My life is never dull!
I laid there for a while, but I felt too restless to just stay in bed. I got up and took a shower. I was drying off, and as I stood in front of the mirror, it really hit me how much my appearance had changed. My hair had gone from white to a dark brown, almost black in places. Most of my visible scars had disappeared.
I began to realize the normal aches and pains I had lived with for years were gone. I felt stronger than I had in a long time, and I could tell my reaction time was improving. As I went in, and got dressed, it began to sink in that I was in for lots of changes.
I walked out to the kitchen, and found the entire group talking to Dona. I walked in, and she turned to me, saying, "Kathy told us to let you rest, but I'm glad you’re here. I was going to instruct the group how to fold space. You'll probably want in on this.
It was the oddest thing. I know its normal for these people, but it still seems very strange to me. I looked into Dona's mind, and saw how she teleported. It was more than just an explanation. Everything, including the feeling, or sensation, of teleporting, was there. I closed my eyes, and folded space across the room. It was so simple, I couldn't understand why I'd never done it before.
Reactions to my first jump were mixed. Several people in the group seemed surprised. Dona looked around the room, and said, "You need to practice! Remember your jump limits! Don't make a jump if you're too exhausted! Traveling through solid matter is far more dangerous than open space! No more than a dozen jumps a day! Be careful when jumping to an unknown location! I'll teach you later how to scan a jump target, and how to ghost that place before you jump. For now, just try to stay close to home. Focus on a distant spot you're familiar with, and give it a try."
I focused on the weapons closet in the house across the street. I concentrated on the spot, and in an instant, I was there. I must say, it takes your breath away. So much was happening so fast. It was hard to take it all in. Standing there, I happened to look over where my pair of silenced .357 mag pistols were hanging in their shoulder holsters.
I stood there thinking for a moment. Then I stepped over, and started strapping the rig on. I hadn't worn the set in a long time. It brought back a lot of memories of times long ago.
Standing there, armed to the teeth, it suddenly occurred to me to go pay Mr. Robert Hetrus a visit. In that instant, it seemed real important that I hunt the man down, and even an old score.
Dona appeared in the room next to me, and I about jumped out of my skin. She glanced over at me casually, and asked, "Planning on going somewhere?"
I quietly said, "It had occurred to me!" She gave me a dirty look, and I continued, saying, "It's a personal thing! Something I have to do!"
"Not like this," she noted. "Don't let these new abilities go to your head! Too much is riding on this for you to get killed over a personal vendetta! The greys working with Hetrus have some of the same abilities we do. They have very limited jump abilities, but they're linked to each other, and can be very strong! Don't kid yourself! You need a plan, and you need backup if you're going to take Hetrus down!"
"I need a full briefing on his tactical abilities," The words sprang from my mouth, and I realized it was something I hadn't said in decades. The morning was turning into a slow motion flashback.
"I'll get you everything you want," she answered. "Just give me a little time!"
Tim folded space, and appeared in the room with us. His entrance didn't make me jump as badly as Dona's had. I suppose eventually, I'll get used to it.
"Kathy wants to talk to you," he informed me. He had a big smile on his face. "She said to tell you she can read your thoughts now, and that she's already pissed!"
I glanced over at a smiling Dona, and realized I was out of line. I nodded at Tim, and said, "Tell Kathy I'll be along in a minute!" His smile widened slightly. Then he folded space, and disappeared without a word.
It's distinctly eerie as far as I'm concerned.
"You've got some good friends," observed Dona. "You should listen to them!"
"It's starting to annoy me that you're always right," I noted. I allowed a slow smile to spread across my face, confirming that I was just being sarcastic.
Dona rolled her eyes, saying, "Don't make me run after you again! That annoys me!"
"Point taken," I agreed.
Out of a clear blue sky, Dona asked, "Have you ever used a sword?"
I debated the answer to that, and finally said, "Not in combat, but I have a good working knowledge of knives and swords. Why do you ask?"
"Well. Guns run out of bullets," she responded. "A long blade is a weapon that just keeps on giving."
