Driver 8

by G. Michael Hopf

  “Is this a new job?” Jacob asked.

  “Yeah, it’s a job, a quick one,” Tommy answered remaining coy as to who or why he was asking for the favor.

  “You’re right, it is an easy ask, but you need to stop fucking around and get that truck and head south.”

  “Don’t worry about me.”

  “I forgot to ask, but your friend, that driver, did you reach him in time?” Jacob asked privy to the

  information of Kyle.

  Tommy went to reply but paused to think. Did he want the word out that Kyle was alive or did he

  want the world to think he was dead, at least for now? He trusted Jacob, but still, why offer it up. As he always did, he preferred to keep things mostly vague even with other Leviathan teams. “He’s dead, Driver Eight is dead.”

  “Oh shit, man, I didn’t know your friend was the Driver Eight. Wow, that’s huge news,” Jacob said.

  “Call me if you get any info, I’ll be offline for about twelve, I’ll check in later when the jobs done and I have the shipment,” Tommy said.

  “Just watch your back Tommy, we’re being hunted. You lost your partner, you’re flying solo now,” Jacob said referring to the fact that the Leviathan syndicate had become enemy number one in many areas which had resulted in warrants for their arrest or bounties on their heads. It was a reversal of fortune for a group that had created a reputation and legacy.

  “I’ll be fine. I’ll call soon,” Tommy said.

  “We’ll wait for you, but if no contact for twenty-four hours, we’re setting sail. It won’t be personal,” Jacob said.

  “It’s all good. I know the drill. I’ll be in contact soon enough,” Tommy said and hung up. He went back inside the small safe house to find Kyle waking up.

  Kyle sat up and looked around. He was in a strange room, a single candle burned on a table next to him. The flickering flame caused his shadow to dance on the wall. He scratched his head to remember how he got there but couldn’t recall. The last he remembered was getting into Tommy’s truck, everything else was a blur.

  “I’d suggest getting more rest than that, brother,” Tommy said from the other side of the large room.

  Kyle gazed towards his voice but saw only shadows. “Do you always hide in the dark?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes. It’s part of my job description now.”

  Kyle struggled to rise, his body ached from his head to his feet, but he managed to sit up. “I feel like I’ve been run over.”

  “Worse, you were hanging for days, scratch that, being stretched for days. How fucked up is that?”

  “What?” Kyle asked before reaching towards a glass of water on a table next to him. He picked it up and gulped it down.

  “That they attached that weight to you. As if your own body weight wasn’t enough to pull you down.”

  Kyle rubbed his eyes and asked, “How long have I been out for?”

  “Oh, about twelve hours.”

  Hearing that, Kyle grew stressed. “We have to go, we need to find her.”

  “Already working on that, but I just need to know where she went to narrow our search perimeters down. I also called in a favor with another Leviathan. If anyone can track slavers it’s that guy. His team are notorious trackers. Jacob was a slave himself when he was a kid, now in between jobs he hunts down slavers.”

  “But it’s still a wild goose chase. One person knows and that’s Barry.”

  “And Barry is the guy who stuck you on that tree and more than likely is inside the walls of Collective Prime?” Tommy asked.

  “Yes, he’s inside the walls of Prime.”

  “I had a feeling you might say that.”

  “Getting inside the walls isn’t the problem, getting to Barry is,” Kyle replied.

  “I plotted where she could be on this map. Come here and take a look,” Tommy said before reconsidering Kyle’s condition. “Better yet, I’ll go there.” Tommy went over and sat next to Kyle and laid the map on his lap. He turned on a flashlight and shined it across what was an old highway map of the central United States.

  First thing Kyle noticed were circles emanating from Prime. “What do they represent?”

  “Days. I estimate that if she left the same day you hung from the tree, she’d make it this far on day one, this far on day two and so forth. See these red dots?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Those are known trading posts or slave markets,” Tommy said pointing at over two dozen dots all outside of The Collective Zone. “If she got here, two days south, she could be in someone’s hands and God knows from there. And if she’s gotten here...”

