The Genesis Group

by Mike Dagons

  “I’m proud of the way you handled your business, Trent. I just don’t want you to start doubting your capabilities. I’m glad you came to me when you needed help.” Choc nodded approvingly when Trent tore his eyes off the road ahead and looked over at him.

  “Hit the remote and open the gate,” he said.

  Trent pressed the button on the dash, and the heavy cast iron gate swung open inward, and Choc barreled through it and onto the single lane dirt highway that led to the airplane landing strip.

  Trent was troubled, but he was thankful that he’d finally gotten his big brother’s approval. Hearing Choc say that he was proud of him made him feel like a hero. He couldn’t help thinking that their dead mother would be so happy that they were finally becoming close.

  Chapter 3

  Anakin was on the roof of Lenox Towers with Ceylon when he heard the disturbing sounds of violence coming from the unit where Ice was meeting Leon.

  “Something is wrong,” he said, and ran back to the helicopter.

  He reached inside and grabbed the climbing rope fastened to a hook welded to the floor in the cockpit, and started tying it around his waist.

  “What you doing?” Ceylon took hold of his arm and stopped him. “Ice told us to wait up here.”

  “I don’t have time to explain it, so I’m going to ask you to trust that I know what I’m doing. I need you to get in the copter and be ready to lift us out of here.

  Anakin’s eyes had turned red, and he was looking demonic, so Ceylon released him quickly. “Tell me where you going.”

  “To get Ice,” he said.

  He had about 30 feet of rope, and he figured it was more than enough to climb down the four stories to the loft apartment.

  He trotted over to the edge of the building, and climbed over. With the rope in his grip, he braced his feet against the side of the building, and then started rap jumping down the side like a rock climber. It was a clear night, but the wind downtown was fierce, and made navigating a straight descend difficult.

  Ice was wearing a variant of the Voxer Walkie that Bender had developed for the team. It was a tiny device that he wore in his ear, and when it was on, they could hear everything that Ice said or heard, so Ceylon heard the harsh words Leon had been saying to Ice. Because Anakin had canine hearing, he could also hear some of the things that Ceylon couldn’t.

  He’d heard the fight start, but he wasn’t concerned initially. Ice was trained, so he figured it would be over quickly. Then he heard bodies being tossed around, and the sound of his friend’s pulse rate gradually slowing down. It meant he was losing consciousness, so using the roof access door to get to the loft would have taken too long. It’s when he decided to go over the side of the building, and he was hoping he was going to get to him in time.

  His feet had just touched the balcony railing above where he needed to be when he heard Leon say he was the father of Monique’s baby.

  Anakin heard the surge in Ice’s heart rate just before he heard the ear piercing crash, and then he saw them fly out onto the balcony and over the railing. Without thinking, he pushed himself off the wall into a full body spin. Like a sky diver, he pulled his arms back close to his sides and rocketed downward in pursuit.

  Because they were freefalling slower than he was diving, he reached them quickly. He extended his arms like superman in flight and grabbed hold of Ice’s vest with both hands just as the slack snapped out of his rope and jerked them all up like a bungee cord.

  They all slammed into the side of the building like a wrecking ball. Ice hit his head on impact and was knocked unconscious.

  The wind was tossing them around, but Leon held onto Ice until they swung towards the building. He pumped and pushed his feet to extend their swing until they soared over one of the lower balconies, and then he released his hold on Ice, and jumped onto the balcony. He landed in a tuck and roll, and was back on his feet firing a Glock at them in less time than it had taken him to fall.

  “Take us up,” Anakin shouted the order.

  Without hesitation, Ceylon took the bird up, dragging them through the sky away from the building as Leon pumped off six more rounds in rapid succession.

  They were being tossed around like paper in the whipping wind, so Anakin reinforced his grip on Ice by hooking his forearms through the armholes in his vest.

  Ceylon flew them over to the North Avenue beach, and then started bringing the helicopter down. “We got company, so we need to step it up,” Anakin spoke to him through the walkie.