"A three foot blade tends to draw attention in our world," I rejoined, almost jokingly.
Dona had grown very serious. She told me, "It's time I showed you something Mike! I want you to try and focus on my thoughts for a minute!"
I did as she asked. Images and information began to flood my mind. Images of wars on an epic scale. Of battles in space between starships as large as entire worlds. Thousands of huge ships, fighting to the death, with billions upon billions of lives being snuffed out, sometimes in mere minutes.
Entire planets were overrun by the creatures Dona had called Critz. Within hours, the planets were barren of life. Their atmospheres were breached, and their planetary cores exposed. In the end, nothing was left but a debris field.
For the first time, I began to grasp the scope of what Dona was talking about. The scenes abruptly stopped, and I was left staring at Dona as we stood in the center of the room. My brilliant comment, was, "WOW!"
Dona smiled at me, and said, "Yeah! That about sums it up for me, too!" She tapped me on the shoulder, saying, "Kathy is waiting on you!"
I just had to smile back. The way she said it, really struck me funny. I started to say, "I'm in so..."
"Much trouble!" Interjected Dona, finishing my comment. We both burst out laughing. Then quickly sobered again. Focusing my mind on Kathy, I folded space, and instantly teleported to the command center at the other house.
Kathy almost had her back to me when I appeared, but she started talking as if she was looking at me. "You're not showing much team spirit, boss!" She turned her head so she could clearly see me. "Don't make me post a guard on you!" I could see in her mind that she was kidding, but I gave her the look anyway. She smiled slightly, saying, "Ya know! You're not near as scary as you used to be since I learned to read your mind."
I just let the comment drop.
For the rest of the day, we practiced folding space, and using the new abilities we had been granted. It soon became obvious I was the strongest jumper in the group. One by one, the others grew tired, yet I felt unfazed. At the end of the day, Dona asked if I was up to one last jump. When I agreed, she said, "Follow me!"
We found ourselves standing on what appeared to be the deck of a spacecraft in deep space. There was a viewing port as big as a city bus set in the wall. I was looking out into the darkest night I've ever seen. No picture could ever do it justice. Tiny, incredibly bright dots of light, set on a backdrop of the deepest black you've ever seen. The whole thing was so mind blowing, I can't do the description justice.
Out there, a vast fleet of ships seemed to just hover in the depths of space. The scene looked very tranquil. Earlier in the day, Dona had showed me images of ships like these at war. Those memories were in stark contrast to what I was seeing here. After several minutes of me staring out the window. Dona asked, "Have you had enough?" I nodded my response, and we folded space, returning to Earth.
Upon our arrival back home, I found the entire group unpacking boxes. Each box had a name on it, and after a second, Dona handed me one with mine written on it.
I could already see that the boxes each held one of the black Ninja suits we had all seen before. One by one, we each went off, and got dressed. When I got back out with the rest of the group, they were all dressed, and looking pretty sharp.
Standing there, I realized the enti
re team was looking young again. It was a hell of a visual image, looking at them all standing there. A smile spread across my face as I stood looking at them. One by one, they all stopped, and looked over at me. After a few seconds, the room grew silent. I looked around, and told them, "I'm proud of all of you! Proud I can stand here, and call you all my friends!"
"You taught us well, Mike," Kathy said quietly. "We're all just happy you're back with us!"
"Hey! Speak for yourself," growled Tim. "He brought us aliens galore, and I'm supposed to be happy?" We could all instantly see he was just kidding.
"After some of the women I've seen you with, you have no room to complain about aliens," I responded, in keeping with his sense of humor.
"You just wait! I'll get you back for that yet," snarled Tim. Again, we could easily tell he was basically kidding.
More or less.
"What the hell are you two talking about?" asked Koda.
Kathy jumped in, saying "Tim was in love with a beautiful hooker named Carla. We were on an ops mission in South America. Mike went to pick up Tim at this whorehouse, and every door in the place looked the same. There were about a hundred doors you could see in an interior courtyard. Mike stood there yelling, 'This is a raid!' Till people started pouring out, trying to escape what they thought was a police raid."
