I might be wrong about him not being able to hurt me. He wasn’t fighting like an elderly man, but for some reason, I was reluctant to see his actions as an assault. I was still holding onto my image of him as Monique’s mild mannered friend, the dance promoter.

  It’s silly, but I didn’t want to hurt my wife’s friend. I felt sorry for him, but I couldn’t just allow him to continue pounding on me. I needed to take some action to subdue him, hopefully without hurting him too badly.

  Ignoring the blood leaking from the cut above my eye, I locked an arm around his neck, strangling him in between his own shoulder and my arm. Staying to the side of him, I pressed my forearm into the opposite side of his neck, pinning him with an arm triangle choke.

  In my mind, I had executed a perfect Judo move, and Leon was on his way to sleep. After all, it was something I’d done more times than I could remember without getting much resistance because I wasn’t just fast. I had a lot of upper body strength.

  I didn’t want to seriously hurt him, so I was counting the seconds to make sure I didn’t interrupt the blood flow to his brain for too long. I only wanted to put him down, so I could walk away.

  Leon should have been out cold in seconds, but instead of submitting, he pulled a knee up and locked his hands under his thigh. He pumped his knee in an unexpected move that forced me to loosen my grip.

  I knew that he was older than me, at least twenty years, and it was playing into how I was fighting him, but he was proving that not all senior citizens were slow and weak. Before I could calculate my next move, he had me on my knees, and looking through my legs at my own ass.

  I don’t know how he did it, but he had me in an anaconda choke hold, which is an arm triangle from the front headlock position. The pressure on my neck was so great. I would have tapped out if we were in a sporting match.

  “All the years of showboating, ignoring tradecraft, and wet work operations finally visited you, and took her from me,” he growled.

  Now, I was thinking; Monique’s friend or not. This old muthafucka ain’t going to be rebuking me while he’s beating my ass, like my mama used to do when she whupped me when I was a kid.

  He was squeezing me with steel limbs that made me feel like I really was in the grip of an Anaconda, and then he used a maneuver that I’d only seen done in an old Bruce Lee movie, and put me on my feet. Standing made the pressure on my neck worst. My head throbbed from what felt like my own blood backing up, and inflating it like a fucking water balloon. I shut my eyes tight to keep them from popping out of my head, and I asked God not to let me pass out before I could figure a way out of this ancient fucking hold.

  “She was carrying my baby, and she didn’t deserve to die!” he grunted, applying more pressure to my neck.

  He hadn’t spoken a friendly word to me since I arrived in this place, but what he was saying now was too cruel for me to digest. My stomach churned, and my fucking heart stopped.

  Those simple words packed a punch that hit me hard enough to make me see him clearly. The power of his hateful words echoed in my head so loud, they threatened to blow my brains out.

  Suddenly, I saw Leon Turner for what he truly was, and that was no friend of mine. The backdoor, double dipping, muthafucka was about to get the fight he was looking for because I’d gone from zero to a hundred, and I was every bit as mad at that muthafucka as he was with me.

  My anger transcended my pain. And in a move that didn’t have a damn thing to do with any special art form or self defense training technique, I pushed my hand into his crotch, fastened an iron fist on his nuts, and tried my damnest to crack them muthafuckas.

  Leon didn’t let me go, but he loosen his hold on me enough to get my blood circulating, and some much needed oxygen to my brain. With renewed strength, I plowed into his center, head first like a bulldozer. I drove him backwards towards the ten foot high pane glass doors that led to the balcony. Not caring if I broke my own damn neck. I plowed him into the doors. Glass rained down on us as we sailed through them, and over the railing.

  We held onto each other as we plummeted. We were freefalling twenty stories down to a certain death, and I didn’t have a single thought about nothing but killing him.

  Fighting against the gusting winds made it hard for me to control my movements, but I managed to keep pounding him with my fist.

  He was trying to make me believe Monique had cheated on me. The fact that he would tell me some shit like that, at a time like this, let me know just how much he hated me.

  I was certain that I would be dead in a minute, but I was fighting to kill, not to live. I hit him again, and again, and if he hit me back, the adrenaline overdose I was flying on sure in hell didn’t let me feel it. My only prayer was Lord don’t let us hit the ground before I beat him to death.

  Chapter 2

  Trent walked on the white sand beach. The temperature on the small tropical island was a breezy eighty degrees, and the clear blue skies made it feel like he was walking through heaven.