  Ceylon lowered the copter until they were a few feet above the ground.

  Anakin released Ice, and let him fall to the beach, and then he cut the rope, and dropped down beside him. Moving swiftly, he lifted Ice up over his shoulder and ran for the helicopter that Ceylon had hovering close to the ground a few feet away from where they dropped.

  Because Anakin had super hearing, he heard the first bullet leave the chamber, and he danced out of its path seconds before it kicked up sand in the place he had been standing. He turned up the speed, and proved superman wasn’t the only one faster than a speeding bullet.

  The sniper was shooting low and going for a leg shot. So, he figured they had been instructed to take them alive because Luther did not want their deaths to be quick and painless.

  Gunfire was popping off behind him like fireworks, and he didn’t even slow down when he reached the helicopter. “Move it!” he shouted as he jumped up and grabbed hold of the landing skid. He tossed Ice into the cabin, and then rolled in behind him.

  Ceylon Battle defied gravity and lifted the Sikorsky up in a ninety degree roll, as he banked left over Lake Michigan at top speed.

  Anakin had been sure that they wanted to take them alive, so he was surprised when he heard the distinct whine of a missile launch. Before Ceylon could level the helicopter out, Anakin shouted, “INCOMING, JUMP!” as he grabbed Ice’s vest with one hand, and Ceylon’s with his other.

  Ceylon was yanked out the pilot’s seat and out of the helicopter before his mind had time to process the danger warning. The surface to air missile hit the helicopter, and the concussive blast at their backs propelled them forward. The explosion lit up the night sky in crimson, and a heated ball of flames chased them from the sky and into the lake.

  Anakin held onto Ice, who was still unconscious, and when they hit the choppy water, he awakened in a screaming rage. “Take it easy,” Anakin ordered.

  He clamped a hand over Ice’s mouth and nose to keep him from inhaling water, and then dived underwater with him to avoid being hit by the big chunks of twisted metal falling from the sky.

  The water currents pulled them further out on the lake. When they surfaced, the lake was littered with fiery debris, but they were a good ways away from the fallout.

  “Is everybody alright?” Anakin shouted over the sound of the water.

  “Yeah, but I am truly pissed!” Ceylon shouted back.

  Everything had happened so fast, and jumping without a parachute had him a little shaken up, but he was revving on full throttle, in Battle mode, and ready for anything.

  “What about you, Ice? You took a nasty blow to the head back there at the building.” Anakin was still holding onto him.

  “You believe what Leon said to me?” he asked.

  “Let’s talk about it when we get on the boat.”

  They never worked without having a plan B, so they had a small yacht anchored a few miles off shore just in case they needed an alternate means of transportation.

  They were all wearing Neoprene wet suits under their clothes, which would make moving through the water easier. So, they started stripping out of their outerwear, and bagging it. They were all good swimmers, but Anakin had more stamina and speed in the water, just as he had on land.

  Ideally, the people chasing them would think that they died in the explosion, but in any case, besides keeping them warm, the suits would also mask their heat signatures, if thermal imagery was being used to locate them in the water.


  They had about 1600 meters to swim to the yacht, so Anakin used cords with snap hooks to fasten them both to him. It would prevent them from getting lost or separated in the water, and if one or both of them were overtaken by fatigue. It would make hauling them easier.

  Once they were securely fastened together, they started swimming for the yacht.

  Chapter 4

  Melvin Ryan opened his eyes and looked at his wife, Samantha Jawlins, sitting in a chair next to his bed asleep. He pushed himself up on his elbows and looked around the room. Roc was out cold, and Severe was at his bedside sleeping in a chair like Sam.

  Melvin dropped back down on his pillow, and exhaled a sigh of relief. If Sam was there, then so were his parents and his children.

  “Hey, you’re awake. How are you feeling?” Sam kissed him on his forehead.

  “My leg is throbbing. Where are we, and how long I been out?”

  “On Bender’s Island and you’ve been out about twelve hours. Bender has been working like a crazy man, trying to access the damage, and track what’s happening. Blue is here with us, too.”

