The Koda Files Boxed Set - Books 1 & 2

by Ivan Bridgewater

  Behind me I heard, "Hey! That's my house!" The pictures showed four men in suits going in through the back door to Koda's house. Two more stayed on guard outside. They couldn't be any good if it took six of them to case one house. The men weren't in the house long. Just a few minutes.

  The men had carried something into the house. I wanted to know what. It was a bad thing to do, but I decided to go back to the house.

  As soon as I started loading up to go back, Koda put it together. As I bagged my guns in the vault, I heard, "I want to go with you."

  I stepped out into the front room, and gave her the look. She didn't flinch, so I asked, "What makes you think I’d trust you with a gun?"

  Koda reached over and snapped up an M-16 lying there. She snapped the locking pin out, and the gun broke open in the center. She deftly pulled the bolt assembly out of the gun, and in less than a minute, had deftly field stripped the gun. She glanced up, and told me, "I can do it in the dark too." Then gave me a coy smile, and said, "Field strip the gun that is."

  I rolled my eyes and thought, here is a girl who needs a lesson. I told her, "OK! Put the gun back together, and don't stop for anything. Do you understand me?"

  She hesitated, but she nodded yes. Then she picked the gun up. She started to insert the bolt and I started screaming.

  At the top of my lungs I yelled, "People are shooting at you and people will die because you’re too slow." She stopped to look at me and I yelled, "Don't stop or you die! Don't stop or we all die!" She was badly rattled now, and tried to continue. I snatched the gun from her and growled, "Thanks! Now I'm dead because you couldn't focus!" I put the gun on the table, and told her, "Just stay here!" Then I picked up my bag, and started to walk out. I caught myself at the door, turned and said, "I want your house keys."

  She grabbed her bag, dug out the keys, and then tossed them to me. As I turned to walk out, she said, "Be careful!"

  I just had to smile. If I was being careful, I sure wouldn't be hanging out with a big damn trouble magnet. I took a drive (again) and went to visit Koda's house. I stopped half a mile up the road, and walked to the house.

  As I got close, I watched for signs of life. Nothing. Koda's house had empty lots on both sides. It was quiet here. I walked straight up the front stairs, and unlocked the doors. I stepped into the front entry hall, and stopped.

  Koda's parents had a nice home. The place was very quiet now. I stood and took the place in for a moment. As I stepped into the main hall. I could see the electronic trip wire in the stairs at a glance. These guys weren't even trying to be subtle. In four minutes I found three trips, and a camera. As I got ready to leave, I set the trip on the stairs off. Then I closed up, went across to the woods, and waited.

  Sure enough, in less than five minutes, a car came pulling up almost right in front of me. It was already dark. Two men got out, and waited by the car. One of them checked his gun to make sure it was loaded. It seemed obvious more help was coming.

  I stepped out, and shot the closest man between the eyes. The second man went for his gun, but he never stood a chance. I doubt he heard the thump of the second shot from the silenced pistol as it snuffed out his life.

  The first man was in the tall weeds. I pulled the second man out of the street, put on his hat, and leaned up against the car. Sure enough, here came another car. They pulled up, and rolled down the window with a smile. I killed them both. Thump, thump, and it was over.

  This was too easy. I left the car sit with its lights on. I moved the bodies in the car so you couldn't see them till you were right up on them. I stepped back over to the first car, and waited. Sure enough, here came another car. The third car pulled up behind the second, and I shot both the men in it. I had six kills at one shot each in less than a minute. I began feeling kinda young again.

  Then I got shot in the shoulder. I lucked out. It missed all those bones that are there, and just went though. It burned like a hot poker. The shooter had to have walked up. I saw the flash of the muzzle, and almost got it again. I fired back twice, and the shooter stopped firing.

  I tried to reload my first gun, but my shoulder was hurting so bad that I was shaking like a leaf. That's the problem with a revolver. It can be hard to reload under stress. I would be in shock soon. Had to go!

  I flanked the last shooter, and found him dead. I wanted to wait, but there was no time. I was bleeding badly, and Jesus it hurt! I got to the car, and headed over to see Dr. Lisa Maginty. If she wasn't home, I was in trouble.