"There must have been two hundred, mostly naked people, trying to get out within seconds," Kathy recalled with a growing smile. "Mike kept screaming about the raid, till Tim came out, with his girl. Tim saw Mike, and started screaming at him. Shooter and I watched from the doorway as the hooker shoved Tim over the balcony railing. He landed in the open court with a loud thump, screaming bloody murder!"
"She was beautiful," growled Tim.
"She shoved you over a railing!" Shooter said flatly. "You're lucky you were only one floor up!"
"Do you know what I paid for two hours of that woman's time?" asked Tim, just starting to laugh.
"No! And I don't want to know!" yelled Shooter, now openly laughing.
"Loyalty by the hour," huffed Kathy.
The laughing and talk calmed. After a second of silence, Koda asked, "When do we go after Hetrus?"
Dona had been standing by, silently. She looked at me and said, "Look in the clothing box Mike!" I glanced down in the box, and saw a packet. Reaching down, I picked up a folder that had, "Mr. Robert Hetrus" imprinted on it. It was packed with information I had never seen before. Information about his links to the greys made him look even worse than he did before. At first glance, the urge to kill the man at once was overwhelming.
Seeing my thoughts, Dona said, "We've been unable to deal harshly with Mr. Hetrus! A lot of us are public officials. We don't want to start a panic! But if somebody from the outside took him out, then that would probably be a very good thing for the Earth in general!"
"Do you realize how hot we'll be?" asked Harold. "Not only the cops, but mind reading aliens chasing us!"
"I hate to bring this up," Shooter said. "But if this guy is just sick, shouldn't we try to help him, instead of killing him?"
"I vote we kill him!" I said right away. Koda raised her hand, and the rest of the room voted the same in a wave. Dona looked at us with an odd smile on her face. Seeing her thoughts, I could tell she'd never seen a large group like us all convert together.
"Bunch of mad dog killers!" she said dryly, more than half kidding.
Yet that's what we were. Mad dog killers, now made young and healthy! Mr. Hetrus was in a lot of trouble!
"I say we go tonight," I said calmly. "I'm surprised he hasn't been back already!"
"We hurt him badly," noted Dona. "I don't think he expected such a hornet's nest!"
"Frickin buzz saw," snorted Shooter under his breath.
"The point is, he's scared now," I said. "That will make him more dangerous. He's holed up! Entrenched! Waiting for us!"
"What are we waiting for?" asked Kathy.
"I know where there's a big room full of guns," I noted. Everyone in the room smiled.
"If you're serious, I'm going to rouse the troops! Call out the Guards!" Dona stated flatly.
"Fine," I said, "We'll hit him at midnight!"
"If you have problems, bring him back here," said Dona. "I'll have friends waiting!" She looked around at each of us, and then calmly folded space.
Glancing around at the group, I said, "Get Ready! We jump in three hours!" After a few moments, we all went about our separate ways. I walked back to my room, and started going through the data package Dona had brought in.
About an hour went by, and there was a knock at my door. I looked up to see Tim standing there. He glanced down at me as I sat at my desk. I quietly said, "You’re not still pissed about the whole whorehouse thing, are ya?"
He looked up at the ceiling, smiled, and said, "I was over that twenty years ago!" He stood there for a moment. Then haltingly said, "I'm grateful you called me in! I never dreamed such a world existed! I just wanted... I just wanted to say thanks!"
"You're welcome," I replied. "Now go get some rest!" He just snorted, and slowly stepped away, disappearing down the hall.
Chapter 14
The Hit
Two hours later, we prepared to strike. Dona and her people were showing up in force. It had been years since I did a full ops. An all-out attack on a target this powerful with a team this small would have normally seemed foolhardy. The addition of our newfound powers and health had added an extra rush to the already adrenaline fueled feeling of exhilaration.