  “Is Ice here?”

  “Nope, he knows about Monique, and he’s been on a killing rampage. So far, he has killed Tyler and Shirley Basin, four of Luther’s baby mamas, and six of his kids.”

  “Who’s watching his back?” He asked in a worried voice that was loud enough to stir Severe.

  “Relax, he’s with Anakin and Ceylon Battle,” she laid a hand on his shoulder and urged him not to try to sit up.

  Sam noticed that he was more concerned about who was helping his brother than he was about who Ice had killed.

  “Tell me what you know,” he responded in a no nonsense tone that told her he didn’t have time for niceties.

  “Ceylon is standing in for Severe, so she could stay with Roc. Ryan, they boiled his feet to try to make him give up Ice’s location,” she explained when he looked puzzled.

  “Damn those sons of bitches,” he shouted. “I want to talk to Bender. Is he still here?” he pushed past the pain and sat up in bed. “We need to stay operational. Severe!” he shouted.

  “Yes sir,” she startled upright, but the noise didn’t move Roc because he was heavily sedated.

  “I need to talk to my father, Blue, and Bender. I want a full update immediately. I want everybody in here, right now!” he barked the ordered.

  “Melvin, you need to rest,” Sam said, but Severe had already left the room.

  “We don’t have time to rest. Ice changed the game, so they’re probably looking to torture and kill now instead of simply interrogating. Ice killed Jeffrey Basin’s parents. He loved them, so he is probably going to strike back. Unlike the Scott’s, his organization is top notch, and he’s a strategic planner. He may already have people on the way here.”

  “Bender says nobody knows about this Island,” she argued.

  “Choc used it as his cover story when he went to the Basin auction. Jeffrey Basin knows about it, and we can’t be certain he hasn’t made the connection. If Anakin is with Ice, we need to get Chanay and the baby off the grid. Does James Battle know Ceylon is working with Ice, and can he be trusted?”

  “Chanay and Trevarid are here. They flew in with us, and Severe vouches for Ceylon. He asked her to marry him, and he rescued her and Roc from Luther’s men. They killed LaRue and two other Viper men, so James Battle sanctioned his involvement,” she explained.

  “Okay, good. We also need to move Curtis Gladstone, and your sister, Cynthia.”

  She mentally kicked herself for being so preoccupied with his injuries and their own safety that she’d forgotten about her older sister.

  “I’ll contact them right away,” she said, and then she got up and got busy.

  Chapter 5

  We fell out exhausted on the deck. After taking a brief breather, Ceylon got up and started the engine. He set the auto navigation for the marina in Cleveland, and then we all went below deck to get out of the wet suits.

  There had been some bad blood between me and Ceylon in the past, but I could tell that he was feeling sorry for me by the way he was avoiding looking directly at me. He’d heard Leon tell me that he was the father of Monique’s baby, and I could only imagine what he was thinking of me.

  Nobody could even imagine the kind of soul crushing pain it made me feel. In addition to feeling like a fool for doing the things I’d done in the name of love for a woman who hadn’t loved me enough to be faithful. I felt ashamed because I never suspected it.

  “Knowing what I know now. Do you think I should stick to the plan?” I asked Anakin.

  “You don’t know any of that shit to be true. You only know what the man says is true. I don’t advise taking his word for any of it,” he replied.

  “Don’t let what that muthafucka said stick in your head. Maybe it’s true, and maybe he said it to throw you off your game,” Ceylon spoke dispassionately. “None of it has a damn thing to do with what you set out to do, and that is to send a message. They murdered your wife, and what happened or did not happen between her and Leon is irrelevant. You’re doing this to protect the rest of your family from harm.”

  “He’s right, Ice,” Anakin said. “The muthafuckas didn’t just kill Monique. They blew up Genesis, and killed a lot of innocent people. They also tortured Roc, and they intended to torture and kill me. If I hadn’t escaped, they were going to make me watch them cut up Chanay and Trevarid. They even killed the Viper men they contracted to keep from paying them. They have no honor, and they need to pay for the shit that they’ve done.”