  I was pounding on the Doc's door, and almost fell through when she opened it. The shock on her face as I stood there almost made me laugh. She gasped and yelled out, "What the hell! What happened Mike?" I guess I passed out then.

  I woke up, and the Doc was leaning over me. My shirt was gone, and I was bleeding all over what looked like an expensive chair. The Doc said, "Don't move, or you'll have a scar." Then she looked at my scarred chest, and corrected herself, saying, "OK! Don't move, or you'll have another scar."

  I've known the Doc for about five years. I had been friends with her husband before he was killed. He was a lot younger than me, but we hung out a lot together. When they got married, there had been a violent old boyfriend in her past that tried to hurt them. I made sure that didn't happen.

  Now she was stitching me up, and her hands were shaking. I said, "Sorry Lisa. I didn't mean to scare you so bad."

  She gave me a dirty look, and said, "I haven't seen you since the funeral, and now you show up like this. What the hell happened?"

  I grimaced as the needle dug in again, and explained, "I was helping a girl out, and got shot."

  The Doc stopped, and said, "You were helping a girl?"

  I suddenly had the feeling I had said the wrong thing. I exclaimed, "She's just a kid Lisa!"

  The Doc went back to work for a minute, and then asked, "How old is she Mike?"

  Wow! That made me pause. I gave her the look, and responded, "She's nineteen. Why?"

  The Doc gave me the look back, and said, "I'd like to meet her."

  OK! I was getting a bad feeling about this. I growled, "I hate twenty questions. What's going on here Lisa?"

  Lisa stood up and said, "Billy told me a lot about you. You wouldn't be helping anybody if it wasn't something really bad. You show up bleeding all over, and I stitch you up before you bleed out. Excuse me if I'm curious."

  I know I deserved that, but I wasn't feeling well, and I just wanted to go to bed. As I started to stand, the whole room spun around for a second, and I almost went down. Lisa grabbed me, and asked, "Are you sleeping here?"

  Oh Hell! I told her, "No! Take me home!" Then I gave her the address.

  The next thing I remember, was pulling up at the safe house. Lisa was driving, and I was in her car. She had pulled right up in the driveway, and I cringed. Too late now. We parked, and I staggered out. I got the front door open, and snapped it back. I felt lightheaded, and Lisa was right behind me in case I started to go down. I palmed the second lock, and the door slid open.

  Koda was standing there, and she started freaking out. She had watched me get shot two hours ago, and appeared to have been crying ever since (I hate that). I stood there like an idiot introducing the ladies, and just as I finished, my legs gave out, and I dropped. I hit the floor like a bag of sand.

  It's not a soft floor!

  I woke up about an hour later. I was in bed, and undressed. The ladies were sitting in front of me in the only two chairs in the room. They were talking like old friends, and Lisa was telling a story about me I didn't know she knew. When I started moving, they got quiet, and I pulled myself up enough to realize how much pain I was in. Then I asked, "How did I get naked?"

  Koda pointed at Lisa and smiled. Lisa just said, "You were covered in blood and I cleaned you up. Get over it!"

  I growled, "Great! Fine! I’ll be out in a minute. Please shut the door on the way out."

  The ladies started laughing, but they got up and left. They even shut the door on
the way out.

  I got up, and staggered over to the mirror. I pulled at the bandage enough to know to leave it alone. My whole shoulder looked like a bruise. That was the sixth time I've been shot. It seems to hurt worse every time. I felt lucky the idiot had been a lousy shooter. He had a perfect shot, and missed. He deserved what he got.

  I managed to pull on some jeans and a shirt, but I couldn't get my damn socks on. I went out to the front room, sat down, and struggled with them until Lisa got fed up watching me, and made me sit back while she put them on me. I felt like some damn kid.

  I finally sat up, and realized they were both staring at me. I glared at them and snapped, "WHAT?"

  Koda quietly said, "You’re bleeding."

  I looked down, and blood was soaking through my shirt. I told her, "It’ll stop in a minute."

  "Because that's all the blood you have left,” Lisa noted. “You belong in a hospital!"