  Bender, the techno wizard who owned the island and the beachside resort home, was being more than hospitable to him and his wife, Kenyah, considering he was the reason the Genesis Group was under attack.

  Trent had been working undercover for the Chicago PD in a department sanctioned operation that put him inside the big
gest drug dealing organization in the city, run by Lincoln Scott, a ruthless Aboriginal.

  In order to infiltrate the man’s inner circle, he was forced to become romantically involved with his sister, Xena. She had Kenyah kidnapped, and threatened to kill her if he didn’t destroy the evidence against Lincoln.

  Trent went to his big brother, Charles ‘Choc’ Baltimore, a Genesis assassin, for help. They rescued Kenyah, and killed Lincoln and Xena. Shortly after the assassinations, they learned that Lincoln had a brother, Luther Scott, who was really the head of their operations. That knowledge prompted them to send Trent and Kenyah to Bender’s island as a safety precaution until they were sure things had been put to rest.

  Trent learned last night that Luther Scott had launched his retaliation. Information was sketchy, but it was reported that Genesis had some major casualties.

  Trent sat down on the beach and looked out over the clear blue water. In spite of the dire situation, this extended vacation, courtesy of the Genesis Group, was giving him and Kenyah the time they needed to repair the damage that his relationship with Xena caused to his marriage.

  Trent sensed the presence of someone or something coming up behind him. He turned to look just in time to see Kenyah tiptoeing towards him. She was wearing a bikini that made his eyes pop. They had only been on the island a couple of days, and her almond complexion was already tanned a shade darker. With her long silky black hair, she was starting to look Middle Eastern.

  “Trent!” she dove into his arms, and he caught her and rolled with her. “I was trying to sneak up and surprise you,” she laughed when he wrestled her to the ground, and then stretched out on top of her.

  “I heard you coming,” he touched her lips with his. “We had a long night. I’m surprised that you’re up this early,” he pushed her fallen bangs back off her face.

  “I woke up and missed you. I figured you’d taken a walk on the beach, since walking is what you like to do when you want to think,” she smiled up at him, and then smoothed the worry lines in his forehead with her fingers. “You’re worried about what’s happening with Luther Scott and Genesis?”

  “I feel like all of it is my fault. I dragged them into this, and now Ice’s wife is dead.”

  “Nobody is blaming you for it, baby,” she pulled his face down to hers, and then really kissed him.

  Trent’s response was immediate and hard pressed. He slipped his hand inside her bottom and wet his fingers. “Let’s go inside,” he moaned. He wanted to lose himself in her warmth, and forget about the troubles the Scott case was causing for him and his new friends.

  Kenyah sensed the urgency of his need. “Let’s do it here,” she panted. She pulled the string tied at her hip that was holding her bottoms together, and it fell away giving his hand more freedom of movement.

  “Aren’t you afraid someone is going to see us?” he murmured against her lips.

  “I don’t care if they see us. I need you now,” she pushed his trunks down, and then guided him with her hand.

  Trent plowed into her with a satisfied groan. Her sexual appetite had been insatiable since they landed on the tropical paradise, and regardless of their troubles, he was thoroughly enjoying all the makeup sex.

  Kenyah moved with him in perfect rhythm until they both peaked, and then he rested on top of her for a moment to regain his strength. “I love you,” he searched her face lovingly.

  “I love you too,” she smiled up at him. “Everything is going to work out for the best. We have to believe that, baby.”

  “You’ve been a real pillar throughout this, and I want you to know that I’m proud of you, and I appreciate your willingness to work to save our marriage. We may not be able to celebrate your birthday tomorrow like we planned, but I promise I will make it up to you.”

  “Trent, I love you, and I’m as much to blame for the problems in our marriage as you. And for your information, stepping into thirty is not something I want announced to the world, so we can skip the big celebration,” she chuckled.

  “I’ll think of something to make your day special,” he gave her another quick peck on her lips, and then pushed himself up off her, and pulled up his trunks. “What, you just going to lay there exposed?” he grinned when she didn’t move to get up.

  Kenyah stared up at him. The island sun had given his light brown skin a healthy golden tone that made him look even sexier. “Your body is magnificent,” she said, her eyes giving him a full body sweep.

  Trent laughed aloud, and then he reached down and pulled her to her feet. “You are going to make me blush.” He picked up her bikini bottom and put it in her hand.