  “Cool,” I turned to Ceylon and offered him my hand for the first time ever. “I appreciate what you said, and I appreciate you standing in for Severe like you doing. I know you had to go against the grain to do it, so I owe you a solid.”

  “Ain’t something I’m looking to need to collect,” he shook my hand with a smile.

  Having decided to go on to Ohio, we all started removing the wets suits to change into dry clothes. As soon as I peeled the top of my suit down, Anakin took hold of my shoulders and turned me around. “Hey, what’s this?” he asked.

  “What?” I looked back over my shoulder and saw the quarter folded sheet of paper stuck to my damp skin.

  “It looks like a note,” he peeled it off, and then unfolded it. “It’s from Leon Turner.”

  “He must have pushed it in my suit when he had me in that neck crank,” I said. I was annoyed that I had let my emotions get in the way of me killing the muthafucka. “What the fuck he got to say?”

  “The negative things I said about you and Monique’s death were said to make you angry enough to fight.” Anakin read. The note went on to tell how he woke up to find Jeff Basin in his bedroom with ten men pointing semi-auto weapons at him. ‘I convinced him that I blamed you for Monique’s death, and wanted you dead as badly as he did. I made him believe that I didn’t need to be persuaded to help him. Jeff Basin is a man of his word, and he promised to give me twenty minutes alone with you first in exchange for luring you to Lenox. His cyber skills are the best I’ve ever seen, and even though he didn’t say it. I knew he was watching. He has hacked Bender’s system, and has intercepted every text sent in the last 48 hours. The hit list that you’re following, Bender’s Caribbean island, the place Valow is to meet Cynthia Jawlins; he knows all of it. Stop underestimating him, and stop transmitting digitally. The last time I talked to Monique, she told me that she thought she was pregnant. She was excited to be having your baby. She told me that she hoped he was going to be smart like you. If I had to make you think less of her, even for a second, I’m sorry. I’ll be working for you on the inside for her because it is what she would have wanted me to do. She loved you. Good luck, kid. I’m ex-CIA code name, Cobra.’

  “Well fuck me!” I exclaimed. I had never been so surprised by anything in my life.

  “It sounds like it was all an act, but the muthafucka nearly got both of you killed,” Anakin said.

  I clampe
d my hands on the back of my neck and dropped to my knees. “I shouldn’t have doubted her, but I did. Man, I can’t believe how easily I was persuaded to doubt her love for me.” I looked up at Anakin. “We started dating in high school and she stuck by me and forgave all the bogus shit I did to her over the years. Why was it so easy for me to doubt her commitment to me? Why did I doubt her?”

  “Hell, he was real convincing. Well, at least now you know why he said those things,” Ceylon said.

  “You had no idea he used to be with the agency?” Anakin asked.

  “Nope, I had no idea,” I confessed. “Now I understand what he meant about me being weak in the intelligence game.”

  “I’ve heard of Cobra, but I didn’t know he was Leon Turner,” Ceylon said. “According to my father, he was supposedly one of the greats. He dropped off radar years ago.”

  “All I know is he almost beat the shit outtá me, but he had to because I wasn’t fighting back,” I cracked a smile because even though nothing he said should have mattered. It did, and it was weighing heavy on my heart. I was feeling considerably lighter in spirit since I learned Monique hadn’t been unfaithful.

  “He sounds like a good man to have inside working for us. Let’s get our heads back in the game,” Anakin said. “If Basin has our agenda, he is going to be expecting us to show up in Ohio. Do we change our plans, or go forward?”

  “This is his last kid. If I were him, I’d have him somewhere under lock and key. Well out of your reach,” Ceylon said. “In any case, I vote to go on to Ohio, and find out what we will be going up against.”

  “If he believes we’re still alive, he’ll be expecting us,” Anakin reiterated.

  “He doesn’t know that we know he’ll be expecting us. We can use that information to our advantage,” Ceylon countered, and Anakin nodded in approval. “It’s your call,” he said to me.