  "Yeah,” I agreed. “That sure would make me easy for them to find, thanks!"

  Lisa's face went blank. I could tell she wasn't used to working outside the law. I confided, "You need to go home Lisa."

  I know it sounded hurtful, but she had no business getting any more involved than she was. Lisa looked at me and said, "Let me get this straight. You want me to leave you with her?" Lisa looked from me, to Koda, and back, and then said, "You’re kidding, right?"

  "Hey, we did fine last night," Koda observed.

  That stopped the whole conversation. I said, "That really didn't sound right."

  Lisa stepped to the door and said, "Your right! It didn't. I'm going home. Come see me tomorrow night if you’re still alive, and I’ll change the bandages.

  Then she walked out, and slammed the door.

  Shit! That could have gone better.

  Right away, Koda said, "I thought she would never leave!"

  I stopped, and thought before I spoke. Then I told her, "You need to act like an adult if we’re going to get along."

  She was quiet for a moment. Then she looked down at the floor and said, "I'm sorry! I've been scared for so long, I don't know how to act around people."

  I hate this. I don't want to do this at all. Someplace is that inner voice telling me to be nice. This girl needs help. I still remember what the words, "The right thing to do!" meant. There just had to be some young person to cover this problem. I'm way too old for this shit.

  I found myself saying, "Don't worry, it’s going to be okay." Yeah, sure. I'll just wave my magic wand, and fix it.

  Then Koda said, "Mike, I want to learn about the guns. I don't want to die like some cow. I want to fight back."

  I knew I wasn't up to this, but I couldn't think of a good reason not to try. They were going to kill the girl anyway. She couldn't be any worse off. I looked her in the eyes and said, "I think it's a mistake, but it's your life. If you mess me up, I'll kill you myself. Can you work with that?"

  She just smiled, and nodded her head yes. I don't think she had any idea what she was getting into.

  I had her tell me what she knew about guns. She had a good basic training in weapons, but she would need a lot of work to be ready for what was coming.

  I spent the next several hours telling her about weapons, and how certain ones were best for certain jobs. As we talked, I learned more about Koda and her family. Her dad had been a cop and a detective. Her mom had been a teacher. They seemed like real nice people.

  I found out that a Mr. Robert Hetrus was a bit of a bad guy. He made a lot of money foreclosing on people’s homes cheap, and then making a big profit for himself. Hey, I don't really care. Free market is what it's all about.

  Then he started not paying taxes, killing people to cover it up, and a bunch of other bad things I won't talk about here. Name a crime, and this guy tried it out. Look up the word scumbag in the dictionary, and it showed his picture. I wanted to kill him based just on what Koda told me.

  The bad part was, if this guy called the Governor, the Governor would be glad to call back. I hate political killings. Those people get really spastic when you shoot one of them.

  Any way you wanted to look at it, I was out of retirement now. That meant that it wouldn't be long before every cop in the country was looking for me. I hate being popular with the law. It's hard to outrun a radio or phone. They get you sooner or later. I've been on the run for over twenty years, but I’ll never really know any peace. I’ll die in a cell, or looking over my shoulder.

  Of course, there was the other side of this. I was now a new player in the game. If I have to die, I can do a lot of damage along the way.

  They would regret my return! I’d make them pay before I die! I’d make them pay big-time!

  Chapter 3

  Old Friends

  Over the next few hours, I started to bring my old assets on line. It had been a long time since I talked to most of them, but the old ghosts were still haunting my closet. Of course, my ghosts had hidden talents. Most had several specialties. After a few contacts, I also realized most were now retired. Nothing like raiding the old folk’s home to get your specialty people.

  The first one I found was Tim Vickers. I used an old drop connection to send the contact info. Twenty minutes later the video call came in, and there was old Tim. He looked at me and immediately said, "Damn! You look like shit!" He leaned into the camera and asked, "Do you remember that whorehouse in San Diego?" Then he smiled, exclaimed, "Go fuck yourself!" and broke the connection.

  Where would I be without my old friends?

  Almost immediately Kathy Whiteman called me. She had to be almost fifty, but she still looked beautiful on the phone. She was a blond now, but she was a knockout no matter how her hair was done. She took one look at me and said, "Jeez Mike! You look like shit!"