We were starting to weapon up, when Dona said. "I have one more gift for each of you!" She snapped open two cases. Each held four swords. One by one, we each pulled a blade from the case. Dona showed how the blade would fit in a body scabbard that ran down the back of the suit.
The blades were only about two foot long. Dona said, "These are short swords. We'll get you personal fit, full length blades, later. I realize you're not used to swords, but take my word for it, they can save your life."
"Mike used to teach sword fighting," said Kathy. "He was considered a master of the blade until he went underground!"
Dona looked up a little surprised. I could sense her scanning my mind, and an impish smile crossed her face. She jokingly said, "You've been holding out on me!"
"You didn't ask," I replied.
Dona looked at for me for a second, and then said, "How many weapons are you trained for?" I mentally started running the list of weapons and combat I had trained for over the decades. After a minute, she just told me to stop, saying, "Never mind! I get the idea!" under her breath, she said, "I almost feel sorry for Hetrus!" She stood thinking for a moment. Then smiled, and said, "Not quite... but almost!"
Checking the blade for balance first, I sheathed it, and said, "Grab your shit, people! It's time to go to war!"
"Remember," noted Dona. "If it gets out of control, lead him back here. We'll be waiting for them. This is a job for a small team, and at this point, I’d say you're the best we have for the job."
"And if one of us gets killed or captured, you're off the hook," stated Harold in a matter of fact voice.
"Yes, that's true," agreed Dona. "More importantly. I suggest getting captured by this man would be a bad thing. It's reputed that he enjoys torturing people. A real sicko! Don't get captured by him or his people! It's bad for your health!"
We all nodded an understanding. Shooter looked at me, and asked, "What's the plan, boss?"
I could feel myself dropping into old habits as I said, "We have a male target you already know on sight. We're going to do a sweep and clear, removing the target in the process. His location is on a yacht at sea. That used to be a problem... not anymore! We'll launch a full strike, starting in ten minutes, from, now!" I clicked my watch, and so did the others.
I continued, saying, "I'll take Koda, and go for the primary target! Harold, Shooter, and Kathy will cover our backs. They'll give us heavy support. Tim! You're our loose cannon! If we run into a problem, it'
s yours!"
"Oh! Thanks!" he groused. He was smiling, but he just had to grumble about something.
I looked over at Bugs and Lisa, saying, "You two stay here, and pray we don't need a doctor's help!"
"Hey! I know how to use a gun!" Bugs pointed out in a mildly irritated voice. "You might need my help!"
"I'm more worried about us shooting each other in the confined space on the ship," I said. "Keep your weapons on a tight leash. Keep it quiet! I’d like to keep collateral damage to a minimum! If we get separated, you’re each on a ten minute leash. Loose the team, and return here in ten minutes or less. If you’re seriously injured, return here at once!"
"So we have a ten minute window once we make the jump," noted Tim.
"Unless we’re engaged as a unit," I answered. "In that case, you'll follow my lead. Tim is the lead man if I go down!" I looked around at each of them, and said, "This is it folks! Any questions?"
Silence filled the room for perhaps ten seconds, then Dona said, "Remember! If you're in trouble, lead them back here! I've got almost a hundred Guardians here waiting for them to follow you!"
We each nodded. I said, "On my mark! We jump in three, two, one."
We folded space as a unit. I had focused on the ship, looking to find a quiet place in the middle of the night. I had gone to the cargo hold, thinking it would be a solitary spot to work from. The first thing I saw upon arriving on the ship, was a cargo worker, who promptly pulled the alarm buzzer switch. An alarm started sounding in the cargo bay, and I could hear a klaxon start sounding up on the main deck of the ship.
So much for stealth!
In seconds, I could hear running feet all over the ship. There was no time for subtle. I looked at shooter, and told him, "Put a radio controlled explosive charge on the inside exterior hull of the ship. I want to sink her on command if we need to!" He nodded, and I turned to Koda, saying, "You're with me! The rest of you, spread out and be careful! Let's get this guy!"
The Koda Files Boxed Set - Books 1 & 2 Page 12