  “Seriously, the new muscular physique is hot, and that goatee makes you look slick. I’m glad you belong to me, and I can have you whenever I want.” She stepped into her bottoms, and then tied the string into a bow on her hip.

  “You know I only changed my appearance for the job, but if you like it, then I’m glad I did,” he chuckled. “I like the way you look, too. The suntan makes you look exotic. If we stay here much longer, you’ll be almost as dark as my brother, Choc.”

  Choc got his nickname because his complexion was dark chocolate. He was a Harvard Law graduate, and worked for the FBI before he joined Charter 6. He was five years older than his thirty two year old brother, Trent.

  He was a Mandingo type with an imposing personality, and a commanding voice that Kenyah found annoying. They’d been cooped up with his bossy ass, and his She-Ra girlfriend, Rayce, for over a week, and she is sick to death of them. She couldn’t wait until her and Trent could go home, and get back to living their lives.

  “Not if he keeps getting darker like the rest of us,” she chuckled. “I know you two have different fathers, so I guess y’all got the pretty amber colored eyes from your mother?”

  “Yeah, we did. I know you don’t like the way Choc does things, baby, but he has our best interest at heart. He’ll grow on you.”

  “Your brother is a fine blacker than black man who looks, talks, and walks like he’s got money. When he walks in a room, he thinks people should notice. I’m glad you’re not like that, baby.”

  “So, I don’t have a reason to be jealous?” he joked.

  “Not at all,” she laughed.

  Her skin was damp and covered with white sand. “Let’s take a swim to wash some of the grit off,” he suggested, and then took her hand, and they walked out into the water together.

  Kenyah knew they were in danger, but the last two days had been like falling in love all over again. It was life before Xena and Desmond Fox, the man she had turned to in Trent’s extended absence.

  The beach was so serene. It was like being in another world, and she wished they could stay on the peaceful island forever.

  No sooner than she had that thought did they hear the roar of the plane’s engine. The island was a private compound. No one was supposed to know they were there except the Genesis Group and the household staff, and as far as they knew, they weren’t expecting any guests to be flying in.

  Trent hurried her out the water, and held her hand as they ran back to the house. He opened the French doors off the back patio, and stepped inside the air conditioned cool sitting room.

  Choc and Rayce were coming down the stairs. “We got a problem,” he said before he reached the bottom of the staircase.

  “What’s up?” Trent picked up the pants he’d left on the sofa table when he’d gone out for the swim, and started putting them on.

  “I’ll update you on the way. Kenyah, you stay here with Rayce. Trent with me,” he said on the move.

  Trent didn’t bother with putting on his shirt. He grabbed his Beretta, and slipped his arm in the holster as he followed Choc out to his truck. He hopped in the passenger seat next to him, and then reached into the backseat and got the M40 rifle.

  “I don’t think you’ll need that,” Choc said.

  “Who we going to meet?” he asked.

  “Some of our guys,” he answered, and then fl
oored the truck and raced down the private driveway. “Luther Scott has been lucky enough to rack up some casualties. Most of what’s left of the Genesis Group is on that plane you hear landing.”

  “Man, this is my fuck-up. I spent almost a year inside, and I didn’t learn he had a brother. Luther’s men are looking for me, aren’t they?” Trent asked.

  “First, none of this is your fault. You were doing your job, which was to bring down his dope peddling brother. And Bender says Ice is the target. He doesn’t believe Luther knows anything about you yet, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “Why Ice?” he looked puzzled.

  “He’s the reason you don’t have to worry about Lincoln anymore.”

  “How long have you known all of this, and why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You are still law enforcement, Trent. You accepted the job offer from Ryan, but you are still CPD, brotha. You should be able to understand why we decided not to give you details about the Lincoln Scott hit.”

  “Okay, I get that, but what now? How does Genesis plan to handle Luther?”

  “They killed Ice’s wife, so he’s handling it,” Choc looked over at his younger brother in time to see the weight of his guilt sadden his face. “It’s not your fault, Trent. Don’t turn into a fucking pussy about this, man. Man up muthafucka, because I ain’t got time to coddle your ass,” he growled.

  “I appreciate you being so fucking understanding, Choc,” he snorted derisively. “But I brought you into this, so I have to own it. That does not mean I think I could have done anything to change any of it. I know that I’m not officially a part of Genesis, but I do want to be a part of whatever Melvin plans to do about Luther Scott. I owe him that, and I promise not to act like a pussy and embarrass you,” he stared straight ahead.