  Frustrated, Kyle said, “I get the picture.”

  “Timing is everything, but right now you need rest, so I’ll go in and get your guy, I’ll bring him back.”

  “I can’t have you do that alone, it’s too dangerous, plus you don’t know where you’re going.”

  “If you tell me where to go, give me details, draw me a map, I’ll be fine.”

  “No.”

  “Bro, it’s what I do, I’m a fucking bounty hunter for Leviathan, I track motherfuckers like this down all the time.”

  “Not like this. He’s a dumpy fat slob, but he’s cunning and he’s got a small army guarding him. No, I can’t let you go alone.”

  “You need more rest, a day at least. I can do this, trust me.”

  Knowing another day put Portia even further away and possibly out of reach forever, he insisted, “Tommy, I’m going, end of debate. Let’s get ready, we leave in an hour.”

  A wide smile stretched across Tommy’s face. “Still the same Kyle I remember from the force.” He patted Kyle on the shoulder and continued, “I missed you, brother.”

  Kyle picked up the map and located Prime. He put his finger down and said, “The main gates are here. If you’ll remember right in front was a creek that flows east west then curves right about here and heads south.”

  “I saw it,” Tommy said.

  “We’ll follow that until we get to a culvert, right about here,” Kyle said tracing the winding blue line.

  “Ok,” Tommy said nodding.

  “It’s large so don’t stress.”

  “Wait, are we crawling through a fucking pipe?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Shit.”

  “What’s wrong?” Kyle asked.

  “I’m scared of two things. Spiders and tight spaces. Please tell me I won’t get stuck.”

  “You won’t get stuck, I promise you,” Kyle reassured.

  “Serious?”

  “Yes, now can I go on?”

  “Go.”

  “That will take us all the way to Main Street. Once there we’ll pop out and the executive mansion is about five blocks. Like I said, getting in is easy, navigating around inside will be difficult and getting into the mansion will be a fight more than likely…” Kyle said then stopped when he noticed Tommy wasn’t paying attention. “What’s wrong with you? I need you focused. This is important.”

  “I haven’t told you the truth,” Tommy confessed with a sigh.

  “The truth about what?”

  “Why I’m here,” Tommy said and paused before continuing. "I was contracted to kill Number One. I got the gig a couple days after seeing you in Salina. I decided to take it and to be honest, I was going to use our friendship to gain access into Prime and to Number One. I was a day out when I got the word he was dead. I was going to turn around but on that same call I was told you were hanging on that tree.”

  Kyle blankly stared at Tommy unable to speak.

  “As soon as I heard about you, I pushed hard to get here in hopes I’d be able to save you,” Tommy said. He looked at Kyle and was hoping to gauge how he felt but Kyle was stone faced. “Sorry I misled you.”

  Kyle didn’t need to think long, “Its fine. I guess I should be apologizing to you for lost wages.”

  “Not exactly.”

  “There’s more, clearly,” Kyle said.

  “When
The Underground found out I was still in route they changed the target and tasked me with killing the son. Hence why I was pushing you to stay and rest so I could go in and take care of business. I’d bring him back, you’d get what you needed and I could kill him, make it a win, win.”

  Hearing that The Underground was involved, Kyle growled, “The Underground are nothing but a group of pussies. They run around pretending to be a resistance. All they do is interfere and cause problems for everyone,” Kyle complained.

  “I need to do this job, Kyle,” Tommy confessed.

  “That’s fine, but you can’t kill him until I know where they took Portia.”

  “Deal, like I said, I’ll go in, grab him and bring him back,” Tommy said.

  “Anything else you’d like to tell me?” Kyle snarled.

  “There’s one more thing.”

  Kyle rolled his eyes.

  “A team from The Underground will accompany us,” Tommy said.

  “No, they’ll just get in the way.”

  “Here’s the situation, they…”

  A door opening sounded from the front of the house.

  Tommy grabbed his Kimber 1911 and stood against the wall near the bedroom door.