  "You're the first to notice," I observed.

  She cringed, and muttered, "Sorry Mike!" A second later, she asked, "Is Nancy there?"

  For a moment, I almost lost it. I hadn't heard her name in months. I quietly said, "Nancy died just over a year ago, Kath!"

  I could see the shock in her face. After a few seconds, she collected herself, and exclaimed, "I'm sorry Mike! I didn't know!"

  "It's okay," I observed. "I've been a slow motion train wreck ever since. You're better off staying away from me!"

  Kathy was livid for an instant, then calmed herself and asked, "Where can we meet?" I gave her the address of a local mall, and we agreed to meet in an hour. As I got ready to hang up, Kathy asked, "Have you talked to Tim yet?"

  I just smiled, and told her, "He hung up on me!"

  "He's still pissed about that thing at the whorehouse?" she asked.

  "I guess," I replied. "He didn't look happy to see me!"

  "Like dealing with little kids!" she muttered under her breath. She looked up as though somebody had walked in. Then she looked back down into the phone, and said, "I'll call the idiot. Try not to egg him on any more than you have to. He's gotten mean in his old age."

  I just smiled into the phone, and said, "See you in an hour!" Then she hung up, and I sat there looking at the stupid throw away phone, wondering what I was thinking, getting into all this.

  Behind me, Koda suddenly asked, "Can I go with you?"

  I debated for a few seconds, and then asked, "Can you keep your mouth shut if I take you along?" She silently acted as if she zipped her lips, and threw away the key. I knew I was making a mistake, but I said, "Fine, get ready! We leave in ten minutes!"

  Right on cue, the phone started ringing again. I keyed the connection, and Tim's face appeared. He looked at me for a second. Then he said, "I talked to Kath! I didn't know about Nan! I'm sorry to hear she's gone, Mike!"

  "Yeah! Me too," I quietly observed. I never even thought about how pathetic it sounded. Sighing deeply, I said, "I'm in trouble, Tim!"

  His face hardened a little on the tiny phone's screen. He said, "I got your back, Mike! Tell me where to find you!"

  I gave him the mall's address. By the time I got off the p
hone, Koda appeared ready to leave. After a few seconds, she asked, "Your wife's name was Nancy?"

  "Don't bring her up again," I growled. "I don't want to talk about it!"

  Koda just blinked her eyes at me twice, and then said, "No problem!" I was sure it wouldn't be that easy, but you never know.

  As we stepped out the door of the house, it dawned on Koda that my car was still sitting up the street from Lisa's house. She looked over at me, and asked, "What are we doing for wheels?"

  "You've got a set of fully functional feet," I observed. "Besides, we're not going far!" We started to walk up the quiet, residential street, and soon started to walk along the back of a small mall on the main highway.

  I stepped off the sidewalk, through some large bushes, and looking out, could easily see the mall parking lot. I turned to Koda and asked, "Are you armed?"

  "I brought a Beretta," she answered. I stood looking at her, debating where she could conceal the gun in her tightly fitted clothing. Then I decided I was probably better off not knowing.

  I pointed through the brush, and explained, "I need to contact two people here in a few minutes, and I'm not sure how it'll go down. If there is any trouble, I want you to go back to the safe house, wait a couple of hours, but no more than six hours, and then make a run for it." I had been looking through the brush into the mall's parking lot, and as soon as I turned around and looked, I could tell Koda was pissed.

  "If you're going out there, so am I," she hissed at me.

  "No, you're not," I hissed back. "You're going to do what I say, or we're finished! You got that!" I was right in her face, and her eyes were wide in shock. There was no time for this shit. Behind me, I heard the sound of a high performance engine. When I looked back over at the parking lot, Kath was just pulling in driving a small red convertible, and looking around like she expected trouble.

  Turning back to Koda, I growled, "Do as you're told!" Then I stepped out, through the brush into the open. As I started across the car lot, a black van with heavily tinted windows came roaring into the parking lot from the opposite direction, heading right for me. It came to a screeching halt in front of me. The driver's door snapped open, and Tim jumped out.