  Kyle picked up the rifle leaning against the bed and shouldered it.

  Three distinct voices were talking and laughing from the front room.

  Tommy recognized one of the voices and called out, “Cal, is that you?”

  “Yeah, it’s us,” Cal replied.

  Tommy opened the door to the bedroom and a flood of light poured in from lanterns the three were holding. “You’re early.”

  Cal, a tall slender man with light brown hair, walked in first, followed by another man named Eric and a woman named Dana. Eric was of average build, and Dana was short by any standard, standing no taller than five foot but incredibly attractive with long black hair.

  Dana came in and spotted Kyle right away. “He’s alive, look guys, it’s Driver Eight.”

  Kyle held the rifle, muzzle down and nodded at the three.

  Cal walked over to Kyle and put out his hand, “Nice to meet the now infamous Driver Eight.”

  Eric and Dana walked over and stood staring like groupies at a rock concert.

  Kyle took Cal’s hand and bluntly said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea you come with us.”

  “Huh?” Cal shrugged and looked at Tommy. “What’s this?”

  “I’ve known him a long time, he’s particular,” Tommy replied.

  “No deal, we go with you, plus we have critical information you need,” Cal informed.

  “Tell us what you know and then maybe we can consider it,” Kyle replied his face stoic.

  “Tommy, he’s not even part of this operation, we signed Leviathan, and last I checked Driver Eight wasn’t with your syndicate.”

  “He’s been made an honorary member,” Tommy answered firmly.

  “We’re going, and that’s final,” Cal insisted. The other two stood behind him wide eyed and confused by what was occurring.

  “We’ve got this, we don’t need amateurs holding us up,” Kyle snarled.

  “I’ll have you know I’ve been with The Underground for five years,” Cal barked.

  “And you’ve accomplished nothing but alienating many residents with your tactics,” Kyle snapped back.

  “If we don’t go this operation is off,” Cal fired back.

  “Fine,” Kyle said.

  “And we know where he is, you don’t!” Cal barked.

  Tommy stepped forward, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, everyone chill out. Come here,” he said taking Kyle by the arm and walking him away. He leaned in and whispered, “I need this to go forward.”

  “Why?” Kyle asked, a bit shocked to hear that.

  “The payment is a truck load of food. Some of my Leviathan brothers need it for a trip they’re going on,” Tommy said.

  “Leviathan people?” Kyle asked.

  “Yeah, it’s a long story but some of my brothers are tapping out, heading somewhere, far away from here. They’re counting on me to bring the food back.”

  “Fine, they can come, but they keep out of my way.”

  “Brother, we’ll find your wife…together,” Tommy said putting his hand on Kyle’s shoulder.

  “Thanks,” Kyle said.

  Tommy walked around Kyle and over to Cal. “We’re a go.”

  Cal nodded and faced Kyle. “I don’t care what you think about me or my people. We’re good people with noble intentions. Once we have removed Number Two, we can begin the process of creating a new society built on freedom and expression.”

  “Once I’ve gotten what I want out of Barry, I’m gone, I don’t give two shits what new society you’ll form. History is replete with examples of one tyrant overthrowing another,” Kyle said.

  “We’re not tyrants.”

  “Spare me the sermon,” Kyle said.

  “You’re rude!” Dana snapped, the glow and excitement on her face when she met Kyle was replaced with contempt.

  Tommy laid out a map, pointed to the culvert and said, “We think this could be a good access point.”

  The three Underground members looked at each other and began to laugh.

  “What’s so funny?” Tommy asked.

  “First, there’s a better way to sneak into Prime if you need to without getting covered in shit and secondly, Number Two’s not even there, he’s up at the Lair.”

  “What’s the Lair?” Tommy asked.

  “The old Ritz hotel,” Kyle said. “Good, it’ll be easier to get him. I need you three to know that we do this according to my plan and the first item is, you can’t kill him until after I’ve gotten what information I need out of him.”

  They each looked at each other and nodded.

  “I suppose you’re looking for you wife?” Dana asked.

  “Yeah, what do you know about it?” Kyle asked.

  “I don’t know for sure but I’ve heard they have several trading partners for slaves. One in the RMR, one in the Sinaloa Cartel territory and one in New Texas, Amarillo station,” Dana said with confidence.

  “Do you know where?” Kyle asked hoping he could just bypass going after Barry and leave directly to go find Portia.

  “I only know Amarillo Station as a specific locale, I’m not sure about the other two and I should be honest that I only got this second hand. Who knows what’s accurate?” Dana said.

  “In the event Number Two is incapacitated, his right hand person, Cisco probably knows,” Cal said.

  “Who the hell is Cisco?” Kyle asked.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Cal said.

  “I want Barry, period. He knows for sure, so again, he’s mine until I get what I want out of him.”

  Cal gave the other two a look and faced Kyle, “You have our word, but if you want this to go smoothly you’ll need to follow our plan.”

  “No way,” Kyle insisted.

  “Then tell me how you plan on getting in there? He must have fifty guards posted on the outside and inside,” Cal said.

  “If I remember right…”

  Cal stopped him and said, “Dana here is Cook-Twenty-two and guess where she’s assigned?”

  “The Lair," Kyle answered.

  “Yes. Are you ready to listen to our plan?”

  Tommy couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

  Kyle cut him a look and said, “Go ahead, I’m all ears.”

  “Dana has a shift starting in two hours, but she normally goes in early to do prep work. Actually, Dana why don’t you explain what we’re going to do.”

  “Before you do that, if you have this nailed down, why did you call Leviathan?” Tommy asked.

  The three looked at each other with Cal explaining, “Because we need to make sure it gets done.”

  “That means you don’t have a plan once we get inside?” Kyle asked.

  “There are so many guards inside, we figured we needed a highly trained assassin versus, you know, us,” Cal said point
ing at himself and the other two.

  “Dana gets us in and from there you’re clueless?” Tommy asked.

  “Not clueless, just outgunned,” Cal confessed.

  “Here’s what I need to know, where is he in the building and what is the most direct route to him without taking the main elevators or the stairs which I presume will be guarded,” Tommy said.

  “There’s a service elevator near the back. I’ll be driving a produce truck on site, you’ll hide underneath some boxes in the back. Once we’re in the loading dock area I’ll take you to a service elevator. Number Two is on the fifth floor,” Dana replied.

  “And where’s his room from this service elevator?” Tommy asked.

  “You’ll exit the elevator and turn right, you won’t miss where the room is because it’s heavily guarded,” Dana replied.

  “How many guards you talking about?” Tommy asked.

  “I’ve counted eight before, could be less,” Dana answered.

  Tommy glanced at Kyle and asked, “You ready to bring you’re A game?”

  “Always,” Kyle answered. “However, if we go onto that floor guns blazing we’ll get to Barry but we’ll have an army coming down on us in no time.”

  Tommy walked away, grabbed a large bag and brought it back. He unzipped it, opened it wide and said, “This will help keep it a bit more low key.”

  “Rifles and pistols all with suppressors, nice,” Kyle said.

  “And I’ll cause a distraction,” Dana said.

  The guys all looked at her as she unbuttoned her shirt to show her cleavage. “I was blessed with these things and I’ll use them.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Cal said.

  “No, it’s a good idea,” Kyle said.

  “But it puts her at risk. We specifically hired Leviathan to reduce our exposure,” Cal countered.

  “I’ll be fine and this helps us, I can take care of myself,” Dana said as she buttoned her shirt back up.

  “Men are fucking stupid animals and will go chasing a piece of ass any chance they can get. All she needs to do is lure a few of them away, to a room where we’ll be waiting, we’ll quietly take them out. Trust me, this is a good plan. I have to admit you guys are impressing me…finally,” Kyle said with a smile.

  “I’m glad Dana’s sacrifice makes you feel better about us,” Cal growled. He looked at Dana and snapped, "This wasn't the plan we agreed